NASA Image of the Day, Aug 19th..[ 1669 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Sailing Amongst the Stars

Making the stuff of science fiction into reality, NASA engineers are testing solar sails--a unique propulsion technology that one day could enable deep space missions. 

 

Much like the wind pushing a sailboat through water, solar sails rely on sunlight to propel vehicles through space. 

 

The sail captures constantly streaming solar particles, called photons, with giant sails built from a lightweight material. 

Over time, the buildup of these particles provides enough thrust for a small spacecraft to travel in space. 

 

This image is of a four-quadrant solar sail system, measuring 66 feet on each side that is being tested in the world's largest vacuum chamber at NASA's Glenn Research Center at Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio. 

 

Image Credit: NASA

Πέμπτη, 19 Αύγουστος 2010 7:00:00 πμ

56,000 U.S., troops remain in Iraq..[ 1668 ]

U.S. says troop numbers in Iraq at 56,000

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Brigadier General Nickolas P. Tooliatos, deputy commanding general for First Theater Sustainment Command in Kuwait, salutes as the last U.S. combat troops leave Iraq and cross the border into Kuwait in this August 18, 2010 video frame grab.

Credit: Reuters/Department of Defense/Handout

By Ross Colvin

WASHINGTON | Wed Aug 18, 2010 11:33pm EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. troop strength in Iraq is 56,000, a senior Obama administration official said on Wednesday evening, correcting his earlier statement the troop level was down to the 50,000 level Washington has targeted for the end of the month.

"I had incorrect information," the official said.

NBC News reported earlier on Wednesday night that the last U.S. combat troops had left Iraq. An NBC reporter traveling with the 4th Stryker Brigade drove through the night and arrived in Kuwait just before 4 a.m. local time on Thursday, with TV footage showing the convoy rolling through the border gates and the gate shutting as the last vehicle passed through.

That report set off a flurry of media interest in the drawdown, which will be a milestone in the seven-year war launched under Republican President George W. Bush.

But it appeared that even if a combat brigade was on its way out of the country, it did not mean the U.S. combat mission was ending ahead of target.

The Obama administration has said it expects to draw down troop levels to 50,000 by August 31, ending the combat mission and leaving those who remain to train Iraqi armed forces and police units.

Meeting that deadline will mean President Barack Obama is on target to keep his assurances to Americans that all U.S. forces will be out of Iraq by the end of 2011, even as he struggles with a difficult conflict in Afghanistan. Obama faces a war-weary U.S. public as his fellow Democrats seek to hold on to their control of the U.S. Congress in elections in November.

Bush launched the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 that ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. But the war became unpopular among Americans as U.S. deaths mounted. As of Wednesday, the Defense Department said there were 4,419 U.S. military deaths since the invasion.

While violence has dipped sharply since the height of sectarian warfare from 2006-2007, Iraq is still extremely fragile and its leaders have not resolved a number of politically explosive issues that could easily trigger renewed fighting.

Obama has said not a single U.S. service member will remain in Iraq come January 1, 2012, and with opinion polls showing Americans tired of nearly a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, any decision to extend U.S. military involvement in Iraq would be enormously risky for Obama, who is up for re-election in 2012.

He would almost certainly face a backlash from Democrats in Congress and from the left wing of his party, which is already disenchanted with him.

The war in Iraq has gone on longer than the U.S. Civil War, World War One and World War Two.

(Editing by Peter Cooney and Philip Barbara)

NASA Image of the Day, Aug 18th..[ 1667 ]

The latest NASA "Image of the Day" image.

Into the Night

Researchers do not yet know what is lighting up IRAS 05437+2502, a small, faint nebula that spans only 1/18th of a full moon toward the constellation of the Taurus. 

Particularly enigmatic is the bright upside-down V that defines the upper edge of this floating mountain of interstellar dust. 

This ghost-like nebula involves a small star-forming region filled with dark dust that was first noted in images taken by the IRAS satellite in infrared light in 1983. 

This recently released image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows many new details, but has not uncovered a clear cause of the bright sharp arc. 

Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble, R. Sahai (JPL)
Τετάρτη, 18 Αύγουστος 2010 7:00:00

The last USA combat troops have left Iraq ..[ 1666 ]

Last US combat troops leave Iraq

 

The Pentagon said the US still had a long-term commitment in Iraq

BBC., 19 August 2010 Last updated at 00:15 GMT

The last American combat troops in Iraq have left the country, the US military has said.

The 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division began crossing by land into Kuwait in the early hours of the morning, said a spokesman.

Their departure comes ahead of a 31 August deadline for an end to the US combat mission in the country.

But the Pentagon has not confirmed that the move marks an early end to combat operations.

Most of the 4,000 Stryker Brigade troops drove out of Iraq in a convoy of armoured vehicles, say reports.

The journey along potentially hostile desert roads had been carefully planned for weeks.

Some of the brigade remained behind to complete logistical and administrative tasks but would leave the country by air later in the day, the Associated Press reported.

The BBC's Jane O'Brien in Washington says the brigade's departure after seven and a half years is a significant step.

But the Pentagon has stressed that the official end to Operation Iraqi Freedom - the US military mission in the country - remains scheduled for the end of the month.

Some 50,000 US troops are set to remain in Iraq until the end of 2011 to advise Iraqi forces and protect US interests.

Those soldiers will be armed but will only use their weapons in self-defence or at the request of the Iraqi government.

State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said the US involvement in Iraq was far from over, but that it would be less intrusive and more civilian focused.

"We are ending the war ... but we are not ending our work in Iraq. We have a long-term commitment to Iraq," he told MSNBC.

Mr Crowley said the US had a trillion dollar investment to protect in the country and also wanted to see a significant return on the 4,415 troops who have lost their lives in the conflict.

Naomi Campbell. told the truth..[ 1665 ]

Mandela charity trustee resigns over Campbell diamonds

 

Mr Ractliffe said he had kept the diamonds in order to protect the reputation of Nelson Mandela

CNN., 18 August 2010 Last updated at 22:24 GMT 

The former head of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, Jeremy Ractliffe, has resigned from the charity's board after admitting he secretly kept diamonds received from the model Naomi Campbell.

Mr Ractliffe admitted he had the gems only when Ms Campbell mentioned him at the war crimes trial of former Liberian leader Charles Taylor two weeks ago.

Prosecutors say she received the diamonds from Mr Taylor in 1997.

Mr Ractliffe had apologised for his secrecy, the charity's board said.

The former chief executive handed the diamonds over to South African police after Campbell testified that she had given three stones to Ractliffe because she wanted them to go to charity.

Mr Ractliffe said he had kept the stones, which could link him to illegal "blood diamonds", because he wanted to protect the reputation of Mr Mandela and his charity.

Stepping down from his role as trustee, Mr Ractliffe apologised for causing "possible reputational risk" to the charity by not informing his colleagues of his receipt of the diamonds, the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund said in a statement.

'Suggestion'

At the trial, Ms Campbell said she was given some "dirty-looking stones" after a 1997 charity dinner hosted by South Africa's former President Nelson Mandela where Mr Taylor was also a guest.

She said two unidentified men appeared at her room and gave her the stones.

She told the court she did not have proof they came from Mr Taylor and had given them to Mr Ractliffe because she wanted the stones to go to charity.

Charles Taylor

"Naomi suggested they could be of some benefit to the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund - but I told her I would not involve the NMCF in anything that could possibly be illegal," Mr Ractliffe said in a statement two weeks ago.

He said he took the diamonds as he thought it might be illegal for her to take them out of the country.

"In the end I decided I should just keep them," he added.

Mr Taylor is accused of using illegally mined diamonds to secure weapons for Sierra Leone's RUF rebels during the 1991-2001 civil war - a charge he denies.

Prosecutors say that from his seat of power in Liberia, Mr Taylor also trained and commanded the rebels.

The rebels were notoriously brutal, frequently hacking off the hands and legs of civilians.