China Shenzhou-9 spacecraft to return Friday

Shenzhou-9 spacecraft to return Friday 

2012-06-28

by news.xinhuanet

BEIJING, June 28 (Xinhua) --The Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft will return to Earth around 10 a.m. Beijing Time Friday, a spokesperson for China's manned space program announced here Thursday.

A manual operation successfully separated the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft and the Tiangong-1 lab module Thursday morning, according to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

It was the first time for China's spacecraft and target module to be manually disjoined.

The three Chinese astronauts returned to Shenzhou-9 from Tiangong-1 at 6 a.m. Beijing Time Thursday, in order to prepare for the manual separation attempt.

Liu Wang, one of the astronauts, conducted the operation to separate Shenzhou-9 and the orbiting Tiangong-1. He will continue to manually operate and direct the spacecraft to a safe distance from the lab module.

Flavor Is Price Of Scarlet Hue Of Tomatoes, Study Finds

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Flavor Is Price Of Scarlet Hue Of Tomatoes, Study Finds

By GINA KOLATA
June 28, 2012
Plant geneticists say they have discovered an answer to a near-universal question: Why are tomatoes usually so tasteless?
Yes, they are often picked green and shipped long distances. Often they are refrigerated, which destroys their flavor and texture. But now researchers have discovered a genetic reason that diminishes a tomato’s flavor even if the fruit is picked ripe and coddled.

The unexpected culprit is a gene mutation that occurred by chance and that was discovered by tomato breeders. It was deliberately bred into almost all tomatoes because it conferred an advantage: It made them a uniform luscious scarlet when ripe.

soccer tournament

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Master of Germany, Italy Advances to Face Spain in Final

By ROB HUGHES

June 28, 2012

WARSAW — The Germans have never beaten the Italians in a major soccer tournament, and after what happened here in Poland’s new National Stadium on Thursday night, they must despair whether they ever will.
In an enthralling match, with both sides roared on by their fans and both teams going for the victory from the first whistle, Italy won, 2-1. Both its goals had one name written on them: Mario Balotelli.

My Three Sons star Don Grady dies

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My Three Sons star Don Grady dies

Teen idol went on to write music

The Associated Press Posted: Jun 28, 2012

Don Grady, who was one of television's most beloved big brothers as Robbie Douglas on the long-running 1960s hit My Three Sons, died Wednesday. He was 68.

His My Three Sons co-star Barry Livingston, who played youngest brother Ernie, confirmed Grady's death to The Associated Press. Livingston said Grady had been suffering from cancer and receiving hospice care at his home in Thousand Oaks, Calif. The exact cause and place of death were not immediately clear.

Cloud Computing News

Google Launches New Cloud Compute Engine, Enhances Google Apps, Drive

By: Robert J. Mullins
2012-06-28
At day two of its Google I/O developers’ conference, Google announced a new infrastructure-as-a-service offering as well as enhancements to Google Docs and its Google Drive cloud storage service.

Google is stepping up its game in the infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) space by introducing Google Compute Engine for hosting applications on the company’s massive computing infrastructure.

Compute Engine, which Google said June 28 is available as a limited preview for now, was introduced on the second day of the Google I/O 2012 developer’s conference in San Francisco. Also revealed were new capabilities in various Google Apps products that can now be integrated with the recently-released Google Drive for cloud storage. Google also detailed updates to the Chrome Web

Minor alien invasion OK with most Americans, poll shows

Minor alien invasion OK with most Americans, poll shows

As part of its new "Chasing UFOs" series, the National Geographic Channel conducted a poll to assess Americans' views on the paranormal.
By Amy Hubbard
Los Angeles Times
June 28, 2012
LOS ANGELES — More than 80 million Americans believe that UFOs exist and many of them are not afraid of an alien drop-in, according to a new study.

As part of its new "Chasing UFOs" series, the National Geographic Channel conducted a poll to assess Americans' views on the paranormal. The study found that 11 percent of those polled believed they had seen a UFO.

Stock Market Cuts Its Losses With Late Comeback

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Stock Market Cuts Its Losses With Late Comeback

By CHRISTINA REXRODE AP Business Writer
NEW YORK June 28, 2012
When the stock market began tumbling Thursday, many people assumed the selloff had something to do with the Supreme Court ruling to uphold President Barack Obama's health care law. But for a lot of investors, it was the same old concerns about Europe, along with a few new worries.

The market fell sharply in early trading, before the high court's announcement, as investors questioned whether a European Union meeting in Brussels would yield the same results as many meetings before it — vague pledges, rather than concrete plans for what to do with struggling countries like Greece and Spain.

BlackBerry maker RIM posts huge loss and cuts 5,000 jobs

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BlackBerry maker RIM posts huge loss and cuts 5,000 jobs

By Roger Yu, USA TODAY
Jun 28, 2012
Struggling to fend off competition from iPhone and Android, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is hemorrhaging losses.

Despite pledges by its new CEO to focus more heavily on marketing and better products, RIM reported Thursday a fiscal first-quarter loss that was greater than expected by analysts and said it'll cut 5,000 jobs.

The Canadian company will also delay releasing BlackBerry 10 -- a new mobile operating system developed to compete with Apple's iOS and Android -- until later this year.

Sales for the most recent quarter plummeted by 43% from a year ago to $2.8 billion. Its net loss totaled $518 million vs. a net income of $695 million a year ago.

"Our first-quarter results reflect the market challenges I have outlined since my appointment as CEO at the end of January. I am not satisfied with these results and continue to work aggressively with all areas of the organization," said Thorsten Heins, RIM's CEO.

About 7.8 million BlackBerry phones and 260,000 PlayBook tablets were shipped in the last quarter, falling short of analysts' estimates. Once the favored phone of enterprise customers, BlackBerry's share in the market totals only about 6.4%, according to research firm IDC. iPhone, with 59% of the market, is the most popular smartphone by far, while Android has 23%.

With its stock down 68% from a year ago, analysts speculate RIM or parts of the company will be acquired. Heins also has hired investment bankers to seek strategic options, though he said earlier this year that finding a buyer wasn't his primary objective. Its stock fell 0.5% down Thursday to end at $9.13.

"The numbers were bad, worse than we hoped," says Jeff Kagan, an independent technology analyst. "And their next generation device, which was expected this fall, now won't be available until next year. They still have customers who love them, but they are simply losing business too quickly."

GLOBAL MARKETS-US stocks sag on healthcare ruling, euro dips

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GLOBAL MARKETS-US stocks sag on healthcare ruling, euro dips

By Richard Leong
NEW YORK | Fri Jun 29, 2012 2:26am IST

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Thursday after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Obama administration's healthcare overhaul law, while the euro hit a three-week low as divisions among European leaders at a meeting in Brussels further diminished hopes of urgent measures to tackle the region's debt crisis.

However, Wall Street shares and the euro staged a late bounce from session lows as traders reduced early bets on a disappointing outcome from the European Union summit, just in case the region's politicians deliver a positive surprise, traders said.

The high court upheld the centerpiece of President Barack Obama's healthcare reform law that requires most Americans to get insurance by 2014 or pay a fine. Republican leaders and other opponents who claim the law is too costly and an over-reach of government power vowed to repeal it.