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الأربعاء، 18 أبريل 2012

Lincoln Tribune

UPDATE 2 — Gmail outage affects tens of millions of users worldwide
Strong 6.8-magnitude earthquake hits north of Papua New Guinea
Thousands evacuate after strong earthquake hits off Chile
NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery makes final flight to museum
Former East Timor military chief Ruak wins presidential elections

UPDATE 2 — Gmail outage affects tens of millions of users worldwide

Posted: 17 Apr 2012 08:41 PM PDT

MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA (BNO NEWS) -- An estimated 35 million users of the popular webmail service Gmail were unable to access their accounts on early Tuesday afternoon, Google said, although the issue was resolved in less than an hour.

The outage began at around 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time (EDT) when Gmail users started seeing a 'temporary error' message. "We're sorry, but your Gmail account is temporarily unavailable," the error message said. "We apologize for the inconvenience and suggest trying again in a few minutes."

"We're aware that some users are experiencing an error when accessing their Gmail. We've implemented a fix and users should be now be able to access their mail. We apologize for the inconvenience," a Google spokesperson said, without giving more details about what caused the outage.

Google initially estimated that less than two percent of its user base was affected by Tuesday's outage, but a spokesperson later raised that number to approximately ten percent, or some 35 million accounts. "Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better," an update on Google's Apps Status Dashboard said.

Most of the affected users were able to access their accounts within an hour, although some users continued to experience problems for a short period of time. "While we have resolved this issue with Google Mail, it's possible that some users may experience message delays because affected accounts weren't available to receive messages," Google said. "The messages will be successfully delivered after account access is restored."

Gmail has approximately 350 million users worldwide.

In February 2011, some 70,000 Gmail users found their e-mails, folders, themes and labels had all been 'deleted' when they attempted to access their account. It took Google several days before the fault was restored, but the company later said that e-mail was never lost and access was eventually restored for everyone.

Strong 6.8-magnitude earthquake hits north of Papua New Guinea

Posted: 17 Apr 2012 08:25 PM PDT

PORT MORESBY, PAPUA NEW GUINEA (BNO NEWS) -- A strong but deep earthquake struck a volcanic island north of Papua New Guinea on late Tuesday afternoon, seismologists and witnesses said. There were no reports of damage or casualties, and no tsunami alert was issued.

The 6.8-magnitude earthquake at 05:13 p.m. local time (0713 GMT) was centered about 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) south of the southern coast of Long Island, a small volcanic island which sits in the Vitiaz Strait to the north of Papua New Guinea. It struck about 208.2 kilometers (129.4 miles) deep, making it a strong earthquake, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Witnesses said the earthquake was felt on nearby islands and parts of Papua New Guinea's mainland, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The USGS estimated that some 2.8 million people near the epicenter may have felt weak to light shaking, which would unlikely result in damage.

Earthquakes in the mountainous nation of Papua New Guinea, which is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', do rarely cause damage or casualties as most structures in the region are light and flexible. This allows them to bend, rather than snap when a major earthquake happens.

On March 22, a strong 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck about 63 kilometers (39 miles) east-southeast of Goroka, the capital of the Eastern Highlands Province. It struck about 105.9 kilometers (65.8 miles) deep, making it an earthquake with intermediate depth, and there were no reports of damage or casualties.

And in December 2011, a powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck near the town of Wau in Morobe province. The earthquake was felt as far away as the capital Port Moresby, about 221 kilometers (137 miles) south-southeast of the epicenter, but there were also no reports of damage or casualties.

Most notably, in July 1998, a powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck just off the north coast of the country's island of New Guinea, causing a landslide which resulted in a local tsunami. The disaster left at least 2,183 people killed and thousands more injured.

Thousands evacuate after strong earthquake hits off Chile

Posted: 17 Apr 2012 08:06 PM PDT

VALPARAISO, CHILE (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake struck off the central Chilean coast on early Tuesday morning, forcing more than 13,000 people near the epicenter to evacuate their homes, officials said. There were no reports of serious damage.

The 6.3-magnitude earthquake at 12:50 a.m. local time (0350 GMT) was centered about 44 kilometers (27 miles) northwest of Valparaiso, the capital of the province which carries the same name and the seat of the legislative branch of the national government. It struck about 31.9 kilometers (19.8 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the Chilean Seismological Service.

The earthquake which lasted for nearly a minute was felt widely across large parts of central Chile, including in the nation's capital Santiago where people fled their homes in panic. The United States Geological Survey (USGS), which measured the strength of the earthquake at a magnitude 6.7, estimated up to 11.9 million people may have felt weak to very strong shaking.

Although neither the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center nor the Chilean navy's hydrographic and oceanographic service issued a tsunami warning, the Chilean government ordered a precautionary evacuation for a stretch of coastline from the city of Constitucion to Tongoy. Officials at the country's National Office of Emergency of the Interior Ministry (ONEMI) said more than 13,000 people were evacuated.

About two hours after the earthquake, authorities in the region issued an all-clear and the evacuees returned to their homes. There were no reports of serious damage or direct casualties as a result of the earthquake, but two people died of health problems while evacuating the coast. It was not immediately clear if the deaths were directly related to the earthquake or tsunami evacuation.

Chile sits on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire' and is frequently struck by large earthquakes. On May 22, 1960, the 'Great Chilean earthquake' struck the coast of central Chile. The 9.5-magnitude earthquake, the largest earthquake ever instrumentally recorded, left between 490 and 5,700 people killed.

And on February 27, 2010, an epic 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck approximately 95 kilometers (60 miles) northwest of Chillan, offshore of Bio-Bio, at a depth of about 35 kilometers (21.7 miles). The earthquake, along with a resulting tsunami, left at least 525 people killed and more than 12,000 others injured while damages were estimated at $30 billion.

More recently, on March 25, a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck about 27 kilometers (16 miles) north-northwest of Talca, the capital of the province which carries the same name. Seismologists initially said the earthquake, which killed one person and injured three others, had struck offshore, prompting authorities to evacuate thousands of people along the coast. The evacuations were canceled when it became clear that the quake was centered on land.

NASA’s Space Shuttle Discovery makes final flight to museum

Posted: 17 Apr 2012 07:41 PM PDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) -- NASA's Space Shuttle Discovery went on its final voyage on Tuesday, a piggy-back ride on top of a modified Boeing 747 carrier jet from Cape Canaveral in Florida to an airport near the nation's capital.

Discovery, which flew a record 39 space missions during its 26-year-long career, took off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop NASA's Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) at around 7 a.m. EDT and landed at Washington Dulles International Airport in Dulles, Virginia at 11:05 a.m. EDT.

"It is an honor to deliver Discovery to the Smithsonian today to share this national treasure with the nation -- telling not only the stories of the past, but ushering in the promise of the future," said NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver after Discovery landed at Dulles.

The shuttle's last stop is the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia, where it will be permanently relocated on Thursday morning. The museum will celebrate Discovery's arrival with a four-day festival, which includes appearances by Discovery crew members, other NASA astronauts, and U.S. officials.

The aircraft which carried Discovery to Virginia on Tuesday, designated NASA 905, is the same one which first delivered the spacecraft to the Kennedy Space Center on November 9, 1983. The aircraft is one of two modified Boeing 747 jets which NASA has used to ferry orbiters during the Space Shuttle Program.

Discovery's 26-year spaceflight career began on August 30, 1984, when it carried six astronauts into orbit on the STS-41D mission. Since then, it has flown 148 million miles (238 million kilometers) and carried 246 crew members into orbit. In total, it spent one year or 365 days in space with 5,830 orbits.

Among the many milestones during Discovery's lengthy career, the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed from the space shuttle's payload bay. The spacecraft also completed the first space shuttle rendezvous and the final shuttle docking with the Russian space station Mir.

The STS-133 mission to the ISS space station was Discovery's final spaceflight. Led by Commander Steve Lindsey, the six-person shuttle crew delivered the Permanent Multipurpose Module, offering extra room for science tasks and storage, and Robonaut 2, a humanoid robotic helper. On March 9, 2011, Discovery's main landing gear touched down for the last time on Kennedy's Runway 15.

Discovery's 60-foot-long (18.2 meters) payload bay doors were closed for the last time in December last year, and the crew module went dark as technicians permanently powered down the vehicle. An aerodynamic tail cone was fastened over the orbiter's main engines shortly after, and the crew access hatch was closed and sealed.

"The space shuttles' 30-year history literally changed the world. Their greatest accomplishment and purpose, now complete, was the launch and construction of the ISS -- our science laboratory in space and our foothold to the rest of the solar system," Garver said on Tuesday. "Like all great accomplishments, these achievements came at a cost. When we lost the Challenger and Columbia flights and their brave crews, we re-dedicated ourselves to an even more meaningful and exciting future."

The space shuttle program ended last year to allow NASA to begin working on a new generation of spaceships which can carry astronauts further into space. "It will allow us to more fully utilize the ISS and explore farther than ever before -- to an asteroid and on to Mars," Garver said. "Vehicles with names like Orion, Dragon and Dreamchaser are being built all across the country today. They will continue and expand on the space shuttle's many accomplishments."

Former East Timor military chief Ruak wins presidential elections

Posted: 17 Apr 2012 07:00 PM PDT

DILI, TIMOR-LESTE (BNO NEWS) -- Former East Timor independence fighter José Maria Vasconcelos, who is better known as Taur Matan Ruak, has won Monday's run-off presidential election, officials at the National Electoral Commission (CNE) said on Tuesday.

Vasconcelos, 55, the former commander of the Armed Forces of National Liberation of East Timor (FALINTIL) which fought against the Indonesian occupation of the island from 1975 and 1999, faced former national parliament president Francisco Guterres.

According to preliminary results released by the CNE on Tuesday, Vasconcelos won more than 61 percent of the vote with some 452,000 ballots - or approximately 98 percent of all ballots - counted. His opponent Guterres, who is also known as Lu Olo and won the first round on March 17, gathered some 38 percent of the vote.

After Monday's run-off election, United Nations (UN) Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his top envoy in East Timor, which is formally known as Timor-Leste, congratulated the people of the country for the 'peaceful and orderly' election process.

"The peaceful and orderly manner in which the people of Timor-Leste exercised their right to vote, reflects once again their commitment to stability, democracy and national unity," Ban's spokesperson said in a statement, which also reiterated the continued UN support for the upcoming parliamentary election in July.

Ban's Special Representative in East Timor, Ameerah Haq, reported that the second round went off 'very smoothly' after visiting five polling stations. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner also congratulated East Timor and said the election appeared to have been 'free and fair.'

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الأربعاء، 18 أبريل 2012

Lincoln Tribune

Lincoln Tribune

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