SpaceX capsule prepares to dock with space station
LOS ANGELES — SpaceX’s cone-shaped space capsule performed a series of delicate maneuvers in outer space that proved to NASA officials it was ready to move in for Friday morning’s historic docking attempt with the International Space Station.
SpaceX, officially named Space Exploration Technologies Corp., is aiming to become the world’s first private firm to dock a craft with the space station. The mission is considered the first test of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s plan to outsource space missions to private companies now that its fleet of space shuttles is retired.
The Hawthorne, Calif., company aims to prove to NASA its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule are ready to take on the task of hauling cargo — and eventually astronauts — for the space agency.
EU running out of time as Greece nears the exit
ATHENS, Greece — European leaders insist they want to keep Greece in the eurozone, but are putting off any agreement on how they hope to accomplish that. Greece says it, too, wants to stay in the eurozone, but until after elections it’s uncertain whether it can implement the austerity Europe has set as a condition for doing so.
Essentially, both are playing for time — about a month. The question is whether financial markets will wait or force their hand.
Concerns European leaders lack the political will — and wherewithal — to tackle the continent’s economic problems have worried the markets for weeks. Among the 17 countries that use the euro, seven are in recession. Business confidence is under pressure and banks are feeling the squeeze. The biggest fear is if Greece cannot be kept in the euro, other larger economies — like Spain or Portugal — might face the same fate.
Greece has gone through round after round of massive spending cuts and tax hikes to slash its deficit and rein in its debt in exchange for the international bailout loans that help it pay the bills. But the country is now in its fifth year of recession, and many argue it cannot hope for a recovery if it sticks to the deal. And Greeks — though still keen to remain in the single currency club — are calling for better terms or, at least, for the pace of austerity to be slowed down.
Rich-poor divide reopens at UN climate talks
BONN, Germany — U.N. climate talks ran into gridlock Thursday as a widening rift between rich and poor countries risked undoing some advances made last year in the decades-long effort to control carbon emissions that scientists say are overheating the planet.
As so often in the slow-moving negotiations, the session in Bonn bogged down with disputes over technicalities. But at the heart of the discord was the larger issue of how to divide the burden of emissions cuts between developed and developing nations. Developing nations say the industrialized world — responsible for most of the emissions historically — should bear the brunt of the emissions cuts while developed nations want to make sure fast-growing economies like China and India don’t get off too easy. China is now the world’s top polluter.
The negotiations in Bonn were meant to build on a deal struck in December in Durban, South Africa, to create a new global climate pact by 2015 that would make both rich and poor nations rein in emissions caused by the burning of oil and other fossil fuels. But on the next-to-last day of two weeks of talks there was little sign of progress, as different interpretations emerged on what, exactly, was agreed upon last year.
By wire sources
