Athens Pride 2015 -Χαιρετισμός Ζωής Κωνσταντοπούλου

Greek coast guard rescues migrants heading for Europe

Azerbaijan: Putin and Erdogan meet on sidelines of first European Games

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met on the sidelines of first European Games in Baku, Saturday, to discuss bilateral relations between both nations.

Both leaders took part in the opening ceremony of the games on Friday, alongside Azeri President Ilham Aliyev and several other heads of state, and wished success to all the participants involved in the multi-sport competition.

The first European Games are running for 17 days, from June 12 to June 28, with over 6,000 athletes from 50 different countries participating in the competition.

Boeing 787 shows off near-vertical take-off - BBC News

Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 13 Ιουν 2015

Boeing has released footage of its new 787 Dreamliner plane rehearsing the flying display it will perform at the 2015 Paris Air Show which starts on Monday - including a near-vertical take-off.

Gun attack at Dallas police headquarters

• 1 hour ago
 
• From the sectionUS & Canada

Media captionFootage showed shots being fired in Dallas (Source: Twitter user @madwho12)

The police headquarters in the US city of Dallas, Texas, has come under attack by an unknown number of gunmen who opened fire on officers.

One suspect fled the scene in what was described as an armoured van and is involved in a standoff in a car park.

A number of bags were found outside the police HQ, at least one of which contained explosives including pipe bombs, police said on Twitter.

The motive for the attack is not clear. No officers have been hurt.

Dallas Police Chief David Brown quoted witnesses as saying that as many as four suspects were involved in the initial shooting at about 00:30 (05:30GMT) on Saturday. However, he said this had not been confirmed.

He said one suspect then fled the scene in the van, ramming a police car.

A police chase involving dozens of squad cars ended in a car park in Hutchins, about nine miles (14km) from central Dallas, and officers are negotiating with the occupant of the van, Mr Brown said.

The van, which has been disabled using a police rifle, appeared to have gun ports built into its sides.

Police released pictures showing gunshot damage to their headquarters

This squad car was hit by gunfire but no officers were injured

Debris marks the spot where one of the bags exploded

Police said the man had identified himself as James Boulware.

Mr Brown said police could not confirm his identity, but said that officers had attended three incidents of domestic violence involving a man with that name in which he had said he wanted to "blow up" the police because they had taken his child and accused him of being a terrorist.

Suspicious package

Meanwhile, residents near the police headquarters have been evacuated as a precaution as specialist teams dealt with the explosives.

One of the bags exploded as a robot tried to move it.

Dallas police also said they were investigating a suspicious package under a police truck outside the headquarters, as well as another in a rubbish container.

Joshua Guilbuad, whose apartment is opposite the police headquarters, told the BBC he was woken by the gunshots.

"It sounded like approximately 200 gunshots going off across the street. Then we could see cars pulling up."

He said police told him and his flatmates to evacuate the building and shortly afterwards there was "a huge explosion which shook the glass in the windows".

"We are now in the basement of the building with no access to food or water," he said.

Meet Afalina: Russian manufacturer reveals the world’s cheapest helicopter (VIDEO)

Published time: June 12, 2015 19:32

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imag from http://heliwhale.ru

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Russia, SciTech

The Russian designers are about to fulfil the consumer’s dream of an affordable helicopter, with Afalina rotorcraft expected to cost about half than currently the cheapest offer on the market and run on car fuel as it goes into production in 2016.

HeliWhale, a company from the Siberian city of Kemerovo, revealed its unique helicopter at the HeliRussia 2015 exhibition, which took place in Moscow in late-May.

An ultra-light, coaxial two-seater is called Afalina, the Russian word for bottlenose dolphin, with the rotorcraft’s hull resembling the shape of the marine mammal’s body.

Afalina is designed as a multipurpose helicopter capable of performing a variety of tasks, including the training of pilots, maintenance of pipelines and power lines, aerial surveillance, police patrolling, transportation of personnel, farm work and recreational flights.

One of the machine’s key features is the customizable Enigma system, which allows the pilot to pick and choose his cockpit display layout from hundreds of devices and functions.

The coaxial positioning of rotors used in Afalina ensures that the aircraft is easier to pilot, more silent and more resistant to lateral wind gusts.

HeliWhale said that the patented new control system of coaxial rotors also provides the helicopter with high velocity of up to 250 kilometers per hour at max speed.

The aircraft, weighing 270 kilograms, is capable of carrying a payload of another 180 kilograms, the company said.

Afalina can also be refueled with conventional 95 octane car fuel, with the consumption between 12 and 16 liters (3 to 4 gallons) per hour

Read moreEurope’s largest helicopter exhibition lifts off in Moscow (VIDEO)

According to HeliWhale, the helicopter will cost $120,000, which includes heating and ventilation systems in the cockpit.

“Today nobody else produces aircrafts of this class, even the two-seater ‘Robinson’ is heavier than ‘Afalina’ and is, in fact, a completely different machine,” Jacov Kolesnikov, general director of HeliWhale told Russia and India Report website.

“The American Robinsons are also much more expensive. A two-seat helicopter costs $300,000,” he added.

Afalina has been built from scratch by the Russian designers, with HeliWhale producing all parts itself, except for the Austrian made engine, Rotax.

“We are looking for domestic engines, and if there is a quality Russian engine, maybe we'll switch to it,”Kolesnikov said.

Endurance test for the flying prototype of the rotorcraft are about to begin in short term.

The company says that its production plant in Kemerovo will be able to build from 10 to 15 machines every year.

They’ll be supplied to customers as kit-sets models for self-assembly in order to keep the price low, the developer said.

Besides Russia, HeliWhale is planning to engage with the US, Australian, and EU markets, saying that it already has orders for Afalina from abroad.

ΔΕΣΜΕΥΟΥΝ ΓΙΑ ΑΣΚΗΣΕΙΣ ΠΕΡΙΟΧΗ ΣΤΟ ΚΕΝΤΡΟ ΤΟΥ ΑΡΧΙΠΕΛΑΓΟΥΣ

Τουρκική πρόκληση στην «καρδιά» του Αιγαίου

Αντιμέτωπη με νέα προσπάθεια της Τουρκίας να κλιμακώσει την ένταση στο Αιγαίο βρίσκεται η Αθήνα, καθώς μετά από ένα μπαράζ προκλήσεων, αιφνιδιαστικά χθες η Τουρκία επανήλθε δεσμεύοντας για ασκήσεις μεγάλη περιοχή στην «καρδιά» του Αιγαίου για το διάστημα μέχρι τις 31 Δεκεμβρίου.

Η Τουρκία με τη NAVTEX 564/15 που εκδόθηκε χθες δέσμευσε την ίδια περιοχή που είχε δεσμεύσει με NAVTEX που ενεργοποίησε λίγο μετά τις εκλογές και οδήγησε σε κρίση τις σχέσεις με τη νέα ελληνική κυβέρνηση.

Κινητοποίηση
Ομως το «λάθος» των Τούρκων επιτελών να συμπεριλάβουν στις συντεταγμένες της περιοχής που δέσμευαν ακόμη και έδαφος της Λήμνου διευκόλυνε την προσπάθεια της Αθήνας και του υπουργού Εξωτερικών Ν. Κοτζιά, που με κινητοποίηση σε διεθνείς οργανισμούς, στο ΝΑΤΟ και στην Ε.Ε., πέτυχαν την απόσυρση της NAVTEX.

Η συγκεκριμένη περιοχή που δέσμευσε η Τουρκία περικλείει τον διεθνή εναέριο χώρο μεταξύ Λέσβου, Αϊ-Στράτη, της νησίδας Πιπέρι Αλοννήσου και ανατολικά της Σκύρου. Η δέσμευση γίνεται για ιδιαίτερα μεγάλο διάστημα (από 15 Ιουνίου μέχρι τις 31 Δεκεμβρίου 2015) για «επικίνδυνες δραστηριότητες» καθημερινά από τις 5πΜ. ? 4 μ.μ. με την εξαίρεση των Σαββατοκύριακων και των εθνικών εορτών.

Η NAVTEX αυτή διόρθωσε το λάθος που είχε γίνει με τη συντεταγμένη που επικάλυπτε έδαφος της Λήμνου (κάτι που προκάλεσε την αποδοκιμασία τόσο των Αμερικανών όσο και του ΝΑΤΟ) αλλά παρ' όλα αυτά απονεκρώνει ένα μεγάλο τμήμα στο κέντρο του Αιγαίου και μάλιστα στην κορύφωση της τουριστικής περιόδου και δημιουργεί προβλήματα στους αεροδιαδρόμους UG 33 και UG18.

Δεν είναι τυχαίο πάντως το γεγονός ότι η έκδοση της συγκεκριμένης NAVTEX γίνεται ενώ έχουν ξεκινήσει με πρωτοβουλία του υπουργού Εξωτερικών Ν. Κοτζιά συνομιλίες με την Τουρκία για την υιοθέτηση Μέτρων Οικοδόμησης Εμπιστοσύνης.

Επιδίωξη
Στη συζήτηση αυτή η Τουρκία έχει θέσει στην κορυφή της ατζέντας της το θέμα της «αμοιβαίας» κατάργησης πεδίων βολής που δεσμεύονται για μεγάλο διάστημα στον διεθνή εναέριο χώρο του Αιγαίου και για τον λόγο αυτόν δέσμευσε το πεδίο βολής ώστε για την κατάργησή του να ζητήσει την κατάργηση και ενός εκ των τριών ελληνικών πεδίων βολής στο Αιγαίο.

Η ξαφνική κλιμάκωση της επιθετικής δραστηριότητας της Τουρκίας στο Αιγαίο και στην Ανατολική Μεσόγειο προκαλεί προβληματισμό στην Αθήνα καθώς επιχειρεί να αξιολογήσει εάν πρόκειται για νέα προσέγγιση στα ελληνοτουρκικά ή για συνήθεις «αναταράξεις» που σημειώνονται τις περιόδους πολιτικής ρευστότητας σε Ελλάδα και Τουρκία.

ΝΙΚΟΣ ΜΕΛΕΤΗΣ

Expedition 43 Crew Returns Home

Three crew members of the International Space Station (ISS) returned to Earth Thursday after a 199-day mission that included several spacewalks, technology demonstrations, and hundreds of scientific experiments spanning multiple disciplines, including human and plant biology. Expedition 43 Commander Terry Virts of NASA, Flight Engineers Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency) touched down at 9:44 a.m. EDT (7:44 p.m., Kazakh time), southeast of the remote town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. "The capsule landed in the planned landing area, approximately 145 kilometers southeast of the city of Jezkazgan," the Russian Mission Control Center said. A little later search and rescue groups reached the place of landing and started evacuating astronauts.

"The landing was rough and fast. We were spinning a bit for some reason, but the timing was perfect. Everything was done precisely to the required second,” Shkaplerov told Rossiya 24.

During their time aboard the orbiting laboratory, the crew members participated in a variety of research activities focusing on the effects of microgravity on cells, Earth observation, physical science, and biological and molecular science. Their research included the start of a one-year study into human health management over long-duration space travel with the March arrival of NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and Roscosmos cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko – the One-Year Crew.

Expedition 43 had to prolong their stay on the Space Station after the April 28 accident involving the Progress M-27M cargo spacecraft.

The Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket took the spacecraft to a higher orbit than had originally planned, which made subsequent attempts to dock the Progress with the ISS impossible.

The accident occurred due to the "abnormal separation" of the Soyuz third stage and the Progress after an unaccounted design fault caused decompression of the rocket's fuel tanks, Roscosmos said.

The team members welcomed three cargo spacecraft during their stay on station. One Russian ISS Progress cargo vehicle docked to the station in February carrying tons of supplies, and Virts assisted with grapple and connection of two SpaceX Dragon deliveries in January and April -- the company's fifth and sixth NASA-contracted commercial resupply missions.

In preparation for the arrival of U.S. commercial crew vehicles, Virts ventured outside the station for three planned spacewalks to make adjustments for new International Docking Adapters (IDA) that can accommodate the spacecraft. The first IDA is scheduled to arrive on SpaceX’s seventh commercial resupply flight later this month.

Expedition 43 Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti from European Space Agency (ESA) rests in a chair outside the Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft just minutes after she and NASA astronaut Terry Virts of NASA, and cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Thursday, June 11, 2015. Virts, Shkaplerov, and Cristoforetti are returning after more than six months onboard the International Space Station where they served as members of the Expedition 42 and 43 crews. Photo Credit: (NASA/Bill Ingalls)

The crew also had the opportunity to participate in the demonstration of new, cutting-edge technologies such as the Synthetic Muscle experiment, a test of a new polymer that contracts and expands similar to real muscle. This technology has the potential for future use on robots, enabling them to perform tasks that require considerable dexterity but are too dangerous to be performed by humans in space.

The crew engaged in a number of biological studies, including one investigation to better understand the risks of in-flight infections and another studying the effects microgravity has on bone health during long-duration spaceflight. The Micro-5 study used a small roundworm and a microbe that causes food poisoning in humans to study the risk of infectious diseases in space, which is critical for ensuring crew health, safety and performance during long-duration missions. The Osteo-4 study investigated bone loss in space, which has applications not only for astronauts on long-duration missions, but also for people on Earth affected by osteoporosis and other bone disorders.

The returning crew members will celebrate individual milestones in their space exploration careers. With the completion of his second mission, Virts now has spent 212 days in space. Shkaplerov, having completed his second long-duration mission on the station, has spent 364 days in space. Cristoforetti set a new record for single mission duration by a female astronaut with 199 days in space on her first flight, surpassing NASA astronaut Suni Williams’ previous record of 195 days as a flight engineer on Expeditions 14 and 15 from December 2006 to June 2007.

The Soyuz TMA-15M spacecraft is seen as it lands with Expedition 43 commander Terry Virts of NASA, cosmonaut Anton Shkaplerov of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti from European Space Agency (ESA) near the town of Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan on Thursday, June 11, 2015. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

Expedition 44 now is operating the station with Roscosmos’ Gennady Padalka in command. Flight Engineers Scott Kelly of NASA and Mikhail Kornienko of Roscosmos, are continuing station research and operations until three new crewmates arrive. Kelly and Kornienko are on the first joint U.S.-Russian one-year mission, an important stepping stone on NASA’s journey to Mars.

NASA’s Kjell Lindgren, Roscosmos’ Oleg Kononenko and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Kimiya Yui are scheduled to launch from Kazakhstan in late July.