test

Chapter 26. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OFFSHORE AND OUTSOURCING

What Offshoring Is
Offshoring refers to the practice of getting some or all of the IT work done through one or more external service providers, usually for a significantly lower labor rate per hour. Through well-managed offshoring, it often is possible to realize other benefits, such as improved turnaround time, increased quality, and 24/7 coverage for support operations.
Exhibit 26 shows how organizations typically are able to progressively lower the total cost of owmership (TCO) of applications using offshore resources.
Within the application life cycle, offshore tast can include application coding and testing or application support and maintenance(or both). Application development or support can be effectively delivered offshore by differentiating the task that need to be done on-site, such as requirement definition, functional specification, issue reporting, and acceptance testing and those that need not be done one-site, such as technical specification, coding, code fixing, and testing.
For successful delivery of the code or maintenance fix, and to integrate it back into the on-site code base, it is critical that the offshore resources understand exactly what it is they are coding and why. Also, the on-site team must be able to pinpoint which sections of code meet what requirement (traceability) and how they are coded (code development standards that conform to client norms). This on-site/offshore coordination is fundamental to the success of offshore delivery.
Currently most offshore providers are able to deliver services from a developing nation, such as India, the Philippines, or some of the Eastern European countries, because it is possible to deploy IT resources in these countries at 30% to 50% of the cost of these offshore resources have been increasing, and other nations, including China, Mexico, Brazil, and South Africa, are coming up as alternative sources.
Offshore versus Outsourcing
It is important to distinguish some terminology that is often used interchangeably: outsourcing and offshore. Outsourcing refres to the practice of getting specific business functions performed by an external service provider. Some or all of that may be done offshore (i.e., in a foreign country). Offshore need not mean that IT functions have been outsourced to an external provider. It simply means the work is being done in a foreign country.
Why is offshoring so hot?
Offshoring has become one of the key factors for determining the competitive advantage of corporations. This situation has come to pass because of two rather unrelated chains of events:
1. Many corporations increasingly use IT to drive or enhance their competitive edge. The size of the IT budget can directly determine the ability of companies to deliver specific services to their clients. A case in point: When Dell initially started to offer features such as configure, quote, and buy through their website, Hewlett-Packard and IBM lost personal computer market share. The Competitors also quickly came up with comparable websites. Because offshoring enables a significant reduction of the IT budget, it improves the IT efficiency for a given budget and hence competitiveness.
2. As corporations realize the benefits of offshoring in IT, they are extending the same concept to the other outsourced business processes, such as help desk, call centers, and collections. Increased demand for these services from the U.S. client organizations has spurred the growth of huge business process outsourcing centers in the offshore nations.
It is reasonable to assume that these economic imperatives will continue to drive offshoring in the near future.

PROVIDERS’ APPROACH TO OUTSOURCING AND OFFSHORING
As this trend gathered momentum and demand increased over the past several years, two distinct groups of service providers have emerged, with significant differences in their approach to providing solutions for the market.
1. The established multinational consulting firms, including Accenture, Cap Gemini, Deloitte, and IBM, have set up large offshore delivery centers, typically located in India and China. They are delivering the same portfolio of services but with an on-site-offshore or blended team and a significantly lower cost of overall technology solution delivered to the client.
2. The offshore-based pure technology firms, which do not have a comparable functional or consulting business, are trying to move into that space through acquisitions or organic growth.
The clear result of both these approaches is the overall cost of delivered consulting services is significantly lower today than it was three years ago.
VARIANTS: BUILD, BUY, RENT
To take advantage of this huge shift in the landscape of consulting services, client organizations are increasingly looking to redeploy a piece of their IT organization offshore. Typically there is a six- to eight-month learning curve for both the client and the provider or the on-site and offshore teams, until the integrated delivery matures. Because of this, building an offshore organization is a possible option, but the costs involved make it viable only when the number of offshore resources is significant (i.e., at least in the high hundreds).
Depending on the nature, size, and state of maturity of their IT organization, firms are looking at one or more of these options:
• Rent. Renting is by far the most common option. Just as consulting services were “rented” on-site, they are now rented offshore. Renting offers the advantages of speed and flexibility but is not necessarily the lowest-cost option in the long run.
• Build. Organizations whose IT is more strategic to their business, such as those in financial services, have tended to set up their own offshore IT centers. Although this is not a quick fix, if done right, it can enable the parent organization to gain significant competitive advantage not just in the United States, but in the offshore country as well. An interesting variant is to buy initially while building.
• Buy. As offshore providers set up and become adept at servicing the market needs, client organizations buy into some or all of the providers’ business, so that they can incresingly control whom the services are delivered to, where, and how.
POPULAR START-UP OPTIONS
Offshore services starting with IT has been discussed, specifically with application coding or bug fixing. Support usually is taken up later, after development or maintenance (or both) is transitioned successfully and working with the offshore team is well established. In making a choice between development and maintance, timing is often the deciding factor. If there is a significant development effort planned around the time the offshoring initiative takes off, it is a good idea to do some of the development offshore, since then the maintenance can follow seamlessly. The knowledge transfer required for development often takes less time than it does for maintenance, because it is easier to understand specifications than code written by someone else. Between these two, maintenance is often the task chosen to be offshored, for these reasons:
• A significant part of most IT budgets is allocated to maintenance. So if offshoring works well for maintenance, cost savings are maximized.
• Maintenance is often the least popular among the in-house staff, so outsourcing it enhances IT staff motivation if they get to work on other development initiatives.
• By its nature, maintenance tasks can be offshored gradually, balancing risk of service disruption with cost savings.
HOW OFFSHORING IS DIFFERENT FROM ENGAGING A LOCAL SERVICE PROVIDER
Some of the key differences in engaging an offshroe provider compared to using on-site resources follow. An understanding of these differences is essential for evaluating the risks associated with offshore delivery.
• Regulatory: What goes out and what does not. Offshore resources often will be accessing data related to the individual customers/clients; in industries such as healthcare, such access is subject to regulatory controls.
• Control of intellectual property. Offshore resources could be working on similar applications for competitors.
• Culture. Working together in the United States, often in the form of meetings, is routine.
• Infrastructure. Making the development and/or production technical environment available outside the United States, through high-band-width networks, with adequate security and controls, building in redudancy for reliability and ongoing support infrastructure all take investment, careful planning, and execution.
• Licenses. When companies add offshore resources, even in situations where there is no net increase in the number of licenses, vendors often are reluctant to extend use of licenses outside the country, without additional license fees.
ENSURING THAT RISKS AND REWARDS ARE BALANCED
Generally, the risks associated with offshore delivery are slightly higher and different in nature compared to on-site IT work. Because offshore is always at another location, these risks are in addition to the ones already in consideration for the on-site location:
• These can be geopolitical, economic, legal, and labor-related risks. In the case of on-site IT, all of these risks are taken care of by corporate departments
• Transfer of knowledge to offshore resources and the need to have them travel internationally introduces logistical complexities, some risks, and potentially significant expense.
• Other risks are inherent in the fact that delivery is remote and not monitored as frequently as with on-site services.
• Data and code are accessed from outside the organization.
• Finally, in those instances where development and support work is done simultaneously in two locations, the constant need to keep the code in sync introduces additional risks.
In spite of these risk factors, offshoring has been successful over the past several years. As with any initiative, an awareness of the different sources of risks and adequate planning for mitigation procedures is possible and does significantly enhance the chances for success.
The Future
Analysts are predicting an increasing flow of IT and business process work offshore. The current publicity about U.S. jobs going offshore may run its course. IT delivery organizations in the United States seemingly use more offshore services than less, and this trend is catching on in the other business functions as well. Offshore investments take time to pay off. IT maintenance work required by organizations is increasing over time. Taken together, these facts indicate that distributed IT delivery will be the norm rather than the exception.
DECIDING IF OFFSHORING IS GOOD FOR A COMPANY
If a company’s IT has been effective in utilizing a contracted workforce, if the firm continues to engage contractors for IT work, and if the IT organization has progressive individuals who want to say with the leading edge of technology, leaving routine work to contractors, offshoring is a must, provided the volume justifies the expenditure.

Pray 4 Indonesia

Rescuers scoured the slopes of Indonesia's most volatile volcano on Wednesday after it was rocked by an eruption that spewed clouds of searing ash, killing at least 25 villagers including an old man known as the mountain's spiritual gatekeeper.

The blast eased pressure that had been building up behind a lava dome perched on the volcano's crater, but experts said the worst may not be over. The lava dome could unleash deadly gases and debris if it collapses.

"It's a little calmer today," said Surono, the chief of Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation. "No hot clouds, no rumbling. But a lot of energy is pent up back there. There's no telling what's next."

Mount Merapi, which translates as "Fire Mountain," has erupted many times over the last 200 years, often with deadly results. In 1994, 60 people were killed, while in 1930, more than a dozen villages were incinerated, leaving up to 1,300 dead.

Bomb on crowded bus kills nine in Philippines

ine people were killed on Thursday when a bomb exploded aboard a packed passenger bus in the troubled southern Philippines, authorities said.

The military and police said Muslim militants or bandits who are known to operate on the southern island of Mindanao could have been behind the attack, with extortion a possible motive.

"The bus company has long been receiving extortion letters from armed groups operating in the region," regional military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Randolph Cabangbang said.

The bomb was apparently hidden inside a bag placed in a luggage compartment at the back of the bus, and exploded just after a group of men who were suspected to have planted it got off the vehicle, Cabangdang said.

Bus driver Arlan Tadeo, 38, who was unharmed in the incident, said there were 60 passengers on board when the explosion occurred.
"I saw in the rear-view mirror shattered blood-stained windows," he said.

Tadeo said parked the bus at the roadside and looked in the mirror again, to see headless bodies and passengers raising their bloody arms as they screamed for help.

Tadeo said police and military forces arrived in about 10 minutes and organised local residents, to help take the victims to hospitals.

The bomb went off on a highway just outside Matalam town in a lightly populated farming area, largely planted with sugar cane.

"Eight people died on the spot," said Matalam police chief Inspector Donald Cabigas, adding another one passed away in the hospital.

Nine other people were injured, four of them critically, Cabangbang added.
Armed groups have previously targeted bus companies on Mindanao island in an effort to extort money, with terminals as well as vehicles bombed.

Cabigas said the last bus bombing in the vicinity of Matalam, in 2007, was blamed on the al-Khobar group, a gang of former Muslim insurgents that had taken to banditry.

The group carried out a series of bombings starting in 2006 to extort money from rural businesses, he said, but added that police were still to determine whether al-Khobar was still active in the area.

Provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Cornelio Salinas said that investigators were looking for a group of men who got off the bus shortly before the explosion.

Super typhoon Megi lashes Philippines amid flood alerts

Super Typhoon Megi became the strongest cyclone in years to buffet the Philippines on Monday, while flooding in Vietnam swept away a bus and left 20 people missing, including a girl pulled from her mother's grasp by the raging waters.

The huge storm striking the northern Philippines drowned at least one man and was expected to add to what already has been heavy rains striking much of the region, including in China where authorities evacuated 140,000 people from a coastal province ahead of the typhoon.

It could head later to Vietnam, where 30 deaths from flooding already have been reported in recent days, in addition to the bus passengers snatched by surging currents Monday and feared dead.

Megi packed sustained winds of 140 miles (225 kilometers) per hour and gusts of 162 mph (260 kph) as it made landfall midday Monday at Palanan Bay in Isabela province, felling trees and utility poles and cutting off power, phone and Internet services in many areas. It appeared to be losing some of its power while crossing the mountains of the Philippines' main northern island of Luzon.
With more than 3,600 Filipinos riding out the typhoon in sturdy school buildings, town halls, churches and relatives' homes, roads in and out of coastal Isabela province, about 320 kilometres (200 miles) northeast of Manila, were deserted and blocked by collapsed trees and power lines.

One man who had just rescued his water buffalo slipped and fell into a river and probably drowned, said Bonifacio Cuarteros, an official with the Cagayan provincial disaster agency.

To get Full about this news : here

Amazon drought emergency widens

Brazil has adopted emergency measures to deal with one of the Amazon region's worst droughts in decades.

A state of emergency has been declared in 25 towns as key waterways and rivers are left completely parched, the Amazonas state government said on Saturday.

So far, the severe months-long drought has affected 40,000 people in communities who depend on the South American rainforest for sustenance.

In response, the government has airlifted six tonnes of food and 200 tonnes of donations to the stricken villages. However, according to officials, aid delivery has been slow due to the low water levels in rivers, which prevent large vessels from navigating them.

"The boats cannot navigate, and then the transportation can only be done by canoe. In some places, people were running out of food," Anisio Saturnino, a representative of one of the municipalities under emergency rule, said.

Besides the lack of food, many people are suffering intestinal problems caused by poor water quality.

Ane Alencar, a researcher with the Amazon Institute for Environmental Research (IPAM), said the drought affecting the Amazon is an extreme weather event resulting from El Nino, which occurred in late 2009 with its fallout being felt this year.

She said the drought in the state of Amazonas has been more frequent and more intense than before.

Severity 'unexpected'

Environmentalists say the severity of the drought was unexpected, but that dry weather like this will become more common due to climate change.

"There is already a climate change going on at some level. Greenpeace is tracking the impacts this can have on the Amazon, the impacts that the global warming - some two degrees - may bring to the Amazon, using as examples the years when those episodes are more severe. This year was out of the line," Rafael Cruz, a Greenpeace worker, said.

The river's shallow levels may affect trade along the Amazon River as transporters worry ships will run aground should the drought worsen.

Crops have also been damaged in the dry spell.

Scientists say the dry season will likely continue for another month, giving way to the rainy season at the end of November.

The dry weather is partly due to an intense hurricane season in the Atlantic Ocean. The storms suck moisture from the Amazon region, which make for more powerful sea storms.

Programming with C (looping with for)

N=5

*

***

*****

*******

this concept is (n*2)-1;

for(int a=1,c=1;a=N;a++){

for(int b=N;b>a;b--){

printf(" ");

}

for(d=0;d>c;d++){

printf("*");

}

c=((a+1)2)-1;//same like N*2-1

printf("\n");

}

China Coal Mine Explosion Kills 20, Traps More Than 30

Associated Press -- BEIJING -- An explosion in a Chinese coal mine killed 20 and trapped more than 30 workers underground Saturday in the country's central region, state media reported.

The China blast comes shortly after the world was riveted by the Chile's dramatic rescue of 33 trapped miners after they spent more than two months underground.

China Central Television said the blast happened Saturday morning in Henan province. An official surnamed Wu with the province's coal mine safety bureau confirmed accident but had no details.

The state-run Xinhua News Agency cited mine officials in Yuzhou city as saying Saturday's 6 a.m. blast happened in a pit owned by Pingyu Coal & Electric Co. Ltd.

A man answering phones at the mine said he had not heard anything an accident.

China's mining industry is the most dangerous in the world, and more than 2,600 people died in mining accidents last year.

The state-backed People's Daily newspaper reported Thursday that China has shut down more than 1,600 small, illegal coal mines this year as part of an effort to improve safety standards.

China mining fatalities have decreased in recent years as the government closed many illegal mines, but deaths jumped again in the first half of this year.

In October, the State Administration of Work Safety said mine managers and bosses who do not accompany workers down into mine shafts would be severely punished.

Tropical Storm Paula hits Cuban capital

Tropical Storm Paula brought winds and heavy rain to the Cuban capital on Thursday, turning some low lying streets into shallow rivers, bending palm trees and sending waves crashing against the city's famed Malecon sea wall, though there were no reports of serious damage.

With the storm losing steam by the hour, Cuban officials said they were optimistic it would not bring a repeat of the devastation wrought by three monster storms that hit in 2008.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Paula had maximum sustained winds of 55 mph (90 kph) and its core was about 25 miles (40 kilometers) east of Havana, on a course that would take it near the coastal resort area of Varadero.

The storm was moving east at about 14 mph (22 kph), and forecasters projected it to continue moving along Cuba's northern coast. Tropical storm force winds extended about 70 miles (110 kilometers) from the center, mostly north and east of the center.

A heavy rain poured down on the capital as dusk fell, and the sea, which had been as flat as a plate, quickly turned violent and frothy. Power was knocked out — or switched off — in most of the city, a normal precaution when winds are high. Waves crashed against the Malecon, and some streets were inundated with a foot or two of water.

The capital took its punishment after the storm passed over western Pinar del Rio, turning rutted country roads into red-brown, muddy quagmires, and lashing humble homes, rural schools and thatched tobacco-drying huts with wind.

A Category 2 hurricane the previous day, Paula lost strength as it crawled along the island's northwestern coast and was downgraded to a tropical storm in the morning.

The island's chief meteorologist, Jose Rubiera, said the storm would likely continue losing strength and become a tropical depression.

"The future of Paula is to keep moving eastward and weaken in the coming hours," he said.

In Pinar del Rio, most residents took the storm in stride.

"The rains have not been as intense as we had expected," Aliuska Banos, 28, told The Associated Press by telephone Thursday from the town of Sandino, along the extreme west of the island. "There were gusts of wind this morning, but they were not even strong enough to knock down my television antenna, which is pretty weak."

The government activated Cuba's crack Civil Defense forces and declared an alert for Pinar del Rio and the Isla de la Juventud. Ferry service to the outlying island was suspended, and residents of western Cuba were urged to board up windows, tie down loose items and stay vigilant. No evacuations were ordered.

Cuba's weak economy was devastated when Hurricanes Gustav, Ike and Paloma hit Pinar del Rio and other parts of the island in 2008, starting in late August. Fruit and vegetables disappeared off shelves, and shortages were exacerbated by widespread hoarding. Some 1,200 people were arrested for hurricane-related crimes, accused of stealing everything from gasoline and cement to rice and powdered milk.

The trio of storms did an estimated $10 billion in damage — or a quarter of Cuba's total GDP — a terrible blow for a country already reeling from the global economic downturn, a drop in tourism and fallen prices for nickel and other raw materials.

Pinar del Rio is known for its high-quality tobacco fields and is crucial for Cuba's famed cigar industry. Growers had planned to begin planting Tuesday for next year's harvest, though many likely held off due to the storm.

Paula brushed by Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula before arriving to Cuba, causing the only fatality associated with the storm so far.

Mickey Goodwin, 54, of Corpus Christi, Texas, drowned Tuesday while swimming off a Cancun beach despite red flags warning of dangerous waters, Mexican authorities said.

SAN JOSE MINE (Chile): To hugs, cheers and tears, rescuers using a missile-like escape capsule began pulling 33 men one by one to fresh air and freedom at last early Wednesday, 69 days after they were trapped in a collapsed mine a half-mile underground.

Six men were pulled out in the first six hours of the apparently problem-free operation in the Chile's Atacama desert a drama that saw the world captivated by the miners' endurance and unity as officials meticulously prepared their rescue.

First out was Florencio Avalos, who wore sunglasses to protect him from the glare of bright lights. He smiled broadly as he emerged and hugged his sobbing 7-year-old son, Bairon, and wife, then got a bearhug from Chilean President Sebastian Pinera shortly after midnight local time.

A second miner, Mario Sepulveda Espina, was pulled to the surface about an hour later his shouts heard even before the capsule surfaced. After hugging his wife, Elvira, he jubilantly handed souvenir rocks from his underground prison nearly 2,300 feet (700 meters) below to laughing rescuers.

Then he jumped up and down as if to prove his strength before the medical team took him to a triage unit.

"I think I had extraordinary luck. ... I was with God and with the devil and God took me," Sepulveda said later in a special interview room set up by the government.

He praised the rescue operation, saying: "It's incredible that they saved us from 700 meters below."

A third Chilean miner, Juan Illanes, was rescued after another hour. The lone Bolivian, Carlos Mamani, was pulled out fourth, the youngest miner, 19-year-old Jimmy Sanchez, was fifth, and Osman Isidro Araya came out sixth.

Mamani was greeted by his wife, Veronica, with a hug and kiss that knocked off her white hardhat as Chile's president and first lady held small Bolivian flags. Mamani also gestured with both forefingers at his T-shirt, which said "Thank You Lord" above a Chilean flag. He shouted "Gracias, Chile!" before a round of backslapping with rescuers.

Through the first five rescues, the operation brought up a miner roughly every hour holding to a schedule announced earlier to get all out in about 36 hours. Then, rescuers paused to lubricate the spring-loaded wheels that give the capsule a smooth ride through the hard-rock shaft before they brought up the sixth miner.

When the last man surfaces, it promises to end a national crisis that began when 700,000 tons of rock collapsed Aug. 5, sealing the men in the lower reaches of the mine.

After the first capsule came out of the manhole-sized opening, Avalos emerged as bystanders cheered, clapped and broke into a chant of "Chi! Chi! Chi! Le! Le! Le!" the country's name.

Avalos gave a thumbs-up as he was led to an ambulance and medical tests following his more than two months deep in the gold and copper mine the longest anyone has ever been trapped underground and survived.

Avalos, the 31-year-old second-in-command of the miners, was chosen to be first because he was in the best condition.

Pinera later explained they had not planned for Avalos' family to join rescuers at the opening of the shaft, but that little Bairon insisted on being there.

"I told Florencio that few times have I ever seen a son show so much love for his father," the president said.

"This won't be over until all 33 are out," he added. "Hopefully this example of the miners will stay forever with us because these miners have demonstrated ... that when Chile unifies, and we always do it in the face of adversity, we are capable of great things," Pinera said.

After he emerged, Sepulveda criticized the mine's management, saying "in terms of labor, there has to be change."

Pinera promised there would be. "This mine has had a long history of accidents and that's why this mine will not reopen while it doesn't assure and guarantee the integrity, safety and life of those who work in it are clearly protected. And the same will occur with many other mines in our country," said Pinera, who ordered a review of safety regulations after the collapse.

Minutes earlier, rescue expert Manuel Gonzalez of the state copper company Codelco grinned and made the sign of the cross as he was lowered to the trapped men apparently without incident. He was followed by Roberto Rios, a paramedic with the Chilean navy's special forces.

The last miner out has been decided: Shift foreman Luis Urzua, whose leadership was credited for helping the men endure 17 days with no outside contact after the collapse. The men made 48 hours' worth of rations last before rescuers reached them with a narrow bore hole to send down more food.

Janette Marin, sister-in-law of miner Dario Segovia, said the order of rescue didn't matter.

"This won't be a success unless they all get out," she said, echoing the solidarity that the miners and people across Chile have expressed.

The paramedics can change the order of rescue based on a brief medical check once they're in the mine. First out will be those best able to handle any difficulties and tell their comrades what to expect. Then, the weakest and the ill in this case, about 10 suffer from hypertension, diabetes, dental and respiratory infections and skin lesions from the mine's oppressive humidity. The last should be people who are both physically fit and strong of character.

Chile has taken extensive precautions to ensure the miners' privacy, using a screen to block the top of the shaft from the more than 1,000 journalists at the scene.

The rescue was carried live on all-news channels from the U.S. to Europe and the Middle East. Iran's state English-language Press TV followed events live until President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad touched down in Beirut on his first state visit there. But the coverage was interrupted with every new miner rescued.

The miners were ushered through a tunnel built of metal containers to an ambulance for a trip of several hundred yards (meters) to a triage station for a medical check before being flown by helicopter to a hospital in Copiapo, a 10-minute ride away.

Two floors at the hospital were prepared for the miners to receive physical and psychological exams while being kept under observation in a ward as dark as a movie theater.

Relatives were urged to wait to greet the miners at home after a 48-hour hospital stay. Health Minister Jaime Manalich said no cameras or interviews will be allowed until the miners are released, unless the miners expressly desire it.

The only media allowed to record them coming out of the shaft are a government photographer and Chile's state TV channel, whose live broadcast was delayed by 30 seconds or more to prevent the release of anything unexpected. Photographers and camera operators were on a platform more than 300 feet (90 meters) away.

The worst technical problem that could happen, rescue coordinator Andre Sougarett told The Associated Press, is that "a rock could fall," potentially jamming the capsule in the shaft.

Panic attacks are the rescuers' biggest concern. The miners aren't being sedated they need to be alert in case something goes wrong. If a miner must get out more quickly, rescuers will accelerate the capsule to a maximum 3 meters per second, Manalich said.

The rescue is risky simply because no one else has ever tried to extract miners from such depths, said Davitt McAteer, who directed the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration in President Bill Clinton's administration.

"You can be good and you can be lucky. And they've been good and lucky," McAteer told the AP. "Knock on wood that this luck holds out for the next 33 hours."

Mining Minister Laurence Golborne, whose management of the crisis has made him a media star in Chile, said authorities had already thought of everything.

"There is no need to try to start guessing what could go wrong. We have done that job," Golborne said. "We have hundreds of different contingencies."

As for the miners, Manalich said "they're actually much more relaxed than we are."

Rescuers finished reinforcing the top of the 2,041-foot (622-meter) escape shaft Monday, and the 13-foot (four-meter) capsule descended flawlessly in tests. The capsule the biggest of three built by Chilean navy engineers was named Phoenix for the mythical bird that rises from ashes. It was painted in the white, blue and red of the Chilean flag.

The miners were monitored closely in the capsule. A video camera watched for panic attacks. They also had oxygen masks and two-way voice communication. Their pulse, skin temperature and respiration rate were measured by a monitor around their abdomens. To prevent blood clotting from the quick ascent, they took aspirin and wore compression socks.

They were given a high-calorie liquid diet donated by NASA, designed to keep them from vomiting as the capsule rotated 10 to 12 times through curves in the 28-inch-diameter (71-centimeter-diameter) escape hole.

The miners also had sweaters for the shift in climate from about 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 Celsius) underground to near freezing on the surface after nightfall.

Engineers inserted steel piping at the top of the shaft, which is angled 11 degrees off vertical before plunging like a waterfall. Drillers had to curve the shaft to pass through "virgin" rock, avoiding collapsed areas and underground open spaces in the overexploited mine, which had operated since 1885.

Neighbors looked forward to barbecues and parties to replace the vigils held since their friends were trapped.

Urzua's neighbors told AP he probably insisted on being the last one up.

"He's a very good guy he keeps everybody's spirits up and is so responsible he's going to see this through to the end," said neighbor Angelica Vicencio, who has led a nightly vigil outside the Urzua home in Copiapo.

President Barack Obama praised rescuers, who include many Americans. "While that rescue is far from over and difficult work remains, we pray that by God's grace, the miners will be able to emerge safely and return to their families soon," he said.

Chile has promised that its care of the miners won't end for six months at least not until they can be sure that each one has readjusted.

Psychiatrists and other experts in surviving extreme situations predict their lives will be anything but normal.

Since Aug. 22, when a narrow bore hole broke through to their refuge and the miners stunned the world with a note, scrawled in red ink, disclosing their survival, their families have been exposed in ways they never imagined. Miners had to describe their physical and mental health in detail with teams of doctors and psychologists. In some cases, when both wives and lovers claimed the same man, everyone involved had to face the consequences.

Rioters target gay pride march

Belgrade - Riot police in Serbia clashed with hundreds of far-right supporters who tried to disrupt a gay pride march in downtown Belgrade on Sunday. More than a dozen people were injured, officials said.

Thousands of police officers sealed off the streets in the capital where the march took place, repeatedly clashing at several locations with rioters who were trying to burst through security cordons.

The protesters, chanting “death to homosexuals”, hurled bricks, stones, glass bottles and firecrackers at riot police. Several parked cars and shop windows were damaged and at least one police vehicle was set on fire.

Hospital officials said at least 18 people, about half of them police officers, were injured. Police said several rioters were arrested.

Sunday's march is viewed as a major test for Serbia's government, which has launched pro-Western reforms and pledged to protect human rights as it seeks European Union membership.

Right-wing groups broke up a pride march in 2001 and forced the cancellation of last year's event.

Vincent Degert, the head of the EU mission in Serbia, addressed around 1 000 gay activists and their supporters who gathered at a park in downtown Belgrade which was surrounded by riot police, including armoured vehicles.

“We are here to celebrate this very important day to celebrate the values of tolerance, freedom of expression and assembly,” Degert told the crowd waving rainbow flags.

The brief 15-minute march ended without violence, with the participants heading into a downtown hall for a party. Some chanted, “We have succeeded.”

Hospital officials said a group of young men attacked the headquarters of a women's human rights organisation early on Sunday, injuring one activist. The “Women in Black” organisation said the men were looking for gays.

The US Embassy in Belgrade said there was a high potential for violence before, during and after the march and strongly recommended that its personnel avoid the downtown area for the day. The same right-wing group set the embassy on fire during riots in 2008 to protest US support for Kosovo's independence.

Right-wing groups say the gay events are contrary to Serbian family and religious values. Most of the rioters on Sunday were young football fans whose groups have been infiltrated by neo-Nazi and other extremist organisations.

source:link