Is this Nikon's D800 DSLR?

Grab the salt shaker folks -- if Nikon Rumors is to be believed, what you're gazing at is Nikon's hotly rumored D800 DSLR. The camera is reportedly packing goodies like a massive 36 megapixel sensor capable of 7360 × 4912 resolution, and an ISO range of 100 to 6,400 that's pushable to 25,600. Furthermore, you can expect to find the same 51-point AF system found in the D3s, slots for SD and CF cards, USB 3.0 connectivity and over three-inches of display on back -- all while being "smaller and lighter" than the current D700. Notably, Nikon is apparently stepping up its DSLR video chops with this cam as well, as it's said to be capable of filming 1080p HD video at 30 fps, while 720p grants you up to 60 fps. Of course, this type of primo kit won't come cheap -- if it all proves true you can expect to slap down roughly $3,900 (¥300,000) to make one yours, although, a release date is still anyone's guess. You'll find another shot of this purported beauty after the break and the full rumor rundown at the source link below.

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Is this Nikon's D800 DSLR? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Nov 2011 04:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Research group proposes first system for assessing the odds of life on other worlds

Research group proposes first system for assessing the odds of life on other worlds

Monday, November 21, 2011

Within the next few years, the number of planets discovered in orbits around distant stars will likely reach several thousand or more. But even as our list of these newly discovered "exoplanets" grows ever-longer, the search for life beyond our solar system will likely focus much more narrowly on the relatively few of these new worlds which exhibit the most Earth-like of conditions.

For much of the scientific community, the search for alien life has long been dominated by the notion that our own planet serves as the best model of conditions best suited to the emergence of life on other worlds. And while there's an undeniable logic to seeking life in the same sort of conditions in which you already know it to be successful, there are scientists like Dirk Schulze-Makuch, an astrobiologist with the Washington State University School of Earth and Environmental Sciences and Abel Mendez, a modeling expert from the University of Puerto Rico, who also see such a model as the product of a potentially limiting form of earthling-biased thinking.

To Schulze-Makuch and his nine fellow authors ? an international working group representing, NASA, SETI, the German Aerospace Center, and four universities ? the search for life on other worlds is really driven by two questions.

"The first question is whether Earth-like conditions can be found on other worlds, since we know empirically that those conditions could harbor life," Schulze-Makuch said. "The second question is whether conditions exist on exoplanets that suggest the possibility of other forms of life, whether known to us or not."

In a paper to be published in the December issue of the journal Astrobiology, Schulze-Makuch and his co-authors propose a new system for classifying exoplanets using two different indices ? an Earth Similarity Index (ESI) for categorizing a planet's more earth-like features and a Planetary Habitability Index (PHI) for describing a variety of chemical and physical parameters that are theoretically conducive to life in more extreme, less-earthlike conditions.

Similarity indices provide a powerful tool for categorizing and extracting patterns from large and complex data sets. They are relatively quick and easy to calculate and provide a simple quantitative measure of departure from a reference state, usually on a scale from zero to one. They are used in mathematics, computer imaging, chemistry and many other fields.

The two indices proposed by the group mark the first attempt by scientists to categorize the many exoplanets and exomoons that are expected to be discovered in the near future in accordance with their potential to harbor some form of life.

"As a practical matter, interest in exoplanets is going to focus initially on the search for terrestrial, Earth-like planets," said Schulze-Makuch. "With that in mind, we propose an Earth Similarity Index which provides a quick screening tool with which to detect exoplanets most similar to Earth."

But the authors believe that focusing exclusively on earth-based assumptions about habitability may well be too restrictive an approach for capturing the potential variety of life forms that, at least in principle, may also exist on other worlds.

"Habitability in a wider sense is not necessarily restricted to water as a solvent or to a planet circling a star," the paper's authors write. "For example, the hydrocarbon lakes on Titan could host a different form of life. Analog studies in hydrocarbon environments on Earth, in fact, clearly indicate that these environments are habitable in principle. Orphan planets wandering free of any central star could likewise conceivably feature conditions suitable for some form of life."

The paper's authors concede that attempting to rate the probability that life of some unknown form could exist on any given world is an intrinsically more speculative endeavor. But the alternative, they argue, is to risk overlooking potentially habitable worlds by using overly restrictive assumptions.

"Our proposed PHI is informed by chemical and physical parameters that are conducive to life in general," they write. "It relies on factors that, in principle, could be detected at the distance of exoplanets from Earth, given currently planned future (space) instrumentation."

###

Washington State University: http://www.wsu.edu

Thanks to Washington State University for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/115358/Research_group_proposes_first_system_for_assessing_the_odds_of_life_on_other_worlds

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Grenade blasts bring violence to Syrian capital

A general view of the ruling Baath party headquarters, in Damascus, Syria, Sunday Nov. 20, 2011. Residents in the Syrian capital awoke to two loud explosions Sunday amid reports from activists that the Damascus headquarters of the ruling Baath party had been hit by several rocket-propelled grenades. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

A general view of the ruling Baath party headquarters, in Damascus, Syria, Sunday Nov. 20, 2011. Residents in the Syrian capital awoke to two loud explosions Sunday amid reports from activists that the Damascus headquarters of the ruling Baath party had been hit by several rocket-propelled grenades. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

A general view of the ruling Baath party headquarters, in Damascus, Syria, Sunday Nov. 20, 2011. Residents in the Syrian capital awoke to two loud explosions Sunday amid reports from activists that the Damascus headquarters of the ruling Baath party had been hit by several rocket-propelled grenades. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

Pro-Syrian regime protesters carry a huge portrait of Syrian President Bashar Assad during a demonstration to show their solidarity with their president, in Damascus, Syria, on Sunday Nov. 20, 2011. Residents in the Syrian capital awoke to two loud explosions Sunday amid reports from activists that the Damascus headquarters of the ruling Baath party had been hit by several rocket-propelled grenades. But eyewitnesses said the party headquarters appeared intact and reported no significant security deployment around it. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

Pro-Syrian regime protesters shout pro-Syrian President Bashar Assad slogans during a demonstration to show their soldarity with their president, in Damascus, Syria, on Sunday Nov. 20, 2011. Residents in the Syrian capital awoke to two loud explosions Sunday amid reports from activists that the Damascus headquarters of the ruling Baath party had been hit by several rocket-propelled grenades. But eyewitnesses said the party headquarters appeared intact and reported no significant security deployment around it. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem speaks during a press conference, in Damascus, Syria, on Sunday Nov. 20, 2011. Syria's foreign minister has attacked the Arab League following its suspension of Damascus and says the organization is being used as a "tool" to take the Syrian crisis to the U.N. Security Council. (AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

(AP) ? Rocket-propelled grenades struck the headquarters of Syria's ruling party Sunday, bringing the violence that has engulfed much of the country to the heart of its capital for the first time, activists said.

The attack on the building in Syria's capital of Damascus apparently caused no damage or casualties. But if true, it would mark a significant shift in the eight-month uprising against President Bashar Assad. Until now, the capital has remained relatively untouched.

The pre-dawn attack awoke many Syrians who reported hearing two loud blasts, but details could not be confirmed. The foreign minister denied an attack had taken place, and Syrian television broadcast footage of the building looking undamaged.

The Free Syrian Army, a group of military defectors, claimed responsibility, highlighting the growing militarization of the revolt following months of largely peaceful protests.

"This is an escalation that would signal a new phase in the Syrian uprising," said Thabet Salem, a Damascus-based analyst. "It gives a new dimension to the whole situation, which had been so far restricted to (government) action, and reaction from the opposition," he said.

Syria has placed severe restrictions on the work of journalists, making it extremely difficult to confirm events.

The country's embattled but defiant president vowed to pursue his bloody crackdown on dissent, saying it was his "duty" as president to crush the militants he blames for the unrest.

Syria's uprising against Assad, although largely peaceful, has grown more violent in recent weeks as frustrated protesters realize the limits of peaceful action. Army dissidents who sided with the protests have also grown bolder, fighting back against regime forces and even attacking military bases and raising fears of a civil war.

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem dismissed the idea of civil war, saying such talk was "wishful thinking" by the West.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said unknown gunmen on motorcycles threw first a stun grenade and then fired RPGs at the Baath party headquarters, hitting the outside wall of the building. Two other grenades missed the target, it said.

Omar Idilbi, spokesman of the Local Coordination Committees' activist network, also said the perpetrators were masked men on motorcycles. But he cast doubt on the claim of responsibility by the Free Syrian Army, saying the target was suspicious.

"The Baath party headquarters is not a military or security base to be attacked by the FSA," he said.

The foreign minister said reports of an attack were "absolutely baseless." But at a news conference, he thanked a Syrian journalist for clarifying that the explosions heard in the area were the result of a stun grenade, indirectly acknowledging that some kind of attack had taken place.

In Cairo, the Arab League rejected amendments proposed by Syria to a peace plan to end the crisis, saying the changes alter the plan's "essence." The rejection is a further blow to Syria, a country that prides itself on being a bastion of Arab nationalism.

Last week the body reaffirmed its suspension of Syria and gave it three days to comply with the plan, which calls for the withdrawal of government tanks from the streets, the release of political prisoners and a halt to attacks on civilians.

The 22-member organization did not give details of Syria's proposed amendments. It said in a statement Sunday that Damascus' proposals were unacceptable because they introduce "drastic changes" to the mandate of a proposed league mission to ensure the plan is implemented.

Al-Moallem told reporters the proposed observers' mission included "impossible conditions" and gave excessive authority to the observers in a way that violated Syria's sovereignty. He denied Damascus sought to restrict the observers' movement within the country but said Syria wanted to be informed of the groups' travels in order to offer security protection.

"The observers, if they come, will have freedom of movement," he said. "We have nothing to hide. They should see the killings, the massacres and the crimes being carried out against our people and security forces."

An Arab League official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters, said the Syrian government was required to implement the peace plan in its entirety.

In an interview with Britain's Sunday Times newspaper, Assad vowed to crush "militants" who he says are massacring Syrians.

"The role of the government is to fight those militants in order to restore stability and to protect civilians," he said, repeating warnings that foreign military intervention in Syria would "shake the entire Middle East."

On Sunday, activist groups said at least nine people were killed by security forces, including five in the flashpoint central city of Homs and four in northern Syria.

The U.N. says more than 3,500 people in Syria have been killed in the crackdown since the start of the uprising in mid-March. The LCC network on Sunday said at least 280 children had been killed in the crackdown.

Assad, in the interview, said more than 800 Syrian officers and security forces had been killed.

In the interview, Assad said he feels "pain and sorrow" for the bloodshed but insisted the solution was to eliminate the militants he blamed for much of the violence. The Assad regime maintains the militants are following a foreign agenda to isolate and weaken Syria.

Assad, who took over from his late father, Hafez, in 2000, said there would be parliamentary elections in February or March, after which there would be a new government and new constitution.

"That constitution will set the basis of how to elect a president. ... The ballot box should decide who should be president."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-20-ML-Syria/id-0abefdebb5ff43f9a8624c9a7f97e6df

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Super Committee Stuck: Dems Spurn Latest GOP Deficit Deal

News outlets covered the latest tension in super committee negotiations. The Republicans offered a much-smaller deal which they say would not cut Medicare or Medicaid.

Reuters: U.S. Deficit Deal Still Possible: Republican?
A key member of a stalemated congressional panel urged Democrats Saturday to join an attempt by his fellow Republicans to craft a deal to cut the U.S. deficit before next week's deadline. ... [Republican Senator Patrick] Toomey's remarks, in his party's weekly radio address, amounted to a plug for how Republicans on the 12-member "super committee" on deficit reduction would draft a deal by a deadline of midnight Wednesday (Ferraro, 11/19).?

The Washington Post: ?Supercommittee? At Impasse As Deadline Approaches
?Running from one small huddle to the next, lawmakers on the special deficit committee continued trying to reach a compromise before a Wednesday deadline. After that, the panel loses special legislative advantages that could help its recommendations win congressional approval (Kane and Helderman, 11/18).

The Wall Street Journal: Smaller Deficit Deal Floated
Congress's last-gasp deficit-cut talks broke into two tracks Friday, with members of a special committee continuing to seek an elusive $1.2 trillion deal while party leaders discussed a smaller, backup plan in case they fail. Talk of a Plan B reflected the bleak outlook facing the committee as it heads into its final days (Bendavid and Hook, 11/18).

The New York Times: As Deadline Nears, Deficit Panel Is Still at Deep Impasse
Seeking to reach at least a partial accord, Republicans made their six Democratic counterparts on the committee an offer that would get to roughly half of its goal ? a retreat for an earlier plan with cuts in spending and revenue increases ? but Democrats rejected it out of hand as inadequate.?... Mr. Boehner, stepping in to the talks as the deadline neared, helped devise the Republican proposal, which offered less in new revenues than a previous Republican plan (Steinhauer and Pear, 11/18).

CBS News: Supercommittee Dems Rebuff GOP Contingency Plan
"This package represented a good-faith offer that excluded all of the reforms and entitlement programs that Democrats have expressed concern over," said the GOP leadership aide. "The proposal did not touch Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security." ... One senior Democratic aide said the GOP proposal is "laughable and disappointing" (Jackson, 11/18).

Bloomberg: Supercommittee in U.S. Moving Further Apart on Talks?
Democrats who represent districts with many elderly or low- income residents said sequestration is preferable to some options being considered by the supercommittee, such as limiting benefits in programs like Medicare. ... Representative Jeb Hensarling of Texas, the supercommittee?s Republican co-chairman, has said Republicans won?t go beyond their offer to raise tax revenue by $300 billion until Democrats offer a plan to address the growth in spending on entitlement programs? (Przybyla and Laura Litvan, 11/19).

Politico: Supercommittee Fallout May Infect 2012 Election
To be sure, there are escape hatches. Republicans are considering packaging unemployment benefits and the so-called ?doc fix? with a bill filled with spending cuts ? a duel-headed strategy to lessen the impact of the sequester by crafting a bill Obama could not turn down (Raju, Sherman and Kim, 11/18).

CNN Money: The Super Committee Escape Hatch
The "automatic" budget cuts that were supposed to deter super-committee members from punting won't actually kick in until 2013. And that gives Congress more than 13 months to modify the law. There will be tremendous pressure to do so. The cuts would slash $1.2 trillion in defense and nondefense spending. Exempt from the cuts: Social Security and programs for low-income people, such as Medicaid. Medicare cuts, meanwhile, would be limited?(Riley, 11/18).

The Hill: Reid Not Buttering Up Boehner Now That He Has Leverage In Deficit Talks Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) are ready to tango once again on spending cuts and taxes but this time the balance of power favors Reid. Democrats say Boehner and his GOP colleagues lack the leverage they had earlier this year, when congressional inaction would have resulted in a government shutdown or default. ... Congressional aides say they expect the two leaders to talk over the weekend, though they cautioned they are not likely to ?dive in? unless the supercommittee makes substantially more progress toward an agreement (Bolton, 11/19).

This is part of Kaiser Health News' Daily Report - a summary of health policy coverage from more than 300 news organizations. The full summary of the day's news can be found here and you can sign up for e-mail subscriptions to the Daily Report here. In addition, our staff of reporters and correspondents file original stories each day, which you can find on our home page.

Source: http://feeds.kaiserhealthnews.org/~r/topics/medicaid/~3/_JjARVlnjdE/super-committee-health-care.aspx

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Parents had safety fears for jammed China bus (AP)

BEIJING ? Every time the dozens of kindergartners crammed into their makeshift bus for school in rural China, their relatives worried for their safety. Those fears were confirmed this week in a horrific wreck that killed 19 students.

"It was carrying way too many children," one boy's uncle said Thursday, a day after the crash in China's Gansu province. "It was very dangerous."

The nine-seater was stuffed with 62 students aged 3 to 5, plus a teacher and the driver, when it collided head-on with a heavy truck on Wednesday morning on its way to the Little Doctor Kindergarten in Qingyang city. The two adults also were killed, officials said, while the two people in the truck were unhurt.

The death toll rose by one on Thursday night after a 5-year-old boy with severe brain and other injuries died in a local hospital, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

Police detained the truck's driver, Fan Jungang, on suspicion of causing a traffic accident and the kindergarten head, Li Jungang, on suspicion of causing a serious accident due to negligence, the Qingyang city government said on its website.

At Qingyang No. 1 People's Hospital, one of the two hospitals where the dozens of injured children were being treated, relatives said they knew the bus was overcrowded.

"Parents were worried about their children every time they sent them in the school bus," said the man, who would give only his surname, Zhou.

He is the uncle of 5-year-old Wu Cheng, who had been sitting in the back of the bus when it slammed into the truck. He was recovering from head and foot injuries, and his nose was bleeding intermittently.

His parents, like many of those of the young crash victims, were migrant workers ? farmers and other poor people pushed to seek work outside of the countryside. Wu's parents work in Shanghai and heard of the bus crash on the news. They were hurrying to the hospital and were expected to arrive Thursday evening.

Wu was in a room on the intensive care floor with three other boys who also sustained head wounds in the crash, according to a nurse. They were out of danger and being watched over by their grandparents or other relatives.

There was an outpouring of sympathy for the plight of migrant parents and their "left behind" children on China's micro-blogging sites, popular especially with educated middle-class urbanites.

The Ministry of Education issued an "urgent notice" to education authorities and schools across the country to carry out safety checks of buses and immediately stop using vehicles with safety problems. It said education departments in poor rural areas should "actively win the support" of local governments in arranging or hiring safe vehicles.

The private Little Doctor Kindergarten is in Qingyang's Yulinzi township, which falls under Zhengning county.

Three Zhengning officials ? the vice governor, traffic police chief and education chief ? have been suspended and are under investigation, said Shi Zhengwei, deputy head of the Communist Party's propaganda department in Zhengning county.

Authorities have blamed the "overloading" of 64 people for the accident.

Such overcrowding on school buses is common in China. Commentators say closures of rural schools have exacerbated the problem, as children are forced to travel further to get an education while increasing the demand for buses.

Children who go to the kindergarten live from 1.6 to 5 miles (2.5 to 7.5 kilometers) away, said an official surnamed Gao from the Yulinzi township government.

Central government spending on education has steadily grown in recent years, rising a projected 16 percent this year to 296 billion yuan ($46 billion), about three-quarters of it given to local governments.

The overall figures mask great disparities, with rural areas chronically short of funds.

"The high cost of operating and maintaining school buses and the small profit made from this service stop many schools from purchasing them," Li Tao, laboratory director at the National Passenger Car Quality Inspection Center, was quoted as saying by the state-run Global Times newspaper.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111118/ap_on_re_as/as_china_bus_accident

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UFC 139 openers: Irked Castillo rolls over Bailey for first round TKO, Torres and Baczynski win too

UFC 139 openers: Irked Castillo rolls over Bailey for first round TKO, Torres and Baczynski win too

SAN JOSE - Apparently Danny Castillo felt disrespected when Shamar Bailey missed weight yesterday. After pounding on Bailey to produce a first TKO victory, Castillo had little to say except that his opponent bothered him with his weight issues.

"You're supposed to be a professional and come in three pounds overweight, and then tell me you can't lose anymore weight?" Castillo told UFC analyst Joe Rogan.

Bailey came in yesterday at 158 pounds and passed on trying to lose two pounds in the next hour. In the end, the extra weight made no difference as Castillo threw him around like a rag doll in fight No. 1 of UFC 139 at the HP Pavilion.

The northern California-native scored his first takedown just 15 seconds into the fight. Castillo (12-4, 2-1 UFC) landed a nasty body kick and fell to his rear end from the impact. Bailey charged forward to score his own takedown and got double-legged down to the mat. He got up quickly, but Castillo picked him up off the ground and slammed him down twice in the next 45 seconds. After the third takedown, Bailey never got back to his feet.

Castillo worked from half guard to smother and grind on Bailey. It wore out the Season 13 "Ultimate Fighter" alum. In the final 90 seconds of the round, Castillo began to sit up on a knee and punch away to the body and head. Bailey got tired of defending himself with 15 seconds left in the round as Castillo threw 11 unanswered shots. Bailey rolled to his side and covered up. Most of the shots were hitting Bailey on the arm, but it was clear he didn't want to continue at the 4:52 mark of the first.

"I feel great. It feels good when you fight to your potential. It's exciting for me and important for the advancement of my career. I think the lightweight division is the strongest in the UFC and it's good to get a win. It's what I wanted to do and I'm glad I went out there and did it," said Castillo.

Bailey, who is now 1-2 in the UFC, admitted he blew it this weekend.

"I'm very disappointed in myself, definitely underperformed. I've never come in overweight, so it was definitely a bad start with that. Then Danny went out and fought a good fight. I wish the ref hadn't stopped the fight but what are you going to do. I need to do what I do, but way better," said Bailey (12-5).

Torres workman-like in getting back on winning track

Miguel Torres isn't the same fighter he was in the WEC, but that doesn't mean he's doing anything wrong.

Now that the weight class is quickly filling up with dangerous opponents, the former bantamweight king is simply using a more measured approach. Torres worked the clinch effectively and wore down Nick Pace to pick up his first win since February via unanimous decision, 30-27 on all three scorecards.

"I'm a little disappointed with my performance, I wanted to knock him out or submit him. I knew he was looking for a good shot. I could tell by the way he was standing. I didn't want to rush it, so I was trying to be smart," Torres (39-4, 2-1 UFC) said. "I've been working on my wrestling a lot. So I was trying a couple takedowns and get up and put the pressure on him. I felt him in the clench and he was kind of weak, so I was able to finish it."

UFC 139 openers: Irked Castillo rolls over Bailey for first round TKO, Torres and Baczynski win too

Baczynski pulls the upset in rather easy fashion over Brown

Matt Brown's been around the block a time or two, but the veteran does tend to have lapses in concentration. It happened tonight and Seth Baczysnki was the beneficiary.

Baczysnki, a cast member on Season 11 of "The Ultimate Fighter," slapped on a tight guillotine choke early in the second. Brown tried to free himself, but after 24 seconds he couldn't hold out any longer and tapped at 0:42.

"I'm just really pleased to get out of there with the finish. It's my 15th professional win and?I'm happy to close the win out against a tough opponent," Baczynski said. "I'm going to get to enjoy Thanksgiving with my family this year and be thankful for my success."

Brown (12-11, 5-5 UFC) didn't look right from the start. He was tentative in the striking game and often pushed around in the clinch in the opening five minutes.

Baczynski (15-6, 2-1 UFC) came out looking to throw in the second. He missed with a big shot that Brown ducked under. Brown pushed forward to score takedown, but left his head exposed. It was a pretty easy submission attempt for Baczysnki.

Brown was a minus-135 betting favorite.

Watch UFC 139 right here on Yahoo! Sports

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-139-openers-Irked-Castillo-rolls-over-Baile?urn=mma-wp9657

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Apple vs. Samsung current U.S. product lines

Interesting comparison by Minimally Minimal of Apple vs. Samsung product strategies, including their current U.S. device lines. (Spoiler: 3 vs. 134). No doubt there’s a debate to be had about when both lack of and way too much choice become frustrating. Hit the link below for more. Source:

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/DXSOrV84mqk/story01.htm

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Crash killing Mexico's No. 2 could be pilot error (AP)

CHALCO, Mexico ? The helicopter crash that killed Mexican Interior Secretary Francisco Blake Mora and seven others could have been caused by pilot error or instrument failure, the lead investigator said Wednesday.

Officials are just beginning to analyze the evidence collected from the crash site south of Mexico City by a team including U.S. and French investigators, said Gilberto Lopez Meyer, Mexico's general director of airports and auxiliary services.

The aircraft was flying in near zero visibility because of fog, he said. It was traveling at a normal cruising speed of up to 155 mph (250 kph) and operating normally when its back rotor clipped a tree, causing it to hit ground just under the nose and skid and break up over more than 150 yards (meters), he said.

Lopez said the eight bodies were spread all along the route of the skidding craft.

"We don't know why the pilot didn't know he was about to crash. There is no indication that he tried to avoid the ground," Lopez Meyer told reporters allowed to visit the crash site. "The helicopter has navigation instruments that should have allowed the pilot to know there was an obstruction and that he was in the wrong position and on the wrong path."

He said the crash could have been misjudgment by the pilot or failure of instruments "or a combination of both."

The helicopter's instruments and navigational system have been moved to Mexico City for analysis, he said.

Mexican officials have said from the beginning that the crash, the second to kill an interior secretary in the term of President Felipe Calderon, was an accident.

In what many Mexicans find hard to believe was an odd coincidence, a Learjet slammed into a Mexico City street in 2008, killing then Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino and 15 others. That was blamed on pilot error.

The 2008 crash caused wide speculation that it was a hit by drug cartels as a result of Calderon's offensive against organized crime.

Officials issued a thorough report in the Mourino crash to quell the speculation.

On Wednesday, they gave journalists an up-close look rare for Mexican investigations and a detailed explanation of what the probe has revealed so far at the crash site.

Mexico keeps a tight lid on investigations into high-profile drug killings, including the dumping of 35 bodies in September in the Gulf state of Veracruz and the massacre of 72 migrants last year in the northeastern border area, failing to reveal even names of the victims or whether those detained in connection with the crimes have been prosecuted or convicted.

Blake Mora had been the face of the government's drug war, pressing the message for Mexicans to stay tough in facing the cartels. He was on his way to a meeting of prosecutors when he died.

More than 16 investigators, some wearing caps and T-shirts of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board hats, rolled pieces of fuselage and sifted through debris on the hillside meadow where the helicopter crashed.

Lopez Meyer said the field phase of the investigation was almost complete and they would begin in the next few days to move the remains of the helicopter to Mexico City.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111117/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_blake_mora

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