NASA greenlights launch of shuttle Discovery

CAPE CANAVERAL : NASA gave the go-ahead for the launch of the Discovery space shuttle mission to the orbiting International Space Station, after a close study of the latest electrical glitch.

The decision Wednesday to go ahead with the launch attempt came despite concerns about poor weather around the time of launch window, with only 20 percent chance of favorable conditions, so mission managers set another meeting to evaluate the weather early Thursday.

The flight to the orbiting ISS is the fourth and final shuttle flight of the year, and the last scheduled for Discovery, the oldest in the three-shuttle fleet that is being retired in 2011.

“Managers will proceed with Discovery’s launch attempt tomorrow and will meet again at 5:30 am (0930 GMT) to evaluate the weather” at launch time, which is set for 1929 GMT on Thursday (3:29 pm).

If the weather

Tornado Warning Contra Costa County

Tornado Warning Contra Costa County latest news updates :- Forecasters had predicted Saturday would offer the Bay Area a respite from the stormy week. Instead, it brought rain, nickel-sized hail and even a tornado warning.
The National Weather Service said at least one funnel cloud was spotted near Brentwood in eastern Contra Costa County around 1:10 p.m., prompting the agency to issue the warning of an imminent tornado touchdown. The threat eased by 2 p.m. and the warning expired.

“We had strong radar signals and we had reports of funnel clouds,” said Bob Benjamin, a weather service forecaster. “We don’t have proof or any eyewitnesses that can validate a tornado, but we do have validation of a funnel cloud, which is a tornado that hasn’t reached the ground.”

Although meteorologists received reports of downed power lines, Brentwood police and Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Department dispatchers said they had no evidence of any damage.

Tornadoes are rare in California and almost unheard of in the Bay Area, but this was the second time in a week that the weather service issued a warning locally. Santa Clara County was put under a tornado warning Wednesday afternoon, but no twister materialized.

Saturday’s unexpectedly wild weather was caused by residual moisture from nearly a week of rain, combined with an upper area of instability, forecasters said.

“With a little bit of midday heating, we’ve had some cloudiness that supplied inclement and in some cases severe weather,” said meteorologist Dan Gudgel.

He said eastern Contra Costa got a dumping of hail around the time the tornado warning was in effect. More routine rain showers fell throughout the day in much of the Bay Area.

The weather service predicts increasing clouds today leading to a chance of rain, with heavier downpours likely Monday. Drier weather is in the forecast for midweek, possibly followed by more rain next weekend.

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Tornado Warning Contra Costa County was first posted on January 24, 2010 at 8:21 pm.

Sixteen killed, 30 wounded in Iraq bomb

FALLUJAH : A car bomb outside near mosque in a town near the Western Iraqi city of Fallujah killed 16 people and wounded 30 on Tuesday around the time of evening prayers.

The security situation in Fallujah — which lies in Anbar province West of Baghdad and was once a major bastion of insurgency — has improved dramatically in recent months as attacks have dropped nationwide.

The attack occurred in Amiriyeh, 15 kilometres southwest of Fallujah, said the doctor from the town’s hospital.

However, sporadic violence still plagues Anbar, Iraq’s largest province, which was the theatre of a brutal war after the US-led invasion of 2003, mainly in Fallujah and the provincial capital Ramadi.

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Sixteen killed, 30 wounded in Iraq bomb was first posted on October 7, 2009 at 1:00 am.