Arctic space monitoring project..[ 1361 ]

Russia, Canada seek joint Arctic space monitoring project

The Arctic

18:45- 29/06/2010

© RIA Novosti. Alexandr Lyskin

MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti) 

Russia and Canada will start negotiations on the integration of their national space systems to monitor the Arctic, a Russian space official said on Tuesday.

Anatoly Shilov, deputy head of the Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, said the first Russian-Canadian meeting was scheduled for August.

"We are currently discussing which services will be provided by Russian satellites and which by Canadian satellites," he said.

He said the Russian government had made a decision to create a multipurpose space system called Arktika (Arctic), worth around 70 billion rubles ($2.5 billion).

The satellite system will monitor climatic changes and survey energy resources in the Arctic region. It will monitor the weather and environment of the North Pole, pinpoint hydrocarbon deposits on the Arctic shelf, provide telecommunications over the hard-to-access areas and ensure safe air traffic and commercial shipping in the region.

Shilov said the first Russian and Canadian satellites could be orbited in three years.

"However, ground facilities will also be necessary. So the system should be up and running in no less than six to seven years," he said.

The vast hydrocarbon deposits that will become more accessible as rising global temperatures lead to a reduction in sea ice have brought the Arctic to the center of geopolitical wrangling between the United States, Russia, Canada, Norway, and Denmark.

Under international law, each of the five Arctic Circle countries has a 322-kilometer (200-mile) exclusive economic zone in the Arctic Ocean.

However, under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, if a country can show its continental shelf extends beyond the 200-mile limit, it can claim a right to more of the ocean floor.

Russia has undertaken two Arctic expeditions - to the Mendeleyev underwater chain in 2005 and to the Lomonosov Ridge in the summer of 2007 - to substantiate its territorial claims in the region.

Russia first claimed the territory in 2001, but the UN demanded more conclusive evidence.

Russia has said it will invest some 1.5 billion rubles ($50 million) in defining the extent of its continental shelf in the Arctic in 2010.

Τα... αποτελέσματα της Ηφαιστειακής.. τέφρας..[1360 ]

Λεσβιακός γάμος αρχηγού κράτους

Από marypertax  |  Αθήνα :  29/6

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  - Χωρίς λεζάντα - Άλλωστε τι μπορεί να γράψει κανείς ?

Παντρεύτηκε τη σύντροφό της η πρωθυπουργός της Ισλανδίας,

Γιοχάνα Σιγκουρνταρνότιρ χθες , την ίδια ημέρα που τέθηκε σε ισχύ ο νόμος που νομιμοποιεί τους γάμους μεταξύ ατόμων του ιδίου φύλου. Σύμφωνα με το ισλανδικό ραδιοτηλεοπτικό δίκτυο RUV, η Ισλανδή ηγέτιδα παντρεύτηκε επίσημα τη σύντροφό της, την Γιονίνα Λεοσντότιρ, μετά την κατάθεση της αίτησης μετατροπής της πολιτικής ένωσής τους σε κανονικό γάμο.

Το ισλανδικό Κοινοβούλιο υιοθέτησε ομόφωνα στις 12 Ιουνίου τη νομιμοποίηση του γάμου των ομοφυλοφίλων και ο νόμος τέθηκε σε ισχύ την Κυριακή. Μέχρι τώρα τα ομοφυλόφιλα ζευγάρια μπορούσαν να ενώνονται νομίμως και να έχουν τα ίδια δικαιώματα με τα ετεροφυλόφιλα ζευγάρια, όμως η ένωση δεν ήταν ένας αληθινός γάμος. 

Η Γιοχάνα Σιγκουρνταρντότιρ, η οποία ανέλαβε την εξουσία το Φεβρουάριο 2009, ζει με τη σύντροφό της εδώ και πολλά χρόνια και είναι η πρώτη ανοικτά ομοφυλόφιλη αρχηγός κυβέρνησης.

Κι έτσι από το ψεύτικο γάμο ,πάμε στον αληθινό. Καημός κι αυτός .

Με τις ευχές μας ...

H είδηση αυτή απεστάλη από τον χρήστη marypertax.

Nasa image of the Day, June 29th ..[ 1359 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Ghostly Encounter

The surface of Saturn's moon Dione is rendered in crisp detail against a hazy, ghostly Titan. Visible in this image are hints of atmospheric banding around Titan's north pole. 

 

The image was taken in visible blue light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on April 10, 2010. 

 

The view was acquired at a distance of approximately 1.8 million kilometers (1.1 million miles) from Dione and 2.7 million kilometers (1.7 million miles) from Titan. 

 

Scale in the original image was 11 kilometers (7 miles) per pixel on Dione and 16 kilometers (10 miles) on Titan. The image has been magnified by a factor of 1.5 and contrast-enhanced to aid visibility. 

 

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute

Τρίτη, 29 Ιούνιος 2010 7:00:00 πμ

Russia : Iran to stop uranium enrichment.. [ 1358 ]

   Russian FM urges Iran to stop uranium enrichment    

TREND///29.06.2010 16:52

 

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday expressed hoped that Iran could stop its uranium enrichment and respond constructively to the fuel swap deal brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency, or IAEA.

  
At a Jerusalem news conference after holding talks with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Lavrov recalled the proposal of Russia, the United States and France to hold an IAEA meeting with Iranian experts to address issues of supply of fuel for Tehran's research reactor, according to reports from Russian news agencies, Xinhua reported.
  
The Russian diplomat stressed that such a meeting was planned "with the understanding that the 20 percent uranium enrichment will stop."
  
"I hope Iran will respond constructively as it will help settle the situation, which raises concerns," Lavrov said.
  
He also reiterated Russia's firm adherence to the latest UN Security Council resolution on Iran over the supply of S-300 air defense systems.
  
"Russia strictly obeys all of the Security Council's resolutions. In practice, such resolutions are implemented through decrees issued by the president of the Russian Federation," Lavrov said.
  
"The decree will make it absolutely clear which types of weapons fall under the recently adopted resolution," he added.
  
Iran struck a deal to buy S-300 systems in 2007, but Russia has delayed delivery of the anti-aircraft missiles.
  
The S-300 air defense system is an advanced mobile system that can shoot down aircraft and cruise missiles from up to 150 km away. The United States and Israel oppose the sale of the missiles to Iran.
  
Earlier this month, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution to impose a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

 

Monitoring of nuclear material trafficking..[ 1357 ]

Medvedev calls for strict monitoring of nuclear material trafficking

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev

14:12 -  29/06/2010

© RIA Novosti. Vladimir Rodionov

MOSCOW, June 29 (RIA Novosti)Russian President Dmitry Medvedev believes that strict monitoring of nuclear material trafficking and maintaining high security standards in the nuclear sphere is crucial for modern society.

"At this stage, creating effective mechanisms that rule out the unauthorized acquisition of nuclear materials and technologies has special importance. This approach was endorsed at the recent Nuclear Security Summit and NPT Review Conference," Medvedev said in a letter to a plenary session of the Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.

"The key issues of nuclear nonproliferation and finding the best mechanisms for combating the threat of nuclear terrorism are on the agenda of your meeting. Only coordinated measures can solve these global problems," the letter said.

Medvedev said that the Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism has grown stronger over the past year and is now "firmly on the path towards practical implementation."
"We expect that the number of participants who share common goals will continue to grow steadily. Russia is committed to ... continuing work on enhancing and strengthening the global nuclear nonproliferation regime," the president said.