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MONDAY, MARCH 7, 2011 PAGE 5A
Discovery’s last farewell of all we’re going to miss DisSpace shuttle to depart space station today, will be covery. “Discovery has been a great retired after mission. ship and has really supported By MARCIA DUNN AP Aerospace Writer
AP PHOTO
Celebrating success in the Slush Cup
Sarah Hoppie, of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., holds flowers in the air as she skis across a pool of water Saturday during Mardi Gras & Slush Cup Weekend at Shanty Creek Resort in Bellaire, Mich. Hoppie successfully crossed the pool. WASHINGTON
Budget battle predicted
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leading Democrat predicted Sunday that the Senate would reject House Republicans’ deep budget cuts, setting up tense negotiations and the need for another short-term spending measure to keep the government operating. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, contended that Republicans were unfairly and unwisely placing the burden of spending cuts on domestic programs. “I’m willing to see more deficit reduction, but not out of domestic discretionary spending,” Durbin said. In response to a House-passed bill that would cut $61 billion from the federal budget, Senate Democrats put forward a measure that would trim just $6.5 billion from domestic agencies, as President Barack Obama proposed.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — The space shuttle and space station crews hugged goodbye Sunday after more than a week together, but saved their most heartfelt farewell for Discovery. On its final voyage after nearly three decades, Discovery, the most traveled rocketship ever, will be retired following this week’s return to Earth. The hatches between Discovery and the International Space Station were sealed Sunday afternoon, setting the stage for the shuttle’s departure first thing today. “We’re going to miss you,” the space station’s commander, Scott Kelly, told the six shuttle astronauts. “But most
the International Space Station more so, I think, than any other space shuttle. We wish her fair winds and following seas.” Shuttle skipper Steven Lindsey nodded in agreement, then shook hands with Kelly. Lindsey and noted that all the mission objectives had been accomplished: The new storage unit carried up by Discovery was installed and unloaded, leaving behind an empty, pristine compartment ready to serve its purpose. Lead flight director Royce Renfrew radioed up congratulations to the two crews, before the hatches slammed shut. He said he was “really proud to take Discovery home at the very top of her game,” and he credited the astronauts in large part. “You guys rock,” he said. Mission Control gave Dis-
The changes include new faces in the key foreign, interior and justice ministries.
AP PHOTO
Six crew members are, bottom, from the left, Eric Boe, Steve Lindsey and Michael Barratt. At top, Alvin Drew, Nicole Stott and Steve Bowen.
covery’s astronauts two extra days at the orbiting outpost. They took advantage of the bonus time to empty the storage unit of all the gear that went up inside it. The bonus days stretched the entire mission to 13 days on top of the 352 days already logged during Discov-
ery’s previous 38 missions. Immediately after undocking, Discovery will fly a victory lap of sorts around the orbiting lab, essentially for picturetaking. Landing is scheduled for Wednesday. Only two other shuttle missions remain.
Louisiana tornado victims return to homes
SANTIAGO, CHILE
No quake injuries reported
A magnitude-6.2 earthquake on Sunday shook a northern region of Chile that has felt several frightening but inconsequential tremors in recent days. No injuries or major damage were reported. The quake was centered in Putre, about 40 miles east of the port of Arica near the border with Peru, and nearly 1,400 miles north of the capital, Santiago, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake happened about 9:30 a.m. local time and had a depth of about 70 miles, the agency said. Some people ran out of homes and churches into the streets when they felt the shaking, but there were no reports of injuries or damage, Chile’s national emergency agency said. NEW YORK
Using oil reserves mulled
The Obama administration might consider tapping into U.S. oil reserves on concern that crude prices above $104 a barrel could damage the U.S. economic recovery, White House Chief of Staff William Daley said Sunday. “We are trying to look at all the options,” Daley said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Daley didn’t indicate when President Barack Obama would decide whether to draw from the reserves, or what other options the president might consider. Tapping into the oil reserve “has been done on rare occasions,” Daley said. “There are a bunch of factors that have to be looked at … not just the price.” The national average for regular gasoline was $3.38 a gallon on Feb. 28, compared with $2.70 a year earlier, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Report: Four pirates nabbed
Anti-piracy officials say U.S. commandos have captured four suspected pirates who boarded a Japanese-owned oil tanker off the coast of Oman. A statement by the international anti-piracy task force says the 24 crew members on the MV Guanabara took refuge in a protected part of the vessel after reporting they were under attack Saturday. A special unit from the destroyer USS Bulkeley boarded the tanker Sunday and detained the suspected pirates about 328 nautical miles southeast of Duqm in southern Oman.
AP PHOTO
Officials worked Sunday to get people back into their homes a day after a tornado ripped through Rayne, La., killing a mother shielding her child from the fierce winds and leaving 12 hurt. Some 1,500 people were unable to return to their homes in this community about 70 miles west of Baton Rouge, said Rayne Police Chief Carroll Stelly. About 150 homes had been damaged or destroyed as winds topped out at 135 mph. The home where Jalisa Granger, 21, had died was completely crushed by part of an oak tree.
Anti-government rallies next expected in Kuwait The country has the Gulf’s most powerful and combative parliament. By BRIAN MURPHY Associated Press
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The next scheduled stop on the Arab protest tour: Kuwait. This, however, is more of a return engagement. Calls for anti-government rallies Tuesday are an extension of nasty political skirmishes in Kuwait that were under way long before the first glint of dissent that began in Tunisia more than two months ago. Kuwait has the Gulf’s most powerful and combative parliament, and opposition lawmakers have already taken bold
Caretaker Cabinet selected in Egypt
shots at the ruling emir’s inner circle, including twice staging no-confidence motions since December 2009 that nearly brought down the prime minister. The plan now is to take the demands for a political overhaul to the streets in the style of Egypt and nearby Bahrain. But while the tactics may be similar, it also shows that each of the Middle East’s protest movements carries its own spirit. “There’s a distinct personality to each place and each protest,” said Shadi Hamid, director of research at The Brookings Doha Center in Qatar. “That’s the challenge for policy makers trying to make sense of it all.” Libya and Yemen are all-or-nothing fights to bring down the leadership. Oman has generally cooled after an angry
start — with protesters staging sit-in rallies to push for more jobs and state handouts, while being careful not to speak ill of the lute-playing sultan who has ruled for 40 years. Bahrain’s protests tap into deep-rooted claims of discrimination by the majority Shiites against the Sunni monarchy. The rumblings in Saudi Arabia — where protesters have called for a show of force Friday — seek even small breaks in the absolute control in the ruling House of Saud. Kuwait would join the Arab protest roster with quite a bit of experience and could become another Arab hot spot. The most significant change this week could be adding pro-reform youth groups into the fray.
By SARAH EL DEEB Associated Press
CAIRO — Egypt’s prime minister-designate named a caretaker Cabinet on Sunday to help lead the country through reforms and toward free elections after the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak. The changes include new faces in the key foreign, interior and justice ministries — a decision expected to be met with the approval ofthepro-reformgroupsthatledan 18-day uprising that force Mub- Protesters arak to step down on Feb.11. have over Meanwhile, the past hundredsofprotesters staging a two days rally outside the rallied outInterior Minisside some try in Cairo, which houses dozen offices of the state secuhated State Security agency, rity offices was violently across the broken up. nation. Protesters have over the past two days ralliedoutsidesomedozenstatesecurity offices across the nation. In many cases, protesters stormed the buildings, including the main State Security headquarters in the Cairo suburb of Nasr City. The protests followed reports that agents were burning and shredding documents to destroy evidence that would incriminate them in possible cases of human rights abuses. On Sunday, army soldiers fired in the air and used stun guns to disperse a crowd that wanted to storm the State security offices inside the InteriorMinistryindowntownCairo.Theprotesterssaidtheywanted to see for themselves whether the building had secret cells and to stop officers from destroying documents. Thugs armed with rocks, firebombs and machetes also charged at the protesters, but it was not immediately known who had sent them. The State Security agency, which employs about 100,000 of Egypt’s 500,0000-strong security forces, is blamed for the worst human rights abuses against Mubarak’s opponents. Dismantling the agency has been a key demand of the protest groups that led the uprising. In a move clearly designed to respond to such demands, Prime Minister designate Essam Sharaf has named a new interior minister. Maj. Gen. Mansour el-Essawy, a former Cairo security chief, was expected to replace Mahmoud Wagdi. The Interior Ministry is in charge of the security forces. El-Essawy, according to a report by the state news agency, pledged after meeting Sharaf that he would worktorestoresecurityandreduce the role of the State Security.
Japan’s foreign minister resigns Seiji Maehara violated law by accepting a political donation from a foreigner. By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press
TOKYO — Japan’s foreign minister suddenly quit Sunday for having accepted a political donation from a foreigner — a violation of Japanese law — dealing another blow to the embattled administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan. Seiji Maehara, 48, was foreign minister for just six months, and was viewed as a leading candidate to succeed
Kan. Maehara acknowledged receiving a total of 250,000 yen ($3,000) over the past several years from a 72-year-old Korean woman who has lived most of her life in Japan. He said they had been friends since his childhood. Japanese law makes it very hard for foreigners to become citizens, even if their families have lived in the country for generations. The foreign residents include hundreds of thousands of ethnic Koreans, many descended from laborers brought forcibly to Japan during World War II. Japan’s political funding law
prohibits lawmakers from accepting donations from any foreigners, even those born in Japan. Maehara’s resignation at a televised news conference Sunday night furthers the high turnover that has plagued government officials in recent years and is likely to further erode public confidence in Kan — the country’s fifth leader in four years — whose public approval rating has fallen below 20 percent. Japanese have grown disillusioned over the government’s inability to move ahead in tackling serious problems, from a lackluster economy and bulg-
AP PHOTO
Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara speaks during a press conference to announce his resignation.
ing national debt to an aging, shrinking population. “I apologize to the people that I ended up resigning after just six months on the job, and
for causing distrust due to a politics-and-money problem despite my pledge to seek clean politics,” Maehara said, bowing.