THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012
PAGE 3
NEWS OF THE WORLD
Associated Press
SOUTH AMERICA
Many evacuations, little damage following Chilean earthquake Monday
ASSOCIATED PRESS
People gather outside a shopping mall after an earthquake was felt in Talca, Chile, March 25. Weeks later, a 6.7 magnitude quake shook the port city of Valaparaiso, Chile, prompting evacuations along the coastline but not causing any major damage.
SANTIAGO, Chile A strong magnitude-6.7 earthquake shook central Chile late Monday, prompting authorities to order the evacuation of a stretch of coastline and causing hundreds of people in the capital to flee buildings in panic.
There were no reports of major damage, but authorities in the port city of Valparaiso said a 72-year-old man died of a heart attack during the quake. The earthquake was felt for almost a minute in Valparaiso and the capital, Santiago.
The U.S. Geological Survey initially put the quake's magnitude at 6.5 but later raised it to 6.7. Its epicenter was 26 miles northeast of Valparaiso, and it had a depth of 23 miles. It struck just minutes before midnight local time Monday.
The Chilean navy's hydrographic and oceanographic service discounted the possibility of a tsunami, but authorities maintained an order for people to move to higher ground along a roughly 500-mile stretch of coastline running from the city of Constitution to Tongoy, north of the capital.
The quake knocked out power and telephone service in various parts of Santiago, but the National Emergency
Office of the Interior Ministry said that it had received no reports of major damage or injuries so far.
Chile is highly earthquake-prone. A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck central Chile on March 25, the strongest and longest that many people said they had felt since a huge quake devastated that region two years ago. In 2010, the 8.8-magnitude quake caused a tsuna-
mi that obliterated much of the coastal downtown of the central Chilean city of Constitución.
AFRICA
African Union suspends Guinea-Bissau because of army's corruption
BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau The African Union on Tuesday suspended Guinea-Bissau after a coup and arrests of top officials and said they may impose sanctions on coup leaders and supporters in the tiny West African nation.
Ramtane Lamamra, the head of the AU's peace and security council, announced the automatic suspension Tuesday at AU headquarters in Ethiopia's capital. Lamamra said the AU could apply more sanctions if coup
leaders don't take measures to return the country to constitutional rule.
Soldiers overthrew the government Thursday night.
The AU said in a statement Tuesday that the sanctions could affect those responsible for the coup and their supporters, and could include travel bans, asset freezes and more.
The AU said "the recurrence of illegal and unacceptable interference of the leadership of the BissauGuinean army in the political life of the
country contributes to the persistence of instability and the culture of impunity, hampers efforts towards the establishment of the rule of law, the promotion of development and the entrenchment of a democratic culture." It also said the country's instability makes "it difficult to fight against the scourge of drug trafficking."
Also Tuesday, ECOWAS Commission President Desire Kadre Ouedraogo said ECOWAS is "ready to send troops" to Guinea-Bissau to help reform the
military and security sectors.
Ouedragoa did not give a timeline or state the number of troops they were considering sending.
He said ECOWAS had "zero tolerance" for power apprehended by non-constitutional means.
He also said ECOWAS is holding the military responsible for the security of all detainees and demands their immediate release.
ASIA
U.N. Security Council condemns North Korea's rocket launch
PYONGYANG, North Korea
North Korea accused the U.S. of hostility on Tuesday for suspending an agreement to provide food aid following Pyongyang's widely criticized rocket launch, and warned of retaliatory measures in response.
North Korea's Foreign Ministry also rejected the U.N. Security Council's condemnation of Friday's launch of a long-range rocket as "unreasonable," and reasserted the nation's right to develop a civilian space program.
North Korea fired a three-stage rocket Friday over the Yellow Sea in defiance of international warnings against what the U.S. and other nations said would be seen as a violation of bans against
nuclear and missile activity.
North Korean officials called the launch a peaceful bid to send an observation satellite into space, timed to commemorate the 100th anniversary Sunday of the birth of late North Korea founder Kim Il-Sung. The launch was a failure, with the rocket splintering into pieces less than two minutes after takeoff.
On Monday, the U.N. Security Council, including North Korea ally China, condemned the rocket launch as a violation of resolutions prohibiting North Korea from ballistic missile and nuclear activity, and directed its sanctions committee to strengthen penalties against the country.
AFRICA
Mali's interim president urges junta to release senior politicians, officials
BAMAKO, Mali — Soldiers arrested the head of one of Mali's biggest political parties and officials from the country's ousted government on Tuesday, deepening questions about whether the military is still in control even as a new civilian prime minister was appointed to the interim government.
Check Modibo Diarra, a former NASA scientist who served as Microsoft Corp.'s chairman for Africa until last year, is now tasked with organizing new elections in Mali after last month's coup.
His nomination as prime minister comes just days after a new interim president was sworn in after the regional group ECOWAS pressured the junta leader Capt. Amadou Sanogo into signing an accord that was supposed to pave the way to full civilian rule.
However, Sanogo has made clear in numerous statements since the agreement that he intends to continue to play
an important role in Malian politics, especially after the 40-day period the interim president has in office under the terms of the constitution.
On Tuesday, soldiers detained a number of senior politicians and military officials, including many prominent in the government that was toppled last month by the junta. "As soon as I heard I contacted Capt. Sanogo to tell him that's not the sort of thing that should happen in a country where there is the rule of law and that he should take measures so that those who have been detained know first of all why they have been detained and that they should possibly be released," Interim President Dioncounda Traore said.
"He promised me to look into the matter today. So I think this is a problem that will be dealt with today except of course for those who they have things against," he said.
SCIENCE
Discovery space shuttle retires to Smithsonian
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHANTILLY, Va. — The space shuttle Discovery went out in high-flying style.
After three spectacular spins above the nation's capital, the world's most traveled spaceship completed its final flight and was ready to become a grounded museum relic.
But what an exit. Discovery took victory laps around the White House, the Capitol and the Washington Monument that elicited cheers and awe — the same sounds and emotions that used to accompany every thunderous launch.
Bolted to the top of a modified jumbo jet, the shuttle took off at daybreak Tuesday from Cape Canaveral, Fla. Three hours later, the combo took a few final swoops around Washington at an easy-to-spot 1,500-foot altitude.
Sorena Sorenson, a geology curator for the Smithsonian Institution, was among thousands watching from the National Mall. For 43 years, she has carried an Apollo 11 medal on her keychain.
"This to me is just so bittersweet," she said.
People filled the Capitol balcony and stood on rooftops to catch a glimpse of Discovery as it circled three times through partly cloudy skies. Construction workers staked out prime viewing spots on cranes.
The nostalgia extended to the crew at the controls of the 747. "The sad part is we're retiring a very well-oiled machine"; pilot Bill Rieke said.
After landing at Dulles International Airport in northern Virginia, the shuttle will undergo final preparations to go on display Thursday at the Smithsonian's
National Air and Space Museum annex near the airport.
we pledge to take care of her forever," said retired Gen. John R. "Jack" Dalley, the museum's director. The shuttle will show young visitors "what America is capable of."
"it's huge," he said. "That's something you don't realize from seeing pictures."
The landing "was just unbelievable," said John, who would like to work in the space program someday. "This is history right here."
NASA ended the shuttle program last summer after a 30-year run to focus on destinations beyond low-Earth orbit. Discovery — the fleet leader with 39 orbital missions — is the first of the three retired shuttles to be turned over to a museum. It first launched in 1984.
Terri and Bill Jacobsen used the flyover as a teaching experience for
Riley, their son. They calculated the speed and angle at which the shuttle and plane would bank, plus other factors, to determine the perfect viewing spot.
"Oh, my God, look at that," Terri Jacobsen said as the shuttle first appeared. "That thing is mammoth."
Harold and Theresa Banks of Washington have watched many historic events on the mall since 1958: the inauguration and funeral of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr.'s March on Washington, the million Man March and Barack Obama's inauguration. Discovery's flight ranks high up with those events, they said.
When Discovery departed Florida's Kennedy Space Center, thousands of people — former shuttle workers, VIPs, tourists and journalists — gathered along the old
shuttle landing strip and the nearby beaches.
The plane and shuttle initially headed south and made one last pass over Cape Canaveral before returning to the space center in a final airborne salute.
Discovery's list of achievements include delivering the Hubble Space Telescope to orbit, carrying the first Russian cosmonaut to launch on a U.S. spaceship, performing the first rendezvous with the Russian space station Mir with the first female shuttle pilot in the cockpit, returning Mercury astronaut John Glenn to orbit and resuming shuttle flights after the Challenger and Columbia accidents.
With the shuttles grounded, private U.S. companies hope to pick up the slack, beginning with space station cargo and then, hopefully, astronauts. The first commercial
cargo run, by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is set to take place in a few weeks.
For at least the next three to five years — until commercial passenger craft are available in the United States — NASA astronauts will have to hitch rides aboard Russian Soyuz capsules to get to the International Space Station.
Smithsonian space shuttle curator Valerie Neal lobbied for years to get the shuttle with the most history. She knew Discovery had logged the highest miles, completed every type of mission and had the distinction of being the first flown by a black commander and the first flown by a female pilot.
"It just has such a rich history," Neal said. "It's the champion of the shuttle fleet."