Parihaka

The ousted President of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, is under arrest after he was captured by US soldiers.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we got him," US administrator Paul Bremer told journalists in Baghdad. "The tyrant is a prisoner."

Saddam Hussein was found hidden in a tiny bunker at a farmhouse about 10 miles (15 km) south of his home town, Tikrit.

A US military spokesman, Major-General Raymond Odierno, said the operation was launched soon after a tip-off from a member of Saddam Hussein's own extended family.

"Over the last 10 days we brought in about five to 10 members of these families, and finally got the ultimate information from one of these individuals," he said.

Reward

There was a $25m reward offered by the US authorities for information leading to his capture.

A similar reward was claimed for revealing the whereabouts of Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay, who were killed in a raid by US forces in the northern city of Mosul in July.

Saddam Hussein was found in a "spider hole" or cellar just big enough for a person to lie down in, and six to eight feet (1.8m to 2.5m) deep.

The entrance was topped with a polystyrene lid and covered with a rug, bricks and dirt. Saddam had been breathing through an air vent and extractor fan.

The former Iraqi dictator was armed with a pistol, but Major-General Odierno said he gave himself up without resistance.

He seemed "disoriented" and "bewildered", the Major-General said, and was arrested at 2030 local time (1730 GMT).

Dishevelled

Two unidentified people said to be "close allies" of Saddam Hussein were also arrested. Weapons and more than $750,000 in cash was confiscated.

Video footage was released by the US military showing a dishevelled Saddam with a long black and grey beard undergoing a medical examination.

The former president had not been seen since US forces entered Baghdad in April.

Despite one of the most intensive manhunts in history, he has evaded capture for eight months.

As the news spread throughout Iraq, people began celebrating in the streets of Baghdad and the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk by sounding their horns and firing into the air.

Saddam's stronghold towns of Tikrit and Fallujah, however, were sombre and quiet.

Parihaka

The last manned space mission to the Moon is on its way back to Earth, bringing to an end the US programme of lunar exploration.

The two Apollo 17 astronauts, Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, completed their third lunar walk after a short ceremony in which they bade farewell to the Moon and unveiled a small commemorative plaque at the Taurus-Littrow valley.

On it was written, "Here man completed his first explorations of the Moon, December 1972."

Eugene Cernan also read out loud the postscript: "May the spirit of peace in which we came be reflected in the lives of all mankind."

Signatures

The plaque also bore the signatures of the astronauts and the US President Richard Nixon.

"This is our commemmoration," added Commander Cernan, "which will be here until someone comes back to read it again to further the meaning of Apollo."

His colleague, Dr Schmitt, called the voyages to the Moon man's "first evolutionary steps into the universe", and said, "I can think of no more significant contribution that Apollo has made to history."

Apollo 17 has already been hailed as the most successful of them all.

Commander Cernan and Dr Schmitt, the first trained geologist in space, gathered more material than ever before, spent longer on the surface and drove further away from the landing craft than in any previous Apollo mission.

They also set up six automatic research stations which will continue to operate after their departure.

Ground-breaking

The mission made one potentially ground-breaking discovery: an orange soil, found yesterday at the Shorty crater, is believed to be the first indication yet that there has been volcanic activity on the Moon.

During their last drive, the astronauts explored the base of the 6,000 ft (1,800 metres) high mountain known as North Massif. They then went north-east to the very different range known as the Sculptured Hills.

Twelve men have now walked on the Moon since Neil Armstrong stepped out of Apollo 11 in July 1969.

There are no plans at present for astronauts to return, although Nasa still hopes men might fly back to the Moon in the 1980s, possibly as a joint US-Soviet venture.

Parihaka

Maybe it's a little story in the context of world events but it's a reminder of the selfless nature of those who serve

Dreadnought

Nice image Parihaka

Parihaka

Sir Edmund Hillary has reached the South Pole - the first overland explorer to do so since Captain Robert F Scott's expedition in 1912.
The New Zealander and his team arrived safely after travelling 70 miles (113km) through mist and poor weather conditions.

They described seeing the round tower of the South Pole for the first time as a "black blob" on the horizon.

Sir Edmund and his colleagues had only one drum of petrol left when they sighted the Polar base. This would have been enough for the "tractor train" to travel 20 miles (32km).

Earlier, the explorer had said fuel consumption was the party's main worry and that the team were "cutting it fine" because of very soft snow. Members of the team had to use shovels to clear a path for their tractors.

It took the tractor train, which included three tractors, a caboose and two sledges, more than 80 days to complete the 1,200-mile (1,930km) journey.

Sir Edmund was reportedly enthusiastic ahead of his arrival at the South Pole, and had told colleagues of heavy going in snow with a consistency of sugar, although he said good progress had been made.


We are heading hellbent for the Pole. God willing and crevasses permitting.


Sir Edmund Hillary ahead of arrival




In the final leg of the journey, the sky was overcast and there was no sun to warm the polar plateau. The party had to travel in "white-out" conditions for most of the time, with Sir Edmund telling Scott Base by radio: "It is tough, but not too tough."

The explorer later thanked his team, which included Ron Balham, Peter Mulgrew, Murray Ellis, Jim Bates and Derek Wright, and everyone involved in the expedition to the South Pole.


We are all very tired but well and very pleased to have arrived.


Sir Edmund Hillary


A broadcast message congratulating the triumphant group has been sent by New Zealand Prime Minister Walter Nash. All the explorers have spent 16 hours sleeping following their gruelling journey.

Crossing the polar plateau has led to several problems for Sir Edmund and the others in his party, including engine failure and poor weather conditions such as low cloud and strong winds, plus the hidden danger of crevasses.

Meanwhile, Sir Vivian Fuchs - director of the British Antarctic Survey - has reported a significant advance to about 200 miles (322km) from the Pole, and hopes to advance by around 50 miles (80km) per day. The two parties, approaching from opposite directions, had originally intended to link up on the Scott Base side of the South Pole.

Both teams of explorers were able to report progress by radio to the outside world and also made radio contact with each other to discuss future plans. They were also helped by the Beaver aircraft of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

Sir Edmund Hillary's team is one of two Commonwealth Antarctic Expeditions.There are also 10 other national expeditions currently exploring the vast Antartic continent.

Since October 1956, the Americans have had a station at the geographical pole, with 20 men there at any one time. Russia has five bases - including the biggest in the Antarctic, which is at Mirny.


And yes, that's a Massey Ferguson tractor, they used three of them to reach the Pole

THL

On January 13th, 1794, President Washington approved a measure adding two stars and two stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the union. (The number of stripes was later reduced to the original 13.)

In 1893, Britain’s Independent Labor Party (a precursor to the current Labor Party) held its first meeting.

In 1978, former Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey died in Waverly, Minnesota, at age 66.

Five years ago: An earthquake measuring magnitude seven-point-six struck El Salvador; more than 840 people were killed.

One year ago: Major League Baseball adopted a tougher steroid-testing program that suspended first-time offenders for ten days and randomly tested players year-round.

In History Today - January 13th

__________________
"To dream of the person you would like to be is to waste the person you are."-Sholem Asch

"I always turn to the sports page first, which records people's accomplishments. The front page has nothing but man's failures."-Earl Warren

"I didn't intend for this to take on a political tone. I'm just here for the drugs."-Nancy Reagan, when asked a political question at a "Just Say No" rally

"He no play-a da game, he no make-a da rules."-Earl Butz, on the Pope's attitude toward birth control

Captain Drunk

January 14, 1991

UN Secretary General fails in Iraq. The Iraqi Parliament gives Saddam an unanimous vote of confidence for War. France's Six-point Proposal is being brushed aside. The US goes into a war watch.

Saddam sends King Fahd an open letter telling him that he will be responsible if War breaks out and condemns him for inviting foreign troops onto his soil.

Abu Lyad, deputy to Arafat, is assassinated

Israel issues gas masks to Palestinian residents

US Navy strength in the region reaches 108 ships

The 3rd F-16 is lost during Desert Shield (all types of accidents and losses).

Parihaka

1991: 'Mother of all Battles' begins
The Gulf War Allies have sent hundreds of planes on bombing raids into Iraq, at the start of Operation Desert Storm.

The American, British, French, Saudi and Kuwaiti aircraft took off at 2330 GMT last night.

Their bombs were aimed at military and strategic targets, including an oil refinery and Baghdad airport.

At least 400 raids took place. Latest reports say all the Allied aircraft have returned home safely, although France says four of its planes were hit.

One Tornado was shot down
Read the navigator's story

US Defence Secretary, Dick Cheney, said the operation appeared to have gone "very well".

Two hours after the raids began, President George Bush made a televised address.

He said the military objectives were clear - force Iraqi troops out of Kuwait and restore the legitimate government.

In Baghdad, Saddam Hussein remained defiant. He said the "Mother of all Battles had begun". He urged the Iraqi people to "stand up to evil".

First news of the bombing came from reporters in Baghdad working for the American TV network, CNN. They reported hearing air raid sirens shortly before the bombs hit.

President Bush said: "Our operations are designed to best protect the lives of all the coalition forces by targeting Saddam's vast military arsenal.

"Initial reports from General Schwarzkopf are that our operations are proceeding according to plan."

The British Prime Minister, John Major, came out of Number Ten shortly before 0800 GMT to make a statement to reporters.

"No-one wanted this conflict. No-one can be pleased about the fact this conflict has been necessary," he said.

"I hope now it is clear to Iraq that the scale of the Allied operation is such that they cannot win.

"I hope that Saddam Hussein will now make a very swift decision that he will do what he's been invited to do by the world community for a long time, that he should get out of Kuwait and end this matter swiftly and decisively."

He said the attacks would continue until Saddam withdrew his troops.

Allied planes have taken off this morning to launch a second round of air strikes.

Parihaka

1994: Massive earthquake hits Los Angeles
A huge earthquake has rocked Los Angeles, killing more than 20 people.

The earthquake, which measured 6.6 on the Richter scale and lasted for 40 seconds, struck at 0431 local time (1231 GMT).

More than 1,000 people have been injured and the death toll is expected to rise as rescuers continue to pull bodies from collapsed buildings.

Mayor of Los Angeles Richard Riordan has declared a state of emergency and an evening curfew has been imposed.

The airport has been closed due to a lack of power and doctors are having to perform surgery in the open air because hospital buildings are severely damaged.

'Stay home, stay calm'

The area worst hit is reported to have been the San Fernando Valley where the quake is likely to have affected up to three million people.

Los Angeles emergency services are stretched to the limit and using heat detecting cameras and listening equipment to trace signs of life beneath the rubble.

One of the city's fire fighters, Grove Lumas, said it was fortunate the quake had struck during the night.

He said: "If this had happened in the middle of the day we would have been stacking up the bodies."

Experts are warning of potential aftershocks and police have issued a statement warning of isolated cases of looting.

The authorities have told residents to "stay home" and "stay calm".

Parihaka

1995: Earthquake devastates Kobe
Hundreds of people are feared dead and thousands injured after a powerful earthquake struck Japan at dawn.

Worst hit was the port of Kobe, a city of 1.5 million. Whole buildings, apartment blocks and an elevated highway collapsed killing at least 200 people and injuring some 13,000.

Osaka and the ancient city of Kyoto were also severely damaged.

The earthquake measured 7.2 magnitude and was the biggest to hit Japan for 47 years.

It struck at 0546 local time just as commuters were starting their journey into work.


The whole room was moving around like it was made of jelly

Dennis Kessler, British journalist
Scientists say the epicentre was 15 miles (24km) below the island of Awajisima, 20 miles (32km)from Kobe.

The NHK national television station has broadcast pictures of a devastated Kobe, with smoke billowing over large sections of the city.

Hundreds of people are trapped under the rubble of flattened buildings, but damaged gas and water pipes are hampering the rescue effort.

Reports say at least two people died when the elevated section of the Hanshin motorway connecting Osaka to Kobe collapsed in three places.

It threw 50 cars off the edge and left a bus hanging over the edge.

Trains were derailed and power cut in some areas, leaving a million people without electricity.

Many hundreds of people are out on the streets wrapped in bedding, too afraid to go home in case of more after-shocks.

Eyewitnesses said the terrifying shaking lasted for about 20 seconds and was followed by several aftershocks.

British journalist Dennis Kessler living in Osaka described the moment he was woken by a loud roar and watched his second-floor flat sway like a pendulum.

"Every single object in our room was flying around," he told the Evening Standard newspaper.

"The walls and ceilings were moving and creaking, the whole room was moving around like it was made of jelly."

The prime minister, Tomiichi Muruyama, has ordered the creation of an emergency committee to handle the effects of the quake and sent troops to help the rescue operation.

Parihaka

1966: Indira Gandhi takes charge in India
Indira Gandhi, only daughter of India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, is to become the country's next leader.

She was chosen at the end of a bitter leadership battle with former finance minister Morarji Desai.

Following her win, Mrs Gandhi pledged herself to serve the Congress Party and the country, and said she would "strive to create what my father used to call a climate of peace."

Crowds had gathered outside Parliament House while the election was held, and cheered Mrs Gandhi wildly as she went to the President's House to report.

She will not become prime minister until she submits her cabinet to the president.

Mrs Gandhi did not confirm she would be a candidate until four days ago, when chief ministers from 11 of India's 16 states let it be known they would support her to take over.

Another leading candidate, Gulzarilal Nanda, withdrew once it was clear Mrs Gandhi would be running.

He has been acting as prime minister since the unexpected death of Mr Nehru's successor, Lal Bahadur Shastri, earlier this month.

Mr Desai was under extreme pressure to pull out as well and avoid a potentially damaging leadership contest, but he insisted on going to a vote.

It was predicted he would get less than 100 of the 526 votes from Congress MPs, but he surprised many by winning 169 votes to Mrs Gandhi's 355.

Afterwards, Mr Desai pledged to cooperate fully with Mrs Gandhi. It is the second time running he has been defeated in a leadership contest: the first time, against Mr Shastri, he withdrew his candidacy without a vote.

Mrs Gandhi, 48, was educated at West Bengal and Oxford and has two sons, Rajiv and Sanjay, who are both studying in England.

She gets her name not from Mahatma Gandhi, the legendary independence campaigner and founder of the Congress Party, but from her husband Feroze Gandhi, a lawyer who died in 1960.

The couple spent 13 months in prison for subversion after fighting against British rule in India during the 1940s.

She has played a key part in the Congress Party since 1955, and served as information minister in Mr Shastri's government.

Dreadnought

1961: John F Kennedy sworn in as US president

The Democrat John F Kennedy has been sworn in as the youngest ever elected president of the United States.
The 43-year-old Roman Catholic was inaugurated as the 35th president on a snow-covered Capitol Hill in Washington. He takes over from the oldest president in American history, General Dwight Eisenhower, who is bowing out aged 70.

The president's Republican rival, Richard Nixon, who came a close second in the race for the White House, also attended the inauguration ceremony.

Millions watched the swearing-in of the new president on television. He chose to wear formal dress, including a top hat, for the occasion.


Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country


President John F Kennedy


President Kennedy began his speech by addressing "my fellow citizens" - the term first used by President George Washington but rejected by later presidents in favour of the less formal "my fellow Americans".

His ten-minute address appealed to Americans to unite in the fight against the common enemy of man: tyranny, poverty, disease and war itself.

For the people of the world struggling against the "bonds of misery", the president pledged, "our best efforts to help them help themselves".

He continued: "If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich."

He also appealed to the Soviet Union to begin a new quest for peace.

"Let both sides for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations," he said.

President Kennedy closed his speech with the words: "Ask not what your country can do for you - ask what you can do for your country. My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man."

His words were greeted with
rousing applause.

The man never got a fair chance. Many believe he could have done wonders for America and the world. Sadly we will never know

Commando

His death shocked and created mourners all over the world. Not many other people have done that.

Dreadnought

1945: Auschwitz death camp liberated

The Red Army has liberated the Nazis' biggest concentration camp at Auschwitz in south-western Poland.
According to reports, hundreds of thousands of Polish people, as well as Jews from a number of other European countries, have been held prisoner there in appalling conditions and many have been killed in the gas chambers.

Few details have emerged of the capture of Auschwitz, which has gained a reputation as the most notorious of the Nazi death camps.

Some reports say the German guards were given orders several days ago to destroy the crematoria and gas chambers. Tens of thousands of prisoners - those who were able to walk - have been moved out of the prison and forced to march to other camps in Germany.


Little did we know that we had arrived at a place, the name of which would become as well known and remembered as any battle in the war


People's War memories »


Details of what went on at the camp have been released previously by the Polish Government in exile in London and from prisoners who have escaped.

In July 1944 details were revealed of more than 400,000 Hungarian Jews who were sent to Poland many of whom ended up in Auschwitz. They were loaded onto trains and taken to the camp where many were put to death in the gas chambers.

Before they went they were told they were being exchanged in Poland for prisoners of war and made to write cheerful letters to relatives at home telling them what was happening.

According to the Polish Ministry of Information, the gas chambers are capable of killing 6,000 people a day.

Another report from Poland told of mass arrests in the village of Garbatka near Radom in the early hours of one morning in August 1942. Workmen were accused of plotting to blow up a local factory. Twenty were executed on the spot, the rest were sent to Auschwitz.

Since its establishment in 1940, only a handful of prisoners have escaped to tell of the full horror of the camp.

In October last year, a group of Polish prisoners mounted an attack on their German guards. The Germans reportedly machine-gunned the barracks killing 200 Polish prisoners. The Poles succeeded in killing six of their executioners.

When the Red Army arrived at the camp they found only a few thousand prisoners remaining. They had been too sick to leave.

The capture of Auschwitz comes as the Red Army has made important advances on three fronts: in East Prussia to the north, in western Poland as well as Silesia in eastern Germany. Fighting is continuing around the historic Polish western city of Poznan.

The Polish capital, Warsaw, was liberated a week ago after five-and-a-half years of German occupation.

So much for an Iranian myth needless to say...Idiot!

Dreadnought

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- Twenty years ago, space shuttle Challenger blew apart in jets of fire and plumes of smoke, a terrifying sight witnessed by the families of the seven astronauts and by those who came to watch the historic launch of the first teacher in space.

The disaster shattered NASA's image and the belief that spaceflight could become as routine as airplane travel. The investigation into the accident's cause revealed a space agency more concerned with schedules and public relations than safety and sound decision-making.

Seventeen years later, seven more astronauts were lost on the shuttle Columbia, leading many to conclude NASA had not learned the lessons of Challenger.

But after last summer's successful return to flight under the highest level of engineering scrutiny ever, many space watchers are more hopeful.

"Don't we all learn as we go?" said Grace Corrigan, who lost her daughter, teacher Christa McAuliffe, in the Challenger accident. "Everybody learns from their mistakes."

Joining McAuliffe on the doomed January 28, 1986 Challenger flight were commander Dick Scobee, pilot Mike Smith and astronauts Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik, Ron McNair and Greg Jarvis.

"It was one of those defining moments in your life that you will always remember," said Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, who flew on the shuttle mission preceding Challenger. "Because in 1986, the space shuttle was the symbol of technological prowess of the United States and all of the sudden it's destroyed in front of everybody's eyes."

The two shuttle disasters, as well as the deaths of the Apollo 1 crew during a 1967 launch pad test, taught the space agency how to improve the herculean task of launching humans into space, NASA administrator Michael Griffin said recently.

On Thursday, NASA workers paused for their annual Day of Remembrance in honor of those lost in all three accidents. On Saturday, a ceremony remembering the Challenger accident is planned at Kennedy Space Center. (Full story)

Challenger was brought down just after liftoff by a poorly designed seal in the shuttle's solid rocket booster, which has since been redesigned and has performed without problems. It will be used on the next-generation vehicle with plans to return astronauts to the moon and later to Mars.

"We learned how to design solid rocket boosters ... with no further failures," Griffin said. "We got that from the Challenger crew, so that is part of the learning process, I'm afraid."

The Challenger disaster came in an era of tighter budgets, smaller work forces and a constant need for the space agency to justify the shuttle program that followed the heyday of the Apollo moon program. NASA had hoped sending a teacher into space to give a lesson would win back some public interest and show how routine shuttle flights could be.

The success of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs had led NASA to believe that spaceflight eventually could become as commonplace as an airplane ride, said Stanley Reinartz, the former manager of the shuttle project office at the Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He made the decision not to take engineers' concerns about the Challenger's O-ring seals to the highest reaches of NASA management.

"Things can go wrong," Reinartz said of the decision to launch. "You don't get away from it. It's always there."

Nelson said he is confident that the current NASA leaders have learned the lessons of management hubris from their predecessors. Griffin grounded the shuttle fleet last summer after foam fell off the tank of Discovery during the first shuttle flight after Columbia. It was a chunk of foam debris that doomed Columbia by knocking a hole in its wing.


Seven more shuttle astronauts were lost when Columbia broke to pieces upon re-entering the Earth's atmosphere February 1, 2003."The problem that NASA has had that caused the destruction of both space shuttles is the same ... -- arrogance in the management of NASA so that they were not listening to the engineers on the line," Nelson said.

But some critics wonder how long the 2-year-old reforms and attitude changes implemented after Columbia will last until, once again, dissenting opinion is discouraged and NASA managers override the concerns of their engineers.

In a series of telephone conference calls the night before Challenger's liftoff, engineers from NASA contractor Morton Thiokol recommended against a launch because data showed that cold temperatures compromised the O-rings' resiliency. The temperature at launch time was 36 degrees Fahrenheit (2.2 Celsius).

Under perceived pressure from NASA managers, Thiokol managers reversed themselves and went against the recommendation of their engineers not to launch, according to the investigation by a commission appointed by President Reagan.

"The presidential commission made very powerful and strong recommendations on how the system needed to be fixed," said Roger Boisjoly, a former Thiokol engineer who had opposed the Challenger launch during the conference calls. "Initially NASA installed every one of those (recommendations), but in the ensuing years proceeded to dismantle them."

Griffin said he is reminded of the early days of the nation's air transport system when scores of test pilots died in plane accidents during the early part of last century.

"The knowledge we gained was gained only through many, many losses," Griffin said. "That is the perspective through which we must look at our losses in spaceflight."