US sub records detailed images of WWII wreck

BOSTON: An unmanned submarine has recorded some of the most detailed images of two American ships that sank off the coast of England during World War II, according to the Massachusetts company that surveyed the wreckage to mark the disaster´s 70th anniversary.

Bourne, Massachusetts-based Hydroid says they are the first high-definition sonar images of two ships sunk by German forces during Exercise Tiger, a rehearsal for the D-Day invasion. The torpedo attack on April 28, 1944, claimed the lives of 749 US soldiers and sailors.

Richard "Bungy" Williams, a regional manager for Hydroid Europe, said the company was interested in exploring the area because of the upcoming anniversary of the attack.

He said the images will be donated to the United Kingdom´s National Archive and local memorials.

The autonomous undersea vehicle recorded images of the two boats about 50 meters beneath the surface of the English Channel.

Williams said divers have accessed the site before, but the submarine provided the highest quality images yet, including one showing a boat´s upturned stern.

"Using the AUV we could get down very close to the wreck," he said.

Hydroid, a subsidiary of Kongsberg Maritime, manufactures the vehicles.

The casualties from Exercise Tiger were one of the least known Allied disasters of World War II. Fast-moving German torpedo boats happened upon the convoy, sank two ships and badly damaged a third during the practice run for the invasion.

The survivors were warned to keep it secret, and the casualties were not announced until nearly two months after the Normandy invasion. Full details were not known until 1974, when the records were declassified.

An annual wreath-laying to honor the victims is scheduled for Monday at US Coast Guard Station Barnegat Light in New Jersey. (AP)

122 potential objects seen in Malaysia jet satellite images

KUALA LUMPUR: Fresh satellite images taken during the search for a missing passenger jet show 122 "potential objects" in one area of the Indian Ocean, Malaysia said Wednesday.

The images from Airbus Defence and Space in France show the objects in a 400-square-kilometre (160-square-mile) area of the ocean, said Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

 

New satellite images raise hopes in search for missing jet

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  AP Japanese Commander Hidetsugu Iwamasa, centre, speaks to the media after his P-3C Orion from Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force arrived at Royal Australian Air Force Pearce Base in Perth on Sunday, to help with search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

 
AP A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion takes off to join the search for the missing Malaysian jet in Perth on Sunday.

A French satellite provided new images of potential debris from a missing Malaysian passenger jet in the southern Indian Ocean as Australian officials on Sunday expressed “increasing hope” that remnants of the plane would be found in the area.

France sent the satellite images on Sunday and they were forwarded to Australia, which is leading the southern Indian Ocean search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, Malaysia’s Transport Ministry said.

The images were of “potential objects,” the Ministry said without being specific.

Although a fourth day of searching in the area yielded no confirmed evidence of the plane, Australian officials expressed optimism that clues would be found in the March 8 disappearance of the Boeing 777.

The French images followed on the heels of two other satellite sightings of potential debris.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott spoke of “very credible leads” and said there was “increasing hope... that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen.” Spirits were buoyed by an image of a large object, 22.5 metres by 13 metres, captured in the area by a Chinese satellite on Tuesday, two days after the initial satellite images were broadcast. The separate sightings were in relatively close proximity.

A search plane on Sunday also spotted “several small objects of interest,” including a wooden pallet and different coloured straps, officials leading the search said.

“It’s a possible lead,” Australian Maritime Safety Authority official Mike Barton said in Canberra. “We’ve gone back to that area today to try and refind it. It’s a possible lead.” Two Chinese aircraft and two from Japan joined the international force of ships and planes searching an area 2,500 kilometres south-west of Perth.

Two patches of ocean are being searched with a combined area of 59,000 sq. km more than two weeks after the plane with 239 people on board vanished from radar while it was on a flight that was to take it from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The search zones have been expanded extensively as no debris has been turned up and the mystery surrounding the plane’s fate has deepened.

The object photographed last week by the Chinese satellite was about 120 kilometres from where the first images of possible debris from Flight MH370 were taken.

Australia’s HMAS Success is already in the search area, and Chinese, British and more Australian naval vessels were en route.

Two merchant ships had also been taking part in the search on requests by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, but one was released as more vessels arrived in the area.

The Hoegh St Petersburg, a Norwegian cargo vessel transporting cars, is now bound for Melbourne, its original destination, its owner, Hoegh Autoliners, said.

NASA images from space show North Korea shrouded in darkness

(CNN) -- Give an astronaut on the International Space Station a digital camera and you're bound to end up with some astounding images -- especially if they're flying above North Korea.

When the space station passed over East Asia one night recently, a member of NASA's Expedition 38 crew took a series of photographs that show just how off-the-grid the Hermit Kingdom really is.

While thriving cities and major roads are seen glowing across South Korea and China, the landscape between the two countries is so dark that it's difficult to tell where the sea ends and North Korea begins.

Pyongyang "appears like a small island," says NASA, noting that the light emission from the North Korean capital is equivalent to the smaller towns of its neighbor to the south.

The space agency, which turned the images into a timelapse video, says city lights at night are a good indicator of the relative affluence of cities.

Looking at the images, it's hardly a surprise that energy use is dramatically different on either side of the 38th parallel. In South Korea, per capita power consumption is 10,162 kilowatt hours while in North Korea the figure is 739 kilowatt hours, according to World Bank data.