The most recent and rather important discovery is the white marble flight of steps found during excavations undertaken in the course of archaeological surveys for Line C of the underground railroad in Piazza Venezia.

After the discovery of the building that perhaps supported Nero’s rotating dining room on the Palatine, excavations for Line C of Rome’s subway brought to light a building that, according to the first hypotheses made by archaeologists, is thought to be Hadrian’s Academy, built in 133 A.D. to host poets, rectors, philosophers, men of letters, scientists and magistrates.

Hadrian, or Publius Aelius Hadrianus, ruled from 117-138 AD. He was an avid philosopher who was commonly referred to as one of the “five good emperors.” Hadrian’s Wall, in Northern England was built after a great war in what was then called Britannia.

It was an unexpected find as there is no trace of this building even in the Forma Urbis Romae, the map of ancient Rome engraved on marble slabs in the days of Septimius Severus (2nd Century A.D.). One of the sources used by archaeologists is the archaeological map created in the early 20th Century by the scholar Guglielmo Gatti. On this map Gatti in fact rediscovered a late-ancient domus and a little further south a number of monumental structures, which were really therefore the beginnings of the now hypothesised Athenaeum.

At the center, where the emperor and the poets wrote verses, is a granite floor with ochre coloured listels. These are the same kinds of floors used for the libraries Hadrian had built to the sides of Trajan’s Column fifty meters further along.

Now, the hypothesis that the Athenaeum may be in that never previously excavated corner of Piazza Venezia is extremely fascinating for history, archeology and architecture buffs.

The black Labrador retriever, who was trained to detect improvised explosive devices in the Oruzgan province, was recovered by a US soldier at an isolated patrol base recently.

The US soldier, known only by his first name John, was aware his Australian Special Forces colleagues were missing one of their explosive detection dogs.

John said it was immediately obvious that Sabi was no ordinary canine.

“I took the dog and gave it some commands which it understood,” he said.

At the time of her disappearance Sabi was coming to the end of her second tour of duty in Afghanistan, having previously deployed to Oruzgan in 2007.

Sabi was declared MIA in September 2008 after the combined Australian, US and Afghan National Army convoy was ambushed by an insurgent force.

Nine Australian soldiers including Sabi’s handler were injured during the attack After the engagement Trooper Mark Donaldson earned the Victoria Cross, Australia’s highest military honor for bravery.

After more than a year in South Afghanistan, Sabi was flown to Tarin Kowt to be reunited with one of her Australian Special Forces handlers, who knew instantly it was the team’s missing dog.

“I nudged a tennis ball to her with my foot and she took it straight away. It’s a game we used to play over and over during her training,” the trainer said.

“It’s amazing, just incredible to have her back.”

CNN reported Geisy Arruda, a 20-year-old student at the Bandeirante University (also known as Uniban), was escorted out of a campus building by police after her short red dress drew excessive heckling from her fellow students on Oct. 22. The dress she wore to class had three-quarter-length sleeves and fit loosely until the bottom, where it fit snugly over her butt and upper thighs. When she was escorted out, she wore a long white lab coat.

Cellphone videos of the incident quickly went viral on YouTube and Arruda was expelled. It wasn’t long before protests were staged on both sides of the controversy. This week, the public outcry in Arruda’s favor won-out and Uniban reluctantly allowed her to return. However, she had not returned to classes as of Tuesday.

“The University Council [which expelled Arruda] followed procedure and was very brave because it upheld the rules of the university, even with all the attention,” Uniban Assistant Rector Ellis Brown said. “The decision to readmit the student is not an admission of a mistake but a look at the issue from another perspective.”

Brown also insists that it was not the dress that was the problem, it was Arruda’s behavior. She was apparently entering class as if she was in a Carnaval parade, hiking up the dress and twirling to show it off. Arruda has denied this claim.

Arruda told CNN affiliate TV Record, “I was the victim, so I intend to keep going [to classes]. I don’t want to cause any more problems. I only want to study. I want to enter the classroom, sit down and study, do my tests and go to the next course.”

Excavations in the Vigna Barberini area resulted in the discovery of a room imitating the earth’s movement. According to scholars this could well be the room mentioned by Svetonius in the “Life of the Caesars.”

The author described that marvel of engineering as follows: “It turned on itself continuously, day and night, just like the world,” situated in a villa that spread from the Palatine to the Esquiline Hill. He added that “it was lined in gold and adorned with precious stones and shells and pearls with the ceilings of the dining room made of mobile ivory blocks and with pipes that could transport flowers or perfume to launch over the guests.”

Until recently many scholars had thought that this dining room was the Octagonal Hall on the Oppio Hill. In recent days a different archaeological truth has emerged on the Palatine Hill.

According to many ancient authors, Nero’s residence spread as far as the Colle Oppio, but a large part of it was on the Palatine. Preliminary digs carried out by the Archaeological Department, with Maria Antonietta Tomei as the Scientific Director, work directed by the architect Antonella Tomasello and carried out by a team lead by Francoise Villedieu, revealed a circular room with no similarity to others in Roman architecture.

The particular nature of this find is that it is a rotating room and that mechanisms filled with a yet to be analysed dark substance were also discovered. It is this last detail, as well as the building’s circular shape and the surprising power of the central column, unprecedented in Roman architecture, that allow one to envisage the presence of a floor, perhaps made of wood, resting on round mechanisms capable therefore of making it turn. This hypothesis is corroborated by the exceptional position of the building, which dates back to after the fire of 64 A.D. and confirms Nero’s taste for the spectacular. It is in fact overlooking the valley of the Coliseum, at the time covered by an artificial lake, and with a 360-degree view from the Capitol to the Aventino, from the Celio to Velia’s Hill.

The room’s rotation is linked to the figure of the sun, around which Nero’s ideology was based. One must now wait and see if conduits are also discovered which would explain how the higher level built in wood would have rotated, like a windmill or a merry-go-round.

There is a great deal of evidence indicating that this really is the coenatio. Svetonius says that the rotating room was the “main room”, hence on the Palatine, precisely where the newly discovered room is situated. The column and the nearby two-level archways are unique in Roman architecture and have no apparent function. There is no sign of walls, hence the brickwork wheel must have been used as the base for the rotating level that hosted dinners, parties and performances. Finally, another piece of evidence confirming this hypothesis, is that the building is on the same axis as other rooms in the Domus Aurea and hence there is continuity.

These excavations on the Palatine Hill, which were started last June, were addressed at reinforcing the corner overlooking the valley of the Coliseum and were carried out with ordinary financing from Rome’s Special Department for Archaeological Heritage. Considered the exceptional nature of this find, new funds have been allocated to continue excavations and bring to light the entire building so as to verify the hypothesis that this is indeed the coenatio rotunda, and also ensuring that less pressure is applied to the corner of the terrace of the Vigna Barberini.

Sensational discoveries such as this dining room of Nero’s always reopen the debate about the fact that the State should invest its resources in the necessary restoration of what is known and the discovery of what remains unknown. Our cultural legacy is one of Italy’s most important economic driving forces and it would therefore be appropriate to exploit it far more.

Blast’s news department is starting up a weekly world news podcast to augment our Terra blog.

Our own Sachin Seth will be narrating the episodes, so don’t miss out!

The men and women danced and cheered in the streets and after power was cut around the embassy, they used  their cell phones to complement the moonlight in a stunning display of unity.

On Tuesday however, Honduran security forces disassembled the thousands of pro-Manuel Zelaya supporters. Police chased and fired tear gas at the protesters, some of whom responded by throwing stones at the armed forces. No arrests of injuries have yet been reported, however there are thought to be several.

Zelaya returned to the Honduran capital on Monday, a claim which the military-backed coup government had previously denied.

The ousted president said he believes the police are preparing for an attack on the embassy, which would be a grave violation of international law.

“The embassy is surrounded by police and the military … I foresee bigger acts of aggression and violence, that they could be capable of even invading the Brazilian embassy,” Al-Jazeera reports he told Venezuelan Telesur network.

Brazil’s Foreign ministry has accused the de facto government of severing power and water lines that lead into the embassy.

Kicked Out

Zelaya was ousted by a military-backed coup on June 28, driven out of his home in his pajamas in the middle of the night. The coup was due largely in part to his attempts at a constitutional referendum that, potentially, would have allowed him to run for another term.

He was sent in to exile and told not to return.

The de facto leader, Roberto Micheletti, previously stated he was open to talks with foreign nations; however he recently stated he would not negotiate and demanded the transfer of Zelaya to his government so the ousted president could stand trial on corruption and constitutional violation charges.

LA JOLLA, Calif. — We’re very happy to have Dr. John F. Asmus, noted professor at the University of California San Diego (UCSD) with us for this story. Asmus brings to The Power Behind Closed Doors staff an exceptional technical and political background as an Internationally known expert in the dark and mysterious world of Laser Technology.

After a diverse career between working for the government and various businesses, Asmus invented the technology to use lasers to restore art and is one of the few people in the world allowed to touch the Mona Lisa. We have known Dr. Asmus for a long time and acknowledge one of his government recognized abilities a s a “Keen Observer of Events.” Asmus is constantly traveling to other countries technical laser conferences which he attends as an active participant. UCSD has always appreciated his abilities as an international representative of UCSD.

Recently Asmus told us that he had received an invitation to deliver the keynote address at the international conference, “Il Reunion International: Optica, Vida y Patrimonio” at the Capitolio Nacional in Havana, Cuba. American travel to Cuba, a one party communist state, has been restricted, and travel there has been almost nonexistent. This conference appeared to be an excellent opportunity for Asmus to see, firsthand, what Cuba is like and how the average Cuban is doing under the current political system.

Asmus’ first observation, before he started his adventure, was to realize the strong and somewhat emotional feeling in unison among his wife, family, friends, and associates. They all pleaded with him to ignore the invitation. Everyone believed that if he went it would be the last time anyone would see him.

In terms of the conference Asmus said that the invitation was completely unexpected . Not only on the fact that he, an American, was invited to give the Key Note Speech at a Cuban Conference but the fact that Cuba itself would be hosting an international conference on laser technologies for the conservation, restoration, analysis, and presentation of the artistic and cultural heritage of the countries comprising the Western Hemisphere.

Asmus said that he had been completely surprise the previous year when he discovered Argentinean and Greek art conservators employing Cuban-manufactured lasers in their work. “For years following my 1980s work in Xi’an it had been his expectation that economical Chinese lasers would become the world standard in conservation studios,” he said, reminiscing about his restoration of the Emperor Qin Terracotta Army. Initially, Asmus said that he was bemused by the idea of economical Cuban lasers competing in the world’s high-tech commercial market, although this thought seemed to be purely based off the ongoing Political Embargo the United States has had on Cuba. Eventually, Asmus discerned that the Cuban success in the commercial laser field was due to a spin-off of Fidel Castro’s medical treatment initiatives of the 1960s and 70s.

Upon arriving at the Capitolio National for the laser conference, Asmus had an opportunity to scan the conference program. There was at least one paper by a Cuban author on almost every current topic that is featured at the laser-society conferences held in the USA, Europe, and Asia. Asmus said that, “Later that week, it turned out that Cuban presentations were of the highest caliber although like all conferences, others were superficial and elementary,” he said.

The second startling feature of the program was the geographical representation. Latin Americans were to be expected. However, almost every European country was represented, as well as a scattering of representatives from other countries. Asmus was the only American who attended the conference.

Asums’ third revelation was the degree of Russian influence, both direct and indirect, which was prevalent at the conference’s technical and social activities. This is in spite of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the world economic recession, the termination of massive Soviet assistance to Cuba, and the travel distance between the two countries.

As for the conference, a feeling of deja vu swept over Asmus as the program revealed familiar names such as Vadim, Parfenov, Kaloshin, Shevchenko, Irina, Shikunova, Vladimir, Kurlov, Volkov, Viktor, Loschenov, Galina, and Nemova. Chatting with these authors at coffee breaks led to many new revelations. Mentors, collaborators, past publications and scientific issues as well as mutual friends of a bygone era were recalled. Although Asmus had never met these people, he discovered that their resumes bore eerie similarities. Asmus was well aware that that fifty-five years ago this world had been the focus of his professional career.

At one level the Havana laser conference resembled the end of a spy movie or novel where the opposing operatives meet and reminisce about their respective roles and tactics in playing the game. Some sort of bond can develop between contentious old “Cold Warriors” in reliving the moves and counter moves; in recognizing the implementation of similar strategies. Nevertheless, one significant difference in outcome bubbled up. Several of the Soviet Cold War scientists whose research Asmus had tracked during his Washington years had immigrated to countries such as Australia, Canada, Finland, and Brazil. Toward the end of the conference Asmus found himself chatting with Professor Maxim Tomilin of St. Petersburg State University. It appeared that they had attended all of the same meetings on the merits of neutral particle beams, charged particle beams, excimer lasers, blue-green lasers, etc., only on opposite sides of the world.

Since its inception in Venice 37 years ago, laser-implemented art conservation has been spreading across much of the globe. A major factor has been academic and professional exchanges involving Western European, Chinese, and American conservation scientists. While this was taking place many failed to notice that the Soviet Union was filling a void that opened upon the departure of the US from Cuba. While we in America were focused on cigars and missiles in Cuba, Cuba’s best and brightest were going to the Soviet Union for advanced studies. The Cuban laser accomplishment is one fruit of that protracted academic exchange. The successful laser-implemented restoration of the H.M.S. Swift by Dr. Alberto Orsetti, and the ongoing laser restoration of the fascist interrogation cells in Argentina (as historical memorials) by Professor Gabriel Bilmes are examples of their reducing the science into practice.

Asmus commented that during a coffee break during the conference, “both Dr. Tomilin and I agreed that the new blood in the field was discovering possibilities far beyond our imaginations.” This can be seen in the joint Mexican-Cuban initiative that has developed an automated laser system that selectively blasts thorns from the agave plant, thereby improving both the efficiency and quality of Tequila production. Better tequila, now who can complain about that?

Blast, based in Boston, has a bureau in San Diego with entertainment and political reporting.

Mueller described the decision as “detrimental to the cause of justice” and that the decision to release Megrahi on grounds of compassion because the 57-year-old is suffering from terminal prostate cancer is a “mockery of the emotions, passions and pathos of all those affected by the Lockerbie tragedy.”

Mueller makes it clear in his August 21 letter that he, in the past, has “made it a practice not to comment on the actions of other prosecutors.” He goes on to say that the release of Megrahi is so unbelievably unjustified that he could not stand idly by without commenting and giving his opinion.

Mueller then describes, in great detail, the suffering of American families who lost friends and family members in the 1988 Pan Am tragedy that killed all 270 passengers and crew. Most of the dead were Americans.

Mueller justifies his complaint by reminding MacAskill that he was the “Assistant Attorney General in charge of the investigation and indictment of Megrahi in 1991.”

The Scottish government has indicated it will stand by its decision.

Welcome Home

After his release Megrahi was escorted by Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, to his home country of Libya. Upon arrival Megrahi was showered with flower petals and greeted with cheers and jubilation from the massive crowd that stood waiting for him.

President Obama warned Libya not to turn Megrahi’s homecoming into a celebration, and that the convicted Libyan terrorist should be placed under house arrest. Obama has also criticized Megrahi’s release.

Oil release

Many are accusing the Scottish government of freeing Megrahi in exchange for oil. Several British news outlets have reported a negotiation deal that, in exchange for Megrahi’s release, would allow companies such as BP (British Petroleum) to gain access to lucrative wells of Libyan oil.

In 2007, BP signed an oil search deal with Libya worth $900 million. The deal has allowed BP to search for gas in west Libya and offshore. According to the Times Online however, BP has, since the start of the project, been hit with a string of delays in attempts to import equipment through Libyan customs and secure legal paperwork.

Some believe that Megrahi’s release would give BP the go-ahead to bypass certain security measurements and conduct their search in a more peaceful and, perhaps, prosperous way.

Britain has denied any such connection.

Despite the killings, voter turnout only grew as the day went on, and officials extended voting time by one hour to accommodate the crowd.

Hamid Karzai, the front-runner of the 30 presidential candidates, praised the courage of the Afghan people. “The Afghan people defied rockets, bombs and intimidation and came out to vote, that is great,” he said.

He also added that 73 attacks were conducted in 15 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Security forces, according to Afghan officials, stopped five suicide attacks.

Scared to vote

In the morning, all over the country, polling stations stood empty. “Maybe everyone is drinking tea, or sleeping,” said Abdul Mubir, manager of a polling centre in Kabul, Global Post reports.

By the afternoon it seems people emerged from their shells. Officials say more citizens began filing in around lunchtime and lines began to form outside official polling stations. By the end, turnout was apparently so strong that voting time had to be extended by one hour. In contrast, Al Jazeera reports that during the last hour of voting, a station being monitored in the capital by correspondent James Bays saw only one voter go in and out.

Despite the fairly small voting population (in comparison to larger countries) the results are not expected for several days. The deadline for the release of preliminary results is Sept. 3.

Exit polls give no indication of which candidate leads, mostly because voters are reluctant to reveal their choices so candidly. Opinions polls however suggest the possibility of a runoff election between Karzai and his main opposition Dr. Abdullah Abdullah.

Fraud

Many are already predicting fraud and fixing. Several voters, who mostly chose to remain unnamed, told reporters they have no faith in the electoral process in their country, a country heavily affected by U.S. presence and the Taliban insurgency.

Many analysts predict a win for the incumbent Karzai. His endorsements from former presidential candidates and the advances he’s made in his campaign in the past weeks have all but ensured victory.

However because Karzai needs 50 per cent of the vote for an outright victory, it is likely he will face a runoff election against Abdullah in the near future.

But now, just two days before the election, Karzai has emerged as the unquestioned front-runner and will seemingly sprint back into his governing chair, a seat in which he will remain for another five years.

On Monday 10,000 supporters rallied at Ghazi stadium in Kabul, wearing blue caps, waving blue flags, holding signs depicting the Abdullah’s smiling visage. But despite the doctor’s prominence and reputation, despite his reformist ideals and want for change, he will lose.

As much as his campaign’s support parallels that of Iran’s Mir Hossein Mousavi, unlike Mousavi, this candidate has no chance of winning (neither did Mousavi, if you think about it).

Karzai will be back.

Polling day violence

What the people must worry about now, besides being ruled by Karzai for another five years, is what will happen on August 20^th. Violence at the polling stations is almost a certainty, especially now that the Taliban has vowed to disrupt the voting process.

“The election is propaganda from America and its allies,” said the Taliban in a statement, according to Al Jazeera.

On Tuesday, Kabul was hit by a blast that killed seven. It is highly likely that Thursday will see much of the same type of blasts scattered across the highly vulnerable country.

Voter turnout is already expected to be low, according to a local Afghan man interviewed by Al Jazeera. He told the interviewer that he was afraid to go out and vote because of what the Taliban had promised. He knows what they are capable of, he said.

We all know.

Peaceful election

Unfortunately, even from the beginning, these elections looked bleak. None of the candidates offer any real solutions to any of the country’s most dire issues. Also, the Afghanistan itself is not stable enough to hold a proper democratic election for two reasons: because the country is so often bombed by the Taliban that setting up secure, safe polling stations is not a reality, and because the parties involved have a history of engaging in bribery and intimidation tactics to gain desirable results.

According to several news outlets, entire villages have been threatened with violence if their population refuses to vote for a certain candidate.

Of course, internationally we are all hoping for at least one peaceful, democratic election to be completed in the Mid-East in the near future.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the one we should look to to satisfy that want.

Enjoy then while they’re still babies and can’t eat anyone.

Media credit/WireImage

In a last minute change in posture, President Barack Obama recently decided to go to Russia to “reset” the generally confusing political relationship between Russia and the United States.

Outsiders could perceive that the U.S. State Department attitude has been that Russia can be ignored because it is not in the game and is just another distraction for the U.S. This position is a complete and utter rejection of the world of reality which we live in, including the misuse of the word “distraction.” Russia can never be ignored nor should she be. This general Washington attitude about Russia tends to be an unrealistic assumption , and does not consider what the long-term and potential tragic consequences that this idea could render for the international community. A recent media comment stated a realistic assessment as, “Russia is too big of a country to ignore including the fact that European History has been tied to Russia, sometimes with disastrous results.”

As for the Summit, Andrei Klimov, Deputy Chairman of the Russian State Duma’s Foreign Affairs Commission said prior to the official Summit meeting, “Unfortunately, our agenda contains too many difficult issues; I’ll be surprised if we can solve any of them.” In the Intel World this is considered a very strong position statement. In another confusing statement, President Obama, on Russian TV said, “It (Russia) remains one of the most powerful countries in the world.” If this is true then how can the State Department ignore Russia and consider it as a weak country not worthy of American attention and/or support. Although, on the other hand America does need Russian support for creating a viable European image including the building of much needed political and public support for America.

Thus, at the end of the meeting, the public was told that two agreements were signed. One agreement involving the cutback in nuclear arms to 1,700 warheads per country within seven years. The second, a mutual agreement which gives the U.S. the right to fly over Russia to deliver troops and supplies to Afghanistan. This is estimated to save the United States $133 million in current day fuel costs.

As a conclusion to the meeting President Obama reinforced Russia’s nuclear arms position during his speech at the New Economic School in Moscow when he stated, “President Medvedev and I made progress,” the word progress does not mean resolution “on negotiating a new Treaty that will substantially reduce our warheads and delivery systems. We also renewed our commitment to clean, safe and peaceful nuclear energy, which must be a right for all nations that live up to their responsibilities under the NPT. We also agreed to increase cooperation on nuclear security, which is essential to achieving the goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear material within four years.”

It is interesting to note that both the Russian and American media understanding from summit is that both parties have reached a major breakthrough in terms of limiting nuclear arms to a new low level where nuclear weapons are not considered a threat to any country. This is hard to believe since the U.S. and Russia together have approximately 95% of the world’s nuclear weapons, which the State Department reported in 2009 as 3,909 Russian warheads vs. America’s 5,576 warheads. Are we to believe that this is the primary subject? Or is the real concern, the proliferation of nuclear arms in Iran and North Korea, a problem which neither Russia or the U.S. want to face directly.

A most interesting analysis of the so-called Arms Agreement has been made by Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association when he called the agreement,“An overdue, if very modest, step toward riding each side of obsolete and expensive cold war legacy weapons.” John Bolton added his thoughts when he said,

“The number they are proposing for delivery vehicles is shockingly low.” Aren’t these comments the main objective that both sides really wanted? To initiate a media program in both countries in order to obtain public credit for eliminating old useless nuclear weapons including unreliable missile systems. This agreement does not preclude the fact that the world needs to realize that it still faces large stockpiles of new high performance, multi-headed nuclear weapons and delivery systems? THINK ABOUT IT. Is this a subject Political Intrigue or Reality?

In terms of an overview President Obama made light of the positive cooperation between Russia and the U.S. in assessing the threat of ballistic missiles from other countries. He said, “I’m pleased that President Medvedev and I agreed upon a joint threat assessment of the ballistic missile challenges of the 21st Century, from Iran and North Korea.” As we can see, this was an interesting comment to make considering just three weeks ago, right after the election of Iran’s new president, Russia and Iran both sat at the same table, as official members, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) annual meeting. At this meeting President Medvedev officially expressed his support of the newly elected Iranian President. It is also interesting to note that the Charter for this organization says its goal is, “To pursue joint security, energy and development goals, including enhanced cooperation against terrorism, Islamist extremism and separatism.” The word “Separatism” is of real concern in terms of Putin’s vision of a new Great Russia. Therefore it is now official that Russia and Iran support each other in their “security efforts” in an organization that rejected the entrance of U.S. as a mere observer status. How will it be that Russia shares the same ideals for security as Iran while supporting the US in a so called, “Joint threat assessment of the ballistic missile challenges?” One answer comes from the Intel World which states from long experience, “All is not what it appears too be.” Only time will answer questions like these. As Peter Baker in the Wall Street Journal recently said, “They made promises of cooperation that ultimately might prove easier to translate into words than reality.”

This current agreement may be reminiscent of similar ones made in the Reagan, Bush, Clinton, and G.W. Bush presidencies. In summary it is oblivious that although agreements were reached on the decision to reduce nuclear missiles many issues have been left open as points to agree to disagree. After President Obama’s meeting with Prime Minister Putin President Obama said, “On areas where we disagree, like Georgia, I don’t anticipate a meeting of the minds anytime soon.”

The second day of the meeting involved President Obama meeting with Russian business leaders to stress better economic ties between the United States and Russia. This is a reasonable subject to open, assuming that the U.S. has an economic system to negotiate with. It is also interesting that the Secretary of Commerce was the only person to accompany President Obama to Russia. Secretary Locke’s remarked at the Business Summit that, “Now is the time to further United States and Russian integration with the world economy.” We continue to hear words like “World Economy” not “American Economy.”

Secretary Locke also commented that, “Likewise, we consider it very much in the interest of Russia to further integrate into the world economy. We support Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization and encourage Russia to pursue opportunities to increase its bilateral trade and investment with the United States as well as other countries.” Russia had been on the waiting list to enter the WTO for several years although the week before the Summit Prime Minister Putin withdrew Russia’s application. This is a key Russian strategy decision which America should not overlook.

The logical question now would be why did Putin remove Russia from the application process only a week before the Summit with the U.S.? Russia is continuing to give conflicting signs of what it wishes to do. Is no one paying any attention to what Putin is saying?

In summary, one question must be asked: will this Summit have the desired effect of starting the so called “reset” of the long troubled relationship between Russia and the United States? Keep in mind that the U.S. won the Cold War and Russia lost. In winning the Cold War we created a “Big Bad Enemy,” which is not going to be subservient to the U.S. In addition, Russia and the United States have very different cultural views with the result of a distorted view of the U.S. which has become embedded in the Russian public. How will Russia overcome this view that it has had of the United States for so long? Will it happen in a few short meetings, years, or ever? Will it be too much to overcome or will we be able to work through them to have two strong countries who no longer fight for power, but instead share and grow from it.

It has been said by many wise men including Julius Caesar that, “Power is the Name of the Game.”

Think about it.

How can you get help? How can you be freed or given access to your lawyer or your family to tell them you’re OK?

This exact story is currently unfolding in Uganda. The Human Rights Watch is demanding the Ugandan government charge or release the five detainees.

The physical location of the four men and one woman is unknown, which, according to the HRW, make it a case of enforced disappearance, illegal under international law and in violation of the Ugandan Constitution. Some former detainees say the five missing may be being held at Joint anti-Terrorism Task Force (JATT) headquarters in Kololo, a rich suburb of capital city Kampala.The former detainees also said the five missing were tortured and may now be in poor health, the HRW reports.

According to a report released by the HRW, the task force has heavily abused its power on many occasions resulting in multiple killings, enforced disappearances and allegations of torturing terrorism suspects.

Recently, the chief of military intelligence in Uganda wrote a report to the HRW outlining the reason for the five arrests in an attempt to justify the imprisonment of the missing. According to the report, Abdulrahman Kijjambu and Ismail Kambaale, two of the five, were arrested in July 2008 on suspicions of planning terrorism acts.

The third detainee, Abdul Hamid Lugemwa, was arrested in March 2008 for being involved in an “urban hit squad.” The letter also claims the military task force has no knowledge of the whereabouts of the fourth prisoner, Mohamed Sekulima.

HRW reports however that four former detainees say they say Sekulima in JATT custody on several separate occasions. The circumstances of the arrest of fifth detainee, Fatuma Nantongo, are unclear. Witnesses told the HRW that she was arrested in December of 2008 and was seen in JATT custody in Kololo in January 2009.

The letter from military intelligence unfortunately provided no insight into the exact whereabouts of the five missing. All five detainees are being denied the right to habeas corpus, which is mandatory under both international and Ugandan law.

Still, no charges have officially been filed.

Stick with Blast for updates on the story.

Chinese president Hu Jintao went to Russia during the week of June 15 to meet with President Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin. The two countries have had an allied relationship for 60 years, although it has grown stronger over the past thirteen years. China has now become Russia’s top trading country, signing energy bills that have a value of $100 billion dollars

No surprise here that top Washington Analysts say Jintao’s visit to Russia was a strong indication of the continued steadfast support between Russia and China on key issues of national sovereignty, national security, and trade issues. The main topic of the visit were the issues of the financial and trade support between China and Russia. At the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting China promised $10 billion dollars to Central Asian countries and Russia to help during this current economic turmoil. The leaders of Afghanistan, Iran, India, and Pakistan were also at the table of the SCO meeting.

In terms of history the SCO was founded in 1996 and has annual meetings. The organizations charter says that it “is not an alliance directed against other states and regions and it adheres to the principles of openness.” It is interesting to note that SCO’s goal is to pursue “joint security, energy and development goals, including enhanced cooperation against terrorism, Islamist extremism and separatism” in the Sino-Russian geographical arena. Most interestingly then, the agreement does have teeth in relation to power and can take independent action without waiting for American or UN approval.

Many intelligence analysts believe that SCO was created to counteract NATO and especially the international strength of the United States. This view is strongly reinforced by the fact that in 2005 the United States applied for Observer status in SCO and was rejected. It should be noted though that the SCO has no strict rule for admittance into the organization, expect that the main consideration for entrance into the organization is the shared border consideration. The fact that, technically, the United States and Russia share the Alaskan border via the Pacific Ocean puts questions to why the United States was rejected Observer status. It does seem to hint at strong political reasons are truly behind the rejection.

It has become clear that China and Russia have also agreed to a closer merging of economies trading directly through the Ruble and Yuan, bypassing the US dollar completely from any transaction. Recently both China and Russia have expressed anxiety about the strength of the US dollar and the effect the current recession in the US is having on world markets. China already directly passes over the dollar when trading with Brazil and Argentina. Although these are only minor markets, the decision to trade in common currencies between Russia and China is a major step forward for Russia and China and a major step backwards for the US. Overall though, this trend supports the idea of either a One World Currency or replacement of the US dollar entirely.

A very good academic question can be stated, “But why does it matter and why do we care if Russia and China pass over the dollar in their $100 million dollar energy trade?” American citizens including the large number of college graduates must understand that the US dollar will continue loosing strength and the US economy will continue to loose its influence and control in the international economic and political markets. This means, among other things, it is getting harder for Americans to find job and pay back loans. Students are the ones most at-risk for receiving this one-two punch for years, if not decades to come.

America’s control of international markets can be related to the saying “I have Good News and Bad News.” The Good News has always been the euphoria relating to America’s control of world markets. The Bad News is that American now becomes a Target for what is called “International Trade” in Washington, which is the new silent war against America and its ability to use the dollar as the basis of international trade, which China and Russia have already started to target.

In the future world, America will have a difficult time surviving as the dominant international economy if its economy continues to drag, and other countries continue to trade in bilateral currencies instead of going through the dollar. The dollar will then loose its tradability as a strong and controlling currency.

The current international financial crisis makes it easy for China and Russia to jointly replace the United States as a World Super Power. What America must face is the fact that China is a major exporter and both China and Russia have an extreme strong-hold on natural resources. Thus Russia and China have the ability when working in cooperation to move their interests forward without the United States, and without taking any US interest into consideration. That is bad for us.

Since 1941, Russia and United States have never been cozy bed partners. The last time Russia made it on to the US Media regularly was during the Cold War. The international question being discussed in the high circles of government power now though is, “What will happen when Russia enters the international political scene as a Super Power supported by one of the largest exporters in the world, China?” What will that mean for the United States and the “Quality of Life in America.”

Personally none of us have any desire to see what will happen within the United States if we loose our status as a superpower or even have to compete for it even more with Russia and China. We agree with Top Washington Analysts when they say that the SCO and especially Russia and China need to be watched carefully not only in economic terms but also nuclear weapons including the fact that they have targeted, San Diego, Los Angeles, Seattle and Canada, as confirmed by a Washington Analyst.

The body of a male flight attendant was also identified. Investigators are using dental records, DNA from family members and fingerprints to help identify the bodies that have been found so far.

According to international police agency Interpol and the German Foreign Ministry, 14 of the 50 recovered bodies have been positively identified. Eight Brazilians, one Brazilian-German, one Brazilian-Swiss, one Briton and three Germans make up the 14.

The CBC reports the names have not yet been released, however a pilots’ union named the captain as Marc Dubois.

The search continues

Brazilian and French forces continue to search for debris and bodies in the icy Atlantic Ocean.

Just days ago French newspaper Le Monde reported that searchers picked up faint signals thought to have been emitted from the plane’s sunken black box recorders. French officials later denied the rumors, saying the signals were not emitted from the recorders.

The beacons attached to the black boxes emit signals that can be picked up from just over a mile away. They can only emit the signals for 30 days. The plane crashed 24 days ago.

Two French ships are currently looking for the beacon, using American underwater technology. The Emeraude, a French mini sub, is also trolling the suspected crash site.

Air France Flight 447 crashed in the Atlantic Ocean on June 1 just hours after taking off from Rio de Janeiro. Before it disappeared off radar, it sent a flurry of automated messages that indicated it may have been flying at an improper speed through harsh weather.

One of the messages suggests the plane’s external speed sensors, known as Pitot tubes, may have iced over. Air France has ordered that all Pitot tubes on all of its medium- and long-haul jets be replaced.

It’s a revolution against an Islamic Republic that puts its own needs and wants in front of the people that it governs, or so the Ph.D student put it.

Saturday’s protests in Iran were full of violence. People were shot, beaten and tear gassed in the streets. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the public in his speech Friday that more demonstrations were prohibited. He said that if the people continued to revolt, Mousavi and the opposition would be responsible for what happened to them.

He also said these protests won’t force the ruling regime into a corner. He said, basically, these outbursts are useless.

The people are however challenging the very foundation of not only the supreme leadership, but the Islamic Republic as well.

Protests turn deadly

Some sources say a bomb went off outside a mosque and killed three or four people. Other say people were being shot dead in the streets. Some claim military tanks were deployed. Reports of helicopters landing at universities are coming through via Iranian twitter accounts. More twitter accounts claim Basiji are ntering homes and attacking civilians.

CNN reports hospital officials say 19 died today during the demonstrations. The death toll could be as high as 150.

According to this video, one woman was shot and killed by Basiji during the protests.

WARNING: THE VIDEO CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES.

In terms of severity and risk, the situation may be getting out of hand. The woman killed is now being used as a rallying point for Iranians, an example of horrid government brutality. Her name was Neda, which, so fittingly, means “voice” in Farsi.

If Iran were to give in and approve a re-election, it could start a dangerous trend across the Middle-East. As Obama said, “the world is watching.” An Islamic Republic that gives in to the demands of the people could set a precedent for the citizens of other Islamic countries.

Countries that are successfully oppressing their people. These protests could mean widespread unrest throughout the Middle-East.

Thoughts of an Iranian student

But what does all this mean for Iran? What are these people fighting for? When will these protests end? How far will the supreme leader go to ensure his republic maintains some degree of control?

Yesterday I spoke to an Iranian exchange student, Mahdi Takaffoli, about the protests, the election results and the behind-the-scenes power struggle between Ayatollah Khamenei and Assembly of Experts Chairman Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former president.

Takaffoli could not comment on the specifics of some issues since his media access is like ours. Restricted. Living outside of Iran during a period of extreme internal turmoil summons feelings of guilt within him. He said on one hand he’s glad he’s not there. His life, in Canada, is not in danger.

“But then I thought about it and I think I would like to be in Iran so I can show I have the courage to speak out against Khamenei,” he said.

Even though he can’t be in Tehran, Takaffoli is showing his support.  He attended a protest in Toronto last week, which drew a crowd of more than 1,000. He and I also attended a candlelight vigil on Friday night for those who died during the protests in Iran. He also plans to attend a rally in Toronto on Sunday.

Takaffoli even took a five-hour bus ride to Ottawa to vote at Canada’s only polling station. He voted for Mousavi, as did 85 per cent of the nearly 3,000 Iranian-Canadians who made the trip to the nation’s capital, he says.

After the interview Takaffoli expressed some regret over the harsh words he spoke against Khamenei. Not because he believed them to be untrue, but because his family still lives in Iran. “I am not afraid though,” he said.

Takaffoli spoke of his devotion to Iran and his allegiance to the reformist party and Mousavi. He admitted that when the election began he did not know much about Mousavi, but after watching the debates and reading about his policies, he decided Mousavi, as an artist, would be a good stepping stone to reform Iranian politics and help promote freedom of expression.

He says there’s been a reformist movement brewing for a while, especially among the educated youth. He’s happy that this movement now has a leader, though he did acknowledge that while Mousavi may not be everyone’s ideal candidate, he is a figure people can rally behind to look for real change. He criticized Ahmadinejad for acting like he works for the people.

He believed, along with his friends in Iran, that an election was the best way to have their oppressed voices heard. Now that may have been taken away from them, too.

Now, with a tainted, corrupt democracy, he doesn’t know what the future of his country will bring.

Takaffoli said there’s no way he could believe Ahmadinejad won so much of the public’s vote when so many citizens wanted reform.

He doesn’t believe in toppling the entire Islamic Republic though. He wants to achieve reform through the system because, as he put it, overthrowing the entire regime would result in the deaths of too many Iranians. Throughout our talk he made it clear he was against violent revolution of any kind, no matter what it could achieve.

Takaffoli doesn’t know what these protests will bring, but he is extremely proud and hopeful that his countrymen and women will force the republic to reform.

But that won’t happen if Khamenei has his way.

For now, we wish to share these images with you, which were sent to us by Gooya News/Voice of America Persian News Network.

In the video, Ahmadinejad compares the rioting to misplaced passion by fans of the losing team after a soccer match. Degrading.

Ahmadinejad presser video on CNN

The protests went deep into the night. Journalists and citizens were arrested and beaten, police cars and bikes were set on fire, windows were broken – it was complete chaos, not seen since the 1979 Iran Revolution.

Protesting is not something Iranians normally do, so it’s a good sign of the people fighting for what they believe is rightfully theirs – a democratically-elected and coherent government that will represent the people in the way they want to be represented.

For up-to-the-minute updates on what’s happening in Iran, follow @LilyMazahery, a human rights activist and lawyer getting updates from friends in Iran, @tehranelection, a student living in Tehran, and @Change_for_Iran, a man named Farhad, who is, according to his tweets, taking part in the riots.

Seriously, follow these people. The two Iranians are really risking a lot by updating the world on what’s happening inside their country, since Twitter, Facebook and other sites were banned for a long time yesterday.

The country’s 42.5 million-strong voting population is turning out in record numbers, sparked by the political agenda of reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi and a public distaste for incumbent Ahmadinejad.

We all know Ahmadinejad is a little wired. He’s essentially alienated his country because of his vampire-like blood thirst for nuclear weapons and hate for Israel.

But Mousavi also favors continuing the nuclear program and doesn’t recognize Israel as a state. Neither do conservative Mohsen Rezai and reformist Mehdi Karoubbi, the other two candidates currently in the running.

What’s the difference between Mousavi and Ahmadinejad then? Well, Mousavi has publicly criticized Ahmadinejad’s incompetent, foolish and irresponsible behavior on the international stage. He says he wants to increase positive relations with neighboring countries and the United States. Mousavi also claims his effort to advance the nation’s nuclear program will be for “peaceful purposes.”

He’s promised to battle Iran’s “extremist” image. He’s advocated more personal freedoms in Iran and wants to reverse the ban on private television channels.

He has experience too; he served as prime minister from 1981 to 1989 and presidential adviser from 1989 to 2005, leaving just as Ahmadinejad was elected.

Mousavi is taking an Obama-like approach to Iranian politics, promising a reform of current political agenda that has so severely restricted Iran’s young electorate from freely expressing themselves. As an architect, a painter and president of the Iranian Academy of Arts, Mousavi is a strong advocate for freedom of expression.

However Mousavi was prime minister in the 1980s, during a time when some horrible human rights violations were taking place in the country.

Still, his followers are mainly young voters and the more educated elderly. His young supporters, as Obama’s did, openly support him in the streets, but instead of donning branded merchandise they dress head to toe in brilliant green. Some even paint their faces.

But this election represents the need for freedom in Iran. Freedom of a tyrannical government and freedom under an oppressive leader.

At this point, many believe anyone would be better that four more years of Ahmadinejad.

Ahmadinejad’s woes

Ahmadinejad’s public support is slipping. At home, he has been lambasted for largely ignoring the economic woes of the country. He’s also been criticized for what many see as an attempt to provoke the U.S.

“Our nation’s dignity has been harmed. We’ve been degraded. There has been increasing tension…is it in our interests?” Mousavi said to Ahmadinejad during a televised debate. He also criticized Ahmadinejad’s questioning of the Holocaust and accused him of moving the country toward “dictatorship.”

Ahmadinejad has accused his rivals of spreading unfounded lies and insults.

Internationally, we all know of Ahmadinejad’s antics. Most recently, his Israel-based racist rhetoric caused a 30 country walkout during a UN meeting in April of this year.

Despite all of this, BBC reports Ahmadinejad has a strong support base in the country’s military and state-owned media, which would make him hard to overthrow.

Will there be change?

The CBC reports that even though the two candidates draw largely different support bases at home, it’s expected international relations with the country will go largely unchanged no matter who is victorious, despite Mousavi’s claims of intending to increase positive relations with the U.S. and neighboring middle-eastern nations.

On a domestic level however Mousavi will, as a reformist, change many of Ahmadinejad’s freedom-preventing policies. His candidacy and professional background has sparked hope within millions of Iranian youth.

Just days ago, supporters of the two candidates gathered in scores in the streets of Tehran. In an example of free expression, angry young Mousavi supporters accused Ahmadinejad of creating a negative worldwide view of the country and for running the economy into the ground.

Mousavi’s supporters communicate largely through text messaging, a service which was down on voting day. Mousavi accused Iran’s government-owned communications system of purposefully shutting the system down in an effort to decrease conversation between young voters. An example of, if the allegation is true, Ahmadinejad’s free expression restriction.

Mousavi also claims some of his representatives were blocked from entering polling stations to oversee voting, CBC reports. Many fear the election could be rigged to ensure Ahmadinejad’s victory.

Voting time for Iran’s direct vote election has been extended by two hours to 11:30 a.m. EST. If none of the candidates achieve a 50-plus per cent majority, a runoff election will be held on June 19 between the top two candidates.

Bombers rammed a small truck laden with explosives through the gates of the upscale Pearl Continental Hotel at around 10 p.m., killing at least 16 — including two United Nations workers — and injuring 70. The bombing was by far one of the country’s largest, with at least 1,000 pounds of explosives according to police, forming a gigantic crater and reducing much of the hotel to little more than rubble.

The attacks come little more than a week after Taliban leaders warned they would instigate attacks in major cities, retaliating against the Pakistani government’s military offensive to reclaim the nearby Swat Valley in Pakistan’s tribal Northwest Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan.

The blasts also resembled methods used in the May 27 attack against Pakistani intelligence service in Lahore, when the Taliban struck disturbingly near to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. Yesterday’s bombings indicate a continuing trend, the Taliban moving its operations of the rural borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan, and into Pakistan’s urban centers.

The Emeraude, a French nuclear submarine, reached the Air France Flight 447 search site Wednesday to aid in the hunt for the missing plane’s cockpit recorders.

French military officials said the sub started surveying waters near the suspected crash site of  Wednesday morning.

France also sent two boats towing approximately 40 tons of recovery equipment, a surveillance ship, and the Nautile, a mini sub that will be sent to the ocean’s floor in case the black boxes are retrieved, CNN reports.

Plane debris was spotted about 600 miles of the coast of Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha islands, which are in turn a 200 miles north-east of Brazil’s coast. It is here the sub will begin its search.

French military spokesman Captain Christophe Prazuck said the Emeraude will be able to cover about 13 square miles of ocean every day. While traversing tough waters, the ship will actively be searching for the downed plane using advanced radar equipment.

To help locate the emergency beacons attached to the flight’s data recorders, two French vessels will be outfitted with two high-tech U.S. acoustic search devices. The devices can detect emergency beacons emitting from up to 20,000 feet underwater. The average depth of the immensely large search area (77,220 square miles) is about 9,900 feet.

The first ship was outfitted with one device Wednesday. The second ship set to carry the other device won’t arrive until next week, CBC reports.

“There are big uncertainties about the accident site, the ocean floor is rugged… so it’s going to be very difficult…it’s going to be very complicated and we’re going to need a lot of luck,” Prazuck told French radio, BBC reports.

The emergency beacons attached to the flight’s data recorders will only transmit a signal for about 20 more days.

If French searchers are able to locate the recorders, the Nautile, the same ship that explored the wreckage of the sunken Titanic, will be sent to down to recover them.

All wreckage will be taken back to France for investigation. All bodies found, of which there are currently 41, will be shipped back to Recife, Brazil for investigation and identification.

Click here for updates on bodies found and developments in the plane crash investigation.

For a few days investigators have been focusing on automated messages sent out during the plane’s final moments that indicate the jet may have been flying at an improper speed through bad weather. This suggests an issue with the plane’s speed reading instruments.

Flying at the correct speed is very important when going through a storm, especially one as severe as the one Flight 447 is thought to have encountered.

Meteorologists say the jet went through a storm with 100 mph updrafts that sucked up water from the ocean thousands of feet below. The damp air then rose up and froze quickly in the -40 F weather, causing major turbulence and possibly icing.

The airliner’s electrical systems then failed, and AP reports the plane most likely broke apart in air. It has been suggested that the plane’s speed readers may have been inadequate, and it was reportedly previously advised they be changed.

Air France will now replace the instruments, known as Pitot tubes, on all of its mid- and long-haul Airbus jets in the “coming weeks.” CNN reports the Pilots’ union claims Air France has said the sensors will be replaced within a few days.

The Alter union, a small union within Air France, is urging their pilots to wait until the tubes are replaced before flying their planes, CBC reports.

Pitot tubes are L-shaped and stick out from the wing or fuselage of the plane. “The pressure of the air entering the tube lets sensors measure the speed and angle of the flight, along with less vital information like outside air temperature,” AP reports.

They are heated to prevent icing, though a theory suggests the Pitot tubes on Flight 447 were faulty, which could have caused them to ice over. Malfunctioning tubes would have fed incorrect speed readings to the plane’s computers, causing the plane to accelerate or decelerate dangerously.

A French agency investigating the crash has reports the plane’s pilots saw major turbulence and an inconsistency in speed readings before going down, according to Le Monde newspaper.

Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic last Monday just hours after taking off from Rio de Janeiro. All 228 passengers are believed to be dead. Thus far, sixteen bodies have been found.

Searchers are still looking for the flight’s cockpit recorders. Mini submarines will arrive this week to aid in the hunt.

Be sure to click here to follow the progress of the search for bodies, black boxes and pieces of the plane.

Forty-one bodies have been found in the Atlantic thus far, two on Saturday, 14 on Sunday, eight on Monday, and 17 on Tuesday, all confirmed to have been on Air France Flight 447, Brazilian officials said Wednesday. Four have been confirmed male and four female.

The first set of bodies were found about 200 miles off the coast of the Saint Peter and Saint Paul archipelago. Tuesday’s findings were discovered 50 miles away.

Sixteen of the 41 bodies found will reach Recife today. The remains will be shipped to the Legal Medical Institute in Brasilia for investigation and identification, CNN reports. DNA samples must be taken from the relatives of the deceased to help with the investigation

The bodies of the other 25 found victims will go through the same process on Thursday, CNN reports.

Investigators hope they can use dental records and DNA samples to identify each of the found bodies.

Officials say the location of the found remains is not an indicator of the crash site, since the current in the area is very strong the bodies would no doubt have drifted far away since Monday. They are however unsure exactly how far the bodies drifted.

Just days before the first bodies were discovered, officials told families the possibility of finding any remains were extremely low. Relatives are now increasingly hopeful they will at least be reunited with their lost kin.

One CNN reporter noted that the bodies looked bloated after days of floating in the ocean.

Other items were recovered as well, about 700 miles off the coast of Brazil. They include part of the plane’s wing and tail, two seats, luggage, a life vest and a leather bag with a Flight 447 boarding pass still inside, according to CNN.

An oxygen mask was also found, which could reinforce the automated message’s claim that the plane was losing cabin pressure.

Brazilian officials say their number one priority is to find as many bodies as possible and to return them to grieving families. They are also placing much importance on finding pieces of the plane, which they say will aid in the crash investigation.

French nuclear sub arrives

France deployed a nuclear sub, the Emeraude, to help find the sunken black boxes. The sub arrived Wednesday and is actively searching for the downed plane.

Also, two American acoustic devices are to be placed aboard two French ships. The devices will try to pick up signals from the plane’s sunken recorders, still pinging at the bottom of the ocean.

The devices can search for the beacons to a maximum of 20,000 feet.

Improper speed could be plane crash culprit

Air France and French officials are in charge of finding out what caused the Air France plane to plunge into the Atlantic without any manual warning. It is currently being speculated that the plane broke up in flight.

However without the black boxes, investigators may never know for certain why the plane crashed.

The plane sent out four minutes of automated messages before going down. The messages suggest the plane may have been flying at an improper speed through a heavy storm, possibly due to malfunctioning Pitot tubes. Air France will soon replace Pitot tubes on all of its medium- and long-haul Airbus jets.

Malfunctioning Pitot tubes could have caused the Air France airliner to decelerate and accelerate too rapidly for a storm of such magnitude. The storm faced by the plane, reportedly, sucked up water from the ocean below with 100 mph updrafts. The wet air then rapidly froze at the plane’s high altitude, causing major turbulence and possibly resulting in the Pitot tubes sending improper speed readings to the jet’s on board computers.

Air France told its pilots’ unions that no Airbus A330 or A340 will take off unless two of three Pitot tubes have been replaced, CNN reports.

Plane may have broken up in-air

CBC reports the Brazilian navy has found a large piece of the tail of Flight 447. The navy revealed the vertical stabilizer – which forms part of the tail -was recovered whole in the ocean.

William Waldock, an air crash investigation professor told the Associated Press that piece has what looked like lateral damage. This would reinforce the theory that the plane broke up in-air.

“If it hits intact, everything shatters in tiny pieces,” said Waldock, CBC reports. Further examining the piece can indicate from which direction the force that caused the stabilizer to detach from the Airbus came.

As questions about Airbus A330 safety arise, several airlines have rushed to its defense.

“It is a very robust airplane. It has been flying for many years, clocking hundreds of millions of hours and there is absolutely no reason why there should be any question over this plane. It is one of the best flying today,” said Tim Clark, president of Emirates Airline, at a conference in Kuala Lumpur.

However on Wednesday, an Airbus A320 flying from the Canary Islands to Olso, Norway had to make an emergency landing after the pilot detected a “problem with the engine.” There were reportedly 189 passengers on board, none of whom were injured. All are expected to take another flight, though many will perhaps inquire about the make and model of their new plane.

French authorities are urging searchers to show “extreme prudence” before identifying wreckage found in the Atlantic as being from Air France Flight 447, after Brazilian workers incorrectly publicized they had found debris from the missing plane Thursday.

New reports indicate that Brazil’s declaration that debris from the missing Airbus A330 had been found was premature, and as of yet no official evidence has been retrieved from the missing plane, CBC reports.

French Transportation Minister Dominique Bussereau said he regretted Brazilian search teams had publicized a recovery of debris from the plane Thursday. The recovered wooden cargo pallet was never on the plane, officials said. They’ve referred to the pallet as “sea trash,” of which there is a lot floating around in the ocean.

“It has been verified that the material did not belong to the plane,” said Ramon Borges Cardoso, general director of the Brazilian Aerospace Control Department, in Recife, Brazil, CNN reports. “It is a pallet of wood that is utilized for transport. It is used in planes, but on this flight to Paris, there was no wooden pallet.”

Bussereau later expressed the need for caution. “French authorities have been saying for several days that we have to be extremely prudent,” he said. “Our planes and naval ships have seen nothing.”

Earlier in the week searchers found two trails of wreckage, about 56 miles from one another. The debris included a life vest, pieces of metal, a jet seat, a 12 mile oil slick and what is believed to be a 23-foot piece of the plane. The items were picked up by helicopters and dropped onto three Brazilian naval vessels.

It has not yet been confirmed that any of these materials are from the missing plane, though it has been confirmed, by Cardoso, that the oil slicks are not. He said the slicks are too big and the quantity of oil found exceeded the amount on the plane, according to CNN.

“No material from the airplane was picked up,” he later added.

Probability of finding bodies low

Cardoso said Brazilian teams are focused on finding the bodies of the Flight 447 victims, though the likelihood of retrieval has decreased. “With every moment, the probability of finding the bodies decreases because more than 100 hours have passed since the accident and that possibility is more remote each time,” he said.

The black boxes have not yet been found. Without them investigators may never know exactly what happened to the plane and whether it was weather, electrical failure, foul play, or a combination that brought down the missing plane.

Currently, Bussereau said, French teams are focused on finding the underwater wreckage and the recorders. He added that with each passing day, the wreckage underwater will continue to sink into the mountainous underwater terrain and spread out as currents in the area are very strong.

Two mini-submarines will be deployed next week to aid in the investigation, one of which, the Nautile, was used to search the wreckage of the Titanic.

Speculation surrounding crash intensifies

A French agency investigating the crash cited brutal turbulence and an inconsistency in the speed readings as a probable factor in the crash, CBC reports.

Le Monde newspaper released a report yesterday claiming that the pilots of Flight 447 may have been flying at an incorrect speed through violent weather. According to the agency’s investigation, a plane must be flying at just the right speed through harsh conditions, too slow and the pilot could lose control, too fast and the plane could break apart.

However, it is not known at which speed the plane was traversing through the storm. The French Accident Investigation Agency said Thursday that the automated messages transmitted by the plane did not indicate speed, but did show conflicting readings on board, CBC reports.

Airbus recently issued reminders to pilots explaining what to do when on-air instruments give conflicting read-outs. They said the reminder in no way indicates that improper speed was the official cause of the Air France crash.

It is not officially known what caused the plane to crash and what role, if any, weather played in the tragedy.

Air France Flight 447 disappeared early Monday after submitting four minutes of automated messages that indicated electrical failure and a loss of cabin pressure. It is believed the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 228 people on board.

Updates:

CBC reports meteorologists say Air France Flight 447 entered a storm with 100 mph updrafts. The updrafts acted like a vacuum, sucking water up from the Atlantic, thousands of feet below. The moist air then quickly rose up to the plane’s altitude and immediately froze in the -40 F conditions.

The intense updraft would have also caused brutal turbulence.

Investigators are reportedly now checking whether the plane’s external probe that measures air pressure may have froze over, possibly because of the updraft, CBC reports.

Cardoso said debris believed to be from the plane has been spotted (the two wreckage trails found earlier) but cannot yet be retrieved or verified due to poor visibility and conditions, CBC reports.

“Aircraft are making visual recognitions on the different contacts but currently I am not sure that those contacts are really part of the aircraft,” said French air force Colonel Thierry Bon, reinforcing Cardoso’s claim.

The French navy announced it will be sending a nuclear submarine, the Emeraude, to aid other French and Brazilian vessels in the search. French Defense Minister Herve Morin said the Emeraude is equipped with surveillance apparatus that may help find the crashed plane’s recorder, according to CBC.

The sub isn’t expected to arrive on the scene until next week.

Meanwhile, Brazil’s Air Force flew some of the victims’ families from Rio to Recife so they could take a tour and ask any questions they may have had. Any remains found will be taken to the base in Recife, a northeastern Brazilian city.

Much has been made of French prosecutors opening a manslaughter probe into the case. This is a routine occurence when French citizens die overseas.

Evening:

CNN reports a huge development. Apparently at least 12 planes traversed the sky along with Air France Flight 447, around the same time and in the same area, and none reported any seriously foul weather conditions.

Officials are now speculating that mechanical errors were the main cause of the crash, though weather is still thought to have played a part. One of the main crash theories is that the plane flew through bad weather at an improper speed, even though none of the dozen aircraft reported serious weather problems.

Aviation officials say that weather could still have played a part in the crash since patterns change very suddenly in the region and vary through short distances.

It has not yet been reported whether any of the other planes, besides the Air Comet plane headed by two Spanish pilots, saw Air France plunge into the Atlantic early Monday morning. Aviation officials also say that no single issue could have caused the crash of such a major airliner. Many things would have had to have taken place both on board and in the plane’s surroundings for it to die out and crash so suddenly.

The other planes landed safely at their destinations.

Two Spanish pilots say they witnessed an “intense flash” in the area where AF447 plunged into the Atlantic, while a Brazilian minister has all but ruled out a mid-air explosion.

Brazil’s defense minister says the oil slick in the ocean is evidence the plane did not break up until it hit the water. That would rule out the possibility that the plane split in half or exploded before crashing.

According to the two pilots who were flying an Air Comet flight from Lima to Lisbon, “…we saw in the distance a strong and intense flash of white light, which followed a descending and vertical trajectory and which broke up in six seconds.”

A report in France’s Le Monde newspaper suggests yet another possibility, that the pilots were not flying the correct speed while navigating through the intense storm. Airbus had recently sent out recommendations to pilots of A330 jets with new advice on how to traverse bad weather conditions. The pilots may not have followed this advice.

The number of conflicting reports adds nothing but uncertainty and frustration to an investigation that is already being viewed as hopeless by many officials.

Brazilian ship arrives as search continues

While experts were speculating, the first Brazilian ship arrived on the crash site. Planes still circling the area say they found more, larger debris, but have yet to see any bodies or remains. All 228 passengers and crew are believed to be dead.

The 23-foot piece of plane that was discovered yesterday is believed to be part of the fuselage or tail, BBC reports. CNN reports that because of the distance between debris findings, the search area has been widened to 300 miles.

Officials are still not optimistic that the recorders, which could be buried more than a couple miles below water, will ever be found. Their beacons can only transmit signals for 30 days.

Deep water submarines – key to the discovery and recovery of the black boxes – are not expected at the suspected crash site until next week.

Air France Flight 447 disappeared early Monday on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Reports came in on Wednesday that a bomb threat was called in on an Air France flight from Buenos Aires to Paris a few days earlier. The threat was deemed fake and, at this time, there seems to be no connection between the AF447 crash and the threat.

French officials have invited the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board to aid in the investigation, CNN reports. The NTSB accepted.

Messages give some clues

The missing plane sent a number of electronic messages before disappearing off radar. According to Air France, the plane first sent a message saying it was entering thick black clouds, which are normally associated with lightning and high winds. According to U.S. transportation experts these conditions are not uncommon off the Brazil coast.

Ten minutes later automatic messages were sent indicating that the autopilot had been disengaged and that a main computer on the plane was switched to alternative power, signaling electric failure.

Next, according to the messages, stabilization controls were damaged, the pilots could no longer see information like altitude or even speed (which could corroborate French testimony) and an alarm sounded, indicating the situation was getting much, much worse.

The flurry of messages ended with one indicating a loss of air pressure throughout the A330 and mass electrical failure.

The plane then crashed.

Update:

The Brazilian navy began retrieving pieces of Air France Flight 447 today. CNN reports helicopters were lifting debris and dropping them onto three Brazilian vessels.

“The clock is ticking on finding debris before they spread out and before they sink or disappear,” said French military spokesman Christopher Prazuck, CBC reports. “That’s the priority now, the next step will be to look for the black boxes.”

The Porquoi Pas, a French research ship carrying mini-submarines, won’t arrive until June 12, Prazuck said. One of the subs, the Nautile, was used to explore the underwater wreckage of the Titanic.

Not much is happening today. No remains have been reported as of yet, though CBC reports soldiers at Fernando de Noronha airport were seen unloading body bags and a refrigerator truck from a military helicopter. Any remains, if found, would be taken there.

The biggest development came out of France today, when a report in French newspaper Le Monde reported the plane may have been flying at an improper speed through the storm. This is a possibility since electrical failures reportedly knocked out many of the planes measuring instruments.

Still, experts can only speculate until the black boxes are found. If they ever are.

French investigators say they are not optimistic the black box recorders from Air France Flight 447, now buried deep in the icy waters of the Atlantic Ocean, may ever be found, CBC reports.

Speaking at a press conference Wednesday Paul-Louis Arslanian, head of France’s accident investigation agency, told reporters that planes in the area had not yet picked up any signals from the beacons attached to the recorders. The beacons can only transmit electronic indicators for 30 days.

“We may be unable to find the black boxes due to circumstance and logistics,” said Arslanian, citing the underwater area’s mountainous landscape.

“This catastrophe – which is the worst that our country has witnessed in terms of aviation, took place in a very difficult region… so the investigation will not be easy… but we are not giving up,” he added later, CBC reports. Experts say the underwater terrain could make this one of the most difficult recovery missions cine the Titanic.

French and Brazilian forces have deployed ships to survey the area. France has sent a research ship equipped with two mini-submarines that will be used to recover the wreckage from the ocean’s floor, in what is now being called a navy operation. Four Brazilian Navy ships carrying recovery equipment and divers will reach the site today. The ships are traversing rough waters to reach the site.

A U.S. navy surveillance plane is also aiding in the search.

CBC reports the accident agency will submit a report by month’s end, according to Alain Bouillard, who is leading the exploration. The report will be submitted regardless of whether the black boxes are found.

Experts explore possibilities

According to several experts it is highly unlikely the recorders were destroyed, as they are designed to survive high impact and intense underwater pressure and conditions.

Arslanian said the end result of the investigation could however prove to be disappointing. “I cannot rule out the possibility that we might end up with a finding that is relatively unsatisfactory in terms of certainty,” he said.

Understanding exactly what caused the plane to crash will be very difficult without the recorders, which, if found, will hopefully provide some clues as to what happened on board. Without the recorders however it is possible the cause of the crash may never be revealed.

Arslanian also told reporters that a team is currently studying the Airbus’s maintenance records and there are so far no indications that anything was wrong with the jet before it took off.

Investigators are still speculating about the conditions under which the plane plunged into the Atlantic. They have not yet decided whether the plane hit the water intact or broke up in air before impact.

Air France Flight 447 disappeared Monday while on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris after sending out a series of automated messages indicating electrical failures. No manual distress signals were sent by the pilot.

On Tuesday it was confirmed the plane crashed in the ocean after investigators spotted a trail of plane debris in the water 400 miles off the coast of the Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha islands. The debris was later confirmed to have belonged to the missing plane.

It is believed that all 228 people on board Flight 447 died in the crash. A memorial service took place Wednesday at Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral. French President Nicolas Sarkozy and First Lady Carla Bruni were in attendance.

Click here to read yesterday’s developments.

Updates:

Brazilian Air Force spokesman Col. Jorge Amaral says search planes have located more debris, including an approximately 23-foot long piece of the plane, BBC reports.

The site, about 56 miles south of the other field of wreckage, contains 10 metal objects scattered in a three mile radius and an oil slick that has spread about 12 miles, Amaral said.

Soon after that announcement, French officials provided their first update at a press conference that took place at an airport north of Paris. Arslanian said signals from the black boxes have not yet been picked up.

In order to find the capture the low frequency signals he says the team will have to narrow their search to a very limited range. Officials are still not hopeful the recorders will ever be found.

BBC reports Brazil has taken charge of the search for the wreckage, while France will focus on the crash investigation. French and Brazilian ships, struggling to navigate through high seas, have not yet arrived at the site.

Air France has said it received a bomb threat directed towards a flight from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Paris on May 27, just a few days before Flight 447 went missing, The Economic Times reports. There seems to be no connection between the threat (which was rendered fake after teams searched the plane) and Flight 447’s disappearance.

Experts still speculate that several factors contributed to the plane’s crash, since being struck by lightning alone would not have been enough to bring down the Airbus. Hail, cyclonic weather patterns and severe winds could have all potentially played a part in the disaster.

Some are also wondering whether the chief pilot was flying the plane when the problems arose, since pilots on long-distance flights take turns in order to stay alert and focused.

Memorial service begins

Back in Paris, hundreds of mourners gathered at Notre Dame Cathedral for today’s private memorial service. The cathedral’s bell tolled 228 times, once for each victim of the tragic Flight 447 crash.

The CBC reports French President Nicolas Sarkozy spoke with the victims’ family members in private at the ceremony. Sarkozy reportedly said arrangements will be made for the families to fly over the debris and suspected crash site if it is something they feel necessary during the grieving process.

The Pope sent a message of condolence to the mourners. It was played at the memorial service.

]]> http://blastmagazine.com/the-news/world-news/2009/06/flight-447s-black-boxes-may-never-be-found-investigators-say/feed/ 0 http://blastmagazine.com/the-news/world-news/2009/06/wreckage-found-as-searchers-look-for-missing-plane/ http://blastmagazine.com/the-news/world-news/2009/06/wreckage-found-as-searchers-look-for-missing-plane/#comments Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:45:55 +0000 Sachin Seth http://blastmagazine.com/?p=15873 Scroll down for updates.

Brazilian forces scouring the Atlantic Ocean for Air France 447 have spotted the plane’s wreckage 400 miles north-east of Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha islands, UPI reports.

Plane seats and other items were discovered in the ocean near the islands, which are 220 miles off the coast of Brazil. It was recently confirmed that the debris is in fact from Air France 447, the airliner that mysteriously went missing just a few hours after its departure from Rio de Janeiro early Monday.

Brazil Air Force spokesman Col. Jorge Amaral previously told BBC search crews spotted the seats, white debris and metallic remnants of what could be kerosene and oil early Tuesday along the flight path the airliner would have taken.

“The search is continuing because it’s very little material in relation to the size [of the Airbus A330],” he said.

Last night crews narrowed their search to an area halfway between Brazil and west Africa. They are hoping to pick up faint signals from the plane’s beacons, though the signals could be neutralized because of the plane’s suspected location – at the bottom of the ocean.

French Defense Minister Herve Morin believes it is necessary to keep all possibilities of what caused the crash open. “We cannot, by definition, exclude a terrorist attack, because terrorism is the main threat for all Western democracies,” he said.

The ambitious search may yield no definite discovery since the exact location of the flight at the time of its crash is unknown. Also, the Atlantic, the average depth of which is about two miles, could easily have already engulfed the plane in its icy waters for good.

Still, the recent findings do provide some hope of finding out what happened to Air France 447.

Click here to read all of yesterday’s developments.

Updates:

Brazil’s Defense Minister has confirmed the debris found is from Air France flight 447, CBC reports. At a press conference he said the wreckage was “without a doubt” from the Airbus A330.

French Transportation Minister Jean-Louis Borloo says it is now a “race against the clock” to find the black boxes, which transmit underwater beacon signals for only 30 days.

Authorities are getting ready to take DNA from passengers’ relatives to be able to identify any found remains. No lifeboats, bodies or remains have been found as of now, and French officials say there is a very minimal chance of finding an survivors.

The first debris was found in the early morning, before light. After the sun rose, another aircraft said it spotted plane debris about 37 miles away from the first site, which was about 50 miles from the flight path.

Ten Brazilian aircraft, along with Spanish, French, Senegalese and American planes are conducting the sweep of the perceived crash site.

Two cargo ships are expected to arrive at the site where the major debris was found. France has sent a research ship with two mini-submarines to search the area as well.

The mini-subs, BBC reports, can operate as deep as 6,000 feet. The area being searched has a maximum depth of 4,700 feet so the subs should be able to search the ocean floor with ease. The size of the debris field, CBC reports, will help to indicate whether the plane plunged into the Atlantic in one piece or broke apart before hitting the ocean.

Col. Amaral said planes spotted  an orange buoy, a plane seat, white debris, an airplane turbine and oil, which we now know belonged to Flight 447.

“The locations where the objects were found are towards the right of the point where the last signal of the plane was emitted,” the BBC reports he told reporters in Rio. “That suggests that it might have tried to make a turn, maybe to return to Fernando de Noronha, but that is just a hypothesis.”

Accident workers say they need to recover parts of the plane and the flight and cockpit voice recorders if they are to have any definite idea of how the plane went down. Right now, those materials could be at the bottom of the Atlantic, but the plane had underwater homing beacons attached to its recorders that can transmit signals from up to 14,000 feet underwater, CNN reports.

“They’re water-activated, so if they’re sitting at the bottom of the ocean, of course, then the military assets will have to go in there with listening devices and try and home in on those particular signals,” said Greg Feith, a former U.S. National Transportation Safety Board investigator, CNN reports.

Still, authorities say it could take more than a week to find beacon signals and they only transmit for 30 days.

Still a Mystery

Pilots flying a commercial airliner from Paris to Rio yesterday said they saw what they thought was fire in the ocean along 447’s flight path, the Daily Mail reports.

Two Lufthansa planes that were in the same suspected area as Air France 447 half an hour before the disappearance could provide helpful insight into weather conditions as well, BBC reports the UN weather agency said.

The two airliners recorded information on prevailing wind patterns and temperatures in the area. Because the exact location of the plane at the time of its crash is still unknown, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) official Herbet Puempel told Reuters it is “extremely difficult to say how close they [the Lufthansa jets] were. But the observations will certainly be used by the investigating group.”

The exact cause of the plane’s disappearance and suspected crash is a mystery. The flight transmitted no distress calls, just a succession ten automated error messages  starting around 10:14 p.m. EST, showing that several electrical systems had broken down.

A BBC corespondent and several experts are reporting that the plane would have had to have undergone several “traumas” to have fallen from the sky. The absence of a distress signal from the experienced pilot suggests that whatever happened to the plane happened very, very quickly.

BBC reports that it is possible the “fury of an equatorial storm” brought down the airliner. Some pilots believe that the type of storm that is being reported would not have been strong enough to bring the Airbus down by itself.

Air France CEO says the plane most likely plunged into the Atlantic shortly after the automated signals were sent out, Bangkok Post reports.

If no survivors are found it would be the deadliest plane crash since the American Airlines disaster in 2001 and the worst in Air France’s 75-year history.

In an effort to perhaps underscore the seriousness of the tragedy and label the search mission as not a rescue but a fact-finding one, Air France has announced a memorial service will take place at Paris’s Notre Dame Cathedral Wednesday for the victims of the plane crash. All family and friends are welcome.

Past investigations into ocean plane crashes have taken years. CNN reports that due to the amount of unknown information surrounding the disappearance and the fact that is plunged into an ocean that is on average two miles deep, finding out exactly what happened to this airliner and the people on board could take a similar amount of time.

Air France flight 447 carrying 228 passengers and crew vanished over the Atlantic Ocean after reporting a short circuit caused by a possible lightning strike, the BBC reports.

The plane was traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. At about 4:14 a.m. Paris time (10:14 p.m. EST), just four hours after taking off from Rio, the plane sent an automatic message reporting electrical problems as it flew through a storm. When the plane lost contact it was nearly 190 miles off the coast of the north-east Brazilian city of Natal, well over the Atlantic.

Since the plane went missing over the ocean rescue forces must search an encompassing chunk of sea, making the task much more difficult.

Brazil’s Air Force confirmed that it had deployed planes to search for the missing Airbus 330-200 around 6:17 a.m. EST. The Air Force’s spokesman, Col. Henry Munhoz, told Brazilian TV the last radar contact with the flight was just after it passed over the Fernando de Noronha islands, about 220 miles off the coast of Brazil, around 9:33 p.m. EST.

A half hour later, according to Air France, the plane jetted through a “thunderous zone” and experienced strong turbulence. Fifteen minutes later, at 10:14 p.m. EST, the plane sent out the automatic message reporting “electrical circuit malfunction.”

A full five hours passed before the situation was deemed serious by Air France, just two hours before the flight was scheduled to land in Paris. A crisis center was set up at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport and at 5:35 a.m. EST the plane was announced missing by Air France officials.

The search began shortly after, off the coast of the Fernando de Noronha islands, and it is now being speculated that the electrical failure was caused by a possible lightning strike.

French Ecology minister Jean-Louis Borloo ruled out hijacking as a possibility. He also said that if the plane had survived the lightning strike and electrical failures to stay in flight, the Airbus would have, by now, run out of fuel somewhere over the Atlantic.

A lightning strike should not, technically speaking, be able to cause the crash of a modern Airbus.

“We must now envisage the most tragic scenario,” he said.

UPDATE: Air France has set up a call center for those who need it: 0800 800 812 in France and +33 157021055 internationally.

France’s ambassador to Senegal told CNN that French military aircraft has been deployed to search the coast of the west African nation.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, according to a statement from his office, asked his government to “implement every effort to find the plane.”

Airbus 330-200’s are commonly requested because of their versatility. The planes boast advanced engines made by General Electric.

According to the Times Online, no commercial flight has been lost because of lightning in more than 40 years. The Times believes that “brutal freak turbulence,” not lightning, was the most probable cause of the flight’s problems.

According to a recent U.S. study, every commercial airliner is struck by lightning at least once a year, the Times reports.

Click here to see BBC’s visual representation of the flight’s path.

There were 126 men, 82 women and seven children, including one baby, on board the flight. According to ABC, hope is now fading for the successful rescue of any of the passengers or crew.

AP conducted an interview with aviation expert Chris Yates who believes that “potentially [the plane] went down very quickly and so quickly that the pilots on board didn’t have a chance to make that emergency call.”

He also said that the likely conclusion to be drawn in this situation is “that something catastrophic happened on board that has caused this airplane to ditch in a controlled or an uncontrolled fashion.”

According to USA Today, an Air France spokesman has confirmed to Voices of America that the plane hit heavy turbulence and transmitted a number of automatic messages before vanishing. He added, “around 7:00 [a.m.] Paris time, it was clear that the plane was in deep trouble.”

The CBC acknowledges conflicting information regarding the presumed location of the missing plane. They report that while Brazil’s forces believe it to be near the Fernando de Norenha islands about 220 miles off the coast of Brazil, other reports suggest that the plane may have been deeper into its flight path. French rescue aircrafts are looking for the lost plane off the coast of Dakar, Senegal.

David Learmount, safety editor of “Flight International” told Bloomberg he suspects contributing events took place on the airliner before it vanished.

“Modern airliners do not just go missing. They were en route and should have been fine,” he said. “The question is, what happened after the electrical fault, because a short circuit in itself should not bring down a plane. That would be different if there was a fire, for example.”

The following revised list of numbers and countries was released by Air France and includes all passengers and crew on board: 71 France, 59 Brazil, 26 Germany, nine Italy, nine China, six Switzerland, five Britain, five Lebanon, four Hungary, three Norway, three Slovakia, three Sweden, two Spain, two Morocco, two U.S., two Poland, and single passengers from Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Gambia, Iceland, Holland, Philippines, Romania, Russia, South Africa and Turkey.

As time progresses chances of recovery or survival are becoming more and more slim. “We can fear the worst,” said France’s transportation minister, Dominique Bussereau.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is also coming to terms with the tragedy. He met with press at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport after talking to familes of the lost passengers.

“I told them the truth, which is that the prospects of finding any survivors are very slim,” he said.

Various sources are confirming that the chances of there being any survivors of Air France flight 447 are slim at best. The last time 200+ people were killed in a plane crash was on November 12, 2001, when an American Airlines jet crashed in Queens, New York, killing all 260 on board and five on the ground.

Strangely, if you type “Air France 447″ into Google, it says the flight is on schedule to arrive at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport at 11:15 a.m.

Evening: BBC reports that rescue teams have narrowed their search area to a few nautical miles. At this time, nearly 24 hours after the plane’s disappearance, there is a very, very slim chance of any survivors.

The accident apparently took place in a turbulent area known as the Intertropical Convergence zone near the equator. The zone is actually feared by sailors and aviators, and is commonly known as the “pot au noir” or “murky cauldron.”

BBC spoke with meteorologist Pierre Lasnais who said the area ”is prone to storms and lightning, but also to mini-cyclonic phenomena, which create extremely strong up currents, as well as hail stones that can be bigger than tennis-balls.”

“It’s possible for a plane to be exposed to lightning, and at the same to be caught in an up current which can reach speeds of 200 km/h,” he told BBC. ”You can imagine the effect that has on a plane – complete depressurisation of course, almost uncontrollable.”

Air France CEO acknowledges that planed probably crashed in Atlantic due to heavy turbulence, CNN reports.

Click here for June 2 updates.

On Thursday, the U.S. and South Korea elevated surveillance levels to their second-highest, just as they did when North Korea conducted their first underground nuclear test in 2006. The U.S. says it currently has no plans to bolster its forces in South Korea from the present tally of 28,000.

South Korean officials say the alert system, known as “Defcon,” was not elevated after Friday’s firing. They did however say they would strengthen certain task forces that monitor the North’s activity.

“Additional intelligence assets, including personnel, will be deployed while reconnaissance operations over North Korea will increase,” said South Korean defense spokesman Won Tae-jae, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

Activity was also seen at the Yongbyon nuclear facility, according to South Korean officials. Troubling since in 2008, North Korea stated it had enough weapons-grade plutonium for seven atomic bombs, CNN reports.

As military along the South-North Korean border continue to sweat, North Korea has warned the world of “self-defense” measures if the UN Security Council decides to impose sanctions on the impoverished country.

“If the UN Security Council provokes us, our additional self-defense measures will be inevitable,” the foreign ministry said in a statement, the BBC reports.

In a response to increased tensions between the South and North, their bordering peninsula in the Yellow sea has seen the withdrawal of Chinese fishing boats. The boats normally operate near the Northern Limit Line (NLL), a UN-declared border line in the sea that the North refuses to recognize as the limit of their land ownership, and were seen leaving the area this week. Nearly 280 boats fish near the NLL for crab each year, and this year, that number has dropped to about 140, reports the BBC.

There promises to be more developments in the near future, so stick with Blast for ongoing coverage and check out the Terra blog for some analysis.

The attack comes just hours after the Taliban attacked Lahore and promised more attacks on Pakistan’s urban centers in response to an increase in military offensives in Swat Valley. Pakistan’s army says it has recaptured more than 70 percent of Swat Valley’s main city, Mingora, and expects to complete the operation within days, the BBC reports.

Some of the wounded are no doubt in serious condition, suffering injuries similar to yesterday’s victims: broken bones and severe burns. Television reports, according to the BBC, show civilians dragging others out of the market to safety.

Gunmen began openly firing on police as they arrived on the scene. None have been reported dead.

Peshawar, capital of the North Western Frontier Province, has seen an increase in bomb attacks over the past few weeks. On May 16 and May 23, car bombs exploded in dense areas, killing nearly 20 people and injuring more than 100.

Yesterday’s bomb and gun attack in Lahore, which targeted police and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) buildings, killed more than 20 and injured upwards of 200 civilians.

Click here for pictures of the blast on BBC.

The PSI is a U.S.-led initiative that searches ships thought to be carrying suspicious goods in an effort to prevent the transfer and trafficking of weapons of mass destruction. South Korea joined the initiative as a response to North Korea’s underground nuclear test, and says it will, in an effort to protect its own safety, partner with the more than 90 countries already participating.

North Korea says the South’s actions are essentially a “declaration of war” (stupid, right?). “Any hostile act against our peaceful vessels, including search and seizure, will be considered an unpardonable infringement on our sovereignty,” said the government in a statement released to the state-run news agency, KCNA.

“We will immediately respond with a powerful military strike.”

It makes sense for the South to participate in the PSI, especially at this time, and especially after reports that steam was seen emanating from the North’s main nuclear facility in Yongbyon, about 60 miles from Pyongyang. The steam confirms North Korea is making good on a threat; to reopen the major plant and start manufacturing weapons-grade plutonium. And I’ll bet it’s not to power a time-traveling DeLorean.

The scrapping of the truce however is particularly worrisome for two main reasons. First, North and South Korea have, for the last 50 years, been at each other’s throats, but even though their border is the most heavily armed in the world, they’ve been peaceful. There have been no major attacks. Negating the deal after 50 years of tense relations and the introduction of a leader in the South that Kim Jong-Il truly hates could result in an explosion of conflict and a barrage of bullets and bombs along the heavily armed border.

Second, the recent nuclear and missile test and North Korea’s assurance that they are developing technology to weaponize their nuclear arsenal make them a respectable (in the worst sense of the word) and formidable opponent. The country cares more about its reputation of power than its own people, evidenced by the high level of poverty in the nation. This hampers the widely accepted notion that the North is just doing all this to emit some sort of ray of strength before the health of Jong-Il deteriorates so much that he must appoint one of his sons.

The government recognizes the seriousness of trashing a half-century old truce, and they wouldn’t have done it just to prove they could and would wipe the South off the map if one of their vessels is so much as approached by PSI forces.

North Korea is a bully. It’s pretty simple. It’ll dish out a lot of heat and provoke as many people as it can, but when you try to calm it down or help it in anyway other than the way in which it believes it should be helped, it just gets angry and smacks you in the face.

The nuclear test was a slap in the face to the international community and the UN. For days, diplomats have been trying to come up with ways to heal their wounds behind closed doors. Sanctions may be placed, actions will be condemned.

But as long as Jong-Il is Commander-in-Chief, his country’s actions will continue to confuse everyone to the breaking point.

Maybe just because he likes the attention. Or maybe because he really does hate everyone and everything that opposes him.

This morning at approximately 10:30 a.m. local time, a group of men shot at police officers before detonating a powerful car bomb that damaged buildings belonging to police and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Pakistan’s version of the CIA.

Officials warn the death toll, as is customary in these cases, may rise. Some have been injured severely, suffering broken limbs and third-degree burns.

This could be the first of many attacks on Pakistan cities since the Taliban vowed to strike urban centers as revenge for the military’s increased operations in Swat Valley, where they claim to have killed more than 1,000 Taliban operatives.

“Enemies of Pakistan who want to destabilize the country are coming here after their defeat in Swat. There is a war, and this is a war for our survival,” said Interior Minister Rehman Malik, BBC reports.

The attack killed at least one ISI agent, 12 officers and one child. BBC reports officials are speculating that the ISI building was the target for the attack, though it is uncertain at this time.

Lahore, which is located in Punjab province near the Indian border, was the scene of two sieges in March as well. Militants flooded the city and killed at least eight people in late March, and weeks earlier attacked the Sri Lanka cricket team.

The BBC reports that the area is being targeted since it is believed to be the secure home for the country’s “Punjab-dominated army.” 

The two short-range missiles, one ground-to-air and one ground-to-ship, were fired off east coast bases, south of Kilju, where yesterday’s nuclear test took place.

International diplomats are currently drafting a series of sanctions to be placed on North Korea, a country whose public is already quite poor.

North Korea again cited continued “hostile policy” from the U.S. as the reason for testing their nuclear arsenal.

“Our army and people are fully ready for battle… against any reckless US attempt for a pre-emptive attack,” said a piece by KCNA, the government’s official news outlet.

North Korea has also stated that South Korea’s recent decision to join the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI), a U.S. led initiative of more than 90 nations to intercept ships suspected of carrying weapons of mass destruction, constitutes an act and declaration of war, another possible cause for the missile test.

Late Monday, President Obama spoke with leaders in both Japan and South Korea to assure them the U.S. is committed to protecting north-east Asia and Asia-Pacific from any threats by North Korea.

CBC reports UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is urging North Korea to engage in talks with its Pacific neighbors and the U.S. if it wishes to remain part of the international community.

“The only viable option at this time for North Korea to remain as a responsible member of the international community is to return to the dialogue table,” Ban told reporters at a Helsinki news conference.

Stick with Blast for developments.

North Korea is part of the Pacific-Asia region, which is also occupied by China, South Korea and Japan. China is the only other nuclear power in the region; however it is a member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) which attempts to limit the spread of nuclear weapons around the world. China’s stance on nuclear weaponry has been fairly steady, though the proximity of this nuclear test could spur China to ensure its own nuclear arsenal is operational.

South Korea has been at odds with North Korea since the early 1950s, and the two are technically still at war even though an armistice was signed more than 55 years ago. Their border is the most heavily armed in the world, and the introduction of President Lee-Myung Bak has served to reignite hostility between the two countries. Bak has publicly called for the nuclear disarmament of North Korea, a demand that has angered Kim Jong-Il. But he’s always pretty angry.

The last regional neighbor is Japan, the only country to have ever been subjected to a nuclear attack and a steadfast supporter of all treaties and attempts to de-nuclearize unstable states. According to Al-Jazeera, “analysts fear that if Japan felt pressured into developing nuclear weapons, it would trigger an arms race across the region.” Personally, after the atrocities faced by their people in 1945, I really don’t see any way in which Japan would seriously consider developing a nuclear arsenal.

North Korea hasn’t always been so defiant. It actually ratified the NPT in 1985, but withdrew from the treaty in 2003 after being accused by the U.S. of operating an illegal uranium weapons program, claims that were later said to be misinformed. Since then North Korea has been the subject of the six-party talks, a series of diplomatic sessions between China, the U.S., Japan, Russia, South Korea and North Korea to try and peacefully resolve all security concerns that stemmed from its withdrawal from the NPT.

Three years after the first six-party talks and just one year after admitting it had nuclear weapons, in 2006, North Korea launched seven missiles into the Sea of Japan and conducted an underground test of a nuclear device, citing “hostile U.S. policy” as the main cause. Following the two events, the UN Security Council unanimously agreed to impose economic and diplomatic sanctions on North Korea as a punishment for its defiance.

Soon after, in 2007, talks resumed and North Korea agreed to shut down its nuclear weapons facilities in exchange for fuel oil and the stabilization of international relations between the U.S. and Japan. The sanctions were periodically lifted by the U.S. and other countries as North Korea met certain requirements.

However, in April 2009, North Korea decided to pull out of six-party talks indefinitely after the UN Security Council criticized and labeled what North Korea claimed to be a failed satellite launch as a long-range missile test. The country then banned all international nuclear inspectors and vowed to continue enhancing its nuclear arsenal and technology, something, it seems by the magnitude of yesterday’s blast, it had been doing all along.

North Korea also tested ballistic missiles yesterday, which has incited some panic among civilians who see it as an indication of an impending nuclear attack. However according to several experts North Korea cannot launch a nuclear attack because it has not weaponized its nuclear arsenal.

So while this is a particularly troubling event, let’s see what comes of the UN meeting and what steps the international body will take to ensure this stops now. Hopefully it is, as many are predicting, just a method of compensation by Jong-Il. His health is rumored to be declining so quickly after last year’s stroke that he is already thinking about his replacement.

The favorite? Why, his youngest son, of course.

UPDATE: UN Security Council releases statement unanimously condemning North Korea’s actions. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon “’strongly deplores’ the latest test as a ‘clear and grave’ violation of past resolutions,” CBC reports.

Stick with Blast for developments.

The Pakistani government estimates that nearly 200,000 innocent civilians have made it out of the northwestern region, with another 300,000 attempting to escape alive. This latest evacuation effort brings the total number of people displaced by the on going violence to near a million, Al Jazeera reports.

A military spokesman claims the government military killed 143 opposition fighters on Thursday. Reinforcement troops were sent to Swat Valley Friday, just one day after Pakistani Prime Minister Yousef Raza Gilani ordered the army to remove the Taliban as they battle to control the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP).

“The armed forces have been called in to eliminate the militants and terrorists,” he said. He also accused the Taliban of violating the peace deal and threatening the nation’s independence.

The outcome of the battle in Swat Valley could very well determine the future of Pakistan’s military. If the Taliban overcome government forces, they could easily advance on Islamabad and put the entire nation at risk.

Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari, after a meeting with U.S. senators, said the military operation would continue “…until life in Swat comes back to normalcy.” These people must have lost hope for normal life now. Normal is long gone.

A democratic nation whose capital is infiltrated by a terrorist insurgency would no doubt pose a serious threat to the whole world, especially when that nation is a known nuclear power. That’s why world leaders, like Obama, are really, really trying to end this as soon as possible. It’d be an international disaster if they advanced further into the country.

The equivalent of like 1000 different swine flues.

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As Alberta’s Agriculture Minister George Groeneveld and countless others have stressed, there is currently no evidence that the virus can be transferred by eating pork products. However, after this occurrence, which is believed to be the first instance that the disease was transferred from human to animal, pork consumers around the world are being extra cautious even after Groenveld publicly exclaimed that “there is no risk to [Alberta’s] food supply.”

Chinese officials have banned pork imports from the province even though officials say that the virus was contained to the one farm and that all 2, 200 pigs were quarantined and contained. In total, 200 hogs were infected and are currently recovering. They pose no risk of transmitting the disease to any other Alberta hogs.

The virus was transmitted by a farmer to one of his pigs after he and his family returned from Mexico nearly a month ago with flu-like symptoms. Upon their return, the swine flu outbreak was not major news and therefore, the family never thought to get checked.

Though H1N1  cannot be transmitted through eating pork, 20 countries, including Russia, China and Thailand have banned the imports of pork products from infected nations including Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, three of the world’s top pork exporters.

The World Health Organization (WHO) remarked that it would need to see H1N1 spread throughout Asia and Europe before declaring a pandemic. This is thought to occur soon.

In Egypt, fears have also risen regarding the safety of pigs. On Saturday the government ordered the genocide of all pigs in Egypt (nearly 300,000), to which farmers and hog owners were outraged. Pig owners threw stones at government officials who in turn fired guns and tossed tear gas. The  officials seized pigs from various owners and gave no compensation in return.

Remarkably, 12 were injured in riots caused by the pig slaughter. Oh and by the way, there have been no reports of any H1N1 virus  cases in Egypt yet.

On February 2 1945, just seven months before the end of World War II, more than 753 sick Jewish men and women are thought to have been killed by the Waffen SS at the Nazi camp of Lieberose in Brandenburg state. Efforts to excavate the site, which is one of the last undiscovered mass graves of Jews killed by Nazis, began on Wednesday after a long court battle over land rights.

The excavation, interestingly enough, is taking place in the garden of a two-story home just 75 miles south-east of Berlin, according to the BBC. Guenter Morsch, director of the Brandenburg memorial foundation, claims evidence strongly suggests that the garden is the site of the ill-named “recuperation barracks” used to house sick Jews at the Lieberose concentration camp. The grave would have to be very close.

Morsch says the Waffen SS killed all 1,342 prisoners at the camp after they were declared unfit to evacuate as the Soviet Red Army advanced on their location in early 1945.

The remains of 589 victims, who were shot and killed the next day, were uncovered nearby in 1971 but the other 753 victims are yet to be discovered. It is thought they lie beneath the garden site.

Until last year, the owner of the land had forbidden any investigation on his property. It wasn’t until this year’s lengthy court battle that local authorities reached a deal with the owner to purchase the property.

Joerg Schoenbohm, Brandenburg’s interior minister, says the excavation is expected to take 21 days. If bodies are discovered a memorial will most likely be erected in the victims’ honor.

“We need to end the uncertainty surrounding the crime so that we will have time for mourning and remembering,” he said.

The Taliban is slowly trying to make its way toward Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital. The Pakistani armed forces have been verbally scolded by both American officials and Pakistani politicians over their lack of action and unwillingness to shift troops from the India-Pakistan border to help concentrate on combating the Taliban threat.

General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani defended his military’s actions on Friday, saying that they are committed to fighting and halting the Taliban insurgency. American and Pakistani officials however have expressed concern over the army’s lack of performance, insinuating that they merely stood by as hundreds of Taliban insurgents made their way into the Buner district, just 70 miles from Islamabad.

Also on Friday, after meeting with government officials, Taliban executives said they would withdraw from Buner. However, residents of the district say that this promise has not been honored and that few insurgents have vacated the region.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited the distressed country for two days earlier this week. “The situation there is definitely worse than it was two weeks ago,” he said. “They need aggressive leadership that takes action.”

General Kayani attended an operational meeting in Rawalpindi Friday in an effort to prove his military is committed to dislodging the Taliban insurgency. “The army is determined to root out the menace of terrorism from society,” the military said, according to the New York Times, in a statement afterward. “It will not allow the militants to dictate terms to the government or impose their way of life on the civil society of Pakistan.”

The general said the military is currently preparing to carry out a mission in Swat Valley, where Taliban insurgents have refused to disarm, disengage and evacuate, in violation of a February peace treaty.

Kayani said the army’s lack of action over the past while was an “operational pause,” an effort to let the peace treaty work out the differences on its own.

Admiral Mullen has met with the general many times and has discussed with him many different ways to approach a solution to the insurgency conflict.

The admiral said he was quite impressed after watching the army in training sessions.

Hopefully the operation heading into Swat Valley takes place quick and is as effective as many are hoping.

Labelled as a “national shame” by its own prime minister, India’s malnutrition rates are rising during unprecedented economic growth. Perhaps that is the problem, the middle class and rich get richer, while the poor stay poor and in some cases, get even poorer.

Its neighbor, China, is experiencing a similarly remarkable economic advancement. But they’ve used their new money to help reduce malnutrition in several areas, reducing the number of children under the age of five who are suffering from starvation to seven per cent, one of the major forms of measurement of malnutrition.

In India, a shocking 42.5 per cent of children under the age of 5 suffer from malnutrition, a number that reveals a severe governmental failure.

As Somini Sengupta reports in the New York Times, there is no easy explanation for this problem. There are several contributing factors though: a disconnect between a large democratic government and the people who need it most, a lack of money being spent on children’s nutrition programs, and an overall negligent attitude towards health programs.

The Times reports that while India runs the largest child feeding program in the world, the program is severely flawed. India’s soup kitchens set up in low-income neighbourhoods help, but do not provide the nutrition necessary for pregnant women and children under two.

To its credit, India does ensure all children are immunized for preventable disease, however, malnutrition can make one more susceptible to diseases that could be prevented by nutrition. Malnutrition can also hinder development and growth for life, preventing Indian children from reaching their full intellectual and physical potentials.

India has a lot to do to fix its hunger problem, and it won’t happen soon. The first thing would be to make health a top priority among government again. The prime minister calls the situation a ”national shame.” He can begin to reverse the trend, if only he could make his government operate like a democracy that acts on its words.

Fritzl will spend his life sentence in a secured psychiatric hospital. The verdict effectively brings a fitting end to the compelling and sickening tale of a father who drugged, imprisoned, raped (more than 3,000 times) and fathered seven children with his own daughter over the course of 24 years.

Fritzl told the jury ”I regret from the bottom of my heart what I did to my family.” He also told them he wished there was a way he could “make amends” for his behavior. I don’t think anyone really cares to help him clear his guilty conscience now.

Fritzl was found guilty on all charges including rape, incest, enslavement, imprisonment, negligent homicide and slavery. Fritzl’s lawyer said he will not appeal the decison and called it “the logical consequence of his guilty plea,” according to the Times. Just two days earlier, Fritzl refused to plead guilty for the murder of one of his newborn sons, the cornerstone of the case against him. The baby, one of twins, developed breathing problems just 66 hours after birth. Fritzl refused to seek medical help and as a result, the child passed away.

Three of the seven children Fritzl fathered with his daughter were raised in the house by him and his wife. Fritzl led his wife to believe his daughter had run away from home at a young age and had abandoned the young children at home for them to care for. Elisabeth Fritzl was, all the while, living in a windowless cellar in the basement of the very same house.

Fritzl’s plot was discovered after Elisabeth’s eldest daughter, Kerstin, fell gravely ill. Fritzl agreed to seek medical attention and took her to a hospital, an event which provided the first tug on the web of incestuous and horrible behaviour that Fritzl had been weaving for nearly a quarter of a century.

Due to his age, it is unlikely Fritzl will ever be released. However, in 15 years, if he is still living, a panel of judges will decide if he is fit to re-enter normal society. I seriously doubt that is going to happen.