South Sudan Becomes World''s Newest Nation

South Sudan becomes the newest independent country in the world, on saturday, July 9, 2011. Southern Sudan will be named the Republic of South Sudan upon independence. Salva Kiir Mayardit is its current president. Capital is Juba.

South Sudan President Salva Kiir

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South Sudan had reached a comprehensive peace agreement with North Sudan in 2005, brokered by US Secretary of State Colin Powell under former President George W Bush, that stopped the bloody civil war and paved the way for a referendum in January that year. Some 99 per cent of southern Sudanese had voted for independence from the north of Sudan in the referendum.

South Sudan man rejoicing with Flag

The people of the Southern part is mainly Christian and the Northern teriitory is Arab Muslim. Africa’s 54th state is at the bottom of the developing world. Most people live on less than $1 a day. More than 10 percent of children do not reach the age of 5. Some 75 percent of adults cannot read.
Sudan had already bloodied by two million deaths in the civil war, but many festering disputes between north and south are still remaining. Major elements of the 2005 peace agreement are unresolved — such as which side will control the oil-rich region of Abyei, where fighting has also broken out; citizenship protections for minorities; where final borders will be set; how oil earnings will be shared (the south has 70 percent of the reserves). The two sides are dependent on each other. South Sudan needs the north’s pipeline to get its oil to market. Sudan needs oil money to help pay its bills. Both need foreign investment and the north needs debt relief.

South Sudan Army

Sudan’s president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, said he would attend the festivities in Juba. But he also said he would continue the fight. The international community must persuade the two sides to avoid war and work to build a future for both Sudans.

Space Shuttle Era Ends!

After a 30 year long history, space shuttle flights has coming to an end. The last one, Space shuttle Atlantis blasted off on July 8, 2011 from Kennedy Space Centre, as it left Earth on the final flight of the U.S. space shuttle program.
"Today's launch may mark the final flight of the space shuttle but it propels us into the next era of our never-ending adventure to push the very frontiers of exploration and discovery in space," Obama said in a statement from the White House. About 1 million sightseers witnessed the liftoff. They had lined causeways and beaches around the Kennedy Space Center in central Florida. In its last flight  Atlantis' has a 12-day mission to the International Space Station. It will arrive at the station on 10th July, 2011. Atlantis, in its one week stay at the space station, will transfer more than 5 tonnes of food, clothing, science experiments and other equipments to the station and pack up old equipment to be returned to Earth.

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NASA is ending the shuttle program mainly because of the high operating costs. In 1986, seven astronauts died aboard shuttle Challenger when a rocket booster seal failed shortly after launch. Seven more, including Kalpana Chawla, died aboard Columbia, destroyed due to heat shield failure in 2003 as it returned to Earth.

Space shuttle Atlantis STS-135 crew commander Ferguson,
 pilot Hurley, mission specialist Magnus and mission specialist Walheim

Atlantis Cockpit

NASA will rely on Russia to fly its astronauts to the station, at a cost of more than $50 million a seat, until commercial firms are ready to take over crew ferry flights. Now onwards the US will focus on flights to asteroids and even to Mars!

China has unveiled the world’s longest sea bridge!!!

China once agian created history and fills the news. The communist giant has unveiled the world’s longest sea bridge, which stretches a massive 26.4 miles, longer than a marathon!

The Qingdao Haiwan Bridge, completed recently, links the main urban area of Qingdao city, East China’s Shandong province, with Huangdao district. The bridge took four years and cost 5.5 billion dollar to build. This will be opened in the New Year. This new Chinese wonder is almost three miles longer than the previous record-holder, the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in Louisiana. With an overall length of 42.58km, the route between Qingdao and Huangdao will be shortened by 30km, cutting the travel time by about 20 minutes.

However, the colossal construction is set to hold the record as the longest sea bridge only for a few years – and it will be bettered by another Chinese bridge in the next decade.
A new bridge is coming to link southern Guangdong province with Hong Kong and Macau.
Set to be completed in 2016, officials say the 6.5billion dollar bridge will span nearly 50km (30 miles).
The bridge will be a six-lane expressway that can handle earthquakes up to magnitude 8.0, strong typhoons and the impact of a 300,000 tonne vessel, said Zhu Yongling, one of the officials leading the project.

Even when constructed that structure will be dwarfed by the longest bridge in the world, which is also in China. The Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge, also Chinese, is an astonishing 102 miles in length.