Marine Le Pen says on Belgian national day that Paris should consider turning francophone half of politically riven Belgium into French region When are foreigners not foreign, but Gallic compatriots in all but name? When they are French-speaking neighbours with a penchant for moules and frites, it seems. France’s far-right Front National party is prepared to soften its notoriously hard line against immigrants in the case of its francophone Belgian cousins. Not that the party leader, Marine Le Pen, is suggesting all French-speaking Walloons come to France en masse; simply that Paris might consider taking on half of Belgium. In a provocative statement issued on Belgium’s national day, Le Pen said if Belgium could not remain united, Paris should “extend a hand” to the francophones and suggest they be allowed to decide whether to become a region of France. The idea would be laughable if the situation in Belgium were not so ridiculous. The Dutch-speaking north, where the Flamands live, and the French-speaking south, home to the Walloons, have been unable to agree on how the country should be run since an election last year. Brussels, a largely French-speaking enclave in the Flemish area, is particularly contested. As a result of the deadlock, the Belgians have now been without a government for more than 400 days. “The political situation that Belgium is going through is getting worse, appears to have no solution and has left both Walloons and Flamands in a terrible uncertainty,” Le Pen wrote in a statement. “Nobody is rejoicing at this situation and everyone in France shares the Belgians’ concerns. At this time of the Belgian national day, it is nevertheless the responsibility of France and the French to extend a hand to the Walloons. “If Belgium is going to split, if Flanders pronounces its independence, which seems more and more credible a possibility, the French republic would do well to welcome Wallonia to its heart.” Le PenShe said there were “historic and fraternal links that unite our two people”, and these links were “too strong for France to abandon the Walloons”. She said any such plan should be agreed by a referendum in both countries. In his eve-of-holiday address, King Albert II urged Belgians to find a political solution to their differences and to rapidly form a government. “Our current situation is causing concern among our partners and may even damage our position at the heart of Europe, and even call into question the European construction itself, already undermined by eurosceptics and populists,” the 77-year-old monarch said. Belgians accused Le Pen of fuelling nationalism. “It’s a Pandora’s Box and will simply fuel the cause of autonomists … those from Flanders, Savoy, Brittany, Corsica, the Basque region will be jumping for joy,” wrote one commentator on the Belgian newspaper Le Soir’s website. Another wrote: “There will never be a French Wallonia … there has never been an example in history of two peoples being united on the basis of their language, except Germany and that was one nation to start with. The Walloons are too proud to fall for such a low idea.” However, another wrote: “For all those who predict that an attachment with France will never happen, I ask you not to react in an emotional way. Open the debate so at last we can discuss this.” After 400 days without a government, French-speaking Belgians might just be prepared to consider Le Pen’s offer. On the other hand, it might persuade them to come to an agreement with their Flemish compatriots. Marine Le Pen France Belgium The far right Europe Kim Willsher guardian.co.uk
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General Abdul Nabih Zayid arrested during rebel advance and questioned over Misrata civilian killings, says opposition Libyan rebels in Misrata say they have captured the chief of operations of government forces in Zlitan on the first day of their offensive against the town. General Abdul Nabih Zayid was caught late on Wednesday after advancing fighters overran his command post at Souk Talat, a small village on the outskirts of Zlitan, opposition commanders said. “We have him in custody. He is being well looked after,” said Mohamed Frefr, in charge of detainees for the rebels. “After three days talking with him we will hand him to the military prison.” Rebels in the besieged coastal city said the general was being interviewed by intelligence officers and well looked after, with supplies of insulin procured because he has diabetes. A member of the Misrata Military Council, Hassan Duwa, said the general was captured as rebel units advanced towards Zlitan late on Wednesday. “He was in his house, 11 guys surrounded the house.” His capture is regarded as a major feather in the cap for rebel forces. The general gained notoriety among rebels when he helped co-ordinate the deployment of tanks into the streets of Misrata in March, triggering two months of street fighting that saw much of the city wrecked and hundreds killed. Misrata’s war crimes investigators say the general, who was operations officer at the city garrison before the war, is a “person of interest” for his role in what they say were widespread and systematic attacks against civilians. Khalid Alwafi, a lawyer for Misrata’s Human Rights Activists Association, made up of volunteer Libyan lawyers, which is assembling evidence it hopes can later be used by the international criminal court, said: “For sure we need to interview him. There are lots of questions that need answers from him.” Rebel units say they are on the outskirts of Zlitan and deploying around the town. The offensive has been launched simultaneously with a push by forces on the eastern front to capture the key oil town of Brega. Both offensives have been augmented by heavy Nato air strikes over the past few days, with alliance aircraft flying over Misrata on Wednesday night. Loud explosions could be heard from behind the frontline. In a sign that government forces may be feeling the strain, Libya’s state television channel on Thursday morning broadcast an appeal for volunteers to join the army. An announcer told viewers there were vacancies in all units, including special forces, and that soldiers would be well paid. Several rebel commanders in Misrata have told the Guardian in recent days that pro-Gaddafi forces are running short of manpower. The twin attacks are as much political as military, with the rebel National Transitional Council, based in Benghazi, keen to demonstrate that it can break a six-week deadlock and gain the initiative. Libya Arab and Middle East unrest Middle East Africa Chris Stephen guardian.co.uk
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US spending on emergency assistance in drought areas of east Africa this year tops £431m, but assurances sought before funding will be directed to rebel-held famine regions of Somalia The US has pledged an additional $28m in aid for people affected by the drought and food crisis in Somalia, but stressed the money would not be used to provide assistance in areas under the control of the rebel group al-Shabaab. The two regions declared to be in a state of famine in Somalia are Bakool and Lower Shabelle in the south of the country. Both are believed to be in the hands of al-Shabaab, which is affiliated to al-Qaida and is on the US list of terrorist organisations. Around 3.7 million people – almost half of the Somali population – are now facing severe food shortages , 2.8 million of whom are in the south. The UN says that up to 12 million people are now in need of emergency assistance as a result of failed harvests, drought, rising food prices and conflict in east Africa. The US has spent more than $431m in emergency assistance in the area this year. In a press briefing in London on Wednesday, Donald Steinberg, deputy administrator of USAid, the US agency for international development, made it clear that America would need assurances from the UN and the World Food Programme that al-Shabaab would not restrict the delivery of US-funded aid before authorising its delivery to rebel-held regions. “We are committed to saving lives in Somalia and we are already working in any area not controlled by al-Shabaab,” said Steinberg. “Unfortunately, about 60% of people affected are in al-Shabaab territories. We’ve instructed Unicef and WFP that they can use our assistance in any part not under al-Shabaab control. As soon as UN and WFP declare that al-Shabaab is not going to be taxing assistance or hindering assistance using the local population as hostages and can prove unfettered access we are prepared to go ahead with assistance through any agency.” Last week, al-Shabaab said it would now allow foreign aid agencies into territories it controlled . The move has been welcomed by aid agencies, but the UN wants further guarantees that the aid will get to the people most in need. Around $5m of the additonal $28m in US aid is expected to be spent on relief for Somali refugees arriving daily at Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya. The rest will be spent on food aid and other basic services. Steinberg said the US was pressing the president of Eritrea, Isaias Afewerki, to disclose information on the impact of the drought in his country. He said weather patterns and the affect of the drought on neighbouring states, such as Dijbouti, where 120,000 people are believed to be in need of assistance, would suggest Eritrea is experiencing similar problems, but there was too little information to offer anything other than a “scewed picture” of the situation. “We have called on the president to allow the international community, as well as humanitarian organisations, to fully monitor what is going on and open up to life saving assistance if necessary,” said Steinberg. Around 7.5 million people in Ethiopia were now able to ride the worst of the drought because of the agricultural cash for work programmes that had been introduced in the country to enable people to become more food secure, added Steinberg. However, he conceded that 4.5 million people were still in need of humanitarian assistance and the government would need to address long-term food security concerns brought about by changing weather patterns. “It’s not just every 10 years we are experiencing drought. We have a situation where rains fail every other year and so this is the climactic effect we are seeing. It’s going to have a dramatic affect on the way of life in Ethiopia. Pastoralist communities will be increasingly under pressure. The government and its people are going to have to respond effectively.” Last month, a third refugee camp was opened in Dolo Ado in Ethiopia to accommodate Somali refugees, which, as of 30 June, numbered more than 54,000. The total number of refugees in Ethiopia is believed to be more than 135,000. Famine Aid Somalia Refugees Africa Liz Ford guardian.co.uk
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Yousuf Raza Gilani says Hillary Clinton has assured him there will be no more unilateral raids, contradicting US officials’ claims Pakistan’s prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, says he has received US assurances there will be no repeat of the unilateral raid that killed Osama Bin Laden in May. Gilani’s remarks, in an interview with the Guardian, contradict assertions by the US president, Barack Obama, and other American officials that US forces would take similar action against other al-Qaida leaders if necessary. Gilani was speaking in London at a time when Pakistani relations with the west, particularly the US, are at a low in the wake of the raid on Bin Laden’s hideout in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad on 2 May. After the special forces operation, US officials voiced suspicions that Bin Laden must have had a network of local supporters, possibly inside the Pakistani state, while Pakistani leaders were outraged not to have been consulted over the raid inside their territory. “Since we were sharing information with US and there was a tremendous relationship with the CIA and ISI [Inter-Services Intelligence], therefore we could have done a joint operation in Abbottabad, but it didn’t happen. Therefore we had a lot of reservations,” Gilani said. He added: “They have assured us in future there will be no unilateral actions in Pakistan, and there would be co-operation between both agencies.” The Pakistani prime minister said he had received the assurance personally from the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. In her public statements, however, Clinton has declared the US would strike unilaterally against other top militants if others did not. She said in May : “We’ve made it clear to people around the world that if we locate someone who has been part of the al-Qaida leadership, then you get him or we will get him.” Speaking to the BBC just before his visit to Britain the same month, Obama was equally blunt on the issue. He said: “We are very respectful of the sovereignty of Pakistan. But we cannot allow someone who is planning to kill our people or our allies’ people – we can’t allow those kind of active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action.” On Thursday, however, Gilani said any repeat of the Abbottabad raid would be “totally unacceptable”. “Public opinion would further aggravate against the United States and you cannot fight a war without the support of the masses. You need the masses to support military actions against militants,” he said. He said another raid would damage “not only our relationship, but also our common objective, to fight against militants. We are fighting a war and if we fail that means that it’s not good for the world. We can’t afford losing.” After the raid against Bin Laden, the Pakistani government said it had stopped the US launching drones from its territory in pursuit of militants in tribal areas. Nevertheless, drone strikes on the Pakistani side of the border with Afghanistan have continued. “We don’t allow our bases to be used. They have other bases they use,” Gilani said. Asked where those bases were, he replied: “I don’t know. You ask the Americans. This is a question to put to them.” The prime minister added: “Drone attacks are against our strategy too, because we have been isolating the militants from the local population and when there are drone attacks they get united again.” Pakistan United States Osama bin Laden Hillary Clinton Julian Borger guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media CBN aired for the first time Wednesday clips of an earlier interview where former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin explained that she just wants to help the mainstream media. “Much of the mainstream media is already becoming so irrelevant because there is not balance, there is, in many cases, David, there is not truth,” she told CBN’s David Brody. “I know that firsthand. I lived it every day.” “And what would give me great joy is if what would become irrelevant is just the untruthful, the misreporting out there. I want the mainstream media — and I’ve said this for a couple of years now — I want to help ‘em. I have a journalism degree. That is what I studied. I understand that this cornerstone of our democracy is a free press, is sound journalism. I want to help them build back their reputation and allow Americans to be able to trust what it is that they are reporting. We are so far from being able to trust what so many of the mainstream media personalities, characters feed the American public that it scares me for our country. What would give me great joy is what would become irrelevant is the misreporting that comes out of the mainstream media.” Palin also shared her thoughts about Twitter. “I’m so thankful for the 140 characters, I’m going to use every single one of them. If you go back and you look at my tweets for the most part, it’s 140 characters on the nose. I want that space,” she said. “We’ve been griping about it for years in the world of media, that a politician, any person cannot get a real idea across in a ten-second soundbite. Why do you think we can get anything across in 140 characters? A lot of times, our tweets just create more confusion and more problems than they provide solutions.” Dave N.: Palin has trotted out this line previously, and I commented on it back then : A word about Sarah Palin’s journalism degree: She and I graduated from the same school, the University of Idaho. (She arrived at the school a year after I graduated.) The difference is that when I attended there, I was highly active in the communications community, and was editor of the school paper for a year. Sarah Palin, in contrast, never even wrote a story for the Argonaut, let alone for the J school’s other chief outlet, the UI News Bureau; no one at the school’s TV station remembers her or has any record of her doing work there. Indeed, the professor who signed her degree barely remembers her, as she was one of those students who simply showed up for class, got a grade, and went home. Given that kind of background, Palin was lucky to even get a shot at sports reporting for a small Alaska TV station, which was the extent of her actual experience as a journalist. So it hasn’t been surprising to watch Palin attack the “lamestream media”, because she is obviously someone whose understanding of modern communications is eggshell-thin, and whose insights are about as deep as Bristol Bay at a minus-5 tide. The idea that this woman considers herself capable of reforming the media is enough to give any professional journalist the shudders.
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British armed forces arrest two Britons in western Afghan city of Herat suspected of fighting for the Taliban British special forces have captured two Britons in Afghanistan believed to have been planning an attack on UK soldiers. Though there have been unconfirmed reports in the past about British-born individuals joining the Taliban-led insurgency in the country, this is the first time any such suspects have been captured. The two men were seized at a hotel in the western city of Herat in a joint operation with Afghan intelligence service, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), according to defence officials. They are British passport holders with dual nationality and have been taken to a British base in Helmand province. The Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office confirmed the arrests but would not immediately give any further details about the operation. An MoD spokesman said: “We can confirm that British forces have detained two individuals in Afghanistan who claim to be British nationals. We are not prepared to comment further at this stage.” A Foreign Office spokeswoman added: “We can confirm that two British nationals have been detained in Afghanistan. Embassy staff are providing assistance.” Nato forces in Afghanistan can hold suspects for a maximum of four days before releasing them or handing them over to the Afghan authorities. However, the period can be extended. The Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “The UK has a national policy of detaining beyond 96 hours in exceptional circumstances, in particular where it could provide information that could help protect our forces or the local population.” News of the arrests came as the UK handed responsibility for security in Helmand’s capital, Lashkar Gah, to Afghan forces on Wednesday in a step towards the planned pullout of British combat troops by the end of 2014. Afghanistan Taliban Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
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Former Conservative defence minister challenges claim of ‘no evidence’ of misuse of UK-supplied weapons during Arab spring Senior MPs have delivered a severe rebuke to the government over its approval of the sale of a wide range of arms, including sniper rifles, machine guns and “crowd control goods” to countries in the Middle East and north Africa. Britain supplied the weapons despite official guidelines stating that exports of equipment that could be used for internal repression must be blocked. In a damning report earlier this year, the Commons arms export controls committees demanded an urgent review of exports to “authoritarian regimes worldwide”. They referred specifically to the Mubarak and Gaddafi regimes in Egypt and Libya, to Bahrain, Syria, Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Observers said military trucks sent by the Saudis to help suppress demonstrations in Bahrain were British. In a written statement slipped out earlier this week, the foreign secretary, William Hague, said that in light of the committees’ findings, the government had conducted a review. It “concluded that there was no evidence of any misuse of controlled military goods exported from the United Kingdom”. Hague added: “Consultations with our overseas posts revealed no evidence that any of the offensive naval, air or land-based military platforms used by governments in north Africa or the Middle East against their own populations during the Arab spring, were supplied from the United Kingdom.” But in a stinging response, Sir John Stanley, a former Conservative defence minister and chairman of the arms controls committees, said he was not surprised by the outcome of the government’s review. “Given that there has been, understandably, an almost total absence of official observers in close proximity to the violent internal repression that has been taking place, and given also the fact that the UK government approved arms exports including machine guns, sniper rifles, combat shotguns and ammunition were not emblazoned with union jacks, it is hardly surprising that the [Foreign Office] could safely conclude ‘there was no evidence of any misuse of controlled military goods exported from the United Kingdom’,” Stanley said. The fact that the government had now revoked 157 arms export licences to north Africa and the Middle East provided “the clearest evidence of the scale of the misjudgment of the risk that arms approved for export to certain authoritarian countries in north Africa and the Middle East might be used for internal repression, a misjudgment by both the present government and its predecessor”, Stanley added. He has written to Hague, demanding more information about the government’s arms exports policy and asking why the government had not revoked arms and arms-related exports to Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Yemen, as well as to Libya, Egypt, and Bahrain. In a report in April, the Commons committees said the government must set out “how it intends to reconcile the potential conflict of interest between increased emphasis on promoting arms exports with the staunch upholding of human rights”. The MPs also castigated the government for failing to demonstrate satisfactorily whether, and if so how, it assesses the risk that individual arms exports may be linked to bribery and corruption. Defence policy Arms trade William Hague Middle East Saudi Arabia Egypt Libya Syria Yemen Bahrain Richard Norton-Taylor guardian.co.uk
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Whistleblower Sean Hoare claimed the News of the World would pay officers to illegally procure phone-tracking data Scotland Yard has been asked to inspect thousands of files that could reveal whether its officers unlawfully procured mobile phone-tracking data for News of the World reporters. There were half a million requests by public authorities for communications data in the UK last year – of which almost 144,000 were demands for “traffic” data, which includes location. A Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) member has asked the force to investigate allegations that News of the World reporters were able to purchase this data from police for £300 per request. The claims were made by Sean Hoare, the News of the World whistleblower, days before he was found dead at his home on Monday. His disclosure about the purchase of illicit location data was first made to the New York Times , which said the practice was confirmed by a second source at the tabloid. Police have said Hoare’s death was not suspicious. Mobile phone location data, which is highly regulated, would give tabloid reporters access to a method of almost total surveillance, arguably even more intrusive than hacking into phone messages. Jenny Jones, a Green party member of the MPA, has written to the commissioner requesting an audit of all cases where the Met obtained tracking data from mobile phone companies. She has also asked the commissioner to guarantee that anyone with reason to suspect a tabloid may have gleaned their whereabouts from their mobile phone signal will have their case looked into. Two police surveillance sources with knowledge of the system said location data was routinely used by police. Both said any corrupt purchase of information would require a fabricated request under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act (Ripa) and therefore the knowledge of a senior officer. The Met and other forces have central databases where they record Ripa authorisations for audits by the interception of communications commissioner. Police are also compelled to keep Ripa authorisations files under the same rules that compel them to keep evidence connected to criminal investigations, which in some cases can mean paperwork is stored for decades. Records are also kept by mobile phone providers, with at least one company maintaining an “indefinite” database of Ripa requests since 2009. This detailed audit trail contrasts with the paucity of evidence in cases of phone hacking, due to the fact that records of phone activity are generally destroyed after 12 months. The New York Times first reported that the News of the World may have had access to phone-tracking data last week, days before Hoare’s death. It said Hoare, a reporter who was sacked from the News International title in 2005, alleged that his editor Greg Miskiw could locate information about a person’s precise whereabouts via their mobile phone number. Hoare claimed that Miskiw had once helped him locate a person in Scotland, and said the information came from “the Old Bill”. The following day he told the Guardian that reporters would ask a news desk executive to obtain the location of a target: “Within 15 to 30 minutes someone on the news desk would come back and say: ‘Right, that’s where they are.’” He added: “You would just go to the news desk and they would come back to you. You don’t ask any questions. You would consider it a job done.” Hoare made no reference to which police force may have sold the data, although the Metropolitan police is currently investigating evidence that corrupt officers from within its ranks were selling information to the News of the World. Mobile phone companies can provide police with real-time location information about the whereabouts of suspects or missing people at 15-minute intervals. More commonly, police request a “cell site dump”, which gives a complete historical record of the whereabouts of person’s mobile phone. There are two ways the data is obtained. When a phone is used for a call or SMS message, details of its location are logged. Alternatively so-called “pinging” can be used when a phone is not in use, by sending the device signals and triangulating the results from cellphone masts. The level of accuracy ranges from a few hundred metres to around two kilometres, depending on proximity to the masts. Mark Lewis, a solicitor who represents phone-hacking victims, said: “I have sources that I can’t reveal who tell me they could do it [obtain the data].” He said he had clients who suspected they had been tracked: “One or two were very suspicious about how they had been found – simply because they were where they were not supposed to be.” If police want to monitor the contents of emails or calls to combat terrorism or serious crime they require a warrant from the home secretary. Far more common however is the interception of communications data, which relates to the “who, where and when” of messages or calls. There is a complex framework through which the data is channelled from phone companies to police. Phone companies provide data to “police liaison units” – funded by the Home Office – which contain a handful of people with maximum security clearance to deal with incoming requests. Police in turn have special points of contact (Spocs), who liaise with the mobile phone companies and process the requests. They are trained and accredited by the National Policing Improvement Agency and given unique pin numbers. There are almost 600 accredited Spocs in police forces on a nationwide register maintained by the Association of Chief Police Officers . Under Ripa, these gatekeepers require detailed justifications from a senior officer to request phone information as part of an investigation, in a process that can take up to ten days. In emergencies, senior police can request the information orally, but paperwork is retrospectively filed centrally. Anyone who suspects their phone was inappropriately tracked is able request details from police or their phone provider under the Data Protection Act . Phone hacking News of the World Metropolitan police Police Newspapers & magazines National newspapers Newspapers Paul Lewis guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …The NBC Universal-owned cable channel Bravo has earned a pro-gay reputation since the reality show “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.” But on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles, it will be raising money for the gay censorship group called the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD). The event is a “Bravo Top Chef Challenge,” after the hit cooking show: Enjoy the BRAVO Top Chef challenge, delicious tasting stations from incredible Los Angeles high-end restaurants and caterers, entertainment, and an amazing food & wine-themed silent and live auction. Join us and help GLAAD raise funds to amplify the voice of the LGBT community! The question might not be so much “amplifying” GLAAD's voice as it is silencing opposition from the MRC and other conservative groups in news programs that are supposed to be “objective.” They circulated a petition telling CNN it needed to make a New Year's resolution: “the media needs to do a little housecleaning. Namely, it's time for outlets to finally drop several hundred pounds of unhealthy weight, which they've been carrying around for years, in the form of anti-gay activists .” No debate allowed! Here's more event details : Lisa Vanderpump, star of Bravo's the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills (as well as a restaurant owner, designer, actress, and humanitarian), will be joining us as the celebrity host, while Chef Susan Feniger will host the BRAVO Top Chef Challenge. Competing in that competition will be Chef Antonia Lofaso and Chef Fabio Viviani, while Jamie Lauren will be among the celebrity judges. It's an event you don't want to miss! Feniger and Lauren have both been promoted as lesbian chefs on “Top Chef.” In addition to Lauren, there are two celebrity judges from Hollywood: Shonda Rhimes, the creator of ABC's “Grey's Anatomy” and “Private Practice,” and Dustin Lance Black, the screenwriter of the gay biopic “Milk.” Rhimes has been loading her shows with gay plots to compensate GLAAD after she fired Grey's star Isaiah Washington for using the slur “faggot” on a private set. There are other corporate media sponsors for this Top Chef censorship event as well: Paramount Pictures, Univision, The Hollywood Reporter, and LA Weekly.
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Nasa employees turn out in darkness to welcome the space shuttle home after 126 million miles travelled The shuttle Atlantis has touched down at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida for the last time, lowering the curtain on one of the most eventful eras in America’s long history of human spaceflight. The craft’s pre-dawn landing at the remote airstrip in the north of the space centre was a timid affair compared with the grand spectacle of its final launch 13 days ago , which attracted 1m visitors eager to witness a piece of history. But wheels-stop on the 135th and final mission of the 30-year space shuttle programme was no less significant, nor emotional as scores of Nasa employees turned out in the darkness to welcome the spaceship home for the last time – and mourn the end of a half-century of US dominance in space . Atlantis and its crew of four touched down at 5.56am (10.56am BST) on Thursday after a 5 million-mile mission to resupply the International Space Station, which must now be serviced by Russian spacecraft after the retirement of the three-strong shuttle fleet. “Having fired the imagination of a generation, a ship like no other, its place in history secured, the space shuttle pulls into port for the last time, its voyage at an end,” announced Rob Navias, the voice of mission control. Chris Ferguson, the last astronaut to command Atlantis, was also emotional. “Houston, Mission Complete. After serving the world for 30 years the space shuttle has earned its place in history and it’s come to a final stop,” he said. Before the landing, he also had warm words for the space centre workers, up to 10,000 of whom received redundancy notices coinciding with the end of the shuttle era. “We’ve had great teams all taking care of the shuttle programme for goodness knows how many years. We appreciate every one of their efforts, and they’re all with us in spirit today,” he said in a farewell message from space. “It’s been an incredible ride. We’re going go beyond again someday, hopefully in the not too distant future. We’re going to go back to the moon and to Mars, and the future is very bright. But for now it’s a little sad because we’re saying goodbye to an old friend.” Nasa’s retired shuttles are to go on public display . Atlantis, which travelled almost 126m miles in its 33 flights since its first launch in October 1985, will be relocated to Kennedy Space Centre’s visitor centre after a lengthy decommissioning process. Endeavour, which completed its final flight on 1 June, is heading for the California Science Museum in Los Angeles and Discovery, last flown in March, will replace the non-orbiting shuttle prototype Enterprise at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. Nasa’s two other shuttles, Challenger and Columbia, were destroyed in-flight during missions in 1986 and 2003 respectively, each disaster costing seven astronauts their lives. The retirement of the shuttles leaves Nasa with no human launch capability of its own for the first time in the agency’s 53-year history. President Obama cancelled the planned next-generation Constellation programme of spacecraft and rockets on cost grounds, leaving American astronauts to buy seats to the International Space Station, at up to $63m (£40m) a time, on ageing Soviet-era Soyuz spacecraft . Private companies including SpaceX , Lockheed Martin and Sierra Nevada have won Nasa contracts to develop spacecraft to compete for such lower Earth orbit duties while the agency is charged with designing, but not yet building, a new heavy-lift rocket that might eventually take astronauts back to the moon for the first time since 1972. But critics fear that the end of the shuttle era, coupled with plans announced in the US Congress this month to slash Nasa’s budget by $1.9bn, and delays by the Obama administration in approving plans to build the rocket, the so-called Space Launch System (SLS), leaves the US looking backwards. “In my opinion, Nasa’s SLS programme is stalled because the White House doesn’t really want to do it,” Mike Griffin, a former administrator of the space agency, told the Huntsville Times , where Nasa rockets are built at the Marshall Space Flight Centre. “They will do everything possible to prevent it from occurring.” Final space shuttle mission The space shuttle Nasa Space United States Florida Richard Luscombe guardian.co.uk
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