Skynet seeks to crowdsource the stars

  Huge amounts of data gathered by telescopes will be analysed in home computers around the world 

Idle home computers are being sought to help search through mountains of astronomical data.

The Skynet project involves using the spare processing capacity of computers as a giant, distributed supercomputer.
PCs joining Skynet will scour the data for sources of radiation that reveal stars, galaxies and other cosmic structures.
People who process the most data could win a visit to one of the observatories gathering data for the project.
Star searchers The Skynet project is being run by the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) and it is seeking the help of thousands of PCs to analyse data.
One of the sources of data will be the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) that will use thousands of dish antennas to create the most sensitive sky watching instrument ever made.
A decision about where to build the £1.5bn SKA will be made in February 2012 and it will be sited in either Australia or South Africa.
While it will have its own cadre of supercomputers to analyse data, the SKA is expected to produce so much information that a system to filter this down to the most interesting samples will be needed. Skynet will be part of that large-scale filtering system.
"As we design, develop and switch on the next generation of radio telescopes, the supercomputing resources processing this deluge of data will be in increasingly high demand," said Professor Peter Quinn, director of ICRAR in a statement.
"SkyNet aims to complement the work already being done by creating a citizen science computing resource that radio astronomers can tap into and process data in ways and for purposes that otherwise might not be possible," he added.
Prior to the SKA being built and switched on, the computers joining ICRAR's Skynet will crunch data from current radio astronomy research projects.
Those signing up to help will download a small program that will get a computer looking through data when that PC is not being used for anything else.
ICRAR said the Skynet program was small and should not slow down any PC it is running on. Also, it said, data would be split into small packets to ensure it did not swamp a participant's net connection.
Distributed computing projects that harness idle machines are a well-established way of scouring through research data. One of the earliest looked through radio signals for evidence of extra-terrestrial intelligence.
More recent projects simulate protein folding and help physicists search for the Higgs boson - the missing piece of what is known as the Standard Model, the most widely accepted theory of particle physics.

Number of Americans in poverty hits record high

  President Obama last week launched a new jobs plan to try to increase employment opportunities 

The number of Americans living in poverty rose to a record 46.2 million last year, official data has shown.

This is the highest figure since the US Census Bureau started collecting the data in 1959.
In percentage terms, the poverty rate rose to 15.1%, up from 14.3% in 2009.
The US definition of poverty is an annual income of $22,314 (£14,129) or less for a family of four and $11,139 for a single person.
The number of Americans living below the poverty line has now risen for four years in a row, while the poverty rate is the biggest since 1993.
Poverty among black and Hispanic people was much higher than for the overall US population last year, the figures also showed.
The Census Bureau data said 25.8% of black people were living in poverty and 25.3% of Hispanic people.
Its latest report also showed that the average annual US household income fell 2.3% in 2010 to $49,445.
Meanwhile, the number of Americans without health insurance remained about 50 million.
The data comes as the US unemployment rate remains above 9%.
President Barack Obama last week launched a new $450bn job creation plan.
He wants to fund huge construction projects, schools and services, while giving tax cuts to workers and small businesses to boost recruitment.
However, his plans require backing from Congress, where Republicans - who control the House of Representatives - have voiced their opposition.

Angela Merkel tries to allay Greece default fears

  Angela Merkel says a Greek default will have a domino effect across Europe German Chancellor Angela Merkel has sought to calm market nerves over a possible Greek debt default, saying the eurozone must stick together. The collapse of Greece and its exit from the euro would have a domino effect, she told German radio.
Her comments came after reports that Germany was preparing for Greece to potentially leave the euro.
Fears of a Greek default caused sharp falls in shares on Monday, but markets ultimately rose on Tuesday.
Mrs Merkel told the RBB radio station: "The top priority is to avoid an uncontrolled insolvency, because that would not just affect Greece, and the danger that it hits everyone - or at least several countries - is very big.
"I have made my position very clear that everything must be done to keep the eurozone together politically. Because we would soon have a domino effect," said the chancellor.
At the weekend, German Economy Minister Philipp Roesler suggested that Greece would need an "orderly default" on its debts, a comment that sent global share prices tumbling on Monday.
European stock markets initially fell on Tuesday, with France's Cac index down 1.8% on fears that its banks, which are heavily exposed to Greece, have most to lose from a default.
However, markets ultimately closed up, with banks leading the gains.
France's Cac added 1.4%, with Societe Generale adding 15%.
The UK's FTSE 100 closed up 0.9%, with Royal Bank of Scotland rising 5.3%.
Austerity measures Mrs Merkel noted in her interview that there was currently no formal procedure in the eurozone for an "orderly default" of a member state.
She said that Greece was getting its public finances on track. "Everything I hear from Greece is that the Greek government has hopefully seen the writing on the wall and is now doing some of the things that are required," she said.
Despite her attempt to soothe the markets, fears of an imminent Greek default pushed interest rates on the country's 10-year government bonds to over 24% on Tuesday.
Greece has received two international bailouts each worth about 110bn - although the second has still to be implemented - yet its financial health remains critical.
In recent days the government has promised several times to accelerate plans for public sector cuts.
On Sunday, Athens imposed a new, two-year blanket tax on property.

 

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The BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Kabul: "We've heard multiple explosions" 

Afghan and international security forces are battling an ongoing multi-pronged attack by insurgents targeting the US embassy, Nato headquarters and police buildings in Kabul.

Police are still exchanging fire with two gunmen holed up in an unfinished high-rise building overlooking the diplomatic quarter.
Six people have been killed and 16 injured, Kabul's police chief said.
The Taliban said they were behind the violence.
Police killed four insurgents, police chief General Ayub told the BBC.
"This attack is the work of the Haqqani network," he said. The Haqqani network is closely allied to the Taliban, but operates independently.
Gen Ayub said the insurgents wanted to carry out attacks in Kabul to coincide with the 10th anniversary of 9/11.
Nato said the attack was an attempt to derail the security handover to Afghan-led forces, as international troops begin to withdraw from Afghanistan.
Co-ordinated attack Tuesday's attacks appear to be a complex operation. At about 13:30 local time (09:00 GMT), insurgents fired rockets on a number of targets in Kabul's upmarket embassy district. At the scene

Quentin Sommerville BBC News, Kabul

The Taliban have shown consistently that they can attack right at the heart of the Afghan government and the international mission.
It does not matter how secure those buildings are, the insurgents are still managing to cause chaos in the city.
The Taliban have already issued a statement saying that at least four suicide attackers are involved in this assault on government ministries and the intelligence headquarters in this district.
As well as reports that insurgents have taken refuge in a high-rise building overlooking the entire area, we are also getting reports that there may be another two attackers wandering the streets, so people have taken cover.

In the west of the city, another two suicide attackers detonated explosives outside a police station.

A third was killed as he tried to make it into the airport. A jail run by the intelligence service was also a target.
Six gunmen took over an unfinished high-rise building near the Abdul Haq roundabout, overlooking the embassy district, and used it to fire on the Nato compound and US embassy.
A Taliban spokesman said the group was carrying out "a massive suicide attack on local and foreign intelligence facilities".
Nato and the US embassy said none of their staff were among the casualties of the attack.
US marines were seen on the roof of the embassy building assessing the situation and checking their defences were robust, correspondents say. Military helicopters are in the area.
Nato's Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen condemned the violence, describing it as an attempt to test the handover of Afghanistan's security to Afghan-led forces, an effort that would not succeed.
"We have confidence in the Afghan authorities' ability to deal with this situation," said Mr Rasmussen in Brussels. "Transition is on track and it will continue."
Twisted metal One witness, Mohammad Zada, said he was driving past the US embassy building when the attack started, adding that he heard five explosions.

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Eyewitness Himanshu Sharma describes the scene from his office in Kabul

"Nothing really prepares you for shards of twisted metal, scattered glass, victims and the debris that litters the streets," said Mr Zada, who works for Agility Global Integrated Logistics in Kabul.
Video footage showed a group of men taking shelter from gunfire - one with blood pouring from his arm - as sirens wailed through the city.
Another eyewitness, Himanshu Sharma, told the BBC: "I thought it would be over in a few minutes, but then one hour and then two hours and then three hours passed - it was just not stopping.
"The gunshots were increasing, and their intensity was increasing. They were using more deadly weapons."
He went on: "There is no security at all in Kabul. This is the safest area, and if we are not safe here, then we are not safe anywhere in Afghanistan. "

Recent Kabul attacks

• August 2011: Gunmen storm British Council HQ, killing 12 people
• June 2011: Seven people killed in gun and bomb attack at Intercontinental Hotel
• April 2011: Two soldiers killed after gunman opens fire inside defence ministry
• Jan 2011: Eight killed by suicide bomber at Kabul Finest supermarket
• Feb 2010: At least 17 people killed in gun and bomb attack on foreign guesthouse district
• Jan 2010: 12 dead in attack on government targets and shopping malls

reese witherspoon

Police call the accident, caused by an 84-year-old woman who failed to stop at an intersection, "minor."

Reese Witherspoon is recovering after getting hit by a car while jogging Wednesday morning in Santa Monica.
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Santa Monica Police Department Captain Judah Mitchell of the calls the accident "minor."

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The actress most recently starred in Water for Elephants opposite Robert Pattinson.

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