EU-DIGEST

‘I know what it's like to be prejudiced, drunk, imprisoned - by Nabeelah Shab

‘I don’t like most journalists,’ grumbles John Bird. He has just rounded up an editorial meeting at Ponti’s café, above platform seventeen in London’s Liverpool Street station. ‘They don’t think analytically.Meet the founder of The Big Issue (TBI), an entertainment and current affairs street weekly which is also a ‘social business’. Written by professionals, it is distributed in five regional editions by the homeless. Badged vendors buy the magazine from The Big Issue Foundation (which funds programs for the homeless) for 70p (90 cents) and sell them on the streets for £1.50 (2 euros), thus making a profit of 80p (1 euro) per copy. ‘I’m not a particularly good editor,’ Bird admits over a second ‘bucket of tea’, as the city suits criss-cross and trains rumble in the station below. He left the post in 2006. ‘Writing is a good way of sharpening up your ideas and that shit. If you’re a very good conductor you might not be good on the violin. But I’d rather play it.’

Labels: Communication, Economy, EU

Vladimir Putin to spy on his dog from space - by Will Steward

Vladimir Putin's dog, Connie, is to be fitted with a "satnav" collar so that the Russian president can monitor its every movement. Mr Putin reportedly asked about the possibility of tracking his dog ahead of the launch of a Proton-K rocket, a key component in the country's satellite navigation system. The dog has a habit of escaping from Mr Putin in search of adventures in the woods around the president's official dacha outside Moscow. The Russians hope their system, can compete with the US GPS network, and Europe's Galileo system.

Labels: Communication, Putin, Russia, Satellite Navigation

Two years in space for Galileo satellite

Since January 2006, Galileo signals have been broadcast by GIOVE-A, and received all around the globe. At ESA’s research and technology centre in the Netherlands, a laboratory is checking both the instruments on board the spacecraft that generate the signals and the receivers on the ground. This testing and calibration has allowed the specialists to confirm the success of the mission, which is a good sign for the rest of the programme.To reach operational status, Galileo needs a constellation of 30 satellites and an associated network of ground stations spread all around the globe. This phase has just been confirmed with the decisions taken by the European Union, which has agreed on a financing package of 3.4 billion Euros and proposed to entrust ESA with the full deployment of Galileo by 2013.

Labels: Communication, EU, Galileo, Space Exploration

Turkey to rely on own satellite system to gather intelligence

Turkish Armed Forces would soon be able to gather intelligence through surveillance by Gokturk, a Reconnaissance and Surveillance Satellite System, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Sunday. The Gokturk project, which was expected to cost around 200 million U.S. dollars, would be concluded in three months, said the report. The project would provide high resolution imagery for military intelligence from any place in the world without any geographical restriction, it added. Gokturk, which would be capable of detecting the movements of objects smaller than one square meter, would help to prevent the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) rebels from infiltrating into Turkish borders, said Murad Bayar, Undersecretary of Defense Industries.

Labels: Communication, Turkey