Roving Informant

Friday, 17 January 2014

Mysterious stone 'rawled up' to Mars Rover Opportunity!

A strange black and white stone has appeared out of nowhere near the Opportunity Mars Rover, which has not moved for more than a month already. The "guest" was noticed in the photos made by the Mars Rover by Vitaliy Egorov, a famous Russian "Martianologist blogger".

The Mars Rover Opportunity has been working on Mars for almost 10 years now - since January 24, 2004. At present, the Rover is waiting out the Martian winter; it stands in Solander Point next to the Endeavour crater and has not moved since the end of November. The Rover only moves his manipulator.

However, as Egorov has found, a "guest" has made an appearance near the Mars Rover: a stone, which was not seen in the picture on the 3,536th Sol (Martian day) since the beginning of the mission, turned out to be in plain view on the 3,537th Sol.

The blogger notes that one side of the stone is not covered with dust and glitters like some white mineral, but coal-black parts of unknown origin are visible on it.

There is dust on the other side of the stone, which is why it cannot be a newly fallen fragment of a meteorite.

Egorov believes that the Rover could pick off the stone while driving, but all the time it remained invisible

"It was lying somewhere under the body of the Rover not being observed by the cameras, and on the 3,537th Sol, the Rover's "hand" hooked it and threw forward," he writes in his blog on LiveJournal.

This is not the first discovery in the field of Martianology made by Egorov. Earlier, he and the other cosmonautics buffs from the "Curiosity, the Mars Rover" group on the social network Vkontakte, conceivably found the place of landing of the Soviet Mars-3 unmanned spacecraft, which could not be found by specialists for a long time.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_01_15/Mysterious-stone-rawled-up-to-Mars-Rover-Opportunity-9921/

In 2012-2013, Egorov and his virtual companions made an analysis of a high resolution photograph of the supposed landing zone of the station made in 2007 by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. They managed to find objects, which supposedly are elements of Mars-3, such as a parachute, a soft landing engine and an aerodynamic brake screen.
Read more: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_01_15/Mysterious-stone-rawled-up-to-Mars-Rover-Opportunity-9921/

Philippines: Spate of Journalist Killings!

President Benigno Aquino III should speak out against the recent killings of three journalists and ensure that the authorities expedite their investigation, Human Rights Watch said today. While the killers and motives are unknown, these and past unresolved attacks on journalists have a chilling effect on media freedom in the country.

“The latest killings and threats against journalists underscore the precarious state of media freedom in the Philippines and the need for the government to respond,” said Phelim Kine, deputy Asia director. “Unless the government brings people who attack journalists to justice, these killings are not going to stop.”

On July 30, 2013, unknown assailants shot and killed Richard Kho, 47, and Bonifacio Loreto Jr., 59, both columnists for the weekly tabloid Aksyon Ngayon, in Quezon City, Metro Manila. Two days later, on August 1, unidentified gunmen killed a freelance photojournalist, Mario Sy, 53, in the southern city of General Santos. Police have not made any arrests in the killings.

That same week, a broadcast journalist, Ces Drilon, received text messages threatening to “erase” her after her network, ABS-CBN, aired her report on the Maguindanao Massacre, in which 58 people, most of them journalists, were executed in 2009. While her news show reported on a bombing in Cagayan de Oro City she received a text message that read: “You’re next to explode.”
Although the number of extrajudicial killings has declined since 2010, when Aquino took office, certain groups, such as environmental and labor activists, and journalists, continue to be recurring targets of attack.

Journalism has long been a high-risk profession in the Philippines. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, some 73 journalists have been murdered in the Philippines since 1992; local media groups put the number considerably higher. The Philippines consistently ranks as among the “top 3” in the organization’s list of “deadliest countries” for journalists.

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines said that the three recent killings brought the number of journalists killed in the country under the Aquino administration to 18. Journalists, particularly outside the major cities, regularly report threats and harassment. The union said that most of the journalists killed had received death threats.

The Aquino administration has announced reforms to the criminal justice system that could result in more effective criminal investigations, but has not fully implemented them. For instance, Administration Order 35, issued by the Aquino administration in 2012, authorized the creation of a government “super body” to coordinate and expedite the actions of various criminal justice organs on specific high-priority cases. However, eight months later, that body is stalled at the stage of identifying appropriate cases to pursue.

Aquino began his term with a promise to promote and respect human rights, and pressed for the passage of several laws to improve human rights, but this has not translated into significant improvements on the ground. In particular there has been little progress in prosecuting human rights abusers. In his State of the Nation Adress in July, which outlined the priorities of his administration’s final three years, Aquino did not mention human rights, raising concerns that less attention would be given to human rights issues.

“The Philippines has a reputation for having one of the freest media freedom environments in Asia, but that reputation disappears bit-by-bit with every killing of a journalist,” Kine said. “President Aquino needs to realize that this problem won’t go away on its own.”

Source: Human Rights watch

18 people killed in a stampede near Malabar Hill in Mumbai!

18 people were reportedly killed in a stampede in Mumbai as tens of thousands gathered to mourn the death of a spiritual leader in India's financial capital.

According to Press Trust of India news agency says at least 40 other people were injured early Saturday when mourners thronged the home of Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin, the head of the Dawoodi Bohra Muslim community. He died Friday at the age of 102.

Egypt claims 3 detained journalists serve blacklisted Muslim Brotherhood!

Egyptian prosecutors has accused three detained Al-Jazeera journalists, including an Australian and a Canadian, of broadcasting false news in the service of the Muslim Brotherhood, now blacklisted as a terrorist group.

The three journalists - Peter Greste, an acclaimed Australian reporter who formerly worked for the BBC; Egyptian producer Baher Mohamed and Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Adel Fahmy - were arrested on December 29 in a Cairo hotel.

"The accused confessed during interrogation that they belonged to the terrorist group" the Muslim Brotherhood, prosecutors said in a statement issued on Thursday.

They said the journalists, who were not officially accredited, edited footage "to tarnish Egypt's image abroad ... to serve the interests of the international terrorist organisation."

The journalists' lawyers and Al-Jazeera have dismissed the allegations as false.

"The accusations against our journalists do not stand up to scrutiny," the broadcaster's spokesman, Osama Saeed, said.

Fahmy has no known ties with the Brotherhood.

Two other Al-Jazeera reporters remain in custody, including Abdullah Elshamy, arrested on August 14 when police dispersed a sit-in against the army's overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Mursi, killing hundreds.

Egyptian authorities have been incensed by Al-Jazeera's coverage of their crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood.

My Pastor Husband Impregnated My Friend – Wife Tells Court!

A woman in Lagos has reportedly appealed to a court to end her marriage as she described her husband as a chronic womanizer.

Iyabo Olusoji, a trader, told a Customary Court sitting in the Igando area of the state that her husband, Taiwo, was in the habit of adultery and had even impregnated her friend. According to her: “My husband runs after anything in skirt. He flirts around with some of his female members, he also slept with my friend and got her pregnant,” she said.

She accused Taiwo of using charm to marry her, claiming that she initially went to Taiwo’s church for prayers when she was having marital problem that Taiwo gave her soap to bath. She added: “I went to Taiwo to seek help concerning my marriage that was collapsing.

“He gave me soap to bath with that my former husband will come back. “After using the soap, instead of my husband and I to settle our differences, it became worse and I don’t know how I became one of Taiwo’s wives.”

According to her, her husband always beat her anytime she goes to his church to ask for money and he will not leave her until he sees blood on her. Iyabo, mother of one, consented to dissolution of the the union, saying that she was no longer in love and that Taiwo was only keeping her as a sex tool.

On his part, 53 year old Taiwo, begged the court to dissolve the seven-year-old marriage, citing Iyabo’s constant embarrassment and defamation. He said that Iyabo always came to his church to embarrass and defame his character in the presence of his members. He added: “She will come to my church, lock me up in the presence of my members, calling me all sorts of names like thief, woman wrapper, cultist and other names.

“There was one day she came and naked herself in the presence of my congregation claiming that I abandoned her for two years.”

He pleaded with the court to dissolve the union, saying that that he was tired of his wife’s bad character and that he was no longer in love with her.

The Presiding Officer, R.I. Adeyeri, adjourned the case to February 3 for judgment.

Pakistani attack- Taliban vows to continuously target the Media if...... !

According to Reuters news, Taliban gunmen killed three men working for a private television station in Pakistan's southern city of Karachi on Friday, the station and the Islamist militant group confirmed.

Gunmen on motorcycles shot dead a technician, guard and driver working for Express TV, the station said.

Regional Taliban spokesman Sajjad Mohmand claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to Reuters. "We will continue to target the media if they do not stop propaganda against Islam and the Taliban," he said.

Former Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told the station it had been attacked because the Taliban considered its coverage biased and the Taliban would continue to attack journalists they disagreed with.

"Channels should give coverage to our ideology. Otherwise we will continue attacking the media," the TV station broadcast him saying.

India police arrest third suspect in Danish woman rape case!

Police in the Indian capital say they have arrested a third man in connection with the gang rape of a Danish woman. Two men have already been detained over the incident and some of the woman's belongings recovered. The 51-year-old tourist was attacked by a group of men in the Paharganj area on Tuesday evening. Police say she was robbed and raped at knifepoint.

The hotel in Delhi where the Danish woman was staying

The Danish woman was staying at a hotel in a busy backpacker district

A Delhi police official said the third suspect was arrested from the city's busy Nizamuddin area on Thursday. The two homeless men who were held late on Wednesday in connection with the incident have been remanded in police custody. Some of the woman's belongings, including an iPad, a mobile phone and some cash, were recovered from them. The police said they were hunting for five other suspects - "young men, mostly vagabonds" - who allegedly assaulted the victim for almost three hours at knife-point.

The Danish woman told police that she approached the group of men after losing her way as she returned to her hotel in a busy backpacker district near New Delhi Railway Station. Media reports said the woman was gagged, beaten up and raped by the men.

Meanwhile, the woman flew out of India on Wednesday morning.