Thursday, July 14, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
ESA's Gaia camera packs 1 billion pixels
How big is the image sensor on your camera? 5 megapixels? 8? 16? It hardly matters, because the European Space Agency is about to make you feel very inadequate.
Monday, July 11, 2011
Cyprus: Navy chief Killed in Blast
The head of Cyprus' navy, Andreas Ioannides, was among 12 people killed when seized containers of gunpowder exploded its main base.
The commander of the Evangelos Florakis base, Lambros Lambrou, also died.
The defence minister and military chief have resigned over the incident, which officials said occurred after a bush fire ignited the explosives.
A government spokesman has said a recent meeting concluded that safety at the site needed to be improved.
But the recommendations had not yet been implemented, he added.
The comments came after Ioannides' son said senior officials had repeatedly ignored his warnings about the condition of the containers.
'Biblical dimensions'More than 90 containers of gunpowder had been kept in the open at the Evangelos Florakis base since they were confiscated by the Cypriot authorities from a ship intercepted in 2009 sailing from Iran to Syria in violation of United Nations sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Early on Monday, firefighters were called to tackle a small fire in the storage area. At 0550 (0250 GMT), there was a massive explosion.
The blast killed Mr Ioannides and Mr Lambrou, as well as four other navy personnel and six firefighters, a police and military statement said. Sixty-two people were wounded, two of them seriously.
The shockwave destroyed the walls of two multi-storey buildings on the base, and generator buildings and fuel tanks at the nearby Vassilikos power plant. Debris was blown as far as 3km (2 miles) from the base and hundreds of trees were flattened.
Nearly all the windows in the village of Zygi were blown out, while roof tiles were torn off and windows broken in the village of Mari.
"My tractor jumped about half a metre in the air," farmer Nicos Aspros told the Reuters news agency. "There isn't a house in the community which hasn't been damaged."
Commerce Minister Antonis Paschalides said the damage to the power station, which produces 60% of the country's electricity, was a "tragedy of Biblical dimensions".
The blast caused widespread power cuts, and the electricity authority has warned that the plant will not immediately come back online.
Government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said there was no risk of further explosions, and that foreign experts would be called in to help the police and armed forces, the National Guard, investigate the incident.
The government had declared three days of official mourning, and the state would pay for the funerals of the victims, he added.
Asked about reports that navy commanders had expressed concerns over the safety of the gunpowder storage area, Mr Stefanou said officials had met last week at the defence ministry to discuss the matter.
"Decisions were taken on protecting the material, but unfortunately this was not possible as time ran out," he added.
Earlier, Ioannides' son told CyBC television that his father had warned that the gunpowder containers had been had become "warped" because they had remained exposed to the elements since being confiscated.
Mari's community leader, Nicos Asprou, told reporters that the community had not been told gunpowder was being stored at the base.
President Demetris Christofias meanwhile accepted the resignations of Defence Minister Costas Papacostas and National Guard chief of staff, Petros Tsalikidis. They will remain in post until replacements are named.
"I want to express my sympathy and condolences to the families of the people who died while selflessly performing their duty," Mr Christofias said. "The material damage can be repaired, but lives do not come back."
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Independent South Sudan "Free at last"
Tens of thousands of South Sudanese danced and cheered as their new nation declared independence on Saturday, a hard-won separation from the north that still leaves simmering issues of disputed borders and oil payments unresolved.
President Obama not giving up on Debt Deal
President Barack Obama hasn't given up on getting congressional leaders to accept a $4 trillion debt reduction deal that Republicans have rejected for its tax increases and Democrats dislike for its cuts to programs for seniors and the poor, administration officials said hours before talks resumed Sunday.
Hianus Somewhat Over
I'm really sorry that I haven't been very good about publishing on a regular basis this summer. I have been away at camps and on vacations. I will try to get back on a regular schedule. I will not be publishing the last week of July and into the first week of August because I will be overseas on a business trip. I am working on a twitter feed as a supplement to my blogs. I will keep you all posted on the progress. Thank you for continuing to be loyal even though I haven't had much content up.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
South Sudan Celebrates First Independence Day
South Sudan's overjoyed population chanted "Oyaay!" as it's nationhood was made official in a proclamation ceremony full of pomp and circumstance.
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