Washington (AFP) - Turkish forward Ersan Ilyasova and American centre Dewayne Dedmon have signed National Basketball Association (NBA) contracts with the Atlanta Hawks, the team announced on Friday in moves to bolster their front court. Dedmon's deal was reportedly for US$14 million (S$19 million) over two years with Ilyasova getting US$6 million for one season. Ilyasova, set to begin his 10th NBA season, has career averages of 11.0 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.2 assists over 609 games for the Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Oklahoma City Thunder, Philadelphia 76ers and Hawks. The 30-year-old second-round pick in the 2005 NBA Draft is a 44 per cent shooter, hitting 36.6 per cent from 3-point range.

Sierra Nevada Corporation has selected United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) commercially developed Atlas 5 rocket to launch the first two missions of its Dream Chaser cargo system in support of NASA’s Cargo Resupply Services 2 (CRS2) contract. The two Atlas 5 missions will carry pressurized and unpressurized cargo to the International Space Station (ISS).

Two people were killed and at least 100 injured after a magnitude-6.7 earthquake rocked popular Greek and Turkish tourist destinations on the Aegean Sea early Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey and officials said. The earthquake sent tourists and locals running into the streets on the Greek island of Kos and the Turkish port city of Bodrum shortly after 1.30 a.m. (6.30 p.m. Thursday ET), according to the Associated Press. Both destinations are popular with European vacationers during the summer high-season.