 The British physicist Professor Stephen Hawking is to take a zero-gravity flight in a specially modified plane next month. Professor Hawking said as someone who has studied gravity all his life, he was excited at the thought of experiencing weightlessness. His trip is being paid for by an American firm, Zero Gravity, which normally charges £2,840 ($3,750). It also plans to have two seats on the flight auctioned off by charities. Professor Hawking, who uses a wheelchair and is almost completely paralysed, will be accompanied by medical staff. He will take off in April aboard a specially modified Boeing 727 from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The plane flies to 32,000 ft (9.75km) at a steep angle and then dives 8,000 ft (2,400m) to allow passengers to experience weightlessness for 25 seconds. As the plane climbs, passengers experience being pushed down hard, feeling 1.8 times the normal pull of the Earth. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 10:31:00 03-01-07
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 Evangelicals say they use power of God in Africa; critics slam 'cultural conversions' |
"Telephone to Jesus. Hello?" the children of Aler refugee camp sing, their bare feet thumping the ground as they dance wildly in the concrete construction that serves as their ministry. Most of the camp's poverty-stricken inhabitants have never used a phone, but they have been taught about Jesus. Franklin Graham, son of U.S. evangelist Billy Graham, smiles as he watches the children who are members of a club run by Samaritan's Purse, the Christian organization he leads. "We want to bring these children to Christ," Pastor George Purkweri tells Graham, who's smile broadens. "You have a Pastor's heart," he tells Purkweri, slapping him on the back. Purkweri explains that the war in northern Uganda has exposed the children to many horrors. "This generation is our hope for the future," he adds, looking out over a field of mud huts. After over a hundred years of spreading Christianity around the world can they point out any country in the world, that acts like a Christian nation?...
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2007-03-01-evangelical-africa_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 10:05:00 03-01-07
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| U.S., Iraq forces set for Baghdad Sadr City push |
U.S. and Iraqi troops will soon launch a major sweep in the Shi'ite militia bastion of Sadr City, military officials said on Thursday, a pivotal moment for the make-or-break security crackdown in Baghdad. American-led forces have conducted targeted raids in the Mehdi Army militia stronghold of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr aimed at death squad leaders, but have so far held off from a concerted push into the teeming slum. In the new campaign, U.S. and Iraqi troops will set up joint checkpoints in Sadr City and conduct large-scale door-to-door operations on houses and buildings, a significant escalation in a plan regarded as the last chance to avert sectarian civil war. Washington calls the Mehdi Army the greatest threat to peace in Iraq. Sadr is a key political ally of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and the raids could test Maliki's pledge to target all militants regardless of sectarian affiliation. Another Glorious Victory followed by another disaster?...
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2915529
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Editor - 09:58:00 03-01-07
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| NYPD stop-and-frisk methods to be studied 500,000 people stopped last year; police officials deny racial bias plays role |
The New York City Police Department has hired the RAND Corp. to examine its stop-and-frisk policy for evidence of racial bias after statistics surfaced showing more than a half-million pedestrians were searched last year. Police officials deny that race influences the stops, but Commissioner Raymond Kelly said they “thought it was important to have a separate, independent review.” Statistics provided by the police department to the City Council earlier this month showed a fivefold increase since 2002 in the number in stops and searches to more than 500,000 in 2006. The majority of people stopped, 55 percent, were black, the numbers show. About 30 percent were Hispanic, and 11 percent were white. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 25 percent of the city’s population is black, 28 percent is Hispanic and 44 percent is white. One would think that the Constitution don’t apply in New York. Or that they don’t give a damn which is more likely...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17401427/
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Editor - 09:54:00 03-01-07
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| US braces for tornado battering |
A huge storm system is covering large parts of the US and is threatening extreme weather, ranging from tornadoes to blizzards, forecasters are warning. The US Storm Prediction Center (SPC) has issued a rare "major severe weather outbreak" warning for the eastern third of the US for the next 24 hours. Tornadoes have already been reported in Missouri, Arkansas and Kansas. The SPC warned of bigger, stronger storms ahead, causing "potentially a very dangerous situation". A child was reported to have been killed as some of the first tornadoes touched down in Missouri around dawn on Thursday. As many as a dozen were reported across the region, damaging houses, mobile homes and service stations, and an electricity substation in Linn County on the Missouri-Kansas border. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6409659.stm
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Editor - 09:44:00 03-01-07
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| US follows stock market sell-off |
World shares have dropped for a third day on concerns about economic growth and the outlook for corporate profits. A large slide in Europe and Asia was compounded by a drop on US markets. The key US Dow Jones index fell 0.4%, the S&P fell 0.4% and the Nasdaq lost 0.6%. London's FTSE 100 index closed 0.9% lower. It has shed 5% in three days, wiping more than £80bn of its value. The global sell-off was triggered by fears of a new tax in China on Tuesday, and has now spread to wider issues. On Thursday, Germany's Dax and France's Cac both fell 1.1%. Earlier in the day, Japan's Nikkei 225 index had closed 0.9% lower, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 1.6% Shares fell 9% in Shanghai on Tuesday, their biggest daily reverse in 10 years, and dropped a further 87.99 points on Thursday, closing 2.9% lower. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6406803.stm
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Editor - 09:41:00 03-01-07
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