October 21, 2009
+ Gates says Japan deal on US airbase must stand
Tokyo (AFP) Oct 20, 2009 - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday rejected demands by Japan's new government to review a deal between the two countries about a controversial US airbase and the presence of American troops. Gates made the comments on his plane en route to Tokyo, before he arrived as the first top US official to visit Japan since the new centre-left government took power here just over a month ago. ... more
miltech
+ German team develop instant liquid explosive detector
Berlin (AFP) Oct 20, 2009 - German scientists said on Tuesday they have developed a new technology that could allow air passengers to take liquids on planes again by instantly being able to tell if they are explosive. Knut Urban, head of a team of physicists from the Juelich research centre, said that their prototype device could identify explosive ingredients "in a fraction of a second." Since 2006, passengers ... more
milplex
+ Libya eyes new Russian jet fightersTokyo (AFP) Oct 20, 2009 - US Defense Secretary Robert Gates on Tuesday rejected demands by Japan's new government to review a deal between the two countries about a controversial US airbase and the presence of American troops. Gates made the comments on his plane en route to Tokyo, before he arrived as the first top US official to visit Japan since the new centre-left government took power here just over a month ago. ... more
miltech
+ German team develop instant liquid explosive detector
Berlin (AFP) Oct 20, 2009 - German scientists said on Tuesday they have developed a new technology that could allow air passengers to take liquids on planes again by instantly being able to tell if they are explosive. Knut Urban, head of a team of physicists from the Juelich research centre, said that their prototype device could identify explosive ingredients "in a fraction of a second." Since 2006, passengers ... more
milplex
Tripoli, Libya (UPI) Oct 19, 2009 - Russia's Interfax news agency says Libya is considering a deal to purchase at least 20 Russian fighter jets as part of a $1 billion weapons contract. "Libya is planning to buy 12 to 15 Su-35 multipurpose fighters, four Su-30s and six Yak-130 combat training planes from Russia," Interfax said citing an unnamed military source on Monday. The source suggested that lucrative deals ... more
abm
+ LockMart Launches Target Missile For Air Defense System Test
Huntsville AL (SPX) Oct 21, 2009 - Lockheed Martin announced that it successfully launched a target missile for the ATM-48 intercept test of the U.S. Army's Patriot Advanced Capability-2 (PAC-2) air defense system. Under the Missile Defense Agency's Targets and Countermeasures Program in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force, a Lockheed Martin-led team launched the short-range, legacy target from Fort Wingate, N.M. L-3 ... more
milplex
+ EADS accuses Pentagon of favoring Boeing in tanker battle
Washington (AFP) Oct 20, 2009 - EADS, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, accused the Pentagon Tuesday of favoring Boeing in the competition for a 35 billion dollar contract to replace the US Air Force's aging tanker planes. EADS chief executive Louis Gallois said the Pentagon has revealed to Boeing the price that Northrop Grumman and EADS had offered in their previous bid to replace the refueling plane. ... more
Washington (AFP) Oct 20, 2009 - EADS, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, accused the Pentagon Tuesday of favoring Boeing in the competition for a 35 billion dollar contract to replace the US Air Force's aging tanker planes. EADS chief executive Louis Gallois said the Pentagon has revealed to Boeing the price that Northrop Grumman and EADS had offered in their previous bid to replace the refueling plane. ... more
+ First Oshkosh LVSR Deployed To Afghanistan
Oshkosh WI (SPX) Oct 21, 2009 - Oshkosh Defense has announced that the first Logistics Vehicle System Replacement (LVSR) has been deployed with the U.S. Marine Corps in Afghanistan, with two additional vehicles set to be delivered later in October. All three vehicles being delivered are cargo variants. Oshkosh is also sending two Field Service Representatives (FSR) to Afghanistan this month to provide support services ... more
miltech
+ E-2D Advanced Hawkeye Completes First Catapult Launch Tests
Bethpage NY (SPX) Oct 21, 2009 - In preparation for its Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT and E), Northrop Grumman's first E-2D Advanced Hawkeye test aircraft, known as Delta One, has successfully completed its first land-based catapult launch tests - a required phase of testing prior to fleet introduction. Both E-2D System Development and Demonstration (SDD) aircraft, Delta One and Delta Two, are currently ... more
stans
+ Pakistan aid package becomes law
Washington (UPI) Oct 20, 2009 - All it took was a simple statement to resolve a huge controversy over a well-meaning $7.5 billion U.S. aid package to Pakistan and avert what could have become a major issue in U.S.-Pakistan relations at a time when neither country can afford it. The controversy grew from claims in some Pakistani quarters that the aid package, known as the Kerry-Lugar-Berman bill, was designed to ... more
nuclear-doctrine
+ US scientist faces court over attempt to spy for Israel
Washington (AFP) Oct 19, 2009 - A leading American scientist who has worked for the White House and NASA was expected to appear in court on Tuesday charged with attempting to spy for Israel. Stewart David Nozette, 52, was arrested after a sting operation involving an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli agent, the Department of Justice said, adding that there was no wrongdoing by Israel. He is charged with ... more
abm
+ US seeks to quell Russian concerns on missile plan
Tbilisi (AFP) Oct 20, 2009 - The United States on Tuesday sought to quell Russian concerns that new US missile defence facilities might be installed in Moscow's backyard, insisting that only NATO countries were being considered. US Assistant Defence Secretary Alexander Vershbow said in the Georgian capital that Washington was consulting only with members of the alliance after the United States scrapped a previous plan ... more
Washington (AFP) Oct 19, 2009 - A leading American scientist who has worked for the White House and NASA was expected to appear in court on Tuesday charged with attempting to spy for Israel. Stewart David Nozette, 52, was arrested after a sting operation involving an undercover FBI agent posing as an Israeli agent, the Department of Justice said, adding that there was no wrongdoing by Israel. He is charged with ... more
abm
+ US seeks to quell Russian concerns on missile plan
Tbilisi (AFP) Oct 20, 2009 - The United States on Tuesday sought to quell Russian concerns that new US missile defence facilities might be installed in Moscow's backyard, insisting that only NATO countries were being considered. US Assistant Defence Secretary Alexander Vershbow said in the Georgian capital that Washington was consulting only with members of the alliance after the United States scrapped a previous plan ... more
disaster-management
+ Death toll from Philippine storms nears 1,000: govt
Manila (AFP) Oct 19, 2009 - The death toll from two devastating storms that struck the Philippines over the past month has risen to 858, with ensuing disease outbreaks killing 89 others, the government said Monday. The latest National Disaster Coordinating Council toll is up from 818 on Sunday. It said Tropical Storm Ketsana left 420 dead and 37 missing when it flooded 80 percent of Manila on September 26, a ... more
china
+ Small Chinese character reform triggers big controversy
Beijing (AFP) Oct 19, 2009 - More than 50 years after a major overhaul of the way in which Chinese characters are written, a far less ambitious project to simplify just a few dozen ideogrammes has sparked huge controversy here. The government has put forward proposals to change 44 characters out of the 3,500 most used, or 1.25 percent of the total, "to adapt to the requirements of the information era, the evolution of ... more
disaster-management
+ Philippine economy falls victim to twin stormschina
+ Small Chinese character reform triggers big controversy
Beijing (AFP) Oct 19, 2009 - More than 50 years after a major overhaul of the way in which Chinese characters are written, a far less ambitious project to simplify just a few dozen ideogrammes has sparked huge controversy here. The government has put forward proposals to change 44 characters out of the 3,500 most used, or 1.25 percent of the total, "to adapt to the requirements of the information era, the evolution of ... more
disaster-management
Manila (AFP) Oct 19, 2009 - Powerful storms that claimed nearly 1,000 lives in the Philippines have also taken a heavy toll on the nation's economy, with the impoverished Southeast Asian nation expected to take years to recover. The twin storms that pounded the main Luzon island with record rains over the past month caused billions of dollars in damage, and the government has said it will have to go further into debt ... more
trade
+ Top tech firms back open Internet in FCC letter
Washington (AFP) Oct 19, 2009 - Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Google, Twitter and other leading Web and technology companies expressed support Monday for Federal Communications Commission (FCC) efforts to ensure an open Internet. "An open Internet fuels a competitive and efficient marketplace, where consumers make the ultimate choices about which products succeed and which fail," the chief executives and founders of two dozen ... more
gas
+ Statoil says could sell US assets
Oslo (AFP) Oct 19, 2009 - Norwegian energy giant StatoilHydro said Monday it could sell some US oil assets in the Gulf of Mexico but declined to comment on a report that the prospective buyer would be China's state-owned CNOOC. "We are currently optimising our asset portfolio. To this end, we have opened our data room on some assets bought in 2007 and 2008 so that interested companies can consult it," Kai Nielsen ... more
launchers
+ South Korea And Russia Jointly Review Satellite Launch Failure
Seoul, South Korea (XNA) Oct 20, 2009 - South Korean and Russian officials will meet to determine causes of a failure in sending a satellite, carried by a jointly developed space rocket, into the target orbit in August, according to local media. The failure review board will meet in Moscow on Oct. 29, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said on Monday. South Korea launched its first space rocket, the Korea ... more
satellite-tech
+ UAE Engineers To Take Lead Role In Designing Dubai-Sat 2
Abu Dhabi, UAE (SPX) Oct 20, 2009 - Following the successful launch of the UAE's first remote sensing satellite in July, engineers in the Emirates are already designing an advanced version which will provide government agencies with greater help to shape the country's future. The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST), which launched Dubai-Sat 1, said that lessons learnt in its development will ... more
satellite-tech
+ India To Launch Two Satellites To Study Climate Change
Bangalore, India (PTI) Oct 20, 2009 - India will soon join a select space club by launching two dedicated satellites in polar orbit to study climate change through atmospheric research and detection of greenhouse gases, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair said Sunday. "The satellites will be launched in 2010 and 2011. The first will be a 50 kg micro-satellite to conduct atmospheric research. The ... more
gps
+ Rio youth use GPS phones to put favelas on map
Rio De Janeiro (AFP) Oct 17, 2009 - Rio's favelas are home to a third of the city's population, but are almost invisible on maps -- a situation five young women are trying to change with the help of GPS and the Internet. Rafaela Goncalves da Silva, 21, has lived in the Santa Marta favela, a poor and dangerous slum that was recently the target of a police pacification operation, since she was two years old. She is bringing ... more
missiles
+ China pointing about 1,500 missiles at Taiwan: Taipei official
Taipei (AFP) Oct 19, 2009 - China now has about 1,500 missiles pointed at Taiwan, with no signs that the build-up is about to stop anytime soon, a spokesman for the island's government said Monday. The figure includes short-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, the defence ministry spokesman told AFP on condition of anonymity. "The number of missiles has been rising. We don't know when it will stop ... more
+ South Korea And Russia Jointly Review Satellite Launch Failure
Seoul, South Korea (XNA) Oct 20, 2009 - South Korean and Russian officials will meet to determine causes of a failure in sending a satellite, carried by a jointly developed space rocket, into the target orbit in August, according to local media. The failure review board will meet in Moscow on Oct. 29, the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology said on Monday. South Korea launched its first space rocket, the Korea ... more
satellite-tech
+ UAE Engineers To Take Lead Role In Designing Dubai-Sat 2
Abu Dhabi, UAE (SPX) Oct 20, 2009 - Following the successful launch of the UAE's first remote sensing satellite in July, engineers in the Emirates are already designing an advanced version which will provide government agencies with greater help to shape the country's future. The Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology (EIAST), which launched Dubai-Sat 1, said that lessons learnt in its development will ... more
satellite-tech
+ India To Launch Two Satellites To Study Climate Change
Bangalore, India (PTI) Oct 20, 2009 - India will soon join a select space club by launching two dedicated satellites in polar orbit to study climate change through atmospheric research and detection of greenhouse gases, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman G. Madhavan Nair said Sunday. "The satellites will be launched in 2010 and 2011. The first will be a 50 kg micro-satellite to conduct atmospheric research. The ... more
gps
+ Rio youth use GPS phones to put favelas on map
Rio De Janeiro (AFP) Oct 17, 2009 - Rio's favelas are home to a third of the city's population, but are almost invisible on maps -- a situation five young women are trying to change with the help of GPS and the Internet. Rafaela Goncalves da Silva, 21, has lived in the Santa Marta favela, a poor and dangerous slum that was recently the target of a police pacification operation, since she was two years old. She is bringing ... more
missiles
+ China pointing about 1,500 missiles at Taiwan: Taipei official
Taipei (AFP) Oct 19, 2009 - China now has about 1,500 missiles pointed at Taiwan, with no signs that the build-up is about to stop anytime soon, a spokesman for the island's government said Monday. The figure includes short-range ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, the defence ministry spokesman told AFP on condition of anonymity. "The number of missiles has been rising. We don't know when it will stop ... more
