International Space Station

The Expedition 38 astronauts wrapped up the workweek Friday aboard the International Space Station with biomedical research and robotics, while their Russian colleagues entered the homestretch of preparations for a spacewalk they will conduct Monday. 

Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy donned their Russian Orlan spacesuits for a “dry run” dress rehearsal to test the suits in advance of Monday’s spacewalk to reinstall a pair of cameras as part of a commercial endeavor between a Canadian firm and the Russian Federal Space Agency. The cameras will be used to downlink Earth imagery to Internet-based subscribers. The two cosmonauts also plan to retrieve an experiment package housed on the Zvezda service module's hull.

Monday’s excursion will be the 178th spacewalk in support of station assembly and maintenance, the sixth for Kotov and the third for Ryazanskiy.

The cosmonauts will wrap up their preparations on Sunday as they take care of some final details and study the timeline. Live NASA Television coverage of the spacewalk begins at 8:30 a.m. EST Monday, with hatch opening scheduled for 9:10 a.m.

Flight Engineers Rick Mastracchio and Koichi Wakata spent much of their day inside the Japanese Kibo module working once again with a pair of basketball-sized, free-flying satellites known Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES. For this experiment session, the astronauts equipped one of the two SPHERES with a pair of stereoscopic goggles dubbed the Visual Estimation and Relative Tracking for Inspection of Generic Objects, or VERTIGO. As the second SPHERES tumbled and spun, the VERTIGO-equipped robot attempted to map it and perform relative navigation around it.

Alexis Mabille Spring/Summer 2014 Full Show | Paris Haute Couture Fashio...

PARIS - FashionTV grabs a seat in the front row at the Alexis Mabille Spring/Summer 2014 show at Paris Haute Couture Fashion Week. This collection is fit for a modern-day Greco-Roman goddess. Alla Kostromichova comes out in a gorgeous white gown with a toga-like applique and tear drop cutout showing her belly button.

Appearances: Anna Martynova, Alla Kostromichova, Anouk Hagemeijer, Yumi Lambert, Anastasia Ivanova, Alexis Mabille 

Music: Matmos "Very Large Green Triangles" (edit)

2013 Kayak Session Short Film of the year Awards - Winners Reel

2013 Short Film of the Year Awards - Winners Reel 
We're proud to present the winners reel of the short of the year awards, the best of whitewater kayaking on film every year.
For the third time Kayak Session Magazine was organizing the Short Film of the Year Awards presented by Sweet Protection and Powered by EpicTV.
The criteria for selection are cinematography, editing, image quality, storytelling, creativity, and, of course, kayak performance. All films must be under 5 minutes long.With finalists from the four corners of the world - Australia, France, New Zealand, Spain, USA and Canada. The Short Film of the Year Awards have now reached the international status, and is seen as the reference for film producers around the world, and TV broadcasters alike. (45 entries, 14 nations represented, 6 finalists, the best of whitewater kayaking on film every year). Enjoy the show! 

NB: 50% is based on a panel of whitewater and filmmaking professionals, 50% based on online votes & views.

Car Runs Over Five-Year-Old And His Grandmother: Both Escape Serious Injury

A five-year-old boy and his grandmother have escaped serious injury after they were run over by a car in Brazil.

Vilma Teodoro do Nascimento and her grandson Joao Pedro were caught in the path of a white Volkswagen after it was smashed into by an out-of-control Chevrolet at a crossroads in a town in Goias.

Teodoro said: "I saw them, those two (cars) hit each other over there, I tried to get out of the way but there wasn't the time. When that white car ran over my back I didn't see anything else."

Joao Pedro put his survival down to devine intervention.

"I was hurt here, here...and on the ear," the boy said, adding: "It was a miracle from God."

Nani Roma, vencedor del Dakar 2014 con MINI

Catania - Droga, 48 arresti nel Rione San Cristoforo -2- (21.01.14)

Catania - La polizia ha sgominato un'organizzazione che gestiva una rete di spacciatori nel popoloso rione San Cristoforo di Catania. La squadra mobile ha eseguito un'ordinanza per 48 indagati che, secondo le indagini, facevano parte di un gruppo che aveva un volume d'affari di 4 milioni euro l'anno. Lo spaccio avveniva nella zona di via Colomba, che ha dato il nome all'inchiesta. Durante le indagini sono emersi contatti con il clan Cappello-Cursoti, ma non è contestata l'aggravante mafiosa. (21.01.14)

Russian Police Kill Islamist Militant Leader Ahead of Sochi Olympics

Russian security forces kill a senior Islamist militant in a shootout in Russia's North Caucasus ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Full Story:

Police killed a senior Islamist militant in a shootout in Russia's North Caucasus ahead of the Winter Olympics in Sochi, the National Anti-Terror Committee said on Tuesday.

The shooting of Eldar Magatov, a suspect in numerous attacks on Russian targets, at a house where he had taken refuge in the Dagestan region was part of an intensifying security clampdown.

President Vladimir Putin has staked his political reputation on organizing a successful Olympics.

Magatov led an insurgent group in Dagestan, which has become the focal point of the insurgency, which is rooted in two separatist wars in neighboring Chechnya.

In a video published on Monday, two men said to have carried out twin suicide bombings in Volgograd City last month, warned Putin to expect more attacks if the Games go ahead.

The attacks in Volgograd killed at least 34 people and raised security fears before the Olympics, which open on February 7 in Sochi, a Black Sea resort on the edge of the Caucasus Mountains.

In Sochi itself, residents say posters have appeared of a woman from Dagestan whom the Russian authorities suspect could be planning a suicide bombing. 

Putin says Russia can cope with the security threat.

Russia program director at Human Rights Watch, Tatyana Lokshina, says almost daily military operations in Dagestan is a part of Kremlin's strategy to ensure security during the Games.

She says pressure by the authorities on the civil society has become less intense in the months before the Olympics and is likely to get stronger, if the world stops watching Russia closely.

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