For two days the Polish capital has become a hub of discussion on NATO's new Strategic Concept - a document that, once agreed by all Allies, will shape the organisation's future direction.

The Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, began his first official visit to Poland on 12 March by taking part in the international conference "NATO's New Strategic Concept - Global, Transatlantic and Regional Challenges and Tasks".

The seminar - organised by the Warsaw Centre for International Relations and the Polish Ministry of Defence, with the support of NATO's Public Diplomacy Division - brought together at the Royal Castle in Warsaw the Polish Foreign and Defence Ministers, members of the Group of Experts on the new Strategic Concept, as well as numerous local and international practitioners, academics and media representatives. Participants discussed the new security environment, security perceptions in Central and Eastern Europe and NATO's partnerships.

In his keynote speech, the Secretary General outlined his vision of territorial defence for the Alliance. He stressed that while NATO's core task was, is, and will remain, the defence of our territory and our populations, the meaning of territorial defence is changing.

"If we want to keep NATO's territorial defence effective, affordable and credible, we must push ahead with the Alliance's transformation," he told the audience in Warsaw. "We need more flexible, mobile and deployable armed forces. If our military is stationary, if our armed forces can't be moved beyond the borders of each individual member state, the defence of Allied territory will not be effective."

Earlier the same day, Mr. Rasmussen met briefly with staff and young academics from the University of Warsaw's Institute of International Relations and the Institute of Strategic Studies from Krakow. He was presented with a paper developed by the two analytical centres outlining comprehensive proposals for the new Strategic Concept.

On 11 March, hundreds of students attended the Warsaw Transatlantic Forum 2010 at the University of Warsaw, organised by the Polish Euro-Atlantic Association with support from, among others, NATO's Public Diplomacy Division. The event was opened by Polish Defence Minister Bogdan Klich.

Members of the Group of Experts, former Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski and other high-level guests contributed to a wide-ranging debate on NATO's new Strategic Concept, operation in Afghanistan and relations with Russia.

Source: NATO News

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HOUSTON - The Twitterverse and universe will converge during space shuttle Endeavour's upcoming mission to the International Space Station. NASA is inviting the public to send questions for the astronauts via Twitter and have them answered live from space.

Astronaut Mike Massimino will be accepting questions for the crew from the public via his Twitter account until Thursday, Feb. 11. Massimino will be a shuttle Capcom, or spacecraft communicator, at NASA's Mission Control in Houston during Endeavour's flight, scheduled for launch Feb. 7.

At 2:24 a.m. CST on Feb. 11, Massimino will host an interactive event with the crew from his console in Mission Control. He will ask the astronauts as many submitted and live questions as practical during the 20-minute event. The shuttle will be docked to the station during the live question and answer session. The event with Endeavour's crew will be broadcast live on the Web and NASA Television.

The public is invited to start tweeting questions for Endeavour's crew today to Massimino's Twitter account, @astro_Mike, or add the hashtag #askastro to their tweets.

Endeavour's 13-day STS-130 mission will include three spacewalks and the delivery of the Tranquility node, the final module of the U.S. portion of the station. Tranquility will provide additional room for crew members and many of the space station's life support and environmental control systems.

Attached to Tranquility is a cupola, which houses a robotic control station and has seven windows. The windows will provide a panoramic view of Earth, celestial objects and visiting spacecraft. After the node and cupola are added, the orbiting laboratory will be approximately 90 percent complete.

The time and day of the Twitter session are subject to change due to mission priorities. Updates to the NASA TV event schedule are available online at: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttletv

For additional NASA TV streaming video, scheduling and downlink information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/ntv

For information about Endeavour and the STS-130 mission, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/shuttle

Source: NASA

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There is a lot to talk about horses, but for some reason, people want to take mostly about horseracing methods.

Indeed: the topic most-talked about in relation to horses is what it has to do with how to bet properly or better at the races. Good or bad, is what there is, and some methods actually make some sense. Horses are lovely animals, but they can also deliver lovely profits.

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Source: Andinia.com

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