 Nasa has decided to put back the return of the shuttle Discovery to Earth by least 90 minutes due to bad weather at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first chance to land had been at 2056 GMT (1556 local time) at Kennedy. The next chance is at Edwards Air Force Base in California at 2230 GMT (1730 local) while White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico is also on standby. Discovery needs to be on the ground on Saturday or it will run low on the fuel that powers its electrical systems. "As we get closer, we'll have much more certainty on what we're really faced with," said Nasa's Norman Knight, who will direct the landing. The shuttle has been on a 13-day mission to rewire the International Space Station (ISS). ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 11:35:00 12-22-06
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 3 Dead in Army Helicopter Crash Near Seattle |
An Army Blackhawk helicopter crashed on a mountain southeast of Seattle during a training mission, killing all three people aboard, military officials said Friday.The UH-60 went down about 9 p.m. Thursday, according to a statement issued by Fort Lewis, an Army post south of Tacoma.Searchers found the first two bodies quickly, then discovered the third Friday morning in the same general area, said Lt. Col. Dan Williams. He said the remains will undergo autopsies.The names of the dead were not immediately released.The soldiers were members of the 4th Squadron, 6th Air Cavalry Regiment, which has been at Fort Lewis for about a year, said David Kuhns, a civilian spokesman with the post....
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,238338,00.html
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Editor - 11:33:00 12-22-06
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| THE RACE FOR IRAQ'S RESOURCES Will Iraq's Oil Blessing Become a Curse? |
The Iraqi government is considering a new oil law that could give private oil companies greater control over its vast reserves. In light of rampant violence and shaky democratic institutions, many fear the law is being pushed through hastily by special interests behind closed doors. Oil. The world economy's thick elixir yields politics as murky and combustible as the crude itself. And no wonder. It brings together some awkward bedfellows: It's where multinationals meet villagers, where executives meet environmentalists, where vast wealth meets deep poverty, where East meets West. Oil, of course, can be politically explosive at the best of times, let alone the worst. So, when the country with the third largest oil reserves in the world debates the future of its endowment during a time of civil war, people sit up and take notice....
http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,456212,00.html
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Editor - 11:20:00 12-22-06
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| US 'Nazi guard' faces deportation |
An 85-year-old man accused of having been a guard at a Nazi death camp has lost an appeal against his deportation from the US to his native Ukraine. John Demjanjuk, who was ordered to be deported a year ago, can still make a further appeal against this ruling. He has denied the allegations and his lawyers argued he would be tortured if sent back to Ukraine. Mr Demjanjuk migrated to the US in 1951 and was briefly deported to Israel amid a 30-year legal battle over his past. At the time, he was suspected of having been a notorious concentration camp guard, known by the nickname "Ivan the Terrible". But his name was eventually cleared in an Israeli court and he was spared the death penalty. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6202319.stm
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Editor - 09:53:00 12-22-06
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| Ex-Officials: Article Wrongly Classifed |
The White House demanded the excision of material for an article on Iranian-American relations for political - not security - reasons, two former government officials allege. The debate centers on an opinion piece that former National Security Council official Flynt Leverett and former Foreign Service officer Hillary Mann sought to publish in The New York Times. Following long-standing rules for former CIA employees like Leverett, they submitted the article to the CIA's Publication Review Board to ensure it did not contain classified information. Five of the article's 16 paragraphs came back with deletions, some of which were extensive. In a piece that ran above the redacted article in Friday's New York Times, Leverett and Mann said the information that was withheld - at the White House's request - has already appeared in a dozen news articles and official government press briefings. ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6298015,00.html
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Editor - 09:44:00 12-22-06
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| NY Official Resigns Over Driver Scandal |
The state's chief financial officer, Comptroller Alan Hevesi, resigned Friday and agreed to plead guilty to a felony for using state employees as his wife's chauffeurs. The plea ends Hevesi's 35-year political career and wraps up an investigation by Albany County District Attorney David Soares, who had been presenting evidence about Hevesi to a grand jury. Hevesi, a Democrat from New York City, will serve no jail time. He agreed to pay a $5,000 fine and to not file any appeals. He also agreed not to take office on Jan. 1. Hevesi was re-elected in November amid the scandal, and state lawmakers had considered removing him from office. ``I want to apologize to the people of New York state who have given me the opportunity to serve them,'' Hevesi said after a court appearance. ``I want to apologize to the 2,400 professionals who work in the comptroller's office and I want to apologize to my family who have been so strong and loving during this process.'' ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6298000,00.html
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Editor - 09:42:00 12-22-06
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