NASA Reveals Solar Dynamics Observatory's First Fiery Images

POPSCI, by Clay Dillow, 04.21.2010 at 3:23 pm

SDO's Ultraviolet Sun NASA

More than three months after being hurled into orbit, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory is snapping some breathtaking images of the Sun, the first of which NASA released this afternoon. The mission designers have to be happy with them: the pics capture huge looping prominences lashing out from the surface and the kinds of massive explosions one might expect from a giant, churning ball of cosmic gas.

SDO launched in February to help researchers on the ground gain a better understanding of how processes taking place on the sun affect life on Earth. NASA and its international partners hope that in time SDO provides a wealth of solar data that will help them predict solar weather more accurately than current means allow. SDO views the sun with a resolution ten times greater than that of an HD video camera and carries four telescopes as well as instruments for measuring magnetic motions on the surface and ultraviolet energy output.

Science aside, NASA researchers must be pretty pleased with what SDO is sending back thus far if only from an aesthetic standpoint.

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Foreign firms to pledge not to give bribes in Russia

BBC News, by Konstantin Rozhnov, Business reporter

There have been several bribery scandals in Russia recently

Dozens of international firms doing business in Russia are to pledge not to offer bribes, in a move aimed at fighting corruption collectively.

The accord, to be signed at an official ceremony on Wednesday, was initiated by the companies, not the Kremlin, said the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce.

Anti-corruption group Transparency International has said bribery in Russia is worth $300bn (£462bn) a year.

Two recent bribery scandals in Russia have involved foreign firms.

The agreement was praised by Russian presidential adviser Arkady Dvorkovich.

"We are glad that foreign companies have heard us and are ready to help us fight corruption," he told Russian business daily Vedomosti.

Among more than 50 predominantly German companies which are set to sign the agreement are Siemens, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bahn and Axel Springer AG.

Bribery scandals

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has declared fighting corruption to be one of the main goals of his presidency.

Last week he signed a decree outlining his government's approach to tackling the problem.

Recently there have been two high-profile bribery scandals in Russia involving international companies.

Russian, German and US authorities are investigating whether US computer company Hewlett-Packard paid millions of dollars in bribes to win a big contract in Russia several years ago.

A spokesperson for Hewlett-Packard said last week that HP would "continue to fully co-operate with the authorities investigating this matter".

"This is an investigation of alleged conduct that occurred almost seven years ago, largely by employees no longer with HP," the spokesperson said.

Also, German carmaker Daimler agreed to pay $185m to settle a US corruption case involving offences committed in Russia.

However, the chairman of the Russian-German Chamber of Commerce, Michael Harms, called it "a coincidence" that international companies would sign the anti-bribery agreement only days after Mr Mededev unveiled the recent official policy and the two bribery scandals became public.

"We have been working on it [the agreement] for half a year, we would not be able to do it just in a week," he told the BBC.

'Corruption racketeering'

Mr Harms said that German companies doing business in Russia were the first to lay down the collective measures against corruption, although the ceremony on Wednesday will also be attended by representatives from European and US businesses.

He admitted that the task of tackling corruption in Russia was a difficult one, but said that it could be achieved "in the long run".

Elena Panfilova, head of Transparency International in Russia, said that the anti-bribery agreement was "good rather than bad".

She added, however, that any company working in Russia could find itself in a situation when it did not want to give bribes but was forced to do so if it wanted to carry on doing business. The agreement would not solve situations such as these, she said.

Robert Mitchell, head of enhanced due diligence for Europe, Middle East and Africa at risk specialist World-Check, said that governments were responsible for dealing with the problem of corrupt officials.

"They [governments] have to practice what they preach," he said.

Mr Mitchell added that the way to try to solve the problem in Russia was to follow in the footsteps of western countries and blacklist individuals and companies who were responsible for receiving bribes.

Different traditions

Traditions different from those in Russia, as well as tougher laws in their home markets, could be the reason why, according to Mr Harms, foreign companies have been much more eager to join the anti-bribery initiative than Russian firms.

Several corruption scandals involving international companies working in Russia became public not as a result of Russian officials' moves, but after prosecutors in Western countries took action.

"Western companies think that even if things remain hidden in Russia, they will be uncovered at home," said Ms Panfilova.

"In Russia, it is a different story."

Most experts agree that foreign companies' readiness not to offer bribes in Russia is a good sign, but it will not be enough to eradicate corruption any time soon.

Mr Harms believes that this time the companies signing the agreement have managed to come up with a mechanism to fight corruption on day-to-day basis.

But critics say it is not yet clear whether declarations of intention will be followed by effective actions.

History shows that in terms of successfully fighting corruption in Russia, not a lot has been achieved so far.

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IMF in 'radical' bank tax plans on pay and profits

BBC News

Banks and other financial institutions face paying two new taxes to fund future bail-outs, the BBC has learned.

Business editor Robert Peston said the global proposals by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) were "more radical" than most had anticipated.

All institutions would pay a bank levy - initially at a flat-rate - and also face a further tax on profits and pay.

The measures are designed to make banks pay for the costs of future financial and economic rescue packages.

The IMF documents were made available to international governments of the G20 group of nations on Tuesday afternoon and seen by the BBC soon afterwards. The plans will be discussed by finance ministers this weekend.

IMF REPORT

• International Monetary Fund interim report for the G20 [1.5MB]

"The proposals are likely to horrify banks, especially the proposed tax on pay," our business editor said.

"They will also be politically explosive both domestically and internationally."

Insurers, hedge funds and other financial institutions must also pay the taxes, the IMF argues, despite them being less implicated in the recent crisis

If they were not included, activities currently carried out by banks would be reclassified as, for example, insurance or hedge-fund services to escape the levies.

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Chinese president visits quake-hit area

English.news.cn, 2010-04-18 16:38:25

Chinese President Hu Jintao (1st R) talks to an injured man during his visit to those injured in the quake receiving treatment at a stadium in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Yushu, northwest China's Qinghai Province, April 18, 2010. Hu arrived in Yushu Sunday morning to direct relief work. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

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Goldman Sachs charged with fraud by SEC

Reuters, NEW YORK, Fri Apr 16, 2010 11:10am EDT

The new Goldman Sachs Group Inc. global headquarters, also known
 by its address as 200 West Street, is pictured in New York's lower
 Manhattan April 7, 2010. Credit: Reuters/Brendan McDermid

(Reuters) - Goldman Sachs Group Inc was charged with fraud on Friday by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in the structuring and marketing of a debt product tied to subprime mortgages.

The SEC alleged that Goldman structured and marketed a synthetic collateralized debt obligation that hinged on the performance of subprime residential mortgage-backed securities, and which cost investors more than $1 billion.

It alleged that Goldman did not tell investors "vital information" about the CDO, called ABACUS. This included that a major hedge fund, Paulson & Co, was involved in choosing which securities would be part of the portfolio, and had taken a short position against the CDO in a bet its value would fall.

According to the SEC complaint, Paulson & Co paid Goldman $15 million to structure the CDO, which closed on April 26, 2007. Little more than nine months later, 99 percent of the portfolio had been downgraded, the SEC said.

The SEC said Goldman Vice President Fabrice Tourre was principally responsible for creating ABACUS. It also charged him with fraud.

Goldman, Paulson and Tourre were not immediately available for comment.

Shares of Goldman sank $19.39, or 10.5 percent, to $164.88 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel. Editing by Robert MacMillan)

A television at the NYSE showed the effect of fraud charges on Goldman
 Sach’s stock price on on Friday. (AFP Photo/Getty Images)

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Obama sets Mars goal for America

BBC News

Obama spoke in KSC's vast Operations and Checkout building

Barack Obama says it should be possible to send astronauts to orbit the planet Mars by the mid-2030s and return them safely to Earth.

The US president made the claim in a major speech to staff at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

He was laying out the details of his new policy for the US space agency.

Mr Obama said he was giving Nasa challenging goals and the funding needed to achieve them, including an extra $6bn over the next five years.

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Huge volcanic ash cloud closes airports

CNN, By the CNN Wire Staff, April 15, 2010

Smoke billows from an erupting volcano beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier on April 14, 2010.

Eyjafjallajokull Eruption Video: Iceland Volcano

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• All flights from Heathrow, Gatwick and London City Airport canceled from 11.30 a.m. BST
• Flights in Norway disrupted, all flights from Oslo canceled from 10 a.m. local time
• Ash emanating from volcanic eruption beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier
• Officials: Lava is not a big concern, but flooding is; hundreds of people evacuated

(CNN) -- Many airports were shut and flights grounded across Northern Europe Thursday because of ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland, airport authorities said.

A huge plume of ash was moving east across the Atlantic after the eruption of a volcano beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier early Wednesday.

All flights from London's Heathrow and Stansted airport north of the city would be suspended from 11.30 a.m. (6.30 a.m. EST), according to the British Airport Authority (BAA). Passengers were advised not to travel to the airport.

Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Glasgow airports in Scotland were closed, BAA said. So was Newcastle airport in northern England, according to an airport spokesman.

A spokeswoman at London's Gatwick airport said they were experiencing "severe disruptions and cancellations" but planned to remain open.

Live images of the Icelandic volcano

Manchester airport said it expected flights to be disrupted until 1 p.m. (8 a.m. ET).

A spokeswoman for Dublin airport said several flights had been canceled because of the volcano ash. The airport mainly serves Britain and the rest of Europe.

Norway's aviation authority AVINOR closed roughly the northern half of the country's airspace on Wednesday evening, from Trondheim to the north.

"There have been some volcanic eruptions in Iceland before and we have some smaller parts of these type of clouds earlier. But not like this, not of this magnitude," AVINOR spokesman Ove Narvesen told CNN.

Flights to and from Oslo Airport were cancelled from 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. EST, according to Oslo Airport authorities. Passengers were advised to check with their airline for further information.

Flights elsewhere in Europe were not as badly affected -- yet. In Denmark's Copenhagen airport, the cloud was having a minor impact on arrivals and departures, but more widespread disruption is expected in the afternoon, according to spokesman Bente Kornbo. A spokeswoman at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris said the airport remained open.

Volcanic ash started spewing into the atmosphere after the volcano's eruption early Wednesday, the latest in a series which began on March 20.

It blew a hole in the Eyjafjallajokull glacier prompting officials to evacuate hundreds of people due to the risk of flooding.

"The volcano is under the glacier, and it's melting parts of the glacier," said Rognvaldur Olafsson, chief inspector at Iceland's Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management. "The rivers will rise and potentially make some damage."

iReporter captures footage of eruption

The glacier is the sixth-biggest in Iceland and is just to the west of the bigger glacier, Myrdalsjokull. It is about 100 miles (160 km) east of the capital, Reykjavik.

The ash also caused delays in some flights leaving the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

"There are some ground holds in place for flights that would be going through Icelandic air space due to volcanic ash," FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said Wednesday night.

Manchester Airport spokesman Russell Craig said the ash poses a threat to aircraft, even if it isn't visible in the air.

"If you think about the way an aircraft engine works, it sucks in air, it compresses it, forces it out on the other side. That creates thrust," Craig told CNN. "If that air were mixed with ash, it can cause engine failure and electrical difficulties with an aircraft. It's happened before, and the aircraft didn't come out the other end in one piece."

Passengers in Manchester have been "incredibly patient" about the cancellations, Craig said.

Ash air emergencies

• April 1982 -- British Airways flight 009 en route to Auckland from London flew into a cloud of ash thrown up by the eruption of Mount Galunggung, Indonesia, causing engines to fail. Crew were eventually able to restart three engines and land safely in Jakarta after gliding through the cloud.
  
  
• December 1989 -- KLM flight 867 en route to Anchorage in Alaska from Amsterdam flew into a volcanic ash cloud caused by eruption of Mount Redoubt in Alaska, resulting in failure of its engines as it tried to climb out of the cloud. Pilots were able to restart engines, two at a time, before landing the badly damaged airliner.

The Met Office ash cloud forecast for 7pm BST on Thursday 15 April, issued at 6.35am. The area inside the red line is affected by volcanic ash. (Telegraph.co.uk)

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Hundreds dead in China quake, Xinhua reports

CNN, By the CNN Wire Staff, April 14, 2010 1:52 a.m. EDT

The earthquake struck China's Qinghai province.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: About 300 people killed, 8,000 injured from earthquake, China state media report
• NEW: Rapid series of strong earthquakes hit China's Qinghai province
• The 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck at 7:49 a.m. local time (7:49 p.m. ET Tuesday)
• Military official: Soldiers setting up tents and transporting oxygen for the injured

(CNN) -- A rapid series of strong earthquakes hit a mountainous and impoverished area of China's Qinghai province early Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

About 300 people were killed, state-run Xinhua News Agency reported, adding that another 8,000 have been injured.

Many others, including primary schoolchildren, were feared buried under debris after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck at 7:49 a.m. local time (7:49 p.m. ET Tuesday), when many people were probably still at home and schools were beginning the day.

The USGS also recorded three strong aftershocks -- of magnitudes 5.8, 5.2 and 5.3 -- all within two hours of the first quake.

"We have to mainly rely on our hands to clear away the debris as we have no large excavating machines," police officer Shi Huajie told Xinhua. "We have no medical equipment, either."

iReport: Are you there? Send your photos, video, stories

A Chinese military official told Xinhua that the death toll was expected to rise, given the damage to homes.

He said dispatched soldiers were setting up tents and transporting oxygen for the injured but affected roads leading to the airport could hamper relief efforts.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs plans to distribute 5,000 tents, 50,000 coats and 50,000 quilts to the earthquake zone, Xinhua said.

The epicenter was located in remote and rugged terrain, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Qamdo, Tibet. Qinghai borders the autonomous regions of Tibet and Xingjiang and the provinces of Gansu and Sichuan.

Xinhua said the quake hit the prefecture of Yushu, a Tibetan region of Qinghai with about 80,000 people.

More than 85 percent of the houses in the county seat of Jiegu, had collapsed, a prefecture official told Xinhua.

"Many are buried in the collapsed houses, and there are still lots of others who are injured and being treated at local hospitals," he said.

Xinua said residents near the epicenter also reported casualties and collapsed buildings.

Can buildings be made earthquake-proof?

Karsum Nyima, deputy director of news at local Yushu TV, told Xinhua that most of the houses in the area were made of wood with earthen walls. He said some had come tumbling down, including a Buddhist pagoda in a park.

In 2008, 70,000 people died when a 7.9 earthquake rocked neighboring Sichuan province, northwest of its capital, Chengdu.

Qunghai province:

• Population: 5 million
• People: 44 ethnic groups, including Tibetans and Mongols
• Average elevation: Over 3,000 meters above sea level
• Geography: Qilian Mountains, the Qingnan Plateau and the source of the Yangtze, Mekong and Yellow Rivers
• GDP: US$3.2 billion; average GDP per capita US$639
• Industries: Agriculture, hydropower, oil and natural gas

Source: China Internet Information Center

Large numbers of Tibetan monks have arrived to help, digging, setting up food stations and saying prayers for the dead. (BBC)

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Summit agrees to protect nuclear stocks 'in four years'

BBC News,

The summit seized the opportunity to move to a safer world, Mr Obama said

World leaders have agreed to secure all vulnerable nuclear material within four years, US President Barack Obama has said.

He said the four-point plan agreed by the 47 leaders at a summit in Washington would make a real contribution to a safer world.

The plan calls for every nation to safeguard nuclear stocks and keep material out of terrorists' hands.

Earlier the US and Russia agreed to get rid of some weapons-grade plutonium.

"Today we are declaring that nuclear terrorism is one of the most challenging threats to international security," Mr Obama said at the close of the two-day summit.

"We also agreed that the most effective way to prevent terrorists and criminals from acquiring nuclear materials is through strong nuclear security."

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Michelle Obama Makes Unannounced Visit to Haiti

The New York Times, by MARC LACEY, April 13, 2010

Michelle Obama, with President René Préval of Haiti, his wife, Elisabeth Debrosse, and Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday. (Photo: Brennan Linsley/Associated Press)

MEXICO CITY — In her first solo trip overseas as first lady, Michelle Obama made an unannounced visit to Haiti on Tuesday, flying over the earthquake-damaged capital in an Army helicopter, meeting with Haiti’s president and first lady in the ravaged National Palace and dancing with young children whose homes were destroyed.

“It’s powerful,” Mrs. Obama said after surveying the wreckage left by the Jan. 12 earthquake from above. “The devastation is definitely powerful.”

Accompanied by Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President Joe Biden, Mrs. Obama entered a play area set aside to provide therapy to children now living in a giant squatter camp on the Champs de Mars.

“We are glad to see you,” the children sang out in Creole. The Haitian first lady, Elisabeth Préval, who attended school in the United States, served as Mrs. Obama’s translator.

Mrs. Obama was due to arrive in Mexico City on Tuesday night to kick off a trip that aides said will open her efforts to inspire and engage children around the world.

Presidential aides said security concerns prompted the stopover in Haiti to be kept secret until she landed. The visit, a White House statement said, was meant “to underscore to the Haitian people and the Haitian government the enduring U.S. commitment to help Haiti recover and rebuild, especially as we enter the rainy and hurricane seasons.”

Mrs. Obama was also scheduled to offer thanks to the many aid workers from around the world who have helped rebuild Haiti over the last three months.

Mrs. Obama is one of many high-profile visitors to Haiti in recent days. Others include Shakira, Demi Moore, Susan Sarandon and Sean Penn. Numerous world leaders have also visited since the earthquake, prompting some Haitians to openly wonder when President Obama, who is extremely popular in their country, will visit.

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Obama, China's Hu press for strong words on Iran

The Washington Post, The Associated Press, By MARK S. SMITH and TOM RAUM, Monday, April 12, 2010; 5:18 PM

President Barack Obama meets with Chinese President Hu Jintao during the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, Monday, April 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

WASHINGTON -- Amid a sudden upswing in relations, President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao sought common ground Monday on Iran, instructing their respective diplomats to work on a set of potential sanctions to make clear to Iran the cost of continued nuclear defiance, a White House official said.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of a U.S.-hosted summit on nuclear proliferation.

White House national security aide Jeff Bader said Iran was a major topic of discussion at the 1 1/2 hour-long session between Obama and his Chinese counterpart.

"They're prepared to work with us," Bader said. He called it another sign of international unity on the subject.

The upbeat tone reflected a recent warming of U.S.-Chinese diplomatic ties.

Still, Bader's remarks echoed recent comments from Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice and others that the Chinese are now willing to talk turkey on sanctions - although nothing about a specific commitment. They started working on language at the U.N. last week.

Most of the meeting was on Iran, Bader said, although the two leaders did talk about currency briefly, with Obama reiterating his view that there needs to be "a more market-oriented exchange rate." U.S. manufacturers claim China keeps its currency pegged to the dollar to make its exports cheaper. However, China has given signs in recent days of moving toward allowing its currency to rise.

Bader called it a "positive and constructive" meeting, "a meeting without talking points" involving leaders who are "familiar and comfortable with each other."

He said the two leaders did break for a moment of silence to honor the 29 U.S. miners killed last week in West Virginia in the worst U.S. coal mining disaster since 1970.

7.1-magnitude quake strikes Solomon Islands

Channel News Asia, 11 April 2010 1812 hrs

HONIARA : A major 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck near the Solomon Islands in the western Pacific on Sunday, the US Geological Survey said, but there was no immediate tsunami alert or reports of damage.

The quake struck at a depth of about 52 kilometres (32 miles) with an epicentre 97 kilometres southwest of Kira Kira on Makira Island, the USGS said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no destructive widespread tsunami threat, but added in a bulletin: "Earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that can be destructive along coasts located within 100 kilometres of the earthquake epicentre.

"Authorities in the region of the epicentre should be aware of this possibility and take action."

Like much of the Pacific, the Solomons regularly experiences earthquakes.

A string of tremors rocked the western Solomon Islands in January, with the largest of 7.2 causing a tsunami estimated at eight feet (nearly 2.5 metres).

Around 1,000 people - almost a third of the population - are believed to have been left homeless on Rendova island due to earthquake and tsunami damage.

In April 2007, an 8.0-magnitude earthquake in the western Solomons triggered a tsunami that killed more than 50 people and displaced thousands. Gizo harbour lost most of its wharves and jetties in the quake and subsequent tsunami.

In September last year, a devastating tsunami swept along coasts in the Pacific islands of Samoa and Tonga, killing 186 people and wiping out entire villages.

Villages and resorts in Samoa, American Samoa and northern Tonga were flattened by the giant waves generated by the massive earthquake, the strongest in nearly a century. - AFP/ms