SACRAMENTO, Calif.?? The driver of an SUV veered around a crossing arm and ignored flashing warning lights before the vehicle was struck by a light-rail train in Sacramento on Saturday, killing an infant and two adults, authorities said.
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The other person inside the Nissan Pathfinder, a woman in her 30s, was taken to a local hospital with serious injuries, said Niko King, assistant chief with the Sacramento Fire Department. Six of the roughly 50 passengers on the light rail train suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital, he said.
King and a spokeswoman for the transit line said video from a camera at the crossing clearly shows the SUV driving around the crossing arm. The light rail followed two Union Pacific freight trains, which use separate tracks, and the arms had remained down during the interval, said Alane Masui, spokeswoman for the Sacramento Regional Transit District.
"They were down after the UP trains and before the (light rail) train approached, so the crossing arms were properly working," she said.
She said the length of time between the freight trains clearing the intersection and the light rail train crossing it had not yet been determined and would be part of the investigation. Investigators also were reviewing video from a camera mounted on the light rail train.
The collision, in a working class neighborhood south of downtown, occurred shortly after 4 p.m. and pushed the Pathfinder about 30 yards from the point of impact.
"All I heard was a big bang, and I saw a light-rail train heading south with a big truck smashed on it," said Ravin Pratab, 42, of Davis, whose car was among those waiting for the train at the rail crossing, on the opposite side of the tracks from the Pathfinder.
The train was going about 55 mph at the time, a typical speed for that location.
Authorities did not release the identities of those in the Pathfinder or their relationship. A man and woman in the vehicle, both in their 40s, died at the scene while the baby was pronounced dead at a hospital. Firefighters said one had been ejected.
The University of California, Davis Medical Center in Sacramento would say only that the woman remained in serious condition late Saturday.
The light rail system carries an average of 50,000 passengers a day, with lines stretching from the state capital to its suburbs in the north, south and east.
Masui said there are four sets of tracks at the crossing ? two for freight and two for light rail so trains from both systems can run in either direction.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Iran is unlikely to move toward building a nuclear weapon this year because it does not yet have the capability to produce enough weapon-grade uranium, a draft report by the Institute for Science and International Security said on Wednesday.
The report by the institute founded by nuclear expert David Albright offered a more temperate view of Iran's nuclear program than some of the heated rhetoric that has surfaced since the United States and its allies stepped up sanctions on Tehran.
"Iran is unlikely to decide to dash toward making nuclear weapons as long as its uranium enrichment capability remains as limited as it is today," the report said.
The United States and Iran are engaged in a war of words over sanctions, with Iran threatening to retaliate by blocking oil shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz. The United States said it would not allow that to happen.
The escalating rhetoric and tensions have led to concerns about the potential for missteps between the adversaries that might spiral into a military confrontation that neither wants.
But the report, financed by a grant from the United States Institute of Peace, said Iran had not made a decision to build a nuclear bomb. The USIP is an independent, non-partisan center created by the U.S. Congress in 1984 that receives federal government funding.
"Iran is unlikely to break out in 2012, in great part because it is deterred from doing so," said the ISIS report, which has not yet been publicly released.
The report turns down the temperature, saying that sanctions and the fear of a military strike by Israel on Iran's nuclear facilities have worked as a deterrent.
The institute has advised U.S. and foreign governments about Iran's nuclear capabilities and Albright is considered a respected expert on the issue. The report tracks closely with what is known of official U.S. government assessments.
U.S. officials say Iran has not made the decision to build a nuclear weapon and that Iranian leaders haven't made the decision because they have to weigh the cost and benefits of building a nuclear weapon.
Much of what the Iranians are doing with their nuclear program has civilian uses, but they are keeping their options open, which significantly adds to the air of ambiguity, U.S. officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Some conservative and Israeli analysts in the past have challenged these types of assessments, asserting that Iranian nuclear efforts are sufficiently advanced that they could build a bomb in a year or less.
But according to the institute's report: "Although Iran is engaged in nuclear hedging, no evidence has emerged that the regime has decided to build nuclear weapons."
"Such a decision may be unlikely to occur until Iran is first able to augment its enrichment capability to a point where it would have the ability to make weapon-grade uranium quickly and secretly," the report obtained by Reuters said.
It added that despite a report last November by the United Nations' International Atomic Energy Agency alleging that Iran had made significant progress on nuclear weaponization, "Iran's essential challenge remains developing a secure capability to make enough weapon-grade uranium, likely for at least several nuclear weapons."
Some European intelligence officials have disputed a U.S. National Intelligence Estimate published in 2003 which said that Iran had stopped working on a program it had launched earlier to design and build a bomb.
The Europeans maintain that Iran never stopped research and scientific development efforts which could be bomb-related.
Tensions spiked after Iran announced earlier this month that it had begun to enrich uranium deep inside an underground facility near the holy city of Qom. The secretly built facility was publicly revealed by the United States in 2009.
AIRSTRIKES 'OVERSOLD'
Among possible policy options for halting Iran's nuclear program, one of the least likely to be successful is a military attack on its nuclear program, according to the institute's report.
Limited military options, such as airstrikes against nuclear facilities, are "oversold as to their ability to end or even significantly delay Iran's nuclear program," the report said. Limited bombing campaigns would be "unlikely to destroy Iran's main capability" to produce weapon-grade uranium, it said.
Iran has taken precautions by dispersing the centrifuges it uses for enrichment to multiple locations, has mastered the construction of centrifuges, and has probably stockpiled extra centrifuges, the institute said.
A bombing campaign that did not totally eliminate these capabilities would leave Iran "able to quickly rebuild" its nuclear program and even motivate it to set up a Manhattan Project-style crash program to build a bomb, which would only make the region more dangerous and unstable, according to the institute.
The report said that clandestine intelligence operations aimed at detecting secret Iranian nuclear activities, including the construction of new underground sites, are "vitally important." Known methods used by spy agencies include the recruitment of secret agents, cyber spying operations, overhead surveillance by satellites and drones, and bugging of equipment which Iran buys from foreign suppliers.
The report says another "well known tactic" used by Western spy agencies against Iran has been to infiltrate Iranian networks that smuggle nuclear-related equipment and supply them with plans or items which are faulty or sabotaged. The report says this tactic has helped the West to uncover at least one of Iran's secret nuclear sites and, according to official statements by the Iranians, has caused enrichment centrifuges to break.
Other more violent covert operations strategies, particularly the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists and engineers, have "serious downsides and implications," such as high risks of Iranian retaliation through militant attacks which could be directed against civilian targets. The United States has emphatically denied any involvement in the assassinations.
The report said that since thousands of specialists are involved in the Iranian nuclear program, assassinations were unlikely to be effective in slowing it down. It also warned that Iran could construe assassinations as acts of war and use them to justify retaliation.
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GENEVA - A former adviser to FIFA President Sepp Blatter has his own ideas on how soccer's governing body can modernize itself and prevent more corruption scandals.
Jerome Champagne left FIFA unexpectedly two years ago, but sent his proposals to 208 national soccer associations ahead of Thursday's panel meeting as part of President Sepp Blatter's reforms.
The former French diplomat says his scandal-hit former employer faces a "severe crisis" because of corruption allegations.
"If we want to really have a strong governance of the game ... we need a strong FIFA," he said by telephone Tuesday. "I want FIFA to be relevant in the 21st century, but we can't govern football the way that we did in the first 150 years."
The 25-page proposal is a direct appeal to FIFA and national bodies while in effect bypassing soccer's six continental confederations.
Champagne, who declined to discuss his departure, expressed admiration for FIFA and his belief that soccer can "help the world to be better."
His intervention is likely to be viewed as an early indicator he is interested in succeeding Blatter, who has promised to step down in 2015, but he insisted he's only trying to help.
"I am only a citizen of world football," he said. "I put my contribution on the table. How it will be implemented or discussed for the moment is not the debate."
Champagne wants the FIFA president to have more power to enact his agenda while a bigger democratic voice is given to national associations, clubs, leagues and players.
He urges a fairer spread of wealth, and suggests soccer's future is jeopardized by the global popularity of Europe's top leagues. He proposes a levy on international broadcast deals to create a soccer investment fund for poorer and smaller nations.
Before entering soccer, Champagne's diplomatic postings included four years in Los Angeles as deputy consul-general. He worked as protocol chief when France hosted the 1998 World Cup, then joined FIFA soon after Blatter was elected.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Queens Park Rangers and Bolton both avoid upsets in their FA Cup replay games on Tuesday.
HANFORD SITE, Wash. ? Seven decades after scientists came here during World War II to create plutonium for the first atomic bomb, a new generation is struggling with an even more daunting task: cleaning up the radioactive mess.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Tue Jan 17, 2012 3:46pm EST
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Space Exploration Technologies, a startup space transportation firm hired by NASA to fly cargo to the International Space Station, is delaying a planned February 7 test flight to allow more time to prepare for the mission, a company spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
The launch of the company's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station has not yet been rescheduled.
"We believe that there are a few areas that will benefit from additional work," said Kirstin Brost Grantham, a spokeswoman for the company, also known as SpaceX.
"We will continue to test and review data. We will launch when the vehicle is ready," she said.
The flight will be the second and possibly last test flight before privately owned SpaceX begins delivering cargo to the station under a $1.6 billion NASA contract.
The firm, based in Hawthorne, California, and founded by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, hopes to combine its two remaining test flights into one with a berthing at the space station, pending NASA's approval.
SpaceX successfully launched, orbited and landed a Dragon capsule during a test flight in December 2010.
NASA has hired SpaceX, as well as a second company, Orbital Sciences Corp to fly supplies to station after the retirement of the space shuttles last year.
The station, a $100 billion research laboratory flying about 240 miles above Earth, also is serviced by Russian, European and Japanese ships.
SpaceX and Orbital, which plans to debut its Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo capsule this year, are in line to be the first commercial firms to fly to the outpost, which is staffed by rotating crews of six astronauts.
SpaceX also has a $75 million NASA contract to upgrade its Dragon capsule to carry astronauts.
The United States hopes to break Russia's monopoly on crew transportation to the station by supporting private industry efforts to develop passenger spaceships. Congress allotted $406 million for NASA's so-called Commercial Crew program for the year that began October 1.
Russia charges NASA about $60 million per person for rides to the station.
Also this week, United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Boeing and Lockheed Martin, has hired NASA's former shuttle launch director Michael Leinbach to oversee the company's transition from launching U.S. government satellites to launching people.
Of the four firms NASA currently is backing for space taxi development, all but SpaceX plan to use United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rockets to put their spaceships into orbit.
"Mike's expertise in human launch systems provides a strong synergy in bringing together two world-class launch cultures," Jerry Jamison, a United Launch Alliance vice president, said in a statement.
NASA intends to release a solicitation for the next phase of its Commercial Crew program in February.
Other firms currently receiving NASA funding for space taxi development are Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp, and Blue Origin, a startup owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
If you have any of those devices, and are wishing to have the bootloader unlocked then you can hit up the HTCDev site below to get started. Not sure what your bootloader is or if you want it unlocked? Check out our Android A to Z covering what, exactly a bootloader is.
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TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iran warned Gulf Arab neighbors they would suffer consequences if they raised oil output to replace Iranian crude facing an international ban.
In signs of Tehran's deepening isolation over its refusal to halt nuclear activity that could yield atomic bombs, China's premier was in Saudi Arabia on Sunday probing for greater access to its huge oil and gas reserves and Britain voiced confidence a once hesitant EU would soon ban oil imports from Iran.
Major importers of Iranian oil were long loath to embargo the lifeblood of Iran's economy because of fears this would send oil prices rocketing at a time - amidst debt and deficit crises and high unemployment - when they could least afford it.
But strong momentum for oil sanctions has been created by a U.N. watchdog report saying Iran appeared to have worked on designing an atom bomb.
A new U.S. law signed by President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve would freeze out of the U.S. financial system any institution dealing with Iran's central bank - which processes its oil revenues.
If fully applied, the law would make it impossible for most countries to buy Iranian oil. Washington is offering waivers to countries to let them keep buying Iranian oil for now, but demanding they gradually cut their imports back.
Leaders from some of the Asian countries that buy the most Iranian oil have begun touring the Middle East to secure alternative supply lines from Arab states. European buyers suggest they will also lean more heavily on Arab oil producers should an EU ban come into effect.
Feeling increasingly encircled, Iran's hardline Islamic clerical elite has lashed back by threatening to block the main Middle East oil shipping route. Since the New Year, Tehran also began to enrich uranium in an underground bunker and sentenced an Iranian-American citizen to death on espionage charges.
Tensions in the Gulf have caused occasional spikes in oil prices in recent weeks. The sanctions are also having a real impact on Iran's domestic economy, causing prices of imported staples to soar and the rial currency to tumble.
Iran holds a parliamentary election in March, its first since a presidential vote in 2009 led to eight months of street protests. Those demonstrations were put down by force, but since then the "Arab Spring" has shown the vulnerability of states in the region to public anger fueled by economic hardship.
IRAN WARNS GULF ARABS
Iranian OPEC Governor Mohammad Ali Khatibi said Tehran would regard as an unfriendly act any move by neighboring Gulf Arab oil exporters to make up for Iranian crude.
"If (they) give the green light to replacing Iran's oil these countries would be the main culprits for whatever happens in the region - including the Strait of Hormuz," Khatibi told the Sharq daily newspaper, referring to the narrow sea channel through which a third of the world's oil tanker traffic passes.
"Our Arab neighbor countries should not cooperate with these (U.S. and European) adventurers... These measures will not be perceived as friendly," he said.
Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said on Saturday the world's No. 1 oil exporter - the only one in OPEC with significant unused capacity - was ready and able to meet any increase in demand. He made no direct reference to sanctions on Iran.
Iran's navy commander Habibollah Sayyari said Tehran could exert control over the Strait of Hormuz. The United States, whose warships patrol the region, says it will not tolerate any attempt to disrupt shipping through the strait.
Military experts say Iran could not challenge the huge U.S.-led fleet that guards the strait for long, but its threats raise the risk of miscalculation that could flare into a clash.
The United States and Israel postponed military exercises scheduled to take place in coming weeks to later in the year. Officials in both countries denied the postponement was connected with the increasing tension over Iran.
Oil prices were down at the end of last week as anticipation of downgrades by Standard & Poor's of several indebted euro zone economies countered the buoyant effect of anxiety about Iranian threats to shipping. But the standoff over Iran pointed to continued support for higher prices, brokers and analysts said.
Iran's foreign ministry said on Sunday it had received a letter from Washington about the Strait of Hormuz and there was no decision yet on whether to reply. A ministry spokesman did not divulge the contents of the letter.
Tehran had said on Saturday it had written to Washington with evidence the CIA was involved in the assassination of a nuclear scientist, blown up by a bomb attached to his car last week, the latest of several such killings.
Western countries suspect Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons capability. Iran says it is only interested in nuclear technology for peaceful purposes such as generating electricity.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was pressing Saudi Arabia to open its oil and gas wealth to more Chinese investment, Chinese media said on Sunday. China has been Iran's biggest oil buyer.
Although Beijing opposes further international sanctions on Iran, it has already cut its purchases of Iranian oil by more than half for the first two months of this year.
"China and Saudi Arabia are both in important stages of development and there are broad prospects for enhancing cooperation," Wen told Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Nayef on Saturday, according to Xinhua news agency.
Michal Meidan, an analyst with London's Eurasia Group, said: "Beijing is concerned with the potential response to bellicose Iranian statements and the spike in oil prices that would ensue from greater turmoil in Syria and Iran."
Wen was also scheduled to visit the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, two other big OPEC exporters across the Gulf from Iran.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Sunday he was "confident" the 27-member European Union would impose resounding sanctions on Iran's oil industry and possibly other sectors at an EU foreign ministers meeting on January 23.
After protracted reluctance to act arising from the dependence of some debt-ridden EU economies on Iranian oil, member states have agreed in principle to ban it and have been working on details of how this will be implemented.
Last year EU countries collectively bought about a fifth of Iranian exports, roughly on par with China.
Any EU-wide prohibition of Iranian oil would probably take effect gradually. "Grace periods" on existing contracts of one to 12 months have been proposed to allow importers to find other suppliers before implementing an embargo.
Hague said: "Our sanctions are part of trying to get Iran to change course and to enter negotiations and we should not be deterred from implementing those. We will continue to intensify our own sanctions and those of the European Union."
IRANIAN DEFIANCE
Some analysts say Iran's leadership, which has thrived on defiance of the West since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, is more likely to dig in rather than back off in response to sanctions aimed at stopping a nuclear program many Iranians regard as a matter of national sovereignty and modernization.
A year after the collapse of the last big power talks with Iran, its deepening nuclear defiance has raised concern of war if harsher sanctions do not change its course.
Israel, reputed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, sees Iran's nuclear and missile projects as a mortal threat which it will resort to force as a last resort to stop.
The risk of Israel triggering Middle East upheaval with a unilateral strike has the war-weary United States worried.
U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Martin Dempsey is to make his first visit to Israel on Thursday. Israeli media say he will try to persuade his hosts not to "surprise" Washington on Iran.
Israel's vice prime minister voiced disappointment that the new U.S. legislation gives Obama leeway to allow sanctions waivers to countries to keep buying Iranian crude.
"The (U.S.) Senate passed a resolution, by a majority of 100-to-one, to impose these sanctions, and in the U.S. administration there is hesitation for fear of oil prices rising this year, out of election-year considerations," Moshe Yaalon told Israel Radio.
Obama has said he is determined to deny Tehran the means to develop an atom bomb. His aides cast their sanctions strategy as a bid to work collaboratively with foreign powers and win over states that import Iranian oil without shocking energy markets.
(Additional reporting by Robin Pomeroy in Tehran, Daniel Fineren in London, Dan Williams in Jerusalem, Adrian Croft in London, Chris Buckley in Beijing; Writing by Mark Heinrich; Editing by Peter Graff)
CARACAS, Venezuela ? Venezuelan exiles with links to terrorism have threatened officials at the South American country's consulate in Miami, the foreign minister said Sunday.
Nicolas Maduro did not single out any specific group or provide details of his claims, which came shortly after President Hugo Chavez said his government would close the consulate in response Washington's expulsion of a Venezuelan diplomat.
Maduro told the state-run AVN news agency that "a group of organizations bringing together Venezuelans who fled justice" in their homeland "have threatened not only the consul but the personnel at out consulate."
Livia Acosta Noguera, Venezuela's consul general in Miami, was ordered out of the U.S. last weekend followed an FBI investigation into allegations that she discussed a possible cyber-attack on the U.S. government while she was assigned to the Venezuelan Embassy in Mexico. The allegations were detailed in a documentary aired by the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision.
The documentary was based on recordings of conversations with her and other officials, and alleged that Cuban and Iranian diplomatic missions were involved. Citing audio and video obtained by the students at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Univision alleged Acosta was seeking information about the servers of nuclear power plants on U.S. soil.
Chavez said Friday he decided the consulate will shut its doors in response to what he called an unfair action by the U.S. State Department.
ScienceDaily (Jan. 13, 2012) ? Generally speaking, a distinction has been made so far between "good" HDL cholesterol and "bad" LDL cholesterol. LDL contributes to cardiovascular diseases such as myocardial infarction and stroke, while the "good" HDL protects against them. Now, however, experts at the MedUni Vienna have discovered that the anti-inflammatory effect of HDL was not detected in patients on renal dialysis. "In fact, the HDL amplified inflammatory reactions several times over and could explain the latent chronic inflammation that is associated with high cardiovascular risk," says S?emann.
On closer investigation of HDL levels in dialysis patients, i.e. people with renal failure, it was learned that levels of a specific molecule, known as serum amyloid A (SAA), were significantly raised in these individuals. SAA is a highly likely cause for the defect in the HDL. Says Weichhart: "If you integrate SAA into healthy HDL, it ceases to function properly."
Quality over quantity This discovery could change the evaluation of HDL cholesterol. Until now, a high level of HDL was regarded as ideal. "Much more important than the quantity, however, is of course the quality of the HDL. Non-functioning HDL cholesterol is useless -- even high HDL levels would cease to be healthy," says Weichhart. Explaining another finding, S?emann adds: "Lowering the LDL level is therefore still even more important than raising the HDL level."
It is currently not possible, however, to identify "bad" HDL quickly with a simple test. Weichhart and S?emann are currently working on the development of such a test. Together with the Medical University of Vienna, they have obtained a patent that will allow them to determine the changes in HDL using a simple laboratory test and therefore enable the risk of future cardiovascular disease to be estimated more accurately -- allowing treatment to be commenced sooner.
In recent years, it has been found that certain conditions such as coronary heart disease (CHD), diabetes mellitus and rheumatoid arthritis have their own, characteristic HDL. Some of the proteins that have just been discovered in the HDL of patients with renal failure have also been found in the HDL of these conditions, causing HDL to lose its beneficial, anti-inflammatory and vessel-protecting properties. "With the new laboratory test, we have now been able to investigate whether modified HDL is associated with a poorer prognosis in patients with renal failure at an early stage of their condition, and whether this is also the case for patients with diabetes or after a heart attack, for example. This would mean that a simple test principle would enable us to commence therapy early on, thereby decisively changing the overall prognosis for the better," say the MedUni Vienna researchers.
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Thomas Weichhart, Chantal Kopecky, Markus Kubicek, Michael Haidinger, Dominik D?ller, Karl Katholnig, Cacang Suarna, Philipp Eller, Markus T?lle, Christopher Gerner, Gerhard J Zlabinger, Markus van der Giet, Walter H. H?rl, Roland Stocker, Marcus D S?emann. The proteomic signature of dysfunctional uremic HDL identifies SAA as proinflammatory component. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 2012
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
A huge hunk of Russian space junk is set to crash to Earth in the next few days, but nobody knows exactly when or where it's going to come down.
The 14.5-ton Mars probe Phobos-Grunt, which got stuck in Earth orbit shortly after its Nov. 8 launch, may re-enter the atmosphere at 11:22 a.m. EST (1622 GMT) on Sunday (Jan. 15), according to the latest estimate published today (Jan. 13) by Roscosmos, Russia's space agency.
If that projection is accurate, pieces of the failed spacecraft will splash into the Atlantic Ocean about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) south of Buenos Aires.
But that's a big if.
Uncertain predictions
The predicted time and place of re-entry could change in the future, Roscosmos said. Indeed, the newest estimate is substantially different from two others the space agency issued earlier in the week, which had the probe coming down earlier on Sunday and falling into the Indian Ocean off the coast of Java or near Madagascar. [Photos of the Phobos-Grunt mission]
Further, other organizations and observers tracking Phobos-Grunt have their own estimates, some of which roughly agree with Roscosmos' predictions and some of which have the probe crashing later, perhaps early Monday morning (Jan. 16).
So all we know for certain right now is that Phobos-Grunt will fall to Earth soon, somewhere between 51.4 degrees north latitude and 51.4 degrees south latitude ? a stretch of the planet ranging from London in the north to the Falkland Islands in the south.
And the predictions won't really start firming up until shortly before the probe's fall, experts say.
"About two hours out, the U.S. military will publish their last re-entry prediction, and that will likely be the most accurate public prediction, as they have very accurate data on the object's orbit that will not be available publicly," said Brian Weeden, a technical adviser with the Secure World Foundation and a former orbital analyst with the Air Force.
"Up until then, I would take any prediction with a large grain of salt," Weeden told SPACE.com in an email.
Most of probe should burn up
Most of Phobos-Grunt's weight consists of toxic fuel, prompting some concern that its crash could spread dangerous chemicals over populated or environmentally sensitive areas. But Roscosmos officials have said that the fuel will burn up high in Earth's atmosphere.
The vast majority of Phobos-Grunt should meet the same fate, according to Roscosmos. The space agency estimates that no more than 20 to 30 pieces of the probe, weighing a total of less than 440 pounds (200 kilograms), will reach the ground.
While it's tough to vet these claims, they're likely to be fairly accurate, Weeden said.
"Since they have the most data on its construction and design, I don?t think anyone else is in a position at this point to contradict them," he said. "And their statement is reasonable and consistent with what normally happens."
At this point, the world may be getting rather accustomed to giant pieces of metal falling from the sky. Phobos-Grunt's crash will be the third uncontrolled re-entry of a big spacecraft in the last four months, following NASA's defunct UARS satellite in September and the dead German ROSAT satellite in October.
Nobody on the ground was hurt by UARS or ROSAT debris. In fact, no one is known to have ever been injured by a chunk of man-made space junk.
The $165 million Phobos-Grunt spacecraft launched Nov. 8 on a mission to collect soil samples from the Mars moon Phobos and send them back to Earth ("grunt" means "soil" in Russian). Shortly after liftoff, however, the probe's engines failed to fire as planned to send it on a path toward the Red Planet.
Russian officials still aren't sure what caused the failure, though they recently raised the possibility that some sort of sabotage may be responsible.
You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
No matter how useless an organization PETA is, contributing these Olivia Munn pictures is worth something, so give them due credit for their new ad campaign.
The Daily Show correspondent is the latest to strip for the animal rights group's popular, headline-grabbing "I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" effort.
The ad was unveiled Thursday in L.A., showing the 31-year-old Olivia Munn nude with a rabbit below the tagline "Who needs fur to feel beautiful?"
Apparently, not her:
After the billboard was unveiled, Munn tweeted "Please don't wear fur. Even a tiny bit of fur trim caused an animal extreme suffering & took a life."
Not necessarily, there is fur all over our car from the deer we hit the other night, but that little guy ran off into the woods just fine afterward.
Anyway, point taken. Olivia follows in the nude footsteps of Khloe Kardashian, Elisabetta Canalis, Angela Simmons, Karina Smirnoff and others!
The challenge was, in essence, semantic: teaching computers to decode complex product descriptions and isolate their essential attributes. For another client, Ghani, along with four Accenture colleagues and a Carnegie Mellon computer scientist, used a Web crawler to pull product names and descriptions from online clothes stores and built an algorithm that could assess products based on eight different attributes, including ?age group,? ?formality,? ?price point,? and ?degree of sportiness.? Once the products had been assigned values in each of those categories, they could be manipulated numerically?the same way that Ghani?s predictive models had tried to make sense of the grocery shopping list. By reducing it to its basic attributes?lightweight mesh nylon material, low profile sole, standard lacing system?a retailer could predict sales for shoes it had never sold before by comparing them to ones it had.
Sports agent Leigh Steinberg filed for bankruptcy protection Wednesday, saying he takes responsibility for debts of several million dollars.
"I just lost track while I was in rehab," Steinberg told The Associated Press. The agent, who was the inspiration for the movie "Jerry Maguire," said he struggled with alcohol for years but has been sober since 2010.
His attorneys filed the Chapter 7 petition late Wednesday in federal bankruptcy court in Santa Ana, Calif.
The filing comes weeks after an Orange County Superior Court commissioner authorized but didn't issue a bench warrant for Steinberg after he failed to appear in court in a case involving a $1.4 million debt. Steinberg said his attorney agreed to change the date of a hearing, told him not to show up and then failed to reschedule.
Court documents show a default judgment ordered Steinberg to pay the Irvine Co. for office space he leased in Newport Beach.
The agent said his debts are larger than the $1.4 million owed to the Irvine Co., and that his attorneys are still compiling the total. He said his only assets are some stock.
Steinberg has represented NFL stars such as Troy Aikman, Warren Moon, Steve Young and Ben Roethlisberger. He was the inspiration for Tom Cruise's character in 1996's "Jerry Maguire." The movie turned "Show me the money!" into an enduring catchphrase, although Steinberg isn't known to use that phrase.
Steinberg issued a statement shortly after the filing.
He said he delayed filing for bankruptcy for several years "because of my moral and legal obligation to people who advanced me funds or performed services in good faith. But the constant and aggressive collection efforts and press initiatives undertaken by creditors have harassed my family and prevented me from working to be able to pay these debts."
He said prospective clients have been pushed away after hearing of his debts.
"It doesn't seem logical to prevent a person who owes you money from working in their chosen field by attempting to ruin his reputation, but that is what has happened," he said. "I have lived with this in recent years, and it is time to follow a more constructive path."
Steinberg said he struggled with alcohol. In the past five or six years, "I began to check out episodically for short periods. My judgment and oversight of my affairs was not consistent and at times impaired. I am responsible for my own addiction ? no one forced me to drink ? and in revealing my struggle with alcoholism, I am in no way justifying or excusing my circumstance. But I discuss it to provide context as well as understanding and inspiration to those who also battle addictive behavior. I surrendered to the reality that I was an alcoholic and my behavior was impacting family and associates in March 2010. I surrendered to the concept that until I tackled alcoholism, other priorities needed to be put aside. ... I am responsible for these debts. But my priority was sobriety, and I have been continuously sober since that time."
The agent said the underlying cause of his inability to earn money and resolve his debt situation occurred in 2003.
"One of my employees admitted that ? without my knowledge ? he had taken a $300,000 loan from one of our NFL clients," Steinberg said in his statement. "It was exactly the kind of transaction that I had specifically forbidden, and it violated NFL Players Association regulations. The NFL player understandably fired me, then went to a rival agency. As a matter of background, you should know that this company is run by an agent who used to work at our firm. We filed a lawsuit to challenge the way this agent had left our firm, and we won. Two attorneys on the losing side are involved in the current case concerning my debt."
Ten years ago, Steinberg had a bitter legal fight with former partner David Dunn, who took dozens of NFL player clients and formed his own agency.
"Since then, I have made repeated offers to repay the player far more than the original $300,000," the statement continued. "There are many legal complexities, but in a nutshell, his representatives ? the ones who lost the lawsuit ? have insisted on collecting monies without informing the NFLPA that the matter is settled. This point is crucial because I did not apply for recertification by the union after one of their agents (and his wife) filed suit against me in 2006. If I cannot be recertified, I cannot work in the field that I have been trained in, which is to the benefit of this rival agent. Keeping me out of business seems to be a priority above collecting the debt, and although substantial payments have been made, the demand is now four times the original amount. My attempts to rebuild my life have been hamstrung.
"I have attempted to make amends for damage my drinking caused to others. I believe that I have many productive years ahead and hope through this process that once again I will be able to make a positive impact on athletes and the world."
Back in September, we got our hands on the 17-inch gaming behemoth from Razer. There was only one snag: the trackpad wasn't fully functional yet. There were screens in place, but we weren't able to test out all of the controls. Here at CES, we were able to get a quick hands-on with a final consumer model, ready to start dominating your next Skyrim marathon. As you may recall, the trackpad is offset to the right side of the keyboard so as not to interfere with your access to the essential in-game controls. Serving up quite a few functions, the tech includes a miniature web browser, access to control settings, macro key set-up, YouTube viewer, a number pad and a regular ol' laptop touchpad. Another difference between the model pictured here and the one we spent some time with is the inclusion of a 256GB SSD instead of a 320GB HDD which pushed the launch date back to mid January. The kit will still set you back $2,799 and is slated to ship later this month.
Satellite imagery detects thermal 'uplift' signal of underground nuclear testsPublic release date: 10-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Paul Vincent 541-737-9176 Oregon State University
CORVALLIS, Ore. A new analysis of satellite data from the late 1990s documents for the first time the "uplift" of ground above a site of underground nuclear testing, providing researchers a potential new tool for analyzing the strength of detonation.
The study has just been published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Lead author Paul Vincent, a geophysicist at Oregon State University, cautions that the findings won't lead to dramatic new ability to detect secret nuclear explosions because of the time lag between the test and the uplift signature, as well as geophysical requirements of the underlying terrain. However, he said, it does "provide another forensic tool for evaluation, especially for the potential explosive yield estimates."
"In the past, satellites have been used to look at surface subsidence as a signal for nuclear testing," said Vincent, an associate professor in OSU's College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. "This is the first time uplift of the ground has correlated to a nuclear test site. The conditions have to be just right and this won't work in every location.
"But it is rather interesting," he added. "It took four years for the source of the uplift signal a thermal groundwater plume to reach the surface."
The focus of the study was Lop Nor, a nuclear testing site in China where three tests were conducted May 21, 1992; May 15, 1995; and Aug. 17, 1995. Vincent and his colleagues analyzed interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) images from 1996-99 and detected a change in the surface beginning four years after the tests.
Though the uplift was less than two inches, it corresponds to known surface locations above past tests within the Lop Nor test site.
From past studies, the researchers knew that heat from underground detonation of nuclear devices propagates slowly toward the surface. At most sites including the Nevada National Security Site that heat signal dissipates laterally when it reaches the water table, which is usually deep beneath the surface.
At Lop Nor, however, the water table is only about three meters below the surface, and the heated groundwater plume took four years to reach that high, lifting the ground above the detonation site slightly but enough to be detected through InSAR images.
Lop Nor also is characterized by a hard granite subsurface, which helps pipe the heated water vertically and prevents the subsidence frequently found at other testing sites.
A past study by Vincent, published in 2003, first shed light on how subsidence can manifest itself in different ways from the force of the explosion creating a crater, to more subtle effects of "chimneying," in which the blast opens up a chimney of sorts and draws material downward, creating a dimple at the ground surface.
Before joining the OSU faculty in 2007, Vincent spent several years as a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Vincent said the analysis of nuclear explosions has become a specialized field. Seismology technology can provide an initial estimate of the energy of the explosion, but that data is only good if the seismic waves accurately reflect coupling to the connecting ground in a natural way, he explained. Efforts are sometimes made to "decouple" the explosive device from the ground by creating specializing testing chambers that can give off a false signal, potentially masking the true power of a test.
"Subsidence data combined with seismic data have helped narrow the margin of error in estimating the explosive yield," Vincent noted, "and now there is the potential to use test-related thermal expansion as another forensic tool."
###
Co-authors on the paper with Vincent include Sean Buckley of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Dochul Yang, the University of Texas-Austin, and Steve Carle, of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Editor's Note: The study this release is based on is available at OSU Scholars Archive: http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/26406
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Satellite imagery detects thermal 'uplift' signal of underground nuclear testsPublic release date: 10-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Paul Vincent 541-737-9176 Oregon State University
CORVALLIS, Ore. A new analysis of satellite data from the late 1990s documents for the first time the "uplift" of ground above a site of underground nuclear testing, providing researchers a potential new tool for analyzing the strength of detonation.
The study has just been published in Geophysical Research Letters.
Lead author Paul Vincent, a geophysicist at Oregon State University, cautions that the findings won't lead to dramatic new ability to detect secret nuclear explosions because of the time lag between the test and the uplift signature, as well as geophysical requirements of the underlying terrain. However, he said, it does "provide another forensic tool for evaluation, especially for the potential explosive yield estimates."
"In the past, satellites have been used to look at surface subsidence as a signal for nuclear testing," said Vincent, an associate professor in OSU's College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. "This is the first time uplift of the ground has correlated to a nuclear test site. The conditions have to be just right and this won't work in every location.
"But it is rather interesting," he added. "It took four years for the source of the uplift signal a thermal groundwater plume to reach the surface."
The focus of the study was Lop Nor, a nuclear testing site in China where three tests were conducted May 21, 1992; May 15, 1995; and Aug. 17, 1995. Vincent and his colleagues analyzed interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) images from 1996-99 and detected a change in the surface beginning four years after the tests.
Though the uplift was less than two inches, it corresponds to known surface locations above past tests within the Lop Nor test site.
From past studies, the researchers knew that heat from underground detonation of nuclear devices propagates slowly toward the surface. At most sites including the Nevada National Security Site that heat signal dissipates laterally when it reaches the water table, which is usually deep beneath the surface.
At Lop Nor, however, the water table is only about three meters below the surface, and the heated groundwater plume took four years to reach that high, lifting the ground above the detonation site slightly but enough to be detected through InSAR images.
Lop Nor also is characterized by a hard granite subsurface, which helps pipe the heated water vertically and prevents the subsidence frequently found at other testing sites.
A past study by Vincent, published in 2003, first shed light on how subsidence can manifest itself in different ways from the force of the explosion creating a crater, to more subtle effects of "chimneying," in which the blast opens up a chimney of sorts and draws material downward, creating a dimple at the ground surface.
Before joining the OSU faculty in 2007, Vincent spent several years as a physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Vincent said the analysis of nuclear explosions has become a specialized field. Seismology technology can provide an initial estimate of the energy of the explosion, but that data is only good if the seismic waves accurately reflect coupling to the connecting ground in a natural way, he explained. Efforts are sometimes made to "decouple" the explosive device from the ground by creating specializing testing chambers that can give off a false signal, potentially masking the true power of a test.
"Subsidence data combined with seismic data have helped narrow the margin of error in estimating the explosive yield," Vincent noted, "and now there is the potential to use test-related thermal expansion as another forensic tool."
###
Co-authors on the paper with Vincent include Sean Buckley of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Dochul Yang, the University of Texas-Austin, and Steve Carle, of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
Editor's Note: The study this release is based on is available at OSU Scholars Archive: http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/handle/1957/26406
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The once-mighty Lincoln has struggled for 20 years. But Ford is trying to turn it around, using the power of design.
Today at the Detroit Auto Show, Ford unveiled the MKZ Concept, which is meant to herald a rebirth for its once-mighty, now struggling Lincoln brand. If it looks bold and even a bit foreign for the Lincoln brand, that's the hope. "We believe that the trend of reimagined retro has gone by the wayside," Max Wolff, Lincoln's head of design, tells Co.Design. "For Lincoln, the MKZ is about looking forward rather than back."
Far from being a mere concept, Wolff insists that the production MKZ that reaches showrooms later this year will look virtually identical to the concept you see here. "The average consumer shouldn't be able to tell the difference," claims Wolff.
The Lincoln brand is too far behind to play it safe.
The design has a few, albeit subtle, nods to Lincoln's history--the split grill being the most obvious. But Wolff's team was at pains to make a departure from the Lincolns that came before, simply because the brand is too far behind to play it safe. "The customer we're after is looking for something more modern," explains Wolff. Thus, the design has a few striking features: An all-glass roof of the sort that you might find on a Porsche Targa; strong, swooping lines intend to make the car seem taller and more dignified; and gonzo details, such as taillights that carry across the trunk, a la Aston Martin, and rearview mirrors that look as if they are perched on metal wings. The swoop of the grill itself, and the darting lines of the hood and headlights, were inspired by an eagle with its wings spread for takeoff.
Ford isn't shy about what sort of customer they're going for: Younger, urban, and coastal. And they believe Wolff knows what they want. Ford poached him a year ago from Cadillac, which has become a case study in turning around a brand using the power of design. Rather than hewing to a more familiar look that felt connected to the other brands in the GM stable, Cadillac separated itself from the market, with an unusual design language of gem-like facets.
Wolff seems intent on carrying over a similar strategy, calling the new Lincoln language "transformational." It better be. Lincoln accounts for only a small portion of Ford's sales these days--just 4%, while Lexus is 12% of sales for Toyota and Cadillac is 6% for GM. For Ford to keep growing its profits, Lincoln has to become a viable luxury brand, which it hasn't been for 20 years. Thus, they've invested heavily in a raising the brand's design chops: Just over a year ago, Ford built a dedicated design studio for Lincoln--the first in Lincoln's history.
Wolff believes that the timing is right, and that American car companies like Ford are finally on sure enough footing to take risks. "For so long, Detroit was looking just to save itself," he says. "We're past that."
Cliff is the founding editor of Co.Design, which in 2011 won the National Magazine Award for best online department. Previously, he has been an editor at I.D. magazine and ... Read more
BERLIN (Reuters) ? The German and French leaders meet on Monday to discuss ways to boost growth in euro zone states struggling to overcome the sovereign debt crisis and rising unemployment, and finalise a deal to increase fiscal coordination within the currency union.
They may also discuss a financial transaction tax, the "Tobin tax," being promoted by France but resisted by Britain unless adopted on a global scale, which could split the European Union at a summit at the end of the month.
Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Nicolas Sarkozy, aiming to align the two powerhouse partners that have driven European integration, will also focus on how to boost employment in the current era of austerity.
While Germany's labour market is thriving, employment is a pressing issue for Sarkozy, who faces an election in less than four months and is trailing in polls while French jobless claims are at their highest level in 12 years.
He may also try to accelerate plans for a tax on financial transactions, which he has set out as a priority ahead of the election, and which on Friday he vowed to implement in France even if EU partners like Germany are not on board.
Paris and Berlin want a "Tobin tax" to be applied across the EU, but Britain is resisting, fearing it will damage London, a global financial centre and mainstay of the British economy where much of the tax would be raised.
On Sunday, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he would veto a European-wide financial transaction tax unless it was imposed globally, deepening the confrontation over the matter with both France and Germany.
German officials expect the EU summit to show satisfying results on stronger budgetary rules they have urged for countries using the euro.
The updated version of the EU's 'fiscal compact', which gives Brussels the right to take states to court if they violate the stricter rules, is nearing approval, relieving pressure on Merkel to take new initiatives at the summit.
"Reaching a functional agreement already by the next (EU) meeting on Thursday is not out of the question," Elmar Brok, a German member of the European parliament, told Reuters.
Hanging over the meeting will be Europe's sovereign debt crisis, and questions over what can be done in the near term to relieve pressure on states like Spain and Italy, which are due to pay back a mountain of maturing debt this year.
Both states face crucial bond auctions this week that will test investors' willingness to fund countries at a time when low growth, weak public finances and the threat of ratings downgrades risk driving borrowing costs to unsustainable levels.
Until now Germany has favoured a crisis-fighting proposal to boost funding for the International Monetary Fund so that it could open larger credit lines to troubled euro zone states if needed, in exchange for strict adjustments.
Italy, which requested IMF monitoring in November to calm market concerns over its reform measures, would prefer to avoid reliance on such a plan; its former economy minister has called IMF aid "the most serious risk for Italy."
Concern over Italy may have led the French and German leaders to strengthen ties with Prime Minister Mario Monti. He met Sarkozy in Paris last week, and will visit Merkel for talks on Wednesday.
The three meet again in Italy on January 20, before a January 23 EU finance ministers meeting and the January 30 EU summit.
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Public release date: 10-Jan-2012
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