My Daily Inquirer

The end of the world as we know it cannot be avoided, but it can be predicted, according to a group of astrophysicists who see a 50 percent chance of the final countdown ending in 3.7 billion years.

"Time is unlikely to end in our lifetime, but there is a 50 percent chance that time will end within the next 3.7 billion years," according to the team of US and Japanese scientists, who are challenging a long-standing theory of the universe.

While scientists have long concluded that the universe is expanding, and will do so for an infinite period of time, the researchers say the very rules of physics suggest that "an eternally inflating universe" is far from given.

"The point of this paper is to show that certain methods and assumptions that have been widely used by physicists for years -- most prominently, the use of a time cutoff in order to compute probabilities in an eternally inflating universe -- lead to the conclusion that time will end," Raphael Bousso of the University of California, Berkeley told AFP.

"In other words, the time cutoff, which we may have thought was just a calculational tool, actually behaves like a physical event, whether we like it or not," said Bousso, lead author of the study published on arXiv.org

Current theories of the universe begin with the "Big Bang," which cast our living space into being some 13.7 billion years ago in a massive explosion.

Since then, theorists have assumed the universe will simply continue to expand forever, but have also used a theoretical expiration date to help calculate the laws and rules of physics.

But Bousso and his colleagues says the discipline simply cannot have it both ways.

He cautioned however that the complex thought experiment and calculations proposed by the research could not be used to draw definitive conclusions.

"It's very important to understand that we are not saying that we are certain of the conclusion that time will end (though we cannot rule out that it may be correct)," he wrote.

But he said even if the theory was false, discovering why that was the case would help scientists better understand the universe.

"In science, this kind of reasoning is often valuable: you realize that your reasonable-seeming theory predicts something that sounds crazy, so you have to come to grips with that," he told AFP.

"Either you have to abandon the theory, or you have to understand why the crazy-sounding thing may not actually be so crazy."

For astrophysicist Charles Lineweaver, of Australian National University's Mount Stromlo Observatory, Bousso's conclusions are simply incorrect.

"Bousso's average life of a universe is a set time, only because that's what happens when you introduce a cutoff point to get a reasonable probability," he told ABC Television.

"It's a statistical technique being taken probably too seriously," he added.

But Bousso said he and his team had not invented or introduced anything.

"These cutoffs have been used by many leading physicists for years," he told AFP. "We merely pointed out that it's not such an innocent thing to do.

"The cutoff on time is inevitably physical and hence requires a physical justification. It cannot be considered a mere mathematical trick."

Source: http://ph.news.yahoo.com/afp/20101016/tts-science-us-japan-astrophysics-972e412.html

South Korea will mobilize its largest security force ever in anticipation of widespread protests during the G-20 summit next month in Seoul, the Yonhap news agency said.

Authorities said a total of 50,000 police and riot police will be deployed during the summit on November 11 and 12, according to Yonhap.

Preparing for the country's largest event yet, authorities have banned demonstrations from November 8-12 within 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) of the summit site.

A number of South Korean union and civic groups are gearing up for large protests against the G-20, while other groups are planning unrelated rallies in hopes of drawing international media attention.

A special law went into effect this month, allowing Korean police wider authority to restrict demonstrations and to mobilize the military to do likewise, Yonhap said.

Dozens of union and civic groups have joined to oppose G-20 efforts, such as globalizing financial systems, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions has announced. Businesses have maximized profits while eroding workers' job security and labor rights, said the trade union, which aims to highlight such issues.

Unrelated protests also are expected by disparate groups that oppose development in a slum area of Seoul; want compensation for war victims; or demand the resignation of the chief of a state agency for the disabled, Yonhap said.

Groups need police permission before they may rally.

The G-20 held its last summit in June in Toronto, Canada.

Hundreds of protesters were arrested as violence and vandalism broke out. Cars were set on fire, windows were broken and graffiti was sprayed.

Some protesters were tear gassed, though no serious injuries were reported.

Collectively, the Group of 20 accounts for about 85 percent of global economic output. The 1997 Asian financial crisis prompted creation of the group, which aims to stabilize the world financial market.

The G-20 includes industrialized nations and developing economies, which focus on economic issues and economic policy coordination. The Group of Eight continues to focus on issues such as global security.

Source: CNN

Posted by Jessie James

China closed 1,355 small coal mines this year, according to Xinhua, the country's state-run press agency.

The effort is part of a larger plan to restructure the mining industry to prevent deadly accidents and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Xinhua reported, citing the National Energy Administration (NEA).

China has one of the world's deadliest records for miners, with poor safety standards accounting for thousands of deaths each year.

According to the China Mining Association, the goal is to eventually boost the industry. Small coal mines, which use outdated technology, will be replaced with larger coal mines, increasing capacity.

Davitt McAteer, former press secretary for the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration, called the move a response to the consequences of China's "unmitigated economic growth."

"If you emphasize production so much ... and you fail to balance the needs of the individual with the needs of the community, you get all kinds of disasters in terms of health and environment," he said.

China is the largest global producer and consumer of coal, comprising 75 percent of China's total energy consumption.

Approximately 11,000 small coal mines are still in operation.

Source: CNN

Posted by Jessie James

Amnesty International has questioned the fairness of a U.S. trial that convicted five Cuban agents of espionage, conspiracy to commit murder and other related charges.

In a report issued earlier this week, the London-based human rights group described a "prejudicial impact of publicity," saying the anti-Castro community in south Florida may have created partiality during the trial that affected the convictions and subsequent appeals process.

The rights group, while not commenting on the men's guilt or innocence, highlighted questions surrounding their pretrial detention, their access to attorneys and documents that "may have undermined their right to defence," the report said.

Cuba says the five men, known at home as "the five heroes," were sent to Miami to infiltrate violent exile groups at a time when anti-Castro groups were bombing Cuban hotels. They were arrested in 1998. Their incarceration has drawn condemnation in Cuba and abroad.

One of the five is serving a life sentence for allegedly helping Cuba shoot down two unarmed airplanes that were dropping leaflets over the island, killing the Cuban-American pilots.

The five have acknowledged acting as unregistered Cuban agents assigned to report hostile activity from the Cuban exile community or visible signs of U.S. military actions against Cuba, but have denied efforts to breach U.S. national security, according to the Amnesty report.

Last year, the defendants were denied an appeal when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear their case.

The defense argued that a fair trial was impossible in a city dominated by anti-Castro politics.

In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Amnesty asked for closer examination of the circumstances surrounding the group's incarceration.

Images of the men are plastered across billboards throughout Cuba. Their names are also commonly included in speeches given by Cuban officials during major political events.

The report comes at a time when Cuba is in the process of releasing its largest batch of political prisoners in over a decade.

Source: CNN

Posted by Jessie James

Sporting a burnished image after the rescue of 33 trapped miners, Chilean President Sebastian Pinera is arriving in England on Saturday.

He is scheduled to meet with British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday.

Cameron spoke with Pinera earlier in the week after all 33 miners were successfully hoisted to safety, a spokesman for the prime minister said. He told Pinera that the rescue effort had demonstrated tremendous skill.

Pinera had vowed to be at the San Jose mine in northern Chile until all of the miners were out. True to his word, he greeted each miner with a hug as they stepped out from the rescue capsules to fresh air for the first time.

Pinera called the rescue a "magical day" for Chile, one that fueled patriotic fervor as the entire world cast its eyes on the South American nation.

Source: CNN

Posted by Jessie James

The latest airport security technology being developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory could open the door for airline passengers to bring their soft drinks and full-size shampoo bottles on board again.

Homeland security officials put the latest generation of the bottled liquid scanner to the test Wednesday during a demonstration at Albuquerque's international airport. Everything from bottled water and champagne to shampoo and pink liquid laxatives were scanned to make sure explosives weren't hiding inside.

The device, about the size of a small refrigerator, uses magnetic resonance to read the liquids' molecular makeup, even when the substances are in metal containers. Within 15 seconds, a light on top of the simple-looking metal box flashes red or green, depending on whether there's danger.

The device is so sensitive it can tell the difference between red and white wine, and between different types of soda.

"What we're doing is really looking for the real dangers, like liquid homemade explosives," said Stephen Surko, program manager of the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency. "We're just real excited at the progress we're making."
The technology is still a few years from being deployed in the nation's airports, where fears of liquid explosives have stopped passengers from bringing more than small amounts of lotions and other toiletries in their carry-on bags. Surko said the lab will have to partner with a manufacturer, and the machines will have to go through testing and certification.
With the bottled liquid scanner, Surko said Transportation Security Administration officers would be able to quickly check the liquids that are allowed in carry-on luggage. If the technology is successfully implemented, it may eliminate the need for passengers to stuff all their toiletry bottles — each no larger than 3.4 ounces — into a single quart-sized plastic bag.

Travelers had gotten used to being scanned, swabbed and patted down since the 9/11 attacks, but it was an alleged plot to blow up 10 trans-Atlantic airliners with liquid bombs in 2006 that prompted the U.S. to clamp down on liquids.
The restrictions have inconvenienced passengers and resulted in longer lines, but officials at the demonstration acknowledged they have yet to achieve what they call a full measure of security.

Several passengers flying out of Albuquerque got a sneak peak of the new technology as they were passing through a security checkpoint. Most said they would feel better if the liquids allowed on a plane could be scanned, but they also hoped that the technology would some day allow them to take their drinks along.
Barbara Riegelsberger of Cleveland, who travels several times a year, said she has become accustomed to the hassles of packing her shampoo and leaving behind her water bottle.

"I'm willing to do what I need to do to be safe," she said.

Tomas Hora, a balloon pilot from Germany who was in Albuquerque for an international balloon event, doubted whether the new technology would make things safer.
"It won't make a difference," said Hora, who was traveling with his wife and young child. "I think if somebody wants to do harm to an airplane, he can do harm no matter the security you do here at the beginning."

Federal officials are hoping otherwise. They have already spent more than $14 million developing the liquid scanners, and the Obama administration has committed tens of millions of dollars to deploy more state-of-the-art equipment to U.S. airports, such as body-imaging scanners and chemical analysis machines that check for explosives in medically necessary liquids like prescription drugs.

Over the last two years, researchers have been able to make the bottled liquid scanner about 90 percent smaller and six times faster. The goal is to make it even smaller so it can fit beside other equipment at airport checkpoints.

Los Alamos scientist Michelle Espy said she knows what it's like to be in a checkpoint and have her young daughter's bottle taken away.

"This would be a very great solution, a quick solution," she said. "Obviously, the end goal is to be able to seamlessly, without slowing anything down, just let people take their liquids on."

Source: Yahoo

Having spent 69 days trapped inside the San Jose mine in Chile before being rescued, Mario Sepulveda says, he is a changed man.

"I buried 40 years of my life down there, and I'm going to live a lot longer to be a new person," he said in a video conference hours after surfacing from half a mile underground.

Sepulveda, the second miner extracted from the mine, has advice for those who take undue risks in their lives.

"I think I have learned a lot of wonderful lessons about taking the good path in life," he said. "For those of you able to call your wives or your husbands, do so."

During the time he was trapped inside the mine, Sepulveda said, he saw both good and evil.

"I was with God, and I was with the devil. They fought, and God won," he said. Sepulveda said he grabbed God's hand and never doubted that he would be rescued.
Video: Miner surfaces, hands out rocks
RELATED TOPICS

Sepulveda praised the efforts of the rescue crews but argued for reforms in the mining industry.

"I think this country has to understand once and for all that we can make change. In the area of labor, we have make many changes," he said. "I think the owner has to give the tools so that the middle managers can bring changes in terms of labor. The middle managers cannot carry on like they have."

The rescued miner had high praise for the doctors and psychologists who aided the miners via videoconference.

"They gave us our lives back. It's incredible that with 700 meters between us, and not seeing us face-to-face, they revived us," he said.

Read about how the miners' lives will be changed

With the world watching and the media attention at the mine intense, Sepulveda said he hoped to maintain a low-key profile now that they are being rescued.

"The only thing I ask personally is that you please not treat us like celebrities or journalists. I want to continue being treated like Mario Antonio Sepulveda Espinace, the worker, the miner. I love that, and I think that, in some shape, way or form, I want to continue working," he said.

Sepulveda was flanked by family members as he spoke.

"I'm very happy for all the beautiful things that were done for us," he said. "I'm very excited to be up here again."

Some gave a thumbs-up, waved Chilean flags, and hugged their loved ones. One dropped to his knees and prayed, while another asked about his dog. One led the crowd in a cheer for Chile. And then they were all wheeled away on stretchers.

This is how the Chilean miners -- emerging from the dark San Jose mine after more than two months -- savored their first moments above ground.

The first miner to reach the surface, Florencio Avalos, beamed and hugged everyone around him as he walked on the Earth's surface for the first time in 69 days. He took a few moments to embrace his weeping family before he was taken away for a medical evaluation amid cheers.

As the second miner, Mario Sepulveda, exited the rescue hole, he reached into a large yellow bag and handed out what appeared to be rocks to officials and rescue workers. Sepulveda cracked jokes in his first moments above ground and led the crowd in a cheer for Chile. As the 40-year-old was hauled away on a stretcher for his medical evaluation, he asked his wife, "How's the dog?"

Juan Illanes, an electrical mechanic retired from the Chilean military, beamed from behind his dark sunglasses when he became the third miner to be rescued. Like the other men, Illanes wore dark goggles to protect his eyes against from the new light, after having been in the gloom for about two months. His letters to his wife while he was trapped displayed humor and optimism.

A collection of small, hand-held Bolivian flags amid a sea of Chilean flags greeted Carlos Mamani, the lone Bolivian miner and the fourth to reach the earth's surface. Mamani knelt on the ground and pointed to an image resembling the Chilean flag on his T-shirt, acknowledging the cheering crowd. The rookie miner and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera embraced before Mamani was taken away for his medical exams.

Pinera remained by the side of family members all day, greeting the miners after their exchanges with their families.

The youngest miner, 18-year-old Jimmy Sanchez, was the fifth miner extracted. Sanchez, who worked as an environmental assistant, does not like confined spaces and has said he misses his mother's cooking. He is the father of an infant girl.

Osman Araya fell into the arms of his wife and kissed her repeatedly as he emerged from the mine. The sixth miner to be rescued thrust his fists into the air with thumbs up as he was wheeled away on a stretcher.

Seconds after stepping out of the rescue capsule, the seventh miner, Jose Ojeda, unfurled a large Chilean flag in front of the crowd. The widower suffers from diabetes and served as secretary for the trapped miners.

Claudio Yanez stepped out of the rescue capsule and extended a thumbs-up to the crowd. Once freed from his harnesses, the eighth rescued miner rushed toward his fiancee, knocking off her hard hat.

Mario Gomez, the oldest of the trapped miners at age 63 and a spiritual leader of the group, worked himself out of the rescue capsule, spread out his arms and gave two thumbs up. Then he displayed the Chilean flag and hugged and kissed his wife.

Clasping the national flag, the miner -- who suffers from a mine-related lung disease and has only two fingers on one hand due to a previous mining accident -- then gently dropped to his knees and spoke silently to God.

Alex Vega, a 31-year-old heavy machine mechanic, arrived at the surface flashing an enthusiastic thumbs-up, and then hugged and kissed his girlfriend.

The 11th miner to emerge was 56-year-old Jorge Galleguillos. He had been on medication for hypertension, but he looked strong and relieved as he got his first glimpse of freedom. He waved, gave a thumbs-up and embraced his brother, and was greeted as well by two presidents, Chile's Sebastian Pinera and Bolivia's Evo Morales.

The 12th miner to be rescued, Edison Pena, was no longer "All Shook Up," as the Elvis Presley song goes. An Elvis fanatic who led the trapped miners in sing-alongs, Pena, 34, looked fit and exuberant. He waved and shook hands and hugged colleagues, loved ones and dignitaries.

Carlos Barrios, a 27-year-old foreman at the mine, emerged to stirring applause. The 13th miner to be rescued looked in good health as he embraced a loved one and was greeted by pats, hugs and handshakes of others. He has a 5-year-old son and is a fanatic soccer fan and regular player.

The 14th miner to be rescued was Victor Zamora, 33. He and his wife are expecting a baby in six months and plan to name her Paz Victoria. And after he came up to the surface, he passionately hugged his wife. After workers placed him a stretcher, Chile's president chatted with him. Zamora is a poet and a fan of reggae legend Bob Marley.

Victor Segovia, the 15th extracted miner, looked a bit weary but relieved just the same as he was greeted by well-wishers and Chile's president. He kept a journal during his ordeal in the hole, and his updates helped keep rescuers up to date on the miners.

Daniel Herrera, 27, edged out of the rescue capsule and hugged his elated mother, who had said she wouldn't leave the site until she could depart with him. Herrera, a truck driver who took on the duties of a paramedic assistant during the ordeal, looked very moved as people greeted him, the 16th miner to be freed.

Omar Reygadas, a 56-year-old foreman, was greeted by hugs and solemnly knelt down. He also unfurled a Chilean soccer team flag while he was on a stretcher.

Esteban Rojas, 44, left the rescue capsule and prayed. He got down on his knees, crossed himself, put his hands together in the pose of prayer, crossed himself again, and then put his hands over his head.

He emotionally embraced his wife of 25 years. During his time in the mine, he asked his wife to renew their marriage vows, this time in a traditional church ceremony.

Pablo Rojas, 45, had worked at the mine for six months. He was one of the trapped miners who handled the supplies coming into the mine. He sank to his knees as he stepped into the sunlight.

The 20th miner to emerge, 48-year-old Dario Segovia, started going down in the mines when he was 8 years old. He waved a Chilean flag and dropped to his knees when he came out of the capsule.

Yonni Barrios, 50, was the 21st miner to step out of the capsule. He embraced his wife as she sobbed on his shoulder.

Samuel Avalos, 43, monitored the gas levels in the mine. He flashed a V sign and a wave as he emerged from the capsule and kissed his wife.

Carlos Bugeuno embraced his mother at the top of his long trip to the surface. Bugueno, 27, was another supply handler during the 69 days underground.

Jose Henriquez, 54, sported a broad smile when rescuers opened the capsule after his ride to the surface. He waved and offered a double-thumbs-up to the rescuers around him and then lifted his wife off the ground in a long embrace.

Renan Avalos' brother, Florencio, was the first miner to be pulled to the surface. Renan, the 25th, smiled broadly, hugging rescuers and waving as family members hugged one another. And then he joined the family without even removing his miner's helmet as the others had. He is 29.

Claudio Acuna's wife, mother and 2-year-old daughter, were on hand to greet him when he emerged from the shaft. Acuna, the youngest of eight brothers, left his helmet on, too, as he rushed to greet them. He unfurled a small Chilean flag as he was carried away on the stretcher, draped in a larger flag. His daughter cried as he was carried away.

Franklin Lobos, 53, and Jorge Galleguillos, the 11th miner rescued, credit their stop to look at a small, white butterfly with saving their lives. They were in a truck deep in the mine when they spotted the butterfly, and when they slowed to look closer, the mine began collapsing in front of them. While his family waved balloons and flags and cheered loudly, Lobos stepped out of the capsule and greeted his wife, who handed him a soccer ball. Lobos, a former player on the Chilean national team, kicked the ball around before being greeted by Pinera.]

Richard Villarroel, 27, didn't tell his mother he worked in a mine, but she was there to meet him as he came out, along with his younger sister who carried a Chilean flag for her big brother. Villarroel waved the flag as his mother ran to wrap her arms around him.

With the sun setting on another day, the 29th miner to return to the surface was Juan Carlos Aguilar, 49, one of three shift supervisors at the San Jose mine. He smiled broadly as the capsule was opened, gave a long hug to his wife and spoke briefly with the president before being carted away wearing a T-shirt bearing a white star and the colors of the Chilean flag.

Raul Bustos was the 30th miner to ride the Phoenix capsule to the surface. The day of the collapse was his first day inside the mine, where he had worked as a foreman and hydraulics engineer for two months -- after he, his wife and two small children escaped from the aftermath of an earthquake in Talcahuano.

The scene was lit by only the bright work lights media lights when Bustos, 40, reached the surface and reunited with his beaming wife. "You have no idea how happy I am," he said during the round of embraces and handshakes from those who waited for his ascent.

Acoustics expert Pedro Cortez, 25, was next up the long shaft. Cortez, who joined the mine with his friend Carlos Bugueno -- the 23rd miner rescued -- heard the voice of one of his relatives shouting down to him before the capsule broke the surface. "Pedro!" the man bellowed. "We're waiting for you!" He picked up his young daughter and held her close as other relatives released balloons bearing the Chilean colors into the night sky.

Acoustics expert Ariel Ticona, 29, said to be shy by his family, arrived at the top chewing gum and quietly embraced his wife and smiled broadly. He held up a disconnected telephone to laughter and applause -- a phone, he said, that made the first connection between the trapped miners and the surface and was made in Chile. Ticona's wife did not bring their month-old baby girl Esperanza ("Hope") into the chilly desert night air, but Ticona witnessed the birth of his third child -- the first he was able to see -- via a video link lowered into the mine.

And shortly before 10 p.m. (9 p.m. ET), shift foreman Luis Urzua -- who refused to come to the surface ahead of even a single one of his men -- stepped out of the Phoenix capsule, the 33rd and last of the trapped miners rescued from their long stay in the darkness. Urzua's was the first voice those on the surface heard through Ticona's telephone -- "We are well and hoping that you will rescue us," he said. And they did.

At the surface, the rescuers chanted and sang awaiting Urzua's arrival. They hugged. President Pinera wiped a tear from his eye. A loud cheer and more singing and chanting erupted when the siren rang, signifying the capsule was 200 meters away. At about 55 meters, they shouted down to Urzua -- "How are you?" "Good," was his reply. And when the capsule came through into the lights, cheering, whistling, the siren and tears greeted Urzua.

The siren continued, vehicle horns blared.

"I have the privilege to inform that all the miners have been rescued, including the leader of this group, and everybody is in perfect physical condition," one of the rescuers said. Urzua waved, hugged his son and then the president.

"You have been a very good boss and leader of this group," Pinera said.

"As I said before, I hope this will never happen again," Urzua said. "Thank you very much to all the rescuers and everybody here. I am proud of being a Chilean. I want to thank everybody."

Pinera and Urzua led everyone in the Chilean national anthem, the "Himno Nacional de Chile."

Atlas Service Corps (Atlas Corps)is a completely new kind of social venture taking a new approach to facilitate international cooperation in the citizen sector. As you learn more about Atlas Corps, We hope you find ways that you can get involved as a Partner, a Fellow, a Volunteer or a Supporter. One of the fundamental underlining beliefs of Atlas Corps is that the problems we face in this world are too big to ignore, too overwhelming not to work together to address.

The Atlas Corps Fellowship Program strengthens leaders and organizations in the nonprofit sector through a 12 or 18 month international exchange for skilled, nonprofit professionals. Atlas Corps is helping to create a world where talented individuals and good ideas in the nonprofit sector cross borders to share best practices, learn new perspectives, and address the world’s most pressing social challenges. Applying to be an Atlas Corps Fellow is a competitive process, but one that provides for a fantastic educational opportunity.

Timeline: Spring Fellowship:

* Applications Accepted: August 15th – October 15th
* English Test and Interviews for Semi-Finalists: October 15th – December 15th
* Fellowship Start Date: March 1st

Fall Fellowship:

* Applications Accepted: February 15th – April 15th
* English Test and Interviews for Semi-Finalists: April 15th – May 15th
* Fellowship Start Date: September 1st

Eligibility Requirements:

* 3 or more years of relevant experience in the nonprofit/NGO/social sector
* Bachelor's degree or equivalent
* English Proficiency (oral, writing, reading)
* 35 or younger
* Applying to volunteer in a country other than where you are from
* Commitment to return to your home country after the 12-18 month fellowship

Application Process:

1. Eligibility – Candidates who meet the eligibility requirements above can apply to become a Fellow.

2. Online Application – Download the application and fill in your responses. Once you have filled in all of the required information in the word document, please fill out the online application. (Please note that you are unable to save your progress in the online application form so be sure to complete and save the word document with your answers just in case). We do NOT accept any applications in a Word Doc format but we encourage you to save this application for your records.

3. Essay Questions – Download the essay questions and submit them to apply@atlascorps.org at the same time as you submit your online application. We will not review your application until your essays are submitted.

4. Recommendations – Atlas Corps requires two (up to three) letters of recommendation from individuals who know you in a professional capacity and can write about your skills and experiences as well as your potential for success as an Atlas Corps Fellow. In the online form please indicate who your recommenders will be. Download the recommendation form and send it to your recommender with the appropriate deadline. Applications without at least two recommendations will NOT be considered.

5. Review - Applications will be reviewed by a selection committee including Atlas Corps staff and nonprofit sector, government, and business leaders from multiple countries.

6. Interviews - Phone interviews and English writing tests will be conducted with semi-finalists. Host organizations will conduct Skype video interviews with selected finalists. Host organizations will make their final recommendations to Atlas Corps, and Atlas Corps will notify the selected candidates in January for the Spring Fellowship and June for the Fall Fellowship.

7. Visa - After selected, the candidates will go to the U.S. Embassy in their respective countries for their J-1 / Special visa interviews. Once a candidate receives his/her visa, he or she will become an Atlas Corps Fellow!

Contact detail: apply@atlascorps.org
Moreinfo: http://www.atlascorps.org/apply.html

The National Humanities Center is a private, nonprofit institution for advanced study in the humanities.

Most of the Center's fellowships are unrestricted. Several, however, are designated for particular areas of research. These include one fellowship for a young woman in philosophy and fellowships for environmental studies; English literature; art history; Asian Studies; and theology.

The National Humanities Center does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, national or ethnic origin, handicap, sexual orientation, or age.

Stipends
Fellowships are individually determined, according to the needs of the Fellow and the Center's ability to meet them. The Center seeks to provide at least half salary and also covers travel expenses to and from North Carolina for Fellows and dependents.

Applicants must hold doctorate or equivalent scholarly credentials. Young scholars as well as senior scholars are encouraged to apply, but they must have a record of publication, and new Ph.D.s should be aware that the Center does not support the revision of a doctoral dissertation. In addition to scholars from all fields of the humanities, the Center accepts individuals from the natural and social sciences, the arts, the professions, and public life who are engaged in humanistic projects. The Center is also international and gladly accepts applications from scholars outside the United States.

. Application Form (PDF file)
. Financial Form (PDF file)

Complete application instructions and forms are available from this website. Applicants must submit the Center's application and financial forms (which may be filled in and printed from this site) supported by a curriculum vitae, a 1,000-word project proposal, a one-page tentative outline of chapters, a short bibliography, and three letters of recommendation. Applications and letters of recommendation must be postmarked by October 15.

To have application materials mailed to you, please write to:

Fellowship Program
National Humanities Center
7 Alexander Drive
P.O. Box 12256
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709-2256
Phone: (919) 549-0661

Contact detail: nhc@nationalhumanitiescenter.org

Moreinfo: http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/fellowships

The Justice Department says it may sue BP for damages from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, according to a filing made Monday night with the U.S. District Court in New Orleans, Louisiana.

"At this juncture, the United States expects that it may file a civil complaint related to the Deepwater Horizon disaster," the court document says.

While the legal wording of the filing presents some ambiguity, the Justice Department has gone as far as to signal its intent by requesting that the court establish a track separate from the many private lawsuits. The government says its claims, "may involve complex scientific and economic expert testimony" that may not be needed to quantify claims from private parties.

BP told CNN it has no comment.

Other companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon drilling accident also might be subject to a federal lawsuit.

Justice Department attorneys told the court they may seek claims under the Oil Pollution Act, which was enacted in 1990 after the Exxon-Valdez oil spill, and the Clean Water Act, which gives the government the right to seek potentially huge penalties.

"The Clean Water Act authorizes the United States to seek civil penalties from various entities for oil spills like the Deepwater Horizon spill, in amounts potentially up to $1,100 (and in some circumstances up to $4,300) per barrel of oil spilled," the filing states.

Justice attorneys argue the government may seek compensation for the cost of removing oil; economic damage such as the cost of increased public services and loss of tax revenue; and destruction of natural resources and assessment of that damage.

The Justice Department has been conducting both civil and criminal investigations into the Deepwater Horizon accident. A department official would not give a timetable for legal action.

BP has already agreed to set aside $20 billion over several years to pay for claims resulting from the oil spill.

The company has paid the U.S. government $390 million for the cost of cleanup and last week received an additional bill for $128.5 million from the Obama administration.

Source: CNN

Posted by Jessie James

A bomb threat that led authorities to use sniffer dogs to inspect the Eiffel Tower and surrounding areas Tuesday turned out to have been a hoax, CNN affiliate BFM-TV reported, citing police.

The police press office said the telephone threat was reported at 8:20 p.m. and was treated as a routine occurrence; the tower was inspected to determine whether the threat was real.

A telephoned bomb threat also led authorities to briefly evacuate the St. Michel metro station, police said, according to BFM-TV. It was reopened within 30 minutes.

Some 2,000 people had been in the area of the Eiffel Tower and the park in which it sits when the evacuation was ordered, police said, according to BFM-TV. Briefly evacuated were a number a nearby apartment buildings and businesses, according to news reports.

"One person on the scene said the police came by and said there was a problem and they had to leave the area quickly, and that's what they did," CNN's Jim Bittermann reported.

A taxi driver said he drove to the tower two tourists who were planning to eat at the Jules Verne Restaurant, where they had made reservations two months ago, but they were turned back by police.

More than 100 cameras -- more than a third of which are infrared for nighttime surveillance -- are located on the monument, according to the tower's website.

It also includes a network of sprinklers, and more than 150 extinguishers. A water pipe from the ground feeds hydrants on the first two floors; the top floor's hydrants get water from pressurized water tanks.

The 324-meter-high (1,063-foot-high) tower is usually open from 9:30 a.m. until 11 p.m. in September. It was built for the Universal Exhibition of 1889, and was intended to last for 20 years, according to the tower's website. But it was saved by the advent of wireless telegraphy -- and its use as a platform for antennae. It currently holds 120 antennae.

The tower weighs 10,100 tons and is held together by 2.5 million rivets.

Source: CNN

Posted by Jessie James

Polar bears clinging to melting ice sheets have become one of the most frequently used images to portray the perils of climate change.

But a new report by the U.S. Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and UK-based Care for the Wild International (CWI) is bringing attention to the predicament of other equally endangered Arctic species.

Seventeen Arctic animals are highlighted in "Extinction: It's Not Just for Polar Bears."

Shaye Wolf, lead author and climate science director of the CBD told CNN: "The plight of the polar bear due to global warming is very well known and familiar. But many other Arctic species are suffering a similar fate -- from plankton all the way to the great whales."

The impacts of climate change are "unfolding far more rapidly in the Arctic than any other area on the planet" threatening its ecosystem, the report said.

A 2009 study by Donald K. Perovich and Jacqueline A Richter-Menge -- "Loss of Sea Ice in the Arctic" -- reported that the sea ice extent in 2007 was one million square miles below the average figure recorded between 1979 and 2000.

This, and other data suggests, say scientists, that summer sea ice could completely disappear in the Arctic by 2030.

The ice retreat is already spelling trouble for marine mammals like the Pacific walrus and the harp seal.

Pacific walruses, like many of the mammals in the report, are sea ice dependent says Wolf, with many having already suffering population declines.

"As we speak, there are 10 to 20,000 walruses holed up on Alaskan Arctic coastline. And that is attributable to sea ice loss," Wolf says.

"Walruses need sea ice for resting because they can't swim continuously. When they lose that sea ice, especially moms and calves, they are forced to come to shore -- where calves are very vulnerable to be trampled in stampedes."

Last year, Wolf says the stampede claimed 131 young walruses.

The number was even higher off the Russian coast in 2007 where several thousand calves died when around 40,000 walruses were pushed ashore.

Ocean acidification -- caused by increased uptake of carbon dioxide -- is happening more quickly in the Arctic than in warmer waters, says Wolf.

Shell-building marine creatures like the sea butterfly (Clione limacina) are particularly vulnerable to acidification.

Their loss would be potentially devastating for other species.

On land, the Arctic fox -- found on the southern edges of the Arctic tundra -- is facing "myriad threats from climate change," including shrinking sea ice and tundra, declines in lemming prey and increased competition from the larger, more dominant red fox -- which is edging north as temperatures rise.

All the animals in the report are at risk of extinction due to climate change says Wolf.

"What is going on in the Arctic isn't something that we can consider completely remote from ourselves. Actually, it's a fantastic barometer of what is going to happen in the rest of the world," CWI's Rebecca Taylor told CNN.

"The Arctic is ground zero for climate change and we're already pushing many species towards extinction. The key to preventing their loss is reducing our greenhouse gas emissions -- specifically carbon dioxide -- to a level of 350ppm or below. That is a level many leading scientists have called for to restore Arctic sea ice," Wolf said.

Source: CNN

Posted by Jessie James

Gates Cambridge Scholarship at University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge is normally ranked in the top three universities worldwide. It typically receives over 9,000 applications for graduate study from non-British applicants, approximately 1,700 of whom take up their place at Cambridge. Gates Cambridge Scholarships are awarded to outstanding students from outside the UK to study at the University of Cambridge. The programme aims to build a global network of future leaders committed to improving the lives of others.

Eligible

* may be citizens of any country outside the United Kingdom.
* may apply to study any subject available at the University of Cambridge.
* may apply to pursue one of the following full-time residential courses of study:
o PhD (three year research only degree)
o One-year post-graduate course (e.g. MPhil, LLM, Diploma, MBA etc.)
o MSc or MLitt (two year research only degree)
o MBBChir Clinical Studies (3 year taught degree)
* must be admitted to one of the degrees above at Cambridge through the University's normal admission procedures. The Trust does not admit students.
* must be well prepared for the Cambridge course for which they are applying and must meet all of the conditions for admission specified by the University (e.g. academic, English language proficiency, if required, and any other conditions set).
* must be able to show evidence of high academic achievement, leadership potential, social commitment and a good fit with Cambridge.
* who are already studying at Cambridge are only eligible to apply for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship if they are applying for a new course of study (e.g. a one year ‘MPhil only’ student may apply for funding to continue on to the PhD). Candidates already studying at Cambridge who are not applying for a new course of study (e.g. have already started their PhD) are not eligible to be considered for a Gates Cambridge Scholarship.

How Competitive

* c. 7,000 eligible applicants apply for admission and funding
* c. 300 are highly ranked by Departments
* c. 100 are invited to interview
* c. 55 offered a Gates Cambridge Scholarship after interview

Once applicants have applied for admission and a Gates Cambridge Scholarship, the Trust asks academic departments in Cambridge to rank their very best candidates. A shortlisting committee then applies the four main criteria of the scholarships to produce a final interview list. Gates Scholars are selected after interview.

Contact detail: info@gates.scholarships.cam.ac.uk
Moreinfo: http://www.gatesscholar.org/apply

Afghan and coalition forces killed five insurgents in Nangarhar province overnight, including a Taliban operational commander who participated in intimidation campaigns and assassinations, NATO's International Security Assistance Force said Sunday.

Intelligence reports indicate the commander, Qari Wali, was planning to conduct rocket attacks against area voting centers during elections next week, the force said.

Afghan and NATO troops found him in a compound in the village of Kambu, they said in a statement.

They first called by loudspeaker for everyone to come out peacefully, but some residents "were unresponsive," the military said.

As troops moved in, "several armed insurgents inside the compound displayed hostile intent," the force said.

They engaged and killed the five insurgents, including the Taliban commander, they said.

ISAF did not say whether its forces sustained casualties in the firefight.

There was no immediate Taliban comment regarding the incident.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/09/12/afghanistan.insurgents.killed/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=bMRW93a6wVy&wom=false

Brazilian officials have said they will continue to crack down on farms accused of forcing workers into slave-like conditions, the country's labor ministry said after authorities rescued nearly 150 workers.

Brazil's labor ministry announced it had coordinated with law enforcement agencies to rescue 95 workers in Campo de Goytacazes, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, and 51 workers in Cambui, in the Minas Gerais state.

In Minas Gerais, the 51 rescued strawberry pickers included adolescents between the ages of 15 and 17, ministry officials said in a statement on its website.

In Rio de Janeiro, the 95 rescued sugarcane harvesters had been denied basic sanitation, water and were carted around in dangerous modes of transport, the ministry said.

Officials added both rescue operations took place in August.

According to ministry officials, both sets of workers were toiling under inhumane conditions around the clock without breaks. The workers were exposed to high level of pesticides. Many were minors, the ministry said.

The employers of the rescued workers will be fined, the labor ministry said, though it was not immediately clear whether criminal charges would be pressed.

According to Reporter Brasil, a Brazilian anti-slavery reporting agency, recent crackdowns have exposed several high-profile sugarcane and soy landowners, resulting in the freeing of hundreds of slaves. Reporter Brasil has said that in 2010 more than 200 slaves have been freed in Rio de Janeiro alone.

At least 12.3 million people around the world are trapped in forced labor, according to the Geneva-based International Labor Organization. Brazil's large-scale agriculture, a colonial style system where a few families own huge swaths of land, makes it difficult for authorities to crack down on slavery, the ILO reports.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/09/11/brazil.slavery/index.html?hpt=T2#fbid=bMRW93a6wVy&wom=false

The mayor of El Naranjo, Mexico, in the central state of San Luis Potosi was gunned down and killed inside his office Wednesday, officials said.

Witnesses say that four armed and hooded men stepped out of a white truck at city hall, the San Luis Potosi government said in a statement. Two of the men posted themselves outside, and two went inside and to the top floor of the building, where they entered the mayor's office and shot him, the statement said.

The attack happened in broad daylight, at about 1:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. ET), and was brazen even by the standards of Mexico's violent drug cartel wars.

At least seven mayors in various Mexican states have been assassinated in 2010.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon condemned the "criminal and cowardly" killing of the mayor.

"The federal government reiterates that it will continue working for the security of the citizens, with all the available resources of the state," Calderon said.

Alexander Lopez Garcia assumed office in October of last year as a candidate for an alliance between the Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI), and the Ecologist Green Party.

The United Nations' climate body needs to "fundamentally reform" if it is to prevent a repeat of the error that led to the publishing of a report warning that Himalayan glaciers could melt by 2035, an international committee reported Monday.

The five-month review called for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to "fundamentally reform its management structure" and strengthen its procedures to handle "increasingly complex climate assessments."

The InterAcademy Council, a scientific umbrella organization, also called for the setting up of an executive committee to replace the IPCC's largely part-time structure.

It also asked for checks on conflicts of interest by board members and stricter limits on the terms of the chairman, a position now held by Rajendra Pachauri.

The report says said the post of IPCC chair and that of the executive director should be limited to the term of one climate science assessment.

"Operating under the public microscope the way IPCC does requires strong leadership... an ability to adapt, and a commitment to openness if the value of these assessments to society is to be maintained," said Harold T. Shapiro, president emeritus and professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University in the U.S. and chair of the committee that wrote the report.

On Monday Pachauri said that member nations of the IPCC will decide whether he should stand down in the wake of the report, Agence-France Presse reported.

"This will be debated by all the governments of the world and they will decide what is to be implemented and when it is implemented," Pachauri told a news conference at the U.N. headquarters.

The IPCC released a 938-page study in 2007 pointing to evidence that climate change was already hurting the planet, building momentum for global action to limit carbon emissions that mostly come from burning coal, gas and oil.

The study, known formally as the Fourth Assessment Report, helped earn it a Nobel Peace Prize that it shared with former U.S. vice president Al Gore.

In January this year the IPCC said estimates relating to the rate of recession of the Himalayan glaciers in its Fourth Assessment Report were "poorly substantiated" adding that "well-established standards of evidence were not applied properly."

A key prosecution witness said Wednesday that he heard the accused plot the murders of 57 people in what is considered the worst politically motivated killings in recent Philippine history.

The landmark murder trial started Wednesday in Manila, with the witness testifying that the accused even ordered a backhoe to bury the bodies after the planned massacre.

Witness Lakmudin Saliao was a personal aide to Andal Ampatuan Sr., the former governor of Maguindanao province. Ampatuan's son -- Andal Ampatuan Jr., former mayor of Maguindanao province -- is accused of being the ringleader in the November 2009 massacre in Maguindanao.

There are 196 accused, about 500 witnesses and more than 11,000 murder charges involved in the case, which is expected to take years.

The wife and sister of political candidate Ismael "Toto" Mangudadatu and 30 journalists were among the massacre victims.

Mangudadatu had sent his family members to file paperwork allowing him to run for governor of Maguindanao. Their convoy was ambushed, and their bodies were found in a mass grave.

The Ampatuan family plotted the killings to keep Mangudadatu from challenging Ampatuan Jr. in the May 2010 gubernatorial election, Saliao said. The witness also said the Ampatuans went on to discuss how to cover up the killings, by burying the victims in mass graves just off a highway.

The witness said he later heard the elder Ampatuan tell the younger Ampatuan, "You know what to do."

Ampatuan Jr. allegedly replied, "We will kill them all, so that no one can speak."

The Ampatuans have run Maguindanao for years. The province is part of an autonomous region in predominantly Muslim Mindanao, which was set up in the 1990s to quell armed uprisings by people seeking an independent Muslim homeland in the predominantly Christian Asian nation.

An investigation has revealed that members of the Philippine police and army also were involved in the massacre, said an eight-member commission of the Philippine justice department. Yet dozens of the 196 suspects remain at large, said attorney Harry Roque, who represents the survivors of 14 massacre victims.

"It's the job of the police to arrest them. But we all know the calibre of the police. That is part of the problem," he said, adding that the Ampatuan family still controls Maguindanao. "People who were supposed to protect the people became the murderers."

A small asteroid passed within the moon's distance from the Earth on Wednesday morning, and another will do likewise later in the day, space watchers say.

The double encounter is an unusual event that shows the need for closer monitoring of near space for Earth-threatening encounters, according to NASA.

The objects don't pose a threat to Earth, and they will not be visible to the naked eye, said Donald Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near Earth Program, which tracks potentially hazardous asteroids and comets within 28 million miles of Earth.

The objects are visible from Earth as tiny specks of light with the help of moderately sized amateur telescopes, he said.

Near-Earth asteroid 2010 RX30, which is estimated to be 32 to 65 feet in diameter, passed within 154,000 miles of Earth at 5:51 a.m. ET Wednesday, the website PopFi.com confirmed.

The second object, 2010 RF12, estimated to be 20 to 46 feet in diameter, will pass within 49,088 miles of Earth at 5:12 pm ET.

In case you were wondering, that means the two asteroids will pass within 0.6 and 0.2 lunar distances from the Earth, respectively.

Roughly 50 million objects pass through near-Earth space each day, Yeomans said. But what makes this situation noteworthy is that these two asteroids are passing so close to Earth on the same day and that NASA spotted them so far in advance.

"Things like this happen every day that we simply don't know about because we don't have the telescopes large enough to find them or surveys that are looking full-time," he said. "This demonstrates the system's working on some level, but we need larger telescopes and more of them to find objects that are coming this close."

The Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona, discovered both objects Sunday morning during a routine monitoring of the skies, NASA said.

The Minor Planet Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, first received the observations Sunday morning, determined preliminary orbits and concluded both objects would pass within the distance of the moon about three days later.

Yeomans described the discovery as a warning shot in a field of study of low-probability events with global, high-impact consequences. He said that it was only when scientists began looking for near-Earth objects in the 1990s that they realized there was a "problem."

"We have only recently appreciated how many of these objects are in near Earth's space and [it's] best that we keep track of them and find them," he said. "I think this is Mother Nature's way of firing a shot over the bow and warning Earth-based astronomers that we have a lot of work to do."