Space Shuttle Endeavour Blasts Off on Final Flight

May 16, 2011: Space shuttle Endeavour blasts off flawlessly on its final flight from Kennedy Space Center.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. –  Space shuttle Endeavour rocketed into space Monday morning from Kennedy Space Center, led by mission commander Mark Kelly on the final mission for the youngest vehicle in the space fleet.

Over 6 million pounds of thrust from the shuttle's rocket booster carried Endeavour into orbit, at speeds of up to 19,000 miles per hour, for an expected meeting with the International Space Station on Wednesday.

"It's incredible how you can see this machine hurled into space like the fastest fastball ever thrown, going to Mach 25 -- 25 times the speed of sound -- and it's an incredible race to orbit," former NASA astronaut Tom Jones told Fox News.

"It's one of the greatest physical sensations an human can experience," he added.

Just before launching, commander Mark Kelly made some patriotic remarks: "It's in the DNA of our great country to reach for the stars and explore. We must not stop. To all the millions watching today, including our spouses, children, family and friends, we thank you for your support."

FoxNews.com

Endeavour blasts off on its final flight

The space shuttle's commander is Mark Kelly, husband of wounded Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who is at the space center for the launch. After this flight, Endeavour comes to L.A.'s Exposition Park.

Center. (Pierre Ducharme / Reuters / May 16, 2011)

From the Associated Press

May 16, 2011, 6:06 a.m.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.—

NASA fueled Endeavour for a Monday morning liftoff on the next-to-last flight of the space shuttle era, confident an electrical problem that grounded the mission more than two weeks ago had been fixed.

The mission commander is Mark Kelly, the astronaut husband of wounded Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who's back for the second launch attempt.

latimes.com

International prosecutors seek arrest warrant for Moammar Gaddafi

 

GORAN TOMASEVIC/ REUTERS - A rebel vehicle is hit by a shell fired by soldiers loyal to 
 Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, during a battle in Ras Lanuf, March 10, 2011.

TRIPOLI, Libya — Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court requested arrest warrants Monday for Moammar Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi, saying all three had committed crimes against humanity in the killings of Libyan protesters over the past three months.
The request, accompanied by a 74-page dossier detailing the alleged crimes, was bolstered by information from “high-level officials in Gaddafi’s regime” who contacted The Hague in the past week, prosecutors said.

Source : washingtonpost.com

Strauss-Kahn lawyers see alibi in sex case: report

(Reuters) - Lawyers for Dominique Strauss-Kahn have proof the IMF chief was at a restaurant having lunch with his daughter at the time he was alleged to be sexually assaulting a hotel maid, France's RMC radio reported on Monday.
RMC said the lawyers had pieced together Strauss-Kahn's movements and found that he left the hotel at midday, after paying his bill and handing in his key, then went to eat with his daughter and took a taxi to the airport.
The schedule meant he had already left the hotel at the time the maid alleged he chased her down a corridor, forced her into a room and assaulted her, RMC reported on its website, adding that the lawyers had material evidence and witnesses.
Strauss-Kahn, a center-left former finance minister whom polls had tipped as the likely frontrunner to win France's 2012 presidential election, will appear in court on Monday. The case has sent shockwaves around the world.
His lawyers have said he will plead not guilty to charges of a criminal sexual act, unlawful imprisonment and attempted rape, which threaten to bring a humiliating end to his career as International Monetary Fund managing director.
The radio did not cite its sources.
(Reporting by Yves Clarisse, editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Source : reuters.com

EGYPT: Police use tear gas, fire shots as protesters gather outside Israeli Embassy

Egyptian riot police fired tear gas and live ammunition at several hundred protesters gathered outside the Israeli Embassy in the Cairo suburb of Giza late Sunday.

At least two dozen protesters were injured, a health ministry official told Egyptian state television. A security official told the Associated Press that one of the injured was in critical condition Sunday.

The protest followed calls on Facebook for a march on Israel on Sunday in solidarity with Palestinians marking Nakba Day, the anniversary of the displacement of Palestinians with the founding of Israel in 1948.
Demonstrators began by chanting slogans attacking Israel, calling for the Israeli Embassy to be closed and the nation's ambassador expelled, before burning an Israeli flag, officials said. Then they demanded police lower the Israeli flag atop the embassy and, when they refused, attempted to remove security barricades outside the building, a move police interpreted as an attack on the building, the health ministry official said.

Police responded by firing tear gas and gunshots into the air to disperse the crowd, the official said. Most of those injured suffered tear-gas inhalation.

After about two hours, police had dispersed the crowd, and the area outside the embassy was calm Monday morning as police continued to patrol the area.

The incident came a day after a group of mostly Coptic Christian protesters was attacked near downtown Cairo as Egyptian police looked on.

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