The plucky kid with the pod racer from “Star Wars: Episode I” is not a kid anymore. And Jake Lloyd wants you to know that having a major role in a George Lucas film really put a damper on things when he was growing up.

OK, fine: The guy doesn’t really deserve our pity, but think of it from his point of view. Ten years old, getting blamed for ruining the Star Wars series. (Well, that was mainly the fault of George Lucas, but the kid was there, wasn’t he?) And people just won’t let it go. The Sci-Fi Australia blog caught up with the glum “Star Wars” alum Down Under, who sounds more Eeyore than “Episode One.”

While every word drips with sarcasm (he is 20, after all) the Anakin actor also can still speak geek. On college: “You’ll never find more intelligent, charming people than the drunk students of the college world.” ‘Nuff said.

Hey, Jake, don’t worry: We know how you feel. Jar Jar Binks pretty much ruined the whole Star Wars thing for us, too.

JAKARTA, Indonesia, July 17 — Eight people were killed Friday in two separate explosions at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in central Jakarta, just over a week after the world’s most populous majority-Muslim nation saw a peaceful presidential election.

The Jakarta police said that “low explosive” devices were used to set off the blasts. The first was heard at the Marriott about 7:45 a.m. local time (8:45 p.m. Thursday in Washington). The Marriott also was targeted in 2003 by the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, when a bomb set off by the Islamic terrorists killed 11.

The second explosion happened shortly afterwards at the Ritz-Carlton hotel, less than 110 yards away. That bomb was believed to have gone off in the Airlangga restaurant.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the president of Indonesia, likened the perpetrators to “death spreaders,” or Dracula.

Speaking from the presidential palace in a live television address, the angry and visibly shaken president said the attackers were irresponsible and inhumane. While their identities remained unknown, the president said, the government will “use the full extent of the law” to bring to justice “those who did it, those who helped them, and the masterminds.”

Yudhoyono — who was reelected July 8 by a wide margin and is set to begin a second five-year term — said it was too early to say whether the bombing was linked to Jemaah Islamiyah.

At a news conference hours after the blast, Indonesia’s national police chief said the explosions were the work of two suicide bombers, and possibly other accomplices, wire services reported.

The Associated Press reported that some of those involved in the plot apparently had rented a room on the 18th floor of the Marriott, where additional, undetonated explosives were found after the blasts.

“There were several perpetrators,” Jakarta police chief Maj. Gen. Wahyonohe told the AP. “They were disguised as guests and stayed in room 1808.”

Indonesian police officials said that among the eight people killed in the twin attacks was Timothy Mackay, the head of Indonesia operations for Holcim, a global supplier of cement, aggregates, concrete and asphalt. Mackay was among a group of business executives who were attending a networking meeting at the Marriott — some of them said they had been caught up in the 2003 bombing at the same hotel.

Sixty-one people were injured.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, en route to Asia as part of a scheduled trip, said the bombings reflect the viciousness of violent extremists are a reminder that the threat of terrorism remains very real. We have no higher priority than confronting this threat along with other countries that share our commitment to a more peaceful and prosperous future.”

he charges against Mr Sharif, a former prime minister, stemmed from when he attempted to stave off a supposed coup against his government in 1999.

The striking down of the charges remove a key obstacle that had prevened Mr Sharif from running for office again.

Mr Sharif was banned from office after being found guilty of “hijacking” Gen Pervez Musharraf’s plane in 1999.

Mr Sharif, who was prime minister at the time in 1999 had heard reports that then the army chief, Gen Musharraf, was about to stage a coup. He was accused of ordering that the army chief’s plane to be prevented from landing on his arrival in Pakistani airspace on a flight from Sri Lanka.

Mr Sharif’s spokesman, said: “We knew that Nawaz Sharif is innocent, but today’s court order also proved that he had been wrongly convicted”.

The ruling was the third time that various charges against Mr Sharif, who served twice as prime minister, have been dropped in the past two months.

However, legislation introduced by Gen Musharraf forbids candidates from holding the office of prime minister for a third term.

A court decision in February to disqualify Mr Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz, as well as an attempt by the ruling party to grab power in Mr Sharif’s powerbase, Punjab province, prompted him to lead nationwide protests against the shaky government of Mr Zardari.

Since then Pakistan’s Western allies, particularly America, have mounted pressure on the two main political parties to cease hostilities so that the military can concentrate on fighting against militants linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Yesterday Mr Zardari met Mr Sharif at his home near Lahore, Punjab, to discuss further measures to discuss further measures to improve relations between the two leaders.

Mr Zardari has agreed to shed some of his sweeping presidential powers and to amend the constitution so that Mr Sharif would be able to serve a third term as prime minister.

ISLAMABAD, July 17 (Reuters) - The U.N. team conducting an inquiry into the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto will not seek to name culprits, the commission’s head said on Friday, lowering expectations from the outset.

The three-member team arrived in Pakistan on Thursday for its first visit as part of a probe into the circumstances surrounding the attack that killed Bhutto after an election campaign rally in Rawalpindi city on Dec. 27, 2007.

Conspiracy theories abound over who was behind the assasination, but the head of the commission, Chile’s U.N. ambassador Heraldo Munoz, sought to play down expectations about what it would ultimately publish in its findings at the end of December.

“If you think that there will be smoking guns in terms of names, our report is not that,” Munoz told reporters in the Pakistani capital.

“We will try to establish the truth….anything else is beyond our realm,” he said.

Any criminal investigation will be up to Pakistani authorities, but the commission’s findings will hopefully be able to complement the government’s efforts, Munoz said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon set up the commission at the request of the coalition government, led by Bhutto’s Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

The previous government, headed by allies of former president and army chief Pervez Musharraf, blamed Pakistani Taliban leader and al Qaeda ally Baitullah Mehsud for Bhutto’s slaying.

Munoz and his team on Thursday met with Bhutto’s widower, Asif Ali Zardari, who is now Pakistan’s president after leading the PPP to victory in elections in early 2008.

Speculation lingers that Bhutto was the victim of a plot by allies of Musharraf, who did not want her to come to power. Munoz did not rule out attempting to interview Musharraf, but stressed that any cooperation with his team would be voluntary.

NEW DELHI - India’s only satellite orbiting the moon came close to failure after overheating but scientists improvised to save it and have achieved more than 90 percent of the mission’s objectives, an official said Friday.

The launch of Chandrayaan-1 in October 2008 put India in an elite group to have lunar missions along with the U.S., Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan and China.

But on May 16, the satellite lost a critical instrument called the star sensor, the Indian Space Research Organization’s chief Madhavan Nair told reporters.

The sensor helps the satellite stay oriented so its cameras and other recording equipment are constantly aimed at the lunar surface.

However, ISRO scientists were able to salvage the $80 million satellite within a week and resume normal operations by activating the satellite’s gyroscope, which also gives satisfactory orientation, Nair said.

He said more than 90 percent of the two-year mission’s objectives had already been achieved, and dismissed suggestions that the sensor’s failure might reduce the life span of the spacecraft.

The “life (of the spacecraft) is not dependent on this instrument. This instrument is used only for orientation of the spacecraft,” he said.

“The sensor cannot be recovered at this stage and we hope that the remaining part of this mission will be completed,” he said.

Nair told the NDTV television network earlier the satellite came close to overheating and failing after it was put into orbit 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the moon.

“The entire spacecraft would have baked and would have been simply lost,” Nair said.

As India’s economy has boomed, it has sought to convert its newfound wealth - built on the nation’s high-tech sector - into political and military clout.

Scientists hope the Chandrayaan project will boost India’s capacity to build more efficient rockets and satellites, especially through miniaturization, and open research avenues for young Indian scientists.

India plans to follow the Chandrayaan, which means “moon craft” in Sanskrit, by landing a rover on the moon in 2011.

Space shuttle Endeavour is closing in on the international space station following a two-day chase.

Before docking at the space station Friday afternoon, Endeavour will perform a backflip so the station crew can photograph its entire surface. NASA wants to see whether the shuttle suffered any significant launch damage. An unusually large amount of foam insulation peeled away from a the fuel tank during Wednesday’s liftoff.

Endeavour’s thermal tiles were dinged in several places by foam. But that damage is considered minor.

The shuttle and its seven astronauts are delivering the last piece of Japan’s space station lab, a porch for experiments. Endeavour will remain at the space station for 1 1/2 weeks.

The blue all-in-one flight suit belonged to astronaut Michael Collins, who piloted the space craft while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon.

Collins wore the NASA boiler-suit after the record-breaking trio returned to earth in July 1969.

Collins retired from the organisation six months later and his physical conditioning supervisor recovered the blue suit from his locker and has kept it ever since.

Bidding for the item is set to rocket when it goes under the hammer at a British auction house, with an estimate of 10,000 pounds.

Also in the auction is a photograph of Neil Armstrong on the moon that has been signed by the three astronauts.

Such items are becoming rarer and rarer as Armstrong stopped giving autographs over 20 years ago.

The items are due to be sold at International Autograph Auctions in London on Saturday.

Auctioneer Richard Davie said: “The suit is a really unique, one off item.

“We are hoping the 40th anniversary of the moon landings may evoke some memories from the generation of people who recall it and may want to buy this out of nostalgia.

“This is an extremely rare opportunity for members of the public to acquire an item you would normally expect to find in a museum. It would be a great conversation piece.

“The suit is in very good condition considering it is 40 years old and it is still wearable.

“The provenance is excellent. It was worn by Michael Collins after he, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were recovered from the mission.

“It was kept in his personal locker until six moths later when Collins retired from NASA.

“It was removed from the locker by his physical conditioning supervisor Joe Garino who was given express permission from NASA to keep it.

“The suit comes with a letter of authenticity from Garino.”

The sky blue cotton suit has numerous zipped pockets, snap pockets and Velcro patches as well as a circular NASA logo patch on the chest.

Mr Davie said the estimate for the suit was between 7,000 to 10,000 pounds.

The guide price for the framed, signed photograph is between 2,000 to 3,000 pounds.

The auction takes place on Satuday at the Radisson Edwardian Hotel at Heathrow, London.