Space shuttle grounded till next year
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Faulty sensor readings have grounded Atlantis until at least Jan. 2, NASA said Sunday after grounding the space shuttle for the second time in a week.
Launches were scrubbed Thursday and Sunday after faulty readings from sensors designed to shut down the shuttle's main engines if fuel runs low unexpectedly.
NASA engineers now need to drain liquid hydrogen fuel from an external tank, a procedure unlikely to be completed before optimal gravitational and atmospheric conditions, known as the "launch window," close Thursday, said NASA spokesman George Diller.
Wayne Hale, the shuttle program manager, said the sensors must perform flawlessly before the shuttle can be launched, which means the shuttle will be grounded until the new calendar year, CNN reported.
Atlantis' payload contains a laboratory module destined for the International Space Station.
N. Korea to get steel for disabling nukes
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- North Korea is to receive 5,100 tons of steel in aid despite reports the country has yet to reveal its full list of nuclear programs.
South Korea is shipping the steel Dec. 17 as part of multilateral agreement to provide energy and other materials in exchange for North Korea disabling it atomic facilities, Yonhap news agency reported Sunday.
North Korea has yet to present a list of its nuclear programs, as required by an accord signed in February by the two Koreas, the United States, China, Russia and Japan, Yonhap reported.
In a letter delivered last week, U.S. President George W. Bush urged North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to comply with the agreement by Dec. 31, Yonhap said.
Under the accord, North Korea is guaranteed 500,000 tons of heavy fuel oil or the equivalent in alternative products. North Korea already has begun receiving the oil shipments.
EU-African leaders agree to trade pact
LISBON, Portugal, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Leaders of African nations and the European Union set aside their differences on human rights to agree to a pact on trade and democracy.
The EU-Africa Strategic Partnership outlines policy in security, economic development and governance, the BBC reported Sunday at the end of the two-day summit in Lisbon, Portugal.
EU leaders hope the pact will mute growing Chinese influence in Africa.
The summit was marked by disagreement over trade deals and by the presence of Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe. Previous attempts at EU-Africa summits have failed over the question of Mugabe's attendance.
He is banned from the EU, but many African leaders who regard him as the liberator of Zimbabwe demanded he be invited.
As a result, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown boycotted the summit, while German Chancellor Angela Merkle, in a speech Saturday at the summit, condemned Mugabe's human rights record in Zimbabwe.
Six killed in Pakistan suicide attack
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Six people, including a police officer and two children, died Sunday when a suicide bomber rammed a checkpoint in northwest Pakistan.
The attack in the Swat valley came a day after the Pakistan army said it had nearly cleared the region of pro-Taliban militants, the BBC reported.
Army commanders said government troops had killed nearly 300 militants in the last two weeks and were chasing a few hundred more in nearby mountains.
The Swat valley had been relatively peaceful until the recent insurgency, with most of the fighting focused on the Waziristan tribal areas along the border with Afghanistan, the BBC reported.
S. Korean fish farms ruined by oil spill
SEOUL, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- Emergency workers say a massive oil spill blackening South Korea's western coast will take at least two months to contain and local fish will be inedible.
Holes in a damaged tanker were sealed Sunday after more than 10,500 tons of oil leaked into the waters off Taean in South Chungcheong province, Yonhap news agency reported.
Just a 100 tons have been collected from the waters by an estimated 6,650 police and soldiers on foot and in 90 ships and six airplanes and helicopters. They have worked since Friday to corral the spill, which is damaging several thousand fish farms and some of the country's most pristine beaches.
"Even if some fish and maritime products survive, they wouldn't be sellable for quite a while," Kang Moo-hyun, minister of maritime affairs and fisheries, told reporters.
The tanker was punctured Friday in a collision with a crane aboard a barge. The oil spill is the largest in South Korea's history.
