A spacecraft control flap designed for the super-heated hypersonic fall through Earth’s atmosphere has come through testing in the world’s largest plasma wind tunnel to be ready for its first flight next year. This flap and its advanced sensors are destined to fly on ESA’s Expert – the European Experimental Reentry Testbed – a blunt-nosed [...]
Archives: 03 July 2011
July 3, 2011
July 3, 2011
Podcast: Serbia Insulted — Plus Cosmic Constructions, A Kyrgyz Kindergarten, And Georgia’s Janis Joplin
It’s a milestone of sorts around “The Blender” studios. We’re celebrating our 25th weekly podcast, and we’ve got a good one for you. Grant Podelco Correspondent — and regular “Blender” host — Daisy Sindelar, who just returned from assignment in southern Kyrgyzstan, reports from a local kindergarten in the city of Osh, which is still [...]
July 3, 2011
Moscow Opposes Draft UN Syria Resolution
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has reiterated that Moscow is against imposing a United Nations resolution on Syria. The resolution, which was drafted by France, Britain, and Germany, condemns the Syrian government for its brutal crackdown on protest activity. UN Security Council members Russia and China oppose the resolution. Lavrov called on the Syrian opposition [...]
July 3, 2011
Fundraiser 2: Payback Time
Transmission Sharon Stone attends the first charity concert in St. Petersburg in December But the event was overshadowed by the fact that the funds raised did not seem to make it to their supposed recipients — at least this was the accusation leveled by an angry mother in an open letter written three months later. [...]
July 3, 2011
Russian traffic police mark professional holiday
Russian traffic police officers are celebrating their professional holiday on Sunday. The State Automobile Inspectorate, known today as the State Road Traffic Safety Inspectorate, was established on July 3, 1936, by the Council of People’s Commissars, a Soviet government institution. One of the key tasks of traffic police is to reduce the number of deaths [...]
July 3, 2011
Canada plans huge rehearsal in Arctic region
Canadian Defense Minister Peter McKay has announced that his country is preparing to send more than 1,000 troops on a huge Nanook exercise in the High Arctic in August, the website of Montreal Gazette paper said on Sunday. “It will be the largest operation that has taken place in recent history,” MacKay told soldiers in [...]
July 3, 2011
New case of pilot blinded by laser reported in Russia’s south
Unidentified persons have tried to blind with pen laser a pilot as he was landing passenger jet in the Russian southern city of Rostov-on-Don, local police spokesman Alexey Polyansky said on Sunday. A young man who allegedly shone a laser pointer at landing aircraft was detained in Rostov-on-Don a week ago. Officers tracked down the [...]
July 3, 2011
US gas deal sparks protests in Bangladesh
A six-hour general strike whose participants demand that the country’s government cancel a gas deal with US energy giant ConocoPhillips hast kicked off in Bangladesh, local media said on Sunday. Last month, Bangladesh government signed a production-sharing contract with ConocoPhillips to explore for gas in deep waters of the Bay of Bengal. The company said [...]
July 3, 2011
As Inflation Slows, Central Bank Doesn’t Touch Rates
The Central Bank left interest rates unchanged, refraining from monetary tightening for the first time since November as inflation slows and Europe’s debt crisis threatens to sap a rebound in global growth. The bank held its refinancing rate at 8.25 percent after two increases this year, the Moscow-based bank said Thursday on its web site. That’s in line with the forecasts of 18 of 19 economists in a Bloomberg News [...]
July 3, 2011
China and Russia Compete for Mongolian Coal
Mongolia said Thursday that it has halved the number of shortlisted bidders seeking to develop the prized Tavan Tolgoi coking coal mine to three, and Chinese and Russian groups are still in the running. Results of the bid will be announced within days, the Mongolian government said in a statement. It did not give the names of the bidders who have been shortlisted. However, the Mongolian ambassador to China said [...]
July 3, 2011
News Analysis: Saudis Need to Undercut Russia
The Saudis restrained output while Russia has been pumping freely. SINGAPORE — Top exporter Saudi Arabia is struggling to sell more crude to Asia because rival producer Russia has taken an expanding share of the world’s fastest-growing market. To get an edge in the competition with Russia and ship more barrels into Asia, the Saudis will have to take the next painful step in reducing global oil prices — slashing [...]
July 3, 2011
Scientology Literature Declared Extremist
A Moscow region court has declared books and brochures by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard as extremist, the Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement Thursday. The Shchyolkovo town court, at the request of local prosecutors, ruled that Hubbard’s book “What Is Scientology?” and ”several other” brochures “call for extremist activities” and include “humiliating characteristics” of people depending on their social status, the statement said. Hubbard’s essays [...]
July 3, 2011
TV Cameramen Accused of ‘Showing Genitals’ to Putin
The Federal Guard Service has accused two television cameramen of ”showing their genitals” to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as he whizzed past in an official motorcade. The two cameramen, who work for Dozhd and Russian Travel Guide television, deny the allegation, saying they saw the flashing blue lights of the motorcade on Kutuzovsky Prospekt on Tuesday night and decided to pull out their cell phones to film it. “We [...]
July 3, 2011
Gazprom Looks to India, China, Korea
Gazprom is seeking sales agreements with India, China and South Korea to expand its markets, increase export volumes and ensure stable cash flow. “These are the countries where we are now holding intense negotiations about new long-term contracts,” chief executive Alexei Miller said Thursday at the gas producer’s annual meeting. “It’s hard to overemphasize the significance of this work.” The world’s biggest gas producer [...]