New Station Crew to Launch From Baikonur

September 30, Friday
11 p.m. - Expedition 12 / Spaceflight Participant Launch Coverage (launch scheduled at 11:54 p.m. ET) - JSC via Baikonur, Kazakhstan
October 3, Monday
12 a.m. - Expedition 12 / Spaceflight Participant Docking to ISS (docking scheduled at 1:32 a.m. ET) - JSC via Korolev, Russia
October 10, Monday
5 p.m. - Expedition 11 / Spaceflight Participant Undocking from ISS (undocking scheduled at approximately 5:40 p.m. ET) - JSC (Mission Coverage)
They will undock Oct. 10 in the Soyuz TMA that brought them to the station April 16. Landing is scheduled for 9:08 p.m. EDT that day in the steppes of Kazakhstan, winding up their 180-day increment.
NASA - New Station Crew to Launch From Baikonur
http://www.nasa.gov/

Woman suicide bomber strikes Iraq

"It was a young woman. She pushed her way through the crowd and then there was an explosion "
The last time women are known to have been used as suicide bombers in Iraq was during the war, in April 2003, when two women, one of them pregnant, blew up their car at a coalition checkpoint, killing three soldiers.

28 September 6 killed at army recruitment centre, Talafar
27 September 10 dead at police recruitment office, Baquba
26 September 7 killed in suicide attack at Baghdad police academy
25 September 9 killed in attack on special forces convoy, Baghdad

BBC NEWS | Woman suicide bomber strikes Iraq
http://news.bbc.co.uk/

Armed dolphins trained by the US military

It may be the oddest tale to emerge from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Armed dolphins, trained by the US military to shoot terrorists and pinpoint spies underwater, may be missing in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Observer | Armed and dangerous - Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/

Expedition 12 Ready for Trip To Station

Launch: Sept. 30, 2005, 11:54 p.m. EDT
Docking: Oct. 3, 2005, 1:20 a.m. EDT
Launch Vehicle: ISS Soyuz 11 (TMA-7)
NASA - International Space Station Expedition 12
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/

China to send Shenzhou VI in mid-October

China's second manned spacecraft Shenzhou VI is scheduled to be lifted in mid-October, said China's first astronaut Yang Liwei.
The mission is supposed to last five to seven days with two astronauts on board, Yang revealed when meeting with military officers in Nanjing on Saturday.

People's Daily Online --
http://english.people.com.cn/

Taco Bell to get something to eat after 18 days

“While they were putting him in the chopper, he asked if they could stop on the way at Taco Bell to get something to eat,” Randor said.
76-year-old man found after 18 days
Amazed rescuers say he only had some water, no food
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

Back to the Moon in 2018

The White House has approved NASA's plan to replace the nation's aging fleet of winged spaceships with a new generation of vehicles meant to carry human explorers back to the Moon.

In theory, the cargo hauler would have its first test flights in 2016 and 2017 and first hurl people toward the Moon in 2018, the experts said.
White House Backs NASA Plan for Vehicles - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/16/science/space/16nasa.html

It is you they are calling.

Those who call for help are many. It is you they are calling.
Dr. Marcel Junod (1904-1961): Warrior without Weapons

Marcel Junodin came to Japan on 9 August,1945 – the day the second atomic bomb was dropped, on Nagasaki.

Genealogy of the Junod families of Neuchatel (Switzerland)
http://www.junod.ch/
Marcel Junod achieved that the question be urgently submitted to General MacArthur who, three days later, authorised him to go to Hiroshima with an American medical enquiry commission, two Japanese doctors, and twelve tons of relief supplies. With six transport planes, he left on September 8th:
Marcel Junod spent five days in Hiroshima, visiting all the hospitals, ensuring optimal repartition of the medical supplies, checking what was missing and obtaining further ones, and taking part himself directly in urgent medical care as a surgeon.
This humanitarian action brought him the honour of being the only individual who has a monument to his memory in the Hiroshima Memorial Peace Park.

On September 13, a similar monument was inaugurated in Geneva by the town and cantonal authorities.

death toll remains unknown

In Louisiana 25,000 body bags are now on hold for victims of Hurricane Katrina and last week's devastating flood.
The actual death toll remains unknown but officials saying they are preparing for the worst.
http://www.democracynow.org/

A-bomb exhibit in PARIS for the first time

PARIS-For the first time, the capital city of a nuclear power has agreed to hold an exhibition to mark an anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

Given that this is the 60th year of the bombing, the exhibition opening Monday at Paris city hall is deemed rather special. It runs through Sept. 30.

A-bomb exhibit finally in a nuke power capital
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/

We have been abandoned by our own country

NBC program "Meet the Press" by Aaron Broussard, president of Jefferson Parish near New Orleans told of an emergency management official receiving phone calls from his mother, who, trapped in a nursing home, pleaded day after day for rescue. Assured by federal officials, the man promised her repeatedly that help was on the way.

"Every day she called him and said, "Are you coming, son? Is somebody coming?' " Mr. Broussard said. "And he said,
'Yeah, Mama, somebody's coming to get you.'
Somebody's coming to get you on Tuesday.
Somebody's coming to get you on Wednesday.
Somebody's coming to get you on Thursday.
Somebody's coming to get you on Friday.
And she drowned Friday night.
She drowned Friday night."

Mr. Broussard angrily denounced the country's leadership.
"We have been abandoned by our own country,"
New Orleans Begins a Search for Its Dead - New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/04/national/nationalspecial/04cnd-storm.html?hp&ex=1125892800&en=62e4f18cd8189349&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Kanye West dared to go political

Kanye West surprised viewers of an NBC benefit concert for Hurricane Katrina victims on Friday by accusing President George W. Bush of racism.
"George Bush doesn't care about black people," West said from New York during the show aired live on the East Coast on NBC, MSNBC, CNBC and Pax.(Reuters)

I hate the way they portray us in the media. You see a black family and they say we are looting, you see a white family and they say they are looking for food. And, you know, its been five days because most of the people are black ... We already realize a lot of the people that could help are at war right now, fighting another way. And now they've given them permission to go down and shoot us. George Bush doesn't care about black people.

communities hit hardest by the hurricane

The frustration and anger over the slow federal response to hurricane Katrina's destruction and aftermath continues to mount. The disturbing images are revealing: bodies floating through floodwaters, thousands of desperate survivors clamoring for food and distraught families with stricken children. Throughout all this, one thing is starkly evident: the vast majority of victims are black.
http://www.democracynow.org/

Hurricane Katrina devastates US Gulf Coast