Flu and Covid-19 can be life-threatening and spread more easily in winter when we are crowded together inside.
Most adults and children can get a free flu vaccine, Covid-19 booster or both.
The best way to protect ourselves from these viruses is to get vaccinated.
Don’t delay – book your winter vaccinations online today, or speak to your GP or pharmacists.
Flu and Covid-19 booster jabs are now being offered to most adults and children to make sure they are protected against these viruses as we head into winter.
There could be a significant flu surge this winter happening at the same time as rising Covid-19 cases. Colder weather makes it easier for the virus to spread, and darker nights mean spending more time with friends and family indoors where it is less well ventilated. We also expect that many people will have lower protection against the flu virus due to having reduced contact with others last winter.
With rising cases caused by the Omicron variant, everyone aged 18 and over is now eligible for a booster jab which provides vital extra protection against the virus.
Those eligible for the winter vaccinations should have their appointments as soon as possible to give themselves and their loved ones the best possible protection this winter.
Still haven’t had your first or second dose for Covid-19? It’s not too late to protect yourself.
Who is eligible?
The Covid-19 booster is available for anyone aged 18 and over (and those aged 16-17 with underlying conditions) where it has been at least three months after your second dose. You can book your vaccine using the national booking system, or by calling 119. Everyone over 18 can, where possible, book directly with, or walk into, a local vaccination centre.
Most people will be offered a booster dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine or Moderna vaccine. This means your booster dose may be different from the vaccines you had for your 1st and 2nd doses. Some people may be offered a booster dose of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine if they cannot have the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccine.
The flu vaccine is given free on the NHS to people who is aged 50 and over, aged 18-49 with long-term health conditions, those who are pregnant, and children aged 2 and 3 years old.
Some people may be eligible for both the flu and the COVID-19 booster vaccines.
If you are offered both vaccines, it’s safe to have them at the same time.
Frequently asked questions
Are you considering not getting the flu vaccine this year? Are you confused about why you need a Covid-19 booster so soon after the first vaccination? Or is there something else about the winter vaccinations that concern you?
Read below for more information on why it’s important to get vaccinated this winter.
About Covid-19 boosters
Who is eligible for the booster jab?
You can get a booster dose if you had a second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine at least three months ago and:
- you are aged 18 or over
- you are aged 16 or over with a health condition that puts you at high risk of getting serious ill from Covid-19
- you are a frontline health or social care worker
- you live or work in a care home
- you are aged 16 or over and are a main carer for someone at high risk from Covid-19
- you are aged 16 or over and live with someone who has a weakened immune system (such as someone who has HIV, has had a transplant, or is having certain treatments for cancer, lupus, or rheumatoid arthritis)
People who are pregnant and are in one of the eligible groups can also get a booster dose.
Why do I need a booster jab?
Research suggests the protection provided by vaccines decreases gradually over time. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has assessed that the booster jab offers many health benefits for people most at risk from Covid-19.
A booster dose of the coronavirus vaccine helps improve protection you have from your first two doses of the vaccine. It helps give you longer-term protection against getting serious ill from Covid-19.
When do I need to have my booster jab?
You’ll be offered the Covid-19 booster jab at least six months after you had your second dose. The NHS will let you know when it’s your turn to have a booster. It’s important not to contact the NHS for one before then.
Which vaccine will I receive for my Covid-19 booster?
The Pfizer vaccine will be given in the booster programme, regardless of which vaccine someone received for their first two doses.
Some people may be offered a booster jab of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine if they cannot have the Pfizer/BioNTech.
Does the Covid-19 booster cause serious side effects?
As with your previous dose the common side effects are the same for all COVID-19 vaccines used in the UK, and include:
- having a painful, heavy feeling and tenderness in the arm where you had your injection. This tends to be worst around 1 to 2 days after the vaccine
- feeling tired
- general aches, or mild flu like symptoms
You can rest and take paracetamol (follow the dose advice in the packaging) to help make you feel better. Although feeling feverish is not uncommon for 2 to 3 days, a high temperature is unusual and may indicate you have COVID-19 or another infection. Although a fever can occur within a day or 2 of vaccination, if you have any other COVID-19 symptoms or your fever lasts longer, stay at home and arrange to have a test.
Symptoms following vaccination normally last less than a week. If your symptoms seem to get worse or if you are concerned, you can call NHS 111.
If you had serious side effects after any previous dose you may be advised to avoid or delay further vaccination. You should discuss this with your doctor or specialist.
How and when do I get my Covid-19 booster?
If you’re eligible, you’ll be offered a booster dose at least three months after you’ve had your second dose.
Most people can:
- Book a vaccination appointment online for an appointment at a vaccination centre or pharmacy
- Go to a walk-in vaccination site to get vaccinated without needing an appointment
- Wait to be contacted by a local NHS service such as GP surgery and book an appointment with them.
Is it safe to attend vaccination appointments?
The NHS continues to make sure that vaccinations are given in safe environments. All possible precautions will be taken to make sure you, and staff, are protected. If you have Covid-19 symptoms, do not attend your vaccination appointment but instead self-isolate and book a coronavirus test at nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119. You can rebook your flu and Covid-19 booster vaccination appointments at a later date.
About flu jabs
Who is eligible for the flu jab?
The flu vaccine is given free on the NHS to people who are most at risk from flu.
- all adults aged 50 years or over
- people who live and work in care homes
- frontline health and social care workers
- pregnant people
- all adults aged 18 or over with a health condition that puts them at high risk of getting seriously ill from flu
- 2-3 year olds
- primary and secondary school children (including children ‘at risk’).
How effective is the flu vaccine?
The flu vaccine gives the best protection against flu. Flu vaccines help protect against the main types of flu viruses, although there’s still a chance you might get flu. If you do get flu after vaccination, it’s likely to be milder and not last as long. Having the flu vaccine will also stop you spreading flu to other people who may be more at risk of serious problems from flu. It can take 10 to 14 days for the flu vaccine to work.
Can you catch flu from the vaccine?
No, the vaccine contains an inactivated virus which cannot give you flu.
Does the flu vaccine cause serious side effects?
Only one in a million people get serious side effects. Mild side effects such as soreness around the injection site and aching muscles are more common, but these are far less serious than the effects of contracting flu.
Is flu just like having a bad cold?
Flu is a very serious illness which kills 11,000 people a year in the UK and hospitalises many more. It can lead to severe complications including pneumonia and organ failure.
How will I know if I have the flu or Covid-19?
The flu virus and Covid-19 have symptoms which overlap, such a high temperature or persistent cough. It may be difficult to tell which virus you have. For this reason, it’s really important that you have a flu vaccination if you are eligible, and that you continue to follow the guidance on self isolation and testing at nhs.uk/coronavirus if you have any of the symptoms of Covid-19.
Does the nasal vaccine/spray contain gelatine?
Yes, the nasal vaccine contains a highly processed form of gelatine (porcine gelatine), which is used in a range of essential medicines. The gelatine helps to keep the vaccine viruses stable so that the vaccine provides the best protection against flu. The nasal vaccine is offered to children, as it is more effective in the programme than the injected vaccine. This is because it is easier to administer and considered better at reducing the spread of flu to others, who may be more vulnerable to the complications of flu. However, if your child is at high risk from flu due to one or more medical conditions or treatments and can’t have the nasal flu vaccine, they should have the flu vaccine by injection. Some people may not accept the use of porcine gelatine in medical products. You should discuss your options with your nurse or doctor.
I’ve been vaccinated before so do I need to do it again?
The flu virus mutates constantly, and the vaccine is updated every year to counter the latest strains so it is important to get vaccinated every year.
I have a long-term health condition – but I feel healthy and well. Do I need to get vaccinated?
Flu can cause serious illness or death in people living with long-term health conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, heart and liver conditions, and others. Getting vaccinated reduces your chance of catching flu by 40-60%.
I’m pregnant. Should I get vaccinated?
The flu vaccine is safe at any stage of pregnancy, and is recommended for all pregnant women as they face a higher risk of developing complications from flu.
Can I book online?
Is it safe to attend vaccination appointments?
The NHS continues to make sure that vaccinations are given in safe environments. All possible precautions will be taken to make sure you, and staff, are protected. If you have Covid-19 symptoms, do not attend your vaccination appointment but instead self-isolate and book a coronavirus test at nhs.uk/coronavirus or by calling 119. You can rebook your flu vaccination appointment at a later date.
This website is managed by NHS North East London Clinical Commissioning Group in partnership with


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MOSCOW (Sep. 25)
A new Jewish book room at Russia’s main public library has opened — but has created controversy even before receiving its first patrons.
The room was inaugurated earlier this month at the Russian State Library, one of the world’s largest book depositories.
A leading Jewish academic praised the new facility, which is housed in what formerly was known as the Lenin Library.
“Until now, anyone doing scholarly Jewish research in Moscow had to leave Moscow to do it,” said Arkady Kovelman, Director of the Center for Jewish Studies and Jewish Civilization at Moscow State University.
“The library will contribute toward the growth of Jewish education and Jewish knowledge in the former Soviet Union.”
Meri Trifonenko, head of the center, said readers interested in Jewish studies could use the State Library’s Jewish collection inside the newly refurbished center and its brand new Hebrew reading room starting next month.
The Jewish library collection includes some 40,000 volumes in Hebrew, about 20,000 books in Yiddish and a few titles in Ladino, Trifonenko said.
But Chabad-Lubavitch is outraged by the new project because it includes the well-known Schneerson book collection, which belonged to a succession of Lubavitcher rabbis.
Since 1990, the Lubavitch movement has been trying to free the collection, which the Bolsheviks seized in the 1920s.
The fate of the Schneerson books is “the most passionate issue in the Chabad movement,” said Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz, executive director of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, a Lubavitch-dominated umbrella group and the largest community organization of Russian Jews.
“How can the public have access to these holy books unless they are returned to the Jewish community?” Berkowitz said.
“These books are worthless as books,” he added. But “they have a great spiritual value to 200,000 Lubavitchers around the world.”
In the dozen years since the collapse of communism, Russia has returned 30 books from the collection to the Lubavitch movement — mostly under various arrangements with U.S. officials.
In the post-Communist years, Russia failed to adopt any comprehensive legislation on the restitution of former private property, including cultural assets, making it especially difficult for the Chabad organization to lay claim to the books.
Victor Fedorov, the Russian State Library director-general, told JTA that taking into account Jewish religious concerns — and especially the sensitive issue of the Schneerson books — the library set aside a separate room adjacent to its new Hebrew reading room that will be used exclusively by readers of the books from the Lubavitch collection.
“One can pray in this room without disturbing other readers,” Fedorov said.
But a Moscow-based rabbi, who has been locally leading the effort to release the books, said this made no difference.
The old Lenin Library “has been and still remains a prison for the Jewish books. It will remain a prison until they return the books of the rebbe,” said Rabbi Yitzhak Kogan, who is a Moscow representative of Agudas Chasidei Chabad-Lubavitch of the Former Soviet Union, a group that was appointed by the last Lubavitcher Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, with the goal of freeing the books.
The new room is a project of the state, which reached out to the Jewish Academic Library to help manage it, according to the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee.
The Jewish Academic Library is supported by the JDC, the Russian Jewish Congress, Moscow State University and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Chabad officials said they were angered by the fact that the inauguration ceremony for the new library facility, which includes the Schneerson books, was planned by JDC, a Jewish group.
JDC representatives said it was Russia’s decision to create a Hebrew reading room, and they were pleased.
“There is a great value” in making available “these books that have been hidden from the public for so many years,” said Scott Richman, director of JDC’s Russia desk.
A few years ago, Kovelman, a prominent Judaica scholar who is also an academic adviser for the Moscow office of the JDC, started putting together a comprehensive library of contemporary books on Jewish subjects in Russian, English and other European languages.
The JDC-funded work resulted in some 3,000 volumes piled up in the scholar’s office, Kovelman said, prompting him to look for a professional facility where the books could be stored and read.
The most valuable part of the Russian State Library Judaica collection formerly belonged to the Gunzburg family, a succession of Russian Jewish aristocrats that amassed one of the world’s largest collections of antique Judaica books. The collection was nationalized by the Soviets after the family fled Russia following the 1917 Bolshevik revolution.
Heirs of the family in the United States have recently explored with Russian authorities the possibility of getting the books back, a source familiar with the situation said.

domain: library


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24 Season 6: 1pm - 2pm (Morris tortured) (Review)
Review by Jack Foley
INDIELONDON singles out notable episodes from our favourite television series for stand-alone reviews. On this occasion we take a look at the latest exploits of Jack Bauer in Season six of 24 between the hours of 1pm and 2pm.
What’s the story? Having successfully detonated one nuclear weapon in Los Angeles, terrorist leader Fayed (Adoni Maropis) must “persuade” CTU operative Morris O’Brien (Carlo Rota) to build a trigger for the remaining four. Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland), meanwhile, is racing to find him…
Why so controversial? When this particular episode was shown in America, it prompted something of a backlash regarding the use of torture in the series as a whole. See story
As ever, though, the episode kept us gripped as Jack battled to find and save Morris, while in Washington a plot to undermine President Palmer’s presidency gained momentum.
Digging a little deeper: Is there too much torture in 24? It’s a valid question and one that’s ultimately prompted America’s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to consider a report to Congress asking whether it can regulate TV violence in the same way that it regulates indecency if lawmakers permit.
Season 6 had already featured several scenes of torture involving Jack Bauer and his brother prior to the 1pm to 2pm which really blew the lid off the controversy.
One scene in particular left many UK and US viewers wincing – namely when terrorist leader Fayed (Adoni Maropis) took a power drill to CTU operative Morris O’Brien (Carlo Rota) in a desperate bid to build a trigger for the remaining four.
Having already been beaten with baseball bats and “drowned” in a bathtub full of water, Fayed resorted to extreme measures aware that CTU were closing in on his location.
It worked. O’Brien cracked and built the trigger, enabling Fayed to escape within seconds of CTU’s arrival. With the nukes armed, it’s now left to Bauer and co to work against the clock to prevent further detonations on US soil.
Given the heightened playing field upon which 24 operates, it’s little wonder that the series writers are having to resort to such extreme tactics to propel the story forward.
Hence, in depicting extremists, should viewers not expect to have to witness acts of extremism?
Yet, as Mel Gibson will probably testify, depicting such acts on-screen gives rise to the suspicion that the programme makers are becoming addicted to sadism.
And then there’s also the justified fear that putting such images on-screen could well give people ideas…
24 is a show that’s consistently been known for its ability to push boundaries. It’s real-time format was groundbreaking six years ago, while its continued ability to dispense with key characters lends each episode an element of uncertainty.
The questions it poses – about the war against terror, both from the ground and in the corridors of power – are also worth considering for anyone who has their eye on the current political climate.
But is the sustained depiction of torture one step too far? Perhaps… Or is it merely exposing a raw nerve in the collective American psychology? The world knows that torture is used by both sides in the war against terror – but acknowledging it is a little more difficult.
Perhaps 24 is merely exposing some uncomfortable home truths a little too brutally.
As for the episode itself, 1pm – 2pm probably rates as one of the weaker episodes of the series so far.
The tension remained intact but the payoffs weren’t as impressive, particularly as Morris’s story arc didn’t ring true.
Why, for instance, did Morris crack knowing that CTU were minutes, if not seconds away from saving him? Surely, having seen Fayed kill another informant once she had outlived her usefulness, he would have known he was bound for the same fate…
Of course, Jack did get there in time to save Morris but not to prevent the remaining nuclear weapons from being armed. It seemed like a flimsy device to propel the situation forward, while simultaneously casting the torture sequence in a very bad light.
Depicting torture for realisms’ sake is one thing; but when it merely exposes weak logic (or writing), it tends to give fuel to those calling for 24‘s blood.
What do you think?
- Order 24 Season 5 DVD box set
- 24 - Season 6: Was Morris torture necessary?
- 24 - Season 6: America angered by torture scenes
- 24 - Season 6: Did Jack have a choice?
- 24 - Season 6: First 2 hours reviewed
- 24: Season 5 reviewed (with spoilers)
- Sutherland signs on for another three seasons of 24
- Read our review of the explosive Season 4
- Buy 24: Seasons 1-5 on DVD

domain: entertainment


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By Yi Whan-woo
North Korean diplomats who had managed leader Kim Jong-un's secret overseas funds have escaped the country with his money, sources here said Sunday.
Rumors are circulating that Thae Yong-ho, North Korea's deputy ambassador to the United Kingdom, brought $58 million cash belonging to Kim when he recently defected to South Korea with his family members. The South Korean government denied the rumors, but some analysts here say Thae was one of the diplomats who managed Kim's secret money.
The sources said many of the diplomats worked in Europe, where "a large chunk" of foreign currency has been generated for the cash-strapped Kim regime to pursue its nuclear program.
In June, a senior official at Office 39, a shadow organization which directly reports to Kim concerning the use of his money, disappeared with his children after working in Europe for the past 20 years.
The official, whom some South Korean media outlets identified as Kim Myong-chol, was in charge of overseeing the young despot's European slush funds.
He allegedly took up to $400 million from a hidden bank account. It remains uncertain whether he withdrew the amount in cash or transferred it to a bank account under his name.
In addition, a senior official at Daesung Bank, an auspice of Office 39, fled from his office in China last year after stealing a large sum of Kim's money.
In Singapore, an official responsible for handling 10 billion won of Kim's funds has been missing since 2015.
In August 2014, Yoon Tae-hyung, then-chief of Daesung Bank's Russia branch, carried $5 million with him before seeking asylum in a third country.
"I'd say Kim's secret funds are worth hundreds of billions of won, and in that regards, the combined amount that the North Korean officials stole is considerable," said An Chan-il, a defector and researcher who heads the World Institute for North Korea Studies. "In particular, $400 million taken by Kim Myong-chol is expected to deal a blow to Pyongyang because the money was believed to be from Swiss bank accounts."
He speculated that North Korea used to keep the money collected from European and African countries in the accounts and transfer it back home until the Swiss government froze all North Korea-related bank accounts there in June.
The measure was taken in line with the U.N. Security Council's (UNSC) harshest sanctions imposed against Pyongyang in March, aimed at cutting the flow of hard currency into North Korea.
The experts said more overseas North Korean elites are likely to flee, claiming that it will become harder for them to raise the slush funds under the UNSC sanctions.
"The overseas officials are afraid of being punished for failing to fulfill their jobs, and the only option they're left with to avoid punishment will be to seek asylum," said Yang Moo-jin, a professor at the University of North Korean Studies.
Kim Yong-hyun, a professor of North Korean Studies at Dongguk University, speculated that cases of stealing money from Kim's slush funds are likely to increase in the future.
"International surveillance over banking transactions with North Korea is becoming tighter, and it means Kim's ‘money men' will carry his funds in cash," said Kim. "And it will be easier for them to take money when they decide to flee their country."
Yang said the Kim regime may enhance control over its officials posted abroad.
"The North Korean authorities may bolster surveillance over those in Pyongyang's diplomatic missions by prohibiting them from taking their family members with them," he said.

domain: news


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A Nigerian man has been accused of stabbing his partner to death for refusing to register her new car in his name.
Facebook user, Ngozi Ikebuaso alleged that the man carried out the act with the help of his 16-year-old nephew. It was learnt that the deceased refused registering the car in the man’s name, on grounds of him not paying her bride price even though they’ve been co-habiting for 8 years.
A man with the help of his 16 years old nephew stabbed his wife to death because she refused to use his name in her new bought car documents. The woman said she can’t use his name on the documents because the said man never paid her pride price ( they are just leave in lovers. Di na nwuye ndi Lagos)and have not married her after living together for 8 years. They locked her in immediately she came back from shop and killed her. This is a jobless man that has been feeding off the woman. This is so sad

domain: law


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NASA, Russia Sign Deal On Soyuz Flights to ISS
NASA will pay the Russian Federal Space Agency $21.8 million per passenger for round trip Soyuz rides to and from the international space station starting this spring.
NASA spokeswoman Melissa Mathews said Jan. 5 that the U.S. space agency and its Russian counterpart concluded a $43.8 million deal just before New Year’s Day that includes transportation aboard Soyuz spacecraft to and from the ISS for NASA’s newly named Expedition 13 crew member, Jeff Williams, and a ride home for astronaut Bill McArthur, who has been living on board the station since October.
Russia also will provide what Mathews described as “a small amount” of cargo space aboard a Progress resupply spacecraft that is slated for launch to the station later this year and initial Soyuz training for NASA’s Expedition 14 crew member. That astronaut will head to the station this autumn aboard a Soyuz if the space shuttle is not back in service by then.
The agreement also reserves a seat for Williams should he and his cosmonaut crewmate be forced to evacuate the station aboard a Soyuz spacecraft in an emergency.
Mathews described the new agreement as a short-term extension of an existing contract NASA signed with the Russian space agency before the Iran Nonproliferation Act became law in 2000, barring NASA from paying Russia for any space station-related goods and services as long as Russia continues to help Iran acquire missiles and other advanced weaponry.
While NASA only has contracted for six months of services at this point, she said Russia has agreed to honor the $21.8 million per seat price through 2011.
Rumsfeld Concludes Clapper’s Time is Up
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has directed that retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. James Clapper leave his position as head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) in June.
“June 13 was designated as his last day, and that’s the decision that was made,” said NGA spokesman Dave Burpee January 6. Clapper declined through Burpee to be interviewed.
Burpee would not elaborate on the reasons for Clapper’s departure. The news was originally reported in the Baltimore Sun, in an article which stated that Rumsfeld and Clapper had clashed over Clapper’s testimony before Congress in 2004 when Congress was debating the merits of creating the Office of the Director of National Intelligence which now oversees all government intelligence programs. According to the Sun, Rumsfeld was unhappy when Clapper testified that it would not harm NGA’s work if the Pentagon no longer had full control over the agency.
“Gen. Clapper has capably served as a director of NGA for nearly five years, at the behest and pleasure of the secretary of defense,” a Pentagon spokesman said on the condition that he not be identified. “His five-year tour is consistent with the findings of the 2000 NIMA [National Imagery and Mapping Agency] commission.”
That commission issued a report in 2000, when NGA was known as NIMA, which found that the shorter, two- to three-year terms of former NGA directors were hurting the agency. The report stated that the head of NIMA should “serve a term of not less than five years, absent cause for dismissal, and subject to the personal needs of the individual.”
Both Burpee and the Pentagon spokesman declined to speculate about who would be tapped to replace Clapper in June. Clapper’s tenure is the longest of any NGA director, according to Burpee.
Orbcomm Getting Ready To Build New Satellites
Orbcomm, which operates a global satellite-based messaging system, has raised $110 million in new equity from a group of backers led by investment firm Pacific Corporate Group (PCG). The new money is intended to help the company begin replacing its aging constellation of 30 satellites.
Dulles, Va.-based Orbcomm said in a Jan. 4 announcement that PCG has committed $60 million in cash, and that new and existing Orbcomm investors have agreed to invest an additional $50 million. New Orbcomm investors include MH Equity and Torch Hill Capital. Existing Orbcomm investors that agreed to take part in the new financing round include Ridgewood Capital, OHB Technology AG and Northwood Ventures.
Bremen, Germany-based OHB said in a Jan. 4 statement that it has invested $4 million and will now have an 11-percent equity stake in Orbcomm. OHB is building a satellite for Orbcomm that is intended as a prototype for a second-generation constellation, but a contract for the full fleet of next-generation Orbcomm spacecraft has yet to be signed.
Orbcomm said it expects to sign contracts early this year to build the second-generation system.
Seeks Concessions If Merger Is Approved
Rocket startup Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has asked the Pentagon for concessions to level the competitive playing field should the military endorse the proposed merger of Boeing’sand Lockheed Martins Atlas launch businesses.
While making clear it remains opposed to the merger, SpaceX wrote Kenneth Krieg, U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology, in December suggesting several conditions the Pentagon could impose on the creation of(ULA) to help protect competition.
Specifically, SpaceX asked Krieg to either eliminate the subsidies ULA stands to receive from the U.S. Air Force or offer comparable subsidies to other rocket companies. SpaceX also asked for the elimination of multi-year Air Force launch allocations.
Lastly, SpaceX called for the creation of a launch monopoly control board to oversee ULA and suggested that ULA be required to disclose what their launches would cost absent the Air Force subsidies. A copy of the proposed remedies SpaceX sent to Krieg were obtained by Space News.
Pentagon spokeswoman Cheryl Irwin said Jan. 5 that the Defense Department has not reached a decision on the merger. However, industry sources tracking the approval process said the Pentagon appears close to endorsing the creation of ULA, clearing the way for the Federal Trade Commission to rule on the proposed merger.
These sources said Pentagon officials have been discussing remedies to the concerns expressed by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman, which is seeking assurances the a Boeing-Lockheed Martin launch merger would not disadvantage the Los Angeles-based company in satellite competitions, but it is not known what remedies, if any, the Pentagon would demand.
Wins Deal To Launch Skynet 5C
EADS Astrium has awarded Arianespace a contract to launch the Skynet 5C British military communications satellite in 2008.
The contract, which was signed in late December, is the result of a decision by Paradigm Secure Communications Ltd., the Skynet 5 system manager, to exercise an option to build and launch a third Skynet 5 spacecraft instead of purchasing insurance for the Skynet 5A and 5B satellites.
Paradigm’s move to add a third satellite will extend its 15-year, $4.4-billion Skynet 5 system operations contract with the British Defence Ministry by two years, to 2020. Paradigm also has ordered components of a fourth satellite from EADS Astrium.
Paul Millington, Paradigm business development director, said it is less expensive to build and launch a third Skynet 5 than to insure the first two satellites. In addition to conventional satellite and launch coverage, Paradigm was seeking an insurance package that would include compensation for revenue lost in the event of a launch or in-orbit failure.
Paradigm Financial Director James Beazley said an insurance package of this size, including three years of revenue-loss compensation, would exceed the space insurance market’s current capacity limits.
Arianespace expects to report revenues of 1.05 billion euros ($1.24 billion) for 2005 and a profit of “several million euros” on the strength of five successful Ariane 5 rocket launches conducted during the year, Arianespace Chief Executive Jean-Yves Le Gall said Jan. 4. The launches carried a total of eight satellites into orbit.
Arianespace’s 2005 revenues include about 200 million euros in support payments made by European governments to help offset certain fixed costs the Evry, France-based company incurs in launching Ariane 5 vehicles from the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana.
The same level of fixed-cost reimbursement is expected to continue through 2010 following an agreement by member governments of the European Space Agency.
USGS Offers Free Landsat Data on Two Web Sites
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is now offering selected Landsat data for free download at two Web sites.
USGS is offering orthorectified Landsat 4, 5 and 7 data through two portals: its Global Visualization Viewer at http://glovis.usgs.gov and its Earth Explorer download program at http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov, according to a Dec. 27 press release.
Orthorectified data is grayscale imagery that is modified to remove geometric distortions that occur in the normal imaging process. The datasets provide two full sets of global coverage over a 10-year interval, as recent as 2000, the release said.
Users can download an entire scene as a single zipped file, the release said.
Stardust To Return Soon With Interstellar Particles
NASA’s Stardust mission is set to return to Earth Jan. 15 after a 4.6 billion-kilometer round trip, bringing back interstellar dust and comet particles that scientists believe will shed more insight on the origins of the solar system, NASA announced Dec. 21.
“Comets are some of the most informative occupants of the solar system. The more we can learn from science exploration missions like Stardust, the more we can prepare for human exploration to the Moon, Mars and beyond,” Mary Cleave, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said in a prepared statement.
Mission navigators will perform several targeting maneuvers early this month for the Jan. 15 landing at the U.S. Air Force’s Utah Test and Training Range. Stardust’s sample-return capsule will enter Earth’s atmosphere at a speed of more than 46,000 kilometers per hour — the fastest of any human-made object on record. It will release a drogue parachute at about 169,000 kilometers and then deploy its primary parachute after descending another 16,000 kilometers. It is scheduled to land on the range about 5:12 a.m. EST.
in Denver developed and operates the spacecraft with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., managing the Stardust mission.
ISRO Successfully Completes Test Fire of Strap-on Motor
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully completed the final test firing of a new solid-propellant strap-on motor that will help boost the payload capacity of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from 1,450 to 1,600 kilograms.
The 58-second static firing took place Dec. 29 at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, said S. Kishnamurthi, an ISRO spokesman. “The performance of the new motor was as per the prediction,” he said.
The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle typically uses six strap-on motors, each filled with 9 tons of solid propellant. The new motor, dubbed PSOM-XL, is 13.4 meters long and carries 12.4 tons of propellant. It was developed by ISRO’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre at Thiruvananthapuram.
Krishnamurthi said the newly developed motor will be employed in all future Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle missions beginning next year with the launch of ISRO’s Risat radar imaging satellite. This year’s planned launch of the Cartosat 2 optical imaging satellite will be the last of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle outfitted with the older motors.
ComDev Wins Satellite Component Contracts
ComDev International Ltd. of Cambridge, Ontario, has won several contracts to provide satellite core switches and multiplexers from a customer for an Asian commercial satellite program and another two customers for a U.S. military program.
The company announced Dec. 29 that the contract with the unidentified Asian customer is valued between $5 million and $6 million, and will cover two satellites providing international communications in the Asian region.
ComDev also announced Dec. 23 it had won two contracts totaling 14.8 million Canadian dollars ($12.7 million) from two unidentified customers for core switches and multiplexers for a U.S. military program.
Satellite work for both contracts will take place at ComDev’s Cambridge facilities.
WildBlue Offers Clients VSAT-Based Broadband
WildBlue Communications of Denver will offer its customers high-speed Internet access using Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSATs).
The company has contracted with four resellers — Calif.-based Ground Control and PptiStreams, Virginia-based Amtech and Oregon-based Broad Sky Networks — to handle sales, installation and service, according to a Dec. 21 WildBlue press release .
WildBlue’s target market for the VSAT service will be small- and medium-sized enterprises, telecommuters and specialized industries, according to the press release said. The service, which will feature download speeds up to 1.5 megabytes per second and upload speeds up to 256 kilobytes per second, will be branded WildBlue Enterprise Solutions.
In a Jan. 3 press release, the company announced it has discounted the installation price for its high-speed satellite Internet service for consumers by $100. The company will now provide installation for $79.95.
Vega Launch Facility Work Awarded to Telematics
Telematics Solutions S.p.A. of Milan will provide a telecommunications network and security system at the launch complex for Europe’s future Vega small-satellite launch vehicle under a contract with Vitrociset of Rome, Telematics Solutions announced.
Under the contract, valued at 8 million euros ($9.4 million), Telematics will install the equipment at the Vega launch site at Europe’s Guiana Space Center, in French Guiana, in time for Vega’s first launch, scheduled for early 2008. Telematics Managing Director Lanfranco Zucconi said the Vega contract “will reinforce our leading role in telecommunications and security management for complex and sensitive sites.” Telematics is a subsidiary of Bremen, Germany-based OHB System .
Used To Test UK Maritime Safety System
The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, a search-and-rescue operation in the United Kingdom, is using the Iridium satellite network to test a new maritime safety system. By using Iridium satellite services, the institution will be able to monitor its lifeboats and more effectively coordinate rescue efforts, Iridium state in a Dec. 19 press release.
If the tests are successful, the institution plans to outfit 128 all-weather lifeboats and 208 inshore lifeboats in the United Kingdom and Ireland with the Iridium equipment.
“With this system, we will be able to monitor the lifeboats at all times from the shoreside headquarters, providing enhanced levels of safety and operational efficiency in our lifesaving operations,” Mark Morgan of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution said in the news release.
Millicom SelectsFor Chad Cellular Services
Intelsat has entered a long-term, multimillion-dollar agreement with Millicom International Cellular S.A. of Luxembourg to provide cellular backhaul services in Chad, Intelsat announced Dec. 14.
The service already has been launched in the capital city of N’Djamena and will be available in six other major cities in Chad over the next several months. Intelsat, which is based in Bermuda and Washington, now provides satellite-based cellular backhaul services to over 60 mobile operators.
Millicom was awarded a 10-year license to operate a wireless GSM 900 telephony network in Chad within the past year that uses Intelsat’s 702 satellite.
ZeroG Aerospace Offers Public Access to Space
ZeroG Aerospace is offering space access to the public aboard its ZGS-1 payload starting at $49.95 for a standard-sized business card to nearly $1,000 for a box to send up small keepsakes or even ashes, the company announced Dec 20.
The company’s payload is scheduled to be launched March 27 from the Southwest Regional Spaceport near White Sands, N.M., aboard a suborbital rocket built by UP Aerospace Inc. The 6-meter-long rocket will reach space in under two minutes, according to the news release.
“Up until now, space has been reserved for NASA, other international powers and the very, very wealthy,” ZeroG Chief Executive Officer Eric Gorrell said in a prepared statement.
Ariane 5 Successfully Lofts Indian, European Satellites
Europe’s Ariane 5 GS rocket successfully placed an Indian telecommunications satellite and a European weather satellite into orbit Dec. 21, marking the first time the heavy-lift version of the rocket has conducted five launches in a calendar year.
The launch of the Indian Space Research Organi sation’s Insat 4A telecommunications satellite inaugurates a new generation of domestic communications spacecraft. Insat 4A will be used for Indian domestic governmental and commercial telecommunications. Its 12 Ku-band transponders already have been sold to direct-broadcast television companies serving India, an illustration of the surging demand for satellite television in the subcontinent. The satellite also carries 12 C-band transponders.
It is a demand that several commercial satellite-fleet operators would like to serve. But India has a policy of obliging direct-broadcast satellite television companies to use India’s satellites unless those satellites are full. The Indian Space Research Organi sation plans three more Insat 4 satellites for launch by the end of 2008.
The launch of Meteosat 9 will give Europe a backup satellite to join its twin, Meteosat 8, which is already operational. These two satellites are the first of the four Meteosat Second Generation spacecraft, which provide imagery from 12 spectral channels every 15 minutes. Both are operated by Eumetsat, the meteorological organization funded by 18 European governments.
The four Meteosat Second Generation satellites will provide climate and weather data through 2018. The total program is valued at 2 billion euros ($2.36 billion), including the production, launch and operations of the four satellites.
Ikona Receives Additional Orders for Antenna Pedestal
Ikona Gear International Inc., a developer of gearing systems technology, has received an order for four more satellite antenna pedestal prototypes under a five-year agreement signed in October 2005 with a U.S. defense contractor, the company announced Dec. 27.
Under the terms of that agreement, the pedestals will be limited to government and military tactical applications. With the development of 100 units a year, the company estimated the agreement will be worth about $3 million. Ikona, which is based in Coquitlam, British Columbia, initially received $108,000 for the first prototype.
Congress Approves $216 Million For KEI PRIVATE puncspace:p in 2006
The Pentagon’s effort to develop a new rocket that can knock down enemy missiles shortly after launch received more funding in the conference report that resolved differences between the House and Senate versions of the 2006 Defense Appropriations Act than either side had provided in their versions of the bill.
The conference report provided $216 million for the Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI) program in 2006. The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) had requested $218 million for the program, which is run by Northrop Grumman Mission Systems of Reston, Va.
The House had provided $202 million for the effort, while the Senate had provided $105 million.
The conference report also added $10 million to the 2006 defense budget for a study on the threat posed by short-range missiles to the U.S. homeland.
The conferees directed the Defense Intelligence Agency to provide a report on the threat to Congress by March 1, and MDA to consult with U.S. Northern Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command in developing a recommendation for the response to the threat in a report by June 1.
The conference report also includes language encouraging MDA to restore a kill vehicle to the Near Field Infrared Experiment, an experimental satellite sensor intended to help gather data on discriminating between the body of an incoming missile and its exhaust plume.
The kill vehicle, which was designed to rendezvous with the incoming target to take a closer look, was stripped from the experiment in late 2004, and MDA has since replaced it with a communications payload from the German government.
Meanwhile, the conference report resolving differences between the House and Senate versions of the 2006 Defense Authorization Act directs MDA and the Air Force to work together on three reports due back by Feb. 28.
Those reports must cover the potential value of increasing MDA and Air Force use of the Rocket Systems Launch Program, which facilitates the construction of space launch vehicles from excess missile parts.
The reports must also address the value of a proposed partnership between the Air Force and MDA to develop high altitude vehicles that fly at an altitude of about 20 kilometers, and determine whether an agreement between the two is necessary to facilitate the transition of operational control of MDA small satellites to the Air Force once the MDA has completed its experiments.
EC Directs Luxembourg To DropEquity Restriction
The European Commission (EC) has asked the Luxembourg government to drop its restriction on the equity ownership of satellite-fleet operator SES Global, saying the long-standing policy violates European treaty provisions on the free movement of capital.
The Brussels-based commission, which is the executive arm of the 25-nation European Union, demanded a response from Luxembourg authorities by late February and “may decide to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice” if Luxembourg refuses to change its policy, the commission announced.
Under orders from the Luxembourg government, SES Global grants Luxembourg government authorities the right to limit the voting rights of non-government shareholders if such a move is deemed in the public interest. The commission said that other, less-restrictive ways should be found to achieve the same goal.
The rules governing voting rights of the Luxembourg government’s ownership of SES Global have been required of the company in return for the government’s long-term grant of Luxembourg-registered orbital positions to SES Global and its subsidiary, SES Astra.
SES Global, headquartered in Luxembourg, is the world’s largest satellite-fleet operator. Its stock is traded on the Euronext exchange.
SES Global PicksTo Launch Astra 1KR
An(ILS) Atlas 5 rocket will launch SES Astra’s Astra 1KR direct-broadcast television satellite in April 2006 under a contract announced Dec. 21 by Luxembourg-based SES Astra, a subsidiary of SES Global.
The satellite, under construction by Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems, originally was intended for launch on a European Ariane 5 rocket under a 2003 contract before switching to an ILS Proton vehicle in 2004.
McLean, Va.-based ILS said the two companies in 2004 signed a contract covering the launch of three Lockheed Martin-built satellites on Atlas and Proton rockets, with a decision matching satellites to launchers to be made based on launcher and satellite availability. Astra 1KR will be the first launch of an SES Astra satellite on an Atlas vehicle.
Europropulsion To Build 30 Sets of Ariane 5 Strap-Ons
Europropulsion, a joint venture between Avio S.p.A. of Italy and Safran’s Scnecma of France, will provide 30 sets of solid-fueled strap-on boosters for Ariane 5 rockets under a contract with EADS Space Transportation, the Ariane 5 prime contractor, Avio announced.
Under the contract, valued at 900 million euros ($1.1 billion), Europropulsion will provide the solid-fuel propellant, thermal protection and igniters in addition to the boosters’ structure.
Avio Space Division Director Pier Giuliano Lasagni said the contract is the largest signed by Avio’s space division in the past two years and will assure Ariane 5 production through 2010.
ELV Successfully Test-fires Zefiro-9 Motor for Vega
ELV S.p.A. of Colleferro, Italy, successfully test-fired the Zefiro-9 solid-fueled motor that will power the third stage of Europe’s future four-stage Vega small-satellite launch vehicle, ELV announced Dec. 23.
The ignition was conducted from ELV’s site in Salto di Quirra, Sardinia and was “a complete success,” according to the company. Zefiro-9 will power Vega’s third stage when the vehicle begins operations from Europe’s Guiana Space Center spaceport in early 2008.
ELV is 70 percent owned by Avio of Italy and 30 percent owned by the Italian Space Agency. Italy is financing some 65 percent of the cost of the Vega vehicle’s development by the European Space Agency.
Sweden Eyes Purchase of Surveillance Satellite
The Swedish government has instructed the armed forces to evaluate the possible purchase of a surveillance satellite and to report its conclusions by April 30. The evaluation, ordered Dec. 20 and to be conducted with the Swedish National Space Board, is to include possible synergies with potential civilian government users.
Officials from Sweden’s civilian-run Swedish Space Corp. have said the production of a surveillance satellite, tentatively named Svea, could be completed in tandem with Sweden’s Prisma science satellite now under construction, with both satellites using the same platform design.
Swedish Space Corp. officials estimate that Svea, carrying an optical imager with a ground resolution of between 1.2 and 1.5 meters, could be built for around 300 million Swedish krona ($38.1 million), including its launch aboard a Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr rocket and three years of operations. Another 300 million krona would be needed for the ground network and to train image analysts.
USAF To Hold Industry Day for Satellite Contract
The U.S. Air Force took some initial steps Dec. 21 to shape its planned competition for a new line of missile warning satellites.
Contractors were informed that an industry day will be held Jan. 11 in El Segundo, Calif., to help an Air Force study team develop a concept for the satellites that will replace the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) High beginning in 2015, according to the notice.
The Pentagon initially had planned to buy a total of five SBIRS satellites from prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Sunnyvale, Calif., but notified Congress Dec. 12 that it would buy no more than three spacecraft due to technical problems that have pushed the expected price tag from roughly $2 billion to more than $10 billion. The SBIRS program also includes two infrared sensors that will be installed in ground equipment and aboard classified satellites in highly elliptical orbits.
The Air Force study team is interested in industry’s input on telescopes and focal plane arrays capable of watching the entire Earth from geosynchronous orbit, according to the notice. The team will make recommendations to senior Pentagon acquisition officials on technology development work that should begin in 2006 and 2007, with a formal acquisition program beginning in 2008, according to the notice.
The Air Force study team will brief industry officials Jan. 11, and the industry officials will have the chance to come back to discuss their concepts Jan. 25-26, the notice said.
British TopSat Delivers First Images
The British-built TopSat Earth observation microsatellite has delivered its first high-resolution images six weeks after being launched Oct. 27 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia.
QinetiQ, the British Defence Ministry spinoff which led a consortium of firms in developing TopSat, announced Dec. 19 it received the first TopSat image Dec. 7 at its West Freugh, England, ground station. The image showed morning traffic on the Queen Elizabeth 2 Bridge at the Dartford Crossing, England.
The 2.8-meter-resolution images provided by TopSat can be used in a variety of applications, such as mineral and petroleum exploration, forestry, flood monitoring and disaster relief operations. QinetiQ said in its news release that TopSat images are less expensive than those taken by larger Earth observation satellites.
TopSat is funded under Britain’s Mosaic program to develop small satellites, and can deliver images directly to users equipped with transportable ground stations.
EMS Reaches Deal To Sell Struggling SatNet Division
EMS Technologies of Atlanta has signed an agreement to sell its Satellite Networks (SatNet) division to Advantech Advanced Microwave Technologies Inc., a Montreal-based company that manufactures satellite and terrestrial wireless communication equipment, EMS announced Dec. 22.
The sale is worth approximately $8.8 million , according to Anne Wainscott-Sargent, a spokeswoman for EMS. The sale is set to close sometime this month, she said.
The SatNet division develops technologies for satellite broadband communications, but EMS President and Chief Executive Officer Alfred G. Hansen said the unit is a better fit for Advantech, which offers complementary products and technologies.
“While I believe its operations have a bright long-term future in the hands of Advantech, it remains a start-up venture whose orders stream is difficult to predict,” Hansen said in a prepared statement. “Continued delays in orders, and resulting continuing losses and cash funding requirements during the fourth quarter, underscore that EMS and its shareholders are better served by a sale to a company like Advantech …”
EMS estimates it will take a loss of $2.5 million on the sale , and said the unit, listed as a discontinued operation, could post additional losses for the fourth quarter, which ended Dec. 31.
DNA, Protein Components Found in Gases Near Star
Researchers using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope have detected the basic building blocks of ancient terrestrial DNA and proteins in gases surrounding a distant young star , NASA announced Dec. 20.
The Spitzer data show the gases acetylene, hydrogen cyanide and carbon dioxide enshrouding a young star called IRS 46, which is about 375 light years from Earth in the Ophiuchus constellation. The carbon-containing gases are located in a larger disk of swirling gases and dust that may ultimately clump together to form planets.
“This infant system might look a lot like ours did billions of years ago, before life arose on Earth,” said Fred Lahuis, a researcher at the Leiden Observatory in The Netherlands and lead author of a paper on the finding to appear in the Jan. 10 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The data also indicate that the gases are hot, suggesting their distance from the star is comparable to that between the Earth and Sun.
Acetylene and hydrogen cyanide link together in the presence of water to form several of the 20 amino acids that make up proteins and one of the four chemical bases in DNA.
Grace Satellites Monitor Retreat of Greenland Ice
Data from NASA’s twin Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (Grace) satellites indicate the Greenland ice sheet is melting faster than previously thought , NASA announced Dec. 20.
Findings published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters show Greenland’s ice sheet — the largest freshwater reservoir in the Northern Hemisphere — shrank by 162 cubic kilometers between 2002 and 2005. That rate of retreat translates into a rise in global sea levels of about 0.4 millimeters per year .
The Grace satellites track minute changes in the gravity field resulting from changes in the Earth’s mass. The researchers used Grace to track changes in the ice sheet’s mass, and then used the data to gauge the intensity of deep sea currents that largely are responsible for these changes.
ILS To Begin Preparing for Launch of U.S. Weather Craft
International Launch Services (ILS), a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Russia’s Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, has received authorization from the U.S. Air Force to proceed with preparations to launch a military weather satellite aboard a Lockheed Martin-built Atlas 5 rocket in late 2007, ILS of McLean, Va., announced Dec. 20.
The Defense Meteorological Satellite Program spacecraft, called DMSP-18, also was built by Lockheed Martin and carries both visible and infrared sensors to assist in strategic and tactical weather prediction to support U.S. military planning and operations.
The DMSP-18 will launch from Lockheed Martin’s refurbished Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
Modernized GPS Sate l lite Joins Operational System
The U.S. Air Force declared the first modernized GPS navigation satellite fully operational Dec. 16 after several on-orbit tests of the spacecraft’s military and civilian signals, according to a Dec. 19 Lockheed Martin press release.
GPS 2 R-14 , the first of eight GPS 2R spacecraft Lockheed Martin is modernizing , features an upgraded antenna panel for increased signal power , two new military signals, enhanced encryption and anti-jamming capabilities, and a second civilian signal. It was launched Sept. 25 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and declared operational by Air Force Space Command’s 2nd Space Operations Squadron at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., where the GPS constellation is managed.
The Air Force and Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin now are preparing for the launch of a second modernized GPS 2R satellite early this year.
NASA Selects Software for Station Monitoring System
Composite Software, a San Mateo, Calif.-based information technology company, announced Dec. 19 that its Composite Information Server (CIS) 3.6 software will be used by NASA to operate a health-monitoring system aboard the international space station (ISS).
The monitoring system is designed to provide flight control teams with ready access to data on the status of space station systems and related information to analyze and correct problems quickly.
“Whenever an anomaly occurs on the ISS, the onboard astronauts and the ground support team need to find all related data, and then quickly and reliably analyze the fault, determine its cause and recommend a fix,” Ronald Mak, a computer scientist at the University of California at Santa Cruz who is managing the project , said in a prepared statement. “By using CIS, we can configure access to the data sources, specify automatic data conversions and create joins between views.”
Astronomer Observes Meteor Striking Moon
Astronomers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., recorded a small but powerful meteoroid strike on the surface of the Moon Nov. 7 just northwest of the Mare Imbirum, or Sea of Showers.
While such impacts are not uncommon, it was not until 1999 that one was recorded as it took place. The recent meteoroid strike was spotted by Robert Suggs, Space Environment team lead in the Natural Environments branch of Marshall’s Engineering Directorate.
The rock is estimated to have been about 12 centimeters in diameter and to have left a crater 3 meters wide and 0.4 meters deep.
The flash from the impact, observed via recorded video imagery taken at Marshall, “was about as bright as a 7th magnitude star,” Suggs said. That’s dimmer than the faintest star a person can see with the naked eye.
New Software Is Operating DSCS-3, Milstar Satellites
Integral Systems’ CCS-C satellite control system now is being used to operate the U.S. Air Force’s DSCS 3 and Milstar communications satellites, Integral Systems of Lanham, Md., announced Dec. 15.
The CCS-C system, or Command and Control System-Consolidated, will replace an aging command and control system also provided by Integral. In addition to the DSCS 3 and Milstar satellites, the CCS-C system will be used to operate the Air Force’s planned Advanced Extremely High Frequency and Wideband Gapfiller communications satellites.
“[The CCS-C’s] streamlined user interfaces and task processing capabilities make it extremely responsive and enable us to fly and fight our Milstar weapon system much more effectively for warfighters across the globe,” Air Force Lt. Col. John Shaw, commander of the 4th Space Operations Squadron , said in a prepared statement.
Aviation Record Try Delayed; KSC Still To Be Launch Site
Virgin Atlantic’s GlobalFlyer aircraft, which will take off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Fla., in an attempt by pilot Steve Fossett to fly solo around the world without refueling, will not be transferred to KSC in early January as originally planned due to damage sustained to the aircraft’s wing following fueling in Salina, Kan., Virgin Atlantic announced Jan. 3.
If Fossett is successful in his attempt, it will be the longest such flight on either an aircraft or balloon, according to a Dec. 16 NASA news release. Take off originally was scheduled for February, but it is too early to determine if the delay will affect that date, Virgin Atlantic said.
The ultra-light GlobalFlyer aircraft was built by Scaled Composites Inc., the company founded by pioneering aviation designer Burt Rutan. For most of the flight the aircraft is scheduled to travel at altitudes near 14,000 meters and speeds up to around 460 kilometers per hour, NASA said. The GlobalFlyer is scheduled to circumvent the globe, pass Cape Canaveral and land in London, according to Suzanne Weldon, a Virgin Atlantic spokeswoman.
The agreement to use Kennedy’s runway facility for the takeoff is part of a broader program to expand access to the space shuttle runway for non-NASA activities.
Students Build Parachutes For Shadow Sounding Rocket
Nearly 440 students at Oak Middle School in Los Alamitos, Calif., helped build parachute decelerators for the 2006 launch of a Shadow ID Sounding Rocket built by Lunar Rocket and Rover Co. of Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Following various trials , one of the 1.5-square-meter parachutes will be selected for the launch and will eject at an altitude of 76,200 meters to bring an unidentified payload to a splash-down in the Atlantic Ocean, according to a press release issued by Lunar Rocket .
Sixth and eighth grade students made the parachutes from sheeting material dubbed scrim, reinforced metalized mylar and polyimide that was laid out in long lanes in the school’s auditorium. The student teams marked out all the patterns on the sheets using plywood templates.
10th Midcourse Defense Interceptor Installed
Boeing Co. and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) installed the eighth interceptor rocket at Fort Greely in Alaska for the Ground Based Midcourse Defense System, according to a Dec. 21 Boeing news release.
The Ground Based Midcourse Defense System also includes two interceptors at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
“We have made steady progress providing MDA with the system needed to defend our country against a limited ballistic missile attack,” said Pat Shanahan, vice president and general manager of Boeing Missile Defense Systems. “However, our job is just beginning. We will continue to bring Boeing’s wealth of expertise in system-of-systems integration to bear on the challenges of evolving the system to effectively address current and future missile threats as a part of the government’s spiral development plan.”
ITT Wins Missile Defense Support Army Contract
The U.S. Army awarded a contract worth up to $57 million to ITT Industries of White Plains, N.Y., for analysis and developmental support for missile defense projects, according to a Dec. 28 company news release .
ITT will help Army Space and Missile Defense Command better understand the threats posed by enemy systems as the military develops new interceptor systems, according to the news release.
“The tests and analyses performed by ITT will provide weapon developers and missile defense architecture planners with the information necessary to design solutions capable of defeating hostile missiles equipped with weapons of mass destruction,” according to the news release.


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MOSCOW/LONDON (Reuters) – Russia has begun shipping clean oil via the Baltic after a contamination problem disrupted flows for three weeks and it is working to resume supplies by a pipeline to Europe although traders said this might take several more weeks to fix.
High levels of organic chloride, used in oil extraction but which must be removed before being sent to clients, was found in crude pumped to the Baltic port of Ust-Luga and through the Druzhba pipeline in late April, disrupting Russian exports.
Two trading sources told Reuters the level of organic chloride in oil loading at Ust-Luga was back to normal on Monday, after the contamination halted sales. Two other sources said test oil shipments via Druzhba had started to Hungary.
Russia’s Energy Ministry had said on Friday tankers were being loaded with clean oil at Ust-Luga, after the disruptions to exports through the port and Druzhba pipeline drove up global crude prices and left refiners as far west as Germany scrambling to find alternative crude supplies.
Two industry sources said Hungarian energy company MOL was receiving oil via Druzhba as part of a test to see whether the equipment at its sole Danube refinery could process the oil. High levels of organic chloride damages refinery equipment.
Hungary has become the first European country to resume imports, but one of the sources said the organic chloride content in Hungary’s test supplies was still above permitted levels of a maximum norm of 10 parts per million (ppm).
The sources said MOL hoped to restart regular Druzhba intakes from May 17, once it had carried out the tests.
MOL did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Ukraine said on Saturday it had resumed transfers to European clients via the pipeline’s southern leg to Slovakia, Hungary and Czech Republic. The pipeline, which splits into two branches in Belarus, has a northern spur routed to Poland and Germany.
The Czech government approved on Monday a second loan from state oil reserves for refiner Unipetrol, part of Poland’s PKN Orlen group, for more than 100,000 tonnes of crude to cover for supply interruptions from Russia.
Belarus plans to discuss the contamination crisis in the Slovak capital of Bratislava on May 13-14, Belarusian state firm Belneftekhim said on Monday.
President Alexander Lukashenko said last week Belarus had faced “enormous” costs due to the contamination and expected compensation from Russia, although the mechanism for any compensation and who will pay remains unclear.
Russian pipeline monopoly Transneft blamed unnamed “fraudsters” for the problem. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Transneft lacked a proper mechanism to prevent contamination.
The issue has driven down Russian oil shipments. About 6% less oil was pumped through Transneft’s pipeline network from May 1 to May 12 compared with April’s average, two sources familiar with the shipment data said.
They said oil intake in Transneft’s nationwide network, which handles about 85% of Russia’s total crude output, was about 8.8 million barrels per day (bpd) in the 12-day period, citing data that included oil used at home and export volumes.
At least 5 million tonnes of oil, or about 36.7 million barrels, was tainted with high levels of organic chloride.
Transneft has proposed mixing tainted oil with the clean crude at the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. Industry sources said levels of the organic chloride at Novorossiisk had risen since early May but remained below 10 ppm limit.
Total Russian oil production has also slipped this month, declining to 11.16 million bpd from May 1 to May 12 from an average of 11.23 million bpd in April, sources said, the lowest output level since June, when it was 11.06 million bpd.
Russia has agreed with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers to lower output to shore up global prices, but its May output has now dipped below the target level allowed in the deal of 11.18 million bpd.
The Energy Ministry did not reply to a request for comment.
Reporting by Gleb Gorodyankin, Olesya Astakhova and Olga Yagova in MOSCOW, Julia Payne in LONDON, Marton Dunai in BUDAPEST, Andrei Makhovsky in MINSK, Jason Hovet in PRAGUE and Tatiana Jancarikova in BRATISLAVA; Writing by Vladimir Soldatkin and Katya Golubkova; Editing by Katya Golubkova and Edmund Blair

domain: economics


The story of the Leica film undeveloped for 70 year has caught the world's imagination. William Fagan now analyses the roll, frame by frame and tells us what he now knows about the people and the locations.
Richard Scott takes us on a tour of Toronto over the past 40 years
Monochrome photography for landscapes and mountaineering: The choice between Leica SL2 conversions, the M Monochrom and the new Leica Q2 Monochrom
William's photographs developed after 70 years have created worldwide interest. Who are these people who seemed to have enjoyed such a blissful holiday in Switzerland and Italy in the early 1950s? Why did they take such good pictures and then not develop the film? The mystery grows and it has been covered in media throughout the world...
What is the ideal travel camera, the pefect compromise between quality and size? Erin takes us on his quest to find the ideal carry-anywhere quality compact...
A wide-angle lens isn't always the best choice for landscape photography. David experiments with longer focal lengths with the Fujifilm 50-140mm f/2.8 and the 2x teleconverter
In the space of six weeks, our horizons have shrunk to what they were 200 years ago. We're in danger of becoming too parochial in these days of house arrest.
Wayne's suggests the popular old granddads, the Leica X1 and X2 could be used exclusively for monochrome. Let's take a look...
There's a club for everything. And the classic Hillman marque is kept alive by a group of enthusiasts who met last weekend at Brooklands Museum, near London
Farhiz pays a visit to the historic battlefields of Imphal-Kohima and remembers the Forgotten Army
Is Leica's successful Q2 the ideal travel camera, despite the restructions of its fixed wide-angle lens? Keith sets off for Europe to find out...
Another brilliant review of the new Leica SL2 by Thomas Berger. Thomas had the opportunity to use the camera before release and, as a professional photography, took a hard look at it in comparison with the first SL and the Hasselblad X1D medium-format camera.
The second of two articles in which Kevin takes his Leica X Vario to Brick Lane for some street photography; this time he explores the markets.
What we now call 'street' has been a part of photography since the earliest days. In the past ten years it has been repackages as a genre


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Is Life Meaningless? Find out what King Solomon discovered
By Debra Torres I’ve just finished reading the Book of Ecclesiastes, and I have to admit that at first I was glad to be done with it.
King Solomon, despite all his splendor, must have been going through a pretty rough time when he wrote that book.
Or, maybe his God-given gift of wisdom caused him to see things a little more deeply than I would.
Either way, the book comes across as downright depressing.
In Ecclesiastics, Solomon highlights the monotony of life and a futile theme echoes throughout that all is relatively “meaningless.” I understand Solomon’s complaints, I really do. Sometimes the sameness of my day to day gets at me too.
I get up, brush my teeth, take out the dog, eat breakfast, do my house chores, do my freelance copywriting work, make dinner and go to bed. And, the next morning … I get up and do it all over again.
Now, I know that there are a lot of “fillers” that go in there, but you understand what I’m saying.
Life can get pretty mundane at times. Especially when nothing special seems to be happening.
And it’s easy to want to join Solomon in his heartfelt cry of: “‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher. ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless’” (Ecclesiastes1:2).
It all seems pretty bleak when you take Solomon’s viewpoint, but the more I thought about Solomon this past week and his “meaningless” claims, the more I began to understand them. Just like you, I strive to be my best in my work. And I try to approach my efforts with a measure of excellence. I want to please others with what I do, and each job has to be my best.
But in the end, aren’t we just on a rotating cycle?
Like a hamster in a wheel, we start a day, do our best and then finish it right? Where, really is the meaning in all of that?
I was glad for the commentary in my Life Application Bible. It helped set the record straight on Solomon and his complaints. You see, amid all of the pessimistic viewpoints shown in Ecclesiastes, Solomon does give us a clear path of hope, which unfortunately, because of his own bad decisions, he had to learn the hard way.
“Solomon had a very honest approach. All of his remarks relating to the futility of life are there for a purpose: to lead us to seek fulfillment and happiness in God alone. He was not trying to destroy all hope, but to direct our hopes to the only one who can truly fulfill them and give our life meaning. Solomon affirms the value of knowledge, relationships, work and pleasure, but only in their proper place. Everything temporal must be seen in the light of the eternal.”
The point of Ecclesiastes then, is to reveal life’s true purpose to us and that’s to live for God.
Now that’s some advice worth heeding. It also puts things into proper perspective. I’m not saying that hard work and striving to be excellent isn’t important, I’m just saying that it’s not the end all.
God is. And our commitment to him should be at the pinnacle of our thoughts each and every day.
And to me, well, that comes as kind of a relief. Satisfaction in a job well done, or in a day well spent can only go so far. But when we know that we are living day to day for him, well, that’s a forever kind of thing.
Laura Story stood in front of the restroom mirror and wondered what in the world she was doing there. Her life as a worship leader and touring with Christian artists was, to say the least, crazy from time to time and she found herself searching for meaning and purpose.
She found her answer in the example of Christ.
“For Jesus, the purposeful life was the surrendered life–one surrendered to His Father’s purposes,” she says in her article “What Am I Doing Here?” in “In Touch” magazine. Later she says, “In all of my mess, my shortcomings, and my inadequacy, my purpose is simply to be faithful as God works in and through me. Even though I am often scattered and shattered, I have come to know that God is my God and that I can just be me. The better I get to know Him as my Father, my Savior, and my Healer, the more His purpose becomes my purpose.”
And so, I got up this morning, brushed my teeth and took the dog out. We’ll see how it goes from there. But I do know one thing.
My day will be purpose-driven and fulfilling as long as I keep my eyes on Jesus.
13 Here is my final conclusion: fear God and obey his commandments, for this is the entire duty of man. 14 For God will judge us for everything we do, including every hidden thing, good or bad.
Ephesians 1:11-12The Message
It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.
Proverbs 11:28The Message
28 A life devoted to things is a dead life, a stump; a God-shaped life is a flourishing tree.

domain: literature


text:
- Aug 26, 2011
And he has only been playing football for two years.1st Team All District. Listed at 6-5 225
Northeast Ohio Lakes All-District football teams for 2018: Big Ten recruits take big honors
I'm not sure about the level of competition, but he sure seems fast off the line.

domain: sports


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Participants of TV3’s Talented Kidz acknowledged some legendary highlife artistes during last Sunday’s performances by singing and dancing to their tunes.
The contestants of Ghana’s biggest and outstanding programme for young people sang and danced to tunes of legends such as Kojo Antwi, Osibisa, Amakye Dede, Ofori Amponsah, Paapa Yankson and Daasebre Aho)fe Dwamena, among others.
Aristo Jokers, after their hilarious sketch, presented a citation in honour of all highlife legends for their great contribution towards Ghanaian music.
They called on the female judge of the show, Aunty Paulina, who is also a Ghanaian highlife musician and an actress, to receive the citation on behalf of highlife legends.
Among the lots who were thrilled by their performances were co-judge Uncle Benedict and music producer and sound engineer Appietus, who was the guest judge for the day.
Last Sunday’s edition of the kids reality show saw thrilling performances from participants as GH Acrobats emerged the most creative contestants of the day.
Meanwhile, two groups – Young Stars and Gye Nyame Dancers – were shown the exit from the competition.
A product of Ghana’s leading TV channel, TV3, Talented Kidz, which features young people between the ages of 7 and 12, airs every Sunday at 4pm.
Join GhanaStar.com to receive daily email alerts of breaking news in Ghana. GhanaStar.com is your source for all Ghana News. Get the latest Ghana news, breaking news, sports, politics, entertainment and more about Ghana, Africa and beyond.


text: The primary objects of the company were to: acquire and dispose of pulp wood from the area in Tasmania to be flooded and known as Lake Gordon ;carry on the business of buying and selling forest products ;harvest forest products and reafforest land ;carry on business of sawmillers. The company was incorporated on 10 July 1973. On 7 December 1981 it changed its name to Webster Kreglinger Pty Ltd. On 27 January 1984 it became Tasskins Pty Ltd. The registered offices of Consolidated Forests (Lake Gordon) Pty Ltd were at 60 Liverpool Street, Hobart. A G Webster and Woolgrowers Pty Ltd were a shareholder.


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Meridian hoop squads battle tough teams
Submitted by Edgar on Wed, 12/25/2013 - 6:00am
By Brett Voss.
As both teams faced tough schedules in an attempt to prepare for their respective district races right after the holiday break, the Meridian boys and girls basketball teams appeared on the verge of a breakthrough. But while the Jackets managed to split a pair of games last week before the Christmas break began, the Lady Jackets came up short twice. After the Meridian boys opened the week with a 58-53 victory over Holland Dec. 17, the Jackets (4-8) dropped a hard-fought battle to Hamilton, 44-42, last Friday at Jacket Gymnasium.
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Public Transportation System
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text:
For its part, Ditech is likely relieved to be moving forward, even as the company continues to battle it out with creditors in bankruptcy court. "We believe the agreements with New Residential and.
Choose A Home How Can I Get A First Time Home Buyers Loan For first-time home buyers, finding the right mortgage is crucial. It can also be a big challenge. existing chase customers can get discounts. Offers a wide selection of purchase and refinance.Building a home networking system requires basic hardware: a router, switch (or hub), network adapters, and network cables. If you’re building a wired home network, you’ll need to know what types of networking hardware to look for.
Likewise, mortgage interest rates do vary between lenders. That additional effort paid off for us. The lenders’ origination charges (including the appraisal fee) ranged from $1,875 to about $540.
This mortgage company claims 95 percent customer satisfaction and a top 10 retail lending position in the industry. Guaranteed Rate offers interest-only mortgages in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Most of these loans are five to ten years in duration and help you preserve cash flow while buying a home that may be otherwise beyond your means.
Best Mortgage Broker Near Me Find a Reliable Mortgage Broker Near You Today. – Mortgage Broker and Mortgage Agent listings for all States and Provinces in the USA and Canada. Find a Mortgage Professional near you. Mortgage brokers take care of searching for the best interest rate by utilizing their network of lenders and financial institutions.Mortgage Lender Services Inc Which Mortgage Company Has The Best Rates How Do Analysts See PennyMac mortgage investment trust (nyse:pmt) performing In The Next Couple Of Years? – In December 2018, PennyMac Mortgage Investment Trust (NYSE:PMT) announced its most recent earnings update, which indicated that the company experienced. To calculate this rate, I’ve inserted a line.Home | PHH Mortgage – For over 30 years, PHH Mortgage has provided industry-leading mortgage services and helped countless homebuyers and homeowners find financing solutions to meet their needs. Our reputation is based on building and maintaining relationships that last long after you get the keys to your home or complete your refinance.
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Conventional Mortgage Lending At the direction of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are communicating that the optional use period for the redesigned Uniform residential loan application (urla) form and corresponding datasets will not begin on July 1, 2019, as previously scheduled.
American Advisors Group (AAG), the largest reverse mortgage lender in the United States according to the most recent endorsement. Debuting in limited test markets on July 8, the ad has outperformed.
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Below is a list of the top 10 mortgage lenders in the United States. With a market share of over 15%, Wells Fargo is the largest mortgage originator in America. It reported residential mortgage loan originations of $59 billion in the third quarter of 2017 and $249 billion in 2016.
An estimated 885 million digitized documents from mortgage deals dating back to 2003 have. made possible unauthorized access to customer data," the company wrote in a statement provided to USA.

domain: finance


text:
MSW student contributes to Forward Through Ferguson with COVID-19 research
In the wake of the shooting death of Michael Brown, unrest rocked Ferguson, Missouri. The Ferguson Commission was formed shortly thereafter as an independent body to study the social and economic conditions underscored by the discord.
The commission’s efforts went into “Forward Through Ferguson: A Path Toward Racial Equity,” a series of reports examining those social and economic issues.
Lacey Corbett, a social work graduate student at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, has played a key role as a researcher while the commission tackles education reform and disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Most recently, her research has been featured in a series of investigative pieces on the effects of COVID-19 on St. Louis’ Black communities.
Corbett initially came to UMSL to pursue a bachelor’s degree in psychology. After graduating, she began working at the Children’s Division in the Missouri Department of Social Services. The branch is responsible for the administration of child welfare services in the state.
Graduate school was always a goal for Corbett, but she was undecided on what to study. Her work as an investigator looking into child abuse and neglect at the Children’s Division offered clarity.
“Minority, mental health and social justice issues were always in the back of my head at the Children’s Division,” she said. “I saw a lot of disparity there within the system, as far as policy goes. I just knew I had to get back to school.”
Corbett did just that.
Upon her return to UMSL, she began a graduate program in social work. This year, she landed a fellowship to work on Forward Through Ferguson in a data and research role. The plan was to work on issues related to education reform in the region for the group’s State of St. Louis report. The world had other ideas.
“That’s what I expected to be doing coming into this,” Corbett said. “But then COVID came along, so it kind of flipped everything upside down.”
The group is still working on the education report, which will be released this fall, and plans to release another paper before then about equity in educational structures.
However, the COVID-19 pandemic – especially the disproportionate deaths in Black communities – couldn’t be ignored, so Corbett and Christian Vargas, a fellow from Washington University in St. Louis, started working on the issue. Their research is being featured in the commission’s Still Compromising series published on Medium.
“I helped from the beginning doing some background research, from testing sites to essential workers and things like that,” Corbett said.
Still Compromising is a joint initiative with the Prevention Research Center in St. Louis at WUSTL. The first four entries in the series were authored by Karishma Furtado and Alexandra Morshed, of the Prevention Research Center, but Corbett and Vargas published the latest entry on virtual learning gaps during the pandemic.
The first piece looked at who’s getting sick in the region. It involved Corbett calling every listed testing site in the city of St. Louis, St. Louis County and St. Charles County repeatedly and speaking to workers administering the tests.
Like the rest of the country, COVID-19 is having a disproportionate effect on Black communities in St. Louis.
According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, non-Hispanic Black populations in the U.S. have a hospitalization rate approximately five times that of non-Hispanic white populations.
Corbett and her colleagues found COVID-19 case and death rates are nearly four times higher among Black St. Louis County residents compared to white residents. While the city of St. Louis has not tracked deaths by race, Black city residents are three times more likely to test positive.
“We know Black St. Louisans are getting sickest,” Corbett said. “We know where that divide falls – on Delmar. Then essential workers, they are more likely to make less money, and essential workers in St. Louis are more likely to be Black. All of the disparities related to COVID are already there. They’re just being amplified.”
She also noted that tests were scarce early on and places where they were available were often in locations like West County. These factors also had a greater effect on Black St. Louisans.
“Anytime you have things set up for the community where the Metro doesn’t go, there’s an inherent problem,” she said.
One of the other primary goals of the research was to spread awareness about testing sites and clarify misinformation. Many residents were confused about where to go and what was required to get a test.
“What the city and county had listed wasn’t necessarily congruent,” Corbett said. “We wanted to know if they were a testing site. We wanted to know what the people needed to know to go there. We were finding that places that were listed as testing sites by newspapers or websites weren’t actually testing sites.
“When we were calling initially, the rules were still very strict. You had to have all these symptoms – you had to be in contact with someone who had it, you had to have gone outside of the country, things like that. As the weeks progressed, those things softened up, and there was more access for people.”
A director of a testing site admitted that he had concerns about the information circulating and said many residents had shown up at his site assuming they could get a test when that was not the case.
“As somebody who was researching the issue, I found it difficult to find information,” Corbett added.
The issues being amplified by the pandemic are deeply rooted, but Corbett believes crisis presents opportunity for change.
“I think it’s a really good time to enact systemic change because we see that things can be done differently right now,” she said. “We’re in a unique position where everybody has been impacted in some way, and I think sometimes that’s really what it takes – everybody to be impacted by something to open their eyes.”
Corbett is continuing to research the pandemic, but she is also contributing to education issues. As a social worker and parent, she’s passionate about addressing the digital divide in the region and ending out-of-school suspensions, which disproportionally affect Black students and contribute to the achievement gap.
It’s given her inspiration for what she might pursue after her expected graduation in 2021.
“I’m really a macro social worker,” Corbett said. “I’m really interested in community engagement. I’m finding now doing this education work that I’m more passionate about education than I thought I was. I’ll probably do more community-focused work, maybe education, maybe policy, those are the areas of interest.”
Short URL: https://blogs.umsl.edu/news/?p=85857

domain: sociology


On Wednesday Apple introduced a new member to its family, the iPad. The iPad is essentially a larger version of the iPhone or iPod Touch. Some may wonder if there is actually a market for a device that fits somewhere between Apple’s iPhone and Macbook laptops. If you look at the way netbooks have taken off over the past couple of years you’ll notice Apple stayed on the sidelines while they became popular. This is Apple’s response to the netbook market.
The first thing you’ll notice that’s different about this netbook is that it’s a tablet. No room for a keyboard because that would bulk it up and make it just another laptop. Now if you take into consideration the thousands of apps already available for the iPhone and realize that they can be ported over to the new device then you’ll realize that there’s already tons of content for the iPad. I think Apple is also hoping that the iPad becomes the new way to read books, newspapers and magazines but they’re scared to market it that way in case that’s not the case.
The iPad will launch in March, 2010 and will be available in three versions that are essentially the same iPad guts with different amounts of memory, 16,32 and 64GB. The screen will be 9.7″ and 1024×768 pixels. The iPad will weigh 1.5 pounds and have roughly 10 hours of battery life before it needs to be recharged. The pricing of the iPad will start just under $500.
More @ Apple.


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2017 was a record-breaking year for the $20 billion club—our name for the U.S. publicly-listed corporations with the largest pension liabilities—in at least five different ways. Contributions were double 2016 levels and nearly triple 2015 levels.
We’ve developed a new way to measure a company’s ESG (environmental, social and governance) score. Our research suggests that these material ESG scores can potentially provide more insight than traditional ESG scores.
In the concluding piece of our three-part series on portfolio management best practices, Global CIO Jeff Hussey identifies the core capabilities that we believe are necessary to successfully carry out a portfolio implementation strategy.


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Aye Finance raises Rs 75 Cr debt from Triple Jump, Northern Arc
Aye Finance, a MSME lending platform, has announced that it has raised a debt round of Rs 75 crore from leading global impact investment manager, Triple Jump BV, and Northern Arc — a diversified non-banking finance company (NBFC) focused on underserved households and businesses. Aye Finance will use these funds for on-lending.
The CapitalG-backed lender was founded in 2014, and has since disbursed over Rs 5,000 crore to over 3.5 lakh micro enterprises. Aye recently announced the opening of 100 new centres which took its geographical presence to 311 in 20 states. With this fresh infusion of funds, the lender aims to make credit available for the underserved segment of micro enterprises.
Commenting on the latest fund raise, Sanjay Sharma, Managing Director, Aye Finance said,
“This fund raise underscores the trust the investor community has in our model and in our ability to achieve our mission of easing access for the grassroots businesses to affordable and customised credit solutions”
Jarri Jung, Director Financial Institutions at Triple Jump, stated, “Triple Jump has funded Aye Finance since 2018. We are happy to further expand our relationship through this joint transaction with Northern Arc. Over the years, Aye Finance has made a tremendous impact for MSME’s in India that have difficulties obtaining funding. Triple Jump is proud to have partnered with Aye Finance and is looking forward to continuing to support the company in its mission”
“Northern Arc Capital strongly believes that bridging the huge credit requirement of the MSME sector especially as they rebuild from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is essential to drive economic growth across the country. Aye Finance has played a pivotal role in funding MSMEs and ensuring last mile delivery of financial services. We are pleased to support Aye Finance in this phase of growth, cementing a long and fruitful partnership,” added Bama Balakrishnan, COO, Northern Arc Capital.
Aye Finance seems to be a captivating startup with inspiring new development on financial services. I’m certain this startup would keep on succeeding in its excursion ahead. All the best to the whole group of Aye Finance. This will give them an enormous achievement in the future.Shishir Gupta, Founder and CEO, StartupLanes
Don’t keep wondering about funding, you can also raise funds. Learn how to raise funds here: Yes I want to raise funds.
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