MAY 2011
5/31/11
Iran briefly closed its airspace to German Chancellor Angela Merkel's plane as she flew for a visit to India on Tuesday, delaying her arrival and sparking a diplomatic row.
It shows a lack of respect towards Germany that we will not accept," Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said in a statement.
Germany is India's biggest trading partner in Europe, with bilateral trade at 15.4 billion euros ($21 billion) in 2010. Indian officials forecast that this figure will grow to 20 billion euros by 2012.
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India, meanwhile, has announced plans to dramatically increase its nuclear power capacity and has been in talks with Russian, French, Japanese and US groups to build new plants across the country.
At present, three percent of India's electricity comes from nuclear power but the government wants to increase that to six percent by the end of the decade and 13 percent by 2030.
5/31/11
"Home prices continue on their downward spiral, with no relief in sight."
5/31/11
Congress is under pressure to cut the rapidly rising costs of the federal government’s food stamps program at a time when a record number of Americans are relying on it.
The House Appropriations Committee today will review the fiscal year 2012 appropriations bill for the Department of Agriculture that includes $71 billion for the agency’s “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.” That’s $2 billion less than what President Obama requested but a 9 percent increase from 2011, which, critics say, is too large given the sizeable budget deficit.
A record number of Americans -- about 14 percent -- now rely on the federal government’s food stamps program and its rapid expansion in recent years has become a politically explosive topic.
More than 44.5 million Americans received SNAP benefits in March, an 11 percent increase from one year ago and nearly 61 percent higher than the same time four years ago.
Nearly 21 million households are reliant on food stamps.
The cost of the food stamps program has increased rapidly since it was established by Congress in 1964.
It cost taxpayers more than $68 billion last year, double the amount in 2007.
Nutrition assistance now accounts for more than half -- or about 67 percent -- of the USDA’s budget, compared with 26 percent in 1980.
The appropriation of money by Congress has never solved poverty or the resulting problems of poverty. When President Johnson declared war on poverty a half century ago nearly, we thought we saw the end of it as far as food and nutrition goes. For the Department of Agriculture, we only saw the beginning.”
The Republicans’ 2012 budget plan proposes changing SNAP from an entitlement to a block-grant program that would be tailored for each individual state, much like their proposal for Medicaid. States would no longer receive open-ended subsidies and the aid would be contingent on work or job training. It would also limit funding for the program.
5/31/11
In an effort to cut costs and avoid civilian casualties, manufacturers are developing small 'smart bombs,' drones that resemble model planes and microscopic crystals to tag enemy targets.
Raytheon is developing a 13-pound GPS-guided "smart bomb," intended to be dropped from a drone. The 2-foot-long bomb is steered by a GPS-guided system.
A new generation of weaponry is being readied in clandestine laboratories across the nation that puts a priority on pintsized technology that would be more precise in warfare and less likely to cause civilian casualties. Increasingly, the Pentagon is being forced to discard expensive, hulking, Cold War-era armaments that exact a heavy toll on property and human lives.
are developing a mini-cruise missile designed to fit into a soldier's rucksack, be fired from a mortar and scour the battlefield for enemy targets.
And in suburban Portland, Ore. Voxtel Inc. is concocting an invisible mist to be sprayed on enemy fighters and make them shine brightly in night-vision goggles.
Now, engineers in Southern California and elsewhere are refining drone technology to deliver a powerful wallop with increasingly smaller robotic planes — many of which resemble model aircraft buzzing around local parks.
This work is aimed primarily at one buyer —the Pentagon, which is seeking a total of $671 billion for fiscal 2012. Of that, drones represent $4.8 billion, a small but growing segment of the defense budget — and that doesn't include spending on robotic weapons technology in the classified portion of the budget.
"Soldiers are watching bad guys plant" roadside bombs, and "can't do anything about it," said Cody Tretschok, who leads work on the program at Raytheon. "They have to call in an air strike, which can take 30 to 60 minutes. The time lapse is too great."
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5/31/11
World food prices have already more than doubled since 1990, according to Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) figures, and Oxfam predicts that this trend will accelerate over the next 20 years.
In its report, Growing a Better Future, Oxfam says predictions suggest the world's population will reach 9bn by 2050 but the average growth rate in agricultural yields has almost halved since 1990.
The world's poorest people now spend up to 80% of their incomes on food - with those in the Philippines spending proportionately four times more than those in the UK, for instance - and more people will be pushed into hunger as food prices climb.
In its report, Oxfam says a "broken" food system causes "hunger, along with obesity, obscene waste, and appalling environmental degradation".
It says "power above all determines who eats and who does not", and says the present system was "constructed by and on behalf of a tiny minority - its primary purpose to deliver profit for them".
"You cannot rely on a whole lot of smallholders to feed the world - it's not going to work," she said.
"It is really important in my view that we have more investment going into farmland. There are huge tracts of farmland... that aren't being farmed."
5/31/11
Apple
Jobs, 55, a high-tech visionary who has come to embody Apple's turbulent history and some of the industry's most cutting-edge products, is credited with rescuing Apple from near death in 1996 after a 12-year absence from the company he co-founded.
Under his leadership, the launch of the iPhone, a smartphone with a touchscreen in 2007, and the iPad, a tablet computer in 2010, forged new business lines for the company that created the personal computing category.
In January, he took his third medical leave in seven years, but executives say he has remained involved in strategic decision-making.
iCloud
Last year, Mr. Jobs said Lion, - the eighth version of its Mac OSX operating system, - would bring "many of the best ideas, from the iPad, back to the Mac, plus some fresh new ones".
iCloud -- expected to also include, a revamped version of its little-known MobileMe storage service.
Also on show will be the fifth version of iOS, the software which powers the: iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch.
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5/31/11
http://www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=14782&alias=mobiles-are-possibly-carcinogenic
Blackberry Bold, and iPhone 4 owners, should keep them away from body.
The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same "carcinogenic hazard" category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.
The biggest problem we have is that we know most environmental factors take several decades of exposure before we really see the consequences
The type of radiation coming out of a cell phone is called non-ionizing. It is not like an X-ray, but more like a very low-powered microwave oven.
"What microwave radiation does in most simplistic terms, is similar to what happens to food in microwaves, essentially cooking the brain. So in addition to leading to a development of cancer and tumors, there could be a whole host of other effects like; cognitive memory function, since the memory temporal lobes, are where we hold our cell phones."
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5/31/11
http://www.collive.com/show_news.rtx?id=14782&alias=mobiles-are-possibly-carcinogenic
Blackberry Bold, and iPhone 4 owners, should keep them away from body.
The agency now lists mobile phone use in the same "carcinogenic hazard" category as lead, engine exhaust and chloroform.
The biggest problem we have is that we know most environmental factors take several decades of exposure before we really see the consequences
The type of radiation coming out of a cell phone is called non-ionizing. It is not like an X-ray, but more like a very low-powered microwave oven.
"What microwave radiation does in most simplistic terms, is similar to what happens to food in microwaves, essentially cooking the brain. So in addition to leading to a development of cancer and tumors, there could be a whole host of other effects like; cognitive memory function, since the memory temporal lobes, are where we hold our cell phones."
"possibly carcinogenic".
A review of evidence suggests an increased risk of a malignant type of brain cancer glioma, cannot be ruled out.
Ed Yong, head of health information at Cancer Research UK, said: "The WHO's verdict means that there is some evidence linking mobile phones to cancer but it is too weak to draw strong conclusions from.
The WHO estimated, that there are five billion, mobile phone subscriptions, globally.
What else is labeled; possibly carcinogenic:
Coffee
Car exhausts
Lead
Dry cleaning
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5/30/11
There are lots of causes, from recalls of contaminated vials, to trouble importing raw ingredients, to spikes in demand, to factories that temporarily shut down for quality upgrades.
The Food and Drug Administration says that: the overarching problem is, that fewer and fewer manufacturers, produce these older, cheaper generic drugs; especially the harder-to-make injectable ones.
5/30/11
Goldman Sachs, was proclaiming, that oil was soon set soar to $135 a barrel, and likely have US service stations jacking up fuel prices to $5 a gallon, just like the summer of 2008, that preceded the recession; the New York Post, reported Sunday.
Economists said, households spent an average of $369 on gas during April., or about $168 more, than the $201 they spent during April 2009, when gas was averaging around $2.76 a gallon.
Every 50 cent jump in the cost of gasoline, takes $70 billion out of the US economy, over the course of a year, economists said.
5/30/11
Carbon Emissions rose again, after a dip caused by the financial crisis in 2009, and ended 5% up from the previous record in 2008.
China and India, account for most of the rise, though emissions have also grown in developed countries.
At a meeting last year in Cancun, Mexico, world leaders agreed that deep cuts were needed to limit the rise in global temperature to 2C above pre-industrial levels.
But according to the IEA's estimate, CO2 emissions reached a record 30.6 gigatonnes in 2010.
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5/30/11
There are fears, that more radioactive material from the Fukushima plant could drain into the land and sea.
The emergency measures have left four reactor buildings with radioactive contaminated water pooling inside.
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The tsunami hit only north-east Japan.
5/30/11
A familiar set of fears took hold, driven by memories of atomic accidents at Windscale, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl.
Even for those not old enough to recall nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 or the nuclear stalemate between east and west that persisted until the collapse of the Soviet Union, fear of radiation carries unique emotional force.
To skeptics, the Fukushima incident is an illustration that no amount of planning can foresee every mishap that might befall an atomic plant, meaning such potentially devastating technology can never be guaranteed safe.
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The Swiss government, has reacted to the Japanese disaste,r by suspending plans to build and replace nuclear plants.
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"New reactors are much more sophisticated," Mr Hore-Lacy says. "They are one or two orders of magnitude safer than older models."
He insists the very latest nuclear reactor models have passive cooling systems, so if they were to experience any disaster such as those currently being experienced in Japan, it would not present any danger whatsoever to the public.
But the public perception of the nuclear industry has to be balanced with the compelling need to reduce dependence on oil, gas and coal, along with the climate-warming carbon dioxide emissions they produce, proponents insist.
Mr Hore-Lacy is adamant that the only way enough energy can be sustainably produced to cater for the increasing global demand is with nuclear power.
"One kilogram of natural uranium, will yield about 20,000 times as much energy, as the same amount of coal."
Nuclear energy is considered by proponents to be a clean alternative to the expensive exploration of oil and gas - both of which are faced with dwindling reserves.
Existing nuclear power stations, which provide 20% of UK electricity, are scheduled to close, over the next 20 years or so.
In the short term at least, the debate will be driven by popular anxieties, rather than facts.
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In the UK, Switzerland and Germany, nuclear proponents can point, to the absence of major earthquakes and tsunamis.
"The idea that even the most modern of reactors is 100% safe is not something that can really be sustained."
Every reputation issue, has both rational and emotional aspects," he says.
"In a crisis, the emotional takes hold; and no matter how logical and compelling the rational arguments are, the emotional wins out."
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They advocate the use of alternative systems, to meet the global demand for energy - the most popular being solar energy, biomass energy, hydropower and wind turbines.
All systems have their drawbacks, however: whether it is the cost of installation, the transformation of farming land, or the site of large structures, on the landscape.
Natural gas; is cost competitive, with CO2 emissions being 70% lower, than those of coal.
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But everything comes at a cost.
Governments, companies and individuals, have to decide upon a balance between environmental concerns, and the price they are willing to pay, or can afford, for their energy.
And the crisis in Japan, has upset that balance for many.
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Some 31 countries, currently operate nuclear power stations.
There are 443 operational nuclear reactors worldwide.
There are also another 62 under construction, 158 on order, and a further 324 proposed.
China is currently building 27 plants, while 50 are in the planning phase, and another 110 proposed.
In the US, 31 states have operating reactors; and in seven of those, nuclear accounts for the largest percentage of the electricity, generated.
France uses nuclear plants, as its primary source of electricity, providing 75% of its needs.
5/30/11
Nuclear power had a rapid rise, in the decades after World War II; but the growth in reactor numbers, has leveled off.
5/30/11
Just after Japan's Fukushima nuclear disaster in March, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced a review of energy policy and ordered Germany's oldest reactors to be shut down immediately, and perhaps permanently.
Only a few months earlier, she had decided to keep the reactors running past their original shutdown dates.
But only now comes the hard bit. Power companies have warned of higher prices because of the shutdown; Germany has imported electricity to meet peaks in demand; analysts have warned that coal-fired power stations will be boosted -
His difficulty is, that many of the threatened nuclear power stations are in the south, situated conveniently for the big energy users like the cities of Munich and Stuttgart and manufacturers like Volkswagen.
If these southern nuclear generators are decommissioned, the idea is that wind farms in the north might take up the slack.
Germany's Economy Minister Rainer Bruederle said planning rules should be changed so that applications could be handled centrally.
That would take decision-making further from the local opponents of particular projects, and nearer to a national body, which would take into account national needs.
The Japanese disaster, will boost coal usage all over the world. But CO2 emissions, will increase tremendously.
It was reviewing the effect of events only likely to occur every 10,000 years, rather than under the previous assumption of every 1,000 years.
"From the technical view, we always look at how high is the risk, not the emotional part."
The difficulty is that emotions now run deep - emotion against nuclear power, but also emotion against coal. And emotion against disfiguring the green hills of central Germany with pylons carrying electricity from wind farms.
5/29/11
Ahmadinejad maintain that his team believes a covert emergence will commence on the 14th of Khordaad (June 5) in Medina, setting the stage for the announcement of the actual emergence in the next few years.
Ahmadinejad believes that the covert emergence has, in fact, occurred. Therefore, he acts like he no longer needs the supreme leader and that he can disobey him, as he is taking his orders directly from the Mahdi himself.
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Walt Disney asked 3,241 people, if they would like to invest in building an amusement park.
They all said no;
some of them even made fun of him saying, "You are dreaming -- it will never work, go and get a job."
However, when he approached prospect number 3,242, the rest is history!
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The Baal Shem Tov explained the "mirror theory". He taught that when we look at others we are looking at a mirror. When we observe and analyze the behavior of other people we actually discover ourselves in them. The profile we create for others is shaped by our own personality.
None of us are perfect. We all have our deficiencies and areas of personality that are underdeveloped and need work. But we are often unaware of these deficits. Self love often causes us to be in denial, preventing us from resolving and correcting these weaknesses.
When we observe character defects in other people and criticize them, it is really the undeveloped parts of our personality that are showing up. We are only so irritated by these blemishes because the very same issues are unresolved within ourselves. My spouse might not have the same area of weakness, and therefore does not notice it in others.
When we see faults in others it can be used as an opportunity for self reflection. If we think someone is arrogant we can examine our own egos. If we describe someone as being unkind we can examine on our level of kindness, compassion and empathy. If our friend's judgmental nature bothers us we should think about how we view other people.
We should always endeavor to look at people in a positive light. But when it becomes difficult, it is an opportunity to look inwards.
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Socialism and the Law of Gravity
An economics professor at a local college, made a statement: that he had
never failed a single student before, but had once failed an entire
class.
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That class had insisted, that Obama's socialism worked, and that no one
would be poor, and no one would be rich, a great equalizer.
The professor then said, "OK, we will have an experiment in this class,
on Obama's plan".
All grades would be averaged, and everyone would receive the same grade;
so no one would fail, and no one would receive an A.
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1. After the first test, the grades were averaged, and everyone got a B.
The students who studied hard were upset, and the students who studied
little were happy.
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2. The second test, the students who studied little, had studied even
less; and the ones who studied hard, decided they wanted a free ride
too, so they studied little.
The second test average was a D!
No one was happy.
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3. The 3rd test, the average was an F.
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The scores never increased, as bickering, blame and name-calling, all
resulted in hard feelings; and no one would study, for the benefit of
anyone else.
All failed, to their great surprise; and the professor told them, that
socialism would also ultimately fail, because: when the reward is great,
the effort to succeed is great; but when government takes all the reward
away, no one will try, or want to succeed; as a result, the economy will
self-destruct.
Furthermore, in the best tradition of socialism the professor was
ostracized and had to resign, the final grades of B- were awarded to
all the students by the college, AND the above report has no
mentioning of the professor's and the college's names.
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$20.00
A well-known speaker started off his seminar by, holding up a $20 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?"
Hands started going up.
He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this. He proceeded to crumple up the $20 bill.
He then asked, "Who still wants it?" Still the hands were up in the air.
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Well, he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty.
"Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.
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My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it, because it did not decrease in value, It was still worth $20.
Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt, by the decisions we make, and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened, or what will happen, you will never lose your value.
Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless, to those who DO LOVE you.
The worth of our lives, comes not in what we do, or whom we know; but by WHO WE ARE, and WHOSE WE ARE.
You are special- Don't EVER forget it"
Count your blessings, not your problems.
"And remember:
amateurs built the ark ..
professionals built the Titanic.
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I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG,
OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
AND TO THE REPUBLIC FOR WHICH IT STANDS;
ONE NATION UNDER G-d,
INDIVISIBLE, WITH LIBERTY AND JUSTICE FOR ALL!
It is said that 86% of Americans, believe in G-d.
Therefore, I have a very hard time understanding, why there is such a problem in having 'In G-d! We Trust' on our money, and having 'G-d' in the Pledge of Allegiance.
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5/26/11
Winston Churchill
“Dynamite in the hands of a child, is not more dangerous; than a strong policy, weakly carried out."
5/26/11
Whether it is called radical Islam, Islamism, Salafism, or Islamo-fascism, the adversary we face, even as we often refuse to identify it for what it is, is clearly on the march.
The reason we fail to see that, is because its objective is not terrorism, but the imposition of an uncompromising totalitarian interpretation of Islam worldwide by means of proselytism, subjugation, and violent jihad as need be.
Purely terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, which rely on terrorism as a first and only resort, however murderous, are a rather marginal factor in this essentially ideological struggle, and the fact that we have bestowed on them the status of principal enemy has prevented us from really understanding the nature of this war.
So let's be clear, on the real nature of the threat.
5/26/11
Inflation. In February, we had the highest monthly increase in the price of food since 1974. In March the price of corn set a record high. The price of gasoline has doubled since Barack Hussein Obama became president, and is expected to reach its record high by Memorial Day.
The government says the risk of inflation is low, but it doesn't count the cost of food and fuel -- the stuff we have to buy -- in its measure of "core" inflation. Under the old method of calculating inflation, the annualized rate for February was 9.6 percent.
With wages flat, those who have jobs will lose ground. And for those poor souls without jobs...
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5/26/11
Moslem history is replete with movements and individuals, who have tried to impose their version of Islamic orthodoxy on fellow Moslems.
Yet the actual practice of Islamic societies, as shall be shown in the next chapter, has been considerably different, in that sharia law, despite being paid lip service to on a regular basis, was seldom applied to governance except as family law.
Contemporary Radical Islam, on the other hand, though seeking religious legitimization in sharia and age-old Islamic dogma, is a modern phenomenon; that has more in common with totalitarian revolutionary movements, than with any kind of transitory "Islamic revival," as many have argued.
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Obama says, people who want to keep most of what they earn, are "greedy."
5/26/11
In the 40 years prior to the 2007-09 Great Recession, tax revenues as percentage of gross domestic product were remarkably constant.
Yet, in the past four years, the debt-to-GDP ratio has almost doubled.
5/26/11
Perhaps the greatest failure of the American (and Western) approach to radical Islam is our unwillingness to identify and expose it as an essentially totalitarian political ideology under the guise of religion, rather than a religion as such.
This despite the fact, that the Islamists themselves claim, that what they believe in and promote, is not just a religion, but the perfect fusion, between a faith and a political system (din wa dawla).
This is an absolutely fundamental part of the Islamist ideology, and the main justification for what they see as a religious obligation, to impose by violence if need be a political system in the form of a Caliphate, i.e., worldwide Moslem rule.
Therefore, an understanding of what sharia is, and what it is not, is essential not only for a better grasp of the Islamist mindset, but more importantly it is of vital importance for a critical assessment of Islamism's bogus claims and poor grounding in traditional Islamic teaching.
5/26/11
There are seven levels of Moslem Hell:
1.Jaheem - the shallowest level of Hell. It is reserved for those who believed in Allah and his Messenger, but who ignored his commands.
2. Jahanam - a deeper level where the idol-worshippers dwell.
3.Sa'ir - is reserved for the worshippers of fire (Zoroastrians).
4.Saqar - reserved for those infidels in general who did not believe in Allah.
5.Ladha - the home of the Jews.
5/26/11
The rise of Radical Islam in Europe, and especially Western Europe, is closely tied to the explosive growth of the Moslem immigrant populations in the continent.
It was the massive numbers of new immigrants, more often than not concentrated in compact Moslem ghettoes, that created the ideal conditions for spreading Islamist ideology.
5/26/11
Obama
We witness the Obama Administration, being more resolute, in precipitously demanding the removal of an ally in Egypt, than of an enemy in Syria, - let alone in Iran.
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The war in Libya has gone poorly since Mr. Obama turned its conduct over to NATO, an alliance headed by the United States. One of the president's aides told Ryan Lizza of the New Yorker Mr. Obama was "leading from behind."
A ceasefire which leaves Mr. Ghadafy in power would be a humiliation for NATO, for the UN (at whose behest NATO claims to be acting), and for the United States.
A larger question is why is NATO, an alliance whose purpose is to protect Western Europe from invasion, intervening in a civil war in North Africa? Mr. Ghadafy is an evil mean nasty rotten guy, but he isn't a threat to Europe.
There was a good reason why the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was formed in 1949. The Soviet Union and her satellites were threatening to invade Western Europe.
5/26/11
I reject President Obama's idea, that Israel must cede back its territories to the 1967 line.
Will we now be in the habit of telling our allies, what their borders should be? Should Prime Minister Netanyahu suggest, we return to our 1845 borders, before the annexation of the southwest of the United States during the Mexican-American War? Should we give back parts of Texas, New Mexico, and California?
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5/26/11
Facebook Depression
The American Academy of Pediatrics, warns of a new problem called "Facebook Depression." It results, from being bombarded with friend tallies, status updates, and photos of people happy, having the time of their lives, when you are not.
"If I’m sad at home, and I see pictures of people having a party, I’m “oh that's awesome, but I’m not there; that's kind of depressing.”
“It's very easy to compare yourself to others, when you just see what they show in
their Facebook page; which may or may not, match reality,”
Much of what is posted on the these sites, isn't reality.
If a child already has a fragile self-esteem, they can further damage it. That's because, for some, the sites can be perceived as, a popularity contest.
Parents need to talk to their children, ask questions, and look for signs they're not happy.
“Stomach aches, lot of headaches; I’m sick I don't want to go to school, low energy, fatigue, trouble sleeping.”
For most teens, social networking is a positive experience; but for others, it can become a tangled, troubled web.
5/26/11
The three-star general’s comments echoed earlier comments by Navy Vice Adm. David J. Dorsett, a senior intelligence official, who said of the J-20 in January that “we have been pretty consistent, in underestimating the delivery of Chinese technology and weapons systems.”
Gen. Carlisle said: “You need only look across the Pacific, and see what [China] is doing, not just their air force capability, but their surface-to-air [missile] capability, their ballistic missile capability, their anti-ship ballistic missiles,” and new missiles that can reach U.S. bases in Guam and Japan.
The Pentagon refers to China’s advanced weapons, including ballistic missiles that hit ships at sea, new submarines, anti-satellite weapons and cyberwarfare capabilities, as “anti-access and area denial” arms.
5/26/11
LOS ANGELES — Sales of homes in some stage of foreclosure declined in the first three months of the year, but they still accounted for 28 percent of all home sales, — a share nearly six times higher than what it would be in a healthy housing market.
"It's an astronomically high number," said Rick Sharga, a senior vice president at RealtyTrac. "In a normal market, you're looking at the percentage of homes sold in foreclosure to be below 5 percent."
As a slice of all home purchases, foreclosure sales peaked two years ago at 37.4 percent.
158,434 homes in some stage of foreclosure.
Bank-owned homes, accounted for nearly 19 percent of all sales. Up from 17 percent in the fourth quarter; and up from 18 percent a year ago, the firm said.
That's not good news, for the housing market.
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5/26/11
It is prophesized in Zecharia 14 3-9, that: there will be earthquakes, before the final redemption; in order to bring about, the fear of G-d.
5/25/11
JAPAN NUKE NIGHTMARE: Three meltdowns, and now cracks in containment vessel.
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5/25/11
Obama
House lawmakers from both parties are siding with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over President Obama in their differing approaches to the Israel-Palestine border dispute.
Obama last week called for Israel's 1967 borders to mark the "foundation" for renewing stalled peace talks between the two sides – a concession to Palestine that Netanyahu has bluntly rejected, including in remarks to a joint meeting of Congress Tuesday.
The vast majority of the 650,000 Israelis who live beyond the 1967 lines reside in neighborhoods and suburbs of Jerusalem and greater Tel Aviv," Netanyahu told lawmakers in his 45-minute address.
Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) said Tuesday that Obama is "tilting toward Hamas" – a reference to the Palestinian group the United States and Israel consider a terrorist organization. He emphasized that Congress would never base its approach to Israeli aid on such a position.
"A majority of the Congress disagrees with him,” Andrews said of Obama.
Rep. Austin Scott (R-Ga.), for one, said the president "absolutely … made a mistake" with his 1967-borders proposal, and suggested it would harm — rather than bolster — the chances of renewed peace talks.
"With all of the political turmoil and unrest in the Middle East, I don’t understand why the president injected himself into that issue right now," he said.
Both Rep. Steny Hoyer (Md.), the House Democratic whip, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) have also rejected Obama's proposal in recent days, telling the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) that preconditions have no place in the negotiations.
"No one should set premature parameters about borders, about building or about anything else," Reid said Monday night to roaring applause.
Obama’s call has provoked an outcry from Israeli leaders, Republican presidential hopefuls and a slew of Capitol Hill lawmakers, including some Democrats.
5/25/11
Oprah
Season highlights, included interviews with: President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama, former President George W. Bush, and Michael Jackson's family.
Winfrey also revealed, she found a sister, who her mother gave up for adoption.
Already a television journalist, Winfrey came to Chicago in 1984 to WLS-TV's morning talk show, "A.M. Chicago." A month later the show was No. 1 in the market. A year later, it was renamed "The Oprah Winfrey Show."
Winfrey opened Harpo Studios, on Chicago's West Loop neighborhood in 1990. On Jan. 1 of this year, she launched the Oprah Winfrey Network, which is based in Los Angeles.
5/25/11
"First, I believe, that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon, and returning him safely to the Earth.
No single space project in this period, will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."—
President John F. Kennedy, Joint Session of Congress, May 25, 1961.
Let it be clear, that I am asking the Congress and the countr,y to accept a firm commitment, to a new course of action, a course which will last for many years and carry very heavy costs."
— President Kennedy
"We intend to be first. In short, our leadership in science and in industry, our hopes for peace and security, our obligations to ourselves as well as others; all require us to make this effort, to solve these mysteries, to solve them for the good of all men, and to become the world's leading space-faring nation."
— President Kennedy
"We have a long way to go in this space race. But this is the new ocean, and I believe, that the United States must sail on it, and be in a position second to none."
— President Kennedy
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President Obama's proposed 2011 budget, did not include funds for Constellation, therefore essentially canceling the program. It sent shock waves throughout NASA, the Congress and the American people. Nearly $10 billion had been invested in design and development of the program.
But today, America's leadership in space is slipping. NASA's human spaceflight program is in substantial disarray with no clear-cut mission in the offing. We will have no rockets to carry humans to low-Earth orbit and beyond for an indeterminate number of years.
Congress has mandated the development of rocket launchers and spacecraft, to explore the near-solar system beyond Earth orbit. But NASA has not yet announced a convincing strategy for their use. After a half-century of remarkable progress, a coherent plan for maintaining America's leadership in space exploration, is no longer apparent.
Kennedy launched America on that new ocean. For 50 years we explored the waters to become the leader in space exploration. Today, under the announced objectives, the voyage is over.
John F. Kennedy, would have been sorely disappointed.
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5/25/11
Egypt will open its only crossing with the Gaza Strip this weekend, the Cairo military government announced Wednesday, significantly easing a four-year blockade on the Hamas-ruled territory, but setting up a potential conflict with Israel.
Gazans have circumvented the blockade by operating hundreds of smuggling tunnels under the 9-mile (15-kilometer) Gaza-Egypt border. The tunnels have been used to bring in all manner of products, as well as people. Israel charges Hamas has used the tunnels to import weapons, including rockets that can reach main population centers in Israel's center.
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5/25/11
Oklahoma City, has been struck by more tornadoes, than any other U.S.
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5/25/11
Oklahoma City is in shambles following a series of tornadoes that plowed through the capital city and its environs around rush hour Tuesday evening.
A devastating 198 mph tornado, tore a path a mile wide, and six miles long, straight through Joplin, Missouri. The deadliest single tornado, in more than 60 years.
5/25/11
Tornadoes sweeping the US Mid-West have struck near Oklahoma City, hitting vehicles on a section of motorway west of the Oklahoma state capital.
At least four major tornadoes hit rural areas of Oklahoma to the west and south of Oklahoma City.
March 1925: Deadliest twister in US history as so-called Tri-State Tornado kills 695 in Missouri, southern Illinois and south-west Indiana
March 1932: Deep South tornado outbreak kills 332 people from Texas to South Carolina, with 270 dying in Alabama alone
May 1840: The Great Natchez Tornado kills 317 people in Mississippi town, most living on flatboats on the river
April 1974: 310 killed in 24-hour "super outbreak" of 148 tornadoes across 13 states.
May 1896: Two weeks of storms kill 305 people in Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky
Recorded winds of 151mph.
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5/23/2011
A previously unheard interview from 1966 with Bob Dylan, has revealed, that the
singer was once addicted to heroin.
At one point, the singer, who turns 70 this week, admits he had been addicted to heroin, in the early 1960s.
Elsewhere on the tapes, Dylan reveals he contemplated suicide, after people started calling him a genius.
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He is surprisingly dismissive about his work, especially his writing.
"I take it less seriously than anybody," he says. "I know, that it's not going to help me into heaven one little bit, man.
It's not going to get me out of the fiery furnace. "It's certainly not going to extend my life any, and it's not going to make me happy." "You can't be happy, by doing something groovy."
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By March 1966 Dylan was a global superstar. He was hailed as a protester, poet and prophet - the most important voice of his generation.
But behind the scenes, he was struggling to cope with the scrutiny, - and the weight of people's expectations.
He trusted Robert Shelton though, who was the man credited with, "discovering" him.
5/23/2011
The tornado tore through Joplin in the bottom part of the state of Missouri (on the western border), killing at least 89 people and injuring hundreds. Officials expect the death toll to rise.
The storm struck Joplin, home to about 50,000 people, cutting a gash nearly six miles long, and more than half a mile (800m) wide, through the city center.
Joplin official Mark Rohr said, the storm cut a path six miles (10km) long, flattening buildings and damaging a hospital that had to be evacuated.
Strong winds and hail are hitting the city, much of which is without power.
The tornado knocked down power lines and telephone services remain largely cut off.
Mississippi governor Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency and warned that more storms are on the way.
Cities in three other Midwestern states have also been badly affected. At least one person was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Last month, tornadoes and storms killed at least 350 people in Alabama and six other southern states.
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5/22/2011
The national debt has climbed to $14.3 trillion
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5/22/2011
Researchers have set a new record, for the rate of data transfer using a single laser: 26 terabits per second.
At those speeds, the entire Library of Congress collections, could be sent down an optical fibre, in 10 seconds.
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Professor Freude and his colleagues have instead worked out how to create comparable data rates, using just one laser with exceedingly short pulses.
Within these pulses are a number of discrete colours of light in what is known as a "frequency comb".
When these pulses are sent into an optical fibre, the different colours can add or subtract, mixing together and creating about 350 different colours in total, each of which can be encoded with its own data stream.
Last year, Professor Freude and his collaborators first demonstrated how to use all of these colours to transmit over 10 terabits per second.
Professor Freude said that the current design outperforms earlier approaches simply by moving all the time delays further apart, and that it is a technology that could be integrated onto a silicon chip - making it a better candidate for scaling up to commercial use.
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5/22/2011
Iceland
Grimsvotn lies under the the largest glacier in Europe, Vatnajokull in south-east Iceland.
When it last erupted in 2004, transatlantic flights had to be re-routed south of Iceland, but no airports were closed.
Last year's outpouring of ash from Eyjafjallajokull, led to the largest closure of European airspace since World War II.
About 10 million travellers were affected.
5/22/11
End of the world/ wrong
Doomsday prophet and Family Radio President Harold Camping has gone missing ever since it became clear that his May 21, 2011 End of the World prediction is not going to come true. However, a bigger question now looms about the unaccounted finances of the non-profit Christian radio network.
Pastor Jacob Denys, Calvary Bible Church of Milpitas.
Oakland Calif. headquarters of Family Radio International, whose founder, Harold Camping, has been broadcasting the apocalyptic prediction for years.
The May 21 doomsday message was sent far and wide via broadcasts and websites by Camping, an 89-year-old retired civil engineer who has built a multi-million-dollar Christian media empire that publicizes his apocalyptic prediction.
As Saturday drew nearer, followers reported that donations grew, allowing Family Radio to spend millions on more than 5,000 billboards and 20 RVs plastered with the doomsday message. In 2009, the nonprofit reported in IRS filings that it received $18.3 million in donations, and had assets of more than $104 million, including $34 million in stocks or other publicly traded securities.
Marie Exley, who helped put up apocalypse-themed billboards in Israel, Jordan and Lebanon, said the money allowed the nonprofit to reach as many souls as possible.
5/20/11
Dark energy, is driving our universe apart at accelerating speeds.
Based on a five-year survey, of 200,000 galaxies, stretching back seven billion years, in cosmic time.
The action of dark energy, is as if you threw a ball up in the air, and it kept speeding upward into the sky, faster and faster."
5/20/11
This Saturday, May 21, 2011, the date Oakland Bible maven and Family Radio President Harold Camping (a civil engineer) has picked, as the end of the world.
But, it turns out, that Camping has predicted the end of the world before, -- and was wrong.
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5/20/11
Chinese investors are snapping up gold bars and coins, and overtaking Indian buyers, as the world's biggest purchasers of the metal.
China's investment demand for gold more than doubled to 90.9 metric tons in the first three months of the year, outpacing India's modest rise to 85.6 tons, the World Gold Council said in its quarterly report on Thursday.
China now accounts for 25% of gold investment demand, compared with India's 23%.
The report underscores, the rising appetite for gold, among the growing middle-class in China. Fears of the country's soaring inflation, as well as a search for new investments; is luring investors to gold.
Historically, India has been the largest investment market for gold. In 2007, just before investing in gold began to take off globally, India's physical gold demand accounted for 61% of the world's total; China's was 9%.
In terms of total consumer demand, which also included jewelry, India is still a bigger consumer of gold than China; taking in 291.8 tons in the first quarter, compared with China's 233.8 tons.
Chinese investors are also focused on using gold as a protection against rising consumer prices. Unlike paper currencies, gold retains its value when prices increase.
Chinese stock markets, have been a disappointment recently.
Many banks and jewelry stores in China have added outlets to sell gold bars and coins in recent months.
Gold prices fell about 8% in late January to about $1,300 an ounce. Since then, prices have risen to $1,492.20 an ounce on Thursday and the metal is up 5% for the year so far.
Global gold investment demand increased by 52% to 366.4 tons in the first quarter,
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5/19/11
Japan's 11 March mega-quake, shifted the ocean floor sideways by more than 20 metres.
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5/19/11
Bob Dylan
Born Shabtai Zisel Zimmerman, Dylan has been known for his conflicted feelings about his Jewish faith, often embracing other religions.
But during his days close to Yiddishkeit Dylan visited Chabad Houses, including for the bar mitzvahs of his sons, and attended Hadar Hatorah Yeshiva in Crown Heights.
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In September 1989 and September 1991, Dylan appeared on the Chabad telethon.
"Give plenty of money to Chabad," Dylan said in 1991.
"It's my favorite organization in the world. Really, they do nothing but good things with the money. The more you give, the more it will help everybody."
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5/19/11
Mr. Cluley said: the vast majority of malware, that Sophos and other security firms see, is aimed at Windows users.
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5/19/11
China has admitted, that the Three Gorges Dam, has created a range of major problems, that need solving quickly.
Top leaders say, the project has led to environmental problems, and issues involving relocating 1.3m people.
The Three Gorges is the world's largest dam, and could have cost up to $40bn. This appears to be the first time, that central government leaders have admitted to problems with the project.
It had helped alleviate: flooding, improve navigation, and generate electricity.
There are urgent problems that need to be addressed, such as stabilising and improving living conditions for relocated people, protecting the environment, and preventing geological disasters."
China's revolutionary leader Mao Zedong dreamed of building the Three Gorges Dam. Construction started in 1994.
The dam was completed in 2006, with the reservoir reaching its full height last year after submerging: 13 cities, 140 towns, and 1,350 villages.
One problem appears to have been caused by fluctuations in the water level of the vast reservoir, which stretches for 660km (360 miles). This causes frequent landslides.
The Three Gorges was a contentious scheme even before it was approved.
A third of the members sitting in China's normally compliant parliament voted against the plan or abstained.
Perhaps in a tacit acknowledgement of the problems, there were no major celebrations when the reservoir reached its full height last year.
In this latest statement, the State Council said it knew about some of the problems even before work started 17 years ago.
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5/19/11
Osama Bin Laden: Al-Qaeda releases posthumous message:
In the 12-minute audio message, he praises the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, and speaks of a "rare historic opportunity," for Muslims to rise up.
The West hopes they will lead to democratic reforms; while al-Qaeda wants to see new governments, based on their interpretation of Islamic law.
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5/19/11
Japan economy back in recession
Japan, the world's third largest economy; contracts sharply, after a tsunami and earthquake.
Gross domestic product (GDP) shrank 0.9% in the first quarter, the Cabinet office said. That meant the annualised rate of contraction is 3.7%.
Private consumption accounts for almost 60% of the Japanese economy.
The consumer confidence index fell to 33.1 in April, according to the Cabinet Office. A reading below 50, suggests consumer pessimism.
The second biggest component of the world's third largest economy is trade.
Exports made up 13.5%, and imports 12.7% of GDP in 2009.
"One issue on the export side, is the ongoing struggle, to restore damaged production lines and supply chains.
"On the import side, the increase in demand for fossil fuels, to offset the drop in supply of nuclear energy, is unlikely to fade anytime soon.
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5/17/11
Iran building rocket bases in Venezuela.
5/17/11
The Mississippi River is expected to crest Saturday in Natchez at 63 feet, down a half-foot than earlier predictions, but almost five feet above a record set in 1937. The river at Natchez was already 3 feet above the 1937 level as of Monday morning. To the north, the river is projected to crest Thursday at Vicksburg at 57.5 feet, more than a foot above the 1927 record there.
It could take weeks for the water to recede to normal levels.
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5/17/11
http://mysticalpaths.blogspot.com/2011/05/does-homeopathy-and-torah-fit-together.html
Homeopathic preparations qualify as a substance believed to have curative properties (believed at least by homeopathic practitioners) and therefore may be consumed as any other medicine for an illness.
Generally our holy sources do not judge medical treatments, and in the few cases where they do they even permit the consumption of substances that are believed to have curative properties by the patient even if most people (or experts) no longer believe the substance to have curative properties (and the substance is not kosher – if it’s kosher it can always be consumed as a food).
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About 25 years ago a famous Chabad mashpia (a spiritual advisor), Rabbi Manis Friedman, shlita, became enamored with homeopathy and recorded a shiur comparing similarities between homeopathy and kabbalah.
This audio shiur, titled “The Holistic and the Kabbalistic” compared homeopathy’s dilution towards complete nullification with our relationship with the Creator of the Universe and His continued energizing of the universe (and how our souls should be, but are not, nullified by the G-dly presence). This 2 hour shiur (broken into segments) is available online here for free. (it requires Real Player to play.)
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5/17/11
Japan volcano increases activity:
Mount Aso, is the largest active volcano in Japan; and is among the largest in the world.
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5/15/11
US army engineers have opened floodgates in Louisiana that will inundate up to 3,000 sq miles of land in an attempt to protect large cities along the Mississippi River.
It is hoped the move on Saturday will ease pressure on Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
This is the first time in four decades the level of the Mississippi has forced the floodgates to be opened.
About 25,000 people and 11,000 buildings could be adversely affected.
Morganza Spillway
Built in 1954 to relieve flood pressure on Mississippi River
Last opened in 1973
20 miles (32.2km) long
125 gates release up to 600,000 cubic feet/sec (17,000 cubic metres/sec)
Fed by rainwater and the spring thaw, the Mississippi and its tributaries have caused massive flooding upstream, and officials have said the flooding in Louisiana is the worst since 1927.
The US Army Corps of Engineers warned that if the spillway was not opened, New Orleans could be flooded by about 20ft (6m) of water.
It is hoped the move on Saturday will ease pressure on Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
This is the first time in four decades the level of the Mississippi has forced the floodgates to be opened.
About 25,000 people and 11,000 buildings could be adversely affected.
Fed by rainwater and the spring thaw, the Mississippi and its tributaries have caused massive flooding upstream, and officials have said the flooding in Louisiana is the worst since 1927.
The US Army Corps of Engineers warned that if the spillway was not opened, New Orleans could be flooded by about 20ft (6m) of water.
Corps spokesman Col Ed Fleming said: "It's a historic day, not only for the entire Mississippi River but for the state of Louisiana".
"Today's the first day in the history of our nation that we have had three floodways open."
Opening all 125 gates on the spillway would release 600,000 cubic ft of water every second.
The current flooding is approaching records set 84 years ago, when hundreds of people in the region died.
Residents of the town of Butte La Rose, directly in the path of the spillway's water, said they had been told to pack for a long absence.
"They told us to move as though we were moving - period - not coming back, not to so much as leave a toothpick behind," said one woman.
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5/13/11
With crop prices soaring, farmers along the lower Mississippi River had been expecting a big year. Maybe even a huge one.
Now, many are facing ruin, with floodwaters swallowing up corn, cotton, rice and soybean fields.
And even more farmland will be drowned in the coming days if engineers throw open a spillway for the first time in 38 years, as they are expected to do, sometime over the weekend.
Unlocking the spillway would inundate Louisiana Cajun country, with as much as 25 feet of water; but would ease the pressure, on levees downstream, averting a potentially bigger disaster in, New Orleans and Baton Rouge.
Cotton prices are up 86 percent from a year ago, and corn - which is feed for livestock, a major ingredient in cereals and soft drinks, and the raw material used to produce ethanol - is up 80 percent. Soybeans have risen 39 percent.
The increase is attributed, in part, to worldwide demand, crop-damaging weather elsewhere and rising production of ethanol.
More than 1,500 square miles of farmland in Arkansas, which produces about half of the nation's rice, have been swamped over the past few weeks.
In Missouri, more than 200 square miles of croplands were submerged, damage that will probably exceed $100 million. More than 2,100 square miles could flood in Mississippi.
Easing the pressure on levees, that protect Baton Rouge, New Orleans; and the many oil refineries and chemical plants, along the lower reaches of the river.
The river's rise may also force the closing of the river to shipping, from Baton Rouge to the mouth of the Mississippi, as early as next week. That would cause grain barges from the heartland to stack up along with other commodities.
If the portion is closed, the U.S. economy could lose hundreds of millions of dollars a day. The Port of New Orleans estimated the shutdown cost the economy up to $275 million a day.
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May 13, 2011 (Bloomberg) –
Medicare, the U.S. health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, and the Social Security trust for the disabled and retirees are running out of money sooner than the government had projected.
While Medicare won’t have sufficient funds to pay full benefits starting in 2024, five years earlier than last year’s estimate, Social Security’s cash to pay full benefits runs short in 2036, a year sooner than the 2010 projection.
Both forecasts were affected by a slower-than-anticipated economic recovery, the government said.
Social Security would have to cut payments by 23 percent, while Medicare would reduce by 10 percent what it pays hospitals and other inpatient care providers.
The Social Security trust fund that finances aid to about 10 million disabled Americans and their dependents will be the first to dry up, with funding scheduled to run out in 2018, according to the trustees.
Medicare, to stay solvent for the next 75 years, would have to immediately raise payroll taxes by 24 percent, or cut current benefit payments by 17 percent.
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A stash of pornography, was found in the hideout of Osama bin Laden.
It consists of modern, electronically recorded video, and is fairly extensive.
Three other U.S. officials familiar with evidence gathered during investigations of other Islamic militants said: the discovery of pornography, is not uncommon in such cases.
5/13/11
Bush breaks silence:
The 43rd president, and man who initiated the hunt for bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks; has shied from the spotlight, since news broke nearly two weeks ago. Bush has declined interview requests.
Bush said: U.S. foreign policy, needs to continue to promote the ideas of democracy and freedom, as a way to combat global terrorism.
"The long-term solution, is to promote a better ideology, which is freedom. Freedom is universal," Bush said.
"People who do not look like us, want freedom just as much.
The relatives of [former Secretary of State] Condoleezza Rice, over 100 years ago wanted freedom. It is only when you do not have hope in a society, that you join a suicide bomber team."
5/13/11
A new Marist College poll shows, that 36% of New Yorkers under the age of 30, are planning to leave New York within the next five years. - and more than a quarter of all adults, are planning to bolt the Empire State.
The New York City suburbs, with their high property values and taxes, are leading the exodus, the poll found.
Of those preparing to leave, 62% cite economic reasons like cost of living, taxes - and a lack of jobs.
An additional 38% cite climate, quality of life, overcrowding, a desire to be closer to family, retirement or schools.
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The latest census showed, New York's overall population actually increased, though parts of upstate shed population and jobs.
A full 53% think the worst is yet to come for the state's economy, while 44% say things should start better.
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5/12/11
A reactor at Japan's crippled nuclear plant has been more badly damaged than originally thought, operator Tepco has said.
As for a meltdown, it is certain that it has crumbled and the fuel is located at the bottom (of the vessel)."
Water is leaking from the pressure vessel surrounding reactor 1 -
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Strong earthquakes have hit near Lorca and Murcia, Spain on 11 May 2011 - following the pattern, of major occurrences taking place, on the 11th day of each month, so far this year.
5/11/11
Under Stalin, people could be sent to the Gulag for any one of several specific reasons.
Between 1939 and 1953, the Soviet Union deported almost one million people from the European territories it occupied. Some were sent to labor camps, but most were deported, to become settlers in villages in Siberia and central Asia.
There they faced starvation, illness, humiliation and often, death.
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5/10/11
Many Italians will on Wednesday 5-21-2011, flee Rome (and the Vatican), because of fears, of a giant earthquake, following a seismologist's 1915 prediction, that "the big one" will strike on May 11, 2011.
A prediction by Raffaele Bendani, a seismologist, who forecast in 1915, that a "big one" would hit Rome on Wednesday.
He is also said to have predicted other earthquakes, which hit Italy during the last hundred years, before his death in 1979.
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An estimated 20 million people, live at risk from earthquakes in Italy; which is also home to some of the most active volcanoes in Europe.
5/10/11
April, was a historic month for wild weather in the United States, and it wasn't just the killer tornado outbreak that set records, according to scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
April included, an odd mix of downpours, droughts and wildfires. Six states — Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia — set records for the wettest April since 1895. Kentucky, for example, got nearly a foot of rain, which was more than three times its normal for the month, NOAA reported.
Yet the U.S. also had the most acres burned by wildfire for April since 2000. Nearly 95 percent of Texas has a drought categorized as severe or worse, exacerbated by the fifth driest April on record for the Lone Star state.
Add to a record 305 tornadoes from April 25-28, which killed at least 309 people and the most tornadoes ever for all of April: 875. The death toll and total tornado figures are still being finalized.
Much of the southern and eastern United States were near record hot for April, while northwestern states were cooler than normal. Overall, the month was warmer than normal for the nation, but not record-setting.
The odd mix of massive April showers and bone-dry drought
There is evidence, of an increase in instability in the atmosphere, happening now.
5/10/11
The Mississippi River has peaked at just under 48ft (14.6m) in the southern US city of Memphis.
But it could take weeks for the floodwater to recede.
The record river height of 48.7ft was set in February 1937 during one of the worst Mississippi floods in US history.
In central Memphis, the river had swollen to three miles (4.8km) wide from its typical width of half a mile,
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Some areas in Ishinomaki, moved southeast 17 feet (5.3 meters) and sank 4 feet (1.2 meters) lower.
The March 11 earthquake that hit eastern Japan, was so powerful, it pulled the entire country out and down into the sea. The mostly devastated coastal communities now face regular flooding, because of their lower elevation and damage to sea walls from the massive tsunamis triggered by the quake.
5/10/11
Microsoft pay $8.5bn for Skype, making it Microsoft's largest acquisition.
Luxembourg-based Skype, has 663 million global users.
Skype was founded in 2003.
Skype was formed in 2003 by Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis in Luxembourg and originally sold to eBay in 2005 for $3.1billion.
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Internet auction house eBay, bought Skype for $2.6bn in 2006, before selling 70% of it, in 2009, for $2bn.
5/10/11
China's already buoyant market is set for continued dramatic expansion, an Indian sales surge appears imminent, and the rest of Asia is also set to be an engine for growth for the motor industry on the back of strong economic performance across the region.
But the Americans and the Japanese are up against some exceptionally competent competition from European and South Korean car-makers.
And when benchmarked against some of their rivals from these regions, both can appear weak, regardless of how they compare with each other.
5/9/11
U.S. home values fell in the first quarter, at the fastest rate since late 2008, real estate data firm Zillow said on Monday.
Suggesting, that a bottom will not be seen until 2012, at the earliest.
The number of homeowners under water—or, those who owe more on the mortgage than their house is currently worth,—amounted to 28.4 percent of single-family homeowners.
That was up from 27 percent, in the fourth quarter of last year.
Foreclosures also rose, following the moratoriums, that had been in place in late 2010. In March, one out of every 1,000 homes was in foreclosure.
"Home value declines, are currently equal to those we experienced, during the darkest days of the housing recession. With accelerating declines, during the first quarter.
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5/9/11
132 Miles of Devastation: winds surpassing 210 mph.
EF-5 tornado deadliest in United States in last 56 years.
6,345 homes and 3,838 businesses.
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5/9/11
As Israel prepares to mark 63 years since it’s founding, its population has swelled to over 7.7 million people, most of them born in the Jewish state, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Israel counted just 806,000 residents, at the time of its establishment, in 1948.
Israel's population is now:
75.3 percent Jewish.
20.5 percent Arabs
4.2 percent Non-Jewish immigrants, and their children.
The Central Bureau of Statistics, counts among Israel's residents, the roughly 270,000 Palestinians, living in east Jerusalem.
It also counts, the approximately 18,000 Druze residents, of the Golan Heights.
Sabras" making up 70 percent of Israelis. About half of them, are second generation.
Six Israeli cities, now have more than 200,000 residents:
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Rishon LeTzion, Ashdod and Petah Tikvah.
Palestinians mark, the declaration of the state of Israel on May 15, when they commemorate the Nakba, or "catastrophe," of the creation of Israel.
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5/8/11
$4.02 copper is an essential component, in construction.
Copper is the most important metal, when it comes to the economy.
History shows, copper has often been a leading indicator, of the equity market.
“Many bull markets, have a copper top.
5/8/11
Four million people are at risk, as record breaking floods sweep Mississippi Delta
-Thousands already evacuated across region from Illinois to Louisiana
-The flood water is expected to break an 84-year record of 48 feet
-Prisoners fill 120,000 sandbags as worried residents closely watch levels
-Could still be two weeks before some of the most severe flooding hits
-Aftermath could last for weeks as it may be June before areas dry out
More than 4 million people living in 63 counties close to the Mississippi and Atchafalaya rivers from Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico could be affected by flooding in the coming days.
Communities all along the banks of the Mississippi have been carefully watching the river rise, like a giant bathtub filling up with water.
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5/8/11
Twenty-five people close to the leader, including the chief of staff Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, have reportedly been arrested, and charged with being 'magicians' and invoking spirits to try and influence his policy.
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5/7/11
NATO failed in its attempt to kill Libyan ruler Muammar Qaddafi Saturday night, April 30, 2011.
5/7/11
The Hamaoka plant provides power to around 16 million people in central Japan, including Aichi, home to Toyota Motor Corp.’s headquarters and an auto plant.
5/7/11
Tokyo Electric Power Co., operator of the stricken Fukushima plant, has said the waves that wrecked critical power and cooling systems there were at least 46 feet (14 meters) high.
5/7/11
Experts’ forecast a 90 percent probability, of a quake with magnitude of 8.0 or higher, striking central Japan within 30 years.
5/7/11
Rather than making vehement cries of vengeance, al-Qaeda struck a tone of calm, underlining in its statement that the group would live on.
“Sheikh Osama didn’t build an organization, to die when he dies,” it read. “The university of faith, Koran and jihad, from which bin Laden graduated, will not close its doors.”
5/7/11
"If Greece were to leave, which is not easy to do, the European banking system would be in great trouble, damaging the economy and oil demand."
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5/7/11
$35.58- Silver erased much its gains, but is still higher by 1.5 per cent, at $35.22 an ounce. Silver has lost some $15 in recent sessions, after nearing a record price of $50 an ounce.
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5/6/11
A few minutes ago on May 5, 2011, Arab TV announced that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini requested Iran's President Ahmadinejad to step down from his post.
This has not been confirmed nor verified by Western media as yet, however, it has been reported that several of his close aides are already under arrest.
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5/6/11
US employment rose in April for the seventh month in a row, official figures have shown, but the overall unemployment rate has also risen.
According to the US Labor Department, the number of new jobs created in April rose by 244,000, more than expected.
However, the unemployment rate rose too, to 9%, from 8.8%.
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5/5/11
The rising waters are expected to top levels set during February 1937. This mark is the middle Mississippi Valley's equivalent to the 1993 event farther north along Old Man River.
Even if rain were to fall at a normal rate for the remainder of the spring, the consequences of what has already happened in the Midwest will affect the way of life, property, agriculture and travel/shipping/navigation for weeks in the region.
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5/4/11
Panic selling of the US dollar is now underway, as the debt system implodes.
To most Americans, it’s unthinkable that the U.S. dollar could someday be relegated to second-class status as a currency, but what they may not realize is that the transition is already underway.
Reports this week marked the dollar’s continued slide – it reached a 16-month low against the euro and slid to a historic low against the Swiss franc on Tuesday – while at the same time predicting something we’ve been telling you for years now, namely that the dollar is on its way out as the world’s reserve currency.
The U.S. was once known as the world’s richest nation, but these days, we have the dubious distinction, of being the largest debtor in the history of the world. China, meanwhile, has become our largest creditor.
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5/4/11
According to Wikileaks: "the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks warned, that al-Qaeda has hidden a nuclear bomb in Europe, which will unleash a 'nuclear hellstorm,' if Osama bin Laden is captured or killed."
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Peter Wehner
05.03.2011
Here’s Nancy Pelosi from a press conference on September 7, 2006:
[E]ven if [Osama bin Laden] is caught tomorrow, it is five years too late. He has done more damage the longer he has been out there. But, in fact, the damage that he has done . . . is done. And even to capture him now I don’t think makes us any safer.
And here’s Nancy Pelosi yesterday:
The death of Osama bin Laden marks the most significant development in our fight against al-Qaida. . . . I salute President Obama, his national security team, Director Panetta, our men and women in the intelligence community and military, and other nations who supported this effort for their leadership in achieving this major accomplishment. . . . [T]he death of Osama bin Laden is historic. . . .
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5/3/11
As many as 200 sq miles of farmland, 130,0000 acres, were under water on Tuesday; after the US blew a hole in a Mississippi River levee, to relieve a flood threat, further down the Mississippi River.
The Army Corps of Engineers breached the levee in an effort to save the town of Cairo, Illinois, sacrificing farmland across the river in Missouri.
At Cairo, a town of about 3,000 at the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, the measure seemed to work, with the river level declining.
5/3/11
Canada's Conservative party, has emerged victorious in the country's general election, a vote that has also resulted in a huge shake-up for the opposition.
In this new topsy-turvy world, the previously third-placed party, the New Democratic Party (NDP), has become the official opposition and the once mighty Liberal Party has been soundly humiliated by its worst-ever showing.
Having led two minority Conservative governments since 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has now earned a majority mandate, having won 167 of the 308 seats in the Canadian parliament.
Although the opinion polls seemed to show the Tories would regain power, the scale of victory came as a surprise to some political observers.
Canada has emerged from a recession as one of the strongest among the G7 group of countries.
The switch of support, of visible minorities and new immigrants, from the Liberals to the Conservatives, is a significant demographic change.
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Indeed Mr. Levant believes Canadians are unlikely to notice huge policy changes now that Mr. Harper has achieved his long-coveted majority.
"Most of his changes have already happened incrementally. For instance, Canada's now a new military power. We were not that way 10 years ago. We have 560 troops enforcing the no-fly zone in Libya... That's a change in the Canadian identity."
The NDP achieved this by demolishing the separatist Bloc Quebecois in Quebec, a party that has dominated politics in the French-speaking province for the past 20 years. It was reduced to just three seats, too few to even qualify for official party status in the Canadian parliament.
It was a catastrophic night for the Liberal Party and its leader, the academic and author Michael Ignatieff. The party suffered its worst-ever result and Mr Ignatieff was further humiliated by losing his own seat.
The party dominated Canadian politics in the 20th Century, giving the country famous prime ministers such as Pierre Trudeau in the 1960s and Jean Chretien in the '90s.
It has now been reduced, to a little more than a rump.
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5/3/11
Debka The Truth
The photos released of the fortified villa in Abbottabad, Pakistan, where Osama bin Laden died on Sunday night, May 2, show a satellite dish as well as cables and wires, snaking along the outer and inner walls.
Smashed computers, appear in shots of the interior rooms. Far from dispensing with electronic devices and Internet connections as widely reported, the fortress that was the al Qaeda leader's last haven, proves to have been equipped with both.
All this up-to-date electronic technolog,y would have opened the six-year old building, wide to outside intelligence penetration and surveillance.
Bin Laden, suffered from a kidney disease, and was dependent on dialysis treatment, and outside medical care.
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5/3/11
The Rebbe spoke about Israel’s receiving oil from the Saudis and said:
“A situation like this (with one family ruling over millions of people) was possible 100 years ago when the nation that lived there was oppressed and did not have enough sense to understand this and there was no one to tell them the truth and to say that they had the power to change it, and so they thought this situation could go on forever.
“At first, anyone who was somewhat realistic did not believe that after 300 years of being ruled by the czars, there would suddenly come a number of farmers and a few soldiers and push them off their throne. When it actually happened, all the surrounding nations said that since Russia was a wild country with wild ways and many desolate places and all sorts of wild things, it was fitting that this would happen.”
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In another place the Rebbe spoke about the peace accords, comparing Israeli democracy to Russia and arriving at the conclusion that the Russians had what to learn from the Israelis about creating a dictatorship in the guise of a democracy:
“A dictatorship like this in the guise of a democracy cannot be found anywhere else in the world, not even in Soviet Russia!
“Woe to us that we have reached this state so that we need to bring proofs from them; that even the ‘corrupt of the nations’ do not behave this way.
“I myself was in Soviet Russia and I know their ways. When they force people to do something, they explain that ‘conscience’ obligates one to conduct oneself according to communist principles; this is required by Marx’s approach, by the principles of ‘justice and righteousness,’ the approach that it is forbidden to undermine the wages of the worker, and other things like that. They add that if someone expresses his personal conscience in another way, they will put him in jail or send him to Siberia.
But to openly and officially announce in Israel, that someone should vote against his conscience – something like that, has not been done by any leader in the Kremlin!”
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5/3/11
The outbreak of tornadoes that ravaged the southern US last week was the largest in US recorded history, the National Weather Service has said.
The three-day period from 25-28 April, saw 362 tornadoes strike; including some 312 in a single 24-hour period.
The tornadoes and the storm system that spawned them killed at least 350 people in Alabama and six other states. It was the deadliest outbreak since 1936.
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5/2/11
White House counter-terrorism chief John Brennan said it was "inconceivable that Bin Laden did not have a support system" in Pakistan.
He said Pakistan, which has suffered repeated terror attacks on its civilians and security services, had "paid an enormous price for its stand against terrorism".
"More of our soldiers have died than all of Nato's casualties combined. Two thousand police officers, as many as 30,000 innocent civilians and a generation of social progress for our people have been lost. "
Bin Laden, his son Khalid, trusted personal courier, Sheikh Abu Ahmed, and the courier's brother, were all killed, along with an unidentified woman.
Bin Laden's wife, was shot in the calf; and was one of nine women taken into custody by Pakistani authorities, along with 23 children; a US official quoted by Associated Press said.
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Bin Laden enjoyed the loose allegiance of al-Qaeda affiliates scattered around the region, including Iraq (al-Qaeda in Iraq), Saudi Arabia and Yemen (al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula), and North Africa (al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb).
But these groups, operated with a large degree of devolution and independence.
Operationally, Bin Laden's second-in-command, Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahiri, may have had more organizational influence, in a movement that has been compared to a series of franchises, rather than a tightly-controlled, centralized outfit.
The Sunni community, in which al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups had their base, largely turned against the militant jihadis.
But they renounced such tactics after finding themselves increasingly isolated within their own community, as the realisation dawned that their actions were drying up the nation's lifeblood, especially tourism.
Hard-core Qaeda-style militants, have found themselves sidelined and stranded.
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Terror Threat Remains as Bin Laden Likely to Inspire Attacks.
Osama bin Laden's death 'will never stop the jihad', says the Taliban commander Qudos.
Losing him will be very painful for the mujahideen, but the shahadat [martyrdom] of Osama, will never stop the jihad. We will continue our fight until we liberate our lands from the Kafirs."
He said his fighters planned to launch an operation called Bader "to avenge the killing of Osama" and claimed many other similar operations would be launched.
I am not fighting for Bin Laden to stop fighting if he is killed, we are not people who worship figures.
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5/2/11
Bin Laden's Son: Worst Is Yet to Come!
Omar bin Laden turned his back on his father's philosophy.
He says, the worst may lie ahead, that if his father is killed, America may face a broader and more violent enemy, with nothing to keep them in check.
From what I knew of my father and the people around him, I believe he is the most kind among them, because some are much, much worse!
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His father had picked him to succeed him as the leader of jihad.
"Attacking peaceful people is not being fair, it is unacceptable. If you have a problem with armies or governments you should fight those people. This is what I find unacceptable in my father's way," Omar told ABC News.
Omar was confident, that his father would not be caught, and that no Afghan would turn him in.
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5/2/11
citing WikiLeaks:
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed told Guantanamo Bay interrogators:
Bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, warned that al-Qaeda has hidden a nuclear bomb in Europe; which will unleash a "nuclear hellstorm." if Osama bin Laden is killed.
He is the self-professed mastermind, of the September 11, 2001 attacks, on the United States.
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He had set up two cells, for the purpose of attacking Heathrow in 2002.
The aim was to seize control of an airliner shortly after take-off from Heathrow, one of the world's busiest airports, turn it around and crash it into one of the four terminals.
One component ,had involved the infiltration of ground staff at the airport, according to Der Spiegel.
Another attack given the green light in late 2001, would have targeted "the tallest buildings in California," with hijacked airliners.
The attackers would have gained access to the airliner cockpits, by setting off small bombs hidden in their shoes.
He also claims, to have personally beheaded US journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002, with his "blessed right hand;" and to have helped in the 1993 World Trade Centre bombing, that killed six people.
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Former US president George W. Bush, claimed in his memoirs published last year, that using the interrogation technique - which simulates drowning - helped prevent planned attacks on Heathrow and London's Canary Wharf business district.
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5/2/11
Contemporary Radical Islam, though seeking religious legitimization in sharia and age-old Islamic dogma, is a modern phenomenon, that has more in common with totalitarian revolutionary movements, than with any kind of transitory "Islamic revival" as many have argued.
Understanding its Nazi/Communist totalitarian ideological nature, and its modus operandi as a highly organized revolutionary movement; is essential for comprehending the nature of the threat it poses, and designing a strategy to defeat it.
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5/2/11
Bin Ladin
Osama believed, that only the restoration of Sharia law, would "set things right" in the Muslim world; and that alternatives such as —"pan-Arabism, socialism, communism, democracy"—must be opposed.[32]
This belief, in conjunction with violent jihad, has sometimes been called Qutbism after being promoted by Sayyid Qutb.[33]
Osama consistently dwelt on the need, for violent jihad, to right what he believed were injustices against Muslims, perpetrated by the United States and sometimes by other non-Muslim states. the need to eliminate the state of Israel, and the necessity of forcing the US to withdraw from the Middle East.
He also called on Americans, to "reject the immoral acts of fornication (and) homosexuality, intoxicants, gambling, and usury," in an October 2002 letter.
Osama's ideology, included the idea, that civilians, including women and children, are legitimate targets of jihad.
Shia Muslims, have been listed along with "Heretics: America and Israel, and Jews; as the four principal "enemies of Islam."
Osama, opposed music.
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After leaving college in 1979 bin Laden joined Abdullah Azzam to fight the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan[56] and lived for a time in Peshawar.[57] From 1979 through 1989 under U.S. Presidents Carter and Reagan, the United States Central Intelligence Agency provided overt and covert financial aid, arms and training to Osama's Islamic Jihad Mujahideen through Operation Cyclone,[58] and the Reagan Doctrine. President Reagan often praised the Mujahideen as Afghanistan's "Freedom Fighters."
By 1984, with Azzam, bin Laden established Maktab al-Khadamat, which funneled money, arms and Muslim fighters from around the Arabic world into the Afghan war. Through al-Khadamat, bin Laden's inherited family fortune[5
It was during his time in Peshawar that he began wearing camouflage-print jackets and carrying a captured Soviet assault rifle.
By 1988, bin Laden had split from Maktab al-Khidamat.
bin Laden wanted a more military role. One of the main points leading to the split and the creation of al-Qaeda was Azzam's insistence that Arab fighters be integrated among the Afghan fighting groups instead of forming a separate fighting force.[
Notes of a meeting of bin Laden and others on August 20, 1988, indicate al-Qaeda was a formal group by that time: "basically an organized Islamic faction, its goal is to lift the word of God, to make His religion victorious."
Following the Soviet Union's withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 1989, Osama bin Laden returned to Saudi Arabia in 1990 as a hero of jihad, who along with his Arab legion, "had brought down the mighty superpower" of the Soviet Union.[65]
Osama publicly denounced Saudi Arabia's dependence on the U.S. military. Osama believed the presence of foreign troops in the "land of the two mosques" (Mecca and Medina) profaned sacred soil. Bin Laden's criticism of the Saudi monarchy led that government to attempt to silence him.
Shortly after Saudi Arabia invited U.S. troops into Saudi Arabia, bin Laden turned his attention to attacks on the West.
Bin Laden continued to speak publicly against the Saudi government for harboring American troops, for which the Saudis banished him. He went to live in exile in Sudan, in 1992.
By now bin Laden was strongly associated with Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), which made up the core of al-Qaeda. In 1995 the EIJ attempted to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The attempt failed, and the EIJ was expelled from Sudan.
As a result of his dealings in and advocacy of violent extremist jihad, Osama bin Laden lost his Saudi citizenship in 1994 and was disowned by his billionaire family.[70]
"In late 1995 CIA paramilitary officer Billy Waugh tracked down Bin Ladin in the Sudan and prepared an operation to apprehend him, but was denied authorization.
In May 1996, under increasing pressure on Sudan, from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and the United States, bin Laden returned to Jalalabad, Afghanistan aboard a chartered flight, and there forged a close relationship with Mullah Mohammed Omar.[73][74]
Bin Laden effectively had hijacked Ariana Afghan Airlines, which ferried Islamic militants, arms, cash and opium through the United Arab Emirates and Pakistan as well as provided false identifications to members of Bin Laden's terrorist network.[77]
The first bombing attack involving bin Laden was the December 29, 1992 bombing of the Gold Mihor Hotel in Aden in which two people were killed.[79]
It was after this bombing that al-Qaeda was reported to have developed its justification for the killing of innocent people.
According to a fatwa issued by Mamdouh Mahmud Salim, the killing of someone standing near the enemy is justified because any innocent bystander will find their proper reward in death, going to Jannah (Paradise) if they were good Muslims and to Jahannam (hell) if they were bad or non-believers.[80] The fatwa was issued to al-Qaeda members but not the general public.
In the 1990s bin Laden's al-Qaeda assisted jihadis financially and sometimes militarily in Algeria, Egypt and Afghanistan. In 1992 or 1993 bin Laden sent an emissary, Qari el-Said, with $40,000 to Algeria to aid the Islamists and urge war rather than negotiation with the government. Their advice was heeded but the war that followed killed 150,000–200,000 Algerians and ended with Islamist surrender to the government.
In February 1998, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri co-signed a fatwa in the name of the World Islamic Front for Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders which declared the killing of North Americans and their allies an "individual duty for every Muslim" to "liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque (in Jerusalem) and the holy mosque (in Mecca) from their grip".[89][90] At the public announcement of the fatwa bin Laden announced that North Americans are "very easy targets." He told the attending journalists, "You will see the results of this in a very short time."[91]
At the end of 2000, Richard Clarke revealed that Islamic militants headed by bin Laden had planned a triple attack on January 3, 2000 which would have included bombings in Jordan of the Radisson SAS Hotel in Amman and tourists at Mount Nebo and a site on the Jordan River, the sinking of the destroyer USS The Sullivans in Yemen, as well as an attack on a target within the United States. The plan was foiled by the arrest of the Jordanian terrorist cell, the sinking of the explosive-filled skiff intended to target the destroyer, and the arrest of Ahmed Ressam.[94]
A former U.S. State Department official in October 2001, described Bosnia and Herzegovina, as a safe haven for terrorists.
In 1997, Rzeczpospolita, one of the largest Polish daily newspapers, reported that intelligence services of the Nordic-Polish SFOR Brigade suspected that a center for training terrorists from Islamic countries was located in the Bocina Donja village near Maglaj in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 1998 it was reported that bin Laden was operating his Al Qaeda network out of Albania.
In 2004 Osama bin Laden claimed responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
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5/2/11
NYC Prices Up by 14%, since Last Year.
In addition to skyrocketing rent and gas prices, New Yorkers are being nickel and dimed to death, shelling out 21 cents more for a box of Corn Flakes and 29 cents more for a six-pack of beer. It even costs more to treat a headache than it did in 2010.
The average price of a regular gallon of gas in New York City was $4.21 Friday, compared with $3.08 a year ago.
The average price of a one-bedroom apartment in a Manhattan doorman building, last month, was $3,529; up from $3,360 a year ago.
Monthly unlimited MetroCard
2010: $89 2011: $104
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5/2/11
At 2:10 - Obama pledged:
I'll give you Israel, if you give me a victory in Afghanistan. In the third year of my administration, I'll give you the Jews, you give me a victory, show the world that I'm a great military strategist and commander....
At 3:00 - Obama will say "give me Osama bin Laden...... and I will give you the Jews.... and the muslims can go back to the Dome of the Rock and never have to worry about the Jews at the wailing wall... That's the deal.
"And all the Jews who voted for Obama.... I cannot believe the Jews who voted for Obama need to have their heads examined.... I cannot believe the Jews who voted for the one, who is going trying to destroy them.
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5/2/11
Japan's domestic sales of cars, trucks and buses, fell by a record amount in April; hit by the aftermath of the country's earthquake and tsunami.
With production halted and supply chains broken, sales last month were 51% lower than a year earlier, said the Japan Automobile Dealers Association.
There was a 37% fall in vehicle sales in March.
The 51% fall from a year earlier was the biggest decline since records began in 1968.
The all-time record fall was 45%, which was recorded in May 1974 during the global oil price crisis.
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5/2/11
Japan's parliament has passed a $49 bn emergency budget, for reconstruction, following the 11 March earthquake and tsunami.
It will help fund new housing for tens of thousands of people who lost their homes.
It will also support businesses hit by the disaster.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government, is expected to face tougher battles, to secure future reconstruction funds, using a mixture of borrowing and tax hikes.
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March 10, 1957 – May 2, 2011= 54 yrs old.
The US had offered a $25m reward, for information about Osama Bin Laden
The United States sought to capture or kill Osama Bin Laden for more than 15 years before tracking him down to a compound in north-western Pakistan, not far from a large town and the country's military academy.
In 1996 the CIA's Counter-terrorist Centre (CTC) set up "Bin Laden Issue Station", a special unit of a dozen officers, to analyze intelligence on and plan operations against the Saudi millionaire. At the time Bin Laden was believed to be financing militants in the Middle East and Africa.
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Michael Scheuer, who founded the Bin Laden unit and ran it until 1999, told the BBC: "Mr Clinton is more a citizen of the world, and he was worried about what the Muslim world would think, if we missed and killed a civilian."
"He generally talked a good game, that he did his best once he left office. But I happened to be there at the time, and Bin Laden should have been an annoying memory by the middle of 1998 or early 1999."
On 18 September 2001, US President George W Bush famously declared that Bin Laden was wanted "dead or alive."
Under relentless attack from the ground and air, Bin Laden fully expected to die and even wrote a will on 14 December.
But fewer than 100 US commandos were on the scene with their Afghan allies and calls for reinforcements to launch an assault were rejected, according to a 2009 report by the US Senate foreign relations committee.
Requests were also turned down for US troops to block the mountain paths leading to sanctuary a few kilometers away in Pakistan.
Two days after writing his will, Bin Laden and his bodyguards walked out of Tora Bora and disappeared over the border into Pakistan.
The decisions that opened the door for his escape to Pakistan allowed Bin Laden to emerge as a potent symbolic figure who continues to attract a steady flow of money and inspire fanatics worldwide."
His last video tape, was released in September 2007; while his last audio message, came in January 2011.
Former CIA agents said the main obstacle to finding Bin Laden was that anyone who might consider betraying him for the $25m reward offered feared informing local police, in case they were sympathetic to or in the pay of Bin Laden.
Also, the agents themselves were prevented from venturing far from their compounds in Pakistan because of the threat of assassination and resistance by the intelligence arm of the Pakistan military, the Inter Services Intelligence Directorate (ISI), which wanted to lead the operation.
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Even when a senior al-Qaeda figure was identified and located, it often took weeks to get approval from the Pakistani authorities for an air strike.
Some US officials believed the failure to capture or kill Bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, was the result of collusion by their Pakistani counterparts, particularly those within ISI. Some claimed the ISI was harbouring the two men.
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Ayman al-Zawahiri, an eye surgeon who helped found the Egyptian Islamic Jihad militant group, is expected to replace Osama Bin Laden as the leader of al-Qaeda.
He was already the group's chief ideologue, and was believed by some experts to have been the "operational brains" behind the 11 September 2001 attacks in the US.
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5/1/11
Al-Qaeda founder and leader Osama Bin Laden is dead, US officials say.
The US is said to be in possession of Bin Laden's body. President Barack Obama is due to speak shortly.
The al-Qaeda leader was killed in a ground operation in a mansion outside Islamabad in an operation based on US intelligence, reports said.
Al-Qaeda founder and leader Osama Bin Laden is dead, US officials say.
The US is said to be in possession of Bin Laden's body. President Barack Obama is due to speak shortly.
The al-Qaeda leader was killed in a ground operation, in a mansion outside Islamabad, in an operation based on US intelligence, reports said.
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5/1/11
Mr. Ahmadinejad had not been seen at work for more than a week, amid reports of a rift with the supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
Tensions between supporters of the president and of Ayatollah Khamenei came to a head on 17 April, when the intelligence minister, a conservative, was forced to resign.
Mr. Moslehi was promptly re-instated by the supreme leader.
Mr. Ahmadinejad then stayed away from official work. He was not seen in public, missed two cabinet meetings and cancelled a visit to the holy city of Qom.
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5/1/11
Syria
The banned Muslim Brotherhood, has called on Syrians to take to the streets, to protest against the regime ahead of Friday prayers.
Clashes among the troops have occurred, since President Assad sent the army into the city on Monday.
He said: "There are some battalions, that refused to open fire on the people.
The development is being seen as significant, because President Assad's army, has been seen as a bastion of support, for the regime.
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5/1/11
President Barack Obama’s father, was forced to leave Harvard University before completing his Ph.D. in economics, because the school was concerned about his personal life and finances, according to newly public immigration records.
Harvard had asked the Immigration and Naturalization Service to delay a request by Barack Hussein Obama Sr. to extend his stay in the U.S., “until they decided what action they could take in order to get rid of him,” immigration official M.F. McKeon wrote in a June 1964 memo.
Harvard administrators, the memo stated, “were having difficulty with his financial arrangements and couldn’t seem to figure out how many wives he had.”
He left Harvard and divorced from president’s mother, returned to his native Kenya in July 1964. He did not complete his Ph.D.
In 1961, while he was an undergraduate student at the University of Hawaii, the school’s foreign student adviser called an immigration official and said Obama had recently married StanleyAnn Dunham - the president’s mother - despite already having a wife in Kenya.
According to a memo written by an INS official in Honolulu, the adviser said Obama had been “running around with several girls since he first arrived here and last summer she cautioned him about his playboy ways.”
Obama told the adviser that he had divorced his wife in Kenya.
He told the president’s mother the same thing, though she would later learn it was a lie.
He died in a car crash in 1982, when the future president was 21 and a student at Columbia University.
5/1/11
Cell companies already sell 'femtocells', small antennas, that can improve your mobile reception at home.
5/1/11
And then there's Japan where Fukushima Japan Nuclear Radiation Levels Spike Highest Yet — 1,120,000 Microsieverts per Hour - "A nuclear engineering professor from Kyoto adds that depending on the source of the high levels the plan to entomb the reactor to permanently end the radiation leak may not work at all. That statement echoes similar sentiments from nuclear expert Arnie Gunderson."
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AUG 2010
16 August 2010
•
Eurozone inflation hits 20-month high
Inflation in the eurozone hit a 20-month high last month, European Union data has shown.
Annual inflation in the 16-nation bloc rose to 1.7% in July, up from 1.4% in June and the highest rate since November 2008, Eurostat said.
The figure was boosted by more expensive fuel costs for transport, and higher alcohol and tobacco prices.
Across all 27 nations in the European Union, prices were up 2.1% in July, compared with a rise of 1.9% in June.
Some countries - Finland, Greece, Spain, Portugal and Romania - r
