Years of Antarctica discovery



December 2011

Norway's prime minister and several hundred scientists and adventurers have gathered at the South Pole to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen's first successful expedition to the world's most southerly point.

The sound of skis on snow as a group of Norwegians take the final few steps to the southern pole. Not everyone could make it - bad weather had delayed some of those trying to cross the ice and othersresorted to planes to make the centenary celebrations.

Amundsen and four other men were the first to reach the southern tip of the planet on December 14th 1911, using sledges, dogs and skis. The Norwegian prime minister Jens Stoltenberg, who arrived by plane ahead of the celebrations, said the 1911 expedition was "one of the most outstanding achievements of mankind," and helped to form his country's national identity.

He also paid tribute to the ill-fated British team led by Robert Scott who Amundsen beat to the pole. They had shown "courage anddetermination", he said, "in reaching one of the most inhospitable places on earth", and had paid the "ultimate price" after they died on the return journey.

Neil Bowdler

 

 

Japan and India sign free-trade deal

February 2011

Japan and India have signed a free-trade agreement. They are trying to make it easier to sell goods between the two countries. Japan is trying to build greater trade links since it was recently overtaken by China as the world's second biggest economy.

The agreement is intended to boost tradebetween Japan and India, which share a mutual concern about the growing economic cloutof China. Within 10 years, tariffswill be abolished on 90% of Japanese exports to India and 97% of India's exports to Japan.

The Prime Minister of Japan, Naoto Kan, has said opening up the country to trade is a top priority. Japan's population is ageing rapidly and the economy is miredin deflation. Earlier this week, Japan waseclipsedby China as the world's second biggest economic power. Meanwhile South Korea is an increasingly formidable rival, using free-trade agreements to make its electronics and other sectors more competitive.

Japan's government is considering joining talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a huge free-trade area around the Pacific rim. But it faces strong opposition from rice farmers, who are a powerfulpolitical constituency and protected by very high tariffs. Rice is not included in the free-trade deal with India.

Roland Buerk, BBC News, Tokyo

 

 

                                                 

 

US healthcare on a knife edge

March 2012

President Barack Obama's healthcare reforms reaches the Supreme Court this week, as the nine most senior judges in the land hear three days of argument over whether or not the reforms are constitutional. This is one of the biggest cases to come before the Supreme Court in recent times.

Barack Obama's healthcare reforms, passed almost exactly two years ago, remain one of the most contentious aspects of his presidency. The bill was passed in the teeth of vociferous opposition from the Republican Party. Polls suggest that public opinion remains sharply divided.

A key provision that individual citizens should either buy health insurance or pay a penalty - the so-called individual mandate - has already been the subject of numerous legal challenges across the country. It was almost inevitable that the issue would ultimately reach the highest court in the land.

The ninejustices who make up the Supreme Court, five of them regarded as conservatives, will spend a highly unusual three days hearing oral arguments. They'll issue their findings in the summer, just as this year's presidential election campaign swings into full gear. The impact on the campaign of a ruling on such an important political issue could be enormous.

 

Reno air show plane crash killed 3, injures 56

RENO, Nev. -- A World War II-era fighter plane flown by a veteran Hollywood stunt pilot plunged Friday into the edge of the grandstands during a popular air race, killing three people, injuring more than 50 spectators and creating a horrific scene strewn with smoking debris.

The plane, piloted by 74-year-old Jimmy Leeward, spiraled out of control without warning and appeared to disintegrate upon impact. Bloodied bodies were spread across the area as people tended to the victims and ambulances rushed to the scene.

Authorities were investigating the cause, but an official with the event said there were indications that mechanical problems were to blame.

Maureen Higgins of Alabama, who has been coming to the air races for 16 years, said the pilot was on his third lap of a race when he lost control.

She was sitting about 30 yards from the crash and watched in horror as the man in front of her started bleeding after debris hit him in the head.

"I saw body parts and gore like you wouldn't believe it. I'm talking an arm, a leg," Higgins said "The alive people were missing body parts. I am not kidding you. It was gore. Unbelievable gore."

Among the dead was Leeward, of Ocala, Fla., a veteran airman and movie stunt pilot who named his P-51 Mustang fighter plane the "Galloping Ghost," according to Mike Houghton, president and CEO of Reno Air Races.

Renown Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathy Carter confirmed two others died, but did not provide their identities.

Stephanie Kruse, a spokeswoman for the Regional Emergency Medical Service Authority, told The Associated Press that emergency crews took a total of 56 injury victims to three hospitals. She said they also observed a number of people being transported by private vehicle, which they are not including in their count.

Kruse said of the total 56, at the time of transport, 15 were considered in critical condition, 13 were serious condition with potentially life-threatening injuries and 28 were non-serious or non-life-threatening.

"This is a very large incident, probably one of the largest this community has seen in decades," Kruse told The Associated Press. "The community is pulling together to try to deal with the scope of it. The hospitals have certainly geared up and staffed up to deal with it."

The P-51 Mustang, a class of fighter plane that can fly at speeds in excess of 500 mph, crashed into a box-seat area in front of the grandstand at about 4:30 p.m., race spokesman Mike Draper said.

Houghton said at a news conference hours after the crash that there appeared to be a "problem with the aircraft that caused it to go out of control." He did not elaborate.

He said the rest of the races have been canceled as the National Transportation Safety Board investigates.

Tim O'Brien of Grass Valley, Calif., has attended the Reno air races every year since 1973. He said he was photographing the event when he saw the plane pitch violently upward, roll and then head straight down about 100 yards away.

O'Brien said that from the photos he took, it looked like a piece of the plane's tail called a "trim tab" had fallen off, which is what he thinks caused the plane's sudden climb.

O'Brien said the plane hit the ground and "absolutely disintegrated."

"The propeller (was) spinning very fast, and there was a lot of mass coming down all at once," he said. It was "very violent impact."

Afterward, there were a number of people standing around, and "all we could do was hug each other," O'Brien said.

Tim Linville, 48, of Reno, said the pilot appeared to lose partial control off the plane when he veered off course and flew over the bleachers near where Linville was standing with his two daughters.

"I told the girls to run and the pilot pulled the plane straight up, but he couldn't do anything else with it," Linville told the AP. "That's when it nosedived right into the box seats."

Linville said the plane smashed into the ground and shattered like an enormous water balloon, sending shrapnel and debris into the crowd.

"It was just flying everywhere," he said.

Leeward, the owner of the Leeward Air Ranch Racing Team, was a well-known racing pilot. His website says he has flown more than 120 races and served as a stunt pilot for numerous movies, including "Amelia" and "Cloud Dancer."

In an interview with the Ocala (Fla.) Star-Banner last year, he described how he has flown 250 types of planes and has a particular fondness for the P-51, which came into the war relatively late and was used as a long-range bomber escort over Europe. Among the famous pilots of the hot new fighter was WWII double ace Chuck Yeager.

"They're more fun. More speed, more challenge. Speed, speed and more speed," Leeward said.

Leeward talked about racing strategy in an interview Thursday with LiveAirShow TV while standing in front of his plane.

"Right now I think we've calculated out, we're as fast as anybody in the field, or maybe even a little faster," he said. "But uh, to start with, we didn't really want to show our hand until about Saturday or Sunday. We've been playing poker since last Monday. And uh so, it's ready, we're ready to show a couple more cards, so we'll see on Friday what happens, and on Saturday we'll probably go ahead and play our third ace, and on Sunday we'll do our fourth ace."

Houghton described Leeward as a "good friend."

"Everybody knows him. It's a tight-knit family. He's been here for a long, long time," Houghton said.

He also described Leeward as a "very qualified, very experienced pilot" who was in good medical condition. He also suggested Leeward would have made every effort to avoid casualties on the ground if he knew he was going to crash.

"If it was in Jimmy's power, he would have done everything he possibly could," Houghton said.

The National Championship Air Races draws thousands of people to Reno every year in September to watch various military and civilian planes race. They also have attracted scrutiny in the past over safety concerns, including four pilots killed in 2007 and 2008. It was such a concern that local school officials once considered whether they should not allow student field trips at the event.

The competition is like a car race in the sky, with planes flying wingtip-to-wingtip as low as 50 feet off the sagebrush at speeds sometimes surpassing 500 mph. Pilots follow an oval path around pylons, with distances and speeds depending on the class of aircraft.

The FAA and air race organizers spend months preparing for air races as they develop a plan involving pilot qualification, training and testing along with a layout for the course. The FAA inspects pilots' practice runs and brief pilots on the route maneuvers and emergency procedures.

Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., and other lawmakers issued statements saying they were saddened by the crash.

"My thoughts are with the families of those who have lost their lives and with those who were wounded in this horrific tragedy," Reid said. "I am so grateful to our first responders for their swift action and will continue to monitor this situation as it develops."

 

                                                                        

 

 

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