Week Highlights in World (17-23, 10-2008)

Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh, Chandrayaan-1 is an unmanned lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India's national space agency. The mission includes a lunar orbiter and an impactor. The spacecraft was launched by a modified version of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on 22 October 2008 from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. 'Chandrayaan' roughly translates to 'Moon-vehicle'.
The remote sensing satellite weighs 1,308 kilograms (2,884 lb) (590 kilograms (1,301 lb) initial orbit mass and 504 kilograms (1,111 lb) dry mass) and carries high resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, soft and hard X-ray frequencies. Over a two-year period, it is intended to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. The polar regions are of special interest, as they might contain ice.

London, October 23, 2008--With a nose for speed, the Bloodhound supersonic car (illustrated above) is being designed to set a new land speed record of a 1,000 miles (1,609 kilometers) an hour by 2011, engineers announced in London today.

London, United Kingdom, October 20, 2008--Clay head molds of U.S. presidential candidates John McCain (left) and Barack Obama square off at the studios of the Madame Tussauds wax museums in London. The sculptors working on the likenesses say they have studied the politicians via hundreds of photos and hours of video. Madame Tussauds plans to complete several copies of the life-size wax figures by U.S. Inauguration Day, January 20, 2009, for display in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Las Vegas.

Mumbai (Bombay), India, October 21, 2008--Police struggle to control stone-throwing crowds protesting the October 19 arrest of controversial political leader Raj Thackeray. Thackeray is chief of the nationalist Maharashtra Reconstruction Army political party. He was arrested after members of his party attacked people who had come to Mumbai looking for jobs. The party strongly supports jobs for locals.

Kibumba, Democratic Republic of the Congo, October 19, 2008--A young girl carries water near the Kibumba refugee camp in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Escalated fighting between forces loyal to the Congolese president and those of the rebel general Laurent Nkunda, an ethnic Tutsi, forced more than 5,000 to flee the town of Rumangabo after rebel troops captured an army base there earlier this month.

The Kibumba camp expanded into a local school to accommodate newcomers from Rumangabo.

Los Angeles, California, October 23, 2008--Firefighters look on as helicopters drop water on a wildfire that broke out early Thursday morning near the Getty Center museum in western Los Angeles. The 100-acre (40-hectare) fire shut down the nearby San Diego Freeway for four hours before the blaze was extinguished by some 400 firefighters. No buildings burned, and there were no injuries.

Beirut, Lebanon, October 22, 2008--Lebanese men pull their belongings from floodwaters outside their home. A heavy rainstorm in the capital flooded streets and houses and brought traffic to a standstill, according to the Lebanese news agency Naharnet. An investigation is underway to see whether negligent building practices contributed to the widespread damage, the agency reported.

Duisburg, Germany, October 22, 2008--The newly built Merkez mosque--the largest in Germany--is set to officially open on October 26. More than three million Muslims, mostly of Turkish origin, live in Germany. Some new and planned mosques have been subjects of controversy in communities throughout Germany and other western European countries. An estimated 15 to 17 million Muslims make their home in the European Union.