The Assistant Director of Nigeria’s National Ozone Office, Pollution Control, Mr Abdulkasim Bayero, told journalists on Wednesday in Abuja that the development would help to prevent CFCs coming into Nigeria.

“We have confidence that there will be no importation of CFCs this year, because we have put in place all necessary machinery.

“We will be creating more awareness on the substance to all stakeholders involved with adequate monitoring already in place,” he said.

“What we mean by total phase out in 2010 is that this year, we do not expect any importation of CFCs,’’ he said.

He, however said that halons and carbontetrachloride had recorded zero consumption a few year ago, adding that the zero importation report for CFCs would only be known at the end of this year.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher

The massive overpopulation of Chihuahuas in California is forcing animal shelters on the West Coast to look to shelters on the East Coast for help – where there is demand for the dogs. The SF ACC asked Virgin America to spare a seat to fly Chihuahuas who might not otherwise have found homes in California. Virgin America teammates volunteered to escort the little dogs on the flights to the East Coast and will track their journey with real-time in-flight updates via the airline’s WiFi service.

“We’re pleased to help San Francisco Animal Care and Control fly these little guys out to the East Coast so they can be placed in adoptive homes,” said Ross Bonanno, Vice President of Airports and Guest Services at Virgin America. “As the only airline headquartered here in San Francisco, we take a great interest in our community – and many of our teammates and guests are dog lovers, so of course, we just had to do this.”

Virgin America sends the dogs off in high-style with a red carpet departure from a San Francisco International Airport gate, complete with champagne cocktail “Chi-mosas” and cupcakes for flight guests and doggie treats and toys for the Chihuahuas.

“The San Francisco Animal Care and Control couldn’t be more pleased to partner with our hometown airline -on the Chihuahua airlift today,” said Rebecca Katz, Director of the City of San Francisco Animal Care and Control. “We have a severe overpopulation of Chihuahuas here in California. Virgin America’s offer to fly the these little guys out to the East Coast will help us place them into loving homes that they couldn’t have found here in California.”

The Chihuahuas will be escorted by an SF ACC staff veterinarian and Virgin America teammates during the flight to New York. The dogs will arrive at 4:00pm ET today at John F. Kennedy (JFK) International Airport and will be received by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA®).

“We are glad to be given this opportunity to help meet demand for these dogs in New York and at the same time help find loving homes for San Francisco’s homeless animals,” said Gail Buchwald, Senior Vice President of the ASPCA Adoption Center. “These Chihuahuas will need a little time to settle in once they arrive, and we will make them ready to meet prospective adopters later next week after receiving full behavioral and medical assessments. The public can learn more about the Chihuahuas by visiting www.aspca.org or calling 212-876-7700 ext 3210.”

Source: Virgin America

Net News Publisher for World News

The plane, which was taxiing on the run way for take off in Abuja on Tuesday, hit one of the wings on the flood light pole at the apron. The aircraft, belonging to TAT Airlines was hired by the Christian Pilgrims Board to convey the intending pilgrims to Jerusalem.

The Public Relations Officer of the airport, Mr. Alfred Itua, told journalists in Abuja on Wednesday that fuel was gushing out of the damaged wing while the aircraft was still taxiing on the runway.

Itua said that the pilot of the aircraft was not aware of the development until men of the Fire Service Department prevented the aircraft from taking off.

He said that passengers and the crew members disembarked from the aircraft unhurt.

“No passenger was hurt or injured and there was no fire outbreak because our fire service men were on standby to control the situation,’’ he said.

He added that the intending pilgrims were lodged in hotels in Abuja while arrangements were being made to enable them travel on Wednesday.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher

An excellent example of such pattern-seeking behavior may be found in the column John Kay wrote yesterday for the Financial Times under the title “The Cause of our Crises has not Gone Away.” Given where the column was published, one quickly recognizes that the “crises” he has in mind are economic, rather than matters of ethics or “homeland security.” The logical strategy of his article involved situating current conditions in a historical context and then seeking out patterns in that broader historical view. His results are, to say the least, striking:

The credit crunch of 2007-08 was the third phase of a larger and longer financial crisis. The first phase was the emerging market defaults of the 1990s. The second was the new economy boom and bust at the turn of the century. The third was the collapse of markets for structured debt products, which had grown so rapidly in the five years up to 2007.

The manifestation of the problem in each phase was different – first emerging markets, then stock markets, then debt. But the mechanics were essentially the same. Financial institutions identified a genuine economic change – the assimilation of some poor countries into the global economy, the opportunities offered to business by new information technology, and the development of opportunities to manage risk and maturity mismatch more effectively through markets. Competition to sell products led to wild exaggeration of the pace and scope of these trends. The resulting herd enthusiasm led to mispricing – particularly in asset markets, which yielded large, and largely illusory, profits, of which a substantial fraction was paid to employees.

Eventually, at the end of each phase, reality impinged. The activities that once seemed so profitable – funding the financial systems of emerging economies, promoting start-up internet businesses, trading in structured debt products – turned out, in fact, to have been a source of losses. Lenders had to make write-offs, most of the new economy stocks proved valueless and many structured products became unmarketable. Governments, and particularly the US government, reacted on each occasion by pumping money into the financial system in the hope of staving off wider collapse, with some degree of success. At the end of each phase, regulators and financial institutions declared that lessons had been learnt. While measures were implemented which, if they had been introduced five years earlier, might have prevented the most recent crisis from taking the particular form it did, these responses addressed the particular problem that had just occurred, rather than the underlying generic problems of skewed incentives and dysfunctional institutional structures.

The public support of markets provided on each occasion the fuel needed to stoke the next crisis. Each boom and bust is larger than the last. Since the alleviating action is also larger, the pattern is one of cycles of increasing amplitude.

There are two important conclusions to draw from these findings. The first is that, informed by a historical view, Kay concluded that the pattern resides not in the structure of the crises themselves but in “mechanics” that were repeated from one crisis to the next. The second is that each iteration of those “mechanics” leads to a crisis whose amplitude is greater than its predecessor.

Kay’s conclusion is likely to aggravate just about everyone trying to make a living in the financial sector, with the possible exception of those who sail under the flag of what I have called “the Grameen School of thought,” whose fundamental premise is that the financial sector should be based on a non-profit business model. His final sentence packs a real wallop:

In the name of free markets, we created a monster that threatens to destroy the very free markets we extol.

The nature of that monster is best captured by his brief speculation on how the next crisis might surface:

I do not know what the epicentre of the next crisis will be, except that it is unlikely to involve structured debt products. I do know that unless human nature changes or there is fundamental change in the structure of the financial services industry – equally improbable – there will be another manifestation once again based on naive extrapolation and collective magical thinking.

In other words the entire financial sector rests on a foundation of illusion; and, while Niall Ferguson argued that case that such illusion was a necessary prerequisite for progress, Robert Skidelsky saw it as a sign of regress in the development of a society more ingenious at making money than at making things. To bring this distinction to Main Street, the very fact that our financial institutions have, for all intents and purposes, “recovered” from the crisis while the resulting unemployment crisis shows no similar signs of recovery can be attributed to the proposition that ours is no longer a country with a significant commitment to “making things.” Furthermore, we cannot expect either the Executive or Legislative branches of government to confront this problem, because ours is an age in which those who make money have radically more influence than those who make things. From this point of view, the financial sector may very well barrel its way into its next crisis before the rest of the country has recovered from the present one!

Posted by Stephen Smoliar

Net News Publisher for World News

Following completion of the six-mirror test in March 2010, nine of the 18 James Webb primary mirror segments will have successfully completed the first of two cryogenic temperature tests required for each mirror at Marshall’s X-Ray and Cryogenic Facility (XRCF). The first XRCF test measures distortion of each mirror surface as it cools from room temperature to the Webb telescope’s on-orbit operating temperature of approximately 45 K (-380 deg F). This surface distortion is mapped and subsequently removed in the final mirror polishing operations. The second XRCF test performed on each mirror will verify that the warm-to-cold surface distortion has been properly removed in final polishing.

Ball Aerospace is the principal optical subcontractor for the JWST program, led by prime contractor Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, under contract to NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Ball is responsible for developing the telescope optics, including the 18 mirror beryllium segment assemblies that comprise the primary mirror. The primary mirror EDU was cryogenically tested for the first time at the Alabama facility earlier this year and returned to Ball’s polishing subcontractor, L-3 SSG-Tinsley, for final polishing. The other five mirrors at Marshall are being prepared for their first cryogenic test scheduled to begin in January 2010. All of the remaining JWST flight mirror segments are in various stages of assembly and test as the observatory continues toward a scheduled launch in 2014.

“We are pleased to continue steady progress for the Webb’s optical structure,” said Cary Ludtke, vice president and general manager for the Ball Aerospace Civil and Operational Space strategic business unit. “To meet these benchmarks in the methodical and exhaustive testing for JWST’s cryogenic design is very satisfying.”

The Webb’s 6.6-meter beryllium primary mirror is critical for future infrared observations. Each of the 18 hexagonal-shaped mirror assemblies that make up the primary mirror measures more than 1.3 meters across, and weighs approximately 40 kilograms, or 88 pounds, after light-weighting. The temperature testing process for all eighteen JWST primary mirror segments will continue through 2011.

In addition to the primary mirror assemblies, Ball Aerospace is making significant progress on the secondary, tertiary and fine steering mirror assemblies as well as the aft optics bench that supports the tertiary and fine steering mirrors in the telescope.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will be the premier observatory of the next decade. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of our solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System.

Source: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.

Net News Publisher for World News

At a meeting with visiting Chinese Foreign Affairs Minister Yang Jiechi who paid him a courtesy call at his office in Nairobi, Kibaki described China as a true friend of Kenya, pointing out the many infrastructure projects funded by China.

The President also thanked the Government of China for its commitment to funding parts of the Northern Corridor and their interest in a new Mombasa-Kampala standard gauge railway line.

“Kenya highly appreciates the development assistance extended by China. The assistance has been substantial in financial terms and has a considerable impact on Kenya’s socio-economic development,” Kibaki said in a statement issued to the press in Nairobi.

The Head of State outlined the importance of Lamu Port and the second transport corridor that will link Kenya to Ethiopia and Southern Sudan via Garissa and Isiolo in northern Kenya.

During the meeting, China extended a 540 million shillings ($7.2 million) grant to support various projects in the country.

Kibaki and Jiechi also discussed issues centered on further enhancing the existing Kenya-China cooperation raised during the 4th Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Ministerial conference in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt in November last year.

The 4th FOCAC ministerial meeting adopted an action plan which lays out strategies for China-Africa cooperation over the next three years in which China seeks to build a new type of China-Africa Strategic Partnership covering several sectors of socio-economic development.

China and Kenya have in the past signed agreements and MOUs in various fields including technical and cultural cooperation, trade, education, health, energy, agriculture and cooperative development.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher

Launched on Dec. 14, WISE will scan the entire sky for millions of hidden objects, including asteroids, “failed” stars and powerful galaxies. WISE data will serve as navigation charts for other missions such as NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes, pointing them to the most interesting targets WISE finds.

A new WISE infrared image was taken shortly after the space telescope’s cover was removed, exposing the instrument’s detectors to starlight for the first time. The picture shows 3,000 stars in the Carina constellation.

The image covers a patch of sky about three times larger than the full moon. The patch was selected because it does not contain any unusually bright objects, which could damage instrument detectors if observed for too long. The picture was taken while the spacecraft was staring at a fixed patch of sky and is being used to calibrate the spacecraft’s pointing system.

When the WISE survey begins, the spacecraft will scan the sky continuously as it circles the globe, while an internal scan mirror counteracts its motion. This allows WISE to take “freeze-frame” snapshots every 11 seconds, resulting in millions of images of the entire sky.

“Right now, we are busy matching the rate of the scan mirror to the rate of the spacecraft, so we will capture sharp pictures as our telescope sweeps across the sky,” said William Irace, the mission’s project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

To sense the infrared glow of stars and galaxies, the WISE spacecraft cannot give off any detectable infrared light of its own. This is accomplished by chilling the telescope and detectors to ultra-cold temperatures. The coldest of WISE’s detectors will operate at less than 8 Kelvin, or minus 445 Fahrenheit.

The first sky survey will be complete in six months, followed by a second scan of one-half of the sky lasting three months. The WISE mission ends when the frozen hydrogen that keeps the instrument cold evaporates away, an event expected to occur in October 2010.

Preliminary survey images are expected to be released six months later, in April 2011, with the final atlas and catalog coming after another 11 months in March 2012. Selected images will be released to the public beginning in February 2010.

JPL manages WISE for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The mission was competitively selected under NASA’s Explorers Program, managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The science instrument was built by the Space Dynamics Laboratory in Logan, Utah, and the spacecraft was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. Science operations and data processing take place at the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

Source: NASA

Net News Publisher for World News

The study, carried out by the Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA) arm of the MOD, compared records on approximately 1.3m Service leavers with a database of all remand and sentenced prisoners in England and Wales aged 18 and over. It found that ex-Service personnel make up just under 3 percent of offenders in prison.

Veterans Minister Kevan Jones said:

“The vast majority of those who leave the Armed Forces make a successful transition to civilian life but we know that a small minority face difficulties. This study gives a full picture of how many veterans are in the prison population for the first time. This will help us to investigate where improvements can be made to help personnel settle back into society once they leave the Armed Forces to minimize their risk of falling into the criminal justice system.  In doing this, we will work closely both within Government and with service charities.”

The Service leavers’ database holds records that date back to 1979 for the Navy, 1972 for the Army and 1968 for the RAF but does not include reservists. DASA estimate that, although not exhaustive, these statistics represent a realistic picture of the number of veterans in prison. Further work may lead to a slight increase in this estimate by taking into account the gaps in the data although the proportion of ex-Service offenders is not expected to exceed 4 percent.

The next stage in this project will be to evaluate the ex-Service prison population in terms of age, gender, Service branch, length of service, rank, deployment history, time since discharge, and offense type. This qualitative analysis will ensure that resources and support can be better targeted at those who need them.

Prisons Minister Maria Eagle said:

“We take our duty of care for all offenders very seriously, irrespective of background. We are committed to identifying and addressing the underlying reasons for offending amongst veterans serving prison sentences. By providing them with support and information which will aid their resettlement in the community, we also reduce the risk that they will re-offend.

This research will inform policy development between our two departments and will enable us to better support veterans who end up behind bars.”

We will share the findings of this study with the Howard League for Penal Reform and work closely with Sir John Nutting QC and his team to inform the independent inquiry into former Armed Forces personnel in prison which was launched in November.

Source: Ministry of Defence

Net News Publisher for World News

The Malian market with only 3.5 million subscribers in 2008, now has 4.3 million, with a total of 800,000 new subscribers in 2009 for a total population of about 14 million people, said Malian President Amadou Toumani Toure during his New Year message.

While calling it a “fascinating” telecommunications progress, President Toure said this increase is due to “significant” investments that have improved the quality and cost of services in a “competitive” context.

The private operator “Orange” shares the Malian mobile phone market with Societe des telecommunications du Mali (SOTELMA) whose 51% shares were recently bought by Maroc Telecom (MT) for CFA 180.3 million.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher

“I’m very happy to partner with this brand,” said Klum. “I really love Dannon Light & Fit because it’s a great snack with a delicious taste.”

Each 6-ounce, single-serving cup of Dannon Light & Fit has 0% fat and 80 calories. Consumers can now choose from 21 flavors, including the newest introduction of Strawberry Cheesecake, Pomegranate Berry and Orange Bliss. Light & Fit is also available in 60-calorie 12-pack and 6-pack flavor combinations. Also, coming soon are the new “Super Saver” 4-packs that include four 6-ounce cups.

The advertising campaign humorously depicts Klum getting caught by a skeptical bystander devouring a container of Light & Fit following a workout. Creative credits include: Creative Director – John Bollinger; Creative Director – Ritch Goldstein; Senior Copy Writer – Jen Gore; Associate Creative Director – Tony Valenzeula; Senior Content Producer – Salima Millott; Director – Mark Tiedemann.

Source: multivu.prnewswire.com

Net News Publisher for World News

Since the scheme was introduced in November 2008 for students renewing their visa under Tier 4 of the Points Based System (PBS) and people seeking to renew marriage visas, more than 130,000 cards have been issued.

From today, the  scheme will be extended to incorporate skilled foreign workers under Tier 2 of the PBS. This brings the roll out forward from April this year and adds around 40,000 foreign nationals a year to those currently being issued with the cards.

Mr Woolas said:

“Identity cards are a secure and simple way for foreign nationals to prove they are entitled to live, work or study in the UK. The biometric data contained on the card ties migrants to one identity and prevents those here illegally from benefiting from the privileges of life in Britain.

“Identity cards have already been issued to more than 130,000 foreign nationals, with a total of approximately 140,000 due to be issued by the end of the financial year.

“We are proud to be working with the Post Office to provide vital extra capacity and speed up the enrollment process. The greater choice this partnership provides for migrants is proving popular and already 1,432 have used the new technology in Post Offices to enroll their details.”

The cards – for non-Europeans who are applying to extend their stay in the UK – securely lock foreign nationals to one identity. They will also help foreign nationals prove their right to live and work in the UK while  making it easier for businesses to crack down on illegal working.

Foreign nationals living within qualifying postcodes and invited by the Post Office will have the option of providing their fingerprints and photograph at one of the participating Post Offices for a fee of £8 or at one of the UK Border Agency or Identity and Passport Service Offices currently included within the scheme, which remain free.

The Post Office will not be making decisions on whether someone can stay in the UK and detailed checking of enrollment details will continue to be conducted by the UK Border Agency.

Alan Cook, Managing Director of the Post Office, said:

“The Post Office is very pleased to be offering an enrollment service on a trial basis at 17 Crown branches. The trial went live in early November and the technology is working well, with foreign nationals who have gone to participating branches appreciating the ability to enroll their personal details in a secure way at a convenient and trusted high street location.

“We are setting a worldwide benchmark among post offices around the globe in our investment in this groundbreaking technology and we remain committed to exploring further opportunities to provide a secure and efficient enrollment service in our branches as the work can generate extremely useful income to help support the whole of the nationwide Post Office network.”

Source: Home Office

Net News Publisher for World News

The governors, who met under the auspices of the PDP Governors’ Forum, said the president had spoken by telephone to key members of the government, including those in the legislature and the executive.

The Chairman of the Forum, Governor Olusola Saraki of Kwara State said after the meeting that the health of the president was being politicized and urged mischief makers to desist.

He said it was uncharitable to make the ailment of the president a political issue and he urged Nigerians to have confidence that the country had not slid backwards.

The governor said that the forum also flayed the attempt by a Nigerian to bomb a US airline but was unhappy with the action the government of the United States took, especially the classification of Nigeria as a country to watch in terrorism.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) and a human rights activist, Femi Falana, appeared before the Abuja High Court on Tuesday to ask the court to force the president to resign.

The case was heard briefly and the court gave the government’s counsel time to respond but no date had been fixed for the hearing.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher

The suspected militants were captured at a hospital in Amran province, north of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, where they sought shelter and medical care. They included Mohammed al-Hanq, a key local al-Qaeda leader, Al Arabiya said.

The local al-Qaeda leader is believed to be behind the security threats that caused the closure of several western embassies several days ago.

The U.S. embassy in Yemen was temporarily closed on Sunday due to the threat of an al-Qaeda attack. The U.S. lead was also followed by the embassies of France, the U.K. and Japan.

The U.S. embassy in Yemen reopened on Tuesday on reports of a successful raid by Yemeni forces on Monday, in which two other members of al-Qaeda were killed. The other western embassies also resumed their work but their public services still remain closed.

The U.S. embassy closed on Sunday over security concerns just days after a failed attack on a U.S. airliner claimed by the al-Qaeda group in Yemen.

A 23-year-old Nigerian national, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a passenger on board an A330 passenger jet bound from Amsterdam to Detroit on December 25, tried to blow up the plane that was carrying some 300 people. He was detained and charged with attempted terrorist attack.

Abdulmutallab is suspected of having received training and explosives in Yemen.

Source RIA Novosti

Net News Publisher

The agency has its headquarters in Ouagadougou and a branch in Bobo-Dioulasso, the second largest city. Its creation is in response to the wishes of the directors general of civil aviation of the Africa region and recommendations of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

According to the Burkinabe Ministry of Transport, ANAC has been set up as an “autonomous management agency and a sustainable financing mechanism for improving standards of safety and security of civil aviation”.

The creation of ANAC also occurs in a context where the Burkinabe government has decided to redevelop the Ouagadougou airport, gradually open or rehabilitate secondary airports in a dozen inland cities and finally to build a new airport 35km north of Ouagadougou.

Burkina Faso, a landlocked country, is attempting to optimize the possibilities of air servicing. Aviation safety is ranked as a “national priority”. Air traffic is low with a flow of 200,000 to 300,000 passengers per year in the country.

Source African Press Agency

Net News Publisher

The operation was carried out on the night of January 5-6, during which the police detained a Dushanbe resident carrying over 48 kg (106 lbs) of raw opium in his bag. During a search in his apartment, over 8 kg (18 lbs) of heroin were found, the ministry said.

The detained person has a criminal record, the ministry said.

The ex-Soviet Central Asian states remain major drug suppliers to Russia and onto Europe. According to estimates, about 90% of heroin consumed in Russia is trafficked from Afghanistan via Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Source RIA Novosti

Net News Publisher