Roadside Bombs in Afghanistan Kill 15 Civilians

Afghan officials say roadside bombs have destroyed two civilian vehicles in the country's north and south, killing at least 15 people.

In the deadliest attack, nine family members were killed Sunday when a roadside bomb blast hit their car as they traveled to a wedding in the northern province of Baghlan. The dead include six women, two men and a child.

In an earlier incident Saturday, a roadside bomb blast struck a minivan in the Sangin district of southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, killing six civilians and wounding three others.  Helmand is a major battleground in a campaign by NATO and Afghan forces to try to defeat a long-running insurgency by Taliban militants.

NATO said Sunday its forces killed "numerous insurgents" in an air strike in the previous 24 hours in the eastern Afghan province of Kunar. The coalition says it launched the raid after identifying the insurgents as an "imminent threat" to ground troops. 

Elsewhere, NATO says an air weapons team killed two insurgents in Helmand's Musa Qalah district as they hid inside a building and fired on an Afghan and NATO patrol.

In another incident, NATO says Afghan and coalition troops killed two insurgents and captured two others Saturday in an operation in the eastern province of Wardak. It says the troops were searching for a local Taliban leader when the militants fired on them in Wardak's Nerkh district.

NIGERIA VOTERS REGISTRATION

Large numbers of people are turning out to register to vote in Nigeria, but the registration drive is still having technical and organizational problems in its second day.
An aggressive television and radio campaign has motivated many people to come out to register, but laptop computers, cameras, and printers are reported to be malfunctioning at multiple locations.
Volunteers began signing up voters Saturday in 120,000 polling stations across Africa's most populous country. An estimated 70 million people are eligible to vote.
Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan, who will run as the ruling party's candidate in the April election, registered to vote on Saturday.
The ruling party has won every presidential election since Nigeria returned to civilian rule in 1999.
Mr. Jonathan became president in May when his predecessor, Umaru Yar'Adua, died three years into what was expected to be an eight-year presidency

Black Holes and Other Wonders Discovered by Backyard Astronomers

Amateur astronomer Gus Johnson didn't set out to witness what scientists say is the first ever observed birth of a black hole. But that's just what he did in 1979.  His discovery of Supernova 1979c was only the third supernova in another galaxy ever detected by an amateur. But it has become one of the most important and studied since.  Amateur astronomers have been making discoveries for at least 400 years, dating to Galileo's spotting of Jupiter's moons. The hobby helps professional scientists every day.
Johnson likes the quiet and he likes the dark.  But clouds and sub-zero temperatures are working against him as he stargazes near his home in Western Maryland.

"Well, Jupiter went behind a cloud so we have the moon," said Johnson.

Johnson has been stargazing for 50 years, and tonight he's invited some kids to join him.  He has a near photographic memory of hundreds of star positions and he loves to share what he knows.

"That planet has a diameter 11 times that of the Earth," he said.

Johnson is the maintenance man at Deep Creek's Lake Nature Center.  He's also an avid reader of Sky and Telescope magazine. In 1979, he was featured in the magazine - for discovering a supernova that scientists now believe is the newest and nearest black hole.

"When I came to M100 [galaxy]  there was this little star that for some reason caught my attention," said Johnson. "I don't know why, and later on when I checked the photograph it was not on the photograph and that proved to be the the Supernova1979c."

Was he pretty proud?

"Yes I was," he replied.  "And I am.  And thankful too because so few people actually get to discover things."


Backyard astronomers have been making discoveries for centuries dating back to Galileo, whom amateurs claim as one of their own. His degree was in art.  The famous Comet Hale-Bopp was discovered in 1995 by two amateurs, one of whom did not even own a telescope. He was using a friend's. And in 2007, volunteers in an online astronomy project discovered the "green pea" galaxies, so-named because they appear small and greenish in images.

Astrophysicist Kim Weaver was part of the NASA team that announced last month that Gus Johnson's supernova, or exploding star,  was likely the birth of a black hole, a region in space where nothing can escape, not even light.

"We want to watch how this system evolves and changes in its youthful stages from when it's first born to when it grows into a child and a teenager," said Weaver.

Scientists believe that black holes are born often in the universe. But to actually see it happen, well that's a story.

When Johnson spotted the star more than 30 years ago, he put out an alert, and telescopes including NASA'S powerful Chandra X-Ray Observatory have been watching it ever since.

We caught up with Weaver at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland where she works.

"This is what we think happens around a black hole, this ecreting material gets sucked into the orbit," she said.

She told us that while some astronomers dismiss the work of so-called citizen scientists, they do put thousands more eyes on the cosmos, which is a good thing.

"They don't have access to the large telescopes that professionals have access to but what they can do is they have the freedom to be able to use smaller telescopes any time they want to look all over the sky," said Weaver.

Professionals, Weaver says, tend to focus on smaller areas and on fainter objects further away.  Another problem:

"Professional astronomers have created tons and tons of data," she said. "There are not enough professionals to look at all those data."

That's where backyard astronomers come in.

"So this is the first telescope I ever got.  It's my favorite," said Caroline Moore.  Moore has has an observatory in her backyard, with top of the line telescopes that she and her father use to track the ever-shifting heavens above New York State.

Two years ago, at age 14, she made a major discovery, not with a telescope but with a computer, scanning hundreds of photos as part of an online search team.

"I discovered the least luminous supernova ever to be observed, and I am the youngest person ever to discover a supernova so it kind of makes it a double interesting thing," she said.

Moore says supernova hunting is competitive.

"Maybe you will find there is some kind of thing on another planet that will help you cure cancer and we won't know that if we don't take even the smallest steps in journeying outside our planet a bit," she said.

Back in Maryland, Gus Johnson observes fresh-fallen snow and an iced-over Deep Creek Lake.  There's something almost sad about his intense love of the environment, even with its fleeting nature.

But his discovery, that he holds onto.
Johnson wasn't looking for a supernova that night, it was entirely accidental.  But, now he looks for them.

"It's kind of the grand realities of existence," said Johnson. "The Earth and everything we know is such a minute part of the universe.  Watching the creation of God.  That is pretty spectacular stuff."

LADY LYNNE FIDDMONT

More than 50 years after the death of Billie Holiday, singers and musicians continue to pay tribute to the singer known the world over as “Lady Day.”  The latest Holiday celebration comes from jazz vocalist Lynne Fiddmont on her new album, “Lady.”

In the long line of lady jazz singers there was no one quite like Billie Holiday. Just ask vocalist Lynne Fiddmont, who says, “Most singers have tried to imitate her, but few have even come close.”

Lynne interprets the Billie Holiday catalog with an up-tempo mix of jazz, pop, and soul.  She explains that choosing the songs for her tribute album was simply a process of elimination.

“I listened to all the songs that I had of hers," she said.  "I collected them, collected her CDs, went through 30 seconds of each song and said, ‘Ok.’  I didn’t know ‘I Cover The Waterfront’ but I fell in love with it in the first 30 seconds.  So, if I fell in love with it in the first 30 seconds I put it on the list.”

Lynne Fiddmont caught the acting bug while growing up in St. Louis, Missouri.  She performed in local musicals before heading off to Boston University where she earned a degree in Public Relations.  After a short stint at the Berklee College of Music, Lynne moved to Los Angeles to work alongside some of the best in the business.  She sang background with everyone from Bill Withers and Phil Collins to Whitney Houston and Stevie Wonder, as well as appearances on the Grammy Awards, MTV Music Awards, American Idol, and even at The White House.

"As a background singer, the trick is to learn fast and execute well,” she said.

Lynne was quick to learn the music of Billie Holiday and she executes it extremely well on “Lady.”  She says Holiday’s commanding stage presence was one of her greatest gifts.

“That is to me one of the genius aspects of her," she said. "The other aspect of her genius for me is her phrasing.  She didn’t think she had to sing it like everyone else.”

On  “Lady,” Lynne is joined by pianist Billy Childs, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Billy Kilson on one of Billie Holiday’s most memorable songs, “Lover Man.”

NIGERIA'S PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN ADDRESSES DELEGATES

Nigeria's president Jonathan addresses delegates during the primaries of the ruling People's Democratic Party in Abuja, 13 Jan 2011

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's victory in the ruling Peoples Democratic Party primary ends an informal agreement that rotated the party's presidential nominee between north and south.

That deal gave northern Nigerians another four years in office to complete what would have been the second term of the late president Umaru Musa Yar'adua. As a southerner, Mr. Jonathan challenged that arrangement eight months after coming to office following Mr. Yar'adua's death.
After watching all night as nearly 4,000 ballots were counted in Abuja's Eagle Square, Mr. Jonathan accepted the nomination just past dawn, calling for unity and paying tribute to party challengers Sarah Jibril and Atiku Abubakar, who he says fought gallantly.

"I want to welcome Mrs. Jibril and his excellency Alhaji Abubakar on board so that together we can build a Nigeria of our collective interest, a Nigeria where ideas guide our dreams for a greater nation," he said. "This is a time for the party to move forward in unity to bring this country under the PDP banner."

Former vice president Abubakar was Mr. Jonathan's biggest challenger as the consensus candidate of northern leaders who opposed breaking the regional power-sharing deal.

In his appeal to delegates before their vote, Mr. Abubakar said Mr. Jonathan's disregard for party agreements shows he can not be trusted.

"That is not the kind of person with whom you would entrust the fate of this country. Our word must be our bond. But my main opponent believes in doing things simply because it is convenient," Abubakar said. "He does not seem to care if the country is thrown into chaos and anarchy as long as he remains in power. This is dangerous."

Exaggeration is always part of politics. But Mr. Abubakar's savaging of the incumbent president appeared especially personal and shows the difficulty Mr. Jonathan may have in drawing northern support in the general election. Mr. Abubakar said the country is more divided now than it was when Mr. Jonathan came to office last year.

"We cannot afford to continue to tolerate this level of incompetence and indifference. In critical situations there seems to be no one in charge," he said.

Mr. Jonathan chose not to respond to Mr. Abubakar's attack and did not directly mention the power-sharing agreement, focusing instead on a platform of improving security and the economy while fighting corruption.

"This is more than a set of policies or new ideas. It is about all Nigerians joining hands to turn the page," he said. "Together all party members, activists, and people of Nigeria can work to win the forthcoming elections at all levels. I thank you, and God bless us all. PDP! PDP!"

The ruling party has won the last three presidential elections, so Mr. Jonathan is now the frontrunner for April's vote. He faces challenges from experienced politicians in several smaller parties and could see Mr. Abubakar again in the general election if the former vice president chooses to run as the nominee of a different party.

VOTERS REGISTRATION EXERCISE

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) hereby reassures all Nigerians that the Voters Registration exercise scheduled for 15^th to 29^th January, 2011 remains firmly on course.
This reassurance is necessary against the backdrop of the theft of some Direct Data Capture machines at the Lagos airport.
A consignment of 20 machines was stolen on Tuesday, out of a total of 6,000 brought into the country by Zinox Technologies Ltd., the contractor. Sixteen of these have been recovered by Thursday afternoon, and security agents are working assiduously to recover the four outstanding and apprehend the culprits. Besides, there are adequate safety features to forestall any nefarious use of the stolen items; as such, the integrity of the electoral processes would not be compromised.
Furthermore, INEC has been assured of intensified safeguards against further breaches.
The Commission uses this opportunity to urge all eligible Nigerians to turn out for the planned voter registration in January, and to work with INEC for the attainment of free, fair and credible elections in 2011.  

President Jonathan wins Ruling Party Primary

Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party has selected President Goodluck Jonathan as its candidate in April's presidential election.
In Thursday's party vote, Mr. Jonathan won 2,736 votes, compared to 805 for former Vice-President Atiku Abubakar. Only one delegate voted for veteran politician Sarah Jibril.
On Friday, Mr. Jonathan accepted the nomination and appealed to Abubakar and Jibril to work with him in improving Nigeria. He said this is a time for the party to unify and bring the country under the PDP banner.
Abubakar, a Muslim from Nigeria's north, has criticized Mr. Jonathan who is a Christian from the south for breaking a traditional power-sharing agreement for the presidency.
The PDP customarily rotates the presidency between a northern Muslim and southern Christian every two terms. However, Mr. Jonathan became president in May when President Umaru Yar'Adua, a Muslim, died just three years into what was expected to be an eight-year presidency. That caused some division in the party about whether it should nominate a northerner or southerner for the April race