Well-Deserved Victory - The New State of South Sudan

Yes its right that New State of South Sudan has came into existence.On Saturday, South Sudan becomes a free and independent country. It is a well-deserved victory for its people. Under a 2005 American-backed political accord that ended two decades of civil war, the people of the mainly Christian territory voted overwhelmingly in January to secede from the Arab Muslim north

Still, celebrations in the capital, Juba, cannot obscure a sobering truth: building a functional new country will take decades of hard work. Responsibility falls primarily on South Sudan, but also on the United States and the international community that shepherded it.

Africa’s 54th state is at the bottom of the developing world. Most people live on less than $1 a day. More than 10 percent of children do not reach the age of 5. Some 75 percent of adults cannot read.

Meanwhile, festering disputes between north and south are stoking chaos in a land already bloodied by two million deaths in civil war. Sudan on Friday became the first state to recognize South Sudan. Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, author of the murderous war in Darfur, said he would attend the festivities in Juba. But he also said he would continue the fight that erupted last month against forces loyal to the south in South Kordofan, an oil-rich region still under Khartoum’s control. Mr. Bashir’s decision to order the United Nations to withdraw peacekeepers from South Kordofan is deeply worrisome.

Major elements of the 2005 peace agreement are unresolved — such as which side will control the oil-rich region of Abyei, where fighting has also broken out; citizenship protections for minorities; where final borders will be set; how oil earnings will be shared (the south has 70 percent of the reserves).

The two sides are dependent on each other. South Sudan needs the north’s pipeline to get its oil to market. Sudan needs oil money to help pay its bills. Both need foreign investment and the north needs debt relief. They have a better chance of winning international support if they are at peace.

As an incentive, the United States and its partners have offered to convene an international conference in September for South Sudan. That will allow South Sudan’s leaders to present their plans for encouraging desperately needed private investment. Washington gave Juba $300 million for education and housing and is promising more. International assistance should go forward only if South Sudan works constructively with Khartoum to bring stability to both countries.

The Obama administration, correctly, is not taking Sudan off its terrorism list and normalizing relations until Khartoum fulfills the peace deal and ends the conflict in Darfur. China, Sudan’s main oil investor and arms supplier, should deliver a similar message to Mr. Bashir, who is under war crimes indictment, instead of receiving him with fanfare in Beijing and promising him new oil deals. The international community must persuade the two sides to avoid war and work to build a future for both Sudans.

The Last Journey of Space Shuttle Atlantis

The last journey of Atlantis has started with great attention of the whole world.Now read  the whole story of  Atlantis.There was a time, some of us remember, when a countdown at Canaveral stopped the world in its tracks. On television or at the launching, every breath was held at liftoff and every eye followed the fiery plume of ascent, up and away. Godspeed, said someone who was everyone.

That was a half century ago, when men first squeezed into their machines and, defying gravity, rode into a new dimension of human experience. Unbound to Earth, our species could imagine that an age of spacefaring was truly under way, the Moon and Mars within reach, maybe even an asteroid where the Little Prince awaited our visit. The promised new reality legitimized fantasies.

The atmosphere here on Friday at the launching of the space shuttle Atlantis was, in some respects, reminiscent of the old days. The crowd was the largest in years, attracted by the last chance for no telling how long to see astronauts in this country leave for space.

Everything was class-reunion festive. The gray-hairs recharged memories from youth. Their grandchildren trooped along to see what had turned people on when there were just a few channels of black-and-white TV and the only telephone in the house was at the end of a cord — and the only ones twittering were sparrows. 

As rain clouds hovered ominously and the countdown began to the 135th departure in the 30-year-old shuttle program, the milling crowd grew still and anxious. There was concern for the four lives in the winged space plane, of course, and all eyes searched for the break in the clouds that finally came. But this time, more than ever, spectators and others who care about NASA worried for nothing less than the future of human spaceflight in the United States.

“We’ve come full circle since 1961, back to when we had yet to show we could launch people into space,” said Steven J. Dick, a retired NASA chief historian. “We will be hitching rides from the Russians to go to the space station that is mainly ours.”

The irony of having to send our astronauts up in Russian Soyuz capsules is as plain as cold war history. The Soviet Union’s early dominance of space, manifested by the Sputnik surprise in 1957 and subsequent feats, prompted the United States to match and then surpass the Soviets in a program topped off by the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969. Human spaceflight would have come along anyway, but not with quite the urgency of the Soviet-American competition.

Foreseeing the end of shuttle flights, the Obama administration and NASA last year proposed new plans, approved by Congress, to develop heavy-lift rockets for sending people deeper into space, to be ready perhaps after 2020. Meanwhile, NASA has begun financing research for intermediate crew-only spacecraft to be produced and launched by commercial companies, probably no sooner than 2016. Such plans, of course, are at the mercy of the budget cutting and government downsizing spreading in Washington.

Lori B. Garver, the deputy administrator of NASA, insisted this week that the future was bright for human spaceflight. “We are tapping into how we developed almost everything great in this country, through commercial enterprise and competition,” Ms. Garver said.

Other NASA officials noted that Congressional support for the new programs was bipartisan. But they acknowledged that budget cuts were possible, and would ultimately take a toll on launching capabilities.

John M. Logsdon, a space policy expert and the author of “John F. Kennedy and the Race to the Moon,” said there had been gaps in human flight before, especially after Apollo flights ended in 1975 and the first shuttles flew in 1981. “We can accept that as long as a replacement is in the pipeline,” Dr. Logsdon said. “But we are ending programs with no sure follow-ons.”

Dr. Dick, the historian, questioned whether the barely started new programs would be ready to boost this country’s astronauts into orbit in this decade. “We’re stuck in the short term, can’t rouse ourselves to do much that’s inspiring,” he said.

Whatever happened to the space age as imagined back in the 1950s and early ’60s, when science fiction writers and rocket scientists spun tales of travel out in the solar system and beyond? Propellants, oxygen and other good stuff never seemed limited, or radiation a risk, or Congressional budgets a curse. This alternate universe appealed to some in a society flush with confidence after winning the Second World War but feeling a bit confined in the postwar gray-flannel conformity. Americans seemed to have lost none of their can-do spirit.

Landmines in Libya

War in Libya has entered in a new phase.Forces loyal to embattled leader Moammar Gaddafi have laid land mines. Human Rights Watch has claimed the mines were placed in mountains in the far western part of Libya.

The mountains contain many revolutionaries, who first reported the mines to Human Rights Watch.

Revolution force members claimed to have removed more than 150 mines from the area while HRW verified it had also discovered mines in six locations.

Antipersonnel landmines are banned in most countries as they pose a huge threat to civilians.

Hearing Loss Among Newborns due to Virus

Its great writing for the newborn babies health.Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common viral infection that causes flu-like or no symptoms in healthy people. However, it can cause problems if the infection occurs for the first time during pregnancy.

'CMV is greatly under-diagnosed,' said Professor William Rawlinson from the University of New South Wales, reports the Australian Medical Journal.

A surveillance project between 1999 and 2009 showed that out of about 1,800 cases of CMV a year, only five to 25 were being diagnosed, according to a New South Wales statement.

Rawlinson said CMV screening would be cost-effective and an antiviral therapy was available for treatment in infants before 30 days of age.

'Most infected babies will be well. However, about half of the infants who develop disease will not show symptoms at birth and are unlikely to be identified without screening,' he said.

White House and Libya Conflict Critics

White House to answer Libya conflict critics

The House of Representatives on Friday passed a symbolic resolution chiding President Barack Obama for not seeking congressional approval for US involvement and gave him until June 17 to answer those questions and more.

“We will answer the questions in that resolution within the time-frame,” said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

But Carney declined to say whether the response would be in the form of the detailed report sought in the non-binding resolution, which was crafted by Republican House Speaker John Boehner.

“I don’t have a format for you, but we will certainly endeavor to answer the questions,” said the spokesman.

Carney also sidestepped questions on whether the White House would ask for formal congressional authorization for the US military role in the UN-backed campaign now officially under control of Nato.

“We have been in extensive consultations with Congress about our mission in Libya, the goals of which, we believe, are widely shared by Republicans and Democrats and House members and senators,” he told reporters.

His comments came as Democratic Senator Jim Webb and Republican Senator Bob Corker, both members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a resolution akin to the House measure that challenged Obama’s Libya policy.

Their bill calls for the Obama administration to offer a detailed justification for US operations and forbids any deployment of US ground troops in Libya, and demands a detailed report within 14 days on US goals and means to reach those objectives.

It also calls on Obama to request authorization for the continuation of US involvement in Nato activities and states that Congress should fully debate such a request expediently.

SHOCK LOVE CHILD

 Supper and Terminated star Arnold Schwarzenegger confesses to secret baby.Arnold Schwarzenegger has revealed he fathered a secret love child during his marriage to Maria Shriver.

Terminator star Arnie and his wife, who have 4 children - Katherine, 21, Christina, 19, Patrick, 17, and Christopher, 13 - announced their separation through a joint statement earlier this month, but chose not to disclose the reason for the break-up.

It appears Arnie recently confessing to the existence of his 5th child broke his relatiionship with Maria, 55, apart.

'I told my wife about this event which occurred over a decade ago,' Arnie, 63, explained.

'There are no excuses and I take full responsibility for the hurt I have caused.

'I have apologised to Maria, my children and my family. I am truly sorry.'

The mother of Arnie's secret child was a member of his household staff who had worked for the family for 20 years.

'I ask that the media respect my wife and children through this extremely difficult time,' Arnie says in a statement to the LA Times.

Most Wanted "OSAMA BIN LADEN" shot dead in PAKISTAN

One of the major master mind of 9/11 attacks OSAMA BIN LADEN has been died in Pakistan today. “Justice has been done,” President Barack Obama declared in a hastily called, late-night White House speech announcing the death of the elusive head of the militant group behind a series of deadly bombings across the world.

Bin Laden’s death is highly symbolic but it was unclear whether it would mark a turning point in the worldwide war against a highly fractured network of militants, or end any sooner the battle against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

A source familiar with the US operation said bin Laden was shot in the head. His death was confirmed separately by officials in Pakistan.

Jubilant, flag-waving celebrations erupted in Washington and New York. It was the biggest national security victory for Obama since he took office in early 2009 and could give him a political boost as he seeks re-election in 2012.

Obama may now find it easier to wind down the nearly decade-old war in Afghanistan, begun after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000.

Pakistanis not told

But the operation could complicate relations with Pakistan already frayed over US drone strikes in the west of the country and the jailing of a CIA contractor accused of killing two Pakistani men.

A US official said Pakistani authorities were told the details of the raid after it had taken place.

Obama said US forces led a targeted operation that killed bin Laden in a compound in Abbotabad north of Islamabad. No Americans were killed in the operation and they took care to avoid civilian casualties, he said.

Bin Laden and three adult men, including a son of bin Laden were killed along with a woman who was used as a shield by a male combatant, officials said.

The operation took under 40 minutes. A US helicopter was lost due to a mechanical problem and its crew and assault force safely evacuated.

The operation was monitored in real-time by CIA Director Leon Panetta and other intelligence officials in a conference room at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, an official said.

Senior administration officials said they were finally led to bin Laden after more than four years tracking one of his trusted couriers, and the man’s brother, using intelligence obtained from detainees captured after Sept. 11.

They finally identified the men’s residence in August 2010, and quickly realized the $1 million; three-story property was far more than the home of two individuals with no discernible source of wealth.

Possible Reprisals

Authorities said Obama’s hideaway, built in 2005, was about eight times larger than other homes in the area, located when it was built at the end of a narrow dirt road. It had security features including 12- to 18-foot walls topped with barbed wire, internal walls for extra privacy, and access controlled through two security gates.

It had no telephone or Internet connection. Bin Laden’s death triggered a travel alert for Americans worldwide, the US State Department said, warning of the potential for anti-American violence.

Thousands of people gathered outside the White House, waving American flags, cheering and chanting “USA, USA, USA.”

Car drivers blew their horns in celebration and people streamed to Lafayette Park across from the street, as police vehicles with their lights flashing stood vigil.

“I’m down here to witness the history. My boyfriend is commissioning as a Marine next week. So I’m really proud of the troops,” Laura Vogler, a junior at American University in Washington, said outside the White House.

Similar celebrations erupted in New York’s Ground Zero, site of the World Trade Center twin towers felled by hijacked airplanes on Sept. 11.

A market perception that the death of bin Laden reduced the security risks facing the United States lifted the dollar from a three-year low and raised stock index futures.

US crude oil prices also fell. “Current oil prices are regarded by most analysts as carrying significant risk premium at current levels and good news on the geopolitical front has the potential to move prices back below $100,” said Ric Spooner, chief analyst at CMC Markets in Sydney.

However, some analysts said the market impact would be short lived.

Many Americans had given up hope of finding bin Laden after he vanished in the mountains of Afghanistan in late 2001.

Intelligence that originated last August provided the clues that eventually led to bin Laden’s trail, the president said. A US official said Obama gave the final order to pursue the operation last Friday morning.

“The United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda and a terrorist who is responsible for the murder of thousands of men, women and children,” Obama said.