08-02-2021

MonDAY, FebRUARY 8, 2021
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Emirati 'Hope' probe
approaches Mars
DUBAI : The first Arab interplanetary
mission is expected to reach Mars' orbit
Tuesday in what is considered the most
critical part of the journey to unravel the
secrets of weather on the Red Planet.
The unmanned probe - named "Al-
Amal", Arabic for "Hope" - blasted off
from Japan last year, marking the next
step in the United Arab Emirates'
ambitious space programme, reports
BSS.
Here are some facts and figures about
the oil-rich nation's project, which draws
inspiration from the Middle East's
golden age of cultural and scientific
achievements.
The UAE, made up of seven emirates
including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, has 12
satellites in orbit, with plans to launch
several more in coming years.
In September 2019 it sent the first
Emirati into space, Hazza al-Mansouri,
who was part of a three-member crew.
They blasted off from Kazakhstan,
returning home after an eight-day
mission in which he became the first
Arab to visit the International Space
Station.
But the UAE's ambitions go much
further, with a goal of building a human
settlement on Mars by 2117.
In the meantime, it plans to create a
white-domed "Science City" in the
deserts outside Dubai to simulate
Martian conditions and develop the
technology needed to colonise the
planet.
The UAE has plans to launch an
unmanned rover to the moon by 2024
and is also eyeing future mining projects
beyond Earth, as well as space tourism.
It has signed a memorandum of
understanding with Richard Branson's
space tourism company Virgin Galactic
and announced the creation of a "space
court" to settle commercial disputes
relating to space industries.
The "Hope" probe lifted off from
Japan's Tanegashima Space Center on
July 20 last year.
The 1,350-kilogramme (2,970-pound)
probe - about the size of an SUV - took
seven months to travel the 493 million
kilometres (307 million miles) to Mars.
Officials say that the "most critical and
complex" manoeuvre will begin on
Tuesday at 1530 GMT, to slow the
spacecraft enough to be captured by the
gravity of the Red Planet.
The probe will for the first time fire all
six of its Delta-V thrusters, for a
duration of 27 minutes, to slow its
cruising speed of 121,000 kilometres per
hour to about 18,000 kph.
The process will consume half of the
spacecraft's fuel, and it will take 11
minutes for a signal on its progress to
reach Earth.
If successful, one loop around the
planet will take 40 hours.
The "Hope" probe will remain in this
phase for approximately two months,
during which further testing will take
place, until it is ready to enter the
"science" orbit - when its data collection
work begins.
The first Arab interplanetary mission is expected to reach Mars' orbit
Tuesday in what is considered the most critical part of the journey to
unravel the secrets of weather on the Red Planet. Photo : Internet
4 skiers killed, 4 injured by
Utah avalanche, police say
SALT LAKE CITY : An avalanche killed
four skiers and injured four others
Saturday in a popular recreation area,
making it one of the deadliest avalanches
in Utah history, authorities said.
The Unified Police Department told local
media that it was alerted to the avalanche
about 11:40 a.m. after receiving a faint distress
call from an avalanche beacon in
Millcreek Canyon, reports UNB.
The skier-triggered avalanche swept up
eight people in their early twenties to late
thirties who were in two groups touring the
backcountry, Unified Police Sgt. Melody
Cutler told the Salt Lake Tribune.
The avalanche took place at an elevation
of 9,800 feet (2,987 meters). It had a depth
of 2.5 feet (0.7 meters) and a width of 250
feet (76 meters).
All eight skiers had avalanche beacons,
the department told the KSTU TV station.
The survivors were able to dig themselves
out of the snow and ice, but their
medical conditions are unknown, the
department said. The survivors were able
to find and dig out the other four, but they
had already died, the department added.
Search and rescue teams from several
agencies are working to recover the bodies.
The victims' names have not yet been
released.
Drew Hardesty with the Utah Avalanche
Center told the Tribune that the victims
were experienced skiers who were well
known in the community.
The Utah Avalanche Center had deemed
the avalanche risk in the area "high."
Hours before the avalanche, it tweeted out
a warning that there was "High Danger.
Large natural avalanches overnight.
Dangerous avalanche conditions. Keep it
low angle."
Florida: Slain FBI agent remembered
for protecting children
MIAMI GARDENS : A slain FBI agent was
remembered for her strength, infectious
laugh, love of family and commitment to protecting
children during a memorial service
Saturday.
Agents Laura Schwartzenberger, 43, and
Daniel Alfin, 36, were gunned down Tuesday
while serving a search warrant at the Broward
County home of a child pornography suspect.
The service for Schwartzenberger was held at
the Miami Dolphins' football stadium. A separate
service for Alfin will be held there Sunday.
"There are no good words to make sense of
a loss like this, no good words for a day like
Tuesday, or like today," said FBI Director
Christopher Wray. "There's a heaviness in our
hearts and a burden unlike any other, because
there is nothing more devastating to the FBI
family than the loss of an agent in the line of
duty."
Schwartzenberger's casket was draped
with an American flag as it was brought out
to the field as bagpipers played. The flag
was later folded into a triangle and presented
to her family by Wray. She was given a
21-gun salute during the service. "Laura
chose to be part of a team that spends their
days in darkness confronting the very worst
parts of humanity. It's a job with high
stress, high emotional toll and high
burnout," Wray said of the agent, who was
originally from Pueblo, Colorado. "Laura
never stopped. She'd talk to anybody and
everybody about protecting children from
predators online."
Federal government officials who attended
the service with Wray were Acting U.S.
Attorney General Monty Wilkinson and
President Joe Biden's Homeland Security
Advisor Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall.
"During her 15 years as an FBI Special
Agent, Laura Schwartzenberger was selfless,
tireless, brave and committed to protecting
some of society's most vulnerable:
its children," Wilkinson said in statement.
Sherwood-Randall also praised
Schwartzenberger's service to the nation,
calling her "an American hero who dedicated
her life to keeping our country, our citizens
and especially our children safe."
Batik dye causes
blood-red flood
in Indonesia
PEKALONGAN : An
Indonesian village was inundated
by crimson-coloured
water after flooding hit a fabric
dyeing centre in central
Java, sparking a social
media frenzy.
Residents of Jenggot, near
the town of Pekalongan,
were seen wading through
blood-red water on Saturday
and many shared images of
the rare phenomenon
online.
Officials later confirmed
the unique colour came from
harmless fabric dye used by
several batik factories in the
area, reports BSS.
Pekalongan itself is well
known for its batik textiles
industry, with many cottage
industries flourishing across
the town.
"They did not dump the
dye on purpose, but several
home industries were flooded
and the dye packages
were carried away by the
water", local disaster agency
official Dimas Arga Yudha
told AFP Sunday, adding
that the batik dye was not
toxic or dangerous.
Local officials deployed
pumps to drain the flooded
area it was cleared in less
than an hour.
Floods are very common
across the Indonesian archipelago,
especially during the
rainy season.
In January at least 21 people
died and more than
60,000 were evacuated after
a series of major floods hit
South Kalimantan.
DR Congo militia
kills at least 12
in new attack
BENI, DR Cogo : Fighters
believed to belong to the
ADF militia have killed at
least 12 people in the
Democratic Republic of
Congo's east, local sources
said Sunday, reports BSS.
The gruesome attack took
place overnight Friday-
Saturday after a month of
relative calm in the area.
"Fighters from the Allied
Democratic Forces massacred
farmers from the village
of Mabule in their fields,"
Donat Kibuana, the administrator
of the Beni region in
North Kivu province, told
AFP.
At least eight men and four
women "had their throats
savagely slit in their fields by
these ADF terrorists," said
Roger Masimango, from a
local network of civil society
groups.
"We're still searching,
because we aren't hearing
from some of the farmers,"
he added.
An expert in the area, who
asked to remain anonymous,
said 14 bodies had
been found and more people
were missing after the
assault.
An army offensive
launched in the Rwenzori
mountain region had caused
a "relative decline" in the
number of deadly attacks
since early January, administrator
Kibuana said.
He added that "many villages
are empty" of people
who have fled the fighting.
But the ADF - one of the
most violent among dozens
of armed groups in the eastern
DRC - is believed to have
killed 21 civilians on
February 5 in Rwenzori.
The UN's human rights
office in the DRC said
Wednesday that defence
and security forces had
made "significant efforts to
dismantle" the militia.
Nevertheless, it said 468
deaths in the east were
attributed to the group in the
second half of 2020, including
108 women and 15 children.
Originally Ugandan
Muslim rebels, the ADF settled
in the DRC in 1995.
In recent years they have
given up on attacks in
neighbouring Uganda, but
have carried out repeated
massacres in the Beni
region of the DRC, killing
more than 1,000 people
since October 2014.
In this image made from video, protesters flash the three-fingered salute while they gather to march
Saturday, Feb. 6, 2021, in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar's new military authorities appeared to have
cut most access to the Internet on Saturday as they faced a rising tide of protest over their coup that
toppled Aung San Suu Kyi's elected civilian government.
Photo : AP
Myanmar junta blocks internet
access as coup protests expand
Saudi says intercepted
armed drone launched
by Yemen rebels
YANGON, MYANMAR :
Myanmar's new military authorities
appeared to have cut most
access to the internet on Saturday
as they faced a rising tide of protest
over their coup that toppled Aung
San Suu Kyi's elected government,
reports UNB.
Numerous internet users noted a
slow disappearance of data services,
especially from mobile service
providers, that accelerated sharply
late Saturday morning. Broadband
connection also later failed, while
there were mixed reports on
whether landline telephone service
and mobile voice connections were
still working.
Netblocks, a London-based service
that tracks internet disruptions,
said Saturday afternoon that "a
near-total internet shutdown is
now in effect" in Myanmar, with
connectivity falling to just 16% of
normal levels.
The broad outage followed
Friday's military order to block
Twitter and Instagram because
some people were trying to use the
platforms to spread what authorities
deemed fake news. Facebook
had already been blocked earlier in
the week - though not completely
effectively.
The communication blackout is a
stark reminder of the progress
Myanmar is in danger of losing
after Monday's coup plunged the
nation back under direct military
rule after a nearly decade-long
move toward greater openness and
democracy. During Myanmar's previous
five decades of military rule,
the country was internationally isolated
and communication with the
outside world strictly controlled.
Suu Kyi's five years as leader
since 2015 had been Myanmar's
most democratic period despite the
military retaining broad powers
over the government, the continued
use of repressive colonial-era
laws and the persecution of minority
Rohingya Muslims.
The blockages are also adding
greater urgency to efforts to resist
the coup. In one of the largest
protests so far, about 1,000 people
- factory workers and students
prominent among them - marched
RIYADH : Saudi Arabia intercepted an
armed drone launched towards the kingdom
by Yemen's Huthis, state media
said Sunday, a day after the US moved to
delist the rebels as a terrorist group.
The Saudi-led military coalition "intercepted
and destroyed an armed drone,"
said spokesman Turki al-Maliki in a
statement carried by the official Saudi
Press Agency.
"It was launched systematically and
deliberately by the terrorist Huthi militia
to target civilians and civilian objects
in the south of the region."
The incident was not immediately
claimed by the Iran-backed Huthis.
The US State Department on Friday
said it had formally notified Congress of
its intention to revoke a terrorist designation
against the rebels, which had
been announced at the end of the administration
of former president Donald
Trump.
The delisting move came a day after US
President Joe Biden announced an end
to US support for Saudi-led offensive
operations in Yemen.
Humanitarian groups were deeply
opposed to the designation, saying it
jeopardised their operations in a country
where the majority of people rely on aid,
and that they have no choice but to deal
with the Huthis, who control much of
the north.
Saudi Arabia, which entered the
Yemen conflict in 2015 to bolster the
internationally recognised government,
has repeatedly been targeted with crossborder
attacks.
Last month, it said it had intercepted
and destroyed a "hostile air target" heading
towards the capital Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia intercepted an armed drone launched towards the kingdom
by Yemen's Huthis, state media said Sunday, a day after the US moved to
delist the rebels as a terrorist group.
Photo : Internet
down a main street in Yangon, the
country's biggest city, and were
met by more than 100 police in riot
gear.
They shouted "down with dictatorship"
and other slogans,
marched with their hands in the air
and flashed three-fingered salutes,
a symbol of defiance adopted from
protesters in neighboring Thailand.
There was no violence reported.
Similar-sized demonstrations
took place in at least two other
areas of the city. At Yangon's City
Hall, protesters presented flowers
to police, some of whom carried
assault rifles.
Other reports that slipped
through the communications
blockade said protests were held in
other cities, including Mandalay,
the second largest.
Telenor Myanmar, a major
mobile operator, confirmed it had
received Friday's order to block
Twitter and Instagram. In a statement,
Twitter said it was "deeply
concerned" about the order and
vowed to "advocate to end destructive
government-led shutdowns."
Biden hosts first of
chats to talk 'directly'
with Americans
WASHINGTON : US
President Joe Biden on
Saturday launched a series
of conversations with ordinary
Americans by calling a
woman who lost her job due
to the pandemic, in an effort
to showcase his direct contact
with his fellow citizens,
reports UNB.
"The White House will
launch a new effort for the
president to regularly communicate
directly with the
American people," White
House spokeswoman Jen
Psaki said Friday.
Due to Covid-19, the conversation
was held via telephone
from the Oval Office
in Washington to Michele, a
mother from Roseville,
California who lost her job at
a start-up company because
of the economic crisis
sparked by the pandemic.
She had written to Biden
to tell him about her struggles
and her search for a new
job.
"Like my dad used to say, a
job is about a lot more than a
paycheck. It's about your dignity,
it's about your respect,
it's about your place in the
community," the 78-year-old
president told Michele, in a
video of the call posted online
by the White House.
Biden also took the opportunity
to promote his $1.9
trillion stimulus package that
his Democratic party is
preparing to adopt in
Congress, despite the lack of
Republican support, as well
as the massive vaccination
campaign he has promised.
"We're so glad that we have
you focusing on that," said
Michele, whose last name
was withheld, adding that her
parents had just made their
appointment to get their
Covid-19 vaccinations.