LUNAR MYSTERY

India loses communication with lunar satellite

India's national space agency said communications with the country's only satellite orbiting the moon snapped Saturday and that its scientists were no longer controlling the spacecraft.

Radio contacts with Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft were abruptly lost at 0130 Saturday (2000 GMT Friday), the Indian Space Research Organization said.

The agency's monitoring unit near the southern city of Bangalore is no longer receiving data from the spacecraft, spokesman S. Satish told The Associated Press by telephone from Bangalore.

The spacecraft had completed 312 days in orbit and orbited the moon more than 3,400 times.

"We are studying the telemetry data and trying to figure out what is the problem," Satish said. The space agency had received a large volume of data from the spacecraft — which is slotted in an automatic orbit of the moon.

LUMPY MOON

Bizarre Lunar Orbits

Mascons on the Moon that make its gravitational field so lumpy, as mapped by the Lunar Prospector mission, are shown in orange-red. The five largest all correspond to the largest lava-filled craters or lunar "seas" visible in binoculars on the near side of the Moon: Mare Imbrium, Mare Serenitatus, Mare Crisium, Mare Humorum and Mare Nectaris. Image reference: Konopliv et al, Icarus 150, 1–18 (2001).

BALLS UP

'Teabagging' case challenge: court ruled invalid

More than 100 cases tried before Australia's military court are in question after the High Court ruled the legislation which created the military court is constitutionally invalid.

The charges relate to incidents in August 2005 when former Navy sailor Brian George Lane was alleged to have been photographed placing his genitals on an army sergeant's forehead - a practice the court defined as "teabagging" - while the sergeant was asleep.

Neil James from the Australia Defence Association says the implications are wide and that it is vital the Defence Force has a working justice system.

"What the High Court appears to be saying is that the military cannot have its own military law system," he said."The problem is that any democracy needs to have a disciplinary code for its Defence Force because otherwise you just have an armed rabble, which can become a threat to the democracy itself."

INSURANCE RULES

Insurance issue leaves swine flu vaccination plans in shambles

The federal government's plan to immunise the population against swine flu is under threat because insurers may not cover doctors who administer the injections.

Insurers say inadequate testing and the possibility of spreading infections means there is too high a risk that patients will sue, Fairfax newspapers report.

INSURANCE RULES

Insurance issue leaves swine flu vaccination plans in shambles

The federal government's plan to immunise the population against swine flu is under threat because insurers may not cover doctors who administer the injections.

Insurers say inadequate testing and the possibility of spreading infections means there is too high a risk that patients will sue, Fairfax newspapers report.

CLOSING THE NET

Vogue model wins right to unmask offensive blogger

A Vogue cover girl has won a precedent-setting court battle to unmask an anonymous blogger who called her a “skank” on the internet.
In a case with potentially far-reaching repercussions, Liskula Cohen sought the identity of the blogger who maligned her on the Skanks in NYC blog so that she could sue him or her for defamation.

BLIND JUSTICE

Judge Scalia says there’s nothing unconstitutional about executing the innocent.

Justice Antonin Scalia criticized his colleagues for thinking that mere innocence is grounds to overturn a conviction:

This Court has never held that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who has had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is "actually" innocent. Quite to the contrary, we have repeatedly left that question unresolved, while expressing considerable doubt that any claim based on alleged "actual innocence" is constitutionally cognizable.

POT HEADS

Cannabis blunts prostate cancer threat: study

Chemicals in cannabis have been found to stop prostate cancer cells from growing in the laboratory, suggesting marijuana-based medicines could one day help fight the disease, scientists said.

After working initially with human cancer cell lines, Ines Diaz-Laviada and colleagues from the University of Alcala in Madrid also tested one compound on mice and discovered it produced a significant reduction in tumour growth.

Their research, published in the British Journal of Cancer, underlines the growing interest in the medical use of active chemicals called cannabinoids, which are found in marijuana.