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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2012
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NEWS OF THE WORLD
ASIA
Lake Vostok found after 20 million years
MOSCOW After more than two decades of drilling in Antarctica, Russian scientists have reached the gigantic freshwater Lake Vostok hidden under miles of ice for some 20 million years — a pristine body of water that may hold life from the distant past and clues to the search for life on other planets.
The Russian team hit the lake Sunday at the depth of 12,366 feet about 800 miles southeast of the South Pole in the central part of the continent.
Scientists hope the lake may allow a glimpse into microbial life forms that existed before the ice Age and are not visible to the naked eye. Scientists believe that microbial life may exist in the dark depths of the lake despite its high pressure and constant cold — conditions similar to those expected to be found under the ice crust on Mars, Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus.
"In the simplest sense, it can transform the way we think about life," NASA's chief scientist Waleed Abdalati told The Associated Press in a email.
American and British teams are drilling to reach their own subglacial Antarctic lakes, but Columbia University glaciologist Robin Bell said those lakes are smaller and younger than Vostok, which is the big scientific prize.
NORTH AMERICA
VERACRUZ, Mexico A suspected member of the Zetas drug gang has led Mexican authorities to a mass grave site at two ranches in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, the Mexican navy said Wednesday.
Associated Press
The navy says its personnel detained suspect Francisco Alvarado Martagon Tuesday as he attempted to drive past a military checkpoint near the city of Acayucan in a vehicle without license plates.
Under questioning, the man mentioned two sites at local ranches that the Zetas allegedly used to dispose of bodies, including rivals or members of their own gang who had been executed.
Once in custody, Alvarado Martagon confessed to being a head lookout for the Zetas. navy officials said.
The navy said it inspected the sites and found the buried, badly decomposed remains of 10 people on Tuesday and continued searching.
Veracruz has been the scene of bloody battles between the Zetas and the Sinaloa druz cartel.
Mexican authorities have found hundreds of bodies dumped by drug gangs in mass graves in recent years, mainly in the states of Durango and Tamaulipas.
EUROPE
SOFIA, Bulgaria At least four Balkan nations suspended shipping on the Danube River because of severe frost and ice blocking the heavily traveled waterway.
Commercial shipping halted on Danube River due to severe icing
Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Serbia made the decision because up to 90 percent of the river's surface is covered with floating ice, authorities said Wednesday.
The conditions are making it extremely difficult to traverse Europe's main commercial waterway, which winds 1,777-miles from Germany and serves as the natural border between Bulgaria and Romania.
Europe has been battling a deep freeze that started in late January and has killed hundreds, snow that has trapped thousands in Balkan mountain villages and prompted worries of flooding as heavy snow melts. In Greece and Bulgaria, flooding on Monday and Tuesday left dozens of homes under water and at least eight dead.
Four Balkan nations had to stop ships from passing through the Danube River because of ice and severe frost. Some emergency officials will use explosives to break up the ice.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASIA
Thousands of U.S. troops moved out of Okinawa Marine base
**TOKYO** — Japan and the United States agreed Wednesday to proceed with plans to transfer thousands of U.S. troops out of the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, leaving behind the stalled discussion about closing a major U.S. Marine base there.
years because it was linked to the closure and replacement of the strategically important base that Okinawans fiercely oppose.
The transfer, a key to U.S. troop restructuring in the Pacific, has been in limbo for
The announcement Wednesday follows high-level talks to rework a 2006 agreement for 8,000 Marines to transfer to the U.S. territory of Guam by 2014 if a replacement for Marine Corps Air Station Futenma
could be built elsewhere on Okinawa.
That agreement has been effectively scuttled by opposition on Okinawa, where many residents believe the base should simply be closed and moved overseas or elsewhere in Japan. More than half of the 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan are stationed on Okinawa.
FOR THE RED,WHITE AND BLUE
CHRIS BRONSON/KANSAN
Former Minnesota governor and Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty spoke to an audience at the Dole Institute of Politics Tuesday night. Pawlenty expressed his encouragement to college students. "We need your talent, your energy, your creativity, your passion and vision for the future, your collaborative nature with us intergenerationally. Regardless of your political background, our country, I know everyone in this room cares about our country," he said. "A democracy depends on an informed and engaged citizen. We will not have an effective, functioning democracy if we have large numbers of our citizenry checked out. And so if you care about the country and I know you do, I hope you'll hear the words of our founders, embedded in our founding documents and related documents that we can't have this and perpetuate this cherish country that we have unless we have an informed, an engaged citizenry. It's precious, but it requires each of us to do something."
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