NASA image of the Day, July 20th .. [ 1494 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Celebrating Apollo 11

 

NASA and Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) officials joined with flight controllers to celebrate the successful conclusion of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission in the Mission Control Center. 

 

From left foreground Dr. Maxime A. Faget, MSC Director of Engineering and Development; George S. Trimble, MSC Deputy Director; Dr. Christopher C. Kraft Jr., MSC Director fo Flight Operations; Julian Scheer (in back), Assistant Adminstrator, Office of Public Affairs, NASA HQ.; George M. Low, Manager, Apollo Spacecraft Program, MSC; Dr. Robert R. Gilruth, MSC Director; and Charles W. Mathews, Deputy Associate Administrator, Office of Manned Space Flight, NASA HQ. 

 

Image Credit: NASA

Τρίτη, 20 Ιούλιος 2010 7:00:00 πμ

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Lockerbie bomber "should have died in jail",..[ 1493 ]

David Cameron: 'Lockerbie bomber should have died in jail'

Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi "should have died in jail", David Cameron said today as he sought to calm renewed criticism in the United States of his release amid fresh questions over the role played by BP.

Telegraph co.uk., 2:39PM BST 20 Jul 2010

Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset al-Megrahi "should have died in jail", David Cameron said today. Photo: PA
 

The Prime Minister, making his first official visit to Washington since taking office, said the decision to free al-Megrahi had been "profoundly misguided" but denied that the beleaguered oil giant had been in any way involved.

Earlier, No 10 said that Mr Cameron had now agreed to meet a group of US senators who are pressing for a new investigation into the case.

Previously officials had said that Mr Cameron was unable to find time for talks with the senators in his "very full schedule" and had instead offered them a meeting with the British ambassador Sir Nigel Sheinwald.

With the political firestorm over BP in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico threatening to dominate his visit, the Prime Minister again sought to distance himself from the decision last year of the Scottish Government to allow al-Megrahi to return to Libya.

"I will say to them (the senators) that I agree that the decision to release al-Megrahi was wrong. I said it was wrong at the time," he told National Public Radio in Washington.

"It was the Scottish Government that took that decision. They took it after proper process and what they saw as the right, compassionate reasons. I just happen to think it was profoundly misguided.

"He was convicted of the biggest mass murder and in my view he should have died in jail. I said that very, very clearly at the time; that is my view today.

"Of course BP has got to do everything necessary to cap the oil well, to clean up the spill, to pay compensation. I have met with BP and I know they want to do that and will do that.

"But let's be clear about who released al-Megrahi... it was a Government decision in the UK. It was the wrong decision. It was not the decision of BP - it was the decision of Scottish ministers."

Jews fight to change their surnames..[ 1492 ]

Jews pressured into adopting 'French-sounding' surnames fight to change them back

French-Jewish families who were pressured into changing their names to sound more Gallic after the Second World War are demanding that a law be overturned to allow them to change them back again.

By Henry Samuel in Paris
Telegraph co.uk., Published: 7:00AM BST 20 Jul 2010

A synagogue in France: French-Jewish families were pressured into changing their names to sound more Gallic after the Second World War Photo: ALAMY

Shamed by the deportation of Jews during the Second World War, France sought to integrate and protect Jewish emigres by urging them to change their names to sound more French.

But more than a half-century later, French Jews wishing to reclaim their original names have come up against an administrative brick wall thanks to an obscure law banning people from changing their names to "foreign sounding" ones.

Among them is Jeremie Fazel, a 32-year-old Parisian who realised he was no longer happy keeping his family's "Frenchified" name when paying his respects at his grandfather's grave.
"The name on the headstone was Benjamin Fazel. It was my grandfather's name, but not the one he was born with. For me, it was very symbolic because I felt like it wasn't him," he told the Los Angeles Times. "It was then I decided I had to change my name."
Mr Fazel, a documentary maker and a film editor, is the grandson and son of Jewish emigres from Poland. He says he is proud of his French identity, but sees no reason why he cannot be called Jeremie Fajnzylber.

"Everyone needs to know where they come from. How can it be in this day and age that we cannot have a foreign sounding name - in a country with a president called Sarkozy?" he asked.
Mr Fazel is one of a number of French Jews trying to get France's State Council to allow them to reclaim the family names their parents and grandparents dropped after the war.

The problem lies with a clause from the French civil code adopted after the war stipulating that family names are "immutable" and must be continued. The civil code has no problem with "foreign sounding" names being changed to those deemed more French, but declares the "impossibility" of reverting.

Although under no legal obligation to give up their family names, the thousands of Jews who arrived in France after the war were encouraged to do so. Many agreed, still fearful of a rebirth of anti-Semitism in a country that sent 76,000 Jews to concentration camps.
As a result, the Rubensteins became the Raimbauds; the Sztejnsznajders became the Stenays; the Frankensteins the Franiers and the Fajnzylbers the Fazels.

Mr Fazel's grandfather was the only member of his family to have survived the war and settled in France after failing to get a visa for the US.
After being naturalised, he was asked if he wanted to 'Frenchify' his name.
"He didn't really agree but was under the impression there was no real choice," said his grandson.

Today, an organisation called La Force du Nom (The Strength of the Name) has taken the plight of more than 30 French Jews to the justice ministry. Last month, it submitted its first requests for reversions of names, which the ministry said it will examine on a case-by-case basis.

Céline Masson, a senior university lecturer in psychoanalysis, whose original family name was Hassan, and Nathalie Felzenszwalbe, a lawyer whose family kept its name, are leading the fight.
Mrs Masson said her father changed his name after arriving in Strasbourg and coming up against latent anti-Semitism.

"He set up a furniture business but some customers never came back when they learned he was Jewish," she told the Daily Telegraph.
She said there were still problems linked to names in France to this day.

"There is still a sort of unspoken discomfort about foreign sounding names – not just Jewish but Arab ones. The French don't really like complicated names 'from elsewhere'," she said.
Just one result in her organisation's favour could set a legal precedent and result in a flood of cases, she added. A first ruling is expected in September.

UK Police..( 1491 )

Only one in 10 police 'visible'

Chief Inspector of Constabulary Denis O'Connor said police forces must cut costs while maintaining frontline numbers

Just one in every 10 police officers is visibly available to the public despite year-on-year budget increases over the past four decades, a police watchdog has warned.

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Greek journalist murdered..[ 1490 ]

Greek journalist murdered outside his home in Athens

Athens., (Xinhua)17:15, July 19, 2010

A 37-year-old Greek journalist was murdered outside his home in the suburb of Athens on Monday morning, local media reported.

Sokratis Giolias, was shot dead by two or three gunmen who were waiting at the entrance of his apartment. Earlier, someone rang the bell of Giolias' apartment to tell him that burglars were trying to steal his car.


Policemen estimated that Giolias was shot at least 20 times.


The journalist's wife is in a state of shock and can not testify, but at least one eyewitness told the police that the murderers escaped with an old, burnt car which was reported stolen two days ago, said the local media.


Giolias ran a very popular news blog in Greece over the past few years.


People were generally shocked as murders of journalists are not common in Greece. President of Journalists of Athens Daily Newspapers Panos Sobolos condemned the attack, calling it a "mob-like hit."


Source: Xinhua