Mideast mediators want border proposals: Blair (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? International mediators will press Israel and Palestinians to table their ideas on security arrangements and the borders for a two-state solution to the Middle East conflict within three months, envoy Tony Blair said on Wednesday.

Blair said the mediators would hold separate meetings with the Israelis and Palestinians next week in Jerusalem, the latest effort to revive the peace process.

Blair is the representative for a Quartet of mediators, made up of the United States, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations.

By arranging separate meetings, the Quartet failed to meet a goal set out in a September 23 statement to bring the parties together for a "preparatory meeting" aimed at reviving the peace talks which broke down more than a year ago.

Blair said the September 23 statement had also called on the parties to set out their "detailed proposals on borders and security in three months".

"If we can get the parties to agree to do this, then within three months we'll know where everyone stands on two of the central issues," Blair told Reuters.

"If we can get to a point where within three months you see what the parties' proposals are on the borders, you'd see where the gaps are. And that would be in my view a huge advance," he said.

The last round of peace talks between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu broke down over a year ago, just a few weeks after it started, because of a dispute over Jewish settlement expansion.

The Palestinians say Israel must halt all settlement building on land where they seek to establish their independent state before any more talks.

Abbas also wants Israel to agree to clear terms of reference which make clear its agreement in principle to the idea of a Palestinian state emerging in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu says he is ready to sit down for talks with Abbas right away but has refused to impose new restrictions on the expansion of the settlements.

Israel recently unveiled plans for new settlement building including 2,600 homes on land near East Jerusalem, where the Palestinians aim to found their capital.

"The settlement decision is a problem, I mean there's no doubt about that. The Quartet has continually made clear its concerns and disagreement with this. But I go back to one very simple thing, which is that in the end the best way to resolve this settlement question is to resolve borders," Blair said.

Blair has faced increasingly vocal criticism from Palestinian officials who have accused him of being pro-Israeli. Some have suggested he should be replaced. Blair denied the accusation of bias.

Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian official, criticized the Quartet on Wednesday over what he described as its weak response to the latest Israeli settlement building announcements.

"We had hoped from the Quartet to hear, at the very least, one sentence saying Israel is responsible for destroying the peace process," Erekat told Voice of Palestine radio.

"This is what we will discuss with them," he said, referring to next week's meetings.

(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111019/wl_nm/us_britain_blair_mideast

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On the Trail of Space Trash

Satellite panel with damage from orbital debris Image: Courtesy of NASA Orbital Debris Program Office

Since the space age began, the orbital realm has become increasingly littered with the detritus of skyward human striving?spent rocket boosters, dead satellites, stray pieces of hardware. Debris is piling up with such speed that it has become a threat to the kind of spacefaring endeavors that spawned it in the first place.

A September report by the National Research Council found that the debris field is so dense that collisions between objects in orbit will create additional debris faster than space junk falls out of orbit. The predicted outcome: an exponential growth of the number of pieces of space debris.

Already millions of pieces of refuse five millimeters and up circle Earth in a high-velocity swarm, each packing enough kinetic energy to disable a satellite. Far more sobering is the threat to human life. In June the six astronauts onboard the International Space Station took shelter in escape capsules when a piece of debris came within a few hundred meters of the station.

The U.S. is now taking preliminary steps to manage the threat of space junk by implementing better tracking systems. Space Fence, a new $6-billion radar system that the U.S. Air Force is planning, could dramatically increase the number of orbital objects under surveillance after it comes online around 2017.

As planned, Space Fence would comprise two radar stations in the Southern Hemisphere, which will take over for a 1960s-era radar system. Whereas the present system operates in the VHF band, Space Fence will use shorter-wavelength S-band radar, which affords better resolution for tracking debris. ?The smaller the wavelength, the smaller the objects,? says Scott Spence, director of Raytheon?s Space Fence program. Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are vying for the government contract. The current debris catalogue goes down to roughly softball-size objects, but Space Fence, Spence says, may be able to track objects as small as a marble at lower altitudes.

Space Fence and other smaller-scale projects aim to increase what the military calls ?space situational awareness.? How that awareness might progress to remedial action?the removal of orbital debris?remains unclear, though.?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=66b72e2b1fb566d1a0d1bbdd2d4ec8ec

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Hollywood lends support to jailed Iranian filmmakers (Reuters)

OCT. (Reuters) ? Several leading Hollywood organizations representing writers, directors, actors and the group that awards the Oscars, issued a sharply-worded statement on Wednesday lending their support to jailed Iranian filmmakers.

The statement addressed the September 2011 arrests of producer Katayoun Shahabi, directors Naser Saffarian, Hadi Afarideh, Mojtaba Mirtahmasb and Shahnam Bazdar and documentarian Mohsen Shahrnazdar for work they were said to have performed for the BBC.

Safarian and Shahrnazdar have since been released, but the fate of the others is unknown, according to entertainment industry newspaper Daily Variety.

The groups also singled out the ongoing house arrest of acclaimed director Jafar Panahi, as well as the imprisonment of actress Marzieh Vafamehr, who also was sentenced to receive 90 lashes by Iranian authorities.

"We join our colleagues around the world in calling unequivocally for these filmmakers' safety, release, and return to filmmaking," said a statement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which gives out the film industry's top awards, the Oscars.

Other joining in the statement were the Directors Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild, Producers Guild of America, Writers Guilds of America, West and East, American Cinema Editors and American Society of Cinematographers.

"We hope the Iranian government will release these filmmakers and recognize that their creative works can only strengthen and enrich Iranian society," the Directors Guild said.

The full statement can be found at the motion picture academy's website at http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/2011/20111019.html

(Reporting by Bob Tourtellotte; Editing by Zorianna Kit)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111020/en_nm/us_hollywood_iran

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PFT: Vikings aren't giving up, Frazier insists

San Francisco 49ers v Detroit LionsGetty Images

Though Eagles and Lions fans understandably disagree, something stinks about the ability of quarterback Mike Vick and running back Jahvid Best to re-enter their respective games on Sunday after suffering possible concussions.? If, as the ?WHEN IN DOUBT, LEAVE THEM OUT? memo sent by the league to all teams before the season states, players should be removed from games if there is ?any suspicion? they have suffered concussions, Vick and Best should have been shut down.

The problem arises from the absence of independent neurologists at games.? ?The team medical staff examines players during games,? NFL spokesman Greg Aiello told PFT via email.? ?The team neurologist is not required to attend games.?

The league relies on independent neurologists when determining whether a player who has been diagnosed with a concussion will be cleared to play.? The thinking is that independent neurologists won?t be influenced by the inherent tension that a team physician experiences when caught between the interests of their patients and the interests of the teams that employ them.? It?s a coveted assignment for doctors, whose practices realize a significant boost when they become hired by an NFL team.? Most doctors don?t want to jeopardize that job by keeping football players from playing football.

It?s arguably more important to have truly independent neurologists available during games, when players possibly can get back on the field despite suffering a possible concussion.

Specifically, independent neurologists should have the power to hold players out of a game until it is determined, by the independent neurologist, that any player with a possible concussion has neither a concussion nor ?concussion-like symptoms.?? The process could be aided by the presence of a safety official in the replay booth, whose duties would include monitoring the live action, replays, and anecdotal evidence from the sidelines for the purposes of flagging players who must be held out until cleared to return by an independent neurologist assigned to each team.

It?s a relatively simple fix that the NFL and its players should welcome, if the league is truly serious about dealing with the dangers of concussions.? During games, doctors wearing polo shirts bearing team logos will be hesitant, when in doubt, to hold players out, especially when the players and the coaches want to get the players back on the field.? The NFL needs to have someone with true independence involved in the process of determining which players should be keep on the sidelines due to concussions (or other potentially serious injuries, like punctured lungs or fractured eye sockets) at a time when the heat of the battle will compel players and coaches to take potentially unnecessary risks ? and to have a dim view of any team physicians who try to stand in the way.

If Eagles doctors had deemed Vick a ?no go? during Sunday?s game with the Redskins and if the Eagles had lost the game without Vick at quarterback and if it later was determined that Vick didn?t have a concussion, the Eagles doctors who contributed to the slide to 1-5 possibly wouldn?t have been Eagles doctors for much longer.? Until that environment changes, with the game-day judgment of team doctors trumped by the discretion of independent physicians, a potentially dangerous loophole will continue to exist.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/10/19/frazier-vikings-not-giving-up-on-the-2011-season/related/

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Small satellites prompt big ideas for next 25 years

There is big news on the small satellite front. From super-secret agencies and the U.S. military to academia and private firms, as well as world space agencies and NASA, ultra-small satellites are the big thing.

In sizing up "smallsats," there are a range of classifications in the less-than-500-kilogram department, be they minisatellites, microsatellites, nanosatellites, picosatellites, palm-size CubeSats, even the diminutive Femto satellite, weighing in at less than 100 grams.

Cornell University has begun to delve into a postage stamp-size "satellite on a chip " design, called Sprite, envisioning a swarm of these tiny probes exploring planetary atmospheres for organic compounds.

Call them a powerful force in the universe. Smallsats have already shown their ability to monitor disasters, study Earth?s environment and support agriculture, cartography and earth science missions.

Passed the tipping point
Smallsats are part of the solution ? when they used to be a distraction, said Matt Bille, an associate with Booz Allen Hamilton in Colorado Springs, Colo.

So, what does this foretell? "The knowledge of how to make and use smallsats has passed the tipping point," Bille told SPACE.com. "It exists worldwide and has fostered a global generation of satellite builders and engineers. It used to be only a few organizations could build a satellite. Now, a smart teenager with a CubeSat kit and a soldering iron is a space agency. We?ve only begun to grasp the implications of that."

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"What this means for the future is that use of smallsats and satellites in general will only increase. The proliferation of smallsat capabilities has unleashed the most powerful force in the universe ? human creativity," Bille said.

That was the message from Bille, joined by about 1,100 participants who gathered here Aug. 8-11 at Utah State University. The meeting was used to reflect upon 25 years of smallsat progress and what?s ahead ? a gathering of experts convened by Utah State University and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. [ 7 Aerospace Technologies On the Road ]

Low-cost high-tech
Looking back over thelast few decades and gazing forward was Siegfried Janson, a senior scientist at The Aerospace Corp. in Los Angeles.

Janson flagged the onslaught of advances in micro- and nanoelectronics, microelectromechanical (MEM) systems, solar cell technologies, global positioning systems, and the Internet itself. Toss in for good measure personal computers, he said, stuffed with multiple processors, graphic cards, pepped up with more and more memory.

All that low-cost high tech has allowed small teams to blueprint, build and fly progressively smaller satellites with ever-increasing capacity, Janson told the audience.

Janson anticipates that there will be a wider diversity of missions by highly capable small satellites, like formation flying to create large but virtual antenna sizes to make possible enhanced imaging from space.

Collaboration
"Advancement of the technologies is no longer the primary issue," said Pat Patterson, chairman of the smallsat conference and director of the strategic and military space division at Utah State University?s Space Dynamics Laboratory. "It?s still the mission that matters. It has to give the customer some value," he told SPACE.com.

"It?s kind of all coming together," Patterson said, pointing to smallsat attitude- control devices, batteries and solar cells, new ways to beat the heat and cold of space, coupled with smaller, lower-costing launchers.

Collaboration is the key, said Doug Sinclair, owner of Sinclair Interplanetary in Toronto, Canada. He advised that universities building CubeSats need to focus on what they do best and rely on other groups to supply other resources.

"For instance, exchange a radio for a computer. Both groups end up with a CubeSat, but now they?ve got much better odds of succeeding," Sinclair said.

Common utility
As for what?s the future of smallsats, there will be growth, new missions, and new ways of working together, said Bille,expressing his own views and not speaking for Booz Allen Hamilton policy. "CubeSats are like the personal computer of this industry."

Hunsaker?s personal crystal ball predicts networked satellites with individual IP addresses controlled through the Internet and providing individualized positioning, communications, social and multimedia capability."Perhaps just like personal computing and cell phones that have common utility among individual consumers today, smallsats will also follow that trend," said colleague Tom Hunsaker, also an associate at Booz Allen Hamilton.

Bille concluded: ?The age of microspacecraft is on solid ground now. There?s a definite trend toward putting small things together to do big accomplishments.?

Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is a winner of this year's National Space Club Press Award and a past editor-in-chief of the National Space Society's Ad Astra and Space World magazines. He has written for SPACE.com since 1999.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44946091/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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'Sesame Street' on YouTube resumes after hacking (AP)

NEW YORK ? The YouTube channel for "Sesame Street" is back online after hackers forced its shutdown for a day by loading X-rated material.

"Sesame Street" Executive Producer Carol-Lynn Parente (pah-REHNT'-tay) said Monday that YouTube had taken the channel down Sunday after noticing the racy material. The channel usually carries new and vintage clips from the popular preschool program.

Parente says it appears that the X-rated videos were online for less than an hour and that "Sesame Street" had received no viewer complaints.

She says, "We have great hopes that it was found out" before young viewers could see the X-rated material.

YouTube says it counsels clients to adopt tougher security to avoid hackers. The channel resumed at around midday Monday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111017/ap_on_hi_te/us_youtube_sesame_street

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Two-Time Indy Winner Dan Wheldon Dead After Horrific Car Crash (VIDEO)

IBM bumps guidance again, but revenue falls short (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? IBM again demonstrated its skill at wringing profit from its software and services juggernauts.

The success of those divisions has made IBM Corp. one of the most-copied technology companies. It was a key reason that IBM beat analysts' net income forecasts for the third quarter and raised its earnings outlook for the full year. Neither was surprising for a company that rarely lets down its Wall Street constituents.

But some investors were left with a more unflattering impression from a different and unexpected part of IBM's report Monday.

IBM's revenue narrowly missed the average forecast, reviving questions about the company's ability to bring in enough new business to fuel its expected growth.

Global companies such as IBM face dangers on multiple fronts as the American economy struggles, debt fears threaten Europe and even some hot emerging markets show signs of cooling off. Sales to corporations and government agencies are at the heart of IBM's business model. But some fear that they may spend less on IBM products and services if demand for their products stays depressed and government budget woes continue.

The revenue miss apparently fed those fears and helped drive down IBM's stock price $7.32, or 3.9 percent, to $179.27 after the results came out. The shares had ended regular trading Monday down $3.94, or 2.1 percent, at $186.59 on a weak day for the market overall.

Most of the questions on IBM's conference call with analysts covered macroeconomic concerns. But some of the share price decline likely was caused by investors cashing in on recent gains. IBM's stock hit its 52-week high on Friday on expectations about the results.

IBM executives insist the company's focus on long-term contracts insulates it from economic swings. The company said it is ahead of its own aggressive forecasts. IBM has disclosed a goal of hitting $20 per share in adjusted earnings by 2015, a rare example of a long-term earnings target made public by a major company.

For the three months that ended Sept. 30, IBM said net income was $3.84 billion, or $3.19 per share, up 7 percent from $3.59 billion, or $2.82 per share, a year ago. Excluding one-time items, it earned $3.28 per share, 6 cents per share more than analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast on average.

Revenue rose 8 percent to $26.16 billion, slightly less than the $26.26 billion that analysts had expected.

Revenue rose in each of IBM's three biggest divisions, but more slowly than in the previous quarter.

Services revenue rose 8 percent, software revenue rose 13 percent, and hardware revenue rose 4 percent. In the second quarter, services revenue rose 10 percent, software revenue rose 17 percent, and hardware revenue grew 17 percent.

The company now expects adjusted earnings of at least $13.35 per share for the year. The previous forecast was for at least $13.25 per share. Investors have come to expect regular forecast bumps. IBM, which is based in Armonk, N.Y., has raised its full-year profit forecast in each of the last 10 quarters.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111017/ap_on_hi_te/us_earns_ibm

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These Star Wars Clone Wars Costumes Are Your Dress Up Deal of the Day [Dealzmodo]

It's so ridiculously easy to get an awesome Halloween costume for kids. Punk kids just don't understand that all adult costumes suck. As an adult you really only have four options: an Angry Bird, Giant Boob, Bin Laden with a bullet through his head, or Fireman with Giant Hose (hose being penis). Those four and then a sea of costume mediocrity. Middling, average, overpriced fabric. Come on, how hard is it for costume makers to make a Darkseid or Galactus costume? Apparently impossible. Trust me, I searched and found NOTHING. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/AJdIDfyQl5g/these-star-wars-clone-wars-costumes-are-your-dress-up-deal-of-the-day

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