Tuesday, April 12, 2011

12/04 Pháp chính thức cấm khăn trùm mặt nơi công cộng

THỨ BA, 12/4/2011 22:38 GMT+7

Pháp, nước có cộng đồng người Hồi giáo lớn nhất châu Âu, hôm 11/4 đã chính thức cấm phụ nữ đeo khăn trùm kín mặt ở những nơi công cộng.

Đạo luật này có hiệu lực vào đúng lúc quan hệ giữa Pháp và cộng đồng người Hồi giáo thiểu số ở nước này đang căng thẳng với Tổng thống Nicolas Sarkozy bị cáo buộc bôi nhọ đạo Hồi để giành lá phiếu từ phe cực hữu đang hồi sinh.

Tuy nhiên, nhiều tín đồ Hồi giáo và các tổ chức theo dõi nhân quyền đã tố cáo vị tổng thống cánh hữu này nhằm vào một trong những nhóm dễ bị tổn thương nhất ở Pháp để đánh đi tín hiệu với những cử tri chống nhập cư rằng ông ta chia sẻ những mối lo ngại của họ cho rằng Hồi giáo là một mối đe dọa đối với văn hóa Pháp.

Một số người chỉ trích lo ngại luật này khó có thể được thực thi vì nó được soạn thảo mà không cân nhắc yếu tố tín ngưỡng để cấm bất cứ loại khăn che mặt nào ở nơi công cộng và vì cảnh sát sẽ không được phép tháo khăn trùm đầu của phụ nữ.

Theo đạo luật, bất cứ người nào từ chối tháo khăn trùm mặt để xuất trình giấy tờ sẽ có thể bị đưa về đồn cảnh sát, nơi các cảnh sát sẽ cố gắng thuyết phục họ tháo khăn và có thể dọa phạt.

Phụ nữ nào nhiều lần cố tình trùm khăn che mặt tại nơi công cộng có thể bị phạt 150 euro (216 USD) và bị đưa đến các lớp “hồi phục nhân phẩm”./.

Huy Lê (Vietnam+)

12/04 Thủ tướng Nhật: Nhà máy Fukushima 1 dần ổn định

Thủ tướng Nhật Bản Naoto Kan ngày 12/4 cho biết tình hình tại nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima số 1 đang từng bước được cải thiện.

Phát biểu tại một cuộc họp báo ở thủ đô Tokyo, Thủ tướng Kan thông báo mức thải phóng xạ của nhà máy điện hạt nhân Fukushima số 1 đang giảm dần.

Chính phủ Nhật Bản đã yêu cầu Công ty điện lực Tokyo (TEPCO) - công ty vận hành nhà máy Fukushima số 1 - trình các kế hoạch nhằm ngăn chặn thảm họa hạt nhân. Thủ tướng Kan cũng nhấn mạnh chính phủ nước này không đánh giá thấp thảm họa hạt nhân tại nhà máy Fukushima số 1 và không chậm trễ khi nâng mức độ nguy hiểm khi xảy ra sự cố.

Tuy nhiên, Nhật Bản không có kế hoạch ngừng hoạt động ngay lập tức các lò phản ứng hạt nhân. Ông bày tỏ mong muốn đảm bảo sự an toàn của nguồn điện hạt nhân và Nhật Bản vẫn sẽ sử dụng nguồn năng lượng sạch này.

Thủ tướng Kan cũng kêu gọi người dân Nhật Bản nhanh chóng trở lại cuộc sống bình thường một tháng sau thảm họa động đất và sóng thần. Ông cũng đề nghị người dân mua những sản phẩm được sản xuất tại các khu vực bị ảnh hưởng bởi thảm họa trên do nồng độ phóng xạ chưa tới mức nguy hiểm.

Trước đó cùng ngày, Cơ quan an toàn công nghiệp và hạt nhân Nhật Bản (NISA) đã quyết định nâng mức độ nguy hiểm của sự cố hạt nhân tại nhà máy Fukushima số 1 từ cấp 5 lên cấp 7 theo thang đo sự cố hạt nhân 7 cấp của Cấp độ sự kiện hạt nhân quốc tế (INES).

Như vậy, mức độ nghiêm trọng của sự cố tại nhà máy Fukushima số 1 tương đương mức độ nguy hiểm của thảm họa Chernobyl năm 1986. Tuy nhiên, NISA tin rằng lượng phóng xạ lũy kế từ nhà máy này vẫn thấp hơn so với thảm họa Chernobyl./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

08/04 春秋 - Thiên phạt - Tinh Thần - Vận Mệnh 3 cái nhìn về thiên tai của người Nhật

2011/4/8付

 災害社会学の第一人者だった広井脩さんは著書「災害と日本人」で日本人の伝統的な災害観を3つあげている。まずは人間社会への天の戒めとみる「天譴(てんけん)論」。関東大震災の時には渋沢栄一や内村鑑三が盛んにこの論を主張したそうだ。

▼2つ目は「精神論」で災害に科学的に対処するよりも心構えを強調する考え方だ。最終的に神仏依存に通じるという。3つ目は「運命論」で災害とそれによる生死を運命として受け入れる。そう割り切ることで悲劇性を心理的に抑える効用がある一方で、あきらめにつながる恐れもあると広井さんは指摘している。

▼大震災で避難所生活を続ける被災者は現在も約15万人いる。今回の震災を「天罰」と発言し、すぐに撤回した某知事を除けば、この時代に天譴論や精神論を唱える人はそういまい。一方で、被災を結局、運命と受け止める人は今も多いかもしれない。それが生活を立て直すバネになるといいのだが、道はまだ遠い。

▼火山噴火で4年半の全島避難を経験した東京都三宅村の平野祐康村長は「誇れることがあったとすれば、自殺者を出さなかったことだ」と振り返る。過酷な状況が過ぎてむしろ、心にすきま風が吹く。阪神大震災でも仮設住宅に移ってから被災者の孤独死が問題になった。人と人のつながりがますます大切になる。

10/04 Yuri Gagarin: The journey that shook the world


Yuri GagarinGagarin was just 27 when he made his epochal 108-minute orbital flight

Yuri Gagarin's single orbit of Earth 50 years ago this month ushered in the era of human spaceflight.

Gagarin's 108-minute flight was another major propaganda coup for the Soviet Union, which had successfully launched the first satellite - Sputnik - in 1957.

"I was a young fighter pilot in Germany I was flying F-102s in Rammstein Germany. We were more focused on the building of the Berlin Wall that year, rather than the space race," says Nasa astronaut Charles Duke, who walked on the Moon during the Apollo 16 mission in 1972.

"When he flew, my first impression was - well, they beat us again."

Sergei Khrushchev, the son of Nikita Khrushchev, who was the Soviet premier at the time of Gagarin's flight, told BBC News: "We were very proud but we did not really understand how important it was. It was one more flight, one more achievement."

Start Quote

They were performing enormous feats of physical training... They wanted to test the limits of their pilots”

Cathleen LewisNational Air and Space Museum

But he says his father was acutely aware of the significance, and orchestrated a celebration in Red Square upon Gagarin's return to Moscow.

"When we look at the response of the Muscovites, where everyone was in the streets, on the roofs of buildings and in the windows, I would compare this celebration with the May 9 victory day (the end of World War II for the Soviet Union)," says Sergei.

During the Cold War, such "firsts" were used by the USSR to claim technological might and ideological superiority.

But the architects of both the US and Soviet space programmes had loftier ambitions of sending humans on voyages around the Solar System.

The Americans and the Soviets experimented by sending animals into space prior to launching people.

Despite several notable failures, the successful tests signalled that humans were capable of surviving the stresses of spaceflight.

Vostok 1 launchThe launch on 12 April 1961 took place from what is now Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan

Yuri Gagarin was one of 20 prospective cosmonauts selected for the Soviet space programme in 1960. The candidates were put through a gruelling training regime, including long stays in isolation chambers.

Cathleen Lewis, curator of international space programmes at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC, says: "They were performing enormous feats of physical training... They wanted to test the limits of their pilots."

Gagarin's historic flight

  • Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited Earth in 108-minute flight on 12 April 1961
  • Became instant celebrity and toured the world
  • But he never returned to space, and instead trained Soviet cosmonauts
  • He died seven years later in a training flight

The list of 20 candidates was eventually whittled down to two: Gagarin and fellow test pilot Gherman Titov.

It has been suggested that Gagarin's humble upbringing may have tipped the scales in his favour. While Titov came from a middle-class background, Gagarin was the son of workers. The Soviet leadership may have regarded this as a demonstration that, under communism, even those who came from modest families could succeed.

But others insist that the cosmonauts' performance during the selection process was much the more important factor.

In early 1961, US astronaut Alan Shepard had been training for a sub-orbital flight on a Mercury-Redstone rocket scheduled for May that year.

The Soviets were not aware of the schedule, but Sergei Korolev, chief scientist for the USSR's space programme, was worried the US would be first and pushed for a manned launch as soon as possible.

'Here we go'

On the morning of 12 April 1961, the 27-year-old Gagarin was waiting to be launched into space atop a 30m-high booster at the Tyuratam test range in Kazakhstan (now the Baikonur Cosmodrome).

As the rocket blasted off at 0907 local time, Gagarin reportedly said "Poyekhali", or "here we go".

Gagarin flight (BBC)Gagarin went into darkness behind the Earth over the Pacific. He saw the Sun rise as he was moving over the South Atlantic

Standing 5ft 2ins tall, Gagarin was better suited than some for the cramped conditions of his space capsule.

He was able to consume food through squeeze tubes and kept mission control updated on his condition using a high-frequency radio and a telegraph key.

Citizens in Moscow reading newspapers after Gagarin's flightThe first manned spaceflight caused a sensation in Moscow as it did elsewhere

According to a transcript of the communication with ground control, Gagarin was struck by the view through the capsule's window, commenting on our planet's "beautiful aura" and the striking shadows cast by clouds on the Earth's surface.

But the cosmonaut had no control over his spacecraft during the historic flight.

"No-one knew what effect zero-g would have on the astronauts when they were up there. They were so concerned that he might be disorientated and disabled once he was in weightlessness," says Reginald Turnill, the BBC's aerospace correspondent from 1958-1975.

"It was decided right from the beginning that he would not be allowed to control the spacecraft, it would all be done from the ground."

Breaking free

But there was also concern about what would happen if control from the ground was lost. So Gagarin was given a sealed envelope containing codes that would allow him to assume control of the spacecraft with the help of a crude onboard computer.

Yuri Gagarin: "I was never nervous during the space flight - there were no grounds for it"

It was only much later that it became known just how close the mission had come to disaster.

Cables linking the spacecraft's capsule to the service module failed to separate before Gagarin's return to Earth. So Gagarin's capsule was unexpectedly burdened with an extra module as it re-entered the Earth's atmosphere.

Vostok 1 capsuleThe cosmonaut baled out of his capsule before it hit the ground

Temperatures in the capsule became dangerously high and Gagarin was spun around wildly, almost losing consciousness.

"I was in a cloud of fire rushing toward Earth," the cosmonaut later recalled. It was 10 minutes before the cables finally burned through and the descent module, containing its human passenger, tore free.

Gagarin baled out before his capsule hit the ground, parachuting to a safe landing near the Volga River.

On his return, the previously unknown test pilot was transformed into a worldwide celebrity. Monuments were erected to honour his achievement, streets were named after him in many Soviet cities. Gzhatsk, the town where he spent much of his childhood, was even renamed Gagarin.

Nikita Khrushchev hugged the cosmonaut as he stepped off the plane on his return to Moscow. Khrushchev would subsequently compare Gagarin to Christopher Columbus and bestow upon him the status of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Along with other Western space correspondents, Reg Turnill was despatched to Moscow to cover a post-flight press conference.

John F Kennedy giving speech to Congress about the MoonUS President John F Kennedy upped the ante following the USSR's successes in space

"The whole purpose was to score points off the West," he recalls, adding: "We were given the ultimate idiot's treatment."

When asked whether he had landed in the capsule or had ejected and finished his journey by parachute, Gagarin replied: "The landing proceeded successfully and my presence here demonstrates the success of the systems."

The first human spaceflight intensified the incipient space race between the superpowers.

About a week after Gagarin's flight, US President John F Kennedy tasked his Vice-President Lyndon Johnson to report back on the state of the US space programme.

Johnson warned that urgent action was needed to prevent the Soviet Union leaving the US far behind in space exploration. But with sufficient resources and effort poured into its space programme, the US could be first to send a man to the Moon by the late 1960s.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Paul.Rincon-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk

More Science & Environment stories

RSS
  • File photo of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station taken on 24 March 2011Japan raises nuclear crisis level

    Japan raises the severity rating of its nuclear crisis to the highest level, but says radiation leakage is a 10th of that from the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.