Today is the 40th anniversary of the liftoff of Apollo 11, which delivered the first men to walk on the moon. Home base for the celebration is the website We Chose the Moon. The entire audio feed for the mission, from takeoff to moon walk to splash down, is available on the site. Follow @AP11_CAPCOM and @AP11_SPACECRAFT for retroactive tweets of the communication. Maps and video of all the lunar landings, BBC News. Where are they now? The men who walked on the moon, ABC News. Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon after Neil Armstrong, says that it’s time to go Mars, Washington Post.
More information is out about the secret CIA program run by Vice President Cheney during the Bush administration. The program sought to establish a high level assassination squad that would target al-Qaeda leaders around the world. Congress, which is regularly in contact with the CIA about its operations, including top secret programs, was never briefed. It appears that the program was not continuously operational during the Bush administration and had mostly been shut down in 2004 after being labeled ineffective. However, new plans to move forward with training caused CIA Director Leon Panetta to shut down the program two months ago, Washington Post.
The prime ministers of India and Pakistan are meeting at the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Egypt. NAM is composed of countries who chose not to align with either the United States or the Soviet Union. The group first met in 1961. Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a statement today reaffirming each country’s desire to engage in dialogue. It was only their second meeting since the Mumbai terror attacks. Among other disputes, India maintains that Pakistan was either involved in the attack or did little to prevent it, Times of India.
The Spanish woman, who, after receiving in vitro fertilization in California, became the world’s oldest mom at the age of 66, has died just three years after giving birth. It was widely reported that the woman had been diagnosed with a tumor around the time of the birth. The children, twin boys, are being looked after by the woman’s nephew, CNN.
An update patch sent to Blackberry users in the United Arab Emirates appears to have actually been a program that could be used to spy on a user’s email and text messages. The true nature of program only came to light after UAE Blackberry users complained that the new patch drained their batteries, Wired.
Emmy nominations came out this morning. Favorites include last year’s winner for best comedy, 30 Rock, with 22 nominations and last year’s winner for best drama, Mad Men, with 16 nominations, complete list.
