Japan launches asteroid-hunting spacecraft

Japan’s space agency has launched an ambitious space mission which aims to mine an asteroid and hunt for clues about the birth of the solar system.

About the size of a fridge, and fitted with an explosive bullet, Japan’s asteroid-hunting spacecraft embarked on a six-year space mission on Wednesday.

Building on a previous mission, which managed to bring rock fragments from another asteroid back to Earth in 2010, this time Hayabusa2 aims to do more.

The $260m spacecraft uses ion engines – a system which uses electricity to accelerate gas particles.

“That makes a jet that goes extremely fast about 30-40km/s,” said Dr Francisco Diego, from University College London. “Although the mass of this gas is very very low, it produces a little bit of a push in a very  efficient way and that’s enough to steer the spacecraft along the orbit.”

Hayabusa2 has a long way to go: more than 5 billion kilometres.

For the next two and a half years it will play catch-up with asteroid 1999 JU3. The asteroid is one of many that orbit the Sun, mainly between Earth and Mars. Once Hayabusa2 arrives, it will spend 18 months studying the asteroid.

Experiments include dropping tiny rover robots onto the surface to make scientific tests of the structure and chemical make-up of the asteroid.

The most ambitious part of the mission involves firing a high-speed explosive bullet into the asteroid’s crust.

“It’s going to produce a crater,” said Diego. “It’s going to produce a puff of material, ejecting material out into space, which is going to be collected by this instrument, and part of that cloud is going to be brought back.”

When that process is completed, Hayabusa2 will begin a year-long journey back to Earth, where it is hoped to arrive in 2020.

Scientists say the rock from inside the asteroid will be less weathered by the space environment and by heat. They hope these rocks will answer some fundamental questions about the early stages of the formation of the solar system, how Earth evolved, and where the Earth’s oceans may have formed.

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Snake bite, fibroid, hernia treated free in Langtang

By Sola Ogundipe
THIRTY three snake bite victims including a 60-year-old woman, Hanatu Dashe and 11-year-old Satya Ventnom were among 4,560 persons with various health challenges that accessed free comprehensive medical care during the 4th edition of the GEJ Medical Outreach in Zamko Comprehensive Health Centre in Langtang North Local Government Area of Plateau State.
The patients were rushed to the Centre and administered Anti-snake venom-EchiTAbG 10ml, depending on the level of complication. It was gathered from nurses on duty confirmed that cost of treatment of about N90,000 per patient and administration of the Anti snake venom at N20,000- N25,000 a dose, were  made  possible through the quick intervention
Minister of Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Reng Ochekpe, who convened the Medical Outreach.
During the five- day free medical care initiative, a 230-strong medical team of doctors, nurses, lab scientists/attendants, pharmacists and other volunteers , traversed six Local Government Areas, 126 people had eye surgeries while 348 reading glasses were given out.
A total of 118 major and minor surgeries including hernia, fibroid and appendicitis were carried out successfully. Also, there were 3,833 HIV Treatment & Counseling services and over 4,000 treated mosquito nets distributed to nursing mothers and children.
Ochekpe who expressed joy at the commitment and passion of the volunteers wished the patients speedy recovery, even as Lead Consultant on the Outreach, Dr. Talemoh Wycliffe Dah said minor surgeries cost between N30, 000 to N40, 000 while the major ones cost between N60, 000 to N70, 000 in rural areas like Langtang and could cost much more in the city.

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Obama seeks $75m for police body cameras

Spurred by the Ferguson, Missouri shooting, President Barack Obama is calling for $75m in federal spending to get 50,000 more police to wear body cameras that record their interactions with civilians.

However, Obama is not seeking to pull back federal programs that provide military-style equipment to local law enforcement.

The president was making the announcements on Monday from the White House during a series of meetings with his Cabinet, civil rights leaders, law enforcement officials and others.

At least for now, Obama is staying away from Ferguson in the wake of a racially charged uproar over a grand jury’s decision last week not to charge the police offer who fatally shot unarmed 18-year-old Michael Brown.

Obama is proposing a three-year $263m spending package to increase use of body-worn cameras, expand training for law enforcement and add more resources for police department reform.

The White House has said the cameras could help bridge deep mistrust between law enforcement and the public.

Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington DC, said that it offers an opportunity for similar disputes with the police to be recorded.

“This would eliminate situations not just in Ferguson but around the United States,” she said.

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Republican aide resigns over criticism of Obama daughters

A senior Republican employee is resigning after her comments that the Obama daughters should “try showing a little class” caused a firestorm of criticism on social media this over the weekend.

Elizabeth Lauten, communications director for Tennessee Rep. Stephen Fincher, confirmed to CNN that she planned to resign onMonday.

She faced heavy backlash when she wrote a Thanksgiving-Day screed against the Obama daughters, as well as the President and first lady, on Facebook that quickly went viral across the web.

In it, she scolded Malia and Sasha Obama, 16 and 13 years old respectively, for what she said was their inappropriate outfits and their bored looks during Wednesday’s turkey pardoning ceremony, which they attended alongside their father.

“Dear Sasha and Malia: I get you’re both in those awful teen years, but you’re a part of the First Family, try showing a little class. At least respect the part you play,” Lauten wrote in the post.

“Then again, your mother and father don’t respect their positions very much, or the nation for that matter,” she added. “So I’m guessing you’re coming up a little short in the ‘good role model’ department.”

Lauten went on to tell them to “stretch yourself…rise to the occasion” and “act like being in the White House matters to you.”

“Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar. And certainly don’t make faces during televised, public events,” she added.

Hours later, after her comments picked up steam on social media, Lauten deleted it and wrote another post apologising for her comments.

Neither chief of staff Jessica Carter nor Fincher responded to requests for comment via email.

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Terrorists behead Tunisian policeman

“Terrorists” in Tunisia have abducted and decapitated an off-duty policeman, media reports on Monday cited the interior ministry as saying.

The officer and his brother were in a car in the Kef area of the northwest when gunmen seeking to rob them immobilised the vehicle.

During the robbery, the attackers discovered that the man was in the police and they kidnapped and later killed him, radio stations Mosaique and Express-FM quoted a ministry spokesman as saying.

The man’s brother was not harmed in Sunday’s attack.

Security forces are now engaged in a mopping up operation in the mountainous area, which is close to the frontier with Algeria.

Farther south but still in the border area a soldier on another operation was killed when a mine exploded on Monday, the defence ministry spokesman told AFP.

“Today men in a terrorist group were tracked to Mount Sammama near Kasserine,” Belhassan Oueslati said.

“Aircraft were used and commando forces made a ground assault. A soldier on board a Hummer was killed when a mine exploded,” he said, adding that the operation was still under way.

Since the revolution of January 2011, Tunisia has seen a rise in Islamist extremism. For the past two years, the army has been hunting jihadists in the border area.

Deadly ambushes by gunmen on the police and army are common in the region, where cross-border smuggling of fuel and food is also rife

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