KABUL (Reuters) –
Afghanistan is repositioning forces to the south after complaints too few are involved in major U.S. and British offensives against the Taliban, officials said on Wednesday, even as clashes erupted in the north.

Afghan troops battled a group of Taliban fighters dug into a valley in northern Kunduz on Wednesday, Defense Ministry spokesman Zaher Azimi said. He said fighters loyal to a wanted al Qaeda-linked Uzbek leader had entered the north recently.

With violence this year hitting its highest levels since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001, thousands of U.S. Marines and British troops launched assaults in the southern Taliban stronghold of Helmand this month.

The new offensives are the first major operations under U.S. President Barack Obama's new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and its militant Islamist allies and stabilize Afghanistan, which holds a presidential election on August 20.

The aim of the operations in Helmand is to clear the vast province of insurgents and hold the ground it wins, something overstretched NATO forces have so far been unable to do.

But the offensives underscored weaknesses in the Afghan security forces, with only about 650 fighting alongside some 4,000 U.S. Marines and a similar number of British troops in Helmand, which produces most of the opium that funds the Taliban-led insurgency.

Brigadier General Lawrence Nicholson, commander of U.S. Marines in Afghanistan, complained about a week after Operation Strike of the Sword began in Helmand that there were not enough Afghan troops involved. "You can do the math," he said.

He said many more were needed to build relations with local leaders, a major part of a new counter-insurgency strategy under General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and identify Taliban members hiding among residents.

Azimi blamed the media for complaints about the paucity of Afghan troops fighting in Helmand and said security forces were stretched to their limit combating insurgents across the country.

He said an extra battalion of about 700 troops was being sent to join the fight in Helmand. Afghanistan already has more than 5,000 troops in the province, he said.

"We are sending an extra battalion to Helmand, it is en route and, with its arrival, the number of Afghan forces will exceed 6,000 in Helmand," Azimi told a media conference.

ATTACKS CLIMB SHARPLY

Afghanistan's army totals about 95,000 troops, with the number to increase by about 5,000 by year's end.

The United States has about 58,000 troops in Afghanistan, with another 39,000 from NATO and other non-U.S. coalition members bringing the total of foreign forces to about 97,000.

Washington plans to increase its troop levels to 68,000 by year's end, more than double the 32,000 at the end of 2008.

Nicholson has said there were also problems with the quality of Afghan police units. Under Obama's new strategy, 4,000 more troops are also being sent to train Afghan security forces.

Violence has spiked across the country since the operations in Helmand began, with attacks against the military and civilians climbing sharply.

U.S. and British troops in Helmand and elsewhere have so far borne the brunt of the Taliban backlash. Record death tolls have prompted questions in London and Washington about strategies in Afghanistan and how long troops should remain.

In Berlin, German Defense Minister Franz Josef Jung said about 300 German soldiers had joined a week-long offensive against the Taliban around Kunduz, their biggest operation to date, in a bid to improve security before the election.

Azimi said Afghan troops had besieged a group of insurgents entrenched in Char Dara, a valley in Kunduz, on Wednesday, part of wider operations against militants. He said 13 Taliban fighters and four soldiers had been killed.

Afghanistan's north has generally been regarded as more peaceful than the Taliban strongholds in the south and east but there has been a spate of attacks against foreign and Afghan forces in recent weeks.

Azimi said the increase in Taliban attacks in the north was partly in response to an agreement reached in Moscow this month to allow Washington to fly troops and supplies for Afghanistan across its territory, opening an important northern supply route.

It also followed the announcement a month ago of an escalation of operations by Pakistan's army against insurgents in the tribal areas of Waziristan, he said.

Azimi said fighters loyal to Tahir Yuldash and other insurgents had also moved into the north to disrupt the August presidential poll. Yuldash and his Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan fighters were given shelter by the Taliban before 2001.

(Additional reporting by Erik Kirschbaum in BERLIN; Editing by Paul Tait)

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) –
Three months before his death, Michael Jackson committed to co-directing and financing a movie -- a poignant drama about foster children -- and planned to get started as soon as he completed his London concerts.

The news is the latest in a series of revelations that are helping to shed light on the pop star's passions and projects, even as the investigation into his abuse of prescription drugs and a tussle over custody of his children rage on.

The movie project also is eerily keyed to one of the most haunting aspects of Jackson's life: his apparent feeling that the Jackson 5's huge success robbed him of his childhood.

"He was very excited about making movies and wanted his hands on everything, from working on screenplays to producing, to writing the music. However, he never showed any interest in acting," B-movie producer, writer and director Bryan Michael Stoller said of Jackson, who starred in the 1978 pic "The Wiz."

Stoller said he had a 23-year friendship with the pop star and was his partner in the film company Magic Shadows. He was to have co-directed the movie, called "They Cage the Animals at Night," which Stoller said they had been developing for seven years.

INSPIRED BY BOOK

The project was based on a 1985 book about the real-life experiences of author Jennings Michael Burch, who bounced around foster homes as a child. Jackson showed the book to Stoller in 2002 at his Neverland estate and asked if he wanted to produce and co-direct a movie version.

"Michael told me often he felt like he grew up as an orphan, like a foster kid, because he never was in one home," Stoller said. "To him every hotel was like a different foster home. He said he used to sit in the window and see kids playing outside and cry because he couldn't be part of that."

Stoller optioned the book for $1 -- initially without telling Burch about Jackson's involvement. When he did tell him, Stoller said the author was excited to work with the singer.

Jackson, meanwhile, was concerned that Burch, then 67 and suffering from cancer, might not survive to see the movie made. So Stoller suggested bringing Burch to Neverland in 2003, where Jackson turned the tables and interviewed him for what was to be a TV special and for the eventual DVD.

During their highly charged conversation, Jackson asked the author if he had ever considered suicide. Burch said he had, and Jackson said he too had considered it during his darkest days. (A clip from this footage is available at THR.com.)

Stoller recorded their meeting, an addition to a collection of videos he made with Jackson over the years, and to hours of audio recordings from their meetings.

Stoller told The Hollywood Reporter he has now come forward because he believes this material humanizes his friend at a time when much myth-making about Jackson is taking place. The producer also is marketing his video, audio and photos either for outright sale or as a project he would produce and direct.

He said he already has had interest from NBC, CBS and E!

But insiders in the Jackson camp said there was no formal deal in place for any Jackson involvement in "Cage"; discussions between the artist and Stoller occurred when Jackson was without management, which may have frowned on any distractions as he prepared for the London shows.

'CAST AWAY' CAST OFF

Jackson's last film foray was a 2005 comedic farce, "Miss Cast Away and the Island Girls," produced, written and directed by Stoller and starring Eric Roberts. Jackson is briefly in the movie as Agent M.J., who comes to the rescue of various characters on a beam of light. The movie was a direct-to-DVD release sold briefly at Blockbuster stores.

When Jackson was indicted on child molestation charges shortly after its release, Blockbuster pulled the film from its shelves. "Miss Cast Away" has been sold overseas by Showcase Entertainment, and Stoller said he has offers for a new domestic video release for Jackson's last movie appearance.

"They Cage the Animals" also was affected by the molestation charges, Stoller said. In 2003 the producer arranged a three-hour meeting in a Universal City hotel between Jackson and Mel Gibson, who besides being an actor is a producer and partner in Icon Prods. "They got along great," Stoller said. "It was kind of funny. Mel was a little nervous. He was hugging a pillow the whole time, kind of playing with it. Michael was kind of shy."

Icon signed a deal to develop the project with a budget of $12 million-$20 million, according to Stoller, who was paid by Icon to write the screenplay. A couple of months later, when Jackson was indicted in Santa Barbara, Calif., Icon dropped the project, and Gibson stopped returning Stoller's phone calls. There were news reports in 2005 that Icon had dropped the project. A spokesman for Icon said the company briefly was involved in developing it in 1995 but had lost interest by 1997. Stoller has a copy of his contract with Icon dated 2002.

Stoller said Icon still owns the screenplay, but an Icon representative rebutted that, saying the company has had no involvement or ownership for 10 years. Gibson declined comment for this report.

WATCHING MOVIES

Jackson lost contact with Stoller for about two years during the period when the singer was on trial. But after his acquittal, Jackson reached out to him. They had watched dozens of movies in the Neverland theater; Stoller said Jackson's favorite was "To Kill a Mockingbird," and that they also discussed doing a remake of the comedy musical "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang."

"When Jackson called in 2007, he still had movies on his mind," Stoller said. "He had begun to purchase movie production equipment. He was always asking how things work, but I never saw him really work things. But he wanted all the toys. He bought a dolly and wanted me to show the kids how to use it because they were using it as a play toy, riding around on it."

Jackson wasn't interested in making a blockbuster. "He wanted to do movies the Academy would like," Stoller recalled.

Three months before Jackson's death, he and Stoller had "a pretty serious meeting" about reviving "They Cage the Animals" as an indie feature, the producer said.

"Michael was going to put up $8 million and not have to deal with any studios or producers and then take it to the studios afterward," Stoller said. "He was very passionate about being a director. He was determined to make this movie."

(Editing by SheriLinden at Reuters)

He’s been in office only six months, but already there’s a strong sense of déjà vu around the way Americans are seeing and hearing from President Barack Obama.
The president keeps returning to the same communications tactics over and over, and all the pages of his PR playbook have one thing in common: a big dose of Obama.
His prime-time news conference Wednesday night, one of the standbys, brings his total to four. That’s the same number that George W. Bush did — in eight years as president.
But as Obama’s once-lofty approval ratings dip — and voters express skepticism over his plans for health care and the economy — the longevity of the White House’s go-to techniques is being put to the test. One challenge for Obama’s team in coming weeks: not overusing the president.
“They have to be careful about that,” said former Clinton press secretary Mike McCurry. “There are diminishing returns if you see the president too much. ... Part of this is just because he’s fascinating and popular right now. Inevitably, they’re going to hit some potholes, and they’re going to have to adjust their strategy.”
One troubling sign for the White House: TV networks were slow to sign on to Wednesday’s prime-time news conference. And Obama’s latest polls offer a strong reminder for the new White House that a president’s popularity is perishable — and time is ticking.
“They’ve got their eye on the expiration date, and they’re going to tap that well until it expires,” said former Bush press secretary Ari Fleischer. “And if they’re successful, the well gets replenished. And success means that cap and trade and health care reform get signed into law.”
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed the idea of Obama overload. “It’s important that the president continue to remind the American people what’s at stake,” Gibbs said Tuesday, when asked about Obama’s nine health care speeches in nine days. “I don’t think he can probably say that enough.”
Here’s a peek inside the playbook and the reasons why the White House keeps rinsing and repeating the same tactics:
The town-hall-style meeting
Call it Obama unplugged.
This has been one of Obama’s favorite ways to get his message out. Since taking office, he has held more than a dozen town halls in eight states, as well as one streaming live online from the White House and one in Strasbourg, France.
For the White House, the events play to Obama’s strengths. The crowds are adoring. He can give a speech laying out his message, unfiltered. And he can play Washington outsider for a few hours while demonstrating how popular he still is.
There’s always the risk of a curveball question — but a small risk indeed, compared with the much greater chance for a funny, touching or downright lump-in-the-throat moment, like when Obama hugged a homeless woman in Florida and promised to help.
But the White House seemed to stack the deck a bit at Obama’s last town hall in Virginia — where the White House picked the questions for Obama from those that were submitted online and through its social-networking sites.
And it scrapped a planned town hall in Michigan recently — changing it at the last minute to a speech rolling out a higher education initiative. But Obama will hold one Thursday in Ohio.
The major address
This brings out Obama’s inner professor — as he explains in sometimes painstaking detail his views on a particular topic.

When the president is pitching a big initiative, he gives many smaller speeches on the topic. The ideas in those remarks are then collectively brought to a crescendo in a “major address” — a soup-to-nuts explanation of his views.

Obama has done this on the economy, detainees and torture policy, Iraq and U.S. relations with the Muslim world, but not yet on health care — so stay tuned.

“He tests out his message before he does the big speech and then after they do their big speeches, they don’t let it drop because people’s attention span is very short,” said Gerald Rafshoon, former White House communications director for former President Jimmy Carter. “They follow through and cover all the bases.”

The major address gets plenty of media coverage in the days beforehand, and the White House believes the “closing argument” approach is a powerful way to put Obama’s message into political conversation. These lengthy speeches are heavy on detail, and their effectiveness is debatable. It’s unclear how much the public takes in, as most of these addresses are nearly an hour long and have been delivered in the middle of the day. 

The solo prime-time news conference

For Obama, the prime-time news conference is just another version of the town hall. Except reporters are the ones in the audience asking the questions, and because of the prime-time slot, it offers him an unfiltered hourlong slot. His message goes directly to viewers at home.

“It’s not like going to doing something during the day, and it gets edited for the evening news,” Rafshoon said. “He is getting through the filter. ... He can give it as long an answer as he wants, and they don’t cut away from it. They don’t edit it.”

Like the town hall, Obama gets to deliver an opening statement laying out his message. The topics of questions are usually predictable. It’s generally a cordial atmosphere, so even if the questions are tough, reporters only push so far and Obama gets to monopolize the time.

But, also like the town hall, the White House recently received criticism after an Obama news conference for suggesting ahead of time to a Huffington Post reporter that he would possibly get to ask the president a question about Iran.

Interviews, interviews, interviews

Obama has given more interviews than any recent president at this point in his term, according to a tally kept by veteran White House historian Martha Joynt Kumar.

Obama does the obvious: doling out different types of exclusives to the three networks and bringing cable into the fold, as he did in Africa with a one-on-one with CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

But he also regularly sits for round-table interviews with regional reporters. He often speaks to foreign news outlets before arriving abroad to set the tone, and he courts specialty media, such as the Hispanic and black press.

The interview-palooza works because Obama is the star and he does not go off message. Plus, regional and foreign news media tend to be softer interviews and give better play than members of the White House press corps.

“It’s more of a softball,” said Greg Jenkins, the Bush White House’s director of advance. “For anybody who doesn’t get a crack at the president every day of the week, you’re like, ‘Oh, wow, OK. I’ll ask my question and listen to what he says and move on.’ ... You tend to get more traction out of those interviews.”

The personal note

Part of Obama’s broad appeal is his youth and perceived coolness. As president, he tries to maintain his street cred as a regular guy, husband and dad.

Obama usually infuses some type of pop culture element into his communications smorgasbord. The White House has leaned heavily on a variety of websites — streaming video of the Foo Fighters show on the South Lawn on whitehouse.gov and popping up websites for the recovery act, health reform and other specific initiatives.

During the stimulus debate, Obama paused to chat with ESPN and often peppers his interviews with tidbits about family life in the White House — both prompted and unprompted. He routinely ignores shouted questions when in earshot of his press corps but has responded to weigh in on the NBA finals and make a quip about the first dog, Bo.

Obama has also twice written intimate pieces for Parade magazine — no Professor Obama here, pitching policy prescriptions. The first was a letter to his daughters just before his Inauguration, and the second an essay for Father’s Day.

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VARANASI, India/WUHAN, China (Reuters) –
A total solar eclipse began its flight on Wednesday across a narrow swathe of Asia, where hundreds of millions of people watched the skies darken despite thick summer clouds.

The longest total solar eclipse of the 21st century was visible along a roughly 250 km-wide (155 miles) corridor, according to the U.S. space agency NASA, as it traveled half the globe and passed through the world's two most populous nations, India and China.

Thousands of people snaked through the narrow lanes of the ancient Hindu holy city of Varanasi and gathered for a dip in the Ganges, an act considered as leading to salvation from the cycle of life and death.

Amid chanting of Hindu hymns, men, women and children waded into the river with folded hands and prayed to the sun as it emerged in an overcast sky.

"We have come here because our elders told us this is the best time to improve our after-life," said Bhailal Sharma, a villager from central India who came to Varanasi with a group of about 100 people.

The eclipse then swept through Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and over the crowded cities along China's Yangtze River, before heading to the Pacific.

Crowds gathered along the high dykes of Wuhan, an industrial city in central China, roared and waved goodbye as the last sliver of sun disappeared, plunging the city into darkness.

"As soon as the totality happened, the clouds closed in so we couldn't see the corona. That's a pity," said Zhen Jun, a man whose work unit had given the day off for the spectacle.

But eclipse viewers in central China was luckier than those in the coastal cities near Shanghai, where overcast skies and rain in some places blocked the view of the sun entirely.

LONGEST THIS CENTURY

Eclipses allow earth-bound scientists a rare glimpse at the sun's corona, the gases surrounding the sun.

"In the 21st century this is the longest," said Harish Bhatt, dean at the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

"This is indeed quite an important event for scientific experiments. Its long duration provides you an opportunity to make very complicated, complex experiments."

Scientists in China planned to snap two-dimensional images of the sun's corona -- up to 2 million degrees Celsius (3.6 million F) hot -- at roughly one image per second, Bhatt said.

The eclipse lasted up to a maximum of 6 minutes, 39 seconds over the Pacific Ocean, according to NASA.

The eclipse is seen as a mixed blessing for millions of Indians. Those who considered it auspicious bathed in holy rivers and ponds for good fortune during the solar blackout.

But astrologers predicted the eclipse spelled bad luck for others. Expectant mothers asked doctors to advance or postpone births to avoid complications or a miserable future for their children.

Parents in several schools in India's capital, New Delhi, kept their children home from classes since the eclipse coincided with breakfast. According to Hindu custom, it is inauspicious to prepare food during an eclipse.

In ancient Chinese culture, an eclipse was an omen linked to natural disasters or deaths in the imperial family. Chinese officials and state media were at pains to reassure the public that city services would run normally.

"We heard about it on television last night," said Qian Qiangguo, speaking in a thick Wuhan accent.

In modern China, people who wished to see the astronomical rarity clearly tried to escape thick pollution caused by the rapid industrial growth, avoiding cities where smog smudges the horizon, even on clear days.

"The majority of people decided to go to Tongning, in Anhui, because they're worried about the serious air pollution from industrial areas in Shanghai," said Bill Yeung, the president of the Hong Kong Astronomical Society, who organized 120 eclipse chasers from Hong Kong.

Those who chose Shanghai ended up fleeing to inland cities to escape the clouds, he added.

(Additional reporting by Matthias Williams, Bappa Majumdar and James Pomfret; Writing by Matthias Williams and Lucy Hornby; Editing by Alex Richardson)

LONDON (AFP) –
Britain's resigning junior foreign minister said Wednesday more helicopters were needed in Afghanistan, piling pressure on Prime Minister Gordon Brown amid a row over adequate resources for troops.

Lord Mark Malloch-Brown also told the Daily Telegraph the British public had not been properly warned about the current offensive against Taliban militants in Afghanistan's Helmand province, before a recent rise in troop deaths.

Malloch-Brown, whose responsibilities as a Foreign Office minister include Afghanistan, announced this month he was resigning from the government for family and personal persons at the end of this week.

"We definitely don?t have enough helicopters. When you have these modern operations and insurgent strikes what you need, above all else, is mobility," Malloch-Brown said in an interview with the newspaper.

The comments are a fresh blow for Brown who has faced criticism from the main opposition Conservatives that his government is denying troops vital resources amid a surge in troop deaths in recent weeks.

British soldiers serving in Afghanistan suffered their blackest day earlier this month, with eight troops dying within 24 hours.

Since operations against the Taliban extremists began in October 2001, 187 British troops have been killed, more than the total number in Iraq.

Senior military figures including army chief General Richard Dannatt have called for more troops and equipment for the seven-year-old conflict, which was stepped up last month with the new push in Helmand.

Britain's recently-resigned defence secretary also added his voice last week to calls for more support for troops.

Finance minister Alistair Darling insisted that the Treasury has not turned down requests from army commanders for more troops or equipment in Afghanistan.

"The army has said this is what we want in terms of troops and equipment and we have provided that and financed it," Darling said in an interview with left-wing weekly Tribune magazine.

Malloch-Brown, a former deputy secretary general of the UN, told the Daily Telegraph he took partial responsibility for not properly informing the public about the latest offensive.

"We didn?t do a good job a month ago of warning the British public that we and the Americans were going on the offensive in Helmand. This is a new operation; the whole purpose is to win control. These deaths have happened ... after we chose to go on the offensive," he said.

The recent loss of life has pushed the Afghan conflict to the top of the political agenda ahead of a general election which must be held by June 2010.

Malloch-Brown refused to write off Brown's chances of leading the ruling Labour Party to victory but added: "It looks incredibly bleak."

Asked if he believed Brown thought he could lose, he said: "No, I don?t. That?s one reason why, for all the criticism, he?s a remarkable leader. He has this almost Churchillian faith in his belief that he can persuade the British public he?s the one."

Jupiter has
apparently been smacked again by a rogue object hurtling through space, new images
from amateur astronomers and NASA reveal.

A giant
scar-like blemish has appeared in the clouds near Jupiter's south polar region,
which NASA observed in infrared after receiving a tip from an amateur
skywatcher in Australia. The likely impact appears to have occurred exactly 15
years after the remnants of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 bombarded
the planet in 1994 in an event that was widely predicted and scrutinized as
it happened.

The latest
impact was not predicted, and it was caught by chance.

"We were extremely lucky to
be seeing Jupiter at exactly the right time, the right hour, the right side of
Jupiter to witness the event," said Glenn Orton, a scientist at NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., in a statement. "We couldn't have
planned it better."

Orton and his colleagues
used JPL's Infrared Telescope Facility atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii to collect
evidence of the impact. The initial call came from Anthony Wesley of Murrumbateman,
Australia, who told NASA he noticed a new dark "scar" suddenly appear on
Jupiter early Friday between 6 a.m. and 12 p.m. EDT (1000 and 1600 GMT).

A hit on Jupiter

In an
observation report posted to his Web site, Wesley said he almost missed
spotting Jupiter's new blemish entirely because he was tired after a late-night
skywatching session.

"It was a
very near thing," he wrote, adding that by 1 a.m. Local Time, he decided at the
last minute to keep observing for another half hour.

"I'd
noticed a dark spot rotating into view in Jupiter's south polar region and was
starting to get curious," Wesley went on. "When first seen close to the limb
(and in poor conditions) it was only a vaguely dark spot, I thought likely to
be just a normal dark polar storm. However as it rotated further into view, and
the conditions also improved, I suddenly realized that it wasn't just dark, it
was black in all channels, meaning it was truly a black spot."

The spot,
Wesley added, was moving too slow to be a moon and his previous observations
from two days earlier showed a pristine, spotless Jupiter. A short while later,
he decided to begin contacting people to spread the news of his find.

Orton and
his team haven't stopped tracking Jupiter, which is a gas giant and the largest
planet in the solar system.

The
near-infrared image collected by his team revealed the odd blemish, which
appeared to have a bright center, and what looked like debris to the northwest
of the likely impact site.

"It could be the impact of
a comet, but we don't know for sure yet," Orton said. "It's been a
whirlwind of a day, and this on the anniversary of the Shoemaker-Levy 9 and Apollo
anniversaries is amazing."  

Other skywatchers have also been tracking the apparent Jovian
impact. Lars Zielke, a skywatcher based in Tvis, Denmark, spotted the tell-tale
scar to much excitement.

"My camera showed the spot clearly and I was lucky to
get at great sequence with the dark spot and Io passing by," he told SPACE.com.
"I was so thrilled that I didn't stop in time, so I missed the first hours of
work this morning."

Echoes of Shoemaker-Levy
9

Between
July 16 and July 22 in 1994, Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 was torn
apart by Jupiter's gravity as it swung past the planet. The remaining
pieces crashed into the planet while astronomers looked on with telescopes on
Earth and in space. 

It was the
first collision of two objects within the solar system in ever observed from
Earth.

The impacts
were cataclysmic. More than 20 fragments - some as large as 1.2 miles (2 km)
across - slammed into Jupiter at 134,200 mph (215,973 kph) as the planet
rotated, sending plumes of hot gas into the Jovian atmosphere and causing dark
scars that lasted for weeks.

A similar
impact on Earth would cause widespread devastation on a global scale.

Video
- The Jupiter Crash of Shoemaker-Levy 9
The
Top 10 Greatest Explosions Ever
Image
Gallery - Jupiter and its Moons

SPACE.com Senior Writer Andrea Thompson contributed to this report from New York City.

Original Story: Jupiter Apparently Smacked by Rogue Object, New Images RevealSPACE.com offers rich and compelling content about space science, travel and exploration as well as astronomy, technology, business news and more. The site boasts a variety of popular features including our space image of the day and other space pictures,space videos, Top 10s, Trivia, podcasts and Amazing Images submitted by our users. Join our community, sign up for our free newsletters and register for our RSS Feeds today!

Go

Oil is a colloquial term used to refer to certain diverse and unrelated compounds sharing the same physical properties (such as viscosity and a hydrophobic nature), while ignoring related compounds. The compounds found in cooking oil are chemically very similar, almost identical, to those found in butter and very different from those found in diesel fuel, but while diesel is an oil, butter is not.

Almost all oils burn in air generating heat, which can be used directly, or converted into other forms of fuels by various means. For example, heating water into steam which is funneled into a turbine which turns a generator, which then produces electricity. Oils are used as fuels for heating, lighting (e.g. kerosene lamp), powering combustion engines, and other purposes. Oils used for this purpose nowadays are usually derived from petroleum, (fuel oil, diesel oil, gasoline (petrol), etc), though biological oils such as biodiesel are gaining market share.

WASHINGTON – The House Intelligence Committee said Friday it will investigate whether the CIA broke the law by not informing Congress promptly about a secret program to deploy hit teams to kill al-Qaida leaders.
Committee Chairman Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, said that the hit team proposal is among several intelligence operations that will be investigated as part of a broad inquiry into the CIA's handling of disclosures to Congress about its secret activities.
"I intend to make this investigation fair and thorough, and it is my goal that it will not become a distraction to the men and women of the CIA," Reyes said.
The committee will examine concerns that the CIA failed to inform the Senate and House Intelligence committees about President Bush's wiretapping program, harsh interrogation techniques and the destruction of interrogation videotapes, according to a committee aide.
The inquiry will also focus on the how the CIA handled disclosures about the 2001 downing of a small plane carrying American missionaries over Peru and on other cases, said the aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Current law requires the House and Senate Intelligence committees to be kept informed of significant intelligence activities or anticipated activities.
CIA Director Leon Panetta told the two committees about the hit team program in an emergency briefing he called on June 24, a day after he learned of it himself and canceled it.
The CIA's Counterterrorism Center brought the program to Panetta's attention last month because it wanted to begin training the teams, according to a government official familiar with the matter.
The effort to develop and deploy hit teams to target al-Qaida members on the ground, rather than using armed drone strikes or foreign intelligence services, has existed on and off since 2001 but it never became operational, according to the official. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he also was not authorized the discuss the matter.
"The program he killed was never fully operational and never took a single terrorist off the battlefield," CIA spokesman George Little said Thursday. "Those are facts he shared with Congress. We've had a string of successes against al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups, and that program didn't contribute to any of them."

PARIS (Reuters) –
Authorities in Cannes have banned naturists from a public beach after the southern French town's yacht club complained the naked bathers had begun to get out of hand.

Naturists have been tolerated for years on Palm Beach, which lies directly in front of the exclusive club.

But the yacht club said they had recently begun exposing themselves more visibly to club members, particularly in front of the restaurant's windows.

"We organize sailing for children, we have a restaurant, but when the naturists get up from bathing they walk around naked," a spokeswoman for the club said.

"Until now they were tolerated, they were quite discreet, but the problem that triggered the decision was that recently their behavior became more questionable."

The town hall issued the order Monday banning naturism on Palm Beach.

"Naturists have been coming to the beach for years and this had provoked complaints, notably from the yacht club," a Cannes town hall spokeswoman said.

First time offenders will now face a fine of 11 euros ($15), with more serious cases possibly earning a prison sentence and a fine of 15,000 euros.

(Reporting by Joseph Tandy; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Cap Cana is located in the Eastern region of the Dominican Republic known as Juanillo. The site was founded as a new and more ambitious touristic site with contributions from international investors and strategic partners such as Ritz-Carlton, Sotogrande, Donald Trump and many others. The site has a Marina, Large resorts, beaches, and many others. Primarily founded as a site to attract international visitors. The Cap Cana Championship, a Champions Tour golf tournament, is held at Punta Espada Golf Club in Cap Cana, a course designed by Jack Nicklaus.

Cap Cana's area includes more than one-hundred and twenty millon square meters of land, of which twenty-five million will be developed in its first phase. It also includes 8 kilometers of beach and coasts, 5 of which are considered to be among the most spectacular in the Caribbean, locally considered to be neck-in-neck to the beaches of Bahia de Las Aguilas (literally, Bay of the Eagles) located in the southwestern municipality of Perdernales- often referred by past visitors as some of the most beautiful in the world.

Cap Cana

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
Circumcision may help protect men from the AIDS virus but it does not protect the wives and female partners of infected men, researchers reported on Thursday.

The disappointed researchers had to stop the trial, which they had hoped would confirm early suggestions that circumcision would protect men and women alike.

But, they said, circumcision is so effective in protecting men that will still likely benefit women indirectly by reducing circulation of the virus in general.

"We were disappointed that the trial did not show protection from HIV infection in women, as was expected from observational studies," Dr. Maria Wawer of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and colleagues in Uganda wrote in the Lancet medical journal.

"The trial was stopped early because of futility."

AIDS is caused by the fatal and incurable human immunodeficiency virus and is transmitted mostly through sex. It has killed 25 million people since it was identified in the early 1980s and infects an estimated 33 million.

Most cases are in Africa, passed along mainly by sex between men and women. Researchers have demonstrated several times that men who are circumcised are less likely to become infected by female partners.

The foreskin of the penis, which is removed during circumcision, is rich in cells that are particularly easy for the virus to infect. The theory is that removing this source of vulnerable cells makes infection more difficult.

Wawer's team recruited 922 uncircumcised, HIV-infected, men aged 15 to 49 years. Some were immediately circumcised and some had the procedure delayed for two years.

The researchers also followed 163 wives or female sex partners of these men.

"Circumcision of HIV-infected men did not reduce HIV transmission to female partners over 24 months; longer-term effects could not be assessed," Wawer's team wrote.

"Condom use after male circumcision is essential for HIV prevention."

The sex partners of circumcised men also were no less likely to get other sexually transmitted infections with the exception of one called trichomonas.

"However, the efficacy of male circumcision for prevention of HIV in uninfected men is clear, and reductions in male acquisition of HIV attributable to circumcision are likely to reduce women's exposure to HIV-infected men. Male circumcision programs are thus likely to confer an overall benefit to women," the researchers concluded.

Lighting is the deliberate application of light to achieve some aesthetic or practical effect. Lighting includes use of both artificial light sources such as lamps and natural illumination of interiors from daylight. Daylighting (through windows, skylights, etc.) is often used as the main source of light during daytime in buildings given its low cost. Artificial lighting represents a major component of energy consumption, accounting for a significant part of all energy consumed worldwide.

Artificial lighting is most commonly provided today by electric lights, but gas lighting, candles, or oil lamps were used in the past, and still are used in certain situations. Proper lighting can enhance task performance or aesthetics, while there can be energy wastage and adverse health effects of lighting. Indoor lighting is a form of fixture or furnishing, and a key part of interior design. Lighting can also be an intrinsic component of landscaping.

Flexible LED Strips

ADELAIDE, Australia – An Australian think tank predicted that Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah might launch new attacks just a day before Friday's deadly hotel bombings in Indonesia.
The Australian Strategic Policy Institute said in a paper released Thursday that tensions in the group's leadership and the release of former members from prison "raise the possibility that splinter factions might now seek to re-energize the movement through violent attacks."
It said, however, that the possibility remained low.
Less than 24 hours after the report was released, two explosions rocked hotels in Jakarta, Indonesia, killing at least eight people. There has been no claim of responsibility.
Jemaah Islamiyah has been responsible for a series of attacks in Indonesia, including the October 2002 bombings of two Bali nightclubs that killed some 202 people, many of them foreign tourists.
The Australian report said the group has limited its support for violence in recent years and suffered a loss of supporters due to arrests and internal disputes.
"However, the emergence of hardened, experienced militants from the conflict in the southern Philippines and the recent release of JI cadres from prisons in Indonesia, who have become ostracized by the mainstream JI group, are breeding a new generation of radicalized fringe groups," the paper said.
"There is evidence that some of these individuals are gravitating toward hard-line groups who continue to advocate al-Qaida-style attacks against Western targets," it concluded.
One of the authors, national security project director Carl Ungerer, said he believed young dissident members of Jemaah Islamiyah could be behind Friday's attacks.
"They believe that the continuation of a bombing campaign would be the only way that they would achieve their political objectives," Ungerer told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. "The smaller splinter groups, who are intent on a violent bombing campaign, retain the capability to do this sort of thing."
Ungerer could not immediately be reached by The Associated Press.

Live foods commonly available are crickets (both Gryllus bimaculatus and Acheta domesticus commonly), waxworms (Galleria Mellonella), mealworms (Tenebrio molitor), Giant mealworms (Zoophobas morio) and locusts (a number of species are seen commonly). There are however many more species used such as butter worms, phoenix worms, a variety of cockroach species, silk worms and more. Insect species are most commonly used to feed small reptiles and amphibians.

Creatures that are the most common choices for live foods, ranging from feeder mice to crickets and mealworms, generally are bred and raised in captivity themselves, and can often be found both through local pet stores and from wholesalers or "farms" that breed them specifically for live food sales.

Mealworms

LONDON – An ugly scramble is brewing over the swine flu vaccine — and when it becomes available, Britain, the United States and other nations could find that the contracts they signed with pharmaceutical companies are easily broken.
Experts warn that during a global epidemic, which the world is in now, governments may be under tremendous pressure to protect their own citizens first before allowing companies to ship doses of vaccine out of the country.
That does not bode well for many nations, including the United States, which makes only 20 percent of the regular flu vaccines it uses, or Britain, where all of its flu vaccines are produced abroad.
"This isn't rocket science," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. "If there is severe disease, countries will want to hang onto the vaccine for their own citizens."
Experts say politicians would not be able to withstand the pressure.
"The consequences of shipping vaccine to another country when your own people don't have it would be devastating," added David Fedson, a retired vaccine industry executive.
About 70 percent of the world's existing flu vaccines are made in Europe, and only a handful of countries are self-sufficient in vaccines. The U.S. has limited flu vaccine facilities, and because factories can't be built overnight, there is no quick fix to boost vaccine supplies.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced it was spending $884 million to buy extra supplies of two key ingredients for a swine flu vaccine. The U.S. has contracts to get swine flu vaccines from Sanofi Pasteur, MedImmune, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis. Sanofi Pasteur and MedImmune both have vaccine plants in the U.S., while GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis have plants in Europe.
Even if the U.S. held onto all the swine flu vaccine produced domestically, it would still not be enough for all Americans.
About 80 million Americans are vaccinated against the seasonal flu every year. In 2004, when problems with the U.S.' flu vaccine supply at a British factory hit, there were less than 54 million shots available. Flu vaccines were saved for those in high-risk groups like the elderly and pregnant women, and officials asked other people to simply forgo their usual flu shot.
If there are limited swine flu shots during a pandemic that turns more serious, experts are not sure people will be as willing to skip getting a vaccine.
Last week, the World Health Organization reported nearly 95,000 cases of swine flu, including 429 deaths worldwide. If swine flu turns deadlier in the winter, the main flu season in the Northern Hemisphere, countries will likely be clamoring for any available vaccines.
"Pandemic vaccine will be a valuable and scarce resource, like oil or food during a famine," said David Fidler, a professor of law at Indiana University who has consulted for WHO. "We've seen how countries behave in those situations, and it's not encouraging."
Britain claims it will start vaccinating people in August, Italy says it will begin by the end of the year, and many other countries have similar strategies. Those mass vaccination plans could be derailed by problems making the vaccine and by other countries' refusal to ship it abroad.
If the virus remains mild, this could all be moot. Experts estimate swine flu to be about as dangerous as seasonal flu, and there usually isn't a high demand for those vaccines. Still, regular flu kills up to 500,000 people a year.
In past pandemics, or global epidemics, vaccines were never exported before the country that produced them got enough for its own population first.
Unlike the last two pandemics in 1957 and 1968, however, many more countries this time around have struck deals with companies which they say guarantee them first access to vaccine. Yet in a global health emergency, those contracts may ultimately be meaningless.
Countries with flu vaccine plants might decide to seize all vaccines and ban their export, thus breaking the pharmaceutical contracts promising other countries vaccine supplies. These private contracts are not binding international law between two countries, according to Fidler.

He said most vaccine contracts include a clause allowing them to be broken under extraordinary circumstances, such as a health emergency. That would leave the countries who had brokered such deals not only without vaccine, but without legal recourse.

"There's nothing in international law that helps you resolve this, it's just a political nightmare happening in the midst of an epidemiological nightmare," Fidler said.

Britain has ordered 60 million doses, enough to cover its entire population. But those doses are being manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline PLC and Baxter International Inc., whose production plants are in Germany, Austria and the Czech Republic. Neither Britain's department of health or the vaccine manufacturers would comment on delivery plans.

On Thursday, Britain's chief medical officer estimated that as many as 75,000 Britons could eventually be killed by the swine flu pandemic, if 1 in 3 people are infected.

Osterholm said about 80 percent of the United States' pandemic vaccine supply will be coming from abroad and he is very concerned about when it might arrive. Timing could be everything to avoid a vaccine spat.

"It's easy to move vaccine around if the disease is relatively mild. But if it is more severe, countries may not be willing to let it go," he said.

So far, swine flu remains a relatively mild disease, and most people don't need medical treatment to get better. But experts fear the virus could mutate into a more dangerous form. And during the flu season, when the virus spreads more easily, more people will probably fall sick and die.

Public health officials are aware that so-called "vaccine wars" might break out if the swine flu outbreak worsens, but are loathe to even discuss the topic.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, an agency of the European Union, said it had no mandate to advise countries in such circumstances. WHO said it was not aware of any nations planning to block the shipment of vaccines and said it would work to ensure all countries get enough doses to protect their health workers.

Questions also remain about when a swine flu vaccine will even be available, as WHO reported this week that a fully licensed vaccine might not be ready until the end of the year.

With little or no safety data about a swine flu vaccine, governments that are planning to roll out mass campaigns are taking a gamble, since any rare side effects won't show up until millions of people start getting the shots.

Experts say government promises about when vaccines will arrive should be taken with a huge grain of salt.

"Many pieces of the puzzle are missing," Osterholm said. "Anyone who pretends to have a well-defined schedule of vaccine delivery is obviously very poorly informed."