Category: news

Colonel Gaddafi shows no sign of stepping down despite widespread protests

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Arsenal winger Theo Walcott will miss Sunday’s Carling Cup final against Birmingham after spraining his ankle in the 1-0 victory over Stoke.

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Europe’s sophisticated space freighter, Johannes Kepler, is set to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).

The unmanned robotic truck is delivering new supplies of fuel, food, air, and equipment to the orbiting platform’s astronauts.

Kepler is totally automatic – it will use its own computerised systems to make the attachment.

Ground controllers and the station’s astronauts will not intervene unless there is a problem.

Contact with the Zvezda module on the rear of the ISS is timed for about 1547 GMT.

A successful docking will clear the way for the American space shuttle Discovery to lift off from Earth.

It, too, has a date with the ISS, and will carry up six visiting astronauts and a smart humanoid robot.

Kepler was launched from Europe’s Kourou spaceport in French Guiana last Wednesday.

Ever since, the truck has been on a path to chase down the station, which sweeps around the Earth at 27,000km/h.

The European Space Agency reports that Kepler has flown flawlessly since its picture-perfect launch from South America.

“The ‘Cheshire cat smile’ hasn’t got any smaller,” said Bob Chesson, Esa’s head of human spaceflight operations.

“This really is an amazing mission so far. We haven’t had any anomalies. It’s just perfect,” he told BBC News.

The truck – also known by its generic name of Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) – is the second such ship launched to the ISS by Europe.

The first, nicknamed Jules Verne, completed its mission in 2008.

The ATVs have the most advanced automatic rendezvous and docking technologies of all the ships that visit the platform.

Its main approach system is a pair of videometers. These are optical sensors that analyse the behaviour of laser light reflected off Zvezda to compute the vehicle’s orientation and distance from the platform.

They are backed up by a pair of telegoniometers, which work in a similar way to radar and continuously calculate the distance and direction from the freighter to the ISS.

Kepler’s systems have been designed with multiple layers of redundancy. It has three main flight-control computers that run in parallel. These in turn are overseen by a totally independent computer.

If the latter recognises an anomaly in the primary system during the final approach, it can intervene and command the truck to remove itself rapidly to a safe distance.

Controllers on the ground in Toulouse, France, can also initiate a retreat if they are at all concerned.

The ISS astronauts, too, can command the abort via a big red button on a panel sited in Zvezda.

Once a seal and electrical connections have been confirmed, and the astronauts have checked the air inside Kepler is safe to breathe – the vehicle will be free to enter.

One of the freighter’s main tasks in the coming months will be to raise the altitude of the station, which is currently at about 350km.

The ISS has a tendency to fall back to Earth over time as it drags through the top of the atmosphere.

Every few weeks the freighter will fire its thrusters to accelerate the platform, taking it higher into the sky.

The freighter will be used like a store cupboard by astronauts.

They will go into the pressurised vessel to obtain food, clothing and equipment when they need it. Fuel will be piped across to the main station complex; air will simply be vented from taps.

As Kepler’s supplies are depleted, the void will be filled with rubbish. The vehicle will take this waste into a controlled burn-up over the Pacific Ocean when it leaves the station sometime from June onwards.

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US rock group My Chemical Romance have taken two prizes home from this year’s NME awards after winning best video and best international band.

The New Jersey group also performed at the ceremony, held at the O2 Academy in Brixton, south London.

Muse were named best British band for the second year running, while Scottish rockers scooped the trophy for best live band.

Other prizes went to Laura Marling, Hurts, Arcade Fire and Foals.

Marling, named best British female solo artist at the Brits last week, was named best solo artist, while Hurts received the best new band prize.

Arcade Fire received the best album award for The Suburbs in absentia, while Foals’ Spanish Sahara was named best track.

Glastonbury was named best festival for the third year running, while Channel 4’s youth drama Skins was crowned best TV show.

Foo Fighters front-man Dave Grohl received the Godlike genius award, presented last year to Paul Weller.

NME editor Krissi Murison said more than 3.5 million votes were cast by the magazine’s readers.

Highlights from the event will be shown on Channel 4 on 26 February at 1125 and 2320 GMT.

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US President Barack Obama has called the violence in Libya, “outrageous and it is unacceptable”.

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The Zimbabwe authorities have detained 46 people for attending a lecture on the unrest in North Africa and the Middle East.

The group has been charged with treason for allegedly seeking to emulate the protests which toppled the leaders of Egypt and Tunisia.

They were arrested on Saturday and their lawyers said they would appear in court for a bail hearing on Thursday.

If found guilty of treason they could face a death sentence.

The activists, trade unionists and students were attending a meeting in Harare entitled “Revolt in Egypt and Tunisia: What lessons can be learnt by Zimbabwe and Africa?” when it was raided by police.

The talk was being presented by Munyaradzi Gwisai, a former lawmaker in the opposition Movement for Democractic Change (MDC) who runs the International Socialist Organisation pressure group and was among those detained.

Media reports said a video projector, laptop and two DVDs were seized.

Zimbabwean media said police had information that the group were attempting to organise illegal street protests against the government.

Defence lawyers say the lecture was an academic debate, but the group have been charged with attempting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe, who has been in power since 1980.

“They appeared in court this afternoon and they are facing charges of treason or alternatively subverting a constitutionally-elected government,” lawyer Alec Muchadehama told the AFP news agency.

He said the case would continue on Thursday, where would also raise complaints that his clients were beaten by the police.

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Oil prices have continued to climb in Asian trading, hitting their highest levels since October 2008 after Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi refused to stand down.

There are concerns that the anti-government unrest in Libya will disrupt global oil supplies.

Stock markets in Asia were little changed after dropping on Tuesday.

Investors said they are gauging the impact of Libyan unrest on the global economy and corporate profit growth.

Libya is the world’s 12th-largest exporter of oil.

“Global investors are now trying to decide if the Middle East crisis means a major shift of geopolitical balance of power in the region,” said Masayuki Kubota of Daiwa SB Investments.

He added that there could be “more instability and possible further oil price rises”.

In Asian trade, US light sweet crude for April delivery was 2% higher at $95.45 a barrel. On Tuesday, the March contract had jumped almost 9% in value.

Brent crude was trading up 0.4% at $106.23 a barrel.

“The major underlying fear in the market is that these protests spread in the region to even larger producers like Saudi Arabia,” said Andy Lebow, a trader at MF Global in New York.

“While that might not look likely right now, even a hint of real problems there could send prices vertical.”

Shares were mixed in early trading across Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index was little changed on Wednesday despite the Ministry of Finance reporting the first trade deficit in almost two years.

Indexes in Singapore, Shanghai and New Zealand were also trading flat. Australia’s main S&P/ASX 200 index slid 0.2%. South Korea’s Kospi Index rose 0.2%.

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A former Serbian chief of police has been jailed for 27 years for his role in the murder of more than 700 ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in 1999.

The UN tribunal at The Hague found Vlastimir Djordjevic guilty of five counts of crimes against humanity, including murder and deportation.

His actions had “contributed significantly” to the “campaign of terror” against Kosovans, it ruled.

Djordjevic had said he was not guilty as he had no control over Serb forces.

He had claimed: “I did not have reason to know that my subordinates committed widespread crimes against the Albanian population.”

But Judge Kevin Parker of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) rejected the defence, saying his “participation in the joint criminal enterprise was crucial to its success”.

“The Chamber is satisfied that the accused’s conduct contributed significantly to campaign of terror and extreme violence by Serbian forces against Kosovo Albanians, which had a purpose of changing the demographic composition of Kosovo,” the judge said.

Djordjevic, now 62, had aided and abetted the murder of “not less than 724 Kosovo Albanians” between January and June 1999, the court ruled.

“In the large majority of cases the victims, including many women and children, were civilians, who were unarmed and not in any way participating in any form of armed conflict.”

The court stressed that the number of murder charges were only examples and were “by no means exhaustive”.

He was also found to be responsible for the deportations of at least another 200,000, but this was described as a “very conservative” estimate.

He also played a “key role” in covering up the killings by transporting the bodies to Serbia for burial in mass graves.

Djordjevic, who was a close aide to the late Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, is the sixth person to be convicted at the ICTY over the violence in Kosovo.

The court is due to end its proceedings next year.

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Some church leaders say a workshop on assisted suicide methods being held in Cardiff could be “very dangerous”.

Dr Philip Nitschke will demonstrate how to use a laptop connected to a lethal injection at the Quakers Meeting House on Thursday.

Members of the Catholic church said it could act as an “invitation to commit suicide”.

The euthanasia expert says he is merely providing practical information. The Society of Friends have yet to comment.

Other workshops run by Dr Nitschke in the past week have been cancelled in Belfast and Eastbourne after the venues decided not to go ahead.

A session in Dublin was held last Thursday and Dr Nitschke says he has heard nothing to suggest the Cardiff date will be shelved.

He says the event will be split into two halves with the first being a public meeting where he will demonstrate the laptop device and discuss the importance of having an “end of life plan”.

Then there will be a private session for the over-50s where he will discuss the different methods available to those wishing to end their lives voluntarily.

Monsignor Robert Reardon, administrator for the Catholic archdiocese of Cardiff, said the event raised “serious concerns”.

He told BBC Wales: “Assisted suicide is not something we would support and not something we would recognise as a morally valid option.

“I think the whole thing with the laptop is very, very dangerous because it can be seen as an invitation to commit suicide and, depending on the state of minds of vulnerable people, it can then be viewed as a valid option.”

Canon Peter Collins, dean of the Cardiff Metropolitan Cathedral of St David, which is just a few doors away from the Quaker meeting house, shared his view that the seminar was “dangerous”.

He said: “I think the decision by the Quakers to allow this event to take place is disappointing

“Our first concern must be the potential for vulnerable people being influenced.”

Dr Nitschke, who founded euthanasia group Exit International in 1997, said the purpose of the public meeting was to educate people about having a peaceful death.

He said: “It makes sense for every person to develop for themselves a strategy so they can end their lives peacefully if they find themselves in a situation where they have no control.

“I will be explaining why this makes sense within UK law where somebody can be prosecuted for assisting suicide and that’s where my laptop device comes in.

“In the closed session, I will explain how to get hold of the relevant drugs and what gives you a peaceful and reliable death.”

The Australian physician will stage a demonstration of his new “Deliverance” voluntary euthanasia machine.

The device is a laptop computer connected to a syringe that injects a lethal substance if the patient correctly answers a series of questions.

He said he was very disappointed the workshops in Belfast and Eastbourne had not gone ahead.

“Of course there’s opposition but it’s not for people who oppose these views to stifle their message by closing the venues – that is censorship.”

The Safe Exit Workshop will be held at the Cardiff Quakers Meeting House on Charles Street on Thursday.

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The health of Apple’s chief executive is set to top the agenda at the company’s annual general meeting, later today.

A group of shareholders is calling on the firm to make public its management succession plan.

Apple’s charismatic founder, Steve Jobs, is currently on his third medical leave of absence since being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004.

Meanwhile, the company is being run by chief operating officer, Tim Cook.

Although shareholders are sympathetic to Mr Jobs’ ill health, some are pressing for greater clarity about Apple’s future leadership.

Those calls are being led by the Central Laborers’ Pension Fund, of Jackson, Illinois.

It holds nearly 11,500 Apple shares, worth around $4 million (£2.4m).

The fund wants Apple to name possible long-term successors, something the company is unwilling to do.

Such is Mr Jobs reputation as a hand-on, visionary leader, that his prolonged absence from the Cupertino headquarters is seen as potentially damaging.

“Given recent rumours about his poor health, the pressure is increasing on Apple to reassure shareholders and industry watchers that there is a future beyond Steve Jobs,” said Gartner analyst Carolina Milanesa.

However, she dismissed the notion that his continued absence meant Apple would lose its way.

“There is more to Apple than Steve Jobs,” she said.

Despite his absence, Mr jobs has been spotted visiting the Apple campus since January.

He also attended a recent dinner for technology leaders, hosted by US President Barack Obama.

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Sebastien Squillaci is the unlikely hero as Arsenal beat Stoke to move to within one point of Manchester United at the top of the Premier League table.

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Manchester United’s last-16 Champions League tie against Marseille is delicately poised after a goalless draw in the first leg.

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Children as young as 12 are smoking tobacco in illegal shisha dens across Blackburn, officials have claimed.

Blackburn Trading Standards believe up to 12 of the premises are operating in homes and takeaways – in breach of anti-smoking legislation.

Shisha pipes, or hookahs, are filled with flavoured tobaccos but in public places must be used outdoors.

Trading standards officers said anyone caught flouting the law would be prosecuted.

But as well as selling tobacco to people under the age of 18, Blackburn with Darwen Council believe the dens also pose a health and safety risk.

“We suspect that in the borough there are approximately 10 or 12 of these premises which are operating,” said spokesman Chris Allen.

“They are dangerous. Children are being allowed into these premises and then the doors are locked behind them – so escape routes will be non-existent should a fire break out.

“To be selling tobacco products to children as young as 12 is absolutely out of order.

“All the resources we have will be targeted towards preventing this from occurring in the future.”

One woman from Blackburn, who did not want to be identified, told the BBC her 13-year-old brother regularly attended one such premises.

She said: “He goes every weekend. I think they just sit down and just smoke and chill out and relax. But it’s not very good for them is it?”

Earlier in February, a 19-year-old cafe owner was fined £2,000 after causing an explosion while lighting his pipe with a blow-torch.

Mohammed Wasim Natha, of BBQ Base in Darwen Street, Blackburn admitted breaching health and safety laws.

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Some Britons trapped in Libya have criticised the government for failing to get them out sooner – while some countries have already evacuated their own nationals

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Pinewood Shepperton is opening film studios in the Dominican Republic to serve Latin America, it has announced.

The company, best known for its association with the James Bond films, will build a 35-acre site comprising 5,000 sq m of sound stage space and 15,000 sq m of production facilities.

It will also include an eight-acre water effects facility with a 75 sq m exterior water tank.

Construction will begin immediately and is expected to open early next year.

The water tank will also feature natural ocean horizons, blue screen capabilities and a fully equipped diving and marine department, making it the only tank of its type and size in the region.

President of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Antonio Fernandez Reyna, will lead the groundbreaking ceremony to mark the project’s launch on Wednesday.

“This represents further progress in Pinewood’s strategy to leverage the strength of our brand internationally and specifically to the growing Latino film and television market,” Ivan Dunleavy, chief executive of Pinewood Shepperton said.

Pinewood’s plans to expand further in the UK and build a 100-acre site in Buckinghamshire were dealt a blow in 2009 after its application was rejected by the local council.

The £200m project would have seen the streets of New York, Paris and Venice recreated, as well as up to 1,500 new homes built.

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