picture by Gus (c 1960s). Diego Suarez now known as Antsiranana

Germany's new radar satellite, TanDEM-X, has returned its first images.

The spacecraft was launched from Kazakhstan on Monday on a mission to make the most precise 3D map of the Earth's surface.

The pictures demonstrate the platform is in excellent health and ready to team up with the TerraSAR-X satellite launched in 2007.

from Crikey .....

Fresh calls from Nile to ban the burqa

Margot Saville writes:

This is a story that should be a warning to Americans, regardless of political party, because it dramatically illustrates what pre-eminent civil liberties attorney Harvey Silverglate documents in his book, "Three Felonies A Day: How the Feds Target the Innocent" by means of the ever-increasing broad and vague federal laws that allow prosecutors to pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, even for the most seemingly innocuous behavior.

It's tragically ironic that while Obama appropriately fired McChrystal for insubordination, he promised that America's longest war - one that no one honestly thinks that we can win - will continue.

These are the last gasps of empire by a President who promised change, but America's long history of empire - which reached its zenith after victories in World War II - is nearing its end as China, Russia and India advance into Asia, Africa and even tentatively into South America.  We are a debtor nation now that would implode if our major lenders, including China (with 25% of our debt in its pocket) called in their loans.

Jewish leaders welcomed the appointment of Australia's first female prime minister, who has been supportive of Israel.

Julia Gillard was elected unopposed in a Labor Party caucus meeting Thursday after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd agreed to a leadership ballot triggered by a slump in the polls.

Gillard, from Labor's left faction, was widely considered an unknown quantity on Israel when she was elected deputy leader in 2006.

But she "stood like a rock during the Gaza incursion [in 2009], reiterating again and again that Hamas began the conflict by rocketing Israel," said Michael Danby, a Jewish lawmaker in the Labor government.

from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press .....

Imagine a future in which cancer becomes a memory, ordinary people travel in space, and computers carry on conversations like humans. Now imagine a darker future - a world beset by war, rising temperatures and energy shortages, one where the United States faces a terrorist attack with nuclear weapons. 

from Crikey .....

Raw and wrenching: politicians at their best in the face of defeat

Canberra correspondent Bernard Keane writes:

United States president Barack Obama has sent his congratulations to Prime Minister Julia Gillard and praised former leader Kevin Rudd as a "great friend".

Federal Cabinet will meet this morning for the first time with Ms Gillard in the top job.

She was elected unopposed to the Labor leadership after Mr Rudd agreed to stand aside when it was clear he did not have the support of his party after a tumultuous Wednesday evening in Canberra.

Kevin Rudd has announced a leadership challenge tomorrow morning at 9am.

He said the ballot followed a request from deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Mr Rudd confirmed he would be a contender and said the leadership issue needed to be resolved quickly.

''I was elected to do a job,'' he said. ''I intend to continue doing that job.''

Mr Rudd said he'd lost support from key members of the party during the last few weeks.

''It has become apparent to me in the course of the last period of time ... that a number of factional leaders in the Labor party no longer support my leadership,'' he said.

from the Moscow Times

Over the past 18 months, Presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev have reinvigorated a U.S.-Russian relationship that had become moribund if not downright dangerous in the last year of George W. Bush’s presidency. The signing of the New START treaty in April, increasing cooperation in Afghanistan, and a United Nations Security Council agreement over new sanctions on Iran all testify to the growing rapprochement between Moscow and Washington. Even Russian television commentators of the U.S.-Slovenia World Cup match on Friday agreed that the U.S. team had been robbed of victory by a terrible call by the referee.

From the Washington Post

KABUL -- The top U.S. general in Afghanistan apologized Tuesday for a magazine article that portrays him and his staff as flippant and dismissive of top Obama administration officials involved in Afghanistan policy.

The profile in Rolling Stone magazine, titled the "Runaway General," is certain to increase tension between the White House and Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

It also raises fresh questions about the judgment and leadership style of the commander Obama appointed last year in an effort to turn around a worsening conflict.

picture by Gus

As the sun rose at 4.52am, a cheer went up from those gathered overnight at the stone circle on Salisbury Plain. The crowds were treated to clear views of the sunrise – whearea previous years have seen the spectacle obscured by mist and cloud.

Last year a record 36,500 people attended, causing traffic chaos and road closures. It was announced last week that £10m of funding for a proposed visitor centre at the prehistoric site had been axed by the Government, putting the plans on hold indefinitely.