Wikinews Shorts: June 8, 2007

Space shuttle Atlantis has launched
After a three-month delay, space shuttle Atlantis has launched. The reports say that there were no major technical problems with the shuttle and forecasters predicted good weather for this evening. The shuttle launched this evening at 7:38:04 p.m. ET (22:38:04 UTC) to continue the construction of the International Space Station. The crew members plan to stay 11 days in orbit and their goal is to carry out the two missions that were left incomplete from the previous flight due to broken and jammed equipments. During the flight, the shuttle and its seven astronauts will deliver a new segment and will install energy-producing solar panels to the International Space Station. Sources

British police officer banned from driving
A British police officer has been banned from driving after drinking over the limit of alcohol. PC Andy Walker, 51, drank a glass of wine and two glasses of beer at a "family party". When a police officer stopped his car to investigate, after Walker was having trouble parking his car Sunday morning, he found that his fellow officer's blood alcohol level was 61 micrograms, while the limit is 35 micrograms. At a court hearing today, Walker admitted the charges and has been since banned from driving for 16 months.

"I made a monumental mistake in my judgement when I decided I was fit enough to drive," Walker admitted.

Walker has been active in many anti-drinking-and-driving campaigns throughout the years.

Sources

Turkish armed forces agitating to fight PKK
The prime minister of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that the parliament won't block if the Turkish Armed Forces ask for authorization to attack. The armed forces had an exercise today at Cizre, Turkey, 10 kilometers away from the Turkish-Iraqi border. After a series of attack by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Turkey has commenced large scale exercises and operations within Turkey. Local news also reports that many troops and artilleries have been delivered from Diyarbakir, Turkey to the Turkish-Iraqi border regions.

Related news

Sources

Bus bombing kills one, injures 10 in Philippines
A bomb aboard a bus parked at a public market in Cotabato on Minandao in the southern Philippines exploded today, killing one person and injuring 10 people.

Earlier in the week, the U.S. Embassy in Manila had issued a warning about such attacks in the region.

Sources