The United States space agency, Nasa, faced tough questions on Friday over a report that astronauts had shown up for duty drunk and also that workers found a sabotaged computer destined for an imminent mission. The troubled Nasa planned to hold a news conference later on Friday to address the alarming report.
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/ 19 December 2006
Violent attacks in Iraq have soared to the highest level on record, the Pentagon said in a quarterly report, describing Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army militia as the single largest threat to stability. The report, released just hours after former CIA chief Robert Gates was sworn in on Monday as the new defence secretary, said there was an average of 959 attacks per week between August 12 and November 10.
By saying no to military tribunals at Guantánamo, the Supreme Court has clipped United States President George Bush’s wings after he sought to assert his authority in the name of security. The court’s ruling last Thursday ”marked the end of the national security ‘state of emergency’ that has prevailed for nearly five years”, commentator David Ignatius wrote in The Washington Post.
The United States military is relying ever more on space satellites to help wage combat in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, though analysts say that Washington’s space supremacy could be threatened by rivals in the future. The Pentagon is using sophisticated satellites that orbit Earth in a bid to track down its enemies and keep a round-the-clock watch on unfriendly foes.
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/ 24 October 2005
A strengthened Hurricane Wilma barrelled toward the United States state of Florida early on Monday as officials urged residents to leave the coastal area or move to shelters. Wilma was upgraded late on Sunday to a category three storm after it displayed sustained winds of 185kph, which qualified it for category three status, said US National Hurricane Centre forecaster Jamie Rhome.
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/ 27 January 2004
With their clocks set to follow the slightly longer Martian day, scientists back on Earth analysing images from two Nasa probes now on the Red Planet keep a tight schedule that includes several daily meetings.