CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA called off the launch of space shuttle Discovery for a second time Tuesday after a critical fuel valve failed to work properly.
“Drats!” said astronaut Jose Hernandez in a Twitter update. Fellow astronaut Christer Fuglesang, a Swede, chimed in with this tweet: “Bad luck again.”
Another attempt will not be made until later in the week. There are two possible launch times: 9:22 p.m. PDT Thursday and 8:59 p.m. PDT Friday — but only if the problem is in the instruments, not the valve itself.
Mexico: Remittances tumble
Cash remittances from Mexicans living abroad keep tumbling, with a second-quarter drop of 17.9 percent compared with the same period last year, officials said Tuesday. Mexico’s central bank said remittances for April through June fell to $5.6 billion, continuing a trend that has lasted more than a year. The money transfers are off 12 percent during the first six months of 2009, compared with the first half of 2008. Remittances, or cash transferred by families from abroad, are one of Mexico’s three top sources of foreign income, along with oil and tourism, and help sustain millions of Mexican families.
Pakistan: Taliban confirm death of its top leader
After weeks of denials, two Pakistani Taliban commanders acknowledged Tuesday that the group’s top leader, Baitullah Mehsud, was dead, saying he died Sunday after an Aug. 5 U.S. missile strike — the U.S. said the strike killed him immediately — and disputing reports that the al-Qaida linked movement he left behind was falling apart. Some unconfirmed reports said two contendors — Hakimullah Mehsud and Waliur Rehman — had been killed in a shootout during a meeting to choose an heir. In a phone call to the Associated Pres, Rehman and Hakimullah Mehsud, 28, confirmed an announcement that the latter was the new Pakistani Taliban chief.
Netherlands: State seeks custody of young adventurer
Laura Dekker, 13, wants to become the youngest person to sail solo around the world, and her parents think that’s a great idea. But the Dutch Council for Child Protection is so concerned about the dangers of the marathon voyage it has asked a court to grant it temporary custody of Laura so it can do what her parents refuse to: Halt the trip. Judges at Utrecht District Court were to announce Friday whether they will scupper Laura’s record-breaking plans.
Greece: Wildfire beaten back
Firefighters patrolled smoldering areas north and east of Athens on Tuesday, guarding against flareups while assessing the damage of a wildfire that raged for days. At least 150 homes have been damaged, officials said, while thousands of acres of pine forest, olive grove, brush and farmland have been destroyed. Experts warned it would take generations to replace the forests, and that many were burnt beyond the hope of natural regrowth.
S. Korea: Rocket takes off, but satellite launch fails
South Korea’s first rocket launch Tuesday failed to push a satellite into its orbit, dealing a blow to Seoul’s quest to become a regional space power. North Korea gave no immediate reaction to the rocket launch but has said it will watch to see if the U.S. and regional powers refer the matter to the U.N. Security Council. A launch by North Korea in April was suspected to be a disguised test of long-range missile technology and drew a U.N. rebuke. The North regarded the reaction as discriminatory, saying it fired a satellite into space, although experts say no such satellite has been detected.
From Herald news services
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