Astronaut on Ice: A Search for Antarctic Meteorites

NASA astronaut Stan Love is having a hard time right now. Not in space, but on the forbidding East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Together with a group of dedicated volunteers, Love is looking for meteorites — rocks from space that have fallen to Earth. And it’s not your usual vacation.

“Being on the Antarctic ice is very much like being in space,” Love told SPACE.com in December over dinner at the American McMurdo Station on the coast of the frozen continent. “Without proper protection, the environment would kill you within a few hours, and there’s little hope of rescue if something goes terribly wrong.”

Love has been in the astronaut corps for 14 years. In 2008, he paid a two-week visit to the International Space Station on the space shuttle mission STS-122. As a management astronaut, he is now involved with so-called spaceflight analog programs: terrestrial experiments and expeditions that pose similar challenges as a journey into space.

NASA’s two main space analog programs are the underwater NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) base off the Florida coast, and DesertRATS (Research And Technology Studies) in the Arizona desert. “But ANSMET [Antarctic Search for Meteorites] is much more space-like than these two,” Love said. “If an emergency occurs in DesertRATS, you can be in a hospital within three hours. In the case of ANSMET, it might well take three days.”

Meteorite hunters

ANSMET started back in 1976. The program is funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation  and the Smithsonian Institution, and is led by geologist Ralph Harvey of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Every austral summer, small volunteer teams head off to a remote region of Antarctica to set up a simple, self-contained field camp. For six weeks or so, they search the bluish ice for conspicuous dark rocks that might be extraterrestrial in origin.

“Building a permanent station in such an isolated region is unthinkable,” Love said. “You can only go there with a minimum amount of equipment.” That includes two-person tents, food rations, warm clothing, of course, and snowmobiles, on which the team members survey the frozen surface much like police comb a forest when searching for a lost child. [Hunting for Space Rocks: Q&A with Geoff Notkin of 'Meteorite Men']

Thanks to the effect of exposed or sub-glacial hills and mountains on the slow motion of the ice sheet, meteorites that have fallen over the past tens of thousands of years are concentrated and pushed up toward the surface, where they’re pretty easy to spot.

“I also joined the ANSMET team in the 2004-2005 season,” Love said. “My eyesight is still quite OK, and I found lots of meteorites. Which, by the way, basically means I was lucky.” ANSMET doesn’t offically keep track of who found what — all meteorite finds are considered to be the result of a team effort.

Famous finds

Probably the most famous ANSMET meteorite is ALH84001, which originated on Mars and, in 1996, was thought to contain fossil evidence of microbial life. Since then, studies have cast doubt on that interpretation. But even run-of-the-mill meteorites (so-called ordinary chondrites) have scientific value: they provide astronomers with a window on the early history of our solar system. [Gallery: Meteorites From Mars]

But why would an astronaut go meteorite hunting? “First of all, I like it here,” Love said. “Eight years ago, it surprised me how much Antarctica appeals to me.”

But there’s more. Love said his astronaut training and experience could be useful for the ANSMET team. Just like the crew of a spaceship, the meteorite hunters are a small group of interdependent people, working for weeks on end in a very isolated environment, with all the social and psychological challenges that might show up.

“I called Ralph [Harvey] and offered to come along for a second time and share my experiences,”  Love said. “The timing was perfect: Ralph had just been considering a suggestion by some  isolation researchers to provide his team members with some kind of teamwork/leadership training.”

Getting along well with each other is not just more enjoyable, according to Love — it could be crucial to the success of the expedition. “If the social environment gives you a lot of energy, everything goes smoother. However, if it takes a lot of energy, everything is harder — you’ve got less energy left for your actual work, for risk awareness, etcetera.”

Group dynamics

Moreover, years of training have convinced Love that, surprisingly enough, good chemistry between people is really trainable.

“Feeling comfortable with your tent companion is something that you can actively gain. Of course, my family would laugh if I told them I plan to teach this kind of stuff. They’d say I’m breaking the rules every day.”

During the second week of December, the ANSMET group left McMurdo for an unexplored region at the head of the Beardmore Glacier, on the west side of the Transantarctic Mountain Range. This time, the meteorite hunters set up their camp in two or three different locations, while a special reconnaissance team searched for new hunting grounds farther south.

Of course, Love said, there are also many differences between ANSMET and spaceflight. “With ANSMET, it’s the extreme cold that permeates every aspect of life. With spaceflight, it’s the microgravity. But in terms of team size, isolation, and resupply and rescue challenges, they are very similar.”

Another important difference is that every space mission is led and guided by Mission Control down on Earth. “ANSMET is much more autonomous,” Love said. ‘The decision makers are in the field, with the crew. With future manned missions to Mars, we may need similar crew autonomy. In that sense, NASA can also learn something from the meteorite hunters.”

To learn more about the ANSMET program, visit: http://www.case.edu/ansmet

Dutch astronomy writer Govert Schilling visited McMurdo Station and the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station as a selected member of the U.S. National Science Foundation’s 2012/2013 media visit program.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Space and Astronomy News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Astronaut on Ice: A Search for Antarctic Meteorites
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/astronaut-on-ice-a-search-for-antarctic-meteorites/
Link To Post : Astronaut on Ice: A Search for Antarctic Meteorites
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

How Obama made opportunity real

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• LZ Granderson: Specifics of Obama's first term may not be remembered


• He says his ability to win presidency twice is unforgettable


• Granderson: Obama, the first black president, makes opportunity real for many


• He says it makes presidency a possibility for people of all backgrounds

Editor's note: LZ Granderson, who writes a weekly column for CNN.com, was named journalist of the year by the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and is a 2011 Online Journalism Award finalist for commentary. He is a senior writer and columnist for ESPN the Magazine and ESPN.com. Follow him on Twitter: @locs_n_laughs.

(CNN) -- In his first term, President Barack Obama signed 654 bills into law, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased by about 70% and the national debt by $5.8 trillion.

And in 10 years -- maybe less -- few outside of the Beltway will remember any of that. That's not to suggest those details are not important. But even if all of his actions are forgotten, Obama's legacy as the first black president will endure.

And even though this is his second term and fewer people are expected to travel to Washington this time to witness the inauguration, know that this moment is not any less important.

LZ Granderson

Obama's address: Full text

For had Obama not been re-elected, his barrier-breaking election in 2008 could have easily been characterized as a charismatic politician capturing lightning in a bottle. But by becoming the first president since Dwight Eisenhower to win at least 51% of the vote twice, Obama proved his administration was successful.

And not by chance, but by change.

A change, to paraphrase Martin Luther King Jr., that was not inevitable but a result of our collective and continuous struggle to be that shining city on a hill of which President Ronald Reagan spoke so often.

For much of this country's history, being a white male was a legal prerequisite to being president. Then it was accepted as a cultural norm. Because of that, we could not be the country we set out to be.

But today, somewhere in the Midwest, there is a little Asian-American girl with the crazy idea she could be president one day, and because of Obama, she knows that idea is not very crazy at all.

That's power -- the kind of power that can fade urgent numbers and debates of the day into the background of history.

Gergen: Obama 2.0 version is smarter, tougher

Few remember the number of steps Neil Armstrong took when he landed on the moon, but they remember he was the first human being who stepped on the moon. Few can tell you how many hits Jackie Robinson had in his first Major League Baseball game, but they know he broke baseball's color barrier. Paying homage to a person being first at something significant does not diminish his or her other accomplishments. It adds texture to the arc of their story.

I understand the desire not to talk about race as a way of looking progressive.

But progress isn't pretending to be color blind, it's not being blinded by the person's color.

Or gender.

Or religion.

Or sexual orientation.

Somewhere in the South, there is an openly gay high schooler who loves student government and wants to be president someday. And because of Obama, he knows if he does run, he won't have to hide.

That does not represent a shift in demographics, but a shift in thought inspired by a new reality. A reality in which the president who follows Obama could be a white woman from Arkansas by way of Illinois; a Cuban-American from Florida; or a tough white guy from Jersey. Or someone from an entirely different background. We don't know. Four years is a long time away, and no one knows how any of this will play out -- which I think is a good thing.

'Obama: We are made for this moment'

For a long time, we've conceived of America as the land of opportunity. Eight years ago, when it came to the presidency, that notion was rhetoric. Four years ago, it became a once in a lifetime moment. Today, it is simply a fact of life.

Ten years from now, we may not remember what the unemployment rate was when Obama was sworn in a second time, but we'll never forget how he forever changed the limits of possibility for generations to come.

Somewhere out West, there is an 80-year-old black woman who never thought she'd see the day when a black man would be elected president. Somehow I doubt Obama's second inauguration is less important to her.

Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion.

Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of LZ Granderson.

Read More..

Obama lays out 2nd-term agenda

President Barack Obama exited his limousine for the traditional presidential walk in the inaugural parade from Capitol Hill to the White House. (Jan. 21)

WASHINGTON -- A confident President Barack Obama kicked off his second term on Monday with an impassioned call for a more inclusive America that rejects partisan rancor and embraces immigration reform, gay rights and the fight against climate change.

Obama's ceremonial swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol was filled with traditional pomp and pageantry, but it was a scaled-back inauguration compared to the historic start of his presidency in 2009 when he swept into office on a mantle of hope and change as America's first black president.

Despite expectations tempered by lingering economic weakness and a divided Washington, Obama delivered a preview of the priorities he intends to pursue - essentially, a reaffirmation of core liberal Democratic causes - declaring Americans “are made for this moment” and must “seize it together.”

His hair visibly gray after four years in office, Obama called for an end to the political partisanship that marked much of his first term in the White House in bitter fights over the economy with Republicans.

“We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate,” Obama said from atop the Capitol steps overlooking the National Mall.

Looking out on a sea of flags, Obama addressed a crowd estimated to be up to 700,000 people - less than half the record 1.8 million who assembled four years ago.

Speaking in more specific terms than is customary in an inaugural address, he promised “hard choices” to reduce the federal deficit without shredding the social safety net and called for a revamping of the tax code and a remaking of government.

When Obama raised his right hand and was sworn in by Chief Justice John Roberts, it was his second time taking the oath in 24 hours - but this time with tens of millions of people watching on television.

The president beamed as chants of “Obama, Obama!” rang out from the crowd.

Obama had a formal swearing-in on Sunday at the White House because of a constitutional requirement that the president take the oath on Jan. 20. Rather than stage the full inauguration on a Sunday, the main public events were put off until Monday.

During a triumphant parade down Pennsylvania Avenue to the White House, the president and first lady Michelle Obama thrilled wildly cheering onlookers by twice getting out of their heavily armored limousine and walking part of the way on foot, as they had done four years ago. Secret Service agents kept close watch.

In a speech of under 20 minutes, Obama, 51, sought to reassure Americans at the mid-point of his presidency and encourage them to help him take care of unfinished business. “Preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action,” he said.

Touching on volatile issues, Obama ticked off a series of liberal policies he plans to push in this second term.

Most surprising was a relatively long reference to the need to address climate change, which he mostly failed to do in his first four years.

“We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations,” the president said.

On gay rights, Obama insisted: “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law.”

And in a nod to America's fast-growing Hispanic population that helped catapult him to re-election in November, he said there was a need to “find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity.”

FACING PERSISTENT PROBLEMS

Obama, who won a second term by defeating Republican Mitt Romney after a bitter campaign, will now face many of the same problems that dogged his first four years: persistently high unemployment, crushing government debt and a deep partisan divide. The war in Afghanistan, which Obama is winding down, has dragged on for over a decade.

He won an end-of-year fiscal battle against Republicans, whose poll numbers have continued to sag, and appears to have gotten them to back down, at least temporarily, from resisting an increase in the national debt ceiling.

And Obama faces a less-dire outlook than he did when he took office in 2009 at the height of a deep U.S. recession and world economic crisis. The economy is growing again, though slowly.

But he still faces a daunting array of challenges.

Among them is a fierce gun-control debate inspired by a school massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, last month, a tragedy he invoked in his speech.

He said America must not rest until “all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.”

Obama's appeals for bipartisan cooperation will remind many Americans of his own failure to meet a key promise when he came to power - to act as a transformational leader who would fix a dysfunctional Washington.

His speech was light on foreign policy, with no mention of the West's nuclear standoff with Iran, the civil war in Syria, dealings with an increasingly powerful China or confronting al Qaeda's continued threat as exemplified by the recent deadly hostage crisis in Algeria.

But Obama said: “We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully … We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom.”

U.S. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, who had declared in 2010 that his top goal was to deny Obama re-election, congratulated the president and expressed a willingness to work together, saying a second term “represents a fresh start.”

But some Republicans responded skeptically. “It was a very, very progressive speech, to put it in the best possible light,” said Republican strategist Rich Galen. “He's not running for election anymore.”

Obama's ceremonial swearing-in fell on the same day as the national holiday honoring slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. - and the president embraced the symbolism. He took the oath with his hand on two Bibles - one from President Abraham Lincoln, who ended slavery, and the other from King.

After watching the rest of the parade from a bullet-proof VIP viewing stand in front of the White House, the Obamas planned to head to the two inaugural balls - rather than the 10 that were held in 2009.

DURBIN: PRIVATE PARTIES AND (MAYBE) BUDDY GUY

From dawn until dusk, Sen. Dick Durbin is scheduled to be among the constant companions of President Barack Obama, whom he joined starting with an early-morning church service near the White House.

After the swearing-in, Durbin, the No. 2 official at the Senate, said he found Obama's inaugural speech "beautiful."

"I thought he president really captured what the election was about, what the people were saying, we needed to come together -- 'We the People' and to really address the issues that are challenging our nation," said Durbin, a fellow Democrat.

After the inauguration speech, Obama and first lady Michelle Obama sat down as guests of honor at a traditional luncheon at the Capitol. Durbin was there, along with about other 200 high-level officials, including Supreme Court justices, Cabinet officials and congressional leaders.

At 9 o'clock tonight local time, Durbin said, he'll return to the White House to join the Obamas and a select group of friends, family and supporters at an exclusive celebration.

He indicated the timetable was fluid, since a similar party following the balls in 2009 didn't get going until about 11:30 p.m.

Will he make Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's late-night blues party with guitarist Buddy Guy? That runs from 11 p.m. until 3 a.m. "Hope to stay awake long enough," the senator said.

Durbin, 69, a 30-year veteran of Congress, is up for re-election in 2014. He was an early supporter of Obama leading up to his 2008 run, when Democrats had to choose between candidates Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

CHICAGOANS IN D.C. FEEL 'VESTED IN HIS SUCCESS'

Spencer Gould and his wife, Ardenia, of Chicago, arrived at the Capitol early enough to get seats on the front row of their section, directly center of where the president took the oath of office.

For about a minute, Gould said, he considered staying at home in Chicago’s Roseland neighborhood, but quickly realized that he could be no place else but here. Four years ago, he said, he wanted to be part of the historical moment. This time, he came to show his support.

CROWD MAKES LONG DRIVES, BRAVES THE COLD

Hundreds of thousands congregated on the National Mall on Monday, many bundled in gloves and scarves against the cold. Some stopped in front of street vendors to buy buttons with President Obama’s face on them, inaugural coffee mugs or wool hats with Obama spelled in glass beads.

Some had driven all night Sunday to make it to the ceremony by this morning.

FIRST FAMILY'S FASHION CLOSELY WATCHED BY SOME

The American fashion industry held its breath on Inauguration Day for a series of Big Reveals.

Word came within minutes that the navy check coat and dress Michelle Obama wore to the morning prayer service at St. John's church was by American designer Thom Browne, to which she added a belt for the ceremonial swearing-in. Her shoes and accessories were J.Crew. Her necklace was by Cathy Waterman.Former Obama pastor in town

FORMER PASTOR WRIGHT OFFERS ADVICE

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the president's former Chicago pastor whose sermons touched off a firestorm in the 2008 political campaign, urged today that Barack Obama heed the words of the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and transform the country into the world's "No. 1 purveyor of peace."

Wright, in the capital today but skipping the inauguration, recalled a speech by King during the Vietnam war, when the civil rights leader denounced the U.S. as "the greatest purveyor of violence in the world."

Tribune reporters Dahleen Glanton, Katherine Skiba, Reuters and the Los Angeles Times contributed.

Read More..

Algeria accuses Canadian, puts hostage toll at 38

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria said on Monday it had confirmed the deaths of at least 38 workers, all but one foreign, at the Sahara gas plant its forces stormed two days ago and said the Islamist gunmen had been led by a man with Canadian citizenship.

Named only as Chedad, a surname found among Arabs in North Africa, the Canadian was among 29 assailants from a local al Qaeda group killed during the four-day siege, Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said. Another three were detained.

Among hostages confirmed dead by their own governments were three Americans, seven Japanese, six Filipinos and three Britons; others from Britain, Norway and elsewhere were listed as unaccounted for. Sellal said 37 foreigners died, of whom seven were unidentified, and a further five were missing.

Though nearly 700 Algerians and 100 other foreigners escaped or were rescued, the apparent ease with which a group could race over the nearby border from lawless Libya and seize a heavily defended and economically strategic facility has raised doubts for investors on the security of Algeria's vital energy sector.

An Algerian security source said investigators pursuing the possibility that the attackers had inside help to map the complex and gain entry were questioning at least two employees.

Claimed by an Algerian al Qaeda leader as a riposte to France's attack on his allies in neighboring Mali the previous week, the four-day siege also drew global attention to Islamists in the Sahara and Sahel regions and brought pledges of support to African governments from Western powers whose toppling of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi helped flood the region with weapons.

Sellal, whose government ruled out negotiation with the hostage-takers from the start, vowed that Algeria, scarred by a bitter civil war against Islamists in the 1990s, would prevent the rise of an Afghan-style power base for al Qaeda in the south - there would be no "Sahelistan", he told a news conference.

Prime Minister David Cameron told parliament in London that Britain would increase its help to Algeria's intelligence and security forces and might do more for France in Mali, though he ruled out sending many of its stretched armed forces to Africa.

Noting a shift in the source of threats to British interests from Afghanistan to Africa, he also noted Sellal's rundown of a multinational group of assailants and said the region was becoming "a magnet for jihadists".

Alongside a "strong security response", however, he called for efforts to address long-standing grievances, such as poverty and political exclusion, which foster support for violence. Some militants in Algeria want autonomy for the south and complain of domination by an unchanging establishment in Algiers.

DEATH AND SURVIVAL

As Algerian forces combed the Tigantourine plant near the town of In Amenas for explosives and the missing, survivors and the bereaved told tales of terror, narrow escapes and of death.

"The terrorists lined up four hostages and assassinated them, shot them in the head," a brother of Kenneth Whiteside told Sky News, in an account of the Briton's death given to the family by an Algerian colleague who witnessed it. "Kenny just smiled the whole way through. He'd accepted his fate."

Filipino survivor Joseph Balmaceda said gunmen used him for cover: "Whenever government troops tried to use a helicopter to shoot at the enemy, we were used as human shields."

A Frenchman man hid for more than a day under his bed as jihadist fighters searched the residential complex.

Another Briton, Garry Barlow, called his wife from within the site before he was killed and said: "I'm sat here at my desk with Semtex strapped to my chest."

Several hostages died on Thursday when Algerian helicopters blasted jeeps in which the militants were trying to move them.

Others were able to flee: "We cut the wire with clippers and ran for it, all together, about 50 of us," one told the Times.

A Romanian said he walked 30 km (20 miles) across the desert with little water before running into an Algerian police patrol.

Citizens of nine countries including Algeria died, Sellal said, among them seven Japanese, six Filipinos, two Romanians, an American, a Frenchman and four Britons. Washington later name three dead Americans; Britain said only three Britons were dead but three plus a London-based Colombian were also believed dead.

Norway said the fate of five of its citizens was unclear; in addition to seven Japanese dead, Tokyo said three were missing.

CANADIAN ACCUSED

An Algerian security source had earlier told Reuters that documents found on the bodies of two militants had identified them as Canadians: "A Canadian was among the militants. He was coordinating the attack," Sellal said, adding that the raiders had threatened to blow up the gas installation.

That Canadian's name was given only as Chedad. Algerian officials have also named other militants in recent days as having leadership roles among the attackers. Veteran Islamist Mokhtar Belmokhtar claimed responsibility on behalf of al Qaeda.

In a video distributed on the Internet, the one-eyed veteran of Afghan wars of the 1980s, of Algeria's civil war and of the lucrative trans-Sahara cigarette smuggling trade, said: "We in al Qaeda announce this blessed operation."

Dressed in combat fatigues and standing in front of a black Islamist banner, Belmokhtar demanded an end to French attacks on Islamist fighters in Mali. These began five days before the fighters swooped before dawn and seized a plant that produces 10 percent of Algeria's natural gas exports.

U.S. and European officials doubt such a complex raid could have been organized quickly enough to have been conceived as a direct response to the French military intervention. Sellal said it had been two months in the planning. However, French action could have triggered an operation that had already been planned.

It was not clear what evidence the Algerian authorities had for some of their information, including on the nationalities of the attackers; 11 of them, they said, were Tunisian, while only three were Algerian. Others came from Egypt, Mali, Niger and Mauritania, as well as from Canada.

In Ottawa, Canada's foreign affairs department said it was seeking information. Security experts noted that some Canadian citizens had been involved with international militants before.

The jihadists had planned the attack two months ago in neighboring Mali, Sellal added. They had traveled from there through Niger and Libya, hence evading Algeria's strong security services, until close to In Amenas. Their aim, he said, had been to take foreign hostages to Mali, and they made a first attempt to take captives from a bus near the site early on Wednesday.

He said special forces and army units were deployed against the militants, who had planted explosives in the gas plant with a view to blowing up the facility. Normally producing 10 percent of Algeria's natural gas, it was shut down during the incident.

The government now aims to reopen it this week, although officials at Britain's BP and Norway's Statoil, which operate the plant with Algeria's state energy firm, were less certain.

MALI CONFLICT

An Algerian newspaper said they had arrived in cars painted in the colors of state-owned Sonatrach but registered in Libya, a country awash with heavy weaponry since Western powers backed a revolt to bring down Gaddafi in 2011. Using Libya's oil wealth, Gaddafi had exercised a degree of influence in the region and the consequences of his death are still unfolding.

In a sign of the complexities wrought by the Arab Spring revolts, Egypt, a former military dictatorship now led by one of the generals' Islamist foes, criticized France's intervention in Mali on Monday. President Mohamed Mursi called instead for more spending to address rebels' grievances and warned that the military moves would "inflame the conflict in this region".

The bloodshed also added strains to Algeria's long fraught relations with Western powers, where some complained about being left in the dark while the decision to storm the compound was being taken. Algiers portrayed the operation as a success.

And this week, Britain and France both defended the military action by Algeria, the strongest military power in the Sahara and an ally the West needs in combating the militants.

"This would have been a most demanding task for security forces anywhere in the world and we should acknowledge the resolve shown by the Algerians in undertaking it," British Prime Minister Cameron told parliament on Monday.

Chafik Mesbah, a former Algerian presidential security adviser, said: "The West did not criticize Algeria because it knows an assault was inevitable in the circumstances ... The victims were a minimum price to pay to solve the crisis."

(Additional reporting by Balazs Koranyi in Oslo, William Maclean in Dubai, d Daniel Flynn in Dakar, David Ljunggren in Ottawa and Ed Klamann in Tokyo; Writing by David Stamp and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Read More..

Euro zone surveys to offer hope as Japan eases

LONDON (Reuters) - The prospect of stronger European manufacturing surveys and decisive monetary easing in Japan this week ought to bolster confidence that the global economy can look forward to better days.

It is definitely not yet time to break open the champagne.

The index derived from polls of purchasing managers across the euro zone, though recovering, is likely to remain well below the 50 threshold that signals expansion.

If the Bank of Japan bows to political pressure and relaxes policy more boldly, it is because the country's noxious cocktail of a huge debt burden, deflation and dwindling external surpluses threatens an eventual fiscal crunch.

And an expected contraction in Britain's economy when fourth-quarter figures are released on Friday will be a reminder, as was Germany's grim end to 2013, that Europe has to dig itself out of a deep hole.

"The real hard economic data are still very negative," said Bert Colijn, an economist in Brussels with the Conference Board, a business research group. "There are improvements, but it still doesn't look that bright."

However, he said the economic news from the euro zone rim was not quite as troubling, and the mood was brightening among the core countries of the single currency area.

Lena Komileva, managing director of G+ Economics, a London consultancy, said it was hard to argue against investors' new-found appetite for riskier assets given that the volatility of equity prices was approaching historical lows and yields on corporate bonds had fallen sharply.

"Financial stress indicators signal a significant improvement in the health of the global economy," she said.

Friday's solid fourth-quarter economic data from China reinforced that view.

PURCHASERS' PROGRESS

Economists polled by Reuters expect an uptick in Thursday's advance purchasing managers' indexes for France and Germany as well as for the euro zone as a whole.

Germany's IFO business confidence survey on Friday is also projected to have risen for the third month in a row.

"The fact that business confidence measures are coming in more positive is a good sign," Colijn commented.

Commerzbank said its leading indicator for the German economy reached an all-time high in December after the European Central Bank's pledge to buy the bonds of troubled economies eased fears of a break-up of the euro.

"We assume that increasingly more companies are gaining confidence and viewing business prospects more positively," said Commerzbank economist Ralph Solveen.

BNP Paribas is also bullish on Germany and is looking for a marked pick-up in growth.

In addition to the ECB's safety net, the global manufacturing cycle is pointing up, while a strong labor market and easy financial conditions are supporting consumption, economists Evelyn Herrmann and Ken Wattret said in a report.

"Moreover, should the global economy surpass expectations and euro zone market stress ease further, upside surprises would be likely to follow. A key issue in this respect would be higher export growth and confidence triggering a stronger rebound in investment," they said.

That is exactly what Japan would like to see, too.

To that end, the government of new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Bank of Japan have agreed to set 2 percent inflation as a new target, supplanting a softer 1 percent ‘goal', according to sources familiar with the central bank's thinking.

They said the BOJ, which meets on Monday and Tuesday, will also consider making an open-ended commitment to buy assets until the target is in sight.

FOR AND AGAINST EASING

Credit Suisse's global equity strategists said an easier monetary policy is justified to cushion the significant fiscal tightening on which Japan will have to embark before long to whittle down a government debt that has reached some 220 percent of national income.

This task is all the more pressing because Japan is moving towards a current account deficit, which will make it more reliant on foreign investors to finance its budget shortfall, Credit Suisse argued.

Trade figures on Thursday will underline the deterioration in Japan's external accounts, with economists polled by Reuters forecasting the sixth consecutive monthly deficit.

Nomura reckons the deficit for all of 2012 widened to 6.6 trillion yen ($73.4 billion) from 2.7 trillion in 2011.

Japanese equities have surged in anticipation of a more aggressive monetary policy stance, but not everyone is happy.

The accompanying slump in the yen has prompted Russia's deputy central bank governor to warn of a new round of ‘currency wars' and the medium-term risk of running ultra-loose monetary policies is likely to be a theme of the World Economic Forum in Davos, which opens on Wednesday.

"I'm pretty worried about the new policies of Japan's newly elected government," German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said last week. "When you think of the surplus of liquidity on global financial markets, it is fuelled further by a wrong understanding of central bank policy.

(Editing by Susan Fenton)

Read More..

Gore's TD run gives 49ers 28-24 lead over Falcons

ATLANTA (AP) — Frank Gore's 9-yard run midway through the fourth quarter gave San Francisco a 28-24 lead over the Atlanta Falcons in Sunday's NFC championship game.

The 49ers, who trailed 17-0 in the first half, took their first lead of the game on a short 38-yard drive set up by Ted Ginn Jr.'s 20-yard punt return.

Gore had a 5-yard touchdown run to cap an 82-yard drive to open the second half.

The high-scoring pace of the first half continued as the 49ers were impressive to open the second half. Colin Kaepernick had passes of 21 and 17 yards to Randy Moss in the drive. The 17-yarder moved the 49ers to the Falcons 5, setting up Gore's scoring run.

Matt Ryan threw three touchdown passes in the first half, including a 10-yard toss to Tony Gonzalez with 25 seconds remaining in the half. The score answered San Francisco's two straight touchdowns as Atlanta led 24-14 at halftime.

Ryan also threw touchdown passes of 20 and 46 yards to Julio Jones.

Ryan was hurt by two third-quarter turnovers. His pass for Roddy White was intercepted by cornerback Chris Culliver early in the third quarter. The 49ers couldn't take advantage of the game's first turnover when David Akers' try for a 38-yard field goal hit the left upright.

Later in the third quarter, Ryan fumbled a shotgun snap. Again the 49ers were denied when receiver Michael Crabtree fumbled at the goal line when stripped by Dunta Robinson. William Moore helped on the hit and Stephen Nicholas was credited with the recovery.

The Falcons led 17-0 following Ryan's 20-yard touchdown pass to Jones on the first play of the second quarter before Kaepernick and the 49ers answered.

Kaepernick threw a 4-yard scoring pass to tight end Vernon Davis and LaMichael James had a 15-yard touchdown run as the 49ers charged back.

Trailing 17-0, the 49ers finally answered with a long drive that consumed almost 7 minutes. The drive began with four straight runs by Gore.

On third-and-7 from the Falcons 42, Kaepernick completed a 27-yard pass to Davis to the 15. Following an incomplete pass on first down, James ran right behind a block by Davis for the touchdown.

The 49ers then went on an 82-yard touchdown drive. Big plays included Kaepernick's 19-yard pass to Davis and a 23-yard run by the dual-threat quarterback.

Falcons linebacker Nicholas helped the 49ers with a 15-yard penalty for unnecessary roughness.

On first down from the Falcons 4, Kaepernick rolled right before throwing to Davis for the touchdown.

Ryan opened the game with three straight scoring drives, including two touchdown passes to Jones. Ryan capped the Falcons' opening drive with a 46-yard touchdown pass to Jones.

Matt Bryant's 35-yard field goal capped the Falcons' second drive.

Ryan moved the Falcons 80 yards on seven plays on Atlanta's opening drive. Ryan completed passes of 13 yards to Jones and 16 yards to White on the drive.

On second-and-9 from the 49ers 46, Ryan faked a handoff to Jacquizz Rodgers. San Francisco safety Dashon Goldson bit on the fake, allowing Jones to run past Goldson. Jones was open for the deep pass as safety Donte Whitner trailed on the play.

Ryan completed a 27-yard pass to Jones to set up Bryant's field goal to end the Falcons' second drive. Jones beat Goldson on the catch.

On the first play of the second quarter, Ryan threw to Jones in the left corner of the end zone. Jones was closely covered by 49ers cornerback Tarell Brown. Jones made the catch over Brown and then looked down as he made sure he touched the end zone with both feet.

Jones' second foot was close to the back of the end zone, but the officials' review confirmed the touchdown.

Ryan completed 18 of 24 passes for 271 yards and three touchdowns in the half. Jones had seven catches for 135 yards and two touchdowns.

The Falcons had a strong start for the second straight week of the postseason. They led Seattle 20-0 at halftime in last week's divisional playoff game and lost the lead before winning 30-28.

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Read More..

Giant Mars Crater Shows Evidence of Ancient Lake

New photos of a huge crater on Mars suggest water may lurk in crevices under the planet’s surface, hinting that life might have once lived there, and raising the possibility that it may live there still, researchers say.

Future research looking into the chances of life on Mars could shed light on the origins of life on Earth, scientists added.

The discovery came from a study of images by NASA’s powerful Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that revealed new evidence of a wet underground environment on the Red Planet. The images focused on the giant McLaughlin Crater, which is about 57 miles (92 kilometers) wide and so deep that underground water appears to have flowed into the crater at some point in the distant past.

Today, the crater is bone-dry but harbors clay minerals and other evidence that liquid water filled the area in the ancient past.

“Taken together, the observations in McLaughlin Crater provide the best evidence for carbonate forming within a lake environment instead of being washed into a crater from outside,” study lead author Joseph Michalski, of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz., and London’s Natural History Museum, said in a statement. [Search for Water on Mars (Photos)]

A wet Mars underground

Space agencies have deployed many missions to Mars over the decades to explore how habitable its surface may have been or is today. However, the Martian surface has been extremely cold, arid and chemically hostile to life as we know it for most of the history of Mars.

Instead of scanning the surface of Mars for life, scientists have suggested the most viable habitat for ancient simple life may have been in Martian water hidden underground.

On Earth, microbes up to 3 miles (5 km) or more underground make up perhaps half of all of the planet’s living matter. Most of these organisms represent some of the most primitive kinds of microbes known, hinting that life may actually have started underground, or at least survived there during a series of devastating cosmic impacts known as the Late Heavy Bombardment that Earth and the rest of the inner solar system endured about 4.1 billion to 3.8 billion years ago.

Since Mars has less gravity — a surface gravity of a little more than one-third Earth’s — its crust is less dense and more porous than that of our planet, which means that more water can leak underground, researchers said. Wherever there is liquid water on Earth, there is virtually always life, and microbes underground on Mars could be sustained by energy sources and chemical reactions similar to those that support deep-dwelling organisms on Earth.

“The deep crust has always been the most habitable place on Mars, and would be a wise place to search for evidence for organic processes in the future,” Michalski told SPACE.com. [Search for Life on Mars: A Timeline (Gallery)]

Subterranean Mars

While researchers currently have no way to drill deep underground on the Red Planet, they can nevertheless spot hints of what subterranean Mars is like by analyzing deep rocks exhumed by erosion, asteroid impacts or materials generated by underground fluids that have welled up to the surface.

Such upwelling would first occur in deep basins like McLaughlin Crater — as the lowest points on the surface, they would be where underground water reserves would most likely get exposed.

Scientists focused on McLaughlin Crater because it is one of the deepest craters on Mars. McLaughlin is about 1.3 miles (2.2 km) deep and is located in Mars’ northern hemisphere.

The mineral composition of the floor of McLaughlin Crater suggests there was a lake made of upwelled groundwater there. Channels seen on the crater’s eastern wall about 1,650 feet (500 meters) above its floor also hint at the former presence of a lake surface.

Michalski was actually originally trying to disprove the idea that groundwater breached the surface in many locations on Mars.

“Lo and behold, there was strong evidence for that process in this crater,” he said. “Science is special because we are allowed to change our minds.”

An ancient groundwater lake

The researchers estimate that a lake existed at McLaughlin Crater for an unknown duration between 3.7 billion and 4 billion years ago. “That makes the deposits as old as or older than the oldest rocks known to exist on Earth,” Michalski said.

Mounds seen on the crater floor may have come from landslides or subsequent meteor impacts. These are important because they may have rapidly buried crater floor sediments.

“That is really cool because rapid burial is the scenario that is most advantageous for preservation of organic material, if any was present at that time,” Michalski said.

Since life on Earth may have begun underground, learning more about any underground life that might have lived — or may still live — on Mars could shed light on the origins of life on Earth, researchers said.

“We should give serious consideration to exploring rocks representing subsurface environments in future missions,” Michalski said. “That doesn’t mean drilling, but instead exploring rocks formed from upwelling groundwater, or rocks naturally exhumed from the subsurface by meteor impact.”

Michalski noted that some people may ask, “‘Why do I hear about the detection of water or possibility of life on Mars all the time?’ The answer is because Mars is habitable in more ways than we ever realized for many years, and we are finding water in many forms and environments on Mars — many more than we predicted for a long time.”

The ingredients for life the researchers describe, “including energy sources, would have been more available early in Mars’ history, but it doesn’t take too much imagination to picture a scenario in which the subsurface is habitable today,” Michalski said. He cautioned, however, “that is much different from saying that life is there today.”

The scientists detailed their findings online Jan. 20 in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Follow SPACE.com on Twitter @Spacedotcom. We’re also on Facebook & Google+.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Science News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Giant Mars Crater Shows Evidence of Ancient Lake
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/giant-mars-crater-shows-evidence-of-ancient-lake/
Link To Post : Giant Mars Crater Shows Evidence of Ancient Lake
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Obama's speech: Learn from Lincoln

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Julian Zelizer: Second term inaugural addresses are always a challenge


• He says the public has had four years to make a judgment about the president


• Obama can learn from second term speeches of Lincoln, Wilson, FDR


• Zelizer says they did a good job of unifying America and sketching vision of the future

Editor's note: Julian Zelizer is a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He is the author of "Jimmy Carter" and of "Governing America."

(CNN) -- The second inaugural address is always more difficult than the first. When a president-elect first steps onto the national stage, he still enjoys a certain degree of innocence and hope. Americans are waiting to see if the new president will be different. When a new president delivers his speech, voters don't yet have a record that might make them cynical.

But by the second term, voters are familiar, and often tired, with the occupant of the White House. Even though they liked him more than his opponents, the president has usually been through some pretty tough battles and his limitations have been exposed. It becomes much harder to deliver big promises, when the people watching have a much clearer sense of your limitations and of the strength of your opponents.

Julian Zelizer

So President Barack Obama faces a big test when he appears before the nation Monday.

Opinion: Presidents shouldn't swear in on a Bible

Obama now is Washington, and no longer someone who will be able to shake up the way Washington works. Voters believe that Congress is dysfunctional and have little confidence that legislators will respond to his proposals.

Overseas, the instability and violence in the Middle East has shaken the confidence of many Americans that Obama can achieve the kind of transformative change he promised back in 2009.

Obama, who is a student of history, can look back at some past second inaugural addresses if he wants guidance. Three of the best of these addresses offer a roadmap.

Abraham Lincoln, March 4, 1865: The strongest was from Lincoln, who gave his talk amid the brutality of the Civil War but chose to stress the theme of healing and unity, Lincoln gave a masterful performance that offered inspiration and encouragement for the reunification of the nation. Lincoln famously said: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." Rather than boasting of military victory or threatening Southern forces, he stepped outside the battle to offer the nation, as a whole, the path forward.

Woodrow Wilson, March 5, 1917: Although Wilson had run on a campaign to keep America out of world war, he was aware that such intervention was inevitable. During his second inaugural address, Wilson took the opportunity to start preparing the nation for what was about to come. He told America to think about the global responsibilities it had to accept, even if much of the nation was not prepared to do so. "We are provincials no longer," he said, "The tragic events of the thirty months of vital turmoil which we have just passed have made us citizens of the world. There can be no turning back."

Opinion: Why 'Hail to the Chief' remains unsung

Franklin Roosevelt, January 20, 1937: Roosevelt gave a rousing performance that outlined the fundamental vision which shaped the wide array of policies he had put forward in his first term. While many people had criticized FDR for lacking any ideology and for being a pragmatist without principle, in his second address he explained the rationale behind his actions: "I see millions denied education, recreation, and the opportunity to better their lot and the lot of their children. I see one-third of a nation ill-housed, ill-clad, ill-nourished." For Democrats, the speech remains a powerful defense of government and the rationale behind his program.

To replicate some of this success, Obama will need to figure out how to inspire a nation that is frustrated by the gridlock of Washington and the laggard state of the economy and worried about instability overseas.

Obama can learn from all three of these presidents.

Like Wilson, he can talk to Americans about goals they should aspire to achieve, ways in which the country can accept new obligations in a changing world.

Like Lincoln, he can urge the nation to move beyond the discord and division that has characterized political debate in the past four years.

Finally, like Roosevelt, he can use his speech to provide some of the justification and outlook that has shaped his policies. This would undercut the ability of Republicans to define his policies for him, as has been the case for much of his first term, and motivate supporters who have often felt that Obama remained too much of a mystery.

Follow @CNNOpinion on Twitter.

Join us at Facebook/CNNOpinion.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Julian Zelizer.

Read More..

Harold Washington statue damaged on South Side

Police released this photo showing damage to a pedestal under the statue of the late Harold Washington. (Chicago Police Dept. / January 20, 2013)

Staff report

4:34 p.m. CST, January 20, 2013

Police are looking for the people responsible for damaging and stealing a portion of a statue of late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington on the South Side.

A front panel which contained a metal description of the late mayor was removed and stolen from the pedestal below the statue, according to a community alert issued by police.

The statue was located in front of the Harold Washington Cultural Center on the 4700 block of South Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, police said.

The incident happened late Saturday. No information about the people who damaged the statute was available, police said.

Anyone with information about this incident is asked to call the Area Central Bureau of Detectives at (312) 747-8380.

chicagobreaking@tribune.com

Twitter:@ChicagoBreaking

Read More..

Algeria hostage crisis death toll hits 80, could rise further

ALGIERS, Algeria (Reuters) - Algerian troops found 25 bodies of hostages at a bomb-littered gas plant deep in the Sahara desert on Sunday, a day after ending a four-day siege, a security source said, raising the death toll of militants and their captives to at least 80.

Around 30 foreigners - including American, British, French, Japanese, Norwegian and Romanian citizens - are among those missing or confirmed dead after the siege, one of the worst international hostage crises in decades.

Algeria had given a preliminary death toll of 55 people killed - 23 hostages and 32 militants - on Saturday and said it would rise as more bodies were found.

The security source said that toll did not include the 25 bodies found on Sunday, which meant the total number of hostages killed - foreign and local - was at least 48. The search was not over, and more could yet be found, he said.

He also said six militants were captured alive, including two found hiding on Sunday. Troops were still searching for others. Earlier, the authorities had said all the fighters had been killed.

Among foreigners confirmed dead by their home countries were three Britons, one American and two Romanians. The missing include at least 10 Japanese, five Norwegians, three other Britons, and a British resident. The security source said at least one Frenchman was also among the dead.

Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal is expected to release more details at a news conference on Monday.

One-eyed veteran Islamist fighter Mokhtar Belmokhtar claimed responsibility on Sunday for the attack on behalf of al Qaeda.

"We in al Qaeda announce this blessed operation," he said in a video, according to Sahara Media, a regional website. He said about 40 attackers participated in the raid, roughly matching the government's figures for fighters killed and captured.

The fighters swooped out of the desert and seized the base on Wednesday, capturing a plant that produces 10 percent of Algeria's natural gas exports, as well as a nearby residential barracks.

They demanded an end to French air strikes against Islamist fighters in neighboring Mali that had begun five days earlier. However, U.S. and European officials doubt such a complex raid could have been organized quickly enough to have been conceived as a direct response to the French military intervention.

The siege turned bloody on Thursday when the Algerian army opened fire saying fighters were trying to escape with their prisoners. Survivors said Algerian forces blasted several trucks in a convoy carrying both hostages and their captors.

Nearly 700 Algerian workers and more than 100 foreigners escaped, mainly on Thursday when the fighters were driven from the residential barracks. Some captors remained holed up in the industrial complex until Saturday when they were overrun.

The bloodshed has strained Algeria's relations with its Western allies, some of whom have complained about being left in the dark while the decision to storm the compound was being taken. Nevertheless, Britain and France both defended the Algerian military action.

"It's easy to say that this or that should have been done. The Algerian authorities took a decision and the toll is very high but I am a bit bothered ... when the impression is given that the Algerians are open to question," said French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius. "They had to deal with terrorists."

British Prime Minister David Cameron said in a televised statement: "Of course people will ask questions about the Algerian response to these events, but I would just say that the responsibility for these deaths lies squarely with the terrorists who launched this vicious and cowardly attack.

"We should recognize all that the Algerians have done to work with us and to help and coordinate with us. I'd like to thank them for that. We should also recognize that the Algerians too have seen lives lost among their soldiers."

LAST WORDS?

Alan Wright, now safe at home in Scotland, said he had escaped with a group of Algerian and foreign workers after hiding for a day and a night. While hiding inside the compound, he managed to call his wife at home with their two daughters.

"She asked if I wanted to speak to Imogen and Esme, and I couldn't because I thought, I don't want my last ever words to be in a crackly satellite phone, telling a lie, saying you're OK when you're far from OK," he recalled to Sky News.

Despite the incident, Algeria is determined to press on with its energy industry. Oil minister Youcef Yousfi visited the site and said physical damage was minor, state news service APS reported. The plant would start back up in two days, he said.

The Islamists' assault has tested Algeria's relations with the outside world and exposed the vulnerability of multinational oil operations in the Sahara.

Algeria, scarred by the civil war with Islamist insurgents in the 1990s which claimed 200,000 lives, insisted from the start of the crisis that there would be no negotiation in the face of terrorism.

France especially needs close cooperation from Algeria to crush Islamist rebels in northern Mali.

French troops in Mali advanced slowly on Sunday towards the town of Diably, a militant stronghold the fighters abandoned on Saturday after punishing French attacks.

The apparent ease with which guerrillas swooped in from the desert to take control of an important energy facility has raised questions over the country's outwardly tough security measures. Yousfi said Algeria would not allow foreign security firms to guard its oil facilities.

Algerian officials said the attackers may have had inside help from among the hundreds of Algerians employed at the site.

Security in the half-dozen countries around the Sahara desert has long been a preoccupation of the West. Smugglers and militants have earned millions in ransom from kidnappings.

The most powerful Islamist groups operating in the Sahara were severely weakened by Algeria's secularist military in the civil war in the 1990s. But in the past two years the regional wing of al Qaeda has gained fighters and arms as a result of the civil war in Libya, when arsenals were looted from Muammar Gaddafi's army.

(Additional reporting by Balazs Koranyi in Oslo, Estelle Shirbon and David Alexander in London, Brian Love in Paris and Daniel Flynn in Dakar; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Myra MacDonald)

Read More..