Russia's space agency plans to resume ISS tourist flights in 2018

Resouce taken from theverge

The Russian state space agency, Roscosmos, has indicated that it plans to restart its space tourism program in 2018 to make up for the loss of its current contract with NASA.

In a statement, Energiya space corporation — the agency's main subsidiary in manned orbital flights — said that Roscosmos would compensate for the fall of demand for manned Soyuz spaceships by "resuming short-term commercial expeditions to the Russian segment of the ISS."

Russian Federal Space Agency

Roscosmos carried eight private tourists to the space station between 2001 and 2009, but halted the ventures after the ISS expanded its crew from three to six, and it became clear NASA and other space agencies needed the extra seat for their own astronauts.

Now more options are becoming available for getting people into space, the Russian agency intends to offer flights to the International Space Station to private citizens as NASA moves on from using Roscosmos' Soyuz craft.

"NASA currently uses Roscosmos' Soyuz craft to carry astronauts into space"

NASA currently uses the Russian agency's rockets to take American astronauts to the International Space Station after the closure of the space shuttle project in 2011, but the US space agency is expected to start using rockets manufactured by private companies to ferry astronauts to the ISS in 2018.

Energiya said that NASA and the Russian agency may sign another agreement in 2018, but with SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's CST-100 craft scheduled to be complete by that time, it may be the last such agreement signed.

European Union Deal with Cuba possible by end of year

EU official: Deal with Cuba possible by end of year

Resouce taken from YahooNews

HAVANA (AP) — The European Union's foreign affairs chief met with Cuban President Raul Castro on Tuesday in a bid to accelerate talks aimed at normalizing ties with the island's communist government and said a deal could be in place by the end of the year.

The visit to Havana by Federica Mogherini comes as Cuban officials negotiate the terms of a historic diplomatic opening with the United States.

Federica Mogherini

"We are in the process of accelerating the pace of negotiations and finalizing an agreement perhaps by the end of the year," she told reporters at the end of the visit.

Mogherini said she welcomed the talks between Cuba and Washington, but insisted that the negotiations between the EU and Havana are "completely separate."

The EU froze relations with Cuba in 2003 in response to the arrest of dissidents. The process to restore ties began in 2014.

Mogherini also signed an agreement to give 50 million euros to Cuba's agriculture sector.

Plane crash kills 150 people in French Alps; black box found

Resouce taken from JakartaPost


A black box recovered from the scene and pulverized pieces of debris strewn across Alpine mountainsides held clues to what caused a German jetliner to take an unexplained eight-minute dive Tuesday midway through a flight from Spain to Germany, apparently killing all 150 people on board.

The victims included two babies, two opera singers and 16 German high school students and their teachers returning from an exchange trip to Spain. It was the deadliest crash in France in decades.

The Airbus A320 operated by Germanwings, a budget subsidiary of Lufthansa, was less than an hour from landing in Duesseldorf on a flight from Barcelona when it unexpectedly went into a rapid descent. The pilots sent out no distress call and had lost radio contact with their control center, France's aviation authority said, deepening the mystery.

While investigators searched through debris from Flight 9525 on steep and desolate slopes, families across Europe reeled with shock and grief. Sobbing relatives at both airports were led away by airport workers and crisis counselors.

Black Box Recorder

"The site is a picture of horror. The grief of the families and friends is immeasurable," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said after being flown over the crash scene. "We must now stand together. We are united in our great grief."

It took investigators hours to reach the site, led by mountain guides to the craggy ravine in the southern French Alps, not far from the Italian border and the French Riviera.

Video shot from a helicopter and aired by BFM TV showed rescuers walking in the crevices of a rocky mountainside scattered with plane parts. Photos of the crash site showed white flecks of debris across a mountain and larger airplane body sections with windows. A helicopter crew that landed briefly in the area saw no signs of life, French officials said.

"Everything is pulverized. The largest pieces of debris are the size of a small car. No one can access the site from the ground," Gilbert Sauvan, president of the general council, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence, told The Associated Press.

"This is pretty much the worst thing you can imagine," said Bodo Klimpel, mayor of the German town of Haltern, rent with sorrow after losing 16 tenth graders and their two teachers.

The White House and the airline chief said there was no sign that terrorism was involved, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel urged reporters not to speculate on the cause.

"We still don't know much beyond the bare information on the flight, and there should be no speculation on the cause of the crash," she said in Berlin. "All that will be investigated thoroughly."

Lufthansa Vice President Heike Birlenbach told reporters in Barcelona that for now "we say it is an accident."

In Washington, the White House said American officials were in contact with their French, Spanish and German counterparts. "There is no indication of a nexus to terrorism at this time," said U.S. National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan.

Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy were to visit the site Wednesday.

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said a black box had been located at the crash site and "will be immediately investigated." He did not say whether it was the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder.

The two devices — actually orange boxes designed to survive extreme heat and pressure — should provide investigators with a second-by-second timeline of the plane's flight.

The voice recorder takes audio feeds from four microphones within the cockpit and records all the conversations between the pilots, air traffic controllers as well as any noises heard in the cockpit. The flight data recorder captures 25 hours' worth of information on the position and condition of almost every major part in a plane.

Germanwings is low-cost carrier owned by Lufthansa, Germany's biggest airline, and serves mostly European destinations. Tuesday's crash was its first involving passenger deaths since it began operating in 2002. The Germanwings logo, normally maroon and yellow, was blacked out on its Twitter feed.

Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr called it the "blackest day of our company's 60-year history." He insisted, however, that flying "remains after this terrible day the safest mode of transport."

Germanwings said 144 passengers and six crew members were on board. Authorities said 67 Germans were believed among the victims, including the 16 high school students and two opera singers, as well as many Spaniards, two Australians and one person each from the Netherlands, Turkey and Denmark. In Japan, the government said two Japanese citizens were believed to be on the plane.

Contralto Maria Radner was returning to Germany with her husband and baby after performing in Wagner's "Siegfried," according to Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu. Bass baritone Oleg Bryjak had appeared in the same opera, according to the opera house in Duesseldorf.

The plane left Barcelona Airport at 10:01 a.m. and had reached its cruising height of 38,000 feet when it suddenly went into an eight-minute descent to just over 6,000 feet, Germanwings CEO Thomas Winkelmann told reporters in Cologne.

"We cannot say at the moment why our colleague went into the descent, and so quickly, and without previously consulting air traffic control," said Germanwings' director of flight operations, Stefan-Kenan Scheib.

At 10:30, the plane lost radio contact with the control center but "never declared a distress alert," Eric Heraud of the French Civil Aviation Authority told the AP.

The plane crashed at an altitude of about 6,550 feet (2,000 meters) at Meolans-Revels, near the popular ski resort of Pra Loup. The site is 430 miles (700 kilometers) south-southeast of Paris.

"It was a deafening noise. I thought it was an avalanche, although it sounded slightly different. It was short noise and lasted just a few seconds," Sandrine Boisse, the president of the Pra Loup tourism office, told the AP.

Authorities faced a long and difficult search-and-recovery operation because of the area's remoteness. The weather, which had been clear earlier in the day, deteriorated Tuesday afternoon, with a chilly rain falling. Snow coated nearby mountaintops.

French Interior Ministry spokesman Pierre-Henry Brandet said the crash site covered several acres, with thousands of pieces of debris, "which leads us to think the impact must have been extremely violent at very high speed."

Search operations were suspended overnight and were to resume at daybreak, though about 10 gendarmes remained in the desolate ravine to guard the crash site, authorities said.

Winkelmann said the pilot, whom he did not name, had more than 10 years' experience working for Germanwings and its parent airline Lufthansa.

Florian Graenzdoerffer Lufthansa Spokesman for North Rhine Westphalia said the company had to cancel seven flights out of Dusseldorf because a number of crew members felt they were unfit to fly following news of the accident.

"I can't tell you any details because this is a personal decision and in our business we have an agreement if a crew feels unfit to fly ... then we respect this," Graenzdoerffer said.

The aircraft was delivered to Lufthansa in 1991, had approximately 58,300 flight hours in some 46,700 flights, Airbus said. The plane underwent a routine check in Duesseldorf on Monday, and its last regular full check took place in the summer of 2013.

The A320 plane is a workhorse of modern aviation, with a good safety record.

The last time a passenger jet crashed in France was the 2000 Concorde accident, which left 113 dead.

Lost City Discovered In Honduran Jungle

Lost city discovered in Honduran jungle

By Susannah Cullinane, CNN

Archaeologists searching for a lost city in the jungles of Honduras have discovered the urban remains of what they believe is a vanished ancient civilization, National Geographic reports.

A writer and photographer for the magazine accompanied a team of scientists to Honduras' Mosquitia region on the trail of a legendary "White City" or "City of the Monkey God."

The expedition was launched after aerial light detection scanning -- known as LIDAR -- uncovered what appeared to be man-made structures below the rainforest, National Geographic said.

Seeking to confirm the discovery, a team of U.S. and Honduran archaeologists, a LIDAR engineer, an ethnobotanist, anthropologists and documentary filmmakers entered the remote region. They were protected by Honduran Special forces, the magazine said.

Writer Douglas Preston said the team emerged February 25, after documenting the ruins of a "vanished culture."

"In contrast to the nearby Maya, this vanished culture has been scarcely studied and it remains virtually unknown. Archaeologists don't even have a name for it," Douglas wrote.

Archaeologists no longer believed in the existence of a single "White City," he said, instead believing there had been an entire civilization with many cities.

The expedition found earth works, including an earthen pyramid as well as a collection of stone sculptures, thought to potentially have been burial offerings.

Archaeologist Oscar Neil Cruz from the Honduran Institute of Anthropology and History (IHAH) estimated they dated from A.D. 1000 to 1400, Douglas wrote.

The researchers were greeted by wildlife which appeared never before to have seen humans, wandering unafraid through their camp.

"This is clearly the most undisturbed rain forest in Central America. The importance of this place can't be overestimated," ethnobotanist Mark Plotkin told National Geographic.

The team left their finds unexcavated and are keeping the exact location of the site secret in an attempt to prevent looting.

But in his article, Douglas warned that that the area was nonetheless under threat, with illegal logging for cattle farming within a dozen miles.

IHAH director Virgilio Paredes Trapero told National Geographic that the forest and valley could disappear within eight years unless action was taken.

"The Honduran government is committed to protecting this area, but doesn't have the money. We urgently need international support."

Breastfeeding Benefits For Mom and Baby

IQ and income in study

By Sandee LaMotte, special to CNN

"Breast is best" -- you could call it a mantra of sorts that sums up much of today's research on breastfeeding.

Not only does breastfeeding have clear short-term benefits, such as protection from infectious diseases and a reduction in mortality, it's also been shown to be associated with an increase in intelligence.

Prior studies have shown an increase of up to 7.5 IQ points in elementary age children who were breastfed, as well as an increase in verbal, performance and comprehensive IQ in adults.

The latest addition to this perspective is a long-term study of infants born in Pelotas, Brazil, in 1982. Published in Lancet, the study interviewed 5,914 new mothers about their plans for breastfeeding and then followed up to see how they did.

Breastfeeding  Best For Childdren

"Information on breastfeeding duration was collected very close to the time when weaning happened, so we had a very precise information on the duration of breastfeeding," said study author, Dr. Bernardo Lessa Horta, in a podcast on Lancet.

What makes this study unique is that it followed the subjects all the way to age 30.

"We were able to follow about 68% of the participants, which is a very good follow-up rate," said Lessa Horta. "We observed that breastfeeding was positively associated with performance and intelligence at 30 years old, as well as with education, school achievement and higher monthly incomes."

In fact, Lessa Horta said the subjects who had been breastfed for 12 months or longer had a higher IQ (about 3.7 points), more years of education and earned roughly 20% more than the average income level.

"It's suggesting that the positive effect of breastfeeding on IQ leads to a higher income," he said. "This is our main finding at this moment."

One possible reason for the advantage of breast milk, Lessa Horta added, is that it is "rich in long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids which are important to brain growth and development." Called LCPUFA for short, these essential fatty acids are found in salmon and shellfish and have been added to infant formulas since the 1990s. 

However, the benefit to mental or psychomotor development from adding LCPUFA to infant formula is unclear.

Because the study did not measure home life, intellectual stimulation or bonding between mother and child, it was not able to tease out whether these factors may have also contributed to the increase in IQ. That leaves it open to critics, such as Texas A&M Professor Joan Wolf, author of "Is Breast Best?

"This study does not address the very real possibility that mothers who choose to breastfeed, regardless of income or education, distinguish themselves from those who bottle-feed in all kinds of ways that are likely to promote intelligence," Wolf wrote CNN.

For Lessa Horta, the implications of his study are clear: "The finding supports the promotion of breastfeeding. It's more evidence that besides the clear short term benefits, breastfeeding also has long term consequences in terms of human potential."

North Korean Leader to Visit Moscow for Victory Day

North Korea's Kim expected to visit Moscow in May, Russian official says
By Madison Park and Alla Eshchenko, CNN


Moscow (CNN)Kim Jong Un is expected to attend World War II anniversary celebrations in Moscow at Russia's invitation, a Russian official speaking on condition of anonymity said Thursday.

North Korea accepted Russia's invitation, but Russia is waiting on Pyongyang to make the official announcement about the May trip, the official said. This would mark Kim's first official foreign trip since inheriting the leadership in late 2011.

"The invitation was sent to Kim Jong Un. North Korea accepted the invitation. The leadership of North Korea is expected to take part in Victory Day celebrations in Moscow," the Russian official said.

The official later clarified: "By leadership, we're talking about Kim."
So far, North Korean state media has not issued any statement about the invitation.

This year's Victory Day marks the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Union's victory over Nazi Germany in World War II.

Chatter over whether Kim would make his first official overseas trip during the pivotal anniversary started in late December after Russian state media reported that Moscow had extended an invitation to Pyongyang.

On December 22, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov told Itar-Tass: "First signals are given from Pyongyang that the North Korean leader plans to come to Moscow and attend celebrations."
Recently, Russia and North Korea have been fostering warmer relations.

Anniversary celebrations

If Kim appears in Russia along with other world leaders, he may look like a minor figure, said Dr. Leonid Petrov, an Asian studies professor who specializes in the political history of North Korea.

"In a setting with a large crowd of state officials, in group pictures, he would look like a minor figure instead of what he's portrayed in North Korean media as supreme leader, invincible marshal, jack of all trades.

"So I think if Kim Jong Un decides to go to Moscow, he's going to look like a very lonely, lonely figure."
The Kremlin has invited 68 world leaders to its Victory Day celebrations on May 9, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as quoted on Russian network RT. He was quoted in Russian media as saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping will also attend.

Russia and North Korea

In the last year, Russia and North Korea, two historical allies, have increasingly established stronger ties as Russian President Vladimir Putin faces international backlash over the war in Ukraine. The two countries declared 2015 their "Friendship Year."

Both countries have been slapped with sanctions by the United States and are facing international isolation.
"North Korea is a convenient friend for Moscow -- it's anti-American and it's in a key place of Asia," Petrov said. "Russia lost many of its traditional allies -- it needs friends, both economically, politically, strategically."

Ties between North Korea and Russia date back to World War II, when Kim Jong Un's grandfather and founder of the country, Kim Il Sung, trained as a communist guerrilla leader in the Soviet Union.

Throughout Kim's subsequent reign, the Soviet Union backed the nation. After the Soviet Union crumbled in the early 1990s, North Korea became increasingly reliant on China.

Kim's father, Kim Jong Il, visited Moscow several times, with his last visit in 2011. The late Kim rode into Russia in an armored train (he disliked flying) and met with both Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

"Moscow undertook a diplomatic offensive" with North Korea, said Petrov, of Australian National University. "It absolved $10 billion of Soviet-era debts from the account books and started rebooting relationships between North Korea and Russia."

Last year, Russia forgave 90% of North Korea's $11 billion debt.