Six people were killed and 77 were wounded after a strong quake rattled Sulawesi Island in eastern parts of the country on Monday, health ministry said here Tuesday.

    At least 800 houses, school buildings, and one bridge were damaged by the quake in Gorontalo province, head of the crisis center of the ministry Rustam Pakaya said.

    "Thirteen out of the 77 wounded persons suffer from serious injury and now are hospitalized," Pakaya told Xinhua.

    A shallow quake struck after midnight with epicenter at 138 km northwest of Gorontalo city and at a depth of 10 km, meteorology agency said. The agency issued warning of tsunami but then lifted it.

    The quake was followed by two moderate aftershocks of 6.0 and 5.7 magnitudes, the agency said.

    Indonesia has just launched a faster high-tech tsunami warning system with a cost of over 130 million U.S. dollars to prevent the repetition of the tragedy in December 2004, when over 170,000 people killed in Aceh, Indonesia by the tsunami.

    The catastrophe also killed those on coastal areas of Asia, from Sri Lanka and India to Thailand and the Maldives, bringing the total death toll to about 230,000.

    Indonesia sits at a vulnerable zone called "the Pacific Ring of Fire" where two continental plates, stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia, meet, causing frequent volcanic movements.

Jiang Yuxia

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The U.S. space shuttle Endeavour reached the International Space Station Sunday afternoon, NASA said.

With commander Chris Ferguson at the controls, Endeavour docked with the space station's Harmony Node at 5:01 p.m. EST. The station and shuttle crews were to open the hatches between their vehicles and greet each other about two hours later.

Before hooking up with the space station, Ferguson put Endeavour through its rendezvous pitch maneuver, or backflip, so the station astronauts could photograph the shuttle's thermal protection system. The pictures will be sent to Earth for more analysis to make sure the heat shield wasn't damaged during take-off.

Astronaut Sandra Magnus, who arrived aboard Endeavour, will take over as flight engineer from astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who will return to Earth.

The space agency's ground crew piped in the Rolling Stones rocker "Start Me Up" to get the seven-member crew up and on deck for its first full day in space following Saturday's lift-off from Cape Canaveral.

The crew's first order of business Saturday was an inspection of the Endeavour's fuselage for any damage that occurred during the launch. CNN said a camera on the shuttle's robotic arm spotted a loose piece of the protective ther mal blanket, but program managers did not consider it to be a significant problem. >>>> 

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India plants flag on moon

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Chandrayaan-1 launched and landed its lunar probe Friday admitting India to the select group of countries that have put their hardware on the moon.

G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, announced that the Moon Impact Probe landed near the moon's south pole 25 minutes after detaching from the Chandrayaan orbiter, The Hindu reported. The probe has Indian flags painted on both sides.

"Just as we had promised, we have given India the moon," Nair said.

The landing was timed for the Indian Children's Day.

The probe is equipped with a radar altimeter, video imaging and a mass spectrometer and is designed to send back data on the lunar surface and to demonstrate soft landing techniques. Chandrayaan remains in a low orbit around the moon to map its surface and gather additional data.

Nair predicted that India could launch a manned mission to the moon within seven years. >>>> 

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NASA provides live space talk 24/7

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The U.S. space agency says it now provides access to conversations between International Space Station astronauts and controllers on Earth 24 hours a day.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the live space talk is available daily under the NASA TV tab at www.nasa.gov.

"The streaming audio of space-to-ground communications includes NASA commentary during specific station mission events and regularly scheduled space station commentary on NASA Television Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. EDT," officials said.

NASA previously provided such space-to-ground communication with commentary during space shuttle missions. >>>>

Pirates caught redhanded by one of Her Majesty’s warships after trying to hijack a cargo ship off Somalia made the grave mistake of opening fire on two Royal Navy assault craft packed with commandos armed with machineguns and SA80 rifles.

In the ensuing gunfight, two Somali pirates in a Yemeni-registered fishing dhow were killed, and a third pirate, believed to be a Yemeni, suffered injuries and subsequently died. It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory.

By the time the Royal Marines boarded the pirates’ vessel, the enemy had lost the will to fight and surrendered quietly. The Royal Navy described the boarding as “compliant”.

The dramatic confrontation, the latest in a series of piracy incidents in the Gulf of Aden in recent months, took place 60 miles south of the Yemeni coast and involved the Royal Navy Type 22 frigate, HMS Cumberland, which has a Royal Marine unit on board, on short-notice standby to engage in “non-compliant boardings”.

HMS Cumberland, on anti-piracy patrol as part of a Nato maritime force, detected the dhow which was towing a skiff, and identified it as a vessel which had been involved in an attack on the Danish-registered MV Powerful earlier yesterday. The pirates had opened fire on the cargo boat with assault rifles.

Under rules of engagement which allows the Royal Navy to intervene when pirates are positively identified, the commandos were dispatched from the frigate in rigid-raider craft and sped towards the pirates’ dhow. The Ministry of Defence said the Marines circled the pirates’ boat to try and persuade them to stop.

As they approached, however, several of the pirates, a mixed crew of Somalis and Yemenis, swung their assault rifles in their direction and opened fire. The MoD said the Royal Marines returned fire “in self defence”, and then boarded the dhow — a stolen Yemeni-registered fishing vessel.

The commandos found guns and other “paraphernalia” on board the dhow and a handful of terrified pirates. The MoD said it was unclear whether the Yemeni who died had been shot by the Marines or was wounded from a previous incident involving the pirates.

The gun battle was in stark contrast to the Royal Navy’s last encounter with a boatful of armed men - when crew members of HMS Cornwall, also a Type 22 frigate, patrolling in the Gulf in rigid raiders, were surrounded by heavily armed Iranian Revolutionary Guards in March last year. Eight sailors, including a woman, Leading Seaman Faye Turney, and seven Marines were taken hostage without a shot being fired, and detained for 13 days. The Commons Defence Committee described the incident as “a national embarrassment”.

Yesterday’s battle signalled a new policy of maximum robustness for the Royal Navy on the high seas. Captain Mike Davis-Marks, a senior spokesman for the Navy, said: “This is bound to have an impact on pirates who for the last two years have been getting away with seizing vessels and receiving large ransoms. Now suddenly there’s the threat of death and this may force them to think again, but they are determined people, so we’ll have to see.”

The Russians claimed a helicopter based on their own frigate Neustrashimy had also taken part in yesterday’s battle, though the Royal Navy knew nothing about it. The Royal Marine commandos who boarded the pirates’ dhow were supported by a Lynx helicopter from HMS Cumberland, the MoD said.

Michael Evans

Indonesian police doctors yesterday examined the three men convicted of the Bali bombings in preparation for their execution, the Daily Telegraph said, citing unidentified prison officials.

The medical checks on Amrozi, Ali Gufron and Imam Samudra will be used for comparison when autopsies are carried out, the Sydney-based newspaper reported. In June, checks were conducted on two Nigerian drug traffickers two days before they were executed, the Telegraph said.

All non-prison workers were ordered to leave the island where the bombers will be executed by firing squad and small boats were banned from the area, the Telegraph reported. The men are being held at a high-security prison off Java, Indonesia's most-populous island.

The three were convicted for the 2002 bombings in Bali's tourist strip of Kuta Beach that killed 202 people, 88 of them Australians. Indonesia blamed the Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah for the attack. The group, which is linked to al-Qaeda, wants to turn the archipelago into an Islamic state.

Michael Heath 

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Bali bomber execution delays strengthening jihadis: analysts

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DELAYS in executing three Indonesian Islamist militants behind the deadly 2002 Bali bombings are helping build their image as 'holy warriors' and strengthening radicals, analysts say.

Bombers Amrozi, Mukhlas and Imam Samudra are set to face the firing squad imminently over the attack that killed 202 people on the holiday island, after a long string of legal challenges and bombastic media appearances from prison.

But by appearing to drag out the timing to avoid a violent retribution by supporters, cautious authorities are unwittingly handing a gift to extremists keen to turn the bombers into heroes, analysts said.

'This is the time when they can strengthen their image,' Mr Bantarto Bandoro, a political scientist from the University of Indonesia, told AFP.

'I think we've been held hostage by the decision of the government not to execute the bombers immediately.'

The bombers have been using a media frenzy at home and abroad to taunt the government and victims and portray themselves as willing 'martyrs' for Islam, Mr Bandoro said.

Authorities had initially said the execution would happen before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but the date has since been moved to 'early November'.

Security has been stepped up around the country after threats against the president and foreign embassies, while packs of journalists have camped out at the bombers' home villages and the port near their island prison.

White-clad extremists have protested at the home village of brothers Amrozi and Mukhlas in East Java and elsewhere, including Jakarta, shouting calls for jihad and threats against the Indonesian government.

The circus over the bombers' final days is emblematic of the government's fear of a backlash by Indonesia's small Islamist fringe.

It also highlights weak and corrupt prison authorities who have allowed the bombers to gain celebrity status from behind bars, Mr Bandoro said.

'The appearance of Amzorzi and friends on TV screens is a test for the government, to see if the government is strong enough to execute them,' he said.

The delays have also given extremists time to plan retribution attacks and to build new networks in place of those shattered by a police crackdown on the militant Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) network blamed for the Bali attack, JI analyst Noor Huda Ismail said.

'The delay has given jihadis time to organise and meet each other', Mr Noor Huda said.

Authorities had likely delayed the execution until after a visit by Britain's Prince Charles, who left on Wednesday, and until after the Muslim holy day of Friday to limit any violence, Mr Noor Huda said.

The bigger threat was that as radicals gather in support of the bombers, they will form new bonds between disparate groups, he said.

'(The bombers) will be martyrs, it will give jihadists a day to remember', he said.

But Mr John Harrison, an analyst from the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore, said the drawn-out execution process was merely a sign Indonesia was upholding the rule of law after decades of dictatorship.

'It's a tribute to the transition Indonesia has made that this process has been transparent', he said.

'I think the important thing to remember is that the Indonesian govenment has gone through their legal processes.' -- AFP >>>> 

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Militants protest execution

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ISLAMIC extremists rallied in the Indonesian capital on Thursday against the imminent execution of three Bali bombers, as defence lawyers demanded the families be allowed a final visit.

Chanting 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greater), some 100 militants descended on the offices of the national human rights body as the bombers' lawyers met officials inside to demand access for the families.

The radicals condemned the executions, believed to be hours or days away, and praised bombers Amrozi, 47, his brother Mukhlas, 48, and Imam Samudra, 38, as 'holy warriors'.

They carried banners pledging to follow the bombers' path of jihad or 'holy war' and warning that 'hell' awaits the executioners.

Defence lawyer Mahendradatta urged the human rights body, Komnas Ham, to back the families' demand for visiting rights.

Komnas Ham chairman Ifdhal Kasim said the prisoners had a right to meet their families before they faced the firing squad.

'A prisoner awaiting execution must be given a chance to meet their families', he said, promising to take up the matter with the prosecutors office which handles executions.

Meanwhile the families wrote to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono pleading for a delay in the executions, defence lawyer Fahmi Bachmid said.

He said however that the letter was not a request for clemency. The bombers have said they want to die to become 'martyrs' for their dream of creating an Islamic utopia across South-east Asia.

'We don't know the contents of the letter. The families only told me that they hope the execution will be postponed until the president gives an answer to the letter', he said.

The bombings on the resort island of Bali in 2002 killed more than 200 people, mostly foreign tourists.

The government has said the condemned men will be executed by firing squad in 'early November' after they exhausted the appeals process. -- AFP >>>>

Scientists Reportedly Clone Mice From Frozen Bodies, Expand Cloning Possibilities

Scientists in Japan say they have successfully cloned a mouse from a body that had been frozen for 16 years, theoretically opening the door to a range of possibilities from preserving endangered animals, to resurrecting extinct animals to cloning Ted Williams.

The authors of the study made no bones about what they believe the implications of their work could be.

"It has been suggested that the 'resurrection' of frozen extinct species, such as the woolly mammoth, is impracticable, as no live cells are available, and the genomic material that remains is inevitably degraded," wrote the authors in the Monday edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

But the researchers say they got around the dead tissue issue by adapting new fertilization techniques for damaged sperm into a cloning technique for damaged frozen tissue. The authors of the study concluded these "techniques could be used to 'resurrect' animals or maintain valuable genomic stocks from tissues frozen for prolonged periods without any cryopreservation."

Other cloning scientists say cloning a wooly mammoth may not be so easy, but that cloning frozen dead tissue without the work of cryopreservation could have useful applications.

Sperm-Inspired Work

The term "cryonics" often summons images of baseball legend Ted Williams, who was controversially frozen at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation in Scottsdale, Ariz., by his children in hopes of reviving him with future scientific advances.

Yet, much more cryonic work is done to clone prized livestock than to preserve loved ones. Cloning typically requires intact cells, so breeders turn to cryonics to preserve their prized animals.

To circumvent cryonic cloning, which must use high-tech equipment and protective chemicals, the researchers looked to past experiments with dried sperm.

"It's not surprising that it worked," said Randall Prather, a professor of animal sciences at the University of Missouri at Columbia.

"It has been shown that you can take sperm and desiccate [dry] them and leave them out on the table, then rehydrate them and inject those into eggs and get a viable embryo," said Prather, who works with cloning pigs.

If sperm dries up and dies, the sperm cell's membrane cannot fuse with an egg to fertilize it. But researchers have shown they can still fertilize an egg by extracting the sperm's DNA and surgically inserting it into the egg, Prather said.

Cloning Animals

When cloning an animal, researchers often mimic fertilization, but instead of using a sperm and an egg, scientists fuse a live adult animal cell with an egg that has had its DNA surgically removed.

"But they weren't able to find live cells from these frozen mice," said Kenneth White, head of the Animal, Diary and Veterinary Sciences Department at Utah State University in Logan.

So, the researchers in Japan borrowed the techniques used to fertilize eggs with damaged sperm to clone healthy eggs with DNA from damaged and frozen mice cells.

"And voila, they were able to generate embryos from that," White said.

White said he was impressed with the capabilities of cloning from frozen tissue.

"Remember that those [mice] were frozen for 16 years, those cells still don't look too bad," he said.

"There are tissue samples of animals out there that may have direct application for this new technology," said Dirk Vanderwall, associate professor in the Department of Animal Veterinary Science at the University of Idaho in Moscow.

He suggested, the "frozen zoo" of tissue samples of endangered animals at the San Diego Zoo in California.

But White and other scientists caution that it would be much more difficult to clone extinct animals.

Jurassic Park, or Ice Age Park, Relived?

"If you're just running around and found some frozen extinct animal, you're still going to have to have a suitable womb, and a suitable egg," White said.

For example, White said scientists do not know whether an elephant could provide a suitable replacement womb, or a suitable replacement egg for a woolly mammoth.

"I'm certainly not going to say it can't be done, but there are incredible hurdles," Prather said.

Current cloning techniques with live animal cells only work 1 percent of the time, he said, so to clone an extinct animal like a woolly mammoth, researchers might need hundreds of donor elephant eggs and surrogate parents.

Prather predicts even more challenges.

"We know what a gestation period is for an elephant; we don't know what it is for a woolly mammoth. We know what to feed an elephant; we don't know what to feed a woolly mammoth," he said.

LAUREN COX

The 18 year old telescope is up and running again after it encountered some problems that kept Goddard scientists working around the clock in order to restore good functioning to the old telescope. Hubble had problems in transmitting information to Earth and recognizing commands.

After many attempts, scientists replaced the main system, Side A, with the backup one, Side B, but even this turned out to be problematic.

After many attempts to repair the telescope and much hard work, it seems that Hubble is working again just how it should be. The telescope has recently sent back to Earth a picture showing two interacting galaxies that appear to form the number “10.” The image is truly beautiful, showing exactly where the two galaxies connected, a blue ring being formed in that exact place.

Unfortunately, for the old telescope, it seems that any accomplishment must be joined by some sort of bad luck. Because of the delays in repairing the telescope and due to other problems the shuttle meant to go into outer space and replace some of its out-dated instruments.

Scientists have said that the shuttle was due for launch in February but because of some problems, they can only hope that the mission will be launched in May next year. NASA has announced that it needs the extra time in order to prepare another data handling unit to be sent and installed on the telescope by space shuttle Atlantis.

The announcement was made after NASA specialists completed an assessment on how long it would take to a have a second data handling unit for the telescope ready.

“The February date was an initial estimate, assuming minimal hardware preparations and test durations that are no longer viewed as realistic,” said NASA’s Astrophysics Division Director Jon Morse at NASA’s Headquarters in Washington. “We’ve communicated our assessment to the Space Shuttle Program so it can adjust near-term plans. We will work closely with the Shuttle Program to develop details for a new launch opportunity,” he added.

All in all, Hubble is now fixed and scientists say that the system is stable enough to resist until the repair mission will reach the telescope in May 2009.

The Hubble mission started back in 1990, when the shuttle Discovery launched and released the telescope into the orbit 304 nautical miles above the Earth. Since then, it has circled around Earth over 97,000 times, and has provided numerous answers in ways that would have been impossible from Earth observations.

Davie Barret

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Hubble back in full snapping mode

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Returns fetching first image from main camera

The Hubble space telescope yesterday resumed "regular science operations" following the failure of the 'scope's operational Science Instrument Command and Data Handling unit (SIC&DH) back in September and susbsequent coaxing into life of the back-up unit (more details here).

NASA yesterday released the first snap from the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, which on 27-28 October captured this fetching portrait of "a pair of gravitationally interacting galaxies" dubbed Arp 147.

The agency explains: "The blue ring was most probably formed after the galaxy on the left passed through the galaxy on the right. Just as a pebble thrown into a pond creates an outwardly moving circular wave, a propagating ring of higher density was generated at the point of impact. As this excess density collided with outer material that was moving inward due to the gravitational pull of the two galaxies, shocks and dense gas were produced, stimulating star formation."

While everything appears to be back to normal up on Hubble, the knock-on effect of the SIC&DH failure is that NASA has once again been obliged to postpone the launch date of space shuttle Atlantis STS-125 mission - the final servicing gig to the venerable eye in the sky

Atlantis was due to blast off back in October, but the SIC&DH saga prompted NASA to delay the mission while it booted up the back-up system.

Now, NASA reports it won't be able to meet the revised February 2009 launch date, since it need more time to prepare a new second data handling unit to replace the failed kit. NASA's Astrophysics Division Director, Jon Morse, explained: "We now have done enough analysis of all the things that need to happen with the flight spare unit to know that we cannot be ready for a February launch.

"The February date was an initial estimate, assuming minimal hardware preparations and test durations that are no longer viewed as realistic. We've communicated our assessment to the Space Shuttle Program so it can adjust near-term plans. We will work closely with the Shuttle Program to develop details for a new launch opportunity."

Fans of vintage computer kit will be pleased to learn that the replacement SIC&DH is the same as those currently aboard Hubble. NASA explains: "The Hubble flight spare...has been at Goddard since it was originally delivered as a back-up system in 1991. The unit currently is undergoing testing and examination to identify and correct any problems. That work will continue until mid-December.

"The unit will then undergo environmental assessments that include electro-magnetic interference checks, vibration tests, and extended time in a thermal vacuum chamber. Environmental testing is anticipated to run from mid-December to early March 2009. Final testing will be conducted on the unit, and delivery to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is expected in early April."

Hubble Program Manager Preston Burch said: "The equipment we are dealing with has a flight-proven design. The original unit on Hubble ran for more than 18 years. We have a lot of spare parts if we encounter problems, and we have most of the same test equipment that was used with the original unit. We also have a lot of experience on our Hubble electrical replica, which uses the engineering model data handling unit." Lester Haines

The final mission to service the Hubble space telescope has slipped deeper into next year, Nasa has announced.

Officials said the delay would give engineers extra time to prepare a spare control unit needed to replace one that broke on the observatory last month.

Hubble was taken offline for four weeks by the failure but has since been re-booted using a back-up system.

It was hoped the reserve could be made ready for launch by February. April is now the earliest date.

The US space agency will then have to find a slot for the servicing mission in the sequence of construction and re-supply flights already planned to go to the International Space Station.

Evidence that science data is flowing again on Hubble came with the release on Thursday of a spectacular new image of a pair of interacting galaxies known as Arp 147.

Path to launch

Hubble's recent woes go back to Saturday, 27 September, just weeks before the fifth and final servicing mission was due to blast off.

Hubble's main flight computer put the observatory's instruments in a protective safe mode when it detected a malfunction in the telescope's Science Instrument Command and Data Handling (SIC&DH) Unit.

The anomaly was traced to a box that formats, stores and routes data gathered by Hubble's imaging instruments.

Engineers successfully switched Hubble over to a "B" formatter - but the failure left the observatory with no redundant capability.

The spare unit Nasa now intends to fly on the rescheduled servicing mission is as old as the telescope and needs an extensive programme of testing before it is declared flight worthy.

"Our plan overall takes something on the order of about six-and-a-half months from now," explained Preston Burch, Hubble Space Telescope manager at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

"There's about a month or so devoted to inspecting and resolving any of the performance issues associated with [the spare unit]; about three months for environmental tests; and then about two to two-and-a-half months to do final testing and shipping down to the Kennedy Space Center and getting it installed on the orbiter.

"In addition, there are also approximately three tools that need to be developed to facilitate its installation on orbit."

Longer life

The final servicing mission will be undertaken by astronauts on the Atlantis shuttle.

The telescope's batteries and gyroscopes, which are used to point the telescope, are degrading and need to be replaced.

The orbiter crew is also tasked with installing two new instruments: the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS). The new instruments will improve significantly Hubble's ability to probe distant, faint objects in the early Universe.

The Atlantis astronauts must also repair two instruments that have failed in recent years - the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS).

If the work is carried out successfully, it should allow Hubble to keep operating into the next decade. >>>>

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Hubble telescope set to reawaken

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The Hubble space telescope should resume science operations on Saturday, say Nasa officials.

Engineers have rebooted the computer which controls most science instruments aboard the orbiting observatory.

Hubble has been "blind" for three weeks after the failure of a command unit forced the telescope into "safe mode".

Attempts to activate a backup system stalled last week after an electrical fault, but assessments have revealed no permanent damage.

The reboot operation was resumed by switching on the "B side" of the data handling unit which deals with most of the spacecraft's scientific payload.

"If it continues to run well, science operations will resume this weekend," said Art Whipple, of Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Centre.

Eyes open

The telescope's Wide-field and Planetary Camera 2 is expected to be active early on Saturday morning, "and it will start doing science almost immediately", said Mr Whipple.

Another key instrument - the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) - will follow "later in the week", he added.

Hubble's main flight computer put instruments in a protective safe mode on 27 September, when it detected a problem in the observatory's Science Instrument Command and Data Handling (SIC&DH) Unit.

All science data passes through this unit before it can be transmitted to Earth. Since it was put to sleep, Hubble has been temporarily "blind" except for one type of observation.

Over the past weeks, engineers have been working through the details of a fix that involves switching the observatory over to a "B" formatter.

But this reboot operation ground to a halt last week after two "anomalous events", one of which appears to have been an electrical fault.

"We cannot know the exact cause, of course, because we cannot get to the hardware. All we can say is that it appears to have been an electrical event," said Mr Whipple.

"Events like this are not uncommon in electrical circuits that have been turned off for a long time.

"It is possible that we may see another event of this type in the future. This is the first time we have switched these circuits on in 18 years and we will have to see how that goes."

Fortunately, the anomaly "does not appear to have done any permanent damage," he added.

"It did not blow any fuses. There was no harm done to any other instruments."

Nevertheless, the setbacks have forced Nasa to postpone a major upgrade to the telescope.

Servicing Mission 4 (SM4) was originally scheduled for 14 October, but will not now take place until February at the earliest.

Over the course of five spacewalks, astronauts will install two new instruments - Wide Field Camera 3 and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.

They will also repair instruments that have failed - the Advanced Camera for Surveys, the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph.

The faulty SIC&DH Unit will also now be replaced to ensure Hubble has a working backup system. "We will leave Hubble in a redundant state," Mr Whipple confirmed.

The servicing mission, which will use Space Shuttle Atlantis, should keep the telescope functioning at least into 2014.

The new date for the mission is currently being assessed and will be determined "by mid November", said Nasa officials.
James Morgan

Thousands of people in mountainous southwest Pakistan on Wednesday bedded down for a freezing night in the open, after a powerful earthquake destroyed their homes and killed at least 170.

The 6.4-magnitude pre-dawn quake flattened mud houses and triggered landslides in the impoverished province of Baluchistan, killing or injuring their occupants as they slept.

Survivors were sent screaming into the streets in panic, eyewitnesses said.

At least eight villages were badly hit by the massive tremors, local police and officials said, voicing fears that some 46,000 people living in the wider region could now be in need of shelter and other assistance.

An AFP correspondent in one of the worst-affected villages, Wam, said emergency tents had not yet arrived and exhausted villagers had hunkered down in the ruined shells of their homes as temperatures plunged below zero.

They spent the day in a desperate search for loved ones or burying the dead in mass graves, as aftershocks nearly as big as the initial quake pounded the landscape, sending rocks spewing from nearby peaks and sparking fresh panic.

"The local graveyard has been devastated and we have no alternative. We have to bury them in mass graves," said local teacher Malik Abdul Hamid, 35. He said he had lost 15 family members.

"We have so far buried 140 bodies in two mass graves. The dead were mostly women and children."

Dilawar Kakar, mayor of the historic hill town of Ziarat, about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the provincial capital Quetta, told AFP the death toll stood at 170, while about 400 people in the area were injured.

Virtually all houses were reduced to rubble either in the initial quake or by aftershocks. Schools and hospitals were also damaged, he added.

Earlier Khushal Khan, spokesman for the provincial revenue minister Zamarak Khan, said local people had told him about 6,000 people have been made homeless and in one case, 29 members of the same family died.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani both expressed their condolences to relatives of those killed and injured, the state-run Associated Press of Pakistan said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said it would send enough medical aid and supplies for 50,000 people for three months in the wake of the disaster, while the United States offered an unspecified humanitarian relief package.

"We are currently working with the Pakistani government, the UN (United Nations) and other potential donors to assess the damage," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

"Once we are able to make that assessment and also talk to the Pakistani government about what their needs might be, we will stand ready to provide an assistance package," McCormack said.

Neighbour and rival India quickly offered any help that might be required, along with Turkey's Red Crescent.

Two teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross have already arrived in the area and are assessing the situation and the needs of the survivors, the humanitarian body said from Geneva.

The first official government figures from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) put the death toll at 115 so far, with nearly 300 injured, its chairman, retired Lieutenant General Farooq Ahmed, told a news conference.

Most of the victims were from outlying villages, but buildings collapsed in Ziarat and communications were cut while the main road to Quetta was also hit, with wide cracks and boulders blocking the way, an AFP reporter said.

Soldiers, helicopters, tents, blankets, food and medical help have been sent from Quetta to Ziarat and an aerial assessment of the damage has begun, the Pakistani military said.

"We have asked the government to send at least 10,000 tents as the temperature in the mountainous town is sub-zero and people need shelter during the night," said Kakar, Ziarat's mayor.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or structural damage in neighbouring Afghanistan, which borders the province, police there said.

Ziarat is a historic hill resort famed for its juniper forests. It receives visitors from all over Pakistan in summer who come to see the holiday home of the country's founder, Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

A 7.6-magnitude earthquake in northwest Pakistan and Kashmir killed 74,000 people and displaced 3.5 million in October 2005.

In 1935 a massive quake killed around 30,000 people in Quetta, which at the time was part of British-ruled India. >>>> 

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Hundreds feared dead after Pakistan earthquake

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• Aid agency puts death toll at 500-600
• Thousands homeless as villages destroyed

At least 170 people have been killed after a powerful earthquake hit south-west Pakistan, leaving thousands homeless. The death toll is expected to rise.

The aid agency Care International put the death toll at 500-600. Several villages were reduced to rubble. Local television pictures showed lines of bodies in white shrouds with victims' names written on them.

The earthquake struck in the early hours of the morning about 40 miles (60km) north-east of the provincial capital Quetta. There were aftershocks throughout the day including a powerful tremor at about 5.30pm local time.

"We went to a village, Wam, where we saw mass graves being dug," said Hasan Mazumdar, Care International's country director in Pakistan.

"Bodies were still arriving. I estimate that 200 died in that village alone.

"There was a big jolt while we were standing there. The mountains shook. Boulders came crashing down. The people were really scared. They never experienced anything like this. I spoke to a man in his early 30s who had lost four daughters. He was just completely heartbroken."

The earthquake of 2005 in northern Pakistan claimed about 73,000 lives. Quetta, the provincial capital of Baluchistan, was flattened in 1935 by an earthquake that killed 30,000.

The Pakistan meteorological department put the magnitude of today's quake at 6.5. The official death toll is around 170 but reports are still coming in from remote areas.

The army has been sent in, bringing tents and blankets flown, but thousands are spending tonight in the open because their homes were destroyed or they are too frightened to go back indoors.

Sub-zero temperatures are expected. Khalil Gill, a worker with Oxfam who was in Quetta, said: "It was very cold this morning, we just ran out, no shoes, no jackets. There was a shock around 8am. This evening was the strongest, the whole town was shaking. Everything shook for about two minutes. We rushed outside. Women and children were crying. We are too frightened to go back into any buildings. We are all spending the night outside."

The former British hilltop resort of Ziarat and around eight surrounding villages were the worst hit. Hundreds of mud and timber houses destroyed, including some buried in landslides triggered by the quake.

"There is great destruction," said Ziarat's mayor, Dilawar Kakar. "Not a single house is intact."

Ziarat is a rural part of an impoverished province. The majority of houses are made of mud, so have little resistance to earth tremors. It is estimated 30,000 people have been affected by the earthquake, with around 15,000 made homeless.

Army helicopters flew in relief supplies but there was limited distribution of aid today, leaving shortages of food, water, blankets and tents.

Baluchistan is Pakistan's largest province geographically but is thinly populated. Pakistani officials said they could manage the situation and did not need international assistance so far. >>>>

Yet a draft Army intelligence paper, "Al Qaida-Like Mobile Discussions & Potential Creative Uses," contemplates just that combination.

It touches briefly on "Pro Terrorist Propaganda Cell Phone Interfaces," using cell phone GPS data to assist terrorist operations, mobile phone surveillance, possible use of voice changing technology by terrorists, "Potential For Terrorist Use of Twitter," and other mobile phone technology and software that bears further consideration.

In one "Red Team" scenario -- the red team being the traditional attacker in attack/defense scenario planning -- the report imagines a terrorist operative using a cell phone with built-in camera or video capability to send Twitter messages to other terrorist operatives in near real-time updates, "similar to the movement updates that were sent by activists at the [Republican National Convention]." The goal would be to provide troop strength intelligence and to coordinate an ambush.

Another scenario imagines a terrorist operative wearing an explosive vest, capable of being detonated remotely, and carrying a mobile phone to send and receive Twitter messages. This could allow a remote terrorist observer "to select the precise moment of remote detonation based on near real-time movement and imagery" coming from the bomb-wearing terrorist, the report speculates.

Concerns about how new technologies may be used are hardly new: Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a communiqué to make it clear that vehicles taking pictures for Google's Street View service are not allowed to photograph military bases. Google Earth has reportedly been used by terrorists to help plan attacks against British troops in Basra, Iraq. The Taliban in Afghanistan reportedly have been using Skype to evade eavesdropping by Western intelligence services.

And the report itself acknowledges the limits of its musings, noting that the contemplated scenarios deserve further research.

Steven Aftergood, director of the Federation of American Scientists' Project on Government Secrecy, sees the report "as a student exercise, not as a serious threat assessment."

"Terrorists can use credit cards and can openers, so they can probably use Twitter too," he said in an e-mail. "But that doesn't make it a national security concern."

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U.S. Army lays out scenarios with terrorists using Twitter

A U.S. military intelligence report has determined that the Twitter microblogging tool could be used by terrorists to coordinate their movements, activities and attacks.

The report from the U.S. Army's 304th Military Intelligence Battalion, now posted on the Federation of American Scientists Web site, details several scenarios where terrorists could use Twitter as an operation tool.

The report noted that human rights groups, communist organizations, anarchists and others are already using the Twitter to communicate with each other and send messages to broader audiences.

"Twitter is already used by some members to post and/or support extremist ideologies and perspectives," the report said. "For example, there are multiple pro and anti Hezbollah Tweets. In addition, extremist and terrorist use of Twitter could evolve over time to reflect tactics that are already evolving in use by 'hacktivists' and activist for surveillance. This could theoretically be combined with targeting."

Twitter is increasingly being used to broadcast short messages, or Tweets, from various newsmaking entities, including NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander and members of Congress. Some companies are even monitoring Twitter for customer service complaints.

Last month, Republicans in Congress used Twitter to help stage a protest over a piece of legislation.

The report cites Computerworld's coverage of how protesters at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul used Twitter to organize its movements and to help protesters elude and fend off police as an example of how terrorists could use the technology.

The report listed some Tweets used by the protestors, including:

"Arrest teams are approaching seated protesters on Marion bridge. Resisters are told they'll be met with force."

"Protestors are now fighting back. First reports of violence now."

"Western Ave. bridge, west of capitol can be safely crossed."

Such Tweets could be used by terrorists for counter surveillance and as command and control and movement tools, according to the report.

The report cited several potential terrorist scenarios, including one where a terrorist operative could use Twitter with or without a cell phone camera/video function to send and receive messages to and from members of his cell. The operative could also have a coded Google Maps/Twitter mashup of his location noted, which other cell members could view from their mobile phones. Members of the terrorist cell could receive near real-time updates -- similar to those sent by activists at the Republican convention -- on the location of and number of opposition troops.

In another scenario, a terrorist could use one mobile phone to send and receive Tweet messages and images, and another that's an explosive device that can be remotely detonated. A second terrorist has the detonator and a mobile phone to view the first terrorist's Tweets and images.

"This may allow [the second terrorist] to select the precise moment of remote detonation based on near real-time movement and imagery that is being sent by [the first terrorist]," the report noted.

The report also cited several examples of real Tweets sent from by unknown users, likely U.S. military personnel, to unknown recipients. They include:

"Drove off base today down Route Irish [Baghdad airport road] in an 'NTV and didn't get blown up fun fun"

"Today is my day off. 115 already in Camp Bucca Iraq."

In addition, the report noted this Tweet detailing an operational change at Fort Huachuca, home the US Army Intelligence Center and School:

"Email I just got: 'We are changing all the PMs tasks at Ft. Huachuca. I hope this does not add a lot of extra work on your end.' Ha!"

The potential for use of Twitter and other Web tools and mobile technologies by terrorists is dependent on the availability of mobile service, the report added. "For example, terrorists could theoretically use Twitter social networking in the US as an operation tool," the report said. "However, it is unclear whether the same theoretical use would be available to terrorists in other countries and to what extent."

Meanwhile, several groups announced last week a new Twitter Vote Report project aimed to allowing voters to use Twitter text messaging and Web capabilities to send Tweets noting problem areas at the polls. Then, voter protection groups can send legal volunteers to those locations.

Between now and Nov. 4, users can access the Election Protection Twitter account and tweet with questions and voting problem reports. On Election Day, voters will be able share their experiences and report problems using the "#votereport" Twitter tag.

HEATHER HAVENSTEIN

 

U.S. military helicopters launched an extremely rare attack Sunday on Syrian territory close to the border with Iraq, killing eight people in a strike the government in Damascus condemned as "serious aggression."

A U.S. military official said the raid by special forces targeted the network of al-Qaida-linked foreign fighters moving through Syria into Iraq. The Americans have been unable to shut the network down in the area struck because Syria was out of the military's reach.

"We are taking matters into our own hands," the official told The Associated Press in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the political sensitivity of cross-border raids.

The attack came just days after the commander of U.S. forces in western Iraq said American troops were redoubling efforts to secure the Syrian border, which he called an "uncontrolled" gateway for fighters entering Iraq.

A Syrian government statement said the helicopters attacked the Sukkariyeh Farm near the town of Abu Kamal, five miles inside the Syrian border. Four helicopters attacked a civilian building under construction shortly before sundown and fired on workers inside, the statement said.

The government said civilians were among the dead, including four children.

A resident of the nearby village of Hwijeh said some of the helicopters landed and troops exited the aircraft and fired on a building. He said the aircraft flew along the Euphrates River into the area of farms and several brick factories. The witness spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information.

Another witness said four helicopters were used in the attack.

Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, there have been some instances in which American troops crossed areas of the 370-mile Syria-Iraq border in pursuit of militants, or warplanes violated Syria's airspace. But Sunday's raid was the first conducted by aircraft and on such a large scale. In May 2005, Syria said American fire killed a border guard.

Syria's Foreign Ministry said it summoned the U.S. and Iraqi charges d'affaires to protest against the strike.

"Syria condemns this aggression and holds the American forces responsible for this aggression and all its repercussions. Syria also calls on the Iraqi government to shoulder its responsibilities and launch and immediate investigation into this serious violation and prevent the use of Iraqi territory for aggression against Syria," the government statement said.

Syrian state television late Sunday aired footage that showed blood stains on the floor of a site under construction, with wooden beams used to mold concrete strewn on the ground. Akram Hameed, one of the injured, told the television he was fishing in the Euphrates and saw four helicopters coming from the border area under a heavy blanket of fire.

"One of the helicopters landed in an agricultural area and eight members disembarked," the man in his 40s said. "The firing lasted about 15 minutes and when I tried to leave the area on my motorcycle, I was hit by a bullet in the right arm about 20 meters (yards) away," he said.

The injured wife of the building's guard, in bed in hospital with a tube in her nose, told Syria TV that two helicopters landed and two remained in the air during the attack.

"I ran to bring my child who was going to his father and I was hit," she said. The TV did not identify her by name.

The area targeted is near the Iraqi border city of Qaim, which had been a major crossing point for fighters, weapons and money coming into Iraq to fuel the Sunni insurgency.

Iraqi travelers making their way home across the border reported hearing many explosions, said Qaim Mayor Farhan al-Mahalawi.

The foreign fighters network sends militants from North Africa and elsewhere in the Middle East to Syria, where elements of the Syrian military are in league with al-Qaida and loyalists of Saddam Hussein's Baath party, the U.S. military official said.

He said that while American forces have had considerable success, with Iraqi help, in shutting down the "rat lines" in Iraq, and with foreign government help in North Africa, the Syrian node has been out of reach.

"The one piece of the puzzle we have not been showing success on is the nexus in Syria," the official said.

On Thursday, U.S. Maj. Gen. John Kelly said Iraq's western borders with Saudi Arabia and Jordan were fairly tight as a result of good policing by security forces in those countries but that Syria was a "different story."

"The Syrian side is, I guess, uncontrolled by their side," Kelly said. "We still have a certain level of foreign fighter movement."

He added that the U.S. was helping construct a sand berm and ditches along the border.

"There hasn't been much, in the way of a physical barrier, along that border for years," Kelly said.

The White House in August approved similar special forces raids from Afghanistan across the border of Pakistan to target al-Qaida and Taliban operatives. At least one has been carried out.

The flow of foreign fighters into Iraq has been cut to an estimated 20 a month, a senior U.S. military intelligence official told the Associated Press in July. That's a 50 percent decline from six months ago, and just a fifth of the estimated 100 foreign fighters who were infiltrating Iraq a year ago, according to the official.

Ninety percent of the foreign fighters enter through Syria, according to U.S. intelligence. Foreigners are some of the most deadly fighters in Iraq, trained in bomb-making and with small-arms expertise and more likely to be willing suicide bombers than Iraqis.

Foreign fighters toting cash have been al-Qaida in Iraq's chief source of income. They contributed more than 70 percent of operating budgets in one sector in Iraq, according to documents captured in September 2007 on the Syrian border. Most of the fighters were conveyed through professional smuggling networks, according to the report.

Iraqi insurgents seized Qaim in April 2005, forcing U.S. Marines to recapture the town the following month in heavy fighting. The area became secure only after Sunni tribes in Anbar turned against al-Qaida in late 2006 and joined forces with the Americans.

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem accused the United States earlier this year of not giving his country the equipment needed to prevent foreign fighters from crossing into Iraq. He said Washington feared Syria could use such equipment against Israel.

Though Syria has long been viewed by the U.S. as a destabilizing country in the Middle East, in recent months, Damascus has been trying to change its image and end years of global seclusion.

Its president, Bashar Assad, has pursued indirect peace talks with Israel, mediated by Turkey, and says he wants direct talks next year. Syria also has agreed to establish diplomatic ties with Lebanon, a country it used to dominate both politically and militarily, and has worked harder at stemming the flow of militants into Iraq.

The U.S. military in Baghdad did not immediately respond to a request for comment after Sunday's raid.

ALBERT AJI
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U.S. helicopters attack Syrian farm: Syria
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U.S. military helicopters attacked a farm in eastern Syria near the Iraqi border on Sunday, killing eight civilians, including five members of the same family, Syria said.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. charge d'affaires in Damascus to protest over raid, Syria's state news agency SANA reported after state television said U.S. soldiers stormed a building in the area during the raid.

"Syria condemns this aggressive act and holds American forces responsible for this aggression and all of its repercussions," SANA said, quoting a government official. The Iraqi charge d'affaires had also been summoned.

SANA said four U.S. helicopters had taken part in the raid on a civilian building under construction in the Bou Kamal border area, in eastern Syria. Bou Kamal is the main crossing point into Iraq from Syria.

Lieutenant-Colonel Chris Hughes, spokesman for U.S. forces in western Iraq, said the U.S. division that operates on the Iraqi side of the border was not involved in the incident.

A Pentagon spokesman in Washington said he had no immediate information on the reported strike but would check further. White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe declined to comment on reports of the attack, as did the CIA.

The United States and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government blame Syria for not doing enough to stop anti-U.S. rebels, including al Qaeda fighters, from infiltrating over the border.

Witnesses said the attack in Mashahdeh village, 7 km (4 miles) from the Iraqi border and 2 km from Bou Kamal, took place at 5 p.m. (10:00 a.m. EDT).

"The helicopters carried out an attack on a civilian building under construction and opened fire on workers inside the building, including the wife of the building guard, leading to the (killing) of eight civilians," SANA said.

It said the dead included a man and his four children, and a married couple. They were all Syrian. Earlier, residents said the house belonging to the family was completely destroyed.

SANA said the helicopters then departed, heading for Iraq, adding that the target was al-Sukkari farm near the border.

Syria called on the Iraqi government to carry out an immediate inquiry into the attack and to ensure that Iraq was not used for "aggression against Syria," SANA said.

Farhan al-Mahalawi, mayor of the Iraqi border town of Qaim, told Reuters that U.S. helicopters had struck a village on the Syrian side of the border. He said the village had been surrounded by Syrian troops.

An Iraqi security source in Baghdad confirmed that eight people were killed.

Marwan Makdessi
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Eight die in US attack inside Syria: official media
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American helicopter-borne troops from Iraq launched an assault on Sunday on a building in a Syrian border village, killing eight civilians, official Syrian media reported.

The government has summoned the official US and Iraqi representatives in protest, state television and the official SANA news agency said.

In Washington the Pentagon said it had no comment.

"Four American helicopters violated Syrian airspace around 16:45 local time (1345 GMT) on Sunday. They penetrated eight kilometres (five miles) into Syria," official Syrian media said.

"American soldiers" who had emerged from helicopters "attacked a civilian building under construction and fired at workmen inside, causing eight deaths," reports said.

SANA named the dead and said they were a father and his four children, a couple and another man.

"The helicopters then left Syrian territory towards Iraqi territory," it said.

The news agency said one person was also wounded in the attack on the village of Al-Sukkiraya, around 550 kilometres (340 miles) northeast of the capital in the Abu Kamal area.

Earlier, the private television channel al-Dunia said nine civilians had been killed in the attack.

The raid appears to have been the first of its type into Syrian territory.

Syria summoned the US and Iraqi envoys to Damascus to protest against what it called a US military attack and to demand that Iraq prevent US forces from "launching aggression against Syria" from its territory, official media said.

"Syria condemns and denounces this act of aggression and US forces will bear the responsibility for any consequences," SANA quoted an unidentified official as saying.

"Syria also demands that the Iraqi government accept its responsibilities and launches an immediate inquiry following this dangerous violation and forbids the use of Iraqi territory to launch attacks on Syria," it said.

"We are in the process of investigating this" reported attack, Sergeant Brooke Murphy, a US military spokeswoman, told AFP in Baghdad.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman declined to comment. Commander Darryn James told AFP that there was "no response" from the US Department of Defence about the Syrian reports.

The Iraqi defence ministry also refused to comment, on the grounds the incident took place inside Syria.

US commanders say Syria is the main transit point for foreign jihadists crossing into Iraq. Washington has blamed Damascus for turning a blind eye to the problem.

On October 16 Iraqi forces arrested seven Syrian "terrorist" suspects at a checkpoint near the city of Baquba, a hub of Al-Qaeda fighters, the Baghdad defence ministry said.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani told US President George W. Bush last month that Iran and Syria -- long targets of US blame over the deadly unrest in Iraq -- no longer pose a problem.

Iraqi officials have also said that Syria has been boosting border security.

Syria's first ambassador to Iraq in 26 years took up his post in Baghdad this month, marking the official end of more than two decades of icy relations.

On September 28 US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice confirmed she had met her Syrian counterpart, Walid Muallem, to discuss Middle East peace efforts despite renewed criticism from Washington over Syrian policies.

Their talks came after Bush slammed Syria in his farewell address to the UN General Assembly. "A few nations -- regimes like Syria and Iran -- continue to sponsor terror," he charged.

Washington has also accused Damascus of failing to give adequate cooperation to the International Atomic Energy Agency in its investigation into a mystery facility bombed by Israel in September last year that US officials have charged was a nuclear plant.
Roueida Mabardi Roueida Mabardi