LONDON (Reuters) - A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck near the southern tip of Russia's Kamchatka peninsula, at a depth of around 52 km (33 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) reported on Thursday.
The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of a destructive widespread tsunami, based on historical earthquake and tsunami data.
Britain's BBC quoted Russia's Emergencies Ministry as saying there were no reports of casualties or damage, and that no tsunami warning had been issued.
The arc formed by the peninsula and the Kurile Islands stretching from Russia to Japan is one of the most seismically active areas in the world.
USGS's first report had put the quake at magnitude 7.0, at a depth of 18 miles.
(Writing by Kevin Liffey; Editing by Alison Williams)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon said on Thursday it would resume flights of its F-35 fighter jets, which were grounded a week ago after a crack was discovered in an engine of a test plane.
"F-35 flight operations have been cleared to resume," Pentagon spokeswoman Kyra Hawn said.
No additional cracks were found during inspections of engines in the rest of the F-35 fleet or in any spare engines, Hawn said.
Matthew Bates, a spokesman for Pratt & Whitney, which supplies the engines for the planes, said the Pentagon's F-35 program office had decided to lift a temporary suspension of flight operations after it conducted extensive tests on the affected engine part. The tests showed that a crack in a turbine blade stemmed from the "unique operating environment" in flight tests rather than a design flaw, he said.
Bates said Pratt had been working around the clock with Pentagon officials to determine the cause of the crack in the engine blade.
"The team has determined that root cause is sufficiently understood for the F-35 to safely resume flight," Bates said.
The engine in question had operated at high temperatures more than four times longer than a typical F-35 flight, which led to a separation of the "grain boundary" of this particular blade, he said.
Pratt, a unit of United Technologies Corp, supplies the engine for the single-engine, single-seat fighter plane, which is built by Lockheed Martin Corp.
The Pentagon announced the grounding of all F-35 warplanes on Friday after an inspection revealed a crack on a turbine blade in the jet engine of an F-35 being tested at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
It was the second engine-related grounding in two months of the $396 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Pentagon's largest weapons program. The Marines Corps version of the plane was grounded for nearly a month starting in mid-January because of a faulty hose in the engine.
(Reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa; Editing by Stacey Joyce)
The high-fives in SpaceX's mission control centre were short-lived today as the commercial space-flight company's Dragon cargo capsule made it into orbit but then failed to ignite all its thrusters. The snag adds some drama to SpaceX's second official mission delivering supplies to the International Space Station.
Until that point, the company's Falcon 9 rocket launch had been flawless. The launch vehicle lifted off on schedule and the Dragon capsule separated smoothly, entering orbit at about 15.20 GMT. Dragon's batteries powered up the craft, and commentary on the SpaceX and NASA webcasts of the launch suggested solar panel deployment was imminent. But then nothing happened.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk, tweeting from the company's mission control centre in Hawthorne, California, said the issue is with three of Dragon's four thruster pods, groupings totalling 18 small thrusters. Normally Dragon waits for these pods to come online before deploying the solar arrays, because they are needed to steer the craft once in orbit.
Company spokeswoman Christina Ra told New Scientist that the spacecraft had experienced an issue with a propellant valve, and said that one thruster pod is running. The craft needs two pods to have a shot at completing the mission. "We did go ahead and get the solar arrays deployed. Once we get at least two pods running, we will begin a series of burns to get to the station," she said in an email.
Dragon is slated to deliver supplies and science experiments to the ISS, including a batch of frozen mouse stem cells for researchers into the human health effects of long-haul space flights.
Getting the solar arrays deployed does not necessarily mean Dragon is in the clear. Whatever stopped the thrusters from working - perhaps the spacecraft's onboard software - may have other surprises in store.
Home improvement has been around for as long as there have been structures in which people have lived in. We all want our homes to be comfortable and look beautiful, and sometimes the only way to accomplish that is to do some updating. You can continue reading to find a few good home improvement tips for this modern age of technology and convenience.
When starting a home improvement project, never underestimate a certain project. Although you can never be 100% certain of everything that will happen to the project, it is a good precaution to know the assumptions associated to it. The more prepared you are at the start of the project, the better able you will be able to handle any surprises that may arise.
If you are hiring a contractor or landscaper to work on your home improvement project, make sure that they are licensed. If a contractor has a license, it means that they are a legitimate businessman who is skilled in the type of work you require. It also indicates that the contractor follows and is informed about the latest updates in the industry.
When deciding to do home renovations on a budget, allow for an extra 10% for cost overruns. It is inevitable that any home improvement project is going to have things happen that just cannot be accounted for in the beginning. So, include this extra 10% so you do not go out of your budget.
When it comes to home improvement, consider remodeling either your kitchen or bathroom first. These are two of the best ways that you can add the most value to your house. If possible, add an additional bathroom to your house as this is always a way to boost the value of your home.
If it is at all practical, do repair-type home improvement projects as soon as you notice a problem. Much of the damage that occurs to your home is the sort that you can live with and soon forget. You must resist this impulse! The different systems of your home are closely connected and damage can spread with shocking speed. A small problem can become a big one faster than you can imagine.
Make sure to assess your needs for equipment and supplies, getting all that you need before you start your home improvement project. The last thing you want to do is get to the middle of a project only to find that you need to stop and get more supplies or equipment to finish appropriately.
Before starting any home improvement job you should make sure you have all of the necessary tools available. A missing tool can hold up a project. The effect of such delays can range from minor annoyance all the way up to serious expenses. Many home improvement projects (pouring concrete, for example) can be ruined if you lack the right tools at a critical point.
With careful reasearch and planning, most people can do some home improvement with good results. It's not always as easy as it looks though, and one should proceed with caution. It's easy to get into a project and find it is much more costly and complicated than it looked in the beginning.
In a flashback to the kind of homebuying frenzy not seen since 2008, house hunters have pitched a line of tents in Huntington Beach, Calif., in the hope of buying a brand-new home. Around a dozen pre-qualified homebuyers have literally set up camp by the still-under-construction Brightwater Capri development in Huntington Beach -- and they've already been there for a week.
KCBS in Los Angeles reports that as many as 30 buyers are expected to camp out for the chance to snap up a home at between $800,000 and $900,000. The first home will go on sale March 2, and only five homes will be released this weekend -- and only to pre-approved buyers on a first-come, first-served basis. The interest in the homes may not be particularly surprising, given the details: Each of the yet-to-be-built homes at Brightwater features four spacious bedrooms and boasts ocean views from their second floors. (The development is only half a mile from the beach.) Sizes range from 1,992 to 2,685 square feet, and there are 11 floor plans to choose from.
"If you want the opportunity, you gotta make the sacrifice," Brightwater camper Terry Torline told the TV station. "Based on what's out there in the marketplace, it's a good deal right now." California home prices have been on a dramatic incline lately, while foreclosures in the state have tumbled to an astounding low, according to the Los Angeles Times. And luxury home sales in California reached an all-time high in 2012, with 697 sales each priced at $5 million or more. As another local television station KTLA-TV put it, the campout for homes is just the latest sign that the housing market is again heating up.
See also: First Impressions That Get Homes Sold the Fastest 4 Current Myths About the Real Estate Market
More on AOL Real Estate: Find out how to calculate mortgage payments. Find homes for sale in your area. Find foreclosures in your area. See celebrity real estate.
Follow us on Twitter at @AOLRealEstate or connect with AOL Real Estate on Facebook.
$(document).ready(function(){ weather = [{"SUMMARY":"...SOME SLICK SPOTS POSSIBLE THROUGH 10 AM FRIDAY MORNING...\nLIGHT PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING.\nA MIXTURE OF LIGHT SNOW...DRIZZLE...AND FREEZING DRIZZLE WILL OCCUR\nTHROUGH THIS EVENING...BEFORE CHANGING OVER TO LIGHT SNOW. SNOW\nACCUMULATIONS WILL RANGE FROM A QUARTER OF AN INCH OR LESS IN MOST\nVALLEY LOCATIONS...TO AROUND AN INCH FOR ELEVATIONS ABOVE 2000 FEET.\nMOST OF THE SNOW ACCUMULATION WILL BE IN GRASSY AREAS...HOWEVER SOME\nROADS...ESPECIALLY IN THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS COULD BECOME TEMPORARILY\nSNOW COVERED AT TIMES. ADDITIONALLY...SOME LIGHT GLAZING WILL BE\nPOSSIBLE ALONG SOME BRIDGES...OVERPASSES...AND WALKWAYS...AS\nTEMPERATURES DIP TO...AT OR BELOW FREEZING.","ID":14827,"COUNTIES":["Bath, KY","Breathitt, KY","Clay, KY","Estill, KY","Fleming, KY","Jackson, KY","Knott, KY","Knox, KY","Laurel, KY","Lee, KY","Leslie, KY","Magoffin, KY","McCreary, KY","Menifee, KY","Montgomery, KY","Morgan, KY","Owsley, KY","Perry, KY","Powell, KY","Pulaski, KY","Rockcastle, KY","Rowan, KY","Wayne, KY","Whitley, KY","Wolfe, KY"],"TITLE":"Special Weather Alert"},{"SUMMARY":"...LIGHT SNOW ACCUMULATIONS EXPECTED TONIGHT...\nNUMEROUS LIGHT SNOW SHOWERS WILL OVERSPREAD AN AREA GENERALLY\nSOUTH OF A LINE FROM HARDINSBURG...TO HODGENVILLE...TO STANFORD\nKENTUCKY THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT. PRECIPITATION MAY START OUT AS\nA RAIN OR SNOW MIX...WITH SOME SLEET POSSIBLY MIXED IN...HOWEVER\nSNOW WILL BE PREDOMINANT THROUGH THE LATE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT.\nLIGHT ACCUMULATIONS FROM A DUSTING UP TO A HALF AN INCH OF SNOW\nCAN BE EXPECTED MAINLY ON GRASSY AND ELEVATED SURFACES THROUGH\nMID MORNING ON FRIDAY...HOWEVER A FEW PLACES COULD SEE UP TO 1\nINCH. ROADWAYS ARE NOT EXPECTED TO BE IMPACTED TONIGHT AS SURFACE\nTEMPERATURES WILL ONLY VERY SLOWLY DROP TOWARD FREEZING BY DAWN.\nHOWEVER...PATCHY SLICK SPOTS COULD DEVELOP FOR THE MORNING COMMUTE\nAND MOTORISTS ARE URGED TO USE CAUTION ON FRIDAY MORNING.","ID":14826,"COUNTIES":["Adair, KY","Casey, KY","Lincoln, KY","Marion, KY","Russell, KY","Taylor, KY"],"TITLE":"Special Weather Alert"}]; ul = $(''); if(weather.length > 0){ $.each(weather, function(i, item){ counties = ""; $.each(item.COUNTIES, function(j, county){ counties += ""+county+""; }); ul.append($.nano('
