IHT Quick Read: Feb. 16

NEWS Around 1,200 Russians were injured after a meteor hit the atmosphere, and residents of Chelyabinsk were left to deal with memories that seemed to belong in science fiction. The scenes from Chelyabinsk, rocked by an intense shock wave when a meteor hit the Earth’s atmosphere Friday morning, offer a glimpse of an apocalyptic scenario that many have walked through mentally, and Hollywood has popularized, but scientists say has never before injured so many people. Ellen Barry and Andrew E. Kramer report from Moscow.

A high-level corruption scandal has focused Spaniards’ anger on a formerly obscure bookkeeper, and it has also shined an uncomfortable light on officials’ relations with the corporate elite. Raphael Minder and Doreen Carvajal reort from Madrid.

As American troops prepare to speed up their withdrawal from Afghanistan, it is clear some of it will happen under fire as Taliban fighters try to strike at departing soldiers. Matthew Rosenberg reports from Strong Point Haji Rahmuddin II in Afghanistan.

The problems Boeing is having with lithium-ion battery technology has led Airbus to change its plan, and use a conventional battery, made of nickel-cadmium. Christopher Drew reports from New York and Nicola Clark reports from Paris.

Scottish whiskey distillers are weighing a “bottle tax” for companies outside the country that control about four-fifths of the global market for Scotch. Stephen Castle reports from Ballindalloch, Scotland.

ARTS The “art subway” program in Naples, Italy, has commissioned work from about 100 artists so far â€" most of them Italians, with a good dose of local talent â€" and an international roster that includes William Kentridge, Katharina Sieverding and Sol LeWitt, to name a few. It is still a work in progress, but it already offers riders and art lovers the opportunity to see impressive art in a utilitarian space. Elisabetta Povoledo reports from Naples.

SPORTS Even before his arrest this week on murder charges, Oscar Pistorius’s career and personal life were complicated. In the world of track and field, he was inspiring and polarizing. Even as he ran in the Olympics, the debate continued about whether his carbon-fiber blades gave him an unfair advantage over other runners. Jere Longman reports from New York.

Earth May Not Be Ready for the Next Close Encounter

LONDON â€" The spectacular meteorite shower that blasted Siberia early Friday somewhat stole the thunder of another chunk of space rock that was due to stream past Earth later in the day.

In the closest encounter ever recorded with a large space object, the 150-feet diameter asteroid 2012 DA14 was on course to come within 17,200 miles of the Earth at 2:24 p.m. E.S.T.

In cosmological terms, that counts as a near miss, although scientists have issued reassuring statements that there is no need to panic.

The meteorite shower that struck Russia’s Chelyabinsk region, reportedly injuring more than 400 people, was nevertheless a reminder that danger can come literally out of the blue.

It rased the question whether the world is prepared to avert the threat of a potentially much bigger disaster from a collision with a near-Earth object.

Scientists have warned that greater international cooperation is needed if humanity is to avoid the fate of the dinosaurs, believed to have been wiped out after an asteroid struck what is now Mexico 66 million years ago.

Space-watchers are already keeping a close eye on 1999 RQ36, a 1,837-feet giant that has a one in a thousand chance of hitting Earth on its next close encounter in 2182.

It is one of 1,300 space rocks on NASA’s list of “potentially hazardous asteroids.” The U.S. space agency plans to launch an unmanned mission in 2016 to bring back rock samples from the asteroid and measure the forces acting on it.

“Anything ov! er a few hundred yards across that appears to be on a collision course with Earth is very worrisome,” according to Edward Beshore, a University of Arizona scientist involved in the mission.

Research has focused on how to divert potentially Earth-bound space rocks with a variety of technologies that range from attaching them to space-borne versions of a ball and chain to blasting them with a nuclear bomb.

But first you have to find them.

The asteroid 2012 DA14, which was near enough to be visible from Earth on Friday during its 4.9 miles-per-second fly-by, was first spotted only in February 2012 by a Spanish dentist.

According to asteroid-hunting scientists at the B612 Foundation, who include NASA veterans, Friday’s close encounter amounts to a wake-up call from space.

“Of the million asteroids as large as or larger than 2012 DA14, we have only tracked less than 10,000,” it said in a posting on its Web site.

“So the fact that we knew ahead of time that 2012 DA14 is about to buzz by Earth is really only a matter of luck,” it wrote. “Ninety nine percent of the time we are oblivious, simply because we have not mapped and tracked 99 percent of Near Earth Asteroids.”

In 2008, space experts from the Association of Space Explorers called for a coordinated international action plan, under the umbrella of the United Nations, to counter the asteroid threat.

Its proposals included mounting an international mission to practice diverting a small, harmless space rock, as well as launching a global scientific debate on how best to deflect a! n asteroi! d (and who would pay for it.)

Like the script of a science fiction movie, it evokes the prospect of disparate nations coming together to counter a common extraterrestrial threat.

As Dmitry Rogozin, the Russian deputy prime minister, said on Friday, the Siberian meteorite strike showed the need for an international initiative to create a warning system for “objects of an alien origin.”

Getting to Know Oscar Pistorius

Sports February 15, 2013, 7:15 am

By THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

NEW YORK â€" Micheal Sokolove got to know Oscar Pistorius, the pioneering South African athlete now charged with the murder of his reported girlfriend. Rendezvous’ editor, Marcus Mabry, spoke with him about the sports star’s tragic turn.

Getting to Know Oscar Pistorius

Sports February 15, 2013, 7:15 am

By THE INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE

NEW YORK â€" Micheal Sokolove got to know Oscar Pistorius, the pioneering South African athlete now charged with the murder of his reported girlfriend. Rendezvous’ editor, Marcus Mabry, spoke with him about the sports star’s tragic turn.

IHT Quick Read: Feb. 15

NEWS The scandal over horse meat in the European food chain widened Thursday from a case of mislabeling to one of food safety as public health authorities in Britain said that a powerful equine painkiller, potentially harmful to human health, “may have entered the food chain” in France. Dan Bilefsky reports from Paris, and Stephen Castle from London.

Behind closed doors, Xi Jinping, China’s new leader, recently held up the Soviet Union’s collapse as the risk of wavering from traditional ideology. Chris Buckley reports from Hong Kong.

A senior official of the United Nations nuclear supervisory body said Thursdy that talks a day earlier in Iran had ended inconclusively and that international inspectors had not been given access to a site that they suspect may have been used for testing bomb triggers. Alan Cowell reports from Paris.

Oscar Pistorius, a Paralympic gold medal winner from South Africa, was charged with murder after his girlfriend was fatally shot at his home. Lydia Polgreen reports from Johannesburg.

Berkshire Hathaway, the giant conglomerate run by Warren E. Buffett, said on Thursday that it would buy Heinz for about $23 billion. Berkshire is teaming up with 3G, a Brazilian investment firm that already owns most of Burger King. Michael J. de la Merced and Andrew Ross Sorkin report.

The U.S. Justice Department has cleared the proposed merger of Random House and Penguin, which would create the biggest book publisher in the world, their parent companies said. Eric Pfanner reports from Paris.

European economies shrank in the fourth quarter at their fastest rate since the depth of the financial crisis in 2009, new data showed on Thursday, with both strong and weak countries falling short of expectations and raising anxieties of a longer, deeper recession. Jack Ewing reports.

European regulators on Thursday defended plans to create the first international tax on financial transactions after business groups in the United States warned that the levy could break international agreements. James Kanter reports from Brussels.

ARTS Advocates of an effort to create a parade ground for Afro-Brazilian drum groups in Salvador, Brazil, say it would help the city’s carnaval reclaim its soul. Jon Pareles reports from Salvador, Brazil.

SPORTS Cristiano Ronaldo’s soaring header against Manchester City saved a 1-1 tie for Real Madrid in the Champions League soccer tournament and left his old manager, Alex Fe! rguson, a! stonished. Rob Hughes reports from London.