Falling German Satellite Enters Atmosphere

A defunct satellite entered the atmosphere early Sunday and pieces of it were expected to crash into the earth, the German Aerospace Center said.

There was no immediate solid evidence to determine above which continent or country the ROSAT scientific research satellite entered the atmosphere, agency spokesman Andreas Schuetz said.

Most parts of the minivan-sized satellite were expected to burn up during re-entry, but up to 30 fragments weighing 1.87 tons could crash into Earth at speeds up to 280 mph.

Scientists were no longer able to communicate with the dead satellite and it must have traveled about 12,500 miles in the last 30 minutes before entering the atmosphere, Schuetz said.

Experts were waiting for "observations from around the world," he added.

Scientists said hours before the re-entry into the atmosphere that the satellite was not expected to hit over Europe, Africa or Australia. According to a precalculated path it could have been above Asia, possibly China, at the time of its re-entry, but Schuetz said he could not confirm whether the satellite actually entered above that area.

The 2.69-ton scientific ROSAT satellite was launched in 1990 and retired in 1999 after being used for research on black holes and neutron stars and performing the first all-sky survey of X-ray sources with an imaging telescope.

The largest single fragment of ROSAT that could hit into the earth is the telescope's heat-resistant mirror.

During its mission, the satellite orbited about 370 miles above the Earth's surface, but since its decommissioning it has lost altitude, circling at a distance of only 205 miles above ground in June for example, the agency said.

Even in the last days, the satellite still circled the planet every 90 minutes, making it hard to predict where on Earth it would eventually come down.

A dead NASA satellite fell into the southern Pacific Ocean last month, causing no damage, despite fears it would hit a populated area and cause damage or kill people.

Experts believe about two dozen metal pieces from the bus-sized satellite fell over a 500-mile span of uninhabited portion of the world.

The NASA climate research satellite entered Earth's atmosphere generally above American Samoa. But falling debris as it broke apart did not start hitting the water for another 300 miles to the northeast, southwest of Christmas Island.

Earlier, scientists had said it was possible some pieces could have reached northwestern Canada.

The German space agency puts the odds of somebody somewhere on Earth being hurt by its satellite at 1-in-2,000 ? a slightly higher level of risk than was calculated for the NASA satellite. But any one individual's odds of being struck are 1-in-14 trillion, given there are 7 billion people on the planet.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/22/141623516/pieces-of-german-satellite-expected-to-hit-earth?ft=1&f=1007

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Turkey: 49 Kurdish rebels killed in fighting (AP)

ANKARA, Turkey ? Turkey's military says 49 Kurdish rebels have been killed in offensives in southeast Turkey.

The military said in a statement posted on its website Saturday that the rebels were killed in fighting in Hakkari province over the past two days.

Turkey launched anti-rebel offensives ? involving around 10,000 troops ? both in southeastern Turkey and across the border in Iraq on Wednesday, after 24 soldiers were killed by the rebels in the deadliest one-day toll against the military since the 1990s.

Earlier, the state-run television TRT television reported 32 rebels killed in clashes in a valley in Hakkari province.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) ? Turkish troops killed 32 Kurdish rebels in a valley near the Iraqi border, state-run television reported Saturday, as hundreds of troops also pursued Kurdish fighters within northern Iraq.

The rebels were killed in clashes in the Kazan Valley region, near the town of Cukurca, in Turkey's Hakkari province that borders Iraq, TRT television reported, citing unnamed regional officials. There was no immediate confirmation of the deaths from the rebels.

Turkey on Wednesday launched massive anti-rebel offensives involving some 10,000 troops both in southeastern Turkey and across the border in Iraq. The military operations began hours after 24 soldiers were killed by the rebels of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in the deadliest one-day toll against the military since the 1990s.

Turkey's conflict with the Kurdish rebels has killed tens of thousands of people since the insurgents took up arms to fight for autonomy in the country's Kurdish-dominated southeast in 1984.

The military said Friday its air and ground offensives were mostly concentrated within Turkey, in Cukurca, while operations were also under way "in a few areas" in northern Iraq.

The military has not revealed the number of soldiers that have crossed into Iraq. But the Haber Turk newspaper reported Saturday that 1,500 elite troops were involved in the ground operation against rebel hideouts in northern Iraq. The Vatan newspaper put the figure at 2,000.

The Turkish troops had penetrated three miles (five kilometers) into Iraqi territory, Haber Turk said, while military helicopters were ferrying elite troops in and out of other areas for "spot operations" against PKK rebels. Warplanes and drones were providing air support for the gunbattles.

The paper said the offensive was targeting seven suspected PKK bases along the border, where some 2,000 rebels are believed to be hiding.

The military said the operation includes commandos, special forces and paramilitary special forces ? elite forces trained in guerrilla warfare. They are being reinforced by F-16 and F-4 warplanes, Super Cobra helicopter gunships and surveillance drones.

Turkey has launched more than two dozen air and ground incursions into northern Iraq over the 27 years of the insurgency, with mixed results. The rebels have returned to positions along the border soon after the troops have withdrawn. The current offensive was the largest attack on the insurgents in more than three years.

Turkey is seeking the cooperation of Iraqi Kurds, who control an autonomous region in northern Iraq, and of Iran for the latest offensive.

Hurriyet newspaper reported Saturday that Iraqi Kurdish security forces, the Peshmerga, were helping Turkish troops by providing intelligence.

Iraqi leaders have condemned the rebel attacks and promised to stop the PKK from using Iraqi territory for future attacks against Turkey. The Iraqi Foreign Ministry said both Baghdad and the regional Kurdish government in northern Iraq "are committed to securing the borders."

On Friday, Turkey and Iran vowed to collaborate against the PKK and its Iranian wing, the Party of Free Life of Kurdistan, or PJAK, during a visit by Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. The PKK and PJAK have both been fighting for Kurdish autonomy in their respective countries and both are labeled as terrorist organizations by the United States.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111022/ap_on_re_eu/eu_turkey_kurds

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Ohio wild-animal killings renew call for ban on exotic pets - latimes ...

The tragedy unfolding in Zanesville, Ohio -- in which dozens of big-game animals such as lions and bears were released, then hunted down and killed -- has renewed the call for a ban on private ownership of such exotic animals, at least from one group.

"Wild animals should be left in the wild," said Adam Roberts, executive vice president of Born Free USA, a Washington-based animal-welfare and wildlife organization long opposed to keeping animals in captivity. "And that means individuals shouldn't have exotic animals as pets, because it's a danger to the animals and to those that live around them."

He along with countless other animal lovers were appalled by the headlines leading Wednesday's media reports.

The owner of Muskingum County Animal Farm in Zanesville, Ohio, apparently flung open the reserve's cages, slashed open its pens and then killed himself. Dozens of wild and dangerous animals -- including grizzly bears, lions, tigers and a baboon -- were then free to roam the area. Most of them were gunned down by public safety officers.

PHOTOS: Exotic animals on the loose

Ohio law enforcement officials were at an immediate loss to explain why the farm's owner, Terry Thompson, did what he did. Instead, they were focused on protecting citizens, who were told to stay behind closed doors while wild animals roamed the area. Where they could, authorities tried to recapture the animals using a tranquilizer gun.

But that was not always possible. At last count, 48 creatures had been killed, according to the Muskingum County Sheriff's Department.

"I've been watching the news all day like everyone else; it's an amazing story, it's awfully surreal but on the other hand I'm not surprised," Roberts told The Times. "We often warn that these things can happen, people can be hurt, animals can be hurt, animals can be killed, but we know that these facilities exist and that has to stop."

He called for stricter federal and state oversight, and zero tolerance for the procurement of wild animals. His organization is opposed to keeping animals in captivity under most circumstances, and even opposes zoos.

That said, it acknowledges that there are certain situations in which animals must be held in captivity for their own protection -- say, the case of a tiger raised in a backyard, never learning the skills it needs to protect itself in the wild.

In those cases, however, there should be strict oversight and accreditation, and zero tolerance for violations that jeopardize animal welfare and safety, the group maintains.

The organization oversees a wildlife sanctuary for primates in Texas, and offered to provide a home for the monkeys that were removed from the Ohio farm as well as the one monkey that is still on the loose.

Roberts said the Zanesville incident should come as no surprise to Ohio legislators, as that state persistently falls short when it comes to protecting animal rights.?

"Shame on any state legislator in the state of Ohio, and the governor, if they don't act today to try to prevent something like this from ever happening again," Roberts said. "I sure hope that they will now heed our warnings before another animal is killed and before a human has to lose his or her life."

ALSO:

Exotic animals intentionally let loose in Ohio

Alpine sanctuary offers help for wild animals in Ohio

Animal welfare groups give Ohio a failure mark for its oversight of exotic animals

-- Rene Lynch

Photo: A dead lion lays by the fence Tuesday on Terry Thompson's farm near Zanesville, Ohio, gunned down by safety officials. Credit: Heather Ellers and Dustin Burton

Source: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2011/10/zanesville-ohio-wild-animal-release-hunt.html

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$3 million luxury camper is a 40? mobile mansion (Yahoo! News)

James and Rupert Murdoch in London on July 10, 2011. (AP/Sang Tan)

When News Corp. executives gather for their annual meeting in Los Angeles on Friday, things could be pretty contentious between the shareholders and executive suite.

Some shareholders, following the recommendation of Institutional Shareholder Services, an advisory firm and corporate governance watchdog group, are expected to withhold their votes from News Corp. directors now seeking re-election--including chairman Rupert Murdoch and his sons James and Lachlan.

The phone-hacking scandal that engulfed the company earlier this year "laid bare a striking lack of stewardship and failure of independence by a board whose inability to set a strong tone at the top about unethical business practices has now resulted in enormous costs--financial, legal, regulatory, reputational and opportunity--for the shareholders the board ostensibly serves," ISS said in a note last week.

But dissident shareholders may not be able to force boardroom change. Rupert Murdoch, News Corp.'s chief executive, owns approximately 40 percent of the voting shares, according to the Wall Street Journal. Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who owns 7 percent, has publicly supported Murdoch during the scandal.

And despite questions about News Corp.'s executive leadership, the company's shares have jumped about 10 percent since the phone-hacking scandal broke in July--a positive performance that likely won't motivate "swing" shareholders to press for change.

Meanwhile, the New York Times asserted that "infighting" among the Murdoch clan, brought on by the phone hacking episode, is clouding News Corp.'s future:Read More ?

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/techblog/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20111018/tc_yblog_technews/3-million-luxury-camper-is-a-40-mobile-mansion

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Turkey's central bank: still a slippery customer | Global Investing

The Turkish central bank has done it again, wrong-footing monetary policy predictions with its latest interest rate moves.

On Thursday, the central bank hiked its overnight lending rate by widening the interest rate corridor.?While most analysts correctly predicted the central bank would leave its policy rate unchanged, few foresaw the overnight lending rate hike to 12.5 percent from 9 percent.

As Societe Generale?s emerging markets strategist Gaelle Blanchard put it:??They managed to find another trick. This one we were not expecting.?

In August, the central bank shocked the market by cutting its benchmark rate despite inflation running well above its 5.5 percent target. Relying on higher banks? reserve rate requirements to curb credit, it argued then that the rate cut was necessary to fend off the threat of a domestic recession heightened by a slowdown in global demand.

Initial market disapproval dissipated soon enough. Other emerging economies grappling with rising prices ? including Brazil and Indonesia ? also decided that the global recession threat was more significant than inflation.

Now, however, the Turks are warning of rising inflationary pressures.

Containing the weakness of the lira ? down 11 percent since August despite foreign-exchange auctions to support the currency ? is crucial in this respect.

Analysts say the central bank?s latest moves bring the interest rate tool back into its arsenal. A 4 percentage point rise in the lending rate would squeeze lira liquidity and make the carry trade expensive.

Despite the central bank?s more hawkish tone, analysts appear no more clued in as to the near-term rate direction.

For instance, both BNP Paribas and Capital Economics hail Turkey?s return to ?orthodox? monetary policy. But BNP Paribas expects the central bank to raise its policy rate should risk sentiment worsen while Capital Economics sees rates kept on hold until 2013 when policy tightening is likely.

?

Source: http://blogs.reuters.com/globalinvesting/2011/10/20/turkeys-central-bank-still-a-slippery-customer/

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Goldman Sachs: Superstar firm falls back to Earth

Goldman Sachs posts higher-than-expected loss of $428 million. Quarterly loss is only the second since the firm went public.

Goldman Sachs, the banking industry's perpetual winner, was this quarter's loser.

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The storied investment bank lost $428 million in the third quarter, driven by sharp drops in underwriting and trading revenue brought on by the wild swings in markets this summer. Goldman also had losses from souring investments in stocks, bonds and other holdings.

The loss announced Tuesday, which was worse than analysts expected, marked just the second time thatGoldman has posted a quarterly loss since going public in 1999. Other Wall Street banks also had trouble in their investment banking divisions, but Goldman fared worse.

It's too early to tell if the loss at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. is a temporary blip driven by a wild period in the markets or a sign of cracks in the bank's long-held business strategies. Whatever the case, the results of the bellwether company suggest that big banks are still struggling to figure out how to navigate a new world of weaker economies and tighter government control.

"This is the best proof that the financial crisis is far from over," said Ken Thomas, a Miami-based banking consultant.

Analysts point out that Goldman is naturally more susceptible to swings in the stock market, which has been under pressure because of fears about weak European banks and the losses they could suffer if the Greek government goes through a messy default. Those banks have large holdings of Greek bonds.

Goldman relies heavily on market-driven investment banking services, such as trading bonds and underwriting companies' stock offerings, for its revenue. It doesn't have the same level of plain-vanilla borrowing and lending to fall back on when the investment banking operations falter.

Chief financial officer David Viniar said on a conference call with analysts that he's confident the economy and markets will improve, eventually.

"Last week, big market rally; yesterday, big market decline," Viniar said. "So I think there's still a lot of uncertainty and a lot based on who says what on what day."

Goldman Sachs is known for beating the pack of other Wall Street banks. That didn't happen this time. Bank of America's investment banking and trading business reported a loss of $302 million, on a 26 percent decline in revenue. Goldman's overall revenue fell 60 percent. Citigroup Inc. reported a 12 percent decline in its securities and banking division, excluding an accounting gain.

Goldman's losses in the third quarter included losses of $1.1 billion on its stake in the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, $1 billion on other stock holdings and $907 million from bonds and loans.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/zPoV7lHrO8U/Goldman-Sachs-Superstar-firm-falls-back-to-Earth

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Cyclops shark appears to be the real thing

In this world of Photoshop and online scams, it pays to have a hearty dose of skepticism at reports of something strange ? including an albino fetal shark with one eye smack in the middle of its nose like a Cyclops.

But the Cyclops shark, sliced from the belly of a pregnant mama dusky shark caught by a commercial fisherman in the Gulf of California earlier this summer, is by all reports the real thing. Shark researchers have examined the preserved creature and found that its single eye is made of functional optical tissue, they said last week. It's unlikely, however, that the malformed creature would have survived outside the womb.

"This is extremely rare," shark expert Felipe Galvan Magana of Mexico's Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias del Mar told the Pisces Fleet Sportfishing blog in July. "As far as I know, less than 50 examples of an abnormality like this have been recorded." [ See photos of the one-eyed "Cyclops" shark ]

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Pisces Fleet, a sportfishing company, rocketed the Cyclops shark to viral status online this summer with their photos of the creepy-cute creature. But this isn't the first time that reports of a mythical-seeming creature have spurred media sensations ? last week alone, Russian officials announced "proof" of a Yeti, and paleontologists spun a theory about an ancient Kraken-like squid. Few reports of mythical beasts, however, come with proof.

Cyclops shark
The Cyclops shark is an exception. While rare, "cyclopia" is a real developmental anomaly in which only one eye develops. Human fetuses are sometimes affected, as in a 1982 case in Israel reported in 1985 in the British Journal of Ophthalmology. In that case, a baby girl was born seven weeks early with no nose and only one eye in the center of her face. The infant, who lived only 30 minutes after birth, also had severe brain abnormalities.

In 2006, a kitten born with one eye and no nose (a rare condition called holoprosencephaly), created a stir online as news organizations and bloggers tried to determine if the bizarre photos of the animal were real. A veterinarian confirmed the kitten's condition; "Cy," as the cat was known, lived only a day. The remains were sold to the creationist Lost World Museum.

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The fisherman who discovered the Cyclops shark is reportedly hanging on to the preserved remains, news outlets reported. But scientists have recently examined and X-rayed the fish, authenticating the catch. According to Seth Romans, a spokesman for Pisces Fleet, Galvan Magana and his colleagues will publish a scientific paper about the find within the next several weeks.

Romans told LiveScience that the fisherman who caught the strange shark is "amazed and fascinated" by the attention his catch has drawn.

It's not the first strange shark fetus Galvan Magana has found; he and his colleagues discovered two-headed shark embryos in two different female blue sharks. It's possible that one embryo started to split into twins, but failed to completely separate because of crowding in the womb, the researchers reported in January 2011 in the journal Marine Biodiversity Records.

Lair of the kraken?
Another recent report of a cryptic creature comes without the benefit of photographic evidence. Nor do the monster-hunters in this scenario have a body to display. ???

That's because the discovery is of an alleged " kraken's lair," a spot where 200-million-year-old ichthyosaur bones mingle in odd patterns. Paleontologist Mark McMenamin reads these patterns as evidence of a giant, ancient squid-like creature playing with its food, and he said as much on Oct. 10 at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America. Supporting his claim, he said, is the fact that even today Pacific octopus, which are also cephalopods like the ancient "kraken," have been seen taking down sharks.

Other researchers responded that McMenamin was seeing what he wanted to see in the patterns.

"To my mind, this hypothesis is like looking at clouds ? being able to see what you desire," Glenn Storrs, the curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Cincinnati Museum Center, told LiveScience.

Mythical krakens are now thought of as giant squid or octopuses, capable of bringing down a ship with their tentacled arms. But many of the earliest kraken reports were of creatures so enormous that they grew vegetation on their backs like islands. These krakens dragged down anchored ships or swamped them by surfacing suddenly. [Read Get Kraken: Why Scientists Should Study Sea Monsters]

The 1816 "Universal Dictionary of the Arts, Sciences Literature, Etc.," (advertised as "intended to supersede the use of other books of reference") defines the kraken as "a most amazing large sea animal," said to be "of a crab-like form."

"Its back or upper part, which seems an English mile and a half (some have affirmed more), looks at first like a number of small islands, surrounded with something that floats like seaweeds," the dictionary author writes. "At last several bright points of horns appear, which grow thicker the higher they emerge, and sometimes stand up as high and large as the masts of middle-sized vessels. In a short time, it slowly sinks, which is thought as dangerous as its rising; as it causes such a swell and whirlpool as draws everything down with it."

Den of the Yeti
October's most recent cryptozoology report comes courtesy of Russia, where researchers claim to have found "indisputable proof" of the yeti, a hairy ape-like creature not unlike Bigfoot.

This "proof" takes the form of a few strands of gray hair and some tracks in the snow, but similar claims have come up short in the past. Some Sasquatch claims have even been brazen hoaxes, such as a 2008 press conference in which two Georgia men claimed to have the body of Bigfoot in a freezer. The "corpse" turned out to be a rubber ape suit.

There's no way of knowing yet whether the Russian yeti enthusiasts are out to pull the wool over anyone's eyes, or whether they genuinely believe their yeti evidence is real. The yeti fur was supposedly found in Azasskaya cave in western Siberia during a yeti conference. [ Mythical Creatures: Beasts that Don't Exist ]

"During the expedition to the Azasskaya cave, conference participants gathered indisputable proof that the Shoria mountains are inhabited by the 'Snow Man,'" a spokesman for the region told LiveScience's sister site Life's Little Mysteries. "They found his footprints, his supposed bed, and various markers with which the yeti uses to denote his territory."

No word on where the supposed yeti went or why researchers didn't stick around with cameras. Unlike the Cyclops shark, it seems this yeti finding may not stand up to scrutiny.

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

? 2011 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44938056/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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