National and International news: tracks

sábado, 15 de setembro de 2012

Man falls on subway tracks, gets robbed, hit by train

KARL RITTERSWEDEN -- A drunk, middle-aged man falls off a subway platform and is knocked unconscious as his head hits the tracks.

A bystander who witnessed the accident jumps down after him - but not for a daring rescue before the train arrives.

Instead, the witness steals the man's valuables, climbs back on the platform and leaves his victim to be hit by a train.

The man - who was on his way home from a party - survived, but was seriously injured and doctors had to amputate half his left foot, Sweden's TV3 channel reported.

Swedish police now hope that surveillance camera footage of the disturbing incident at a Stockholm subway station early Sunday will help them find and arrest the unscrupulous thief.

Police said Thursday they have received several tips after the video was shown on TV3 this week on Sweden's equivalent to "America's Most Wanted."

It was also shown by several other TV stations.

"To me it's incredible that one could steal or rob from somebody who is lying in such a place where you know that, if I don't do something, then this person will, in a worst-case scenario, get killed by the train that is coming. Because the train is going to come," police inspector Dan Ostman told TV4.

The thief had short, dark hair and was wearing a blue jacket and dark pants. He was described as being between 35 and 40 years old and about 5-foot-9 (175 centimeters).

He calmly walked out of the subway station, waving to the ticket vendor, as a train ran over the victim on the tracks below.

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sábado, 8 de setembro de 2012

Visible from space: Curiosity tire tracks on Mars

SETH BORENSTEINLOS ANGELES -- NASA's robotic rover Curiosity is making its mark on Mars, in a way so big that it can be seen from space.

In just one month, it's driven 368 feet on the red planet, slightly more than the length of a football field. Curiosity's slightly zig-zaggy tire tracks were photographed by a NASA satellite circling Mars and also from the rover's rear-facing cameras.

The spacecraft landed on Aug. 5 on a mission to look for ingredients in Martian soil and rocks that could support life.

When the images from the Martian satellite showed the rover tracks, "there was much high-fiving," mission manager Michael Watkins said Thursday. He said engineers were thrilled by the idea that "we left tracks on Mars that we can see from orbit" because it gave them a visible sense of accomplishment.

Other rovers have left tracks on Mars, but not as deep or wide as Curiosity's, Watkins said.

Curiosity won't be traveling any more for several days. Engineers will spend the next week checking out its crucial robotic arm. At the end of that arm is a "Swiss Army knife" of scientific instruments designed to test rocks and the chemicals in the soil, Watkins said.

After the arm and its tools are given clean bills of health, the rover will continue on a trek of more than a week to its first destination, a point called Glenelg, where three types of terrain meet. The rover will likely stop on the way to test its first rocks.

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