6 theSun | WEDNESDAY MARCH 18 2009

news without borders

No danger to More bad news for US papers

ISS from
space junk: Nasa
WASHINGTON: A piece of space junk from a Soviet satellite
does not pose a threat to the International Space Station or
the Discovery shuttle as it races through space to dock with
it, Nasa said on Monday.
“We will not need to perform the debris avoidance
manoeuver,” mission control in Houston told the seven-
member crew on board the space shuttle, after tracking
the debris for hours.
Hours after Discovery’s launch on Sunday, Nasa said
it was tracking a 10-centimeter piece of debris believed
to be from the Soviet-era Kosmos 1275 satellite, which
disintegrated shortly after it was launched in 1981.
Initial projections put the object on a trajectory that
would take it to within three-quarters of a kilometer of the
International Space Station, causing teams in Houston and
Moscow to prepare a plan to move the ISS from its orbit if
necessary.
WASHINGTON: US newspapers are in a
state “perilously close to free fall” and time
is running short for them to find a business
model and reinvent themselves, according
to a study released on Monday.
The Pew Research Center’s Project for
Excellence in Journalism said its 2009 report
on the State of the News Media was the
“bleakest” it has issued since it began doing
the annual studies six years ago.
The report examined newspapers, online
media, network, cable and local television
news as well as news magazines, radio and
the ethnic press.
As the study was released, Hearst Corp.,
publisher of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
announced it was ending the print edition of
the 146-year-old newspaper yesterday and
going online only.
The Pew report found that US weekly
news magazines and daily newspapers are
particularly troubled. “The newspaper in-
dustry exited a harrowing 2008 and entered
2009 in something perilously close to free
fall,” its authors said.
Nevertheless, they said, “we still do not
subscribe to the theory that the death of the
industry is imminent,” noting the industry
overall “in 2008 remained profitable.”
“But the deep recession already threatens
the weakest papers,” they warned. “Nearly all
are now cutting so deeply and rapidly that
simply coping with the economic downturn
has become a major distraction from efforts
to reinvent the economics of the business.
“If the industry is not dying, the pertinent
question may be can newspapers beat the
clock?” they asked. “Can they find a way to
convert their growing audience online into
sufficient revenue to sustain the industry
before their shrinking revenues from print
fall too far?”
The Pew report said two developments
converged in the last year to “shorten the
time that journalism has left to reinvent
its business model and secure its financial
future.“First, the audience migration to the
Web accelerated substantially in 2008 ... but
online ad revenue flattened, and in news-
papers it declined. Second, the recession
hammered advertising and diverted attention
away from innovating new revenue sources,”
the report said.
“The result of the changes of 2008,” the
study said, “is an industry diminished, with
less time and resources to finance the transi-
tion. – AFP

Obama calls AIG

ing division have forced the US
government to pump some US$150
billion (RM555 billion) into the crip-
pled American International Group.
On March 2, it unveiled another
emergency injection of US$30 billion
(RM111 billion).

bonuses an ‘outrage’
He called for “some form of reso-
lution mechanism in dealing with
troubled financial institutions, so we
have greater authority to protect the
American taxpayer and our financial
system in cases such as this.”
“We will work with Con-
Japan WASHINGTON: US President gress to that end.”
Aerospace Barack Obama on Monday said The president, conscious
Exploration multi-million-dollar bonuses of the potential for a public
Agency planned for executives and traders backlash as his administration
astronaut at bailed-out insurance giant AIG readies new support for the
But Nasa called off the “debris avoidance manoeuvred” Koichi were an “outrage” and vowed to banking industry, added that
after new information showed that the rubble was outside Wakata (left) pursue a clampdown. the controversy at AIG “isn’t
the ISS’s danger zone. is seen after “This is a corporation that finds just a matter of dollars and
The space junk threat was the second in as many weeks launch, on itself in financial distress due to cents.”
to threaten the ISS. the mid-deck recklessness and greed,” he said “It’s about our fundamental
Last week, the space station’s three-member crew had of the Space in prepared remarks at the White values,” he said.
to temporarily evacuate the space station and seek shelter Shuttle House. “All across the country,
in a Soyuz capsule when a small piece of debris passed Discovery, “Under these circumstances, it’s there are people who work
about 4.5 kilometers from the ISS. with Richard hard to understand how deriva- hard and meet their responsi-
A debris avoidance manoeuvre could not be undertaken Arnold tive traders at AIG warranted any bilities every day, without the
last week because the Discovery shuttle was scheduled to (centre) and bonuses, much less US$165 million benefit of government bailouts
launch on Sunday, and the ISS had to maintain its altitude, John Phillips (RM610.5 million) in extra pay,” or multi-million-dollar bo-
Nasa officials told AFP. (right) in this Obama said, after details of the pay- nuses.
Cain, head of the mission management team, told a image from outs emerged over the weekend. “And all they ask is that
news conference on Monday that while Nasa was “con- Nasa TV. “How do they justify this outrage everyone, from Main Street
stantly mindful” of space rubble, having “one or two or three to the taxpayers who are keeping to Wall Street to Washington,
in short period of time is not anything significant.” the company afloat?” play by the same rules. That is
Asked if the piece of rubble might pose a threat to the On Sunday, administration offi- an ethic we must demand.”
shuttle when it reaches the same orbit as the ISS, Cain said: cials said there was little that Treas- Meanwhile, Mexico
“There is an ongoing assessment, in terms of these kinds of ury Secretary Timothy Geithner slapped tariffs on 90 American
debris issues ... But between now and docking, I don’t think could do legally to stop the bonuses, agricultural and manufactured
it will become an issue.” – AFP because they were promised under exports on Monday in retalia-
AIG employment contracts before tion for Washington’s move
the insurer was bailed to block Mexican trucks from
out. using US highways.
But Obama, said: “I’ve asked Secretary Geithner Mexican Economy Minister
noting the to use that leverage and pursue every Gerardo Ruiz said about US$2.4 bil-
substantial legal avenue to block these bonuses lion (RM8.8 billion) worth of exports
government and make the American taxpayers from 40 US states will be affected and
support ex- whole.” that his government will soon publish
tended to AIG, Massive losses at a London trad- a list of them.
Last week, the US Congress can-
celled funding for a test programme
Obama speaks to a group of small business begun by the Bush administration
owners and community bankers, including that allowed Mexican trucks to circu-
Cynthia Blankenship (right), co-founder of late in the US in compliance with the
Bank of the West in Grapevine, Texas in North American Free Trade Agree-
the White House. ment. – Agencies

before she disappeared on Sunday tion for service of documents,” she

afternoon. Heavily armed police discov- said. Buckett was commenting after

briefs ered human remains, believed to be the

Australian rangers hunt
killer croc
LAMBELLS LAGOON (Australia):
Australian rangers yesterday combed
waterways for a crocodile believed to
have attacked an 11-year-old girl, as
DNA testing was carried out on human
remains found after she vanished.
Briony Goodsell was thought to have
been taken by a saltwater croc while
swimming in the Black Jungle Swamp,
near the northern city of Darwin, with her
seven-year-old sister and two friends.
Witnesses said they saw a crocodile’s
tail slap the water near the girl seconds
schoolgirl’s on Monday but there was no
trace of the killer crocodile. – AFP
NZ judge gives legal nod
to Facebook
WELLINGTON: A New Zealand judge
has “opened the legal floodgates”
by approving the use of the social-
networking website Facebook to
serve court papers, according to a
Wellington lawyer quoted yesterday.
“Who would have thought Face-
book would become part of the legal
process?” Barbara Buckett told the
Dominion Post.
“It took a long time for the courts
to even look at faxes as a substitu-
Associate Judge David Gendall ap-
proved serving court papers through
Facebook at a hearing Monday in the
Wellington High Court. – dpa
Strong quake strikes
islands off Indonesia
JAKARTA: An earthquake measuring 6.4
on the Richter scale struck on Monday
evening off the northern tip of Indone-
sia’s Sulawesi island, but there were no
immediate reports of injury and damage,
officials said.
The quake at a depth of 35km near
the Talaud islands occurred at 9:16 pm
(11.16pm in Malaysia), the Indonesian
Meteorology and Geophysics Agency
said. – dpa