UK building giant radio telescope farm in Cheshire

BBC:

Jodrell Bank Observatory in Cheshire has been selected as the headquarters for a project to build the world's biggest radio telescope.

An agreement to run the Square Kilometre Array from Jodrell Bank was signed in Rome by Australia, China, the Netherlands, New Zealand, South Africa, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK.

SKA is designed to answer some key questions about the Universe.

Its location is undecided but could be built in Australia or Southern Africa.

The new headquarters at Jodrell Bank will open in January 2012, superseding the existing project office at the University of Manchester.

The observatory has been responsible for some hugely important astronomical discoveries since it was established after the Second World War, but there have been doubts over its future in recent years due to constant funding worries.

Hosting the project office for the Square Kilometre Array could see 60 jobs created there over the next four years.

Scientists hope their structure will reveal new details about "dark energy", the mysterious negative pressure that appears to be pushing the cosmos apart at an ever-increasing speed.

Professor Richard Schilizzi, director SKA, said: "The move to Jodrell Bank Observatory comes at a crucial time as the project grows from a concept to an international mega-science project.

"The new location and facilities will support the significant expansion that is planned."

The Square Kilometre Array takes its name from the size of its collecting area. But instead of a single radio dish 1km across, it will be made up of thousands of smaller ones.

The total collecting area will be approximately one square kilometre giving 50 times the sensitivity, and 10,000 times the survey speed, of the best current-day telescopes, the SKA project said in a statement.

So far, partners from 20 countries are involved in the 1.5bn euros (£1.3bn) project. Construction could begin by 2016, with the telescope expected to be complete by 2024.

It is hoped the array will reveal how planets and galaxies are born, give clues the nature of dark energy and help to detect signs of alien civilisation

READ MORE AT THE BBC

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to be on trail at GITMO

BBC NEWS

"We simply cannot allow a trial to be delayed any longer," Attorney General Eric Holder said, in a sharp U-turn.

The Obama administration abandoned plans to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a US court, amid fierce opposition.

President Obama recently lifted a freeze on new military terror trials.

He accused the US Congress of harming national security by opposing his plan to close the controversial Cuban prison and try some terror suspects in US civilian courts.

Death penalty
Mr Holder vigorously defended his earlier decision to use US federal courts to try the accused men during a news conference announcing the reversal on Monday.

He said that the US prison system had successfully held hundreds of convicted terrorists, and that the Obama administration would continue to prosecute terror cases in US courts.

Mr Holder blamed Congress for the high profile policy reversal, saying his hands "were tied" by "unwise and narrow" restrictions they had placed on the administration.

But, he said, the Justice Department had been prepared to "bring a powerful case" against Mohammed and his four co-conspirators.


Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (centre) had a pre-trial hearing at Guantanamo in December 2008

Mr Holder noted though that the death penalty could be still sought in the case.

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Fire aboard Navy ship Stennis injures 10

Navy personnel aboard a carrier off the coast of California were injured late Tuesday after a fighter jet caught fire.


Ten sailors were working on the flight deck near an F/A-18C Hornet assigned to a training squadron when the aircraft experienced engine failure and caught fire.

The sailors were treated by medics on board. Four servicemen airlifted to the Naval Medical Center in San Diego are in stable condition.

The blaze was immediately extinguished and caused no significant damage the ship, the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier USS John C. Stennis.

Officials are investigating the cause of the fire.

The carrier, which has the unique ability to circle the world without refueling, was conducting fleet replacement squadron qualifications when the accident took place.

"I am extremely proud of our crew," Capt. Ronald Reis, commanding officer of the Stennis, said in a statement. "The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is an inherently dangerous place, but our personnel are well-trained to operate safely in this environment."



Read more: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/briefs/articles/90042971?Sailors%20injured%20in%20Navy%20carrier%20fire#ixzz1IBTQnvFC

CIA on the ground in Libya ...

(Reuters) - President Barack Obama has signed a secret order authorizing covert U.S. government support for rebel forces seeking to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, government officials told Reuters on Wednesday.

Obama signed the order, known as a presidential "finding", within the last two or three weeks, according to government sources familiar with the matter.

Such findings are a principal form of presidential directive used to authorize secret operations by the Central Intelligence Agency. This is a necessary legal step before such action can take place but does not mean that it will.

As is common practice for this and all administrations, I am not going to comment on intelligence matters," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement. "I will reiterate what the president said yesterday -- no decision has been made about providing arms to the opposition or to any group in Libya."

The CIA declined comment.

News that Obama had given the authorization surfaced as the President and other U.S. and allied officials spoke openly about the possibility of sending arms supplies to Gaddafi's opponents, who are fighting better-equipped government forces.

The United States is part of a coalition, with NATO members and some Arab states, which is conducting air strikes on Libyan government forces under a U.N. mandate aimed at protecting civilians opposing Gaddafi.

Interviews by U.S. networks on Tuesday, Obama said the objective was for Gaddafi to "ultimately step down" from power. He spoke of applying "steady pressure, not only militarily but also through these other means" to force Gaddafi out.

Obama said the U.S. had not ruled out providing military hardware to rebels. "It's fair to say that if we wanted to get weapons into Libya, we probably could. We're looking at all our options at this point," he told ABC News anchor Diane Sawyer.

In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted to reporters that no decision had yet been taken.

U.S. officials monitoring events in Libya say neither Gaddafi's forces nor the rebels, who have asked the West for heavy weapons, now appear able to make decisive gains.

While U.S. and allied airstrikes have seriously damaged Gaddafi's military forces and disrupted his chain of command, officials say, rebel forces remain disorganized and unable to take full advantage of western military support.

SPECIFIC OPERATIONS

People familiar with U.S. intelligence procedures said that Presidential covert action "findings" are normally crafted to provide broad authorization for a range of potential U.S. government actions to support a particular covert objective.

In order for specific operations to be carried out under the provisions of such a broad authorization -- for example the delivery of cash or weapons to anti-Gaddafi forces -- the White House also would have to give additional "permission" allowing such activities to proceed.