Joint U.S.-Israel military exercise postponed (Reuters)

JERUSALEM (Reuters) ? The United States and Israel have postponed an upcoming joint military exercise until later in the year, but sources in both countries denied on Sunday that the move was taken to avoid further escalating tensions with Iran.

The air-defense drill, named "Austere Challenge 12," is expected to be the largest exercise between the two allies, who regularly hold joint military maneuvers.

The Pentagon said it was scheduled for the spring, but now would take place in the second half of 2012.

Israeli media reports originally said it was cancelled due to budgetary constraints. But some pundits speculated that the real reason was fear of creating further friction with Iran, which is showing signs of deepening isolation over its refusal to halt nuclear activity.

A U.S. official denied that tensions with Iran were a factor and an Israeli security source cited logistical problems. Both sources spoke on condition of anonymity.

"It's for a host of reasons, mainly logistical, but not the reason you cited (tensions with Iran)," the Israeli source said.

Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain John Kirby played down the delay, saying it was not uncommon for routine exercises to be postponed.

"There were a variety of factors at play in this case, but in general, leaders from both sides believe that optimum participation by all units is best achieved later in the year," Kirby said.

Israel sees the makings of a mortal threat in Iran's uranium enrichment and missile projects, and the Jewish state's leaders have not ruled out the use of military force to stop it.

Iran says its nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have risen in recent weeks after U.S. President Barack Obama signed a bill on New Year's Eve that, if fully implemented, would make it impossible for most countries to pay for Iranian oil.

Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil shipping lane, if sanctions prevent it from exporting oil. The United States has said it will not tolerate such a move.

General Martin Dempsey, the top U.S. military officer, is due to travel to Tel Aviv for talks later this week in which Iran is certain to be one of the topics of discussion. It will be Dempsey's first trip there since becoming chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in September.

In a November 30 interview with Reuters, Dempsey said he did not know whether Israel would alert the United States ahead of time if it decided to take unilateral military action against Iran. He also acknowledged differences in perspective between the United States and Israel over the best way to handle Iran and its nuclear program.

(Reporting by Dan Williams; Additional reporting by Phil Stewart in Washington; Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Peter Graff and Stacey Joyce)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120115/wl_nm/us_israel_usa_exercise

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Particle-free silver ink prints small, high-performance electronics

Friday, January 13, 2012

University of Illinois materials scientists have developed a new reactive silver ink for printing high-performance electronics on ubiquitous, low-cost materials such as flexible plastic, paper or fabric substrates.

Jennifer Lewis, the Hans Thurnauer Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, and graduate student S. Brett Walker described the new ink in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

"We are really excited about the wide applicability and excellent electrical properties of this new silver ink," said Lewis, the director of the Frederick Seitz Materials Research Laboratory at the U. of I.

Electronics printed on low-cost, flexible materials hold promise for antennas, batteries, sensors, solar energy, wearable devices and more. Most conductive inks rely on tiny metal particles suspended in the ink. The new ink is a transparent solution of silver acetate and ammonia. The silver remains dissolved in the solution until it is printed, and the liquid evaporates, yielding conductive features.

"It dries and reacts quickly, which allows us to immediately deposit silver as we print," Walker said.

The reactive ink has several advantages over particle-based inks. It is much faster to make: A batch takes minutes to mix, according to Walker, whereas particle-based inks take several hours and multiple steps to prepare. The ink also is stable for several weeks.

The reactive silver ink also can print through 100-nanometer nozzles, an order of magnitude smaller than particle-based inks, an important feature for printed microelectronics. Moreover, the ink's low viscosity makes it suitable for inkjet printing, direct ink writing or airbrush spraying over large, conformal areas.

"For printed electronics applications, you need to be able to store the ink for several months because silver is expensive," Walker said. "Since silver particles don't actually form until the ink exits the nozzle and the ammonia evaporates, our ink remains stable for very long periods. For fine-scale nozzle printing, that's a rarity."

The reactive silver ink boasts yet one more key advantage: a low processing temperature. Metallic inks typically need to be heated to achieve bulk conductivity through a process called annealing. The annealing temperatures for many particle-based inks are too high for many inexpensive plastics or paper. By contrast, the reactive silver ink exhibits an electrical conductivity approaching that of pure silver upon annealing at 90 degrees Celsius.

"We are now focused on patterning large-area transparent conductive surfaces using this reactive ink," said Lewis, who also is affiliated with the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, the Micro and Nanotechnology Lab and the department of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the U. of I.

###

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: http://www.uiuc.edu

Thanks to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for this article.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116725/Particle_free_silver_ink_prints_small__high_performance_electronics

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Pakistan Taliban leader reported dead in US strike

FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2009 file photo, Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud arrives to meet with media in Sararogha of Pakistani tribal area of South Waziristan along the Afghanistan border. Pakistani intelligence officials said on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2012 they have intercepted militant radio communications indicating the Pakistani Taliban's leader Mehsud may have been killed in a recent U.S. drone strike in northwest Pakistan. (AP Photo/Ishtiaq Mehsud, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2009 file photo, Pakistani Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud arrives to meet with media in Sararogha of Pakistani tribal area of South Waziristan along the Afghanistan border. Pakistani intelligence officials said on Sunday, Jan. 12, 2012 they have intercepted militant radio communications indicating the Pakistani Taliban's leader Mehsud may have been killed in a recent U.S. drone strike in northwest Pakistan. (AP Photo/Ishtiaq Mehsud, File)

Pakistani Shiite Muslims beat their chests during a procession marking the end of the forty-day mourning period after the anniversary of the 7th century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 in Lahore, Pakistan. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

A Pakistani Shiite Muslim flagellates himself with knives attached to chain during a procession marking the end of the forty-day mourning period after the anniversary of the 7th century martyrdom of Imam Hussein, the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012 in Lahore, Pakistan. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

ISLAMABAD (AP) ? Intercepted militant radio communications indicate the leader of the Pakistani Taliban may have been killed in a recent U.S. drone strike, Pakistani intelligence officials said Sunday. A Taliban official denied that.

The report coincided with sectarian violence ? a bomb blast in eastern Pakistan that killed 14 people in a Shiite religious procession.

The claim that the Pakistani Taliban chief was killed came from officials who said they intercepted a number of Taliban radio conversations. In about a half a dozen intercepts, the militants discussed whether their chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed on Jan. 12 in the North Waziristan tribal area. Some militants confirmed Mehsud was dead, and one criticized others for talking about the issue over the radio.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters.

Pakistani Taliban spokesman Asimullah Mehsud denied the group's leader was killed and said he was not in the area where the drone strike occurred.

In early 2010, both Pakistani and American officials said they believed a missile strike had killed Hakimullah Mehsud along the border of North and South Waziristan. They were proved wrong when videos appeared showing him still alive.

The Pakistani Taliban is linked to attacks against U.S. targets. They trained the Pakistani-American who tried to detonate a car bomb in New York City's Times Square in 2010 and is tied to a suicide bombing that killed seven CIA agents at an Afghan base in 2009.

There was no claim of responsibility for Sunday's bombing that killed 14 people during a Shiite observance in Punjab province in the east ? the latest of a series of sectarian attacks in volatile Pakistan.

Hundreds of Pakistani Shiites gathered in the town of Khanpur in Punjab province for a traditional procession to mark the end of 40 days of mourning following the anniversary of the death of Imam Hussein, a revered seventh-century figure.

The explosion went off as the mourners left a mosque, said District Police Chief Sohail Chatta. The bomb appeared to have been planted ahead of time in the path of the procession, he said.

The Pakistani Taliban and other Sunni extremist groups have in the past claimed responsibility for the bombings of Shiite religious sites and ceremonies. Many Sunni extremists in Pakistan regard Shiites as heretics.

The Taliban and other groups have carried out hundreds of bombings over the last five years that have killed thousands of Pakistani troops and civilians as part of a campaign to install a hard-line Islamist government.

The attacks are so common that the country's interior minister in December actually thanked the Taliban for acting on what he said was a "request" not to stage attacks during the Shiite rituals of Ashoura that month.

Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah said police investigators were still examining the area of Sunday's bombing for clues. Security was provided for the procession, but it was breached, Sanaullah said.

The continuing strikes by presumed religious extremists come during a political crisis that pits the Pakistani civilian government against the military, sparking rumors of an impending coup.

Last week the military warned the government of possible "grievous consequences" ahead, and President Asif Ali Zardari took a one-day trip to Dubai that renewed speculation that he might flee the country.

Analysts say the military may be looking for the Supreme Court to push out Zardari rather than risk an outright takeover.

____

Sebastian Abbot and Heidi Vogt contributed to this report from Islamabad. Khalid Tanveer contributed from Multan.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-15-AS-Pakistan/id-c2bf566dedc14adca458d6baa04bcbcf

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Retail sales weak, jobless claims up (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? U.S. retail sales rose at the weakest pace in seven months in December and first-time claims for jobless benefits moved higher last week, signs the economic recovery is shaky despite a recent pick-up in growth.

Retail sales increased a less-than-expected 0.1 percent, despite continued strength in auto purchases, a Commerce Department report showed on Thursday.

"The retail sales (data) suggests that spending isn't really picking up any momentum," said Sean Incremona, an economist at 4Cast Ltd in New York.

Robust factory output and improved hiring have fueled the view that the U.S. economy has so far resisted a global slowdown as the euro zone grapples with a likely recession.

A separate report showing 0.3 percent growth in business inventories during November buttressed the case the economy accelerated in the last three months of 2012 as firms restocked their shelves.

Many economists expect the economy grew at least 3 percent in annualized terms in the fourth quarter, although some analysts lowered their forecasts because of the weak retail sales data.

A Labor Department report that showed a surprisingly sharp increase in initial unemployment claims to a six-week high of 399,000 last week reinforced lingering concerns about the economy.

However, analysts said the government may have had trouble adjusting the claims for seasonal fluctuations following the holiday shopping season.

"We continue to view the labor market as gradually gaining momentum," said Troy Davig, an economist at Barclays Capital.

HEAVY DISCOUNTING

U.S. stocks were mostly flat, pausing after a three-day rally, while U.S. Treasury prices edged lower. Economists had expected retail sales to climb 0.3 percent.

Within the retail report, the government revised upward its estimate for November sales growth to 0.4 percent, suggesting consumers frontloaded their holiday shopping as retailers discounted heavily and extended store hours in the days following Thanksgiving.

By the end of the season, however, consumers cut back, with spending at electronics and appliance stores down 3.9 percent in December. Shopping at department stores slipped 0.2 percent.

Receipts at gasoline stations dropped 1.6 percent, a decline analysts partly attributed to falling prices.

Heavy discounting may have depressed retail sales for the entire season, said JPMorgan economist Michael Feroli, who also speculated the slowdown in December could be because consumers realized they had spent too much in prior months.

A recent drop in the saving rate has led many economists to think American shoppers were getting ahead of themselves.

"Consumers (are) coming back down to earth," Feroli said.

A 1.5 percent jump in sales of motor vehicles and parts helped lift the retail sector in December. Excluding autos, retail sales fell 0.2 percent, the first decline since May 2010.

With the health of U.S. consumers in question, housing still on the rocks and global conditions threatening, some Federal Reserve officials have said more monetary stimulus for the economy may be needed, although no action is expected at the next Fed meeting on January 24-25.

Even though growth likely accelerated in the fourth quarter from the 1.8 percent rate clocked in the July-September period, output is seen slowing in the first three months of this year.

A wave of foreclosures has kept downward pressure on home prices, although a report from real estate data firm RealtyTrac on Thursday showed foreclosure activity slowed last year as lenders tried to clean up problems in the foreclosure process, such as the "robo-signing" of loan documents.

Housing activity has remained weak, even though mortgage rates are at historic lows. The average rate on 30-year fixed rate mortgages hit a fresh record low of 3.89 percent this week, mortgage finance firm Freddie Mac said.

(Additional reporting by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa in Washington and by Chris Reese and Angela Moon in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120112/bs_nm/us_usa_economy

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Broncos 'wanted to fight' in OT win vs. Steelers

Thomas' 80-yard TD caps Denver's 29-23 win; Tebow accounts for 366 total yards

Joe Mahoney / AP

Denver receiver Demaryius Thomas breaks away from Pittsburgh defensive back Ryan Mundy. Thomas' 80-yard touchdown was the game-winning score in a 29-23 win on Sunday.

By ARNIE STAPLETON

updated 12:47 a.m. ET Jan. 9, 2012

DENVER - "Pull the trigger," John Elway told his Denver Broncos star, Tim Tebow, trying to shake the quarterback from a three-game funk.

Tebow went one better ? he pulled off an upset.

A rejuvenated Tebow connected with Demaryius Thomas on an electrifying 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime and the Broncos defeated the stunned Pittsburgh Steelers 29-23 in the AFC wild-card game on Sunday.

Wild doesn't begin to describe it. The play took 11 seconds and was the quickest ending to an overtime in NFL history.

Thomas hauled in a high play-action pass at the Denver 38, stiff-armed Ike Taylor and then outraced backup safety Ryan Mundy to the end zone.

"I was just saying, 'Man trust your speed. Trust your speed. Don't cut back. Don't cut back.' And he kept it straight. He outran the guy," said Willis McGahee, whose fourth-quarter fumble helped Pittsburgh tie it.

"I was like, 'Oh my God, is he still running?' Please just go. Please. Please."

Tebow, who had done next to nothing in the second half after a 20-point explosion in the second quarter, looked as startled as everyone else. He chased down Thomas and knelt on one knee ? Tebowing as it's known ? in the end zone while the crowd was going crazy. Then he pounded a fist in triumph and took a victory lap.

"When I saw him scoring, first of all, I just thought, 'Thank you, Lord,'" Tebow said. "Then, I was running pretty fast, chasing him ? like I can catch up to D.T! Then I just jumped into the stands, first time I've done that. That was fun. Then, got on a knee and thanked the Lord again and tried to celebrate with my teammates and the fans."

Behind Tebow's season-high 316 yards passing, the Broncos (9-8) are heading to New England for a second-round game against the top-seeded Patriots (13-3) on Saturday night.

The Patriots walloped the Broncos 41-23 last month, sending Tebow into a funk that included seven turnovers and a 40 percent completion clip ? and prompting Elway to implore him to "pull the trigger" in the playoffs.

Did he ever.

And unlike Elway, who lost his first postseason start ? to the Steelers at home in 1984 ? Tebow is 1-0 in the playoffs.

"We're just a fighting team. A lot of resilience," cornerback Champ Bailey said. "In any adverse situation, we'll find a way to get out of it. Everybody says we backed into the playoffs, we're in. We did something right along the way. We're in it. We won a game. Now, we've got to go try to win another one."

The Steelers (12-5) lost despite Ben Roethlisberger rallying injury-depleted Pittsburgh from a two-touchdown halftime deficit with 10 points in the final 10 minutes.

Pittsburgh called tails for the overtime coin toss, and it came up heads.

Tebow, who engineered five fourth-quarter comebacks and three OT wins in the regular season, wasted no time finding Thomas over the middle with just his second pass on first down all night ? and his first completion.

Thomas also had receptions of 51 and 58 yards to set up second-quarter touchdowns after Tebow lost his top target, Eric Decker, to a seriously injured left knee, in the first half.

"They were the No. 1 defense and we are the No. 1 offense running the ball," Thomas said. "So, I feel like they wanted to make a statement and stop the run. I don't know if they forgot about the passing game. The last couple of games that we had, we were not passing the ball that great."

Thus, Elway's admonition.

"I feel like he came out and played confident," Eddie Royal said. "And I think that's what John was trying to tell him: Play the way you know how to play. And Tim did that. He was smart with the ball and really led this offense today."

Tebow's passer rating of 125.6 was the highest in Broncos postseason history.

"He showed he's a quarterback in the NFL, case closed," McGahee said. "They say he couldn't throw. They said we wouldn't be able to run the ball on them. We did that. I wonder what they're going to say next week."

Mundy was playing in place of Ryan Clark, the Steelers' leading tackler who sat this one out because of a blood condition that's exacerbated at altitude.

"We lost, and it's not because I didn't play; we had very capable guys that played well," said Clark, who was one of several Steelers sidelined or injured. Pro Bowl center Maurkice Pouncey was out, replaced by Doug Legursky, who had a bad snap right before halftime that moved Pittsburgh out of field goal range.

On the first snap of overtime, Thomas pulled in Tebow's high pass and raced down the Broncos sideline, sending the crowd, including Elway, the Broncos executive vice president, into a frenzy at Sports Authority Field, which was rocking like the old Mile High Stadium back in the 1990s.

McGahee sold the play-action well, drawing safety Troy Polamalu and others up to the line to defend the run and leaving Thomas with room on the crossing pattern to grab the pass and turn on the jets for the 80-yard score, Tebow's longest pass play as a pro.

"It was a little surprising," Steelers linebacker James Farrior said. "But I guess he's been working hard. He's taken a lot of criticism over the past few weeks about his throwing motion, his passing game. Like I said earlier, he's a competitor. You keep trying to down a guy, and a guy like him who's a tough competitor, he's going to get you one time."

Hines Ward called this defeat "just as disappointing" as last year's loss to Green Bay in the Super Bowl.

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More news

Divisional round now a fan's dream

Rosenthal: Heavyweight matchups, dynamite offenses and great storylines -- including more of that Tim Tebow -- make for a fantastic divisional round.

Mark Leffingwell / Reuters

Broncos 'wanted to fight' in OT win vs. Steelers

??Tim Tebow connected with Demaryius Thomas on an electrifying 80-yard touchdown pass on the first play of overtime and the Broncos defeated the stunned Steelers 29-23 in the AFC wild-card game on Sunday.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45921316/ns/sports-nfl/

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Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with HP (update: video embedded)

HP will be swinging by our booth at 8PM ET tonight to show of its latest and greatest laptops.

Update: Interview video now embedded.

Continue reading Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with HP (update: video embedded)

Live from the Engadget CES Stage: an interview with HP (update: video embedded) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/11/live-from-the-engadget-ces-stage-an-interview-with-hp/

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Romney contin?a como favorito en las encuestas tras dos debates en 12 horas

Tras el debate celebrado anoche en la Universidad de Saint Anselm, el exsenador Rick Santorum y el expresidente de la C?mara de Representantes Newt Gingrich han cuestionado hoy que Mitt Romney sea el candidato m?s fuerte para derrotar al presidente del pa?s, Barack Obama, que se presenta a la reelecci?n en noviembre. Ha sido?durante el debate organizado por la cadena de televisi?n NBC y Facebook, el segundo que se ha celebrado en apenas 12 horas.

"Si su historial fue tan bueno como gobernador de Masachusets, por qu? no se volvi? a presentar", espet? Santorum, segundo en los caucus de Iowa por 8 votos de diferencia respecto a Romney, cuando este coment? que hab?a creado en su estado m?s empleo que Obama en toda la legislatura. Por su parte, Gingrich, que ha ido perdiendo fuelle ensombrecido por el mete?rico ascenso de Santorum, calific? de "t?midas" las propuestas econ?micas de Romney.

Tanto el exgobernador de Utah, Jon Huntsman, como el gobernador de Texas, Rick Perry, han mantenido un discreto papel durante los dos debates del fin de semana. Huntsman, que no se present? en Iowa con la intenci?n de lograr el voto en Nuevo Hampshire, respondi? a quienes le reprochan su trabajo como embajador de Estados Unidos en China en la Administraci?n Obama que es capaz de poner los intereses de su pa?s por encima de su ideolog?a, como los dos hijos suyos que sirven en la Armada "sin preguntar la filiaci?n pol?tica del presidente".

Por su parte,?Perry reiter? su posici?n como un candidato no influenciado por las pol?ticas de Washington y brome? al decir que algunos bur?cratas sufrir?an por sus planes para cortar el gasto p?blico en el departamento de Educaci?n, Comercio y Energ?a.

En materia econ?mica, Gingrich abog? por un recorte en los planes de los seguros m?dicos Medicare y Medicaid para ahorrar 1.000 billones de d?lares en los pr?ximos 10 a?os, mientras que Santorum y Huntsman coincidieron en se?alar que acabar?an con beneficios del Seguro Social para los jubilados m?s ricos.

Por su parte, Paul apunt? al fin de las guerras que Estados Unidos mantiene en el exterior como la mayor partida de ahorro. "No podemos estar en 130 pa?ses, participar en la construcci?n nacional y tener 900 bases en el extranjero", dijo el candidato de 76 a?os.

Source: http://www.antena3.com/noticias/mundo/romney-continua-como-favorito-encuestas-dos-debates-horas_2012010800059.html

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Is the Air Force's Secret Robot Space Plane Spying on China?

The U.S. Air Force?s top secret X-37B space plane may be spying on China, according to a report in Spaceflight magazine.

The unmanned craft was launched into Earth?s orbit 10 months ago, but the Air Force has kept quiet on its mystery mission, where it's been, and when it will return. Faithful onlookers now believe the space plane might be snooping on China?s new space station, Tiangong-1 -- after discovering how closely their orbits matched.

"Space-to-space surveillance is a whole new ball game made possible by a finessed group of sensors and sensor suites, which we think the X-37B may be using to maintain a close watch on China's nascent space station," Spaceflight Editor Dr. David Baker told the BBC.

Built by Boeing's Phantom Works division, the 29-foot-long X-37B spacecraft was originally developed by NASA in 1999 before it was eventually taken over and classified by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

The robot craft?s official purpose is to test new spaceflight technologies but there has been speculation about X-37B?s potential military capabilities with Iran?s PressTV calling the vehicle a ?secret space warplane? -- an opinion partly echoed by Brian Weeden, a technical adviser to the Secure World Foundation and a former orbital analyst with the U.S. Air Force.

Weeden suspects that the X-37B may be testing out gear for the National Reconnaissance Office, the intelligence agency that builds and operates the U.S.'s spy satellites -- which would explain the secrecy.

"As we know through experience, everything and anything about them [the NRO] is classified," Weeden told Space.com early last year.

The space plane, also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle-2, was boosted into Earth orbit atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on March 5, 2011, and amateur skywatchers have been keenly tracking it ever since.

"The parallels with X-37B [and Tiangong-1] are clear," Baker said in this month?s Spaceflight. "With a period differential of about 19 seconds, the two vehicles will migrate toward or against each other, converging or diverging, roughly every 170 orbits."

But Weeden and others believe the orbital similarities between the two could be a red herring.

"A typical spy satellite is in a polar orbit, which gives you access to the whole Earth,? Weeden told the BBC.

"The X-37B is in a much lower inclination which means it can only see a very narrow band of latitudes -- and the only thing that's of real interest in that band is the Middle East and Afghanistan.?

Source: http://www.fox50.com/news/fox-news/136747893.html

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