luni, 2 iunie 2008

Indonesian drops cash from plane

An Indonesian businessman has scattered 100 million rupiah ($10,700; £5,406) in banknotes from a plane to promote his new motivational book.

Tung Desem Waringin said he would rather share money for a promotional campaign with people who needed it.

His plane flew over a sports field in Serang city, 60km (40 miles) west of Jakarta, dropping four loads of bills of small denomination.

Crowds had been gathering after rumours of the stunt spread on Saturday.

Mr Tung, 42, admitted his scheme was a little "crazy", but said he wanted to create "a rain of money" over Jakarta.

He had been refused permission to conduct the flight over the capital amid security concerns.

Millions of Indonesians live below the poverty line and distributions of free food and aid regularly draw large crowds.

Shuttle leaves for space station

Nasa's Discovery shuttle has blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a 14-day mission to the International Space Station (ISS).

The shuttle and its crew of seven are delivering a giant cylinder for Japan's Kibo science lab but also a new pump to repair the station's toilet.

The toilet in the Zvezda service module failed last week.

Discovery's flight is the third orbiter mission of 2008 and the first to fly the "in-line" external fuel tank.

The new fuel tank has been built from the ground up with the upgrades demanded after the Columbia disaster in 2003.

The improvements are designed to minimise the shedding of insulation foam on launch - the problem that doomed Columbia and her crew.

All missions prior to Discovery's have had the upgrades retrofitted on to tanks that were already constructed.

Japanese excitement

The shuttle took off into a brilliant blue sky at 1702 local time (2102 GMT) on Saturday. They are due to dock with the ISS on Monday.

The Japanese Pressurised Module (image: Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency)
The JPM - seen here in Japan - fills Discovery's entire payload bay

Nearly 400 Japanese journalists, space programme officials and other guests crowded into the launch site, their excitement growing as the hours, then minutes counted down, the Associated Press reports.

Discovery's primary task is to install the Japanese Pressurised Module (JPM) which is the size of a school bus and will place the Japanese at the forefront of space exploration, the BBC's Andy Gallacher reports from Florida.

The cylinder is the third science laboratory intended for the orbiting platform, after the US Destiny and European Columbus segments.

Once the main Kibo (English: Hope) section is attached to the ISS's Harmony connecting node, the JLM can be moved from its temporary berth and slotted directly on to a larger Japanese unit.

All of the pressurised module's internal systems and payload racks can then be transferred across to it.

A 10m-long (33ft) robotic arm is also travelling up with the Discovery for use on Kibo.

It will be used to position and retrieve experiments from a platform due to be delivered next year - the final part of the lab.

Toilet troubles

Since the urinal side of the toilet failed, the ISS crew have periodically had to flush the unit manually - an operation which takes two people 10 minutes to do.

Toilet (Nasa)
ISS astronauts will be relieved to get their toilet working properly again

The solid-waste part of the Russian-built toilet is working properly.

A replacement pump was rushed from Russia to be loaded on to Discovery for delivery to the ISS.

Three spacewalks, of some 6.5 hours each, are currently planned for Discovery's mission, mainly for setting up the Kibo equipment.

Astronauts will also deliver a nitrogen gas tank and inspect damage to a key joint that helps the station's power-generating solar arrays to follow the Sun.

Discovery is carrying a special guest on the flight - the famous space ranger Buzz Lightyear.

The 30cm-tall (12in) action figure, made famous in the Disney/Pixar Toy Story movies, is going into orbit as part of an educational programme.

Nine further shuttle flights are required to complete the ISS before the orbiter fleet is retired in 2010.

Aviation boss criticises Heathrow

Service levels at Heathrow Airport are "a national embarrassment", Giovanni Bisignani, head of International Air Transport Association (Iata) has said.

Giovanni Bisignani
It's a wake-up call, an emergency situation and things must change very quickly
Giovanni Bisignani, Iata

He also criticised the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), saying it was allowing Heathrow to increase charges by 86% over the next five years.

Mr Bisignani said such increases could only happen in "monopolyland".

Iata has warned that the airline industry would lose money this year, having predicted profits in April.

The trade body has predicted that airlines will lose $2.3bn (£1.2bn) this year, having previously forecast a profit of $4.5bn.

'Perfect storm'

Iata represents companies providing 94% of global air travel. It blamed soaring fuel prices and the weakening global economy for creating what it called "a perfect storm".

It said the problems were exacerbated by aircraft that had been ordered in a boom being delivered during a slowdown.

Mr Bisignani told the BBC there would be many more bankruptcies among airlines.

"That's why we think that governments, partners and trade unions must understand it's a wake-up call, an emergency situation and things must change very quickly in order to be able to survive in a profitable way," he said.

Iata is calling on governments to limit taxation, trade unions not to make excessive wage demands and contractors to make efficiency savings.

Remains found at WWI 'mass grave'

Archaeologists in France excavating the suspected mass grave of hundreds of British and Australian World War I soldiers have found human remains.

Excavation of suspected mass war grave at Fromelles, northern France
Some 5,000 Australian soldiers were killed, injured or captured at Fromelles

The dig at Fromelles has uncovered body fragments, including part of a human arm, but experts believe the site may hold the remains of almost 400 troops.

They died during a disastrous mission in north-east France in July 1916.

Many relatives are anxious for the team to find their loved ones so they can finally be given a proper burial.

Bloody failure

The Battle of Fromelles was intended to divert German troops from the Battle of the Somme which was raging 50 miles to the south.

But due to poor planning, the mission was a complete and bloody failure which greatly soured relations between the Australians and their British commanders.

Excavation of the site in Fromelle begins

For Australia, Fromelles saw one of the single greatest losses of life in the whole of the war.

In total, 5,000 Australians were killed, injured or captured, with around 2,000 lives lost in the first 27 hours of fighting.

Alongside them, some 1,500 British soldiers were also killed.

A young Adolf Hitler, then a 27-year-old corporal in the Bavarian reserve infantry, is believed to have been involved in the operation.

The dig, by Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (Guard), is examining ground near woods where it is believed the Germans buried the dead in pits.

With Australian soldiers standing guard close by, the team is sifting through the soil for bone, weapons and uniform fragments. So far remains have been found in five of the eight burial pits.

Peter Barton, a WWI historian involved in the dig, said he hoped to be able to determine the nationality of any remains found.

The aim of the battle was to distract the Germans from reinforcing the battle of the Somme
Major General Mike O'Brien
Australian army

"By looking at fragments of uniform, experts can tell whether they are British or Australian because they had different buttons," he said.

Mr Barton said that after the battle the dead soldiers' personal possessions had been removed by the Germans and eventually returned to their families.

He said it was "possible" more personal items could be uncovered if the Germans had "missed anything".

German stretchers

Tony Pollard, head of Guard, said markings in the ground showed the shape of the German spades that were used to cut the burial pits.

And he said metal rings from German stretchers used to carry the bodies had also been found.

Major General Mike O'Brien, who is overseeing the dig, told the BBC the battle had been "a disastrous day" for Australia, with "terrible casualties".

"On the other hand, the aim of the battle was to distract the Germans from reinforcing the battle of the Somme and you could look at that as one of the achievements of the battle - but an achievement at a terrible price."

Map of northern France showing Fromelles and Somme

Maj Gen O'Brien said the "slow and methodical" excavation was important for the whole of Australia.

"If the remains are still here, we need to find out the number and condition and perhaps decide whether there is a better way of commemorating them than leaving them here just as they are in this field," he said.

On the site of the nearby battlefield stands a statue of an Australian soldier carrying a wounded comrade.

In a local cemetery, the remains of 410 unidentified Australians are buried alongside the names of 1,300 others who have no known grave.

The work is being overseen by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and has the consent of the French, British and Australian governments.

If a mass grave is discovered, the countries must decide whether to exhume and rebury the bodies in a new cemetery, or to leave them in place but build a memorial on the site.

Nuclear inspectors to visit Syria

The UN nuclear agency has said that Syria is to allow inspectors to visit the country to investigate allegations that it was building a nuclear reactor.

Breaking News

The International Atomic Energy Agency says its inspectors are due in Syria between the 22 and 24 June.

The alleged nuclear site was bombed by Israeli jets in September 2007.

In April, the United States accused North Korea of helping Syria build a nuclear reactor that "was not intended for peaceful purposes".

Syria has repeatedly denied it has any nuclear weapons programme, or any such agreement with North Korea.

Blaze ravages Universal Studios

Firefighters have contained a large fire which ravaged a theme park at the world-famous Universal Studios in Los Angeles, California.

At least 300 firefighters fought the blaze, which injured three people, after it began before dawn on a sound stage featuring New York facades.

The fire destroyed a King Kong exhibit and a set from Back to the Future.

It also damaged a video library but the studios said they had duplicates of everything lost.

They contained the fire that could've really burnt horribly out of control
Ron Meyer
Universal Studios

A propane fuel tank explosion may have caused the fire, but investigations into the cause of the blaze are continuing.

There are indications that the sound stage in the area had recently been used for filming.

It is likely that there would have been a good deal of flammable material and props, as well as fuel supplies, on the site, the BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani reports from Los Angeles.

'Real heroes'

Helicopters dropped water on to the burning structures, and television pictures showed flames leaping into the air as a thick cloud of smoke covered the site.

Helicopter flies into the smoke of the Universal Studios fire

Thick black smoke that billowed into the Los Angeles sky was partly due to the plastic video containers burning, said Los Angeles fire department chief Michael Freeman.

Low water pressure hampered the fire crews' efforts, according to the LA Times.

The head of Universal Studios, Ron Meyer, said about 40,000 to 50,000 videos and reels had been damaged in the blaze but duplicates were kept elsewhere.

He thanked the firefighters for their efforts.

"They are real heroes, I mean they were here in record time," he said.

"They contained the fire that could've really burnt horribly out of control."

Behind-the-scenes tours of the studios are a long-established tradition still popular with visitors today.

Mugabe in Rome for UN food summit

Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has arrived in Rome to attend a United Nations food summit.

Robert Mugabe on 29 May
Robert Mugabe is allowed into the EU for UN business

State television said Mr Mugabe was accompanied by his wife and senior government officials on the trip.

It is Mr Mugabe's first visit to Europe since the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) won a majority in parliamentary elections in March.

Mr Mugabe and his ministers are usually subject to a European Union travel ban - but he is able to attend UN forums.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) summit starts on Tuesday and reports say Mr Mugabe is expected to stay in Italy until Friday.

Mr Mugabe caused a stir at a similar summit in Rome in 2005 when he denounced the then UK Prime Minister Tony Blair and US President George W Bush.

He described them as "unholy men" at the meeting in Rome - to the applause of some delegates.

Opposition arrest

The US, UK and EU are still critical of the Mr Mugabe, who faces a run-off presidential election against the MDC's Morgan Tsvangirai on 27 June.

He has been accused of encouraging post-election violence to intimidate his rival's supporters.

A senior Zimbabwean opposition politician, Arthur Mutambara, was arrested on Saturday over a written attack on Mr Mugabe.

Mr Mutambara recently pledged to work with Mr Tsvangirai to defeat President Mugabe in the run-off elections.