Blast in Russian railway..[ 1460 ]

Blast in Russian railway did not reflect movement of trains from Azerbaijan

 

Azerbaijan, Baku, July 15 / Trend /

TREND/// 15.07.2010 11:33

Blast in the railway line in Dagestan did not caused problems in the movement of trains from Azerbaijan in the direction of Russia, CJSC Azerbaijan Railways Spokesman Nadir Azmammadov said.

The Baku-Tumen and Baku-Rostov trains were sent in accordance with the schedule. One line of the road is working in the scene.

"When Baku-Tumen and Baku-Rostov trains will reach the blasted area (at about 12:00 Baku time), traffic on it will already be restored," Azmammadov said.

A locomotive and two wagons with sand were undermined on the Tarki-Manas crossing in Dagestan. The blast occurred at 4:50 Moscow time. An explosive device went off during the passage of the buffer trains, consisting of a locomotive and two wagons with sand, Interfax reported.

The Makhachkala Interior Transport Management's representative also confirmed the blast
adding that it was locomotive with two platforms, loaded with sand.

France :burka ban ..[1459 ]

In France, panel recommends a burka ban in public institutions

The full-body garments are a security issue in places like banks and subways where people need to be identifiable, the parliamentary committee says.

Activists in Paris call for liberty for Muslim women who wear the burka. 

  (Yoan Valat / European Pressphoto Agency / January 26, 2010)

 Ku-Klux-Clan  Activist in the USA South

N.B.: There is a difference only in the Place ( France / USA) and the color ( black / white ) otherwise both are hiding from the public eyes. 
Nobody can tell if behind these clothes a male or female is hinding, and/or a terrorist or suicide bomber and/or a ricist fanatic killer

---

NASA image of the Day, July 14th..[ 1458 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

In the Constellation Cassiopeia

Tycho's Supernova, the red circle visible in the upper left part of the image, is SN 1572 is a remnant of a star explosion is named after the astronomer Tycho Brahe, although he was not the only person to observe and record the supernova. 

 

When the supernova first appeared in November 1572, it was as bright as Venus and could be seen in the daytime. Over the next two years, the supernova dimmed until it could no longer be seen with the naked eye. In the 1950s, the remnants of the supernova could be seen again with the help of telescopes. 

 

When the star exploded, it sent out a blast wave into the surrounding material, scooping up interstellar dust and gas as it went, like a snow plow. An expanding shock wave traveled into the surroundings and a reverse shock was driven back in toward the remnants of the star. 

 

Previous observations by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope indicate that the nature of the light that WISE sees from the supernova remnant is emission from dust heated by the shock wave. To the right is a star-forming nebula of dust and gas, called S175. 

 

This cloud of material is about 3,500 light-years away and 35 light-years across. It is heated by radiation from the young, hot stars within it, and the dust within the cloud radiates infrared light. 

 

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UCLA

Τετάρτη, 14 Ιούλιος 2010 7:00:00 πμ

NASA Outreach Program 'Confirmed'..[ 1457 ]

NASA Outreach Program 'Confirmed' Despite White House Denial, Rep Says

Published July 14, 2010

| FoxNews.com

Call it a failure to launch. 

The White House is disavowing a plan to have NASA conduct outreach to Muslim countries, but a congressman who talked to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden about that plan last month said the initiative was very real until somebody slammed the brakes on it. 

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden testifies before the House Science and Technology committee on Capitol Hill in Washington May 26. (Reuters Photo)

Rep. Pete Olson, ranking Republican on the Space and Aeronautics House Subcommittee, told FoxNews.com that Bolden described the outreach program as part of the administration's space plan during a conversation they had in June. 

"He confirmed it to me," Olson said. The Texas Republican said he thinks the program existed until the "uproar" compelled the administration to rethink it. 

Though Bolden mentioned the outreach months ago during a speech in February, it drew widespread attention after he described it as a "foremost" priority during an interview with Al Jazeera last month. The administration initially stood by the claim, but White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that Bolden misspoke and that the outreach is "not the task of NASA." 

Olson said that to his knowledge no collaboration with Muslim countries actually took place. He said such a collaboration could raise concern about missile technology falling into the wrong hands. But at the same time, he said NASA doesn't have much classified information to share. He described the agency as a cash-strapped arm of the federal government in dire need of some TLC. His main concern with the outreach program was that it would divert badly needed money away from space exploration. 

"The last thing we need to be doing now is spending precious space dollars ... on outreach to any religion," he said. "We need to spend money on human space exploration." 

John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under the Bush administration, echoed Bolden's comments to Al Jazeera in saying NASA now needs international help to do what it once did on its own. 

For instance, a U.S. manufacturer working on a NASA project reportedly is eyeing a Russian booster for its Taurus II launch vehicle. A Russian rocket booster on Saturday was used to launch a U.S. satellite into orbit for DISH Network. 

"That's appalling but that's basically where it is," Bolton said, adding: "I'm not sure at this point ... whether there's much in technology that they have to share." 

He agreed with Olson that the outreach program was probably a bona fide initiative before Bolden spoke up about it. 

"I think (Bolden) was reflecting exactly what he heard the president say," Bolton said. 

Bolden said in the interview that Obama told him before he took the job that he wanted him to do three things: inspire children to learn math and science, expand international relationships and "perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science ... and math and engineering." 

The comments drew fire from conservatives and former NASA officials already on high alert over the administration's move to cut funding for the NASA Constellation program. 

Michael Griffin, NASA administrator under the Bush administration, said NASA was in danger of becoming an "empty shell." 

However, he said that while international cooperation is welcome at NASA it's wrong to say the U.S. needs the aid of other countries to travel beyond low-earth orbit.

Japan. Heavy rainfall...[ 1456 ]

Heavy rain, mudslides threaten homes across western Japan

A home destroyed by a mudslide is pictured in Keisen, Fukuoka Prefecture on July 14, 2010. (Mainichi)

(Mainichi Japan) July 14, 2010

A seasonal rain front brought torrential rain to western Japan beginning in the early hours of July 14, setting records for rainfall around the region.
Floods and mudslides have damaged homes and disrupted transportation services, and the Meteorological Agency has warned local residents to exercise caution as the heavy rain is expected to continue into the evening.

According to the Fukuoka District Meteorological Observatory, the downpour has been caused by warm, wet air from the southwest sweeping into the seasonal rain front hovering in northern Kyushu. In a 24-hour period starting on July 13, Tsushima in Nagasaki Prefecture saw 282 millimeters of rainfall, while Matsuura saw 190 millimeters, setting records in those cities for the month of July.

The swollen Higashitani River advances on homes in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka. (Mainichi)

Officials from the Kitakyushu Municipal Government's disaster headquarters say that 275 households were cut off when the confluence of the Higashitani and Murasaki rivers flooded. The city government issued an evacuation order and requested the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces to provide assistance through Fukuoka's governor.

In the town of Keisen, a landslide crushed a house at the base of a hill at around 8 a.m. on July 14. A 63-year-old female resident of the house was rescued from the ruins and taken to hospital. Mudslides have occurred in other areas, including Sawara Ward, Fukuoka, and some 34,000 households throughout the city were advised to evacuate.

In Yamaguchi Prefecture, a total of 19,416 households in seven cities and towns including Shimonoseki and Hofu were told to evacuate due to possible mudslides. In Kanzaki, Saga Prefecture, where water levels of the Jobara River reached dangerous levels, 3,350 households, or approximately 10,500 people, were advised to evacuate.

According to West Japan Railway Co., operation of the Sanyo Shinkansen bullet train was suspended for two hours from 8:35 a.m. on July 14 between Kokura and Hiroshima stations because of heavy rainfall in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Around the same time, Kyushu Railway Co. suspended operation of the Chikuho and Gotoji lines in Fukuoka Prefecture; the Sanyo, Kagoshima, and Nagasaki lines were also partially suspended.
Effects of the rain were also felt on the road, where parts of the Kyushu and Nagasaki expressways were closed to traffic.

According to the Osaka District Meteorological Observatory, rainfall in the 24-hour period ending at 11 a.m. on July 14 was 117.5 millimeters at Kansai International Airport, 118 millimeters in Kyoto, 72.5 millimeters in Wakayama, 65.5 millimeters in Nara, 60.5 millimeters in Kobe, 35.5 millimeters in Osaka, and 34 millimeters in Otsu.

In the town of Tsuwano in Shimane Prefecture, an 82-year-old man has been missing since the evening of July 13, when he left home saying that he was going to a river. In Nara, two cities in Hiroshima Prefecture, and a town in Tottori Prefecture, a total of four people have sustained weather-related injuries.

Click here for the original Japanese story