World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[AssassinsMace]

Is it surprising that the media manipulates and lies just so people notice their headlines?

Take a look at this.

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The subway platform was full of people and no one helped the guy. Remember all the heat China got from the media when that little girl in China was hit by multiple cars and no one did anything? You're not hearing any vilifying here except towards the photographer.

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

Guys we're heading dangerously close too back door propaganda and Opinion Based posts This is news.
Now on Reply too the posted NY subway death

Anguished fotog: Critics are unfair to condemn me
By R. UMAR ABBASI
Last Updated: 2:13 PM, December 5, 2012
Posted: 12:39 AM, December 5, 2012
R. Umar Abbasi Ki Suk Han, 58, of Queens frantically tries to climb to safety yesterday as a train bears down on him in Midtown. He was fatally struck seconds later.

Post freelance photographer R. Umar Abbasi captured the dramatic moments before Ki Suk Han was struck by a downtown Q train. A day after the pictures were published, a flurry of criticism erupted — from other media and over social media like Twitter. He recounted the or deal to The Post yesterday:

I was on an assignment, waiting for a train at the 49th Street subway platform, when I suddenly heard people gasping.

The announcement had come over the loudspeaker that the train was coming — and out of the periphery of my eye, I saw a body flying through the air and onto the track.

I just started running. I had my camera up — it wasn’t even set to the right settings — and I just kept shooting and flashing, hoping the train driver would see something and be able to stop.

I had no idea what I was shooting. I’m not even sure it was registering with me what was happening. I was just looking at that train coming.

It all went so quickly; from the time I heard the shouting until the time the train hit the man was about 22 seconds.

At the same time, the perp was running toward me. I was afraid he might push me onto the tracks.

The victim was so far away from me, I was already too far away to reach him when I started running.

The train hit the man before I could get to him, and nobody closer tried to pull him out.


» Leonard Greene: Seasoned straphangers turning into wall huggers

» Fiend watched his victim die: Homeless man arrested in Times Square subway murder

» ‘Shaken up’ motorman hospitalized after Q train nightmare

» Post cover: A picture of controversy

» Experts split on getting involved in public fight


MEDIA

» Audio: Photographer recalls moments leading to man's death

» Video: Deadly Times Square subway fall

What keeps playing over in my mind, what haunts me when I think back on it, is that the man did not scream at all.

I didn’t hear the man cry for help.

And then I was standing there, with this poor man, twisted like a rag doll, and it was so painfully hopeless.

A young doctor named Laura Kaplan came immediately. She was so brave, the way she remained calm. She asked if anyone knew CPR, and there was a man who kneeled down next to her who said, “I don’t know how to do it, but I will try if you tell me.”

And they just kept trying, even though there was no hope.

Then a crowd came over with camera phones and they were pushing and shoving, trying to look at the man and taking videos.

I was screaming at them to get back, so the doctor could have room because they were closing in on her; she thanked me.

I remember telling a woman — whom I later learned was the MTA chaplain — to give the man his last rites.

It was one of the most horrible things I have ever seen, to watch that man dying there.

When it was over, I didn’t look at the pictures.

I didn’t even know at all that I had even captured the images in such detail. I didn’t look at them. I didn’t want to.

It was just too emotional a day.

I brought the camera memory card back to the office and turned it in. Two detectives came and looked at the photos and I just sat in a chair.

When I finally looked at them late that night, my heart started racing. It was terrible, seeing it happen all over again.

I didn’t sleep at all.

All I can hear is that man’s head against that train: Boom! Boom! Boom!

I have to say I was surprised at the anger over the pictures, of the people who are saying: Why didn’t he put the camera down and pull him out?

But I can’t let the armchair critics bother me. They were not there. They have no idea how very quickly it happened.

They do not know what they would have done.

Before I went into the subway, I had been up in Times Square, and my camera was still set for outside lighting. The flash was on 1/64th of a second, which would be split-second recharging.

People think I had time to set the camera and take photos, and that isn’t the case. I just ran toward that train.

The sad part is, there were people who were close to the victim, who watched and didn’t do anything. You can see it in the pictures.

The truth is I could not reach that man; if I could have, I would have.

But the train was moving faster than I could get there.



Read more: Photographer who took dramatic photos recounts the horror he saw - NYPOST.com

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"Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing."
John Mills Smith 1867
A variation of which is often miss Attributed too Sir Edmond Burke. ( I confess I have too)

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5 December 2012 Last updated at 04:01 ET
South Korea jails North spy in 'Kim Jong-nam attack plot'
A South Korean court has jailed a North Korean spy reportedly ordered to attack the eldest son of late leader Kim Jong-il, officials say.
The unidentified man, charged with falsely defecting so as to gather information, was jailed for four years.
He had spent a decade in China tracking down North Korean defectors before coming to the South, the court said.
South Korean media also said he had admitted trying to organise a hit-and-run accident targeting Kim Jong-nam.
The South Korean court said that the 50-year-old man - who has a son who still lives in the North - became a spy after he was threatened by North Korea's spy agency.
He defected to South Korea this year, citing poverty, but later told investigators that he was a spy.
Local media reports citing prosecutors say the man also admitted he had been told by North Korean authorities to attack Kim Jong-nam.
He reportedly went as far as hiring a taxi driver to run Mr Kim over in 2010, but the plot went no further.
Kim Jong-nam is thought to have fallen out of favour with Kim Jong-il in 2001 after he was caught trying to sneak into Japan using a false passport. He told officials that he was planning to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
Bypassed in favour of his youngest half-brother for succession, the eldest son of Kim Jong-il has maintained a low profile overseas. He was quoted by Japanese media in 2011 as saying he opposed ''dynastic succession''.
He was thought to have been living in Macau but media reports indicate he may have moved to Singapore.
The court said that it had taken the spy's co-operation into consideration. But it said "stern punishment" was required given the extent to which he could have "greatly compromised the country".
The court added that he "seriously violated human rights of North Korean defectors", as he was trying to get them to return to their country.

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5 December 2012 Last updated at 07:58 ET
China investigates top Sichuan official for corruption
Chinese state media say the Communist Party is investigating a senior provincial official for corruption.
Li Chuncheng, 56, deputy party chief of Sichuan, is the most senior official to come under scrutiny since Xi Jinping became party head last month.
Mr Xi has said battling corruption in the party is a top priority.
Mr Li was elected onto the party's central committee as an alternate member last month. Media reports gave no details of any charges.
Xinhua news website carried a report on Mr Li that has since been removed. Hong Kong media have also reported on Mr Li.
The South China Morning Post newspaper, citing sources, said that Mr Li was put under "a disciplinary measure which allows for the detention and interrogation of party members suspected of corruption and other offenses".
Other reports said that Mr Li was last seen in public on 19 November at a party session and was detained on 2 December before being escorted away from Chengdu.
He spent most of his time Harbin City in Heilongjiang province before he eventually became mayor of Chengdu City in Sichuan in 2001.
He became deputy party chief in Chengdu, where he worked under Zhou Yongkang, a former member of the Party's Standing Committee in charge of security.
Mr Li became deputy party chief of Sichuan province last year.
The province adjoins the municipality of Chongqing, whose disgraced party leader, Bo Xilai, is also facing charges of corruption and abuse of power in one of China's biggest, recent scandals.
Mr Bo's wife, Gu Kailai, has been jailed for the death of British businessman Neil Heywood. His former police chief, Wang Lijun, also received a jail term in connection with Mr Heywood's murder.
In his inaugural speech on 15 November, Mr Xi said that corruption was an issue that needed to be resolved in the Communist Party.
In succeeding speeches, he also emphasised that corruption could "kill the party and ruin the country".

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5 December 2012 Last updated at 05:30 ET
Philippines: Typhoon Bopha death toll rises
The death toll from a powerful storm battering the southern Philippines has risen to about 200, as rescue teams arrive in affected areas.
At least 156 people are known to have died in Compostela Valley province alone when Typhoon Bopha struck eastern Mindanao, local officials told the BBC.
Rescuers have reached most areas, but have had difficulty getting to some isolated communities.
Many were evacuated ahead of the storm, now over the western island of Palawan.
The typhoon is expected to move out into the South China Sea on Thursday.
Compostela Valley province was said to be the hardest-hit area. Neighbouring Davao Oriental province was also badly affected, with reports of about 50 people killed.
In Andap village, in Compostela Valley, water and mud rushed down mountainous slopes to engulf a school and a village hall serving as evacuation centres.
At least 43 people were killed there, with more reported missing and injured - including soldiers sent to help with evacuations.
"The waters came so suddenly and unexpectedly, and the winds were so fierce - that compounded the loss of lives and livelihood," Compostela Valley Provincial Governor Arturo Uy told Reuters news agency.
He said water catchment basins for farms on top of the mountains had given way because of the torrential rains, sending down large volumes of water.
He added that the cost of damage to agriculture and infrastructure in Compostela Valley province could reach at least 4 billion pesos ($98m), with the typhoon destroying 70-80% of plantations - mostly bananas for export.
Julius Rebucas, whose mother and brother were caught in flash floods in Compostela Valley, said: "The last thing my mother said was 'I love you'. It's sad because I no longer have a family."
Davao Oriental Governor Corazon Malanyaon said roads to dozens of towns were impassable because of fallen trees and collapsed bridges, and getting into them was like "running an obstacle course".
She said initial reports indicated that in one town, Cateel, 95% of the buildings had been damaged. Twenty-three people had drowned or were buried under fallen trees or buildings there, she said.
Across the affected provinces, rescuers have also pulled out dozens of people from the mud, many of whom are now being treated in evacuation centres and hospitals. Most suffered facial wounds or limb injuries.
Dozens of domestic flights and ferry services in the central and south of the country were suspended, and schools and businesses were closed while the storm passed.
Bopha comes a year after Typhoon Washi killed more than 1,300 people in the southern Philippines.
The storm devastated the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan on the island's north coast.
Many of those who died were sleeping as Typhoon Washi caused rivers to burst their banks, leading to landslides. Entire villages were washed away.

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4 December 2012 Last updated at 17:04 ET
Huawei hits back over US 'security threat' claim

By Rory Cellan-Jones
Technology correspondent
Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has hit back at US politicians who labelled it a security threat.
A senior executive told the BBC that Huawei should not be treated unfairly just because it was Chinese.
In October the United States House Intelligence Committee warned US companies against dealing with Huawei and another Chinese telecoms firm, ZTE.
A report by the committee asked whether the firms were too close to China's Communist Party and its military.
It also suggested their products and services could pose a long-term security threat to the United States.
But a Huawei board member, Chen Li Fang, told the BBC the company, now number two in the telecoms equipment industry, was focussed on delivering secure products.
"We totally understand concerns about cybersecurity," she said. "But if any congressman or woman raises concerns or fears because a company originates in a particular country, I don't think that would be fair."
Profile raising
Huawei, founded in 1987 by a former officer in China's People's Liberation Army, has grown rapidly and now employs more than 140,000 people around the world.
Its main focus has been building a powerful position in the telecoms infrastructure industry, making equipment for the rollout of 3G and 4G networks. But it is also expanding into other areas, from mobile broadband dongles to smartphones and tablet computers.
Chen Li Fang, a Huawei veteran known at the company as Madam Chen, said the company was determined to make itself better known, and saw itself as a model for other Chinese companies.
"Huawei might not be famous now," she said. "But three billion people are using our products either directly or indirectly."
British welcome
While the company has met with suspicion in the United States, it has been welcomed in the UK.
In September Huawei's founder, Ren Zhengfei, visited Downing Street after announcing a £1.3bn investment in the firm's growing UK operation. The Prime Minister David Cameron said the investment showed the UK was "open for business".
However the BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera says the UK's Intelligence and Security Committee, chaired by former Foreign Secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind, is currently looking at Huawei to try and understand what the risks might be and assess what measures have been taken to deal with them.
"The UK's relationship with Huawei has been a sensitive issue for a number of years," he said.
"But British officials argue they have found a way to work with Huawei and establish a working level of trust."
The Chinese firm has been working with BT for more than a decade on the rollout of its broadband network.
In China the accusations against Huawei have been met with anger, and suggestions that the US is simply trying to protect its own position in the telecoms industry against competition.
Qu Jian, of the China Development Institute, a think tank based in Shenzhen, said it fitted into a long-term pattern of protectionism.
"Since World War II, we've seen the US treating foreign companies just like this," he said.
"Every 20 years there's a big movement of manufacturing. In the 1960s it was to Japan, in the 1980s to South East Asia, and for the last 10 years to China. And every time there's a dispute between the new manufacturing base and the United States."
But with China suspected of being the place where many of the world's cyber-attacks originate, suspicions linger about its most powerful telecoms business - and not just in the United States. Australia barred Huawei from a role in building its national broadband network, citing the importance of maintaining the security of its vital infrastructure.
'Lack of trust'
The company's executives hope that eventually they will be able to overcome these suspicions.
Ron Raffensperger, an American who worked across the global telecoms industry for 30 years before taking up a senior engineering role at Huawei's Shenzhen headquarters, said: "It's all based on misunderstandings and a lack of trust.
"There's a reason so many of the companies around the world use us, and it's not because we're cheap, it's because we do really good stuff."
But, with the report from Sir Malcom Rifkind's committee expected before Christmas, Huawei can expect its policies and practices to be under the spotlight for some time to come.

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5 December 2012 Last updated at 16:02 ET
Cargo ship feared lost after collision off Dutch coast
Dutch coastguards are mounting a major rescue operation in the North Sea after a cargo ship is reported to have sunk after a collision.
The accident took place around 100km (60 miles) off the coast of Rotterdam.
A coastguard spokesman said helicopters were winching the 24 crew members of the Baltic Ace to safety.
Three lifeboats and two helicopters are assisting the rescue, and two naval frigates are also reported to be heading for the scene.
High waves and strong wind are hampering rescue operations, according to the Dutch Ministry of Defence.
The Baltic Ace was sailing under a Bahamas flag. It was transporting cars from Zeebrugge in Belgium to Finland when it collided with the Cyprus-registered container ship, the Corvus J, sailing from Grangemouth in Scotland to the Belgian port of Antwerp.
The Cyrus J is said to be badly damaged but not in danger of sinking, AP news agency reported.
The shipping lane where the accident happened is one of the busiest in the North Sea, close to the entrance to Rotterdam port, which is Europe's busiest.

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5 December 2012 Last updated at 12:44 ET
Fiscal cliff: Republicans call for meeting with president
US Republicans have asked for a face-to-face meeting with President Barack Obama to discuss the looming so-called fiscal cliff.
"We can't negotiate with ourselves," House Speaker John Boehner said.
Lawmakers are deadlocked in efforts to avert steep spending cuts and tax rises due to take effect on 1 January.
The president told business leaders on Wednesday that a fiscal-cliff deal could pass quickly if Republicans agreed to tax rises on the wealthy.
He rejected any attempts to gain concessions from the White House through congressional brinkmanship.
"I will not play that game," Mr Obama said.
The president said he did not wish to see a replay of his 2011 standoff with Republicans that brought the US close to defaulting on its debt and resulted in an embarrassing credit-rating downgrade.
'Fairy dust'
"Nothing is going on" with the negotiations, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said, following a meeting with fellow Republicans on Wednesday. "We ask the president to sit down with us."
Speaker John Boehner added: "I'll be available at any moment to sit down with the president."
The White House rejected a Republican counter-offer on Monday, because it did not include tax rises on the wealthiest.
The Republicans offered $800bn (£497bn) in higher tax revenue, without specifying how it would be raised, as well as cuts to Medicare and Social Security benefits.
It countered a White House proposal for $1.6tn in new revenue, and $600bn in spending cuts, as well as an extension to a temporary payroll tax cut.
The White House has ridiculed Mr Boehner's approach as "fairy dust", while Mr Boehner said the Obama administration's offer was "not serious".
On Tuesday, Mr Obama said in an interview that he would consider eventually lowering top tax rates as part of a wider reform of the tax code in 2013.
The White House also signalled that it might agree to increase taxes for the wealthiest earners to less than 39.6%, which was the rate during the presidency of Bill Clinton.

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5 December 2012 Last updated at 10:07 ET
Somalia's al-Shabab targets Puntland military
A bomb blast and a shoot-out between Islamists and troops from the semi-autonomous Puntland region have left 31 people dead or wounded, officials say.
Fighters from the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabab group attacked a military base and planted a roadside bomb, the officials said.
Al-Shabab fighters have reportedly moved to Puntland in recent months.
Their move comes as African Union-backed government forces gain ground in their stronghold of southern Somalia.
In October, al-Shabab, which is affiliated to al-Qaeda, lost control of the key port city of Kismayo to AU troops, the Somali army and a pro-government militia.
Puntland Information Minister Mohamed Aydid told the BBC Somali Service that a truck carrying soldiers was targeted by a roadside bomb near Bossaso, the main commercial hub in the semi-autonomous region.
Ten soldiers were either killed or wounded in the attack, he said.
'Weapons seized'
Heavily-armed al-Shabab fighters also launched an assault on a military base in the area, but were repelled by troops, Mr Aydid added.
"They fled to their hide-outs in the Galagalo mountains," he said.
In a statement, the Puntland government said two of its soldiers were killed in this attack.
Its intelligence suggested that at least seven al-Shabab fighters were killed and more than 12 wounded as Puntland government troops fought back, the statement said.
"Puntland forces are pursuing al-Shabab tracks into the mountains," the statement added.
Al-Shabab confirmed the attacks, saying it had killed 29 troops.
Puntland officials said they had also seized a number of weapons consignments destined for al-Shabab.
The weapons had been sent across the sea from Yemen, the officials said.
BBC Somalia analyst Mary Harper reports that dozens of al-Shabab fighters have in recent months moved north to the Galagalo mountain range, as the Somali army and 18,000-strong AU force capture territory in southern Somalia.
There have however been some major al-Shabab ambushes in southern Somalia in the past few days.
On Tuesday, the group attacked an army base near the town of Jowhar, one of its last urban strongholds, and on Monday it ambushed a convoy in which three government ministers were travelling near the port of Merca.
These incidents prove that although al-Shabab has lost key areas in the past year, including Kismayo and several districts of the capital Mogadishu, it is by no means a spent force, our correspondent says

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5 December 2012 Last updated at 14:53 ET
Eastern Iran hit by deadly earthquake
At least five people have been killed by a moderately powerful earthquake in eastern Iran, say officials.
The 5.5 magnitude quake struck near Zohan in South Khorasan province, close to the Afghan border, in the early evening, said the Fars news agency.
At least 20 people were hurt and many in the provincial capital Birjand fled their homes, the agency said.
Iran is frequently hit by quakes - in 2003 tens of thousands of people were killed in a quake which flattened Bam.
More than 300 people died in two quakes in north-western Iran in August this year.
Tehran University's Seismological Centre said the latest quake hit at 20:38 local time (17:08 GMT), 25km (15 miles) from Zohan.
State TV quoted a local MP, Javad Heravi, as saying it had damaged rural buildings and cut phone and power lines. Twelve villages were affected, the TV added.

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5 December 2012 Last updated at 10:27 ET
Swimming robot reaches Australia after record-breaking trip
A self-controlled swimming robot has completed a journey from San Francisco to Australia.
The record-breaking 9,000 nautical mile (16,668km) trip took the PacX Wave Glider just over a year to achieve.
Liquid Robotics, the US company behind the project, collected data about the Pacific Ocean's temperature, salinity and ecosystem from the drone.
The company said its success demonstrated that such technology could "survive the high seas".
The robot is called Papa Mau in honour of the late Micronesian navigator Pius "Mau" Piailug, who had a reputation for finding ways to navigate the seas without using traditional equipment.
"During Papa Mau's journey, [it] weathered gale-force storms, fended off sharks, spent more than 365 days at sea, skirted around the Great Barrier Reef, and finally battled and surfed the east Australian current to reach his final destination in Hervey Bay, near Bundaberg, Queensland," the company said in a statement.
Some of the data it gathered about the abundance of phytoplankton - plant-like organisms that convert carbon dioxide into oxygen and provide food for other sea life - could already be monitored by satellite. However, the company suggested that its equipment offered more detail, providing a useful tool for climate model scientists.
Ongoing travels
Liquid Robotics still has a further three robots at sea. A second is due to land in Australia early next year. Another pair had been heading to Japan, but one of them has suffered damage and has been diverted to Hawaii for repair.
Each robot is composed of two halves: the upper part, shaped like a stunted surfboard, is attached by a cable to a lower part that sports a series of fins and a keel.
They do not use fuel but instead convert energy from the ocean's waves, turning it into forward thrust.
Solar panels installed on the upper surface of the gliders power numerous sensors that take readings every 10 minutes.
Mixing electronics and water might sound like a risky idea - but Dr Jeremy Wyatt, from the school of computer science at the University of Birmingham, said there was good reason there was so much interest in marine robotics.
"The ocean is a very big place and therefore a safe place to test autonomous robots - these Wave Gliders move slowly and have a low risk of bumping into other objects," he said.
"There are also autonomous sailing competitions in which craft plot their journey completely independently - unlike the Wave Gliders which autonomously follow a prescribed route - and there are a variety of types: robots which bob on the ocean surface, gliders and even fully autonomous submarines which plan their own routes and dive to collect data.
"We are reaching a tipping point in that the technology is becoming so cheap that it's now a much cheaper to use a robot to gather data than to pay for a manned ship to be at sea for months at a time."

Let's see Asia, China, Europe, US, Middle east, Australia ... What Is missing. Oh South America

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4 December 2012 Last updated at 14:33 ET
Brazil: Dozens of Rio policemen held over drug lords' bribes
The authorities in Brazil have arrested 60 policemen accused of receiving regular payments from drug dealers to turn a blind eye to their activities in several shanty towns of Rio de Janeiro.
Eleven suspected drug dealers from Rio's main criminal gang - the Red Command - were also arrested.
The policemen also sold weapons to the gangs, investigators said.
Rio authorities have been trying to reduce crime in the city ahead of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.
Rio Military Police commander, Erir Ribeiro Costa Filho, said all officers involved would be expelled from the force.
"We can no longer put up with corrupt policemen in our force," he said.
The operation, dubbed Purification, began in the early hours of the day in Duque de Caxias, in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro.
Kidnappings
Seventy people have been arrested, 12 others - including police officers and alleged drug dealers - are on the run.
Investigations began a year ago. According to Globo TV, each police officer is accused of receiving 1,500 to 2,500 reais in bribes per week ($700 to $1,200; £450 to £750).
Prosecutors say the policemen were paid to overlook criminal activities in 13 slums of Duque de Caxias, a populous working class city that is part of Greater Rio de Janeiro.
They also allege that police offers got involved in a number of other criminal activities - kidnapping drug dealers and their relatives for ransom, and conducting security operations against them if they failed to pay the bribes.
The police commander in Duque de Caxias, Claudio de Lucas Lima, has been sacked, but there is no indication that he was involved in the wrongdoing.
Rio de Janeiro has been trying to clean up its most dangerous regions ahead of the 2016 Olympics, which it will host, and the 2014 football World Cup.
More than 20 of Rio's most dangerous shantytowns, or favelas, have been occupied by police and army forces.
But analysts say a crucial part of the programme is to get poor communities in Rio to regain trust in their police forces, which were widely seen as violent and corrupt.

Lets see that's just about everywhere save for Antarctica... Hmmm What are those Evil Evil Penguins upto?

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Search for life in the planet's most extreme environment: British team to drill 10,000ft to lake buried by ice for half a million years

Any finds could offer tantalising clues about potential life elsewhere in the solar system, such as on Jupiter's moon Europa
Mission comes after U.S. team reports another, shallower subglacial lake found teeming with bacterial organisms
By Damien Gayle

PUBLISHED: 06:50 EST, 3 December 2012 | UPDATED: 08:07 EST, 3 December 2012


A British team has arrived in Antarctica to begin a search for life in a lake that has lain buried under nearly 10,000ft of ice for up to a half a million years.

Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey are preparing to bore down to the subglacial Lake Ellsworth, deep beneath the West Antarctic ice sheet, to collect samples of water and sediment.

Toiling under the midnight sun, they will endure temperatures well below freezing in a quest to discover whether life can survive in one of the harshest environments on Earth.


The Lake Ellsworth drill site on the West Antarctic ice sheet: Four British scientists arrived at the site yesterday to finalise preparations for drilling down to a lake locked beneath nearly 10,000ft of ice
Should they find any organisms living in the icy depths, it could offer tantalising clues as to how life might look if it exists elsewhere in the solar system, such as in the ice-covered oceans of Jupiter's moon Europa.

The ambitious search comes after a U.S. team last week announced that they had discovered another lake locked for 3,000 years beneath 65ft of Antarctic glacier was teeming with living organisms.

But the Lake Ellsworth mission will drill far deeper, into a far more extreme environment, which scientists believe has been isolated for at least 100,000 years - and probably much longer.

Mike Bentley, a geologist on the team at Durham University, told the Guardian: 'Extreme environments tell you what constraints there are on life.

'If we find a particular set of environments where life can't exist, that creates some bookends: it tells you about the limits of life.'


For Queen and country: The mission is the most ambitious attempt yet to use hot water drilling to penetrate deep beneath the glaciers which coat our planets southernmost continent
One of more than 400 subglacial lakes in Antarctica, Ellsworth is equivalent in size to the UK's Lake Windermere, measuring 7.5 miles long by 1.8 miles wide, and nearly 500ft deep.

Completely cut off from any light from the Sun, any life lurking beneath its waters must endure complete darkness, intense pressure and subzero temperatures.

It is only geothermal heat from the Earth's core and the intense pressure exerted by the weight of the ice above that has kept it liquid.

Four scientists arrived at the camp above the lake yesterday, where they joined a team of engineers who have spent the past month preparing the equipment that will be used to penetrate the icy crust.

This week they will finalise the preparations for the three-day drilling hot water drilling operation set to begin December 12.


Technology: The BAS team will melt their way into the lake using a 2 mile-long hose tipped with a brass nozzle that sprays sterile water heated to 90C at a pressure of 2,000lbs per square inch

Under pressure: They will first bore down to 1,000ft, then stop to create a cavity, then drill a second hole all the way down to the lake. The cavity will stop geysers of pressurised water from erupting on the surface

Lake Ellsworth is one of 200 subglacial lakes in the Antarctic: Equivalent in size to the UK's Lake Windermere, it measures 7.5 miles long by 1.8 miles wide, and is nearly 500ft deep
LIFE IN A COLD CLIMATE: BACTERIA FLOURISHING IN ANTARCTIC LAKE

It has spent the best part of three millennia locked under a 20m block of ice and is six times saltier than sea. And at 13°C below zero, Lake Vida in East Antarctica is one of the coldest aquatic environments on the planet.

Yet despite posing some of the most hostile conditions on Earth, the lake is teeming with life.

Scientists drilling into the lake have found abundant and diverse bacteria - potentially giving insight into how life might exist on other planets, the journal Nature reported.

'Lake Vida is a model of what happens when you try to freeze a lake solid, and this is the same fate that any lakes on Mars would have gone through as the planet turned colder from a watery past,' said Peter Doran of the University of Illinois, Chicago.

'Any Martian water bodies that did form would have gone through this Vida stage before freezing solid, entombing the evidence of the past ecosystem.'

Doran and his colleagues have drilled into Lake Vida twice: once in 2005 and again in 2010.

Lake Vida was originally thought to be an ice block lake. However, in 1995, ground penetrating radar surveys revealed a very salty liquid layer underlying a 20m ice cover.

The BAS team will melt their way into the lake using a 2 mile-long hose tipped with a brass nozzle that sprays sterile water heated to 90C at a pressure of 2,000lbs per square inch.

They will first bore down to 1,000ft, then stop to create a cavity, then drill a second borehole from the surface down through the this cavity and all the way down to the lake.

The cavity is what controls the pressure of the liquid being drawn from Ellsworth, stopping a geyser of prehistoric water from bursting back up through the borehole and spilling out over the surface of the ice.

Once they reach the waters, they will have just 24 hours to sterilise the entrance to the hole with intense UV light and lower a probe into the lake to collect their samples before the hold refreezes again.

Chris Hill, a British Antarctic Survey engineer who is heading the programme, spoke to the Guardian by phone from his tent on the West Antarctic ice sheet.

'It's bloody cold,' he said.

The team will spent six weeks at the site, where temperatures, according to the BAS, are -25C, with winds of 20 knots. For much of that time they will work around the clock.

'Once we've started drilling we can't stop, or the pipes will freeze and that's that,' Mr Hill said.

'We have to go to a 24-hour shift pattern for a week and a half to two weeks, and no matter what the weather does, we have to keep going.'

 

[AssassinsMace]

I'd like some clarification on this rule because I've been around long enough to remember when it was a no-no just posting articles and making no comment. Cuz, I would love to rant about how worthless it is seeing all this pretentious news about William and Kate's eventually-will-do-nothing-for-the-world baby.

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

UK set to revise royal succession rules
Posted By David Demirbilek On 11:44 AM 12/05/2012 @ 11:44 AM In Daily Caller News Foundation,World | No Comments

It seems the War on (Royal) Women has met its end in the UK.

The BBC reports that there are plans to float a bill in Parliament doing away with male primogeniture, the legal principle in which a male heir receives precedence over his elder female siblings, in royal succession.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told the BBC that the government would soon introduce the Succession to the Crown Bill in the House of Commons.

The change to succession rules requires the assent of the 15 other realms of the British Commonwealth, which counts Canada and Australia among its members. Clegg confirms that all 15 other nations of the Commonwealth have informed Parliament that a similar measure would pass their respective national parliaments.

The Succession to the Crown Bill would also alter a notorious provision in British law that bans anyone in line of succession to the throne from marrying a Roman Catholic.

The proposed legislation would require amending certain core constitutional documents of the British government including the Bill of Rights of 1689 and the 1706 Act of Union with Scotland.

Although word of the proposed changes comes days after news of the Duchess of Cambridge’s pregnancy crossed the wires, Clegg reported that the timing is a “happy coincidence.”

If the succession bill passes, William and Kate’s first-born child will inherit the throne after William’s death, regardless of the child’s sex.

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Thanks too this ruling I am not 900millionth in line too the Throne of St. James.

 

[bd popeye]

I'd like some clarification on this rule because I've been around long enough to remember when it was a no-no just posting articles and making no comment. Cuz, I would love to rant about how worthless it is seeing all this pretentious news about William and Kate's eventually-will-do-nothing-for-the-world baby.

go ahead and comment away mace..but be nice. In the news threads lets wave that comment rule. But in the military threads we shall keep the old rule in play.

Hey delft..do you have any further news on this sinking??

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — A cargo ship sank Wednesday night after colliding with another vessel on the North Sea, and rescuers in helicopters and ships were plucking crew members from life rafts and searching for others, Dutch authorities said.

The 148-meter (485-foot) Baltic Ace collided with the 134-meter (440-foot) container ship Corvus J near busy shipping lanes some 65 kilometers (40 miles) off the coast of the southern Netherlands. The Baltic Ace, carrying a cargo of cars, had a crew of 24, some of whom were believed to be in the icy waters.

"We have found life rafts, and the people in them are being picked up by helicopters," coast guard spokesman Peter Verburg said.

By around 10 p.m. (2100 GMT) 11 crew members had been rescued by helicopters and two more by ships, the coast guard said in a statement. Rescuers were using infrared cameras to hunt for more survivors.

In a statement, the Dutch Defense Ministry said two navy patrol ships were aiding in the search. "Helicopters are trying, in (strong wind) and high waves to bring the people to safety," the ministry said.

Verburg said the 12-man crew of the Corvus J was still on board the ship, which was helping in the rescue operation. Details of its cargo were not immediately available. "It is badly damaged, but not in danger of sinking," he said of the Corvus J.

The coast guard spokesman said the cause of the collision was not known. "At the moment we are solely focused on getting the people to safety," he said.

Four of the survivors were being flown to a hospital in Rotterdam and seven to an airbase in Belgium.

The Baltic Ace was heading from the Belgian port of Zeebrugge to Kotka in Finland and the Corvus J was on its way from Grangemouth in Scotland to Antwerp, Belgium.

 

[plawolf]

I wasn't aware it was the Western media that placed that ox tongue on China's passports

Oh yes, how dare the Chinese put a map of their country on their passports. That is just so unprecedented and insulting to every other nation on earth.

 

[ManilaBoy45]

Dispute Flares Over Energy in South China Sea
By JANE PERLEZ
Published: December 4, 2012

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BEIJING — China and two of its neighbors, Vietnam and India, were locked in a new dispute on Tuesday over energy exploration in the South China Sea, a signal that Beijing plans to continue its hard line in the increasingly contentious waterway.

 

[Dolcevita]

Is it surprising that the media manipulates and lies just so people notice their headlines?

Take a look at this.

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The subway platform was full of people and no one helped the guy. Remember all the heat China got from the media when that little girl in China was hit by multiple cars and no one did anything? You're not hearing any vilifying here except towards the photographer.

Yep and this happened on Time Square, the busiest subway station in the US. The photographer claims he flash 49 times to alert the train. Funny he had time to flash his camera 49 times but yet could not find time to help the victim up the platform.

Also, Me think it is time to ban panhandlers on the NYC subway.[/COLOR]

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The color RED is for the exclusive use of moderators. Read the forum rules.

[h=3]FORUM RULES: Things to Remember Before Posting, important, please read![/h]

The colors RED,BROWN & BLUE are for the exclusive use of moderators!! If you want to make a point use some other color or bold print. Do not increase the FONT size or use bold text exclusively. This is akin to shouting. Bold text may be used for headlines and to emphasize a point. Keep that point short. Less than one sentence!

bd popeye super moderator

 

[PhageHunter]

Yep and this happened on Time Square, the busiest subway station in the US. The photographer claims he flash 49 times to alert the train. Funny he had time to flash his camera 49 times but yet could not find time to help the victim up the platform.


More like he took 49 photos with flash on, that is why he remembered how many times he flashed( under extreme pressure). Also explains why New York Post's has such "perfect" pic with every thing right on (since there were 49 pics to choose from).
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Mr.Han could have survived if he stayed down between the tracks or climbed out from the other side, that's why Mr. Han's death is partially MTA's fault. MTA done nothing to inform commuters how to properly react in this type of situation. They could have easily replaced some of stupid "want a better sex life-call 1800-DR.Zizmor" poster ads with diagrammed instructions ( in various languages )teaching New Yorkers the proper responses. A life was lost when it could have been saved.

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By Jim Miklaszewski and M. Alex Johnson, NBC News
The Syrian military is prepared to use chemical weapons against its own people and is awaiting final orders from President Bashar Assad, U.S. officials told NBC News on Wednesday.
The military has loaded the precursor chemicals for sarin, a deadly nerve gas, into aerial bombs that could be dropped onto the Syrian people from dozens of fighter-bombers, the officials said.

As recently as Tuesday, officials had said there was as yet no evidence that the process of mixing the "precursor" chemicals had begun. But Wednesday, they said their worst fears had been confirmed: The nerve agents were locked and loaded inside the bombs.
Sarin is an extraordinarily lethal agent. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's forces killed 5,000 Kurds with a single sarin attack on Halabja in 1988.
U.S. officials stressed that as of now, the sarin bombs hadn't been loaded onto planes and that Assad hadn't issued a final order to use them. But if he does, one of the officials said, "there's little the outside world can do to stop it."
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton reiterated U.S. warnings to Assad not to use chemical weapons, saying he would be crossing "a red line" if he did so.
Speaking Wednesday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Clinton said the Syrian government was on the brink of collapse, raising the prospect that "an increasingly desperate Assad regime" might turn to chemical weapons or that the banned weapons could fall into other hands.


"Ultimately, what we should be thinking about is a political transition in Syria and one that should start as soon as possible," Clinton said. "We believe their fall is inevitable. It is just a question of how many people have to die before that occurs."
Aides told NBC News that Clinton was expected next week to officially recognize the main opposition movement, the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, with which she is scheduled to meet in Morocco. Britain, France, Turkey and some key Arab leaders have already recognized the opposition.
Fighting intensified Wednesday in the 21-month civil war, which has left 40,000 people dead. The U.N. withdrew its personnel from Damascus, saying conditions were too dangerous.
The government said this week that it wouldn't use chemical weapons on its own people after President Barack Obama warned that doing so would be "totally unacceptable."
But U.S. officials said this week that the government had ordered its Chemical Weapons Corps to "be prepared," which Washington interpreted as a directive to begin bringing together the components needed to weaponize Syria's chemical stockpiles.

U.S. officials had long believed that the Syrian government was stockpiling the banned chemical weapons before it acknowledged possessing them this summer.
NBC News reported in July that U.S. intelligence agencies believed that in addition to sarin, Syria had access to tabun, a chemical nerve agent, as well as traditional chemical weapons like mustard gas and hydrogen cyanide.
Officials told NBC News at the time that the Syrian government was moving the outlawed weapons around the country, leaving foreign intelligence agencies unsure where they might end up.
Syria is one of only seven nations that hasn't ratified the 1992 Chemical Weapons Convention, the arms control agreement that outlaws the production, stockpiling and use of such weapons.
Bombshells filled with chemicals can be carried by Syrian Air Force fighter-bombers, in particular Sukhoi-22/20, MiG-23 and Sukhoi-24 aircraft. In addition, some reports indicate that unguided short-range Frog-7 artillery rockets may be capable of carrying chemical payloads.
In terms of longer-range delivery systems, Syria has a few dozen SS-21 ballistic missiles with a maximum range of 72 miles; 200 Scud-Bs, with a maximum range of 180 miles; and 60 to 120 Scud-Cs, with a maximum range of 300 miles, all of which are mobile and are capable of carrying chemical weapons, according U.S. intelligence officials.

Syria showdown is now on, Assad is going to make one last stand.

 

[joshuatree]

Dispute Flares Over Energy in South China Sea
By JANE PERLEZ
Published: December 4, 2012

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BEIJING — China and two of its neighbors, Vietnam and India, were locked in a new dispute on Tuesday over energy exploration in the South China Sea, a signal that Beijing plans to continue its hard line in the increasingly contentious waterway.

That article actually has a decent map of various claims. If one takes notice, Vietnam and Philippines also have claims that far extend beyond the much quoted UNCLOS EEZ boundaries. Vietnam's almost as big as China's nine dash. They also have far more occupied isles which only reveals reality, propaganda portraying only one side as being aggressive.

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