Saturday's Draconid meteors may be no-see-ums

As many as 750 meteors an hour are expected Saturday, as Earth travels through streams of dust and ice from Comet Giacobini-Zinner. The comet passes through the inner solar system every seven years.

But the timing for viewing them in the United States is terrible. These Draconid meteors are expected to peak between 3 and 5 p.m. EDT, so the sun will obscure everything.

NASA space weatherman Bill Cooke suggests popping outside and taking a look once it's dark. You might get lucky if forecasters' timing is off.

And while the meteors will be falling during nighttime in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, a nearly full moon is expected to dull the spectacle there.

"The moon sucks. It's messed up meteor showers this year. Next year will be better," said Cooke, team leader of NASA's Meteoroid Environment Office at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

It just so happens that this year's meteor showers are falling at or near the time of full moons.

Because the Draconids move relatively slowly — 12 miles per second — they're faint and the moonlight "really tends to wash them out," Cooke said in a phone interview.

The Draconids get their name from the constellation Draco, the Dragon.

In 1933 and 1946, the Draconid outbursts were major — observers reported an astounding rate of 20,000 shooting stars an hour. An Irish astronomer described the 1933 episode like a flurry of snowflakes.

The next Draconid outburst after this one will be in 2018.

If you miss this weekend's Draconids, you can catch the Orionids on Oct. 22 — remnants from Halley's Comet, expected to number 20 meteors an hour.

Then there are the Leonids in mid-November — with as many as 100 meteors an hour.

"Unfortunately, the moon will interfere with them as well," Cooke said. "We just don't have any good luck, moonwise, this year."

India announces $35 tablet computer for rural poor

The computer, called Aakash, or "sky" in Hindi, is the latest in a series of "world's cheapest" innovations in India that include a 100,000 rupee ($2,040) compact Nano car, a 750 rupee ($15) water purifier and $2,000 open-heart surgery.

Developer Datawind is selling the tablets to the government for about $45 each, and subsidies will reduce that to $35 for students and teachers. In comparison, the cheapest Apple iPad tablet costs $499, while the recently announced Kindle Fire will sell for $199.

Datawind says it can make about 100,000 units a month at the moment, not nearly enough to meet India's hope of getting its 220 million children online.

Human Resources Development Minister Kapil Sibal called the announcement a message to all children of the world.

"This is not just for us. This is for all of you who are disempowered," he said. "This is for all those who live on the fringes of society."

Despite a burgeoning tech industry and decades of robust economic growth, there are still hundreds of thousands of Indians with no electricity, let alone access to computers and information that could help farmers improve yields, business startups reach clients, or students qualify for university.

The launch — attended by hundreds of students, some selected to help train others across the country in the tablet's use — followed five years of efforts to design a $10 computer that could bridge the country's vast digital divide.

"People laughed, people called us lunatics," ministry official N.K. Sinha said. "They said we are taking the nation for a ride."

Although the $10 goal wasn't achieved, the Aakash has a color screen and provides word processing, Web browsing and video conferencing. The Android 2.2-based device has two USB ports and 256 megabytes of RAM. Despite hopes for a solar-powered version — important for India's energy-starved hinterlands — no such option is currently available.

Both Sibal and Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli called for competition to improve the product and drive prices down further.

"The intent is to start a price war. Let it start," Tuli said, inviting others to do the job better and break technological ground — while still making a commercially viable product.

As for the $10 goal, "let's dream and go in that direction. Let's start with that target and see what happens," he said.

The students Wednesday were well-briefed on the goal of providing tablets for the poor, although most in attendance already had access to computers at home or in their schools.

"A person learns quite fast when they have a computer at home," said Shashank Kumar, 21, a computer engineering student from Jodhpur, Bihar, who was one of five people selected in his northern state to travel to villages and demonstrate the device. "In just a few years people can even become hackers."

India, after raising literacy to about 78 percent from 12 percent when British rule ended, is now focusing on higher education with a 2020 goal of 30 percent enrollment. Today, only 7 percent of Indians graduate from high school.

"To every child in India I carry this message. Aim for the sky and beyond. There is nothing holding you back," Sibal said before distributing about 650 of the tablets to the students.

Mumbai win Champions League

Harbhajan Singh bagged three wickets to help Mumbai Indians lift the Twenty20 Champions League title with a 31-run victory overRoyal Challengers Bangalore in the final on Sunday.

The off-spinner removed hard-hitting Chris Gayle (five), Virat Kohli (11) and Daniel Vettori (one) as Mumbai dismissed Bangalore for 108 after scoring a modest 139 on a low, slow pitch where stroke-making was not easy.

Harbhajan was superbly backed by leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who finished with 2-9 off three tight overs.

Bangalore lost their way after Sri Lankan Tillakaratne Dilshandominated a 38-run stand for the opening wicket off four overs with Gayle. Dilshan scored a 20-ball 27 before being bowled by compatriot Lasith Malinga (2-23).

Mumbai, who were without star batsman Sachin Tendulkar due to a toe injury, got $2.5 million for clinching the title while Bangalore took home $1.3 million.

Mumbai earlier looked like setting a stiff target after winning the toss when they reached 105-3 in the 14th over, but they lost four wickets for as many runs, with left-arm spinner Vettori taking two.

New Zealander James Franklin (41) propped up the innings after Mumbai had lost both openers for 24 runs as he added 41 for the third wicket with Ambati Rayudu (22) and 40 for the next with Suryakumar Yadav (24).

But Mumbai suffered a twin blow when well-set Franklin and Yadav were run out in the space of three runs. Franklin hit two sixes and as many fours in his 29-ball knock.

New Zealander Vettori then struck twice in his fourth and last over to put more pressure on Mumbai, dismissing Kieron Pollard (two) and skipper Harbhajan for no score to finish with 2-30.

Seamer Raju Bhatkal was the most successful bowler with 3-21, including two wickets in his third over.

Brief scores:

Mumbai Indians 139 in 20 overs (J. Franklin 41, S. Yadav 24, A. Rayudu 22; R. Bhatkal 3-21, D. Vettori 2-30) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 108 in 19.2 overs (T. Dilshan 27; Harbhajan Singh 3-20, Y. Chahal 2-9, L. Malinga 2-23, Abu Nechim Ahmed 2-26) by 31 runs.

Paul McCartney gets married in London

True, thousands of heartbroken female fans crowded the venerable registry office in 1969 when he married Linda Eastman and only a few hundred showed up Sunday as he wed American Nancy Shevell. But the feeling this time was not regret at the loss of a bachelor heartthrob. Instead there was joy that McCartney, regarded as a national treasure, seemed happy again.

McCartney shared his joy with the crowd, raising his bride's hand in triumph as he walked down the steps after they became husband and wife at a simple civil ceremony attended by close family and friends, including drummer Ringo Starr and TV journalist Barbara Walters, a second cousin of the bride.

"I feel absolutely wonderful," McCartney told fans as he arrived back at his house after the ceremony.

Gone was the memory of McCartney's terribly unhappy marriage to model Heather Mills, which ended in 2008 in an ugly public divorce. Instead, the venue brought back memories of his marriage to Eastman, a serene union that lasted nearly three decades until Eastman's life was cut short by breast cancer.

The wedding ceremony Sunday afternoon was everything his wedding to Mills was not: simple, understated, almost matter-of-fact. By contrast, McCartney and Mills married in an over-the-top lavish ceremony at a remote Irish castle that was disrupted several times by news helicopters flying overhead hoping for a glimpse of the A-list guests.

Shevell, 51, appeared radiant and composed in an elegant, ivory gown cut just above the knee. She wore a white flower in her long dark hair, and only light makeup and lipstick.

The dress was designed by McCartney's daughter, Stella, a star in the fashion world who also helped concoct the three-course vegetarian feast served to guests at the reception at McCartney's house in St. John's Wood, a property he bought in 1965, when the Beatles were regularly topping the charts.

McCartney, who has casually admitted to tinting his hair to keep out the gray, looked youthful in a well-cut blue suit and pale blue, skinny tie.

The affection — and confetti — showered on McCartney and his bride after the ceremony captured his particular place in British life.

Long gone are the days when the Beatles divided Britain between young and old, or between hippies and squares — the band is revered as part of a glorious musical and cultural era when Britain seemed a more confident place. There was no controversy when McCartney received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in 1997.

Today Sir Paul — or Macca, as he's usually known — is revered as a musical legend who is still composing and releasing CDs, even if they no longer routinely shoot to number one on the charts. His forays into opera, ballet, painting and poetry have not been critical successes, but none of these have tarnished his reputation.

He is credited for having survived a number of tragedies — the 1980 murder of one-time songwriting partner John Lennon, the loss of his beloved first wife to illness, the 2001 death of guitarist George Harrison, and then the public breakdown of his marriage to Mills — with his upbeat nature intact.

Mills, a much younger model who had lost part of her leg when she was hit by a motorcycle, tried to battle McCartney in the court of public opinion during their divorce. She accused him of cruelty and sought a gargantuan $250 million settlement.

But her charges against McCartney didn't stick and the divorce court judge ruled against her, calling her demands exorbitant and unfair.

The public divorce case opened McCartney's vast fortune to unprecedented public scrutiny. Long rumored to be pop's first billionaire, he was found to have assets worth about $800 million, including works by Picasso and Renoir and luxury real estate in the United States, Britain, and elsewhere.

But Shevell, who is independently wealthy and quite successful in her own right, is not seen by the British public as interested in McCartney's fortune.

The couple met four years ago in the Hamptons, a seaside playground for the rich and famous on the eastern tip of Long Island in New York. Some reports say that Walters played matchmaker, inviting McCartney to a dinner she knew her second cousin Shevell would attend.

Walters said she cried during the ceremony, which she called "beautiful and wonderful."

Shevell, who was married for more than 20 years to attorney Bruce Blakeman and serves on the board of New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is also a vice president of a lucrative New Jersey-based trucking company owned by her father.

She has stayed out of the public eye since taking up with McCartney, refraining from commenting on her relationship with the man once known as "the cute one" in the world's most popular band.

She has a few things in common with Eastman: like McCartney's first wife, she is American and affluent.

Unlike Eastman, who performed with McCartney's post-Beatles band Wings, Shevell is not expected to join her husband onstage on his extended world tours.

She joins a pantheon of "Beatle wives" — each band member married more than once, and many of the unions were troubled.

Lennon, who would have turned 71 Sunday, abruptly left his first wife for Yoko Ono, and Cynthia Lennon has complained in print about his abusive treatment of her and his neglect of their son, Julian.

His relationship with Ono was punctuated with occasional breakups, but is often portrayed as a happy marriage, and since his death she has curated his works and burnished his legend.

Starr's first marriage also ended in divorce, but he has had a long, stable union with his second wife, the actress Barbara Bach, who joined him at Sunday's ceremony.

The two even went through a recovery program together when Starr decided to confront his alcoholism.

Harrison's first marriage — to the model Pattie Boyd — ended in divorce when she left him for guitarist Eric Clapton. He had a long happy marriage to Olivia Harrison, who plays an important role in the upcoming Martin Scorsese film about the Beatles' lead guitarist.

Riots erupt as Christians protest in Cairo, 1 dead

Gunshots rang out at the scene outside the state television building, where lines of riot police with shields tried to hold back hundreds of Christian protesters chanting "This is our country." Thick black smoke filled the air from the burning vehicles. Security forces eventually fired tear gas to disperse the protesters.

An Interior Ministry official at the scene told The Associated Press that two people had been killed, but he did not say who they were or how they died. State television said 30 soldiers were injured.

Thugs with sticks chased the Christian protesters from the site, banging metal street signs to scare them off. One soldier collapsed in tears as ambulances rushed to the scene to take away the injured. Television footage of the riots showed some of the Coptic protesters attacking a soldier, while a priest tried to protect him.

The trouble began when thousands of Coptic Christians protesting the latest attack on a church in southern Egypt came under attack as they chanted denunciations of Egypt's military rulers, whom they accuse of leniency in dealing with a series of anti-Christian attacks.

"The people want to topple the field marshall," the protesters yelled, referring to the head of the ruling military council, Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi.

The rally began in the Shubra district of northern Cairo, then headed to the state television building overlooking the Nile where men in plainclothes attacked the Christian protesters. It was not immediately clear who the attackers were.

Egypt's Coptic Christian minority makes up about 10 percent of the country's population of more than 80 million people. As Egypt undergoes a chaotic power transition and security vacuum in the wake of this year's uprising, Christians are particularly worried about the increasing show of power by the ultraconservative Islamists.

"Our protest is peaceful and I don't know why they attack us," said Rami Kamel, a Coptic protest leader.

In the past weeks, riots have broken out at two churches in southern Egypt, prompted by Muslim crowds angry over church construction. One riot broke out near the city of Aswan, even after church officials agreed to a demand by local ultraconservative Muslims, called Salafis, that a cross and bells be removed from the building.

Aswan's governor, Gen. Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, further raised tensions by telling the media that the church was being built on the site of a guesthouse, suggesting it was illegal.

Kamal, the protester, said the Copts demand the ouster of the governor, reconstruction of the church, compensation for people whose houses were set on fire and prosecution of those behind the riots and attacks on the church.

Last week, security forces used force to disperse a similar protest in front of the state television building. Christians were angered by the treatment of the protesters and vowed to renew their demonstrations until their demands are met.

In other developments, the ruling military council ordered a halt to trials of civilians before military courts known for swift and harsh verdicts. The military trials have drawn harsh condemnation from protesters and youthful activists behind the uprising, who claim that reform is not coming fast enough or extensively enough.

However, those who violate military laws, such as assaulting servicemen or damaging military installations, would still be referred to military tribunals.

Rights groups say at least 11,000 civilians have been tried before military tribunals since the February ouster of Hosni Mubarak. Tantawi chairs a military council that took control of the country from Mubarak with pledges to return Egypt to civilian rule after a transition period.

The rights groups also claim the military tortures detainees.

Syria warns countries not to recognize opposition

Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem did not specify what measuresDamascus might take. But he went on to say that countries that do not protect Syrian missions could find their own embassies treated in the same way.

"We will take tough measures against any country that recognizes this illegitimate council," al-Moallem said without elaborating on what type of reaction it might bring.

The Syrian National Council, announced last week in Turkey, is a broad-based group which includes most major opposition factions. No country or international body has recognized it so far as a legal representative of the Syrian people.

Bourhan Ghalioun, the opposition council's most prominent official, said he expects the organization will be recognized "in the coming few weeks." Al-Moallem's comments came as the council was scheduled to hold two meetings Sunday, one in Cairo and another in Stockholm.

Damascus appears concerned that if the Syrian National Council is recognized by the international community, it could play the same role as the National Transitional Council in Libya that ultimately overthrew longtime leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Syria's top diplomat was speaking during a joint news conference with a delegation from the left-leaning ALBA bloc of mostly Latin American countries, which includes Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia. The ALBA officials were visiting Damascus to express solidarity with Syria and met Sunday with President Bashar Assad.

State-run news agency SANA quoted Assad as telling the delegation that Syria aims to make political reforms then end armed presence. But past promises of sweeping reforms have not been carried through and the opposition says they will accept nothing short of his departure.

"The foreign attack on Syria escalated after the situation started to improve because what they want is not reforms but for Syria to pay a price for its stances against foreign schemes in the region," SANA quoted Assad as saying.

Assad was apparently referring to sanctions imposed by the U.S. and several European countries on his regime because of the crackdown. Assad insists the unrest is being driven by terrorists and Islamic extremists acting out a foreign conspiracy to fracture Syria.

Assad is facing the most serious challenge to his authority since he took power 11 years ago. The uprising against his regime began in mid-March amid a wave of anti-government protests in the Arab world that has so far toppled autocrats in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Assad has reacted with deadly force that the U.N. estimates has left some 2,900 people dead.

Al-Moallem criticized European countries where Syrian missions have recently been stormed by protesters, implying that Damascus might allow foreign delegations to be attacked in turn.

"If they don't provide security to our missions, we will treat them the same way," he said.

A group of protesters broke into the Syrian embassy in Berlin and two other Syrian diplomatic missions in Germany and Switzerland late Saturday and early Sunday in what appeared to protests against the killing of a Kurdish opposition leader.

He also criticized the U.S. and the French ambassador to Syria, who have condemned the regime's crackdown and visited tense areas outside Damascus angering authorities.

"We don't interfere in their business the way some of them do in Damascus," he said.

Last month, U.S. ambassador Robert Ford and several colleagues from the embassy were pelted with tomatoes and eggs as they visited an opposition figure. U.S. officials said the assault was part of a campaign to intimidate diplomats investigating Assad's repression of pro-reform demonstrators.

Earlier in the day, hundreds of Kurdish mourners gathered in a northeastern city for the funeral of five people killed by security forces, a rights activist in the area said.

Mustafa Osso added that more than a 100 security agents in uniform have deployed in the main square of Qamishli ahead of the funeral, as unrest builds in the majority-Kurdish region.

Amateur videos posted online by activists showed scores of people marching in streets said to be in Qamishli and chanting anti-Assad slogans.

"The people want to execute the president," chanted the crowd that was carrying a black banner and Kurdish white, green, red and yellow flags. "Assad is the enemy of God."

Sunday's procession came a day after more than 50,000 mourners marched through Qamishli to mourn prominent opposition figure Mashaal Tammo. Security forces fired into the crowds, killing five people.

Tammo was assassinated Friday.

The turnout Saturday was by far the largest in the Kurdish northeast since the start of the uprising against President Bashar Assad's autocratic regime seven months ago.

Al-Moallem described Tammo as a "martyr" and blamed a terrorist group for his death because the Kurdish leader stood against any foreign intervention in Syria.

Unemployed seek protection against job bias

But Forte, a 55-year-old from Cleveland, says a job recruiter for a temporary agency told her the company wouldn't consider her because she had been out of work too long. She had lost her job driving a bus.

"They didn't even want to hear about my experience," said Forte. "It didn't make sense. You're always told just go out there and get a job."

Forte, scraping by now as a part time substitute school bus driver, is part of a growing number of unemployed or underemployed Americans who complain they are being screened out of job openings for the very reason they're looking for work in the first place. Some companies and job agencies prefer applicants who already have jobs, or haven't been jobless too long.

She could get help from a provision in President Barack Obama's jobs bill, which would ban companies with 15 or more employees from refusing to consider — or offer a job to — someone who is unemployed. The measure also applies to employment agencies and would prohibit want ads that disqualify applicants just because they are unemployed.

But Obama's bill faces a troubled path in Congress, as Republicans strongly oppose its plans for tax increases on the wealthy and other spending provisions. Should the bill fail, Democrats are sure to remind jobless voters that the GOP blocked an attempt to redress discrimination against them at a time when work is so hard to find.

The effort to protect the unemployed has drawn praise from workers' rights advocates, but business groups say it will just stir up needless litigation by frustrated job applicants. The provision would give those claiming discrimination a right to sue, and violators would face fines of up to $1,000 per day, plus attorney fees and costs.

"Threatening business owners with new lawsuits is not going to help create jobs and will probably have a chilling effect on hiring," said Cynthia Magnuson, spokeswoman for the National Federation of Independent Business. "Business owners may be concerned about posting a new job if they could face a possible lawsuit."

Sally Davenport, a spokeswoman for FedEx in Memphis, said the company has no policy barring the unemployed from seeking a job.

"We interview and hire the candidates best qualified for the job," she said. "There was obviously confusion on the part of the temp agency."

A survey earlier this year by the National Employment Law Project found more than 150 job postings on employment Web sites such as CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com requiring that applicants "must be currently employed" or using other exclusionary language based on current employment status.

"It's really alarming to us that employers continue to ignore the strong public condemnation of this practice," said Maurice Emsellem, the legal group's policy co-director.

The issue has gained more prominence as the unemployment level remains stuck over 9 percent and a record 4.5 million people — nearly one-third of the unemployed — have been out of work for a year or more. And older workers, like Forte, often struggle to find new jobs.

"There's a flood of workers looking for jobs right now and unfortunately, this is a convenient way to streamline the process" by employers, Emsellem said. Some companies might assume people who have been out of work for several months may not be stellar performers, he said.

The practice has also drawn concern from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, where members at a hearing earlier this year said barring unemployed people from employment may have a greater effect on blacks and Hispanics with higher jobless rates.

Ron Cooper, a former commission general counsel during the Bush administration now in private practice, said he thinks the problem is being overblown.

"People, I'm sure, are looking for shortcuts to trim the applicant pool that they're looking at," Cooper said. "But I've never heard of this as a top-shelf criteria for people making those decisions."

Last month, the job search Web site Indeed.com announced it would not accept any job ad that seeks to exclude the unemployed.

"Our policy is to exclude job listings that do not comply with federal or local laws related to discriminatory hiring practices as well as job listings that discriminate against the unemployed," said Indeed.com spokeswoman Sophie Beaurpere.

Forte says that in her case, the job recruiter told her the company was not considering applicants who have been out of work longer than six months.

"Here I am, a seasoned worker. I didn't have six months, but I had eight years of experience," she said.

Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who has sponsored a separate bill protecting the unemployed, said he understands that employers need the right to hire according to their needs and to factor in work experience.

"But they shouldn't have the right to discriminate from the start and preemptively deny qualified workers a fair chance at a job they need," Brown said.