New U.S. rocket blasts off from Virginia launch pad

 

By Irene Klotz

(Reuters) - A privately owned rocket built in partnership with NASA to haul cargo to the International Space Station blasted off on Sunday for a debut test flight from a new commercial spaceport in Virginia.

The 13-story Antares rocket, developed and flown by Orbital Sciences Corp, lifted off at 5 p.m. EDT from a Virginia-owned and operated launch pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia.

"Beautiful view," said NASA launch commentator Kyle Herring as live video from the rocket, broadcast on NASA TV, showed the booster riding atop a bright plume of fire above the Atlantic Ocean.

Ten minutes later, the rocket deposited its payload - a 8,380-pound (3,800-kg) dummy capsule - into an orbit 158 miles above the planet, fulfilling the primary goal of the test flight.

Orbital Sciences and privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, hold NASA contracts worth a combined $3.5 billion to fly cargo to the space station, a $100 billion research outpost that flies about 250 miles above Earth.
On its next flight, scheduled for late June or early July, another Antares rocket will carry a Cygnus cargo ship on a demonstration mission to the station.
California-based SpaceX completed three test flights and last year began delivering cargo to the station under its $1.6 billion contract.
The debut of Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket was delayed by the construction of its launch pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, located on the southern end of NASA's Wallops Island facility. NASA has flown thousands of smaller suborbital rockets, high-altitude balloons and research aircraft from Wallops over the past 68 years.
Standing 130 feet tall and packing 740,000 pounds of thrust at liftoff, Antares is the largest rocket to fly from Wallops Island. In addition to station cargo runs, Orbital Sciences has a separate contract to launch a NASA moon probe aboard a Minotaur 5 rocket from Wallops in August.
(Reporting by Irene Klotz in Cape Canaveral, Florida; Editing by Eric Beech)

Mapigano Nigeria 185 wafariki dunia

 22 Aprili, 2013 - Saa 22:39 GMT

Wapiganaji wa kundi wa Kiislamu la Boko Haramu

Mapigano ya wapiganaji wa kiislamu na vikosi vya usalama nchini Nigeria yameripotiwa kutokea tangu usiku wa Ijumaa na kuendelea kwa muda mrefu ambapo jumla ya watu 185 wanaripotiwa kufariki dunia katika mapigano hayo yaliyotokea Kaskazini Mashariki mwa nchi hiyo.

Kwa mujibu wa taarifa rasmi iliyotolewa na Serikali ya mji wa Baga na Ofisa Serikali hiyo Bwana Lawan Kole.
Inasemekana kuwa watu wengi zaidi wamefariki dunia ambapo bado juhudi za kutafuta maiti nyingine zinaendelea. Brigedia Jenarali Austin Edokpaye amewaambia maafisa wakuu wa serikali kuwa,wapiganaji walitumia silaha kali na maroketi yenye mabomu mazito kupambana na vikosi vya jeshi.
Aidha bwana Edokpaye aliongeza kuwa,wapiganaji hao walikuwa wakitumia raia kama kinga yao kwa kujibanza karibu na makazi ya watu ambapo walijua vikosi vya jeshi visingeweza kujibu mapigo.
Nigeria imekuwa ikikabiliwa na vifo vya raia wengi tangu kuibuka kwa vikundi vya wapiganaji wa kiislamu mwaka 2010 ambapo vingi vimejikita Kaskazini mwa nchi hiyo.

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Kesi yaandaliwa dhidi ya mshukiwa Boston

 22 Aprili, 2013 - Saa 09:34 GMT

Maombolezi kwa waathiriwa wa mashambulizi ya Boston

Vyombo vya habari nchini Marekani vinasema kuwa mshukiwa wa mashambulizi ya Boston Marathon, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, ambaye yuko hospitalini katika hali mbaya, amekuwa akijibu maswali ya majasusi kwa kuandika.

Taarifa zinazohusiana

• Marekani

Hata hivyo hilo bado halijathibitishwa, lakini ripoti zinasema kuwa maswali hayo yanahusiana na mabomu mengine pamoja na wale alioshirikiana nao.
Ripoti za awali zilionya kuwa Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, ambaye ana majeraha ya risasi kwenye shingo lake, huenda asitoe ushahidi kwa kuongea na majasusi hao.
Wakati huohuo, viongozi wa mashtaka wanaanda kesi dhidi ya mshukiwa wa pili wa mashambulizi ya Boston Marathon Dzhokhar Tsarnaev huku maelezo zaidi kuhusu kukamatwa kwake yakijitokeza.
Ikiwa atashtakiwa kwa kutumia silaha za maangamizi kwa lengo la kuwaua watu, huenda akakabiliwa na hukumu ya kifo.
Tsarnaev yuko hospitalini akiwa hawezi kuongea kwa sababu ya jeraha katika shingo lake.

Serikali imesema kuwa majasusi hao watamhoji mshukiwa bila ya kumweleza haki zake ambazo zinamruhusu akae kimya hadi atakaposhauriana na wakili wake. Hata hivyo majasusi walikanusha ripoti kuwa walimhoji.

Awali meya wa Boston, Tom Menino, alisema kuwa hawana uhakika ikiwa wataweza kumhoji mshukiwa
"Tuna maswali mengi na yote yanahitaji kujibiwa," alisema gavana wa Massachusetts Deval Patrick,akinukuliwa na shirika la habari la Reuters.
Mshukiwa alikamatwa jioni Ijumaa baada ya msako mkali dhidi yake wakati ambapo nduguye mkubwa na mshukiwa mwingine waliuawa.
Polisi wanaamini kuwa Dzhokhar huenda alimuua nduguye mwenyewe kwa kumgonga na gari alipokuwa anatoroka polisi Alhamisi usiku.
Shambulizi hilo lilisababisha vifo vya kijana mmoja mwenye umri wa miaka minane na wanawake wawili na kisha kuwajeruhi wengine wengi ikikisiwa kuwa walikuwa zaidi ya 180.

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Officials identify firefighters killed in deadly Texas blast

Reuters/Reuters - Texas Department of Public Safety Sergeant Jason Reyes walks past the site of a housing complex which was destroyed by a deadly fertilizer plant explosion in the town of West, near Waco, Texas April 21, 2013. REUTERS/Michael Ainsworth/Pool

By Tim Gaynor and Colleen Jenkins

WEST, Texas (Reuters) - Texas officials released the names of four volunteer firefighters on Sunday killed in a deadly blast in this close-knit Texas town, as authorities identified the center but not the cause of last week's deadly fertilizer plant blast.

Among the dead named at a news conference outside city hall in West, Texas, were brothers Doug and Robert Snokhous, remembered by their family as "lifelong best friends" who lived half a mile from each other and worked together at an ironworks in nearby Waco.

"Doug and Robert could always be seen together, whether they were hunting, working on cars, golfing or cooking barbecue at the volunteer fire departments cook-off," their family said in a statement read to reporters.
"They were always together and we were always comforted that they were together at the end."

Uokozi ni mgumu kwenye tetemeko Uchina

 21 Aprili, 2013 - Saa 18:28 GMT

Wafanya kazi za uokozi wamekuwa wakipata shida kufika kwenye vijiji vya mbali milimani vilioko kusini-magharibi mwa Uchina, baada ya tetemeko la ardhi ambalo linalijulikana kuuwa watu 200 na kujeruhi zaidi ya 11,000.

Taarifa zinazohusiana

• Asia,
• mazingira

Wanajeshi 17,000 wametumwa huko kwenda kusaidia.
Tetemeko hilo lilitokea Jumamosi asubuhi karibu na mji wa Ya'an katika jimbo la Sichuan.
Waokozi wamekuwa wakijaribu kupanda barabara nyembamba zilizozongwa na maporomoko.
Lori moja la jeshi lilobeba wanajeshi 17 lilipinduka mlimani na kumuuwa mwanajeshi mmoja na kujeruhi wengine saba.
Magari ya kubeba wagonjwa yanawapeleka manusura katika kituo kwenye hospitali kuu mjini Ya'an.
Majeruhi wengi, baadhi yao wamevunjika viungo, wanatibiwa kwenye mahema yaliyowekwa nje ya hospitali.
Tetemeko hili lilikuwa ni dogo likilinganishwa na lile la mwaka 2008 ambalo liliuwa watu 70,000.
Lakini kwa sababu ya shida za kuwafikia manusura na vitetemeko vidogo vinavoendelea wakati wote, idadi ya waliokufa inaweza kuongezeka.

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Mshukiwa wa Boston hawezi kuhojiwa

 21 Aprili, 2013 - Saa 17:12 GMT

Meya wa Boston amesema wakuu wa Marekani pengine hawataweza kabisa kumhoji mshukiwa wa shambulio la bomu katika Boston marathon kwa sababu ya jinsi alivoumia.

Mshukiwa huyo, Dzhokar Tsarnaev, anatibiwa kwenye hospitali moja ya mjini Boston, ambayo ilieleza kuwa hali yake ni mbaya.
Alikamatwa Ijumaa wakati wa msako ambapo kaka ake aliuliwa na polisi.
Meya Tom Menino alipohojiwa na televisheni ya Marekani alisema anafikiri mashambulio hayo yalifanywa na ndugu hao wa kiume peke yao, na pengine hawakupanga kufanya mashambulio mengine.

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US to double aid to Syrian rebels following assurances

The United States is to double its aid to rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad after winning a written pledge that a future Syria will be democratic, non-sectarian and give “universal” rights to women.

 Syrian rebels march in a show of strength during a demonstration in Idlib, Syria Photo: AP

The extra $123 million in non-lethal military aid, possibly including armoured vehicles as well as body armour and night-vision goggles, was announced in the early hours of Sunday after the US secretary of state John Kerry and other foreign ministers met opposition leaders. There will also be USD25 million in civilian food aid.

While they spoke, battles were raging as the Assad regime attempted to retake areas around Damascus and near Homs with scores of casualties. Mr Kerry referred to the recent use of ballistic missiles against rebel territory by the regime, as well as suspected, localised use of chemical weapons.

"We are at a critical moment," he said. "The stakes could not be more clear: chemical weapons, the slaughter of people by ballistic missiles and other weapons of huge destruction, the potential of a whole country being torn apart into enclaves, the potential of sectarian violence."

Western allies have been urging the United States to take a "leadership role" on Syria, as the conflict becomes ever more bloody and locked in stalemate. President Barack Obama has been reluctant to be drawn in, and has vetoed proposals by both the state department and the Pentagon to arm the opposition, according to reports from Washington.

The opposition Syrian National Coalition went further yesterday, demanding the West launch drone missile attacks on President Assad's "ballistic missile and chemical weapon launch pads", and establish a no-fly zone, as it did in Libya.