Gunmen surround Libyan justice ministry

By Ghaith Shennib and Jessica Donati

TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Armed groups in pick-up trucks mounted with anti-aircraft guns and rocket-launchers surrounded Libya's justice ministry Tuesday to press demands for former aides to deposed dictator Muammar Gaddafi to be barred from senior government posts.

Tensions between the government and armed militias has been rising since authorities began a campaign to dislodge the gunmen from strongholds in the capital Tripoli to tackle lawlessness menacing Libya's democratic transition since Gaddafi's demise.

Gunmen first ringed the foreign ministry on Sunday and have targeted other state buildings, aiming to paralyze government until legislation banning those who once served under Gaddafi, who was overthrown and killed in a 2011 uprising, is adopted.

The unrest spurred the General National Congress to postpone its next sitting, scheduled for Tuesday, to Sunday. A spokesman said this would give lawmakers time to consider legislation that protesters were clamoring for.

"This is definitely an attempt to impose their agenda on the political process. It's not massively out of character - we have seen this before - but it is definitely a worrying trend," said a Western diplomat in Tripoli.

The justice ministry was surrounded by gunmen occupying the roads outside the building with around 20 pickup trucks, including one with Grad missiles positioned at the gates.

The minister and his staff later left the building at the insistence of the armed group, one of the gunmen told Reuters.

The legislation demanded by militia groups who played a pivotal role in the anti-Gaddafi revolt could potentially blacklist several long-serving ministers, the congress chairman and Prime Minister Ali Zeidan himself.

WEAK GOVERNMENT

Efforts to enact such a law have been hobbled by wrangling within the legislature and many Libyans are losing patience with the national assembly's haplessness.

About 100 people gathered in Tripoli's Martyrs Square on Tuesday to voice their support for the legislation, shouting, "Oh, martyrs, your blood will not go in vain", referring to those who died fighting to topple Gaddafi.

Demonstrators calling for the legislation to be passed said the government, so weak that big swathes of the vast oil-producing desert country are beyond central authority, would fall if it did not yield to their demands.

"If they don't pass the political isolation law, we will protest here and topple the government," said Faisal Alaqsa.

Demonstrators carried wooden coffins wrapped in flags and photographs of those who had died in the 2011 revolution as a reminder of its human cost. "This government is disappointing because it has not done anything to sack people from the former regime," said Khalid Sharif, one of the coffin bearers.

A rival demonstration in support of the transitional government was initially planned for Tuesday afternoon but it was unclear whether it would go ahead.

The build-up in armed protests this week has increased fears of a security breakdown in Tripoli and prompted the German embassy to suspend some activities. Protesters have also unsuccessfully tried to storm the interior ministry.

The U.N. Support Mission in Libya said it was monitoring the siege of state institutions and urged Libyans to resolve their differences through dialogue and abide by principles of democracy and rule of law that had driven the uprising.

(Reporting by Ghaith Shennib and Jessica Donati; Writing by Jessica Donati; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gunmen-surround-libyan-justice-ministry-105602345.html

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As combat role eases, aircraft crashes are biggest killer of U.S. troops in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan With the combat role of U.S. troops in Afghanistan tapering off, aircraft accidents emerged as the biggest killer of U.S. troops here during the first four months of the year. Since Jan. 1, 13 service members have been killed in five crashes.

U.S. troop deaths remain at their lowest levels here in recent years. The number so far this year, 33 through Tuesday, is the lowest at this point since 2008.

After air accidents, the next biggest cause of death was improvised bombs, which claimed at least eight service members. Four died from causes unrelated to combat.

In all, 42 members of the international coalition have been killed in Afghanistan this year, including three of unknown nationalities, whose deaths in an explosion in southern Afghanistan were announced Tuesday night.

Commanders with the U.S.-led coalition say the obvious reason that casualties remain low is that Afghan security forces are doing the fighting now in most parts of the country, and they?re expected to take the lead completely in the next two months

Deaths and injuries among Afghan security forces, consequently, are reaching new highs. A Ministry of Defense spokesman would release only the number of Afghan National Army deaths from Feb. 21 through the end of March, which was 107, up from 97 for the same period the previous year. U.S. military officers say large numbers of Afghan police officers also are being killed.

Civilian casualties are up sharply, too, as are estimates of the number of insurgent attacks, which soared 47 percent in the first quarter of the year compared with the same period in 2012, according to a recent report by the Afghan NGO Safety Office, which monitors violence in Afghanistan for nongovernment aid agencies.

Civilian casualties climbed almost 30 percent, with 475 people killed and 872 injured, compared with the first quarter of 2012, according to the United Nations? senior envoy in Afghanistan, Jan Kubis. Insurgents caused most of the civilian deaths.

?Afghans in the lead? means U.S. forces aren?t exposed to risk as often as they were when Americans led much of the offensive operations in Afghanistan. Hundreds of small and medium-sized outposts have been torn down or handed to Afghan forces, and many of the 66,000 remaining U.S. troops work mainly on heavily secured bases, where they focus on advising and training with large units of the Afghan security forces rather than working with front-line units on patrols and assault operations.

Casualties from so-called green-on-blue attacks ? in which Afghan forces turn on their coalition allies ? also remain low so far this year. Such attacks caused 62 deaths last year, according to the coalition. This year, though, there have been just two incidents so far, resulting in the deaths of one British and two U.S. service members.

The drop in attacks is at least partly due to several measures the coalition put into place last fall to reduce their likelihood, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. James L. Terry, the outgoing leader of the international joint command, said Tuesday in his last news conference here.

"I think we?ve come a long way in the last year in countering that threat," he said, pausing briefly to knock on the wood of his lectern. "We?re not over it, and I?m sure there will be more attempts as we look down the road."

He noted that the Taliban have threatened recently to increase their infiltration of Afghan forces to give them a chance to stage more attacks, but he said the leaders of the Afghan security forces were working diligently to reduce the chances of more.

The measures the coalition put in place include stepping up security between adjacent Afghan and coalition bases, and assigning armed "guardian angels" to stand watch when there?s interaction with Afghan security forces.

Meanwhile, such attacks have grown more common within the Afghan forces, perpetrated by those who are sympathetic to the insurgency.

There?s no particular pattern to the types of aircraft in the five crashes. They were a Black Hawk utility helicopter, an Apache attack helicopter, a small two-seat Kiowa reconnaissance helicopter, an F-16 jet fighter and a twin-engine MC-12 surveillance turboprop plane.

In each case the Taliban claimed credit, but NATO officials said all the crashes apparently were accidents. Taliban statements often prove false or wildly inflated.

On Monday, a Boeing 747 cargo plane under contract to the Department of Defense crashed on takeoff at Bagram, the largest U.S. base in Afghanistan, claiming the lives of seven civilian crew members. The massive jet had just refueled, and after it appeared to stall on takeoff, it fell inside the base?s security perimeter and burned fiercely. NATO officials said they weren?t aware of any insurgent activity at the time of the crash.

The Taliban claimed that one, too.

Source: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2013/04/30/4013520/as-combat-role-eases-aircraft.html

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Faried leads Denver past Warriors 107-100

DENVER (AP) ? Kenneth Faried would like to punch a hole in Mark Jackson's theory that he's a dirty player who tried to hurt Stephen Curry.

"We were just playing physical," Faried said after setting the tone in Denver's 107-100 win over Golden State that sent the series back to Oakland for Game 6. "They say we were playing dirty, but we were just playing physical. We were hitting them like they were hitting us.

"They've been hitting me and pushing me and shoving me the whole series," Faried said. "I've been hit in the throat, got my hair pulled a couple of times. And I don't say much. I just keep going. I might say, 'Yo, ref, what about this play or that play?' and they don't really say anything. But, hey, when we do it, we're playing dirty."

Faried put his foot down 48 hours after putting his size-16 sneaker through the wall in the visiting locker room in Oakland, sparking a debate about dirty play. The fiery forward energized the Nuggets, who rediscovered their toughness in time to stave off elimination Tuesday night.

The Nuggets never trailed, piled up points in the paint, slowed down the Warriors' guards, jumpstarted their transition game and got under Andrew Bogut's skin ? basically, returning to the brand of basketball that helped them win an NBA franchise-best 57 games before a three-game skid in the playoffs put them on the brink of another early exit.

They jumped out to a 22-point lead before weathering the Warriors' frenetic fourth-quarter rally to cut their series deficit to 3-2 and force Thursday night's Game 6, where Faried and his teammates are sure to face the wrath of Golden State's notoriously crazed crowd.

Jackson accused the Nuggets of trying to hurt Curry, his banged-up sharpshooter who was just 1 for 7 from long-range and finished with a series-low 15 points.

"Some dirty plays early," Jackson said. "It's playoff basketball, that's all right. We own it. But make no mistake about it, we went up 3-1 playing hard, physical, clean basketball ? not trying to hurt anybody."

Jackson mentioned Faried setting some "great screens and some great illegal ones, too."

"He did his job. Hey, I played with guys like that. They get paid to do that. Dale Davis, Anthony Davis, Charles Oakley. You get paid to do it. So give them credit," Jackson said. "As an opposing coach, I see it, and I'm trying to protect my guys."

Jackson complained about one screen in particular on Curry being "a shot at his ankle, clearly. That can't be debated." He added, "I got inside information that some people don't like that brand of basketball and they clearly didn't co-sign it. They wanted to let me know they have no parts in what was taking place. Let the best team win. And let everybody with the exception of going down with a freak injury, let everybody leave out of here healthy. That's not good basketball."

"It's basketball," countered Faried. "I try to do the little things my team needs me to do. It's physical. If you can't stand the physicality, you shouldn't be playing."

Asked about accusations he tried to hurt Curry, Faried said: "That's intriguing because I think they were purposefully trying to hurt me every play I went for a rebound ? the hits, the grab to the throat."

Curry said there were a few plays that went overboard.

"There were a couple, man. Going through the paint minding my own business and they come out of nowhere trying to throw elbows," he said. "I got a (target) on me, I don't know what it is, just got to keep playing and do your thing."

The Nuggets said they were surprised the Warriors were the ones complaining about physical play.

"I think I've taken the hardest hit in the series, Game 1 or 2, when Bogut leaned in to me on a screen. And I didn't remember what happened the rest of the game," Andre Iguodala said. "I think they kind of brought the physicality to the series. And we stopped being the receivers and we're starting to hit back a little bit. But as far as anybody trying to cheap shot, I don't condone that myself. It's not my game."

Klay Thompson said "a couple of them could have been cheap shots. I thought Steph got cheap shot one time, he got a bloody nose. It's not acceptable, but we've got to match that. We can't let it get in our heads, just do what we did in the second half."

Nuggets coach George Karl went back to a big lineup, giving JaVale McGee his first career playoff start, and the big man responded with 10 points, eight rebounds and three blocks to go with Faried's seven points, eight boards and one big block as the Nuggets raced out to a 66-46 halftime lead.

Iguodala had 25 points and 12 rebounds, Ty Lawson had 19 points and 10 assists and Faried had 13 points and 10 boards. Harrison Barnes led Golden State with 23 points and nine rebounds.

The Warriors never got closer than five points after Denver's first-half blitz led by Faried.

Curry, whose 18 3-pointers were the most by any player in NBA history in the first four playoff games of his career, went ice cold, missing his first five 3-pointers before finally hitting with 5:09 left to pull Golden State to 96-91.

Faried responded to Curry's sole 3-pointer with an alley-oop dunk.

Curry and Thompson missed back-to-back 3s that would have made it a two-point game with less than two minutes left, and Wilson Chandler's 3 seconds later at the other end made it 103-95. Chandler finished with 19 points.

"You've got to like the way we finished the game," Curry said, "and we've got to bottle that up for the next game because if have a feeling it's going to be the same kind of atmosphere."

Bogut gave a two-handed shove to Faried's neck after his hard screen on Curry in the first half, drawing a flagrant-1 foul, and Draymond Green was whistled for a flagrant foul for body-checking Faried in the second half.

"Draymond Green, did he play football or basketball at Michigan State," cracked Karl.

Notes: Bogut finished with two points and five rebounds in 18 minutes, his worst showing of the series. ... The Nuggets haven't lost back-to-back games since Feb. 8-9, 2012. ... The Nuggets are 29-1 at home when Faried has a double-double. ... The Nuggets have been down 3-2 nine times before and twice won Game 6, including last year against the Lakers. They've never won a series after trailing 3-2, however. ... Denver's only other wire-to-wire win this year was its regular season finale against Phoenix. ... Nuggets F Danilo Gallinari underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee and will later have another procedure to fix his ruptured ACL.

___

Arnie Melendrez Stapleton can be reached at: www.twitter.com/arniestapleton

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/faried-leads-denver-past-warriors-107-100-074807665.html

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End for Herschel space telescope

By Jonathan Amos Science correspondent, BBC News

Europe's flagship space telescope has stopped working.

The billion-euro Herschel observatory has run out of the liquid helium needed to keep its instruments and detectors at their ultra-low functioning temperature.

This equipment has now warmed, meaning the telescope cannot see the sky.

Herschel, which was sensitive to far-infrared and sub-millimetre light, was launched in 2009 to study the birth of stars and the evolution of galaxies.

Its 3.5m mirror and three state-of-the-art instruments made it the most powerful observatory of its kind ever put in space.

The end of operations is not a surprise. Astronomers always knew the helium store onboard would be a time-limiting factor.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

The telescope gathered images and information in such volume that astronomers have barely scratched database?

End Quote Prof Matt Griffin Cardiff University, UK

The "blind" satellite is currently located about 1.5 million km from Earth on the planet's "night side".

Controllers at the European Space Agency's (Esa) operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany, will run some final tests on the spacecraft in the coming weeks before putting it in a slow drift around the Sun.

"We will push it out into a heliocentric orbit and passivate it," said Micha Schmidt, the Herschel spacecraft operations manager.

"We will switch off the transponder and the spacecraft will go silent."

Herschel should not come anywhere near the Earth again for several hundred years.

Data legacy

The telescope will be remembered for its great vistas of gas and dust; the billowing clouds and threading filaments that trace the locations where future stars will form.

Over the course of the mission, it gathered thousands of such images. It also acquired detailed spectrographic data on many of its subjects, revealing their chemistry.

All of the information is now being assembled into a public archive.

Jonathan Amos inspected Herschel just before its launch in May 2009

This will become an important resource for future study and a starting point to plan follow-up observations with other astronomical facilities.

This is already happening with the recently opened, ground-based Alma telescope in Chile, which views the sky at frequencies that overlap those pursued by Herschel.

A US-German telescope called Sofia, which is mounted on a converted Boeing 747, can also see some of Herschel's frequencies.

"But the amazing thing about Herschel is that its maximum productivity in science terms probably won't be reached for another five years yet," said Prof Matt Griffin, the principal investigator on Herschel's Spire instrument.

"The telescope gathered images and information in such volume that astronomers have barely scratched the database," the Cardiff University, UK, scientist told BBC News.

Engineers issued an alert early in March warning astronomers that observations were coming to an end.

Herschel used special light detectors in its instruments known as bolometers. Although supremely efficient at capturing light, the technology must be kept close to absolute zero (-273C) to work properly.

This was achieved with the aid of 2,300 litres of liquid helium that was held in a giant flask, or cryostat.

But as the mission progressed, the cryogen gradually boiled away, and, on Monday, the Darmstadt controllers received telemetry from Herschel confirming every last drop was gone.

Continue reading the main story

Herschel Space Telescope

• Herschel was one of the largest space telescopes ever launched; its 3.5m diameter mirror perfectly captured infrared light
• It clocked more than 1,440 days of operations; making 22,000 hours of scientific observations; resulting in 600 scholarly papers... so far
• Infrared shines through gas and dust clouds that can block visible light - Herschel could see deep into dusty, star-forming regions
• The telescope was named after the astronomer William Herschel, who discovered infrared radiation while studying the Sun in 1800
• The Earth's atmosphere is an infrared absorber, so Herschel was launched in 2009 to get a clear view of the long-wavelength Universe

Herschel's demise occurred close to the time forecast at the start of operations nearly four years ago.

If anything, astronomers got a few months' more observations than they were expecting.

Herschel's cryostat approach to cooling was evolved from a previous Esa mission - the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO), which operated in the 1990s.

This approach is described as a "passive" system because once initial conditions are set inside the flask, a continuing presence of helium and good insulation is all that is required to maintain those conditions.

An "active", or mechanical, cooling system was considered for Herschel in the initial feasibility studies. This would have involved a chain of Stirling units that use a cycle of compression and decompression in a fluid to get to low temperatures.

Theoretically, mechanical coolers could have given Herschel more life, but engineers considered such a design to be too risky.

"There was a competitive concept but it involved a lot of stages, a lot of machines," recalls Jean-Jacques Juillet, the director of scientific programmes at Thales Alenia Space, the company that led the industrial development of Herschel.

"If one of those stages had failed, it could have been a disaster for the continuity of the mission. The cryostat option was the safest option," he told BBC News.

With the cryostat path adopted, engineers then set about constructing the largest possible helium vessel they could fit inside an Ariane launch rocket.

Esa hopes to join a future far-infrared telescope project called Spica. This is a Japanese venture that could fly in the early 2020s.

Europe would provide important components, including the primary mirror and a spectrograph. Unlike Herschel, Spica is likely to use mechanical coolers.

Continue reading the main story

Jonathan.Amos-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk and follow me on Twitter: @BBCAmos

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21934520#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa

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What Lies Beyond This Interstellar Rabbit Hole?

Stephen Hawking is right, ?We must continue to go into space for humanity.? But what do we do when confronted with the unimaginable possibilities we find out there?

Read more...

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Snakeheads get stunned, then tagged as biologists study fish?s effect on Potomac

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