Pakistani jets kill six militants

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan – Pakistani fighter jets destroyed two suspected militant hide-outs near the Afghan border, killing six men believed to be associates of top local Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, intelligence officials said today.

The strikes in South Waziristan flattened the hide-outs of Mehsud’s associates in two villages late Tuesday, two intelligence officials said. It was not possible to independently confirm the strikes or casualty figures in the remote area.

Mehsud is accused of killing Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and launching dozens of bomb and suicide attacks against security forces and civilians in the country.

On Tuesday, the military said three days of clashes in the northwest near the border with Afghanistan had left more than 56 militants and six soldiers dead. There was no way of confirming the casualty figures.

The United States’ special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, arrived in Pakistan late Tuesday and was to meet with the country’s leaders and top generals.

Giant telescope to be built in Hawaii

HONOLULU – Hawaii was chosen Tuesday as the site for the world’s biggest telescope, a device so powerful that it will allow scientists to see some 13 billion light years away and get a glimpse into the early years of the universe.

The telescope’s mirror – stretching almost 100 feet in diameter, or nearly the length of a Boeing 737’s wingspan – will be so large that it should be able to gather light that will have spent 13 billion years traveling to Earth. This means astronomers looking into the telescope will be able to see images of the first stars and galaxies forming – some 400 million years after the Big Bang.

The telescope, expected to be completed by 2018, will be located atop Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano that is popular with astronomers because its summit sits well above the clouds at 13,796 feet, offering a clear view of the sky above for 300 days a year.

The other finalist candidate site for the Thirty Meter Telescope was Chile’s Cerro Armazones mountain.

Explorers oppose giving loot to Spain

TAMPA, Fla. – Deep-sea explorers based in Florida filed an objection Tuesday to a judge’s recommendation that they give 17 tons of shipwreck treasure back to Spain.

The dispute concerns the 200-year-old wreck of a Spanish galleon that carried thousands of silver coins and other artifacts estimated to be worth $500 million. The ship is believed to be the Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes y las Animas, which exploded in battle and sank in the Atlantic Ocean west of Portugal in 1804, claiming the lives of 200 people.

In June, a federal magistrate judge in Tampa issued a written recommendation, saying the wreck was likely the Mercedes and accepting the Spanish government’s argument that it had never expressly surrendered ownership of the ship and its contents.

But Odyssey Marine Exploration contends there isn’t enough evidence to confirm that the cargo it recovered came from the Mercedes. The company argues that if it is, the Mercedes was engaged in commercial activity when it exploded, which nullifies Spain’s sovereign immunity claim.