China - Launch of Long March 7

People's Network just reported the succesful maiden flight of carrier rocket "Long March No.7" after its launch from Wenchang space center in Hainan province.




6月25日20时00分，我国新一代运载火箭长征七号在海南文昌航天发射场点火升空，约603秒后，载荷组合体与火箭成功分离，进入近地点200千米、远地点394千米的椭圆轨道，长征七号运载火箭首次发射圆满成功。

On June 25, at 20:00 local time, China's new carrier rocket "Long March No.7" had a flaming lift-off from Wenchang space launching site in Hainan [province]. After 603 seconds, the payload assembly successfully separated and entered an elliptic orbit with a minimum distance from Earth of 200 km [perigee] and a maximum distance of 394 km [apogee], such making the maiden launch of carrier rocket "Long March No.7" a complete success.

Technical information from other sources:

The Long March 7 is the medium-lift variant of a new generation rocket family that includes the heavier-lift Long March 5 and the small-mid cargo Long March 6. The structure is based on the reliable, man-rated Long March 2F rocket. It inherited the 3.35m-diameter core stage and 2.25m-diameter liquid rocket boosters. Where the earlier Long March 2 rocket family used expensive and dangerous N2O4/UDMH propellants, the Long March 7 uses LOX/kerosene. The engines are shared with the Long March 5 and 6. The goal was to build a more cost-effective and less hazardous rocket family to replace today's Long March 2 and eventually the Long March 3. It will be capable of placing a 5,500 kilograms (12,100 lb) payload into a sun-synchronous orbit.




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Iran - Khomeini's Secret Deal with the US

وثائق أميركية مسربة: الخميني استرضى كيندي وكارتر

[Released] U.S. documents: Khomeini appeased Kennedy and Carter.

The Arabic article from Al-Arabiya TV العربية was published on their website, today, June 3, 2016.

It is referring to recently declassified U.S. documents that suggest an unusual background story behind the grasp of power in Iran by Ayatollah Khomeini and his seemingly unchallenged introduction of an Islamic revolution.

Detailed information is available, as well, from BBC London on one of today's news websites under the headline:

Two Weeks in January: America's secret engagement with Khomeini



Here some quotations from that article published only some hours ago:

On 27 January, 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini - founder of Iran's Islamic Republic, the man who called the United States "the Great Satan" - sent a secret message to Washington.

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In a first-person message, Khomeini told the White House not to panic at the prospect of losing a strategic ally of 37 years and assured them that he, too, would be a friend.

"You will see we are not in any particular animosity with the Americans," said Khomeini, pledging his Islamic Republic will be "a humanitarian one, which will benefit the cause of peace and tranquillity for all mankind".

Khomeini's message is part of a trove of newly declassified US government documents - diplomatic cables, policy memos, meeting records - that tell the largely unknown story of America's secret engagement with Khomeini, an enigmatic cleric who would soon inspire Islamic fundamentalism and anti-Americanism worldwide.

This story is a detailed account of how Khomeini brokered his return to Iran using a tone of deference and amenability towards the US that has never before been revealed.

The ayatollah's message was, in fact, the culmination of two weeks of direct talks between his de facto chief of staff and a representative of the US government in France - a quiet process that helped pave the way for Khomeini's safe return to Iran and rapid rise to power - and decades of high-stakes tension between Iran and America.

In the official Iranian narrative of the revolution, Khomeini bravely defied the United States and defeated "the Great Satan" in its desperate efforts to keep the Shah in power.

But the documents reveal that Khomeini was far more engaged with the US than either government has ever admitted. Far from defying America, the ayatollah courted the Carter administration, sending quiet signals that he wanted a dialogue and then portraying a potential Islamic Republic as amenable to US interests.

Khomeini had even earlier reached out to the U.S. for support when he had sent a private message to President Kennedy while being held under house arrest in Tehran in 1963.

For more information, you should read the whole story from BBC, London.

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Some most recent visitors to "blueprint news".

CERN - Sounds of the Universe

Latest news from the particle accelerator facility of CERN, Geneva.

From techno beats to classical melodies, from jazz swinging to pop and rock riffs – the ATLAS experiment can play them all thanks to Quantizer.



This new platform translates ATLAS events into notes and rhythms, meaning one of the most complex scientific instruments in the world will not only search for new physics, but also generate music.

The Quantizer device was conceived by Juliana Cherston, a Master’s student in the Responsive Environments Group at the MIT Media Lab, and designed in partnership with ATLAS Doctoral student Ewan Hill from the University of Victoria. They have just released Quantizer on the web, providing real-time audio samples produced with the latest data.

Being convinced that any continuous data stream, received from constant measurement of time-dependent physical processes, could be transformed into some kind of music, I tried to combine the cosmic version of the ATLAS tunes with cosmic video visualisations produced by BBC. The original video is being accompanied by human composed relaxation music.

If you switch off the video sound manually and, instead, activate the below ATLAS tunes you will find a nice combination of galactic views and live music of natural origin. You might even like YouTube to find for you further visualisations of space and watch them in fullscreen mode while listening to the sounds from sub-atomic proceedings.






Activate cosmic ATLAS tunes from CERN

Hezbollah - Proceedings in Syria

Tonight, news is spreading about a prominent military commander for Hezbollah, Mustafa Badr Addin, and who had lost his life in Syria while fighting in an alliance with Iranian revolutionary guards and regular troops of the Assad regime. His funeral in Lebanon now made thousands of supporters take to the streets.




الآلاف يشاركون في تشييع جنازة مصطفى بدر الدين القائد العسكري البارز لحزب الله

Thousands participate in the public funeral of Mustafa Badr
Addin, the military leader starring in combat for Hezbollah.

[Source: BBC Arabic evening news on May 13, 2016]


Tonight, as well, the Arabic channel of Al-Jazeera covered the subject in their regular special "Behind the News ما وراء الخبر". Here some quotations from that program:




حزب الله تكبد خسائر كبيرة من مقاتليه و نخبة قادته العسكريين في سوريا

Hezbollah is suffering from big losses of its warriors and [from] the choice of its military leaders in Syria.

بدر الدين قتل في منطقة يحميها كل من النظام السوري و روسيا و إيران

The killing of Badr Addin happened in a region protected by the Syrian regime, by Russia and Iran.

بدر الدين كان مسؤول الوحدات المقاتلة لحزب الله في سوريا و شقيق زوجة عماد مغنية

Badr Addin was responsible for the fighting units of Hezbollah in Syria and brother of Imad Mughniyya's wife.

[Editor's Note: Imad Mughniyya had been an important member of the Hezbollah secret service. Mughniyya was held responsible for several terrorist attacks against U.S. and Israeli targets. He died in a car bombing in Damascus in 2008.]

بدر الدين هو المتهم الأول في اغتيال رئيس الوزراء اللبناني الأسبق رفيق الحريري

Badr Addin is the first suspect in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.

الصحافة الإسرائيلية ترحب بمقتل بدر الدين و تقول إنه ضربة قاصمة لحزب الله

Israeli media are celebrating the death of Badr Addin and say that [his death] is a disastrous blow against Hezbollah.

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Update for May 14, 2016:

Reminding Unfinished Business .....

UN envoy warns that Hezbollah expansion can threaten Lebanon.

[Headline of Washington Post on May 13, 2016]

Hezbollah’s involvement in the conflicts in Syria and Iraq risks to spill over sectarian tensions into Lebanon where the Islamic State and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front are steadily expanding.

UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen expressed his serious concern at Hezbollah and other militias having not only continued but even increased their military activities since the Security Council ordered them to disband in 2004. He also expressed concern at the reported expansion of extremist groups within Lebanon, mostly in Palestinian refugee camps. All activities to be abandoned are seen as a general threat to the internal stability and sovereignty of Lebanon where the political wing of Hezbollah already holds two seats in the country's government.

So far the raw information from United Nations Security Council and which has been deployed, as well, by Al-Arabiya العربية the following day on May 14:



Above photo: Terje Roed-Larsen deals with implementation of
the 2004 Security Council resolution No. 1559 that is, among
other items, calling for disarmament and demobilization of all
militias operating in Lebanon.

Syria - Saudi Opinion

السعودية: "الأسد وإيران" و"الإرهاب" وجهان لعملة واحدة

Saudi-Arabia: "Assad and Iran" as well as "Terrorism"
are but two sides of the same coin.

حمّلت السعودية النظام السوري وإيران مسؤولية انتشار التطرف والنزعات الطائفية في المنطقة.ـ

Saudi Arabia blamed the Syrian regime and Iran responsible for the spreading of extremism and sectarian tendencies in the region.

وقال عبد الله المعلمي مندوب السعودية في مجلس الأمن إن استنجاد الأسد بمجموعات ترفع شعارات طائفية أوجد بيئة لتقوية التطرف في سوريا .ـ

Abdullah Al Mouallimi, Saudi representative in the Security Council, said that Assad is helping groups to raise sectarian slogans, thus creating an environment to strengthen extremism in Syria.

[Source: Al-Arabiya العربية on May 12, 2016]


Editor's Note:

Ambassador Abdullah Al-Mouallimi is Saudi-Arabia's representative to the United Nations.

On January 4, 2016, the members of the UN Security Council had condemned in the strongest terms reported attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran, and its Consulate General in Mashhad in the Islamic Republic of Iran, which resulted in intrusions into the diplomatic and consular premises, causing serious damage. [saudimission.org].

Despite Security Council support in the above mentioned attack on Saudi diplomats and diplomatic premises, it should be noted that Saudi-Arabia's relations with the UN Security Council are rather tense, even though the country was elected as its temporary member in 2013.

On October 18, 2013, Saudi Arabia declined its election to the Security Council for the 2014-2015 period. In its statement, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited the failure of the Council to act in regard to the crisis in Syria, the continuing lack of a "just and lasting solution" to the situation in Palestine, and that the Council had failed to make the Middle East a nuclear weapons-free zone. Instead, Saudi-Arabia pleaded for a reformation of the Council that would enable the organization to carry out its duties and responsibilities. This was the first time in the Council's history that an already elected member would reject its membership. [unelections.org]

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Syria after Short Armistice

The Syrian conflict regains impetus after a 24-hours armistice negociated between U.S. secretary-of-state John Kerry and Russian minister Sergej Lavrov.




غارات روسية عنيفة على ريف إدلب وحلب

Fierce Russian incursions into Idlib and Aleppo district.

أغارت طائرات روسية وسورية على أحياء في حلب شمالي سوريا بعيد غارات مكثفة على الريفين الجنوبي والغربي للمدينة بمشاركة الطائرات الروسية التي قتلت 14 شخصا في بلدة بنّش بريف إدلب.ـ

Russian and Syrian planes launched an attack against Achiya in Aleppo [district], northern Syria, shortly after concentrated incursions into districts south and west of the town with the assistance of Russian planes that killed 14 people in the community of Bannesh in Idlib district.

[Source: Al-Jazeera الجزيبة on May 11, 2016]




Achiya / Aleppo - Results of an earlier bombing
reported by Al-Bawaba البوابة on May 8, 2016.
Three citizens should have died in that assault.




Earlier report from the shelling of Bannesh in Idlib district
and which came from El-Wehda الوحدة the day before on
May 10, 2016. The death toll reported at this time was 10
compared with 14 only some hours later.

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Pyongyang - Workers Party Congress

Celebrations for North Korea's 7th Workers Party Congress.
[XinHua news agency on May 11, 2016]




Pyongyang, May 7 (KCNA) -- The second-day sitting of the Seventh Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) took place on Saturday, May 7. This is the first fully translated video about congress proceedings provided by "Voice of Korea".

However, there is not much new in Kim Jong-Un's speech which is celebrating progress achieved by the Workers Party, as well as North Korea's peculiar and isolated way of getting along with all current economic and geopolitical challenges. Even though international media already stressed a remark made by North Korea's leader the day before and saying the country would only apply nuclear weapons when being attacked, no reliable facts about future plannings are available. Only one thing seems to be clear: There will be a 5-Years-Plan starting in 2016 and lasting until 2020.




For more substantial information on the Workers Party Congress and N Korea's current situation, here an Al-Jazeera special which could not be accused of taking sides in a subject that relates North and South Korea, China, Japan and the U.S.

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