ISRO eyes mission to Mars

Bangalore, April 11 (IANS) The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is open to launch a mission to Mars if the government gives a green signal, a top official of the space agency said here Wednesday.

“We can undertake a mission to Mars within five years of the government’s approval. If the project is given the go-ahead now, we will be in a position to launch the mission to the red planet by 2012,” ISRO chairman G. Madhavan Nair told reporters.

Nair, however, hastened to add that the proposal for such a mission was under study by the space agency on the basis of a brief report prepared by the Indian scientific community.

“Our scientific community has come out with an outline of a mission to Mars. If the proposal is interesting, we will pursue it,” Nair said.

Nair’s observation on ISRO’s capability to reach Mars comes in the backdrop of China’s decision to launch a joint mission to the planet with Russia in 2009

Mission to Mars

Since the earliest days of science fiction, travel to Mars has captured the imagination. However, to get to Mars and return is not an easy task. Hard as it was for man to go to the Moon, travel to Mars is many orders of magnitude more difficult. Even in 2003, when Mars will be at the closest distance of approach to the Earth, it will still remain over 50 million km away from Earth.

That distance is almost 150 times as far away as the Moon. To go to Mars in a reasonable amount of time will require much higher speeds than to go to the Moon, and that means much more fuel. Then, to return from Mars will also require great amounts of fuel. Although Mars is much smaller than Earth, and has a much smaller gravity, it will still require a very large amount of energy to escape from the Martian surface and return.

Truck Art

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Anger Grows at US Jail Population

BBC News

The jail population in the United States is expected to reach 2 million on Tuesday, prompting a wave of protests across America.

An explosion in inmate numbers in recent years means that although the US makes up 5% of the total global population, it now accounts for 25% of the world's prisoners.

About 1.3 million of the current jail population have been imprisoned for non-violent crimes, usually drug offences.

Studies have shown that in cities such as Baltimore and Washington at least half of all young black men are either in prison, on parole or on probation.

Jenny Gainsborough, of the research organisation, Sentencing Project, said she hoped Tuesday's protests would highlight the need for reform to stop the upward spiral in the prison population.

"We just want people to be aware of the huge numbers of people who are being locked up and the contrast between the US and other western industrialised democracies.

While the West is fighting imaginary ships and aircraft - Iran is building Real Bombs

U.S. warplanes serve to warn Iran

ABOARD THE USS JOHN C. STENNIS - American warplanes screamed off two aircraft carriers Tuesday as the U.S. Navy staged its largest show of force in the Persian Gulf since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, launching a mammoth exercise meant as a message to the Iranians.

Meanwhile, oil prices shot nearly 8 percent in a matter of minutes in after hours trading Tuesday, topping $68.

F/A-18 fighter jets roared off the Stennis' flight deck all day, mounting a dozen rapid-fire training sorties against imaginary enemy ships and aircraft.

I like the Bush and Blair's plans for fighting the enemy , lets show off our hardware and burn up some millions in oil by playing war games- then we can fight imaginary enemies.

Is anybody else impressed?


I don't know how the games are going to end, but the halftime score is :

• Iranians 15
• The West 0

Iran Gets in on the US and Brits 'War Games'

Iran takes prisioners while the U.S. and the Brits play war games, that should make the games a bit more realistic. I would say Iran 15 - West - 0- lets the games continue.

THE brave Royal Navy woman sailor being held hostage by Iran has a three-year-old daughter.

Leading Seaman Faye Turney, 26, was one of the drivers of the two boats swooped on by Tehran’s Revolutionary Guards on Friday.

Her little daughter Molly and husband Adam were at home last night desperately waiting for news of her plight.

Faye is being held with 14 other Navy hostages, including 21-year-old Paul Barton, snatched by Iranian gunboats from a patrol in the Shaat-al-Arab waterway off Basra, Iraq.
The diplomatic row escalated last night as Iran again refused the UK ambassador any access to them. All the Iranians would say was the British personnel were “fit and well”.

More than 10,000 US personnel, two aircraft carriers and 100 warplanes begin biggest simulated demonstration of force in Gulf since the 2003 invasion

DEBKAfile’s military sources note that the exercise was launched March 27 the day before the Arab League summit opens in Riyadh, to demonstrate the Bush administration’s determination not to let Iran block the Strait of Hormuz to oil exports from the Persian Gulf, or continue its nuclear program.

Taking part are the USS Stennis and USS Eisenhower strike forces.
With Iran’s Revolutionary Guards one week into their marine maneuvers, military tensions in the Gulf region are skyrocketing and boosting world oil prices.

Intelligence sources in Moscow claim to have information that a US strike against Iranian nuclear installations has been scheduled for April 6 at 0040 hours. The Russian sources say the US operation, code-named “Bite,” will last no more than 12 hours and consist of missile and aerial strikes devastating enough to set Tehran’s nuclear program several years back.
The maneuver also occurs four days after 14 British seamen and one crew-woman were seized by an Iranian Revolutionary Guards warship, with no sign that their release is imminent.
London insists its marines were on routine patrol on the Iraqi side of the Shatt al Arb on behalf of the Iraqi government. Tony Blair has threatened “a new phase” in the crisis if the captured personnel are not speedily released.

The warplanes are flying simulated attack maneuvers on enemy shipping with aircraft and ships, hunting enemy submarines and seeking mines, off the coast of Iran.

US Navy Cmdr Kevin Aandahl declined to say when the maneuver was planned or how long it would last. He said US warships would stay out of Iranian territorial waters up to 12 miles from the Iranian coast. Tehran does not recognize this limit and claims a deeper stretch of water.

Our military sources explain the presence of the French naval strike group led by the nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle which joined the two US carriers last Friday: The group will carry out security missions in the Arabian Sea and its warplanes fly in support of NATO in Afghanistan.

Do Mermaids Really Exist ?

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Do Mermaids really exists? In a place in Florida called Weechi Wachi they do!

WEEKI WACHEE – In a quiet little corner of a busy part of the world are mermaids. As if in a fairytale, people come from near and far to watch them swim – they come today as they did nearly 50 years ago
Photos By Mitch Traphagen

Weeki Wachee Springs is located west of Brooksville at 6131 Commercial Way – just off the intersection of U.S. Highway 19 and State Road 50. For more information visit http://mermaid.weekiwachee.com/.

Iraqi Wife Speaks up about Conditions in Iraq

by Iraqi Wife

I came to realise that this place is unhealthy. Very unhealthy for one's mental health. No matter how much you try to hide it, no matter how much you pretend that you're dealing with the situation as well as anyone, there's a point in time where you just crack.

There's nothing that I can do to bring back all the good people that lost their lives. Lost their lives because of Iraq....everyone I ever loved, everyone I ever cherished, everyone who made my childhood memories of this place beautiful, disappeared. Disappeared because of this country. Gone because of Iraq.

So yes this place takes its toll, but you wander, you wander how the Iraqi people endure all the destruction and mayhem yet their only desire in life is to go on living. You wander how these courageous people do it. Although their only goal is to live, you can see that the point of meltdown is nearing.

As for here, the Iraqi government decided to take Saddam's Swords down, the ones in the GZ. Although the action was suddenly stopped, yet it baffled me that they believe by taking monuments down, they will erase history. Oh how little do they know. History can never be erased. History is, was and always will be engraved. If not engraved in the minds, then engraved in the earth. The Iraqi earth...

More >>

Robot suits for the Disabled - Elderly

Japanese companies are preparing to lauch a robot suit which helps the disabled or aged to walk. This file photo shows a university student demonstrating a prototype.

Syria Prepares for War

March 9, 2007, 5:26 PM (GMT+02:00) by Debkafile

Quoting three Israeli military and two government sources, the French news agency AFP reports the Syrian army has accelerated its deployment of medium and long-range rockets capable of striking major towns across northern Israel.

Iran Has NO Brake and NO Reverse Gear

From CNN: Iran: Atomic program has no brake.

Iran has no brake and no reverse gear in its nuclear program, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Sunday, while a deputy foreign minister vowed Tehran was prepared for any eventuality, "even for war."

"Iran has obtained the technology to produce nuclear fuel and Iran's move is like a train ... which has no brake and no reverse gear," Ahmadinejad said, ISNA news agency reported.

Iran says Washington is in no position to attack when its troops are bogged down in Iraq but says it is ready in case.

This FOX News headline says it all: Iran: We Will Never Give Up Nuke Program, but We Are Ready for Unconditional Talks. Nonetheless, the West will keep trying to negoiate, until it's too late.

Israeli Fathers Find Unique Ways to Remember Their Children Killed by Suicide Bomber

Wherever Yossi Zur travels, he brings back a stone to place on the grave of his teenage son Asaf. Zur, who lives in Israel's northern port city of Haifa, is one of three parents who have found unique ways of keeping alive the memories of their children who were murdered by a suicide bomber.

Asaf, 16, Tal Kehrmann,17, and Yuval Mendellevich, 13, were among 17 people killed on March 5, 2003 when a suicide bomber boarded the bus they were riding and detonated an explosives belt packed with 37.4 pounds (17 kilograms) of explosives. Of the dead, 12 were younger than 21. Another 53 people were wounded in the attack.

2nd Chemical Attack in Iraq

The second chemical attack in as many days. "Iraq insurgents use 2nd 'dirty' attack," by Brian Murphy for AP:

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Insurgents exploded a truck carrying chlorine gas canisters Wednesday — the second such "dirty" chemical attack in two days — while a U.S. official said ground fire apparently forced the downing of a Black Hawk helicopter. All nine aboard the aircraft were rescued.

The attacks offer a sweeping narrative on evolving tactics by Sunni insurgents who have proved remarkably adaptable.

Military officials worry extremists may have recently gained more access to firepower such as shoulder-fired anti-aircraft rockets and heavy machine guns — and more expertise to use them. The Black Hawk would be at least the eighth U.S. helicopter to crash or be taken down by hostile fire in the past month.

The gas cloud in Baghdad, meanwhile, suggests possible new and coordinated strategies by bombers trying to unleash toxic — and potentially deadly — materials. "Terrorists are using dirty means," said Brig. Gen. Qassim Moussawi, an Iraqi military spokesman.

Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, a U.S. military spokesman, said initial reports indicated the chopper was brought down by "small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades" north of Baghdad, but gave no further details. All nine aboard were taken away on a rescue helicopter, he said.
In Baghdad, a pickup truck carrying chlorine gas cylinders was blown apart, killing at least five people and sending more than 55 to hospitals gasping for breath and rubbing stinging eyes, police said.

On Tuesday, a bomb planted on a chlorine tanker left more than 150 villagers stricken north of the capital. More than 60 were still under medical care on Wednesday. Chlorine causes respiratory trouble and skin irritation in low levels and possible death with heavy exposure.
In Washington, two Pentagon officials said the tactic has been used at least three times since Jan. 28, when a truck carrying explosives and a chlorine tank blew up in Anbar province. More than a dozen people were reported killed.

A third Pentagon official said the United States has been concerned about Iraqi militants' ability to get weapons like chlorine bombs and use them effectively. But the official cautioned that chlorine bombs are just one threat on a long list of possible attacks that Iraqi fighters may try to carry out.

It was unclear whether the confluence of new insurgent tactics — attacking isolated combat posts, targeting helicopters more intensely and using chlorine bombs — was coincidental or in response to the U.S. troop increase.

W. Patrick Lang, a former official at the Defense Intelligence Agency, said the insurgents are always "seeking to achieve higher levels of effectiveness" and these new tactics are part of the normal "evolution of sophistication."

Lang said trucks filled with chlorine gas are "really quite deadly" because the gas is potent and spreads easily.

Some authorities believe militants could be trying to maximize the panic from their attacks by adding chlorine or other noxious substances.

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Daily Telegraph: Israel is negotiating for US permission to fly over Iraq for an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Israeli Dep. Defense minister Mo

February 24, 2007, Debka
The British paper’s Tel Aviv correspondent Con Coughlin quoted a senior Israeli defense official as saying that negotiations are underway for the US-led coalition in Iraq to provide an air corridor in the event of the Israeli government deciding on unilateral military action to prevent Tehran developing nuclear weapons.

"Small Torn Campbell's Soup Can (Pepper Pot)," by Andy Warhol Sells for $11,776.000.

May 10 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire collector Eli Broad paid $11.8 million last night for Andy Warhol's small painting of a can of Campbell's pepper pot soup, snagging the top lot in a $143.2 million auction of postwar and contemporary art at Christie's International in New York.
The price of the 1962 canvas fell short .

This is for you Andy wherever you are............

Chaos in the Gulf: Kuwait preparing for war

As I have been pointing out for almost a year, everybody is getting ready for war in the Gulf. Latest sign: Kuwaiti daily newspaper Al Watan believes that Kuwait and NATO will sign a bilateral agreement in March. This agreement will include only Kuwait and will not concern the other monarchies in the Gulf. It will basically allow NATO to use Kuwait as “a point of safe passage made for the armies of the Alliance”. In December 2006, the two parties had already signed an agreement on intelligence sharing. Kuwait thus reinforces the Western umbrella which should protect it in the event of a regional conflict involving Iran. By Olivier Guitta

Lebanese Forces Fire On Israeli Planes

The BBC is also reporting that Israeli jets were fired on in southern Lebanon today.Ya Libnan has this breaking news from southern Lebanon:

Beirut- Lebanese anti-aircraft guns fired at Israeli warplanes over southern Lebanon on Wednesday, a military spokesman said, indicating that Lebanon's army is taking a new assertiveness toward Israel.The Israeli planes had "violated Lebanese sovereignty, posing a challenge to U.N. Resolution 1701," the spokesman said, referring to the Security Council resolution that ended Israel's 34-day war with Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon last August.The official spoke on condition of anonymity as is customary for the Lebanese military in the absence of a formal statement.Naharnet also is reporting this version of the story.Reuters has more on the story saying it was an unmanned plane:

Israeli warplanes flew at a low altitude over large areas of southern Lebanon on Wednesday, witnesses said, and the Lebanese army said it had fired on an unmanned Israeli spy plane.The Lebanese army said it fired at 10.40 a.m. (0840 GMT) on an Israeli reconnaissance plane which had flown near the southern city of Tyre. Israeli warplanes had also flown in the area, it said in a statement, giving no further details.A spokesman for the U.N. peacekeepers in Lebanon confirmed the army had opened fire from a mobile anti-aircraft gun.Israeli warplanes regularly fly over south Lebanon but witnesses said Wednesday's flights, seen from the Bekaa Valley and the southern city of Sidon, were unusually frequent and at a lower altitude than normal.Voice of America says this was the first time that the Lebanese fired on Israeli planes since last year's war between Israel and Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas.

No sign of Iran backing down on banned uranium enrichment in face of negative nuclear watchdog report and US Navy buildup

DEBKAfile:
Top US Navy commander in the Middle East vice Adm. Patrick Walsh told newsmen Monday that Iran had brought its war games over the past year into the busy shipping lanes in the Straits of Hormuz, through which two-fifths of the world’s oil supplies pass. The moves alarmed US officials about possible accidental confrontations that could boil over into war.

During maneuvers, Iranian sailors have loaded mines onto small mine-laying boats and test-fired a Shahab-3 missile into international waters very close to the straits, said the US vice admiral.

Iran Nuclear Report Due

by Al Jazeera

A report from the UN's nuclear watchdog is expected to confirm Iran has stepped-up rather than halted its uranium enrichment programme.

Iran's president has said he will stop enrichment if the US stops too.

The report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, due for release on Thursday, could expose Iran to wider sanctions over fears it is using its nuclear fuel programme as a cover for building nuclear weapons.

With the US expected to move a second carrier group into the Gulf region shortly, Larijani warned that no attempt should be made to resolve the issue through "force and pressure" saying Tehran would respond to any attacks.

Replying to a question about US pressure on Iran to give up enrichment, Larijani said: "If they ... move into the boxing ring, they would have problems. But if they sit at the chess table, then both sides would come to a result." Ali Larijani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator

Let Freedom Ring

U.S. Official: Multiple groups of jihadists training in Pakistan for attacks in West

This report corroborates the account in a Newsweek article last December of a twelve-man team training in Pakistan to stage attacks in Western countries. Apparently, there is more than one such team. "Qaeda camps in Pakistan to train operatives: US official," by Jim Mannion for AFP:

The carrier USS John C. Stennis arrives in the region Monday at the same time as Iranian war games

February 20, 2007, 10:46 PM Debka file
Backed by a strike group with more than 6,500 sailors and marines as well as additional minesweeping ships, the Stennis joins the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in line with President Bush’s orders for the build-up as a show of strength to Iran.
Top US Navy commander in the Middle East Vice Adm. Patrick Walsh said Iran had brought its war games over the past year into the busy shipping lanes in the Straits of Hormuz, through which two-fifths of the world’s oil supplies pass. The moves have alarmed US officials about possible accidental confrontations that could boil over into war. During maneuvers, Iranian sailors have loaded mines onto small mine-laying boats and test-fired a Shahab-3 missile into international waters, said the US vice admiral, very close to the straits,

IDF worried Hamas may have advanced missiles

By Amos Harel, Haaretz Correspondent

There are grave concerns among the defense establishment about the possibility that Hamas' military wing in the Gaza Strip is now in possession of Sagger anti-tank missiles.

The Palestinians did take note of the fact that following the attack against the APC in the Philadelphi Route in 2004 and the destruction of another APC (with a six-man crew) the day before using an explosive device, the IDF seriously limited its offensive operations in the Gaza Strip.

Read more here >>

Big Brother Is Watching You

By: Nicole Belle @ 6:22 PM - PST
Texas Kaos:
Last month I wrote about a story I've been following: the case of domestic spying on major American data carriers. At the time, using information available online as well as several news sources, I put forth some speculation.

First, that innocent Americans' data is being swept up and stored thanks to the use of the "full pipe" data gathering technique. Second, that the government's Total Information Awareness Program - which was "killed" but never defunded - was being used to build domestic spying facilities around the country.

I caught PBS's NOW program last Friday by chance, and I'm glad I did. They have resources not available to this lowly blogger. What PBS discovered will chill your bones. Yes, data on innocent Americans is being intercepted and stored. Additionally, more whistleblowers have come forward to establish the existence of another secret spy room on AT&T's network, built post 9-11.

The key findings in PBS's report:

• The government is intercepting most emails sent domestically.
• AT&T is collecting most emails and sharing them with the government, specifically the NSA (this is backed up by Klein's documents).
• The NSA spy room at AT&T's San Francisco facility is only accessible to the NSA and AT&T employees cleared by the NSA.
• The NSA's interest seems to be in MAE WEST, *the* major hub of American and international internet traffic on the West Coast.
• The device installed in San Francisco is capable of intercepting 10 GIGBYTES of data per second. In layman's terms, that means it could go through all the information in all the books in the Library of Congress in 15 minutes.
  Read on…