Deploying a Set from the International Space Station ...[ 3734 ]

Deploying a Set of CubeSats From the International Space Station 

Deploying a Set of CubeSats From the International Space Station

A set of NanoRacks CubeSats is photographed by an Expedition 38 crew member after deployment by the NanoRacks Launcher attached to the end of the Japanese robotic arm. The CubeSats program contains a variety of experiments such as Earth observations and advanced electronics testing. International Space Station solar array panels are at left. Earth's horizon and the blackness of space provide the backdrop for the scene.
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Two sets of CubeSats were deployed late Wednesday, Feb. 26 and early Thursday, Feb. 27, leaving just two more launches to go of the 33 CubeSats that were delivered to the station in January by Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus cargo ship. The latest CubeSats were sent on their way at 8:50 p.m. EST Wednesday and 2:40 a.m. Thursday. 
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CubeSats are a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites and have small, standardized sizes to reduce costs. Two final batches of CubeSats are set for deployment at 11:20 p.m. Thursday and 2:30 a.m. Friday, but more are scheduled to be delivered to the station on the second Orbital commercial resupply mission in May.
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Image Credit: NASA

Τουρκια: "πόλεμος Ερντογάν – Γκιουλέν..[ 3733 ]

«Φουντώνει» ο πόλεμος Ερντογάν – Γκιουλέν

Real.gr / 1/3/2014 3:24:00 μμ | Διεθνή

Το τουρκικό κοινοβούλιο ψήφισε νόμο σύμφωνα με τον οποίο μπαίνει «λουκέτο» τα ιδιωτικά σχολεία του εχθρού του Ερντογάν, Φεθουλάχ Γκιουλέν, τον οποίο ο Τούρκος πρωθυπουργός κατηγορεί ότι βρίσκεται πίσω από τη δημοσιοποίηση του σκανδάλου με τις μίζες στην Τουρκία. 
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Τα σχολεία αυτά είναι ιδιαίτερα σημαντική πηγή εισοδήματος για τον ηγέτη του θρησκευτικού τάγματος Χιζμέτ. Ο νόμος αναφέρει ότι θα πρέπει να έχουν κλείσει μέχρι την 1η Σεπτεμβρίου 2015.

Εκατομμύρια παιδιά φοιτούν σε αυτά τα φροντιστήρια, προκειμένου να προετοιμαστούν για τις εισαγωγικές εξετάσεις.

Ο Ερντογάν έχει δηλώσει ότι το κλείσιμο αυτών των σχολείων είναι μέρος ενός σχεδίου για την μεταρρύθμιση του «πληγωμένου» εκπαιδευτικού συστήματος της Τουρκίας.

Ο κ. Γκιουλέν, ο οποίος ζει αυτοεξόριστος στις ΗΠΑ, δεν μετέχει σε κανένα κομματικό σχηματισμό, αλλά θεωρείται ότι έχει μεγάλη επιρροή σε θεσμούς- κλειδιά χάρη στο παγκόσμιο δίκτυο του που διαθέτει από ιδιωτικά σχολεία ως μέσα ενημέρωσης.

Αν και υπήρξε υποστηρικτής του κ. Ερντογάν, διαφωνούσε κατά καιρούς με αυτόν σε διάφορα ζητήματα εξωτερικής και εσωτερικής πολιτικής, αλλά οι σχέσεις τους «πάγωσαν» όταν ο κ. Ερντογάν κινήθηκε για να κλείσει τα σχολεία του Χιζμέτ, του θρησκευτικού τάγματος του Γκιουλέν.

After forest fires now rains torment of S.California ...[ 3732 ]

After forest fires and drought, now rains torment Southern California

By Kyung Lah and Ben Brumfield, CNN

March 1, 2014 -- Updated 1300 GMT (2100 HKT)

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CNN) -- Mario Vazquez grabbed his dog and got out of the way, as a stream of water and mud came gushing on to his streets Friday.

Since California has been in the middle of its worst drought in 100 years, it would seem that the sight of rain would be good news.

But in Glendora and other towns in Los Angeles County, it wasn't.

The rain has been much needed, but this deluge -- coming down at more than an inch an hour at times -- has landed on bone-dry hills scorched by recent wildfires in and around Los Angeles.

With little vegetation left to stop them, walls of water have gushed into valleys below. They have spewed mud and debris into quiet residential streets, turning them into thick, brown creeks.

  California storms

More could hit before Saturday is up, the National Weather Service says. It has placed Los Angeles and Ventura counties under a flash flood watch.

By the time it's over up to six inches will have landed on the foothills of Los Angeles County and as much as 10 inches on the ridge line.

Weather weirdness

The storms brought the first rains since a powerful, persistent weather system collapsed that was keeping California parched. The same system was also at the root of a lot of strange weather around the globe -- all the way to Russia.

A massive, sturdy ridge of high-pressure air had hovered over California, blustering rain clouds away. At the same time, it pushed the jet-stream way up into Canada and distorted it, said weather environmentalist Bill Lapenta.

The stream then whipped south, pulling icy cold down into the Deep South, where it triggered snow storms. Then it dragged them up to Northeast, before crossing the Atlantic and bringing floods to Britain.

It is also brought the unseasonably warm weather at the Olympic Games in Sochi, Lapenta said.

The heavy California rains will not do much to alleviate the drought, according to the CNN Weather Center.

A lot of the water is flowing right back out to sea, and the drought's effects have been enormous. Water reservoirs are running at minimum levels.

For the first time in its history, the California Water Project - a system of canals and reservoirs that provide water to two thirds of the people in the state's Central Valley -- set its allocation for all of them to zero.

Fire then water

Floating in Glendora's silt were chunks of burned wood.

Just weeks ago, flames were consuming the hills looming above them. Now, a thousand homes in the valley have been ordered to evacuate, for fear of flash floods.

Besides his dog, Vazquez left almost everything he owns behind to face the sludge.

"I got my laptop," he said. "It's going to be fine. It's all replaceable."

It was probably quick thinking on his part. The rising waters caught many off guard.

"It wasn't like this 20 minutes ago," said resident Ryan Friend. He seemed aghast, as he watched a stream of thick brown pour down a street.

Though they say the situation is dangerous, authorities have reported no deaths or injuries.

But there have been close calls.

Sick of weather

Rescuers found two people clinging to life in trees inundated by the rapidly rising torrents of the Los Angeles River, flush with fresh rain.

Then came the dogs. Firefighters carefully guided them down from the branches into a rescue boat below.

Kim and Dennis Kralik decided not to heed the evacuation orders. Now they're stuck in the mud in Glendora, with streets too full of silt to drive on.

They and other residents have been lucky so far.

But mud from the streets is beginning to ooze over into yards, pools and houses. It has damaged two homes in Glendora so far, police chief Tim Staub said.

The Kraliks are feeling fatigued.

"We've had fire, drought, now torrential rain," Kim Kralik said. "Pretty much everything."

They are sick of unpredictable weather.

CNN's Greg Morrison contributed to this report

Πρωθυπουργός της Φινλανδίας : «η κρίση χρειάζεται υπεύθυνες πολιτικές..[ 3731 ]

Κατάινεν σε Σαμαρά: «Η Ελλάδα έχει πετύχει αξιοθαύμαστα αποτελέσματα»

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Με τον Φινλανδό ομόλογό του, Γίρκι Κατάινεν συναντήθηκε σήμερα στο Μέγαρο Μαξίμου, ο πρωθυπουργός Αντώνης Σαμαράς.

Ο κ.Σαμαράς δήλωσε ότι είχε την ευκαιρία να συζητήσει με τον κ. Κατάινεν και να επιβεβαιώσει το άριστο επίπεδο των σχέσεων των δύο χωρών .

Πρόσιεσε ότι αρμοδιότητα της ελληνικής προεδρίας είναι να φέρει την Ευρωπαϊκή Ένωση και τους θεσμούς της πιο κοντά στον Ευρωπαίο Πολίτη καθώς, όπως είπε, «η Ευρώπη είναι προοπτική για το μέλλον των λαών της».

Όσον αφορά στην χώρα μας, ο πρωθυπουργός τόνισε ότι η Ελλάδα επιστρέφει φέτος στην ανάπτυξη.

Από την πλευρά του ο πρωθυπουργός της Φινλανδίας είπε ότι «η κρίση χρειάζεται υπεύθυνες πολιτικές όπως ακριβώς κάνετε εσείς εδώ. Η χώρα σας έχει επιτύχει αξιοθαύμαστα αποτελέσματα παρόλο που ακόμα η μάχη δεν εχει κερδηθεί».

«Πρέπει να ενθαρρύνω τους έλληνες να αντιμετωπίσουν με ανοιχτό μυαλό και να συνεχίσουν τις διαρθρωτικές αλλαγές» πρόσθεσε ο Φινλανδός πρωθυπουργός.

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Πηγή: imerisia.gr

Venezuela's middle-class revolt...[ 3730 ]

Venezuela's growing middle-class revolt

It began with students, but the nearly month-long street protests have moved into the suburbs

By Mary Mena, special to, CBC News Posted: Mar 01, 2014 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Mar 01, 2014 5:00 AM ET

An opposition demonstrator runs with a makeshift shield during clashes with police at Altamira Square, across the street from the Canadian Embassy, in Caracas on Thursday. (Tomas Bravo / Reuters)

On Monday, Venezuelans woke up to find barricades of pipes, trash and branches burning in the streets.
Improvised roadblocks, cutting off neighbourhoods from each other and from the central core of certain cities, appeared simultaneously in eight states of Venezuela, most of them in middle-class areas, and show no signs of letting up.
Even the start of a week-long national holiday on Thursday, to culminate in the March 5 anniversary of former president Hugo Chavez's death from cancer, has not stopped the demonstrations — or the government's tear-gas response.

• Carnival won't stop demonstrations, protestors say

What began almost a month ago as a student protest over a sexual assault in the western state of Táchira has now spread throughout the country and into the wealthier communities where people are fed up with rampant crime, a shortage of things like toilet paper and inflation running at over 50 per cent.
Maria Lopez, a 37-year-old accountant, explained the reasons why she joined the students. "I'm tired of queuing to buy, I'm tired of kidnappings and the violence that continues each day."
Nancy Garcia, a college professor, said that her two children came out to protest, and after seeing what happened to other young students she decided to join as well.

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The month-long clashes between, initially, the student demonstrators and the security forces of President Nicolas Maduro have left, as of Friday,17 people dead directly from the violence and over 260 injured, the government said.
But to get the full idea of how ubiquitous these protests have become, look at Altamira, a small but wealthy enclave in the capital Caracas that has become a hotbed of opposition activism.
Just a few steps separates the Canadian Embassy in Caracas from Altamira Square, the place that, for almost three consecutive weeks, has been a centre of protest, tear gas and demands by students and middle-class professionals alike.
On the wall of the embassy is a hand-painted "No to dictatorship" that stands like a silent witness to the struggles of the day.

Neighbour against neighbour

In Caracas, the road blocks have left some neighbourhoods entirely cut off from the rest of the city, and they have divided the country as well – neighbour against neighbour in some instances.
Those taking over the streets say they are doing this because they have nowhere else to raise their grievances. But the tactic is not sitting well with everyone.
"It's not fair the closing of the streets," says Ligia Alvarez, 62. "I agree with the demonstrations. But what is the point if we are hostages in our own homes."
The fact that these demonstrations are mostly taking place in wealthier neighbourhoods is also pitting rich against poor to some extent.
"There is a little group, a little rich group, but they are not the majority," says Omar Gutierrez a resident of Petare, one of Caracas's toughest slums. "We want peace and quiet and move forward with this government that has brought us prosperity."

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro gestures to his red-shirted supporters during a rally in Caracas on Feb. 18. Tens of thousands of opposition protesters also flooded the streets of Venezuela's capital that day after troops arrested opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez. (Reuters)

The wealth gap in this county is the dividing line that brought the late Hugo Chavez and his Bolivarian Revolution to power 15 years ago.
It is a revolution his chosen successor, Maduro, is hoping to continue. But he won a six-year term last April with only 50.6 per cent of the vote, just beating out Governor Henrique Capriles at 49.1 per cent, and it seems clear that the election battles are nowhere near being resolved.
President Maduro has denounced the protests, the worst since he took power 11 months ago, as "a fascist coup d'etat," and has been blaming his traditional enemies, Washington and former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, for stirring things up.
For his part, Uribe has called the government crackdown as bad as what is taking place in Syria.

Shuttering the media

The government is also cracking down on the media.
National television is not showing many of the disturbances. And the signal from international news network NTN24, based in Colombia, was shut off national subscription television by direct order of Maduro himself.
He has also taken legal action to boot CNN, one of the few North American outlets in Venezuela, out the country and restrict its reporting.
Two weeks ago, following some of the worst of the initial violence, Twitter reported that the government was blocking some of the images being tweeted by its users.
The government denied the accusation. Twitter penetration in Venezuela is the fourth-highest in the world.
According to the human rights group Foro Penal Venezolano, 732 people have been arrested across the country and 33 tortured.

Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez is shoved into a National Guard armoured vehicle in Caracas on Feb. 18. A U.S.-educated economist, he was charged with fomenting violence in connection with the street protests and turned himself over to police. (Jorge Silva / Reuters)

The government denies any torture, but the accusations from both sides are mounting.
Last week, the international group Human Rights Watch said, "Venezuelan security forces have used excessive and unlawful force against protesters on multiple occasions since February 12, including beating detainees and shooting at crowds of unarmed people."
Following the first protests on Feb. 5, there were accusations that pro-government, pro-Chavista groups called colectivos, basically armed militia on motorcycles who had played a role in bringing Chavez to power, attacked civilians and broke into private residences.
In the spike in violence surrounding the massive Feb. 12 march in Caracas, a well-known colectivo leader was shot and killed during a counter-demonstration, and the group was blamed for starting the violence in which two people were killed.

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