NASA to send DNA of British sci-fi writer into space
Washington, June 21
NASA is planning to send DNA of famed British science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke into space -- five years after his death.

Rio De Janeiro, June 21
The police and protesters fought in the streets into the early hours today as an estimated 1 million Brazilians swarmed through more than 80 cities in the biggest demonstrations yet against a government viewed as corrupt at all levels and unresponsive to its people.

President Dilma Rousseff called an emergency meeting of her top Cabinet members today morning, more than a week after the protests began. Rousseff, who has a standoffish governing style, has been almost entirely absent from the public eye, making only one statement earlier in the week that peaceful protests are part of the democratic process.

But the protests that raged across Brazil late yesterday and today were spiked with violence as people vented anger over a litany of complaints, from high taxes to corruption to rising prices.

At least one protester was killed in Sao Paulo state when a car rammed into a crowd of demonstrators, after the driver apparently became enraged about being unable to drive along a street.

In Rio de Janeiro, where an estimated 3,00,000 demonstrators poured into the seaside city's central area, running clashes played out between riot police and clusters of mostly young men with T-shirts wrapped around their faces.

But peaceful protesters were caught up in the fray, too, as the police fired tear gas canisters into their midst and at times indiscriminately used pepper spray.

Thundering booms echoed off stately colonial buildings as rubber bullets and gas were fired at fleeing crowds.

At least 40 persons were injured in Rio, including protesters like Michele Menezes, a wisp of a woman whose youthful face and braces belie her 26 years. Bleeding and with her hair singed from the explosion of a tear gas canister, she said she and others took refuge from the violence in an open bar, only to have a police officer toss the canister inside. The blast ripped through Menezes' jeans, tearing two coin-sized holes on the back of her thighs, and peppered her upper arm with a rash of small holes. — AP

United Nations, June 21
Top diplomats from Afghanistan and Pakistan engaged in verbal sparring during a discussion on cross-border terrorism and presence of terrorist safe havens, at the UN Security Council here.

"The fact remains: so long as terrorist sanctuaries continue to exist in Pakistan's soil and some elements continue to use terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy, peace will not prevail, neither in Afghanistan nor in the region," Afghan Ambassador to the UN, Zahir Tanin, told the 15-member body during a special Security Council discussion on Afghanistan, yesterday.

"We are also very concerned with the ongoing border shelling; this constitutes a serious threat to Afghan sovereignty and the prospect of friendly relations between our two countries," Tanin said referring to the recent exchange of fire across the Af-Pak border.

Pakistani Ambassador to the UN, Masood Khan, later was sharper in his response. "I reject most emphatically Ambassador Tanin's argument - root, trunk and branch - that terrorist sanctuaries exist in Pakistan and some elements continue to use terrorism as an instrument of foreign policy," Khan said.

"No, sir, this is not true; and you know this is not true. And this is not good diplomacy. By using such arguments, you cast aspersions on our sincerity," he said. "In Pakistan, we do not operate as elements, but as a whole, as one state. All institutions of the state have consensus that terrorism is a threat to both Pakistan and Afghanistan. — PTI

Washington, June 21
NASA is planning to send DNA of famed British science fiction writer Sir Arthur C Clarke into space -- five years after his death.

The author of the novel '2001: A Space Odyssey' died in 2008 in Sri Lanka, and now NASA scientists have announced plans to send his DNA into orbit around the Sun in 2014 aboard the Sunjammer, a solar-powered spacecraft which gets its name from the writings of Clarke.

Called the Sunjammer Cosmic Archive (SCA), the flying time capsule is a first in the history of space travel, carrying digital files of human DNA, including Clarke's, aboard the sun-powered space ship, FoxNews.com reported.

The DNA is to be contained in a 'BioFile'. Other so-called MindFiles, including images, music, voice recordings, and the like, provided by people all around the globe, will also be included in the cosmic archive for future generations - or perhaps other civilisations - to see.

"Clarke certainly imagined himself going to space some day, and that day is finally arriving," said Stephen Eisele, vice president of Space Services, Inc, a NASA contractor on the project.

NASA's mission manager Ron Unger, at the Marshall Space Flight Centre, described the Sunjammer project as a 'game changing technology' that could alter mankind's approach to space travel. — PTI

Singapore, June 21
Air pollution in Singapore soared to record heights for a third consecutive day, as Indonesia prepared planes and helicopters today to battle raging fires blamed for hazardous levels of smoky haze in three countries.

The blazes in peat swamp forests on Indonesia's Sumatra island have sent massive plumes of smog across the sea to neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia, both of which are growing impatient with Indonesia's response to the problem that occurs nearly every year.

Singapore is suffering its worst haze in history.

Singapore's main index for air pollution hit a measurement of 401 at midday today, exceeding previous highs of 371 yesterday and 321 on Wednesday, both of which were record readings.

Those measurements were classified as "hazardous" and can aggravate respiratory ailments. Plagued by the stifling smell of burning vegetation that crept even into homes and offices in this wealthy city-state, residents flocked to pharmacies to buy protective face masks after Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong urged people to remain indoors as much as possible.

"I don't know if it's just my imagination but even indoors, my throat is starting to feel weird," said business manager Tan Joa-Quim. "I want a mask but my company has a limited supply, which we prioritised for the older and less healthy staff, and a lot of shops have sold out."

The dirty, acrid haze has slashed visibility and shrouded many of Singapore's towering landmarks, forcing airports to take extra precautions, the military to reduce outdoor training and some fast food businesses to suspend delivery services.

Singapore's environment minister flew to Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, today to discuss measures to tackle the forest fires that break out in Indonesia during midyear dry spells because of carelessly discarded cigarettes and illegal blazes set by plantations and farmers to clear land.

Indonesia's National Disaster Management Agency said today it plans to soon use two helicopters in a "water-bombing" operation to assist over 100 firefighters on the ground who are struggling to put out blazes. The agency added that planes would be sent over parts of Sumatra in the next few days in a "cloud-seeding" effort to try to chemically induce rain. — AP