Failed NASA launch puts Soviet-era Russian rockets in the spotlight

Fox News

By James Rogers

The explosion of an unmanned U.S. rocket to the International Space Station late Tuesday has shone a spotlight on America’s reliance on overseas space hardware, some of which dates back to Soviet era Russia.

Built by Dulles, Va.-based Orbital Sciences as part of a $1.9 billion contract with NASA, the Antares rocket exploded in a fireball just 6 seconds after liftoff from Wallops Island in Virginia.

It’s too early to say what caused the blast, according to Orbital Sciences and NASA. During a press conference late on Tuesday, however, Orbital Sciences executive vice president Frank Culbertson was quizzed about Orbital’s use of refurbished Russian engine hardware.

“We don’t know whether the engine was involved in this or not,” he said. “That’s something that we will try to determine as quickly as possible.”

Orbital uses AJ26 rocket engines from Aerojet Rocketdyne. The engines are a "commercial derivative" of the NK-33 engine that was initially developed to power the Russian N-1 rocket on a lunar mission in the early 1970s, according to Sacramento, Calif.-based Aerojet.

“Basically, this was an engine that was designed to carry cosmonauts to the moon – a number of them were bought by Aerojet several years ago to be refurbished and ‘Americanized’ and provided to American industry,” explained Culbertson. “It’s an extensively tested engine – it’s very robust and rugged.”

The Orbital Sciences executive added that no “anomalies” or other issues indicating a problem were identified during testing.

Culbertson also acknowledged the difficulties getting hold of rocket hardware, particularly in the U.S. “When you look at it, there are not very many other options around the world, in terms of using power plants of this size, and certainly not in this country, unfortunately,” he said.

Chris Carberry, executive director of Explore Mars, a non-profit organization which aims to advance the goal of sending humans to Mars within the next two decades, told FoxNews.com that the U.S. has to be careful not to become over-reliant on foreign technology to support its space program.

“The U.S. has been taking steps to become less reliant on Russian engines as a result of recent tensions with Russia,” he noted, in an email to FoxNews.com.

The U.S. Air Force, for example, is seeking out alternatives to Russian rocket engines for its satellite launches.

Set against this backdrop, Orbital Sciences’ rival SpaceX has been vocal about the fact that it builds its own rocket engines. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk even poked fun at Orbital Sciences’ engine technology during a 2012 interview.

Last month NASA awarded its highly-anticipated space taxi contract to Boeing and SpaceX, which aims to end the agency’s reliance on Russian technology to transport U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station.

Underlining the failure the Antares launch, however, Russia successfully launched its own unmanned supply ship to the International Space Station early on Wednesday.

John Logsdon, professor emeritus of political science and international affairs at George Washington University's Space Policy Institute, told FoxNews.com that both the Obama and the Bush administrations have not provided adequate funding for "a high-quality U.S. space effort."

Orbital Science's use of old Russian engines also reflects the global character of the space business, according to Logsdon. 

"When Orbital Sciences decided to develop what turned out to be the Antares rocket almost ten years ago, it examined the supply of rocket engines from around the world and decided that the former NK-33 engines, which another U.S. company had already purchased from Russia, gave the best mix of cost and performance," he explained, in an email. "One can criticize that choice in retrospect, but it was a commercial decision, not symptomatic of anything except the U.S. not investing for many years in new propulsion capabilities."

Carberry told FoxNews.com the cause of the Antares blast must be determined as quickly as possible.  The incident’s impact on Orbital Sciences “will depend on how quickly a cause of the failure can be determined and fixed - and how quickly the launch pad can be repaired,” he said.

Roger Franzen, technical manager of the Giant Magellan Telescope at the Australian National University’s Mount Stromlo Observatory just outside Canberra, said that the business of launching rockets is fraught with difficulties.

“As the 4th launch of Antares, it could be reasonably considered as still in the proving stage and most new rocket systems will require a convergence to reliability after bugs are ironed out, despite all the design and test rigour,” he said, in an email to FoxNews.com. “Launching rockets remains a risky business and in the end, every payload is riding on top of a controlled explosion.”

Report: Investigators Now Looking for ‘Mystery Woman’ who Called Malaysia Airlines Pilot Before Takeoff

TheBlaze.com

Investigators are focusing their efforts on discovering who called Malaysia Airlines flight 370’s pilot shortly before takeoff using a prepaid cellphone purchased with a false ID, Britain’s Daily Mail is reporting.

According to the report published late Saturday night, “The captain of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 received a two-minute call shortly before take-off from a mystery woman using a mobile phone number obtained under a false identity.”

The call was one of the last made to or dialed from Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s cellphone on the day of the flight now more than two weeks ago, the Daily Mail reported.

“Investigators are treating it as potentially significant because anyone buying a pay-as-you-go [prepaid] SIM card in Malaysia has to fill out a form giving their identity card or passport number,” the British paper wrote.

More Here >>

15 killed, 160 wounded in ’devastating’ Texas fertilizer plant blast

usnews

Slideshow: Fertilizer plant explosion in Texas

Rod Aydelotte / AP

The huge blast rocked a small Texas town causing an unknown number
of deaths and destroying nearby homes.

Launch slideshow

By M. Alex Johnson, Becky Bratu and John Newland, NBC News

At least five to 15 people were killed and more than 160 wounded when a large fertilizer plant exploded, rocking the small Texas town of West late Wednesday and destroying dozens of homes and businesses, police said. 

Firefighters, including local volunteers, were battling a blaze at the plant at the time of the blast, which caused a ground tremor equivalent to a magnitude-2.1 earthquake, the USGS said, and sent up a plume of toxic smoke.

There was no indication of criminal activity, Waco, Texas, police Sgt. William Patrick Swanton said early Thursday, although the area was being treated as a crime scene as a precautionary measure.

Amateur video demonstrates sheer size and power of explosion that rocked a fertilizer plant in west Texas.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

"It was a huge explosion," he said. "It reached blocks, if not miles, in its devastating effect. ... My guess is going to be that ... we will see the casualty rate rise and the injury rate rise." The blast decimated a five- to-six block radius around the plant, damaging about 50 to 75 homes in the area, a nursing home, and a middle school.

Between three and five firefighters were still missing, he told reporters gathered in the town south of Dallas.

"We know fire was there, we know law enforcement was there assisting with traffic, and I believe there were EMS ...," Swanton said.

Resident Sammy Chavez was injured in the blast but ran to the West Rest Haven nursing home, which was being evacuated before the explosion, to help, he told KXAS.

“I just saw the explosion and then after that I took off running and then I saw the West home, and people you know were buried under the West home, the West home was gone,” Chavez said. “It was gone. The school’s gone. The apartments are gone. It’s horrible.”

Resident Derrick Hurtt was recording the fire from his truck with daughter Khloey Hurtt when he caught the earth-shaking explosion on his camera.

“I’m pretty sure it lifted the truck off the ground. It just blew me over on top of her,” Hurtt said on TODAY. “It all happened so quick that things kind of went black for a moment.”

An explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas Wednesday night leaves hundreds injured as emergency officials respond to the situation.

“It was a pretty horrific scene, some of the injuries we saw,” he said.

Mayor Tommy Muska, who is a firefighter in addition to being mayor, was on his way toward the inferno at the time of the blast but was still a few blocks away.

"It blew my hat off, and then I heard it. I felt it before I heard it," Muska said. "It was a very powerful explosion."

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

There are only about 2,700 residents in West, which lies about 20 miles north of Waco.

"It's a lot of devastation. I've never seen anything like this," McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara told Reuters. "It looks like a war zone with all the debris."

Baptist Medical Center in Waco said 66 patients have been treated at its trauma center. Those with lesser injuries had been discharged, while others had gone into surgery. The hospital said 38 patients were considered "seriously injured" and nine burn victims had been rushed to a Dallas burn center.

Providence Hospital in Waco said it had received 65 patients, many with abrasions and broken bones and some in respiratory distress, apparently because of chemical or smoke inhalation.

It is the “most devastating thing that’s happened to this community,” West Mayor Tommy Muska said at a news conference. "We need your prayers."

Mariah Garcia/photo via NBCDFW.com

Smoke rises from the scene of a fertilizer plant explosion near Waco, Texas, on Wednesday, April 17.

"There’s a lot of people that are hurt. And there’s a lot of people that I’m sure are not going to be here tomorrow. ... It is a cut across our hearts."

With the cause of the fire and subsequent explosion unknown, the area was being treated as a crime scene, with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives leading the investigation, Swanton said.

He added, however, that "nothing at this point indicates that we have had criminal activity."

Initial fears about dangerous fumes from the fire had been allayed by about 6 a.m. ET., with Swanton saying "air quality at this point is not an issue."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry said in a statement that state resources were being made available to local authorities.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of West, and the first responders on the scene," he said.

A White House official said the Obama administration was aware of the situation and monitoring local and state response through the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

NBC News’ Matthew DeLuca and Reuters contributed to this story.

Noción dictatorial: estado de emergencia (La ráfaga politológica del huracán Sandy)

 

Desde el sitio de Ichikawa

Pedro Pablo Bilbao

El ejercicio dictatorial del poder es una de las letanías de discusión sobre el problema cubano. Da pie a que los cubanólogos jueguen con prenociones de totalitarismo, autoritarismo, sultanismo y otras por el estilo, así como a inventar soluciones como elección directa del presidente de la república y otras boberías constitucionales. Sin embargo, la carga práctica del ciclón Sandy al pasar por el oriente cubano hizo columbrar de nuevo que, por debajo de la dictadura corriente, discurre otra en estado latente, que aflora en situaciones críticas y está institucionalizada en la jefatura de Estado y Gobierno con doble facultad de presidir el Consejo de Defensa Nacional y declarar el Estado de Emergencia sin tener que dar cuenta de inmediato, sino «tan pronto las circunstancias lo permitan» a la Asamblea Nacional o al Consejo de Estado» (Artículo 93.h,i). Así como en guerra, en estado de emergencia el Consejo de Defensa Nacional dirige el país y por ello «se constituye y prepara desde tiempo de paz» (Artículo 101).

La dictadura es clave cultural de Occidente —por lo menos desde Roma— para encarar situaciones de aguda crisis. Hasta un comentarista político tan moderado como Walter Lippmann (1889 –1974) consideró esencial el uso de dictatorial powers para enfrentar la Gran Depresión (Ronald Steel, Walter Lippman and the American Century, Little, Brown and Company, 1980, página 300). El orden constitucional cubano formula el estado de emergencia con bastante laxitud para que emerja también un poder dictatorial sans phrase que los cubanalógos —por suerte— no han abordado. El jefe de Estado y Gobierno tiene potestad para declarar estado de emergencia —«en todo el territorio nacional o en una parte de él»— no sólo «en caso o ante la inminencia de desastres naturales o catástrofes», sino también en «otras circunstancias que por su naturaleza, proporción o entidad afecten el orden interior, la seguridad del país o la estabilidad del Estado». Así pueden incluso regularse «de manera diferente» los derechos y deberes fundamentales (Artículo 67).

El Consejo de Defensa Nacional esparce puntualmente semejante poder dictatorial a través de los consejos de defensa provinciales y municipales, así como de las zonas de defensa y los consejos militares de los ejércitos (Artículo 119). En estado de emergencia aflorarían esos dictadores locales que ya se insinúan, como cabezas parlantes con cierto conocimiento del contexto, por entre las coberturas mediáticas de desastres naturales, por ejemplo: el paso de Sandy.

La praxis social disidente no ha generado aún tal reacción dictatorial ni siquiera cuando el Maleconazo (agosto 5, 1994), que Castro mismo calificó como «el único tumulto que se ha creado» (Biografía a dos voces, Debate, 2006, página 303). Las demás situaciones que vienen revolviéndose con frenesí mediático —huelgas de hambre, recogidas de firmas, protestas de cocheros, brotes de cólera o conjuntivitis y tantas otras— han ido resolviéndose con parsimonia. Pero si llegara el estado de emergencia, la reacción del poder dictatorial distará mucho de aprehenderse desde la perspectiva pueril que recircula por la televisión de Miami y concita hasta poses de experto o expertos en pose: ¿Sacará Raúl los tanques a la calle?

Ante las llamadas «situaciones excepcionales» [guerra, movilización general y estado de emergencia], el poder se concentra en el Consejo de Defensa Nacional, formado por el jefe de Estado y Gobierno, el vice presidente primero del Consejo de Estado y cinco miembros más, que son designados por el Consejo de Estado a propuesta del jefe de Estado y Gobierno (Ley 75 – 1995, artículo 26). Así queda concentrado el poder y se vió ya, tras el paso de Sandy, que un gobierno de emergencia —noticiado, con ajuste a objeto, Órgano Económico y Social del Consejo de Defensa Nacional— tomó acuerdos (octubre 25) que son de estricto cumplimiento para el gobierno al que estamos acostumbrados y como tal fueron chequeados en sesión (octubre 27) del Consejo de Ministros. Y al antedicho foco primario de poder —siete personas— acompaña una guirnalda tendida por todo el país con focos locales listos a encenderse.

-Ilustración: José A. Díaz-Peláez, Relámpago (1986) © Museo de Bellas Artes

Captain's favor to head waiter to blame for cruise ship disaster?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

By NBC News, msnbc.com staff and news services

La Repubblica newspaper has published what it says is a telephone conversation between the port authority and the captain of the Costa Concordia on the night the cruise ship veered off course and crashed into rocks off the coast of Tuscany, NBC News reports.

The transcript of the conversation is in the hands of prosecutors.

The captain, Francesco Schettino, had sailed perilously close to the coast so that the Costa Concordia's head waiter could salute his family on land, according to other media reports.

Here is the translation of the conversation between him and the port authority shortly after the accident, according to NBC News:

00:32amThe port authority asks the captain, Francesco Schettino, how many people are left on board. He says 200-300, therefore claiming unrealistically that 4,000 people were evacuated in only 40 minutes. It quickly becomes clear he has already abandoned ship.

Schettino: "Now I'll go back up", he claims. "I came out to check out to figure out what was happening."

PA (Port Authority):"Will you be the last on board?"

Schsttino:"I will be the last on board."

00:42amPA asks how many people still need to be evacuated.

Schettino:"I called and they told me there are about 100 people. I am coordinating the operations. But I can't go back on it. We have abandoned the ship."

PA:"Captain, did you really abandon the ship??"

Schettino:"No, no, I am here, I am coordinating the evacuation."

PA:"Captain, this is an order, now I am in charge. Get back on that ship and coordinate the operations. There are already casualties."

Enzo Russo/AFP/Getty Images

The captain of the Costa Concordia, Francesco Schettino, is escorted by an Italian policeman in Grosseto on Saturday.

Schettino:"How many?"

PA:"You should tell me that! What do you want to do, go home? Now you get back on that ship and tell us what can be done, how many people are still there and what do they need."

Schettino:"OK, OK, I am going."

(The captain will not get back on the ship)

Meanwhile, Italian coast guard officials late Monday raised number of missing from Friday's shipwreck to 29 -- four crew members and 25 passengers, a top coast guard official, Marco Brusco, said on state TV. That total is up from 16 cited by authorities earlier in the day. Bruno didn't immediately explain the rise. Six bodies have been recovered.

Story updated 4:53 p.m. ET: The captain of the luxury cruise ship that capsized after hitting rocks off Italy had sailed perilously close to the coast to "make a bow" to people on a Tuscan island, according to media reports.
Francesco Schettino made the dangerous maneuver so that the Costa Concordia's head waiter could salute his family on land, according to reports.
Schettino denies charges of manslaughter and his lawyer has said his actions had saved many lives. More >>

The Stage Is Being Set For a World Wide #Disaster, Here's Why

Tom Whipple, Post Carbon Institute

The world is beginning to look a lot like the August of 1914 or perhaps the summer of 1939 all over again. This time instead of the great powers of central Europe dragging the rest of us into a European affair, it seems that nearly every corner of the earth is facing some sort of imminent disaster that could combine into a very unpleasant situation.

In America, where we have been living beyond our means for decades, the time has come to pay the piper. Trillion dollar deficits, rising unemployment, printing of money, $4 gasoline, a weakening dollar and entitlements are combining into a grim outlook for our immediate future. Add to this the toll taken by climate change - unprecedented outbreaks of tornadoes, massive floods, and record droughts - throw in a hurricane or two and we are on the way to serious disruptions.

Politically America is split over what do about all this. Many are simply unwilling to admit that numerous forces are trending towards disaster and keep talking about the return to prosperity. Some favor still more tax cuts until there is little left of government, or increased oil well drilling as the universal balm; some favor Keynesian pump-priming and emissions controls. Still others are totally confused by events that are foreign to the way of life they have known and seek solace in demagogic claims to return the country to growth and prosperity.

Read more: http://www.postcarbon.org/article/360425-the-peak-oil-crisis-the-gathering#ixzz1PDcfBLB7

Strategic Relocation - North American Guide to Safe Places

Alex welcomes back to the show Joel Skousen, political commentator non-fiction Survivalist author, and retreat consultant who specializes in preparedness topics, particularly survival retreat and fallout shelter design and construction, as well as in what he calls "strategic relocation." Skousen's book, Strategic Relocation--North American Guide to Safe Places, is now available at the Infowars Store. Alex also covers the latest news and takes your calls.

El ombligo del mundo

Sorprende [???] la escasa atencion que el cataclismo que envuelve a Japon hoy en dia, reciba poca atencion por parte de la blogsfera kubiche y sucedaneos. Envuelta en su propia propia telarana miope y paralizante, e incapaz de remontarse a si misma, rumia sus desgracias y miserias al margen de un mundo convulso en sus intrinsecas dinamicas para el cual un tirano no es mas que alguien autorizado a serlo.

AP

Japan Without Water, Power, Food Amid Fears of Nuclear Meltdowns

Japan struggles with dual disasters

By Chris Meyers and Kim Kyung-hoon

FUKUSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) - Japan battled twin disasters on Sunday, trying to contain a radiation leak at a crippled nuclear plant while rescue teams searched desperately for survivors from a massive earthquake and tsunami.
Thousands huddled over heaters in emergency shelters through another freezing night along the northeastern coast, a scene of devastation after the 8.9 magnitude earthquake sent a 10-meter (33-foot) tsunami surging through towns and cities.
Kyodo news agency said the number of dead or unaccounted for as a result of the quake and tsunami was expected to exceed 1,800. It also reported there had been no contact with around 10,000 people in one small town, more than half its population.
An explosion severely damaged the main building of the nuclear plant on Saturday in the wake of the earthquake, and authorities said radiation had leaked from the facility, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.
The government insisted radiation levels were low, saying the blast had not affected the reactor core container, and the International Atomic Energy Agency said it had been told by Japan that levels "have been observed to lessen in recent hours."
Still, 140,000 people had been evacuated from areas near the plant and another nuclear facility nearby while authorities prepared to distribute iodine to people in the vicinity to protect them from radioactive exposure.
Workers pumped seawater into the reactor to cool it.
"There is radiation leaking out, and since the possibility (of being exposed) is high, it's quite scary," said Masanori Ono, 17, standing in line on Saturday to be scanned for radiation at an evacuation center in Fukushima prefecture.
And a new threat emerged, as Japan's nuclear power safety agency said another reactor at the stricken plant had lost its cooling system and urgently needed water. The number of people exposed to radiation from the plant could reach 160, it said.
The agency had earlier said the nuclear accident was less serious than both the Three Mile Island accident in 1979 and the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
An official at the agency said it has rated the incident at Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO) nuclear plant a 4 according to the International Nuclear and Radiological Event Scale (INES). Three Mile Island was rated 5 while Chernobyl was rated 7 on the 1 to 7 scale, the official said.
DEVASTATED COASTLINE
Along the northeast coast, rescue workers searched through the rubble of destroyed buildings, cars and boats, looking for survivors in hardest-hit areas such as the city of Sendai, 300 km (180 miles) northeast of Tokyo.
Aerial footage showed buildings, trains and even light aircraft strewn like children's toys after powerful walls of seawater swamped areas around Sendai.
In Iwanuma, not far from Sendai, nurses and doctors were rescued on Saturday after spelling S.O.S. on the rooftop of a partially submerged hospital, one of many desperate scenes. In cities and towns, worried relatives checked information boards on survivors at evacuation centers.

Japan: Lost Control Of Three Nuclear Plants

And Good Night, Nuclear Power

Keith Olbermann

This is not to minimize the horror or the suffering of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, but for our purposes here the headline is a stark and inarguable one: Japanese Power Company Says It Has Lost Control Of Three Nuclear Plants.

There is really very little else to say. The perfected, flawless, clean-operating, state-of-the-art, ideal future of energy has in 32 years given us Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and now the nightmare scenario of one company saying there is rising pressure at three of its nuclear facilities and it really doesn’t have a damn thing it can do right now except tell everybody to run.

Time to shut down this nation’s nuclear energy program. For good.Already, nuclear energy apologists are formulating their “yeahbuts” – yeah but… it’s not like we’ll ever have an 8.9 earthquake in the U.S. (check your U.S. Geological Survey and CalTech data for earthquake probabilities in Southern California, The Bay Area, and elsewhere, and you’ll realize the proverbial “Big One” in each area is overdue, in some cases by decades). Yeah but… the real damage here was from the tsunami and we don’t have tsunamis in this country (that’s why Hawaii and Northern California were on alert this morning – after an earthquake halfway around the world). Yeah but… our American safety technology is so much superior and there’s American Exceptionalism and let’s wave the flag and it’s for the economy and and and…

The virtual freeze on nuclear development in this country since the near-hit of Three Mile Island has been a useful stall, but it is only a first step. And instead of enabling the resumption of building such Doomsday Devices here – as he pledged to do a year ago last month – President Obama should officially reinstate the unofficial moratorium, and pledge to begin the process by which we dismantle these sleeping monsters. Nobody with a brain wants to increase our reliance on fossil fuels but if I’m required to choose two of the following options: a) rapid development of truly safe alternatives, b) continuing fossil fuel utilization at current or slightly increased levels and then scrubbing the planet a little harder a little sooner, or c) living in a world where we can hear “Southern California Edison says it has lost control of San Onofre, so if you’re near San Diego, Anaheim, Los Angeles, areas of New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Mexico, please flee” – guess which two I’m taking?

Japan: Nuclear reactor pressure = 2.1 times!!!!!!

Pressure inside Fukushima reactor may have risen to 2.1 times designed capacity: Japan gov't

Tsunami japan 2011 eartquake 8.9 complete footage

Watch as tsunami floodwaters engulf tarmac at the Sendai airport





These images from Japanese TV network NHK shows the terminal, ramp, and runway overtaken with water. No signs of aircraft are visible.

Tokyo's Haneda and Narita airports are reporting no damage and are expected to re-open soon. Chubu Centrair Airport in Nagoya is operating as scheduled according to flight reports.

NEWS: Massive Quake Unleashes Tsunami on Japan


Images courtesy of Xinhua Press/Corbis.

Fire destroys Slumdog Millionaire actor's home

From The Hindu

REUTERS

‘Lost everything': Massive fire at slums near Bandra Railway Station in Mumbai on Friday (left). Rubina Ali sits amid the ruins of the Gharib Nagar slum in Mumbai on Saturday.


MUMBAI: Rubina Ali, the child artist who played the role of young Latika in the Oscar-winning film ‘ Slumdog Millionaire', spent a sleepless night on Friday at the Bandra railway station after a massive fire gutted down her house and many other shanties in front of her eyes in Gharibnagar. “I saw the entire area up in flames. We ran away with only a few things that my parents could manage picking up,” she told The Hindu here on Saturday.

“I lost everything in that fire. The awards that I had won for the film, the newspaper clippings, some expensive dresses that I had worn during the Oscar ceremony, my school uniform, books — everything is gone,” she said.

What happened

Elaborating on the turn of events, she said, “I was watching TV with my family yesterday [Friday] night when we came to know about the fire. My mother picked up a few things and we ran away to Bandra station,” she said.

“We could manage pulling out the TV and some clothes,” Rubina's father Rafiq Asgar Ali Qureshi said.

“I initially thought people were joking when they told me about the fire. I was sitting on the stairs of the skywalk. When I myself saw the flames, I came home running to inform my family,” he said.

Rubina's mother Munni Qureshi could barely manage to speak. She kept lying down as she was feeling dizzy due to the frenzy.

Rubina, a class III student, said her friends and teachers had come to meet her in the morning. “They wanted to help me,” she said.

She said that the family had been offered a flat in Santacruz but they did not shift there. “It was too far for us. So my father said we will wait. We have now got a flat in Bandra west. It will take us two to three months to shift there as it is not yet ready,” she said.

She said that the officials of the ‘Jai Ho' trust (started by the ‘Slumdog Millionaire' film-makers) had called her father and talked to her about her well-being. “There are so many people pouring in to help everyone here,” she said.

When asked if she expected any help from 'Bollywood' and what was her message for the industry, she said, “Please help everyone in the basti.”

Meanwhile, the government of Maharashtra has announced that Rs. 1000 will be given to each victim, with a cap of Rs. 5000 per family.

“The government has also instructed the authorities to conduct a survey of the area on a war-footing. We have provided mobile toilets and water-tankers here to facilitate the people. Not only the government, but the non-governmental agencies have also set up relief camps here. The government provided breakfast and lunch to around 3000 people today,” Arif Naseem Khan, Guardian Minister of Suburban Mumbai, told the media during his visit to Gharibnagar.

Samajwadi Party leader Abu Azmi has demanded timely shelter to the victims of the fire. The fire which broke out at around 8.20 p.m. on Friday was extinguished completely on Saturday at around 6 a.m., fire brigade officials said. “26 fire engines and 16 water-tankers were pressed into service,” they said. “21 residents and four fire brigade personnel sustained injuries.”

New Zealand city of Christchurch hit by strong earthquake

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand's quake-ravaged Christchurch city was struck by a strong earthquake causing further damage after a strong quake hit the city last year, local media reported on Tuesday.
The quake was measured at magnitude 6.3 by local scientists with a focal depth of 5 kilometers, 10 kilometers southwest of the country's second biggest city.
Local media reported filing cabinets and computers being thrown from desks, damage to buildings, and a city bridge made impassable.
The city was struck by a force 7.1 quake last September which caused widespread serious damage but only minor injuries.
The region has been struck by thousands of aftershocks since the original quake.
There were reports of further debris falling from already damaged buildings and people were evacuated from some offices in the central business district as checks were made.
New Zealand, which sits between the Pacific and Indo-Australian tectonic plates, records on average more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which about 20 would normally top magnitude 5.0.
(Reporting by Gyles Beckford; Editing by Balazs Koranyi)

Nasa:25th anniversary of Challenger explosion

Ucrania se complace en anunciar "Turismo a #Chernobyl"

Independientemente de Chernobyl Decay and Deformed/ WARNING: Video contains graphic images.
Ucrania se complace en anunciarles 

Alienigenas: "Prepararse para lo peor"

La Philosophical Transactions de la Royal Society, es una revista científica publicada por la Real Sociedad inglesa. Fue establecida en 1665, por lo que se considera como la primera revista del mundo dedicada exclusivamente a la ciencia, y se ha mantenido su publicación sin interrupcion desde entonces.

El asunto es que tan prestigiosa publicacion acaba de hacer un llamado a la comunidad internacional y en especial a la ONU, para que se conforme un grupo de trabajo dedicado exclusivamente a los asuntos alienigenas: "Debemos estar preparados para lo peor". Tal y como resena el periodico espanol ABC Científicos piden un plan mundial ante un contacto violento con extraterrestres.

Que saben o pretenden saber los editores de tan prestigiosa publicacion permanece en secreto.  Lo que si queda claro al menos para mi, es que estas cosas hay que cogerlas con la venia del choteo criollo, tal y como excelentemente hicieron "Los Aragones".

Chernobyl Decay and Deformed/ WARNING: Video contains graphic images.

WARNING: Video contains graphic images.

Chernobyl 25 Years Later/ Pictures

Chernobyl 25 Years Later >> TotallyCoolPix