‘Drones are counter-productive’

Over 100,000 Pakistanis rallied in Karachi Friday afternoon to protest US drone strikes on their country. The demonstrators also demanded that the Pakistani government continue the blockade on the NATO supply route to Afghanistan.

The Times of India reports:

DAVOS — Pakistan’s prime minister said today that there was “a trust deficit” between Islamabad and Washington as he criticized the resumption of US drone strikes on his country’s tribal belt.

Speaking the day after over 100,000 people massed in Karachi to protest the strikes, Yousuf Raza Gilani said they only served to bolster militants.

“Drones are counter-productive. We have very ably isolated militants from the local tribes. When there are drone attacks that creates sympathy for them again,” Gilani told reporters at the Davos forum.

Full Story Here: Huge Protest in Pakistan Against US Drone Attacks | Common Dreams.

Occupying the Grounds of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

Japanese anti-nuclear protesters defied a government order Friday to vacate the area in front of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Tokyo’s Kasumigaseki. Protesters have been occupying the Ministry grounds since Sept. 11, 2011.

The Japan Times reports Saturday:

Antinuclear activists camping out at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry refused to take down their tents Friday despite an order to do so by 5 p.m.

Hundreds of people meanwhile came to see the three tents around the deadline, apparently to show their support for the protesters.

About 10 of the activists have regularly stayed in the tents since September.

METI on Wednesday handed the protesters an order to remove their tents by 5 p.m. Friday because they “continued to use fires even though we repeatedly told them not to,” official Hideyuki Maekawa said.

Full Story Here: Occupied: Japanese Nuclear Foes Defy Order to Remove Tents | Common Dreams.

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake struck under the sea south of Japan on Sunday, shaking buildings in the capital but causing no apparent damage or tsunami.

The quake struck near the uninhabited island of Torishima in the Pacific Ocean, about 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of Tokyo, and its epicenter was about 370 kilometers (230 miles) below the sea, the Meterological Agency said. It did not generate a tsunami.

Buildings in the Tokyo area shook, but no damage or injuries were reported. Express trains in northern and central Japan were suspended temporarily for safety checks but later resumed.

No abnormalities were reported at power plants, including the crippled nuclear power plant in northeast Japan hit by the March earthquake and tsunami, public broadcaster NHK reported.

Full Story Here: Japan Earthquake: Magnitude 7.0 Temblor Hits Off Japan’s Pacific Island.

Security sources told the U.K’s Guardian that 80,000 people showed up to protest in Moscow — the largest demonstration since the collapse of the Soviet Union — to demonstrate against what they contend was a fraudulent parliamentary election. Here’s a photograph of the crowds in Moscow on Saturday:

Full Story Here: ‘Russia Without Putin’: Huge Protests Assemble In Moscow | ThinkProgress.

The British public want business to put “people before profits” and to see politicians close the gap between rich and poor, according to a new survey.

The findings suggest growingsupport for “responsible capitalism” in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and bankers’ excessive bonuses – and public sympathy with the anti-globalisation protests such as the Occupy London camp outside St Paul’sCathedral.

YouGov, which polled 1,723 people for the Labour-affiliated Fabian Society and the TUC, found that 80 per cent believe the private sector should forgo some profits to meet a wider responsibility to their employees, customers and communities and invest more for the long-term. Only 12 per cent think that maximising profits for shareholders is a company’s top priority.

Full Story Here: It’s time that we valued people over profits, poll results show – UK Politics – UK – The Independent.

Al-Maliki said U.S. corporations in all economic sectors could find opportunities to help rebuild in Iraq, in a speech delivered with many business leaders in attendance.

We are at the threshold of a new phase in the relationship in between the new companies, based on mutual interests and mutual desire,” al-Maliki said, according to an interpreter. “It is now not the generals, but it is the corporations and businessmen who will be in the front of this stage.”

Full Story Here: Prime Minister al-Maliki to US Chamber of Commerce: Iraq is open for business – The Hill’s DEFCON Hill.

The prospect of European heavyweights like Italy or Spain turning to the IMF for rescue loans is worrying the United States and other nations that fear they could suffer losses on funds they have extended to the IMF.

The International Monetary Fund cannot be expected to step in as a substitute for a stronger commitment by Europe which needs to assume the brunt of any losses on emergency loans, a senior US official said on Friday.

Despite the International Monetary Fund’s stable record – no borrower has ever defaulted on an IMF loan and no country has ever lost money lending to the IMF – there are concerns about the IMF’s growing exposure to the euro zone.

Full Story Here: U.S. Worried IMF Loans To Europe Could Lead To Losses.

Full Story Here: Capital Account: Michael Hudson on Europe’s Transition from Democracy to Oligarchy (12/07/11) – YouTube.

The European Central Bank has stubbornly refused to act as lender of last resort, but the eurozone economy is too big to fail

The world is eagerly waiting to see if the European Central Bank (ECB) will take the steps needed to save the euro. Specifically, is the ECB prepared to act as a central bank and guarantee the sovereign debt of the countries in the eurozone as the lender of last resort ordinarily does in a crisis?

If not, there is little doubt what the outcome will be. The austerity being imposed on country after country will slow GDP growth and throw workers out of jobs. Higher unemployment will worsen deficits, since it means less tax revenue coming in and more unemployment benefits and other transfers being paid out. Higher deficits will cause investors to worry about the solvency of the government, leading interest rates to rise.

This gives us the famous downward spiral that already sank Greece’s economy and government. It will soon sink Italy and Spain – unless the ECB starts acting like a central bank. The fallout from disorderly defaults from these two countries will cause banks throughout the eurozone to become insolvent, leading to another post Lehman-type freeze-up of the financial system.

Full Story Here: If the ECB won’t act, the Fed must step in | Dean Baker | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

The European commission could be empowered to impose austerity measures on eurozone countries that are being bailed out, usurping the functions of government in countries such as Greece, Ireland, or Portugal.

Bailed-out countries could also be stripped of their voting rights in the European Union, under radical proposals that have been circulating at the highest level in Brussels before this week’s crucial EU summit on the sovereign debt crisis.

A confidential paper for EU leaders by the EU council president, Herman Van Rompuy, who will chair the summit on Thursday and Friday, said eurobonds or the pooling of eurozone debt would be a powerful tool in resolving the crisis, despite fierce German resistance to the idea

Full Story Here: Radical eurozone shakeup could see Brussels get austerity powers | Business | The Guardian.

The euro project was flawed from the start and the current generation of European leaders has failed to address its fundamental problems, Jacques Delors, the architect of the single currency, declares today.

Full Story Here: Euro doomed from start, says Jacques Delors – Telegraph.

In an unprecedented move against an Arab nation, the Arab League on Sunday approved economic sanctions on Syria to pressure Damascus to end its deadly suppression of an 8-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.

But even as world leaders abandon Assad, the regime has refused to ease a military assault on dissent that already has killed more than 3,500 people. On Sunday, Damascus slammed the sanctions as a betrayal of Arab solidarity and insisted a foreign conspiracy was behind the revolt, all but assuring more bloodshed will follow.

The sanctions are among the clearest signs yet of the isolation Syria is suffering because of the crackdown. Damascus has long boasted of being a powerhouse of Arab nationalism, but Assad has been abandoned by some of his closest allies and now his Arab neighbors. The growing movement against his regime could transform some of the most enduring alliances in the Middle East and beyond.

Full Story Here: Arab League: Syria Sanctions Approved.

failed to get bids for 35 percent of the 10-year bonds offered for sale today, propelling borrowing costs in Europe higher and the euro lower on concern the region’s debt crisis is driving away investors. Stocks sank, dragging the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index lower for a sixth straight day, and costs to insure European government debt rose to a record after a German bund auction fueled concern the debt crisis is worsening. French and Belgian bond yields surged and commodities tumbled. In the western world of heavily indebted nations, are we all Greeks now? Eric Fry, editor of the Daily Reckoning, believes that’s the case. We find out why. Meanwhile, what does the US assassination of suspected militant Anwar Al-Awlaki, a federal raid of Gibson guitar, and a 900 pound bluefin tuna have in common? They all exhibit examples of government over-reach and an attack on due process, according to an investor who spotted the US housing bubble has his eye on this trend. And we have a Thanksgiving Cinderella story for you. Even though income inequality has been going up in the US, even though social mobility has been going down, there are still some rags to riches stories to be found, they just might not be about people.

Full Story Here: Capital Account: Eric Fry on the Impending Defaults of Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal (11/23/11) – YouTube.

Israel has ordered the shutdown of a dovish Israeli-Palestinian radio station, officials and the station’s operators said on Sunday.

The station and other critics said the move was politically motivated, and part of a broader assault on democracy by conservative forces in the government.

Some members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition have pushed forward a series of measures recently that critics say are aimed at stifling opponents.

Among the proposed legislation are attempts to block most foreign funding for dovish nonprofit groups, lowering the threshold for politicians to file libel suits against the media, and a push to shift control of Supreme Court appointments from an independent panel to parliament.

Full Story Here: Israel Shuts Down Dovish “All for Peace” Radio Station | Common Dreams.

Skimming the newspapers as I rushed to get my children ready for school, I suddenly understood that Israel might actually be preparing for a military attack against Iran. “[United States Secretary of Defense Leon] Panetta Demanded Commitment to Coordinate Action in Iran” read one headline, and “A Bomb at Arm’s Length” read another.

Feeding this hype were a series of military events that had been planned months in advance yet mysteriously coincided with the publication of the International Atomic Energy Agency report on Iran’s efforts to produce a nuclear bomb. For four days straight all of the major television channels repeatedly showed images of Israel preparing for war.

It began with a report on Israel’s testing of a long-range ballistic missile, which emphasized the missile’s capacity to carry nuclear warheads. This was followed by interviews with pilots who were part of a comprehensive Israeli Air Force drill on long-range attacks carried out at an Italian NATO air base. Archival images of a missile being launched from an Israeli submarine were also shown. Ha’aretz readers were told that the submarine was important because it would enable Israel to carry out a second strike in case of a nuclear war.

Full Story Here: Is Israel Preparing an Assault Against Iran? | Common Dreams.

DEBT BASED ECONOMYS DO NOT WORK–

When members of the Occupy camp join Remembrance Day services at St Paul’s Cathedral, their ranks will be swelled by a group of military veterans with their own list of grievances against the establishment.

At least 15 former service personnel have now pitched up outside the cathedral and at nearby Finsbury Square, many in protest over treatment of veterans or the conflicts that have burdened them with mental or physical scars.

Their presence is an indication of the evolving support base of the anti-capitalist Occupy movement, which has been endorsed by a senior figure at St Paul’s, just weeks after the protests led to the resignation of three of the cathedral’s leading clerics.

Full Story Here: Veterans join Occupy protest as St Paul’s canon shows support | UK news | The Observer.

Full Story Here: JPMiracle: $2.2 billion immaculate deception – YouTube.

Summit ends in disarray as world leaders fail to agree increase to IMF and concerns mount over prospects for Italian economy

The G20 summit in Cannes has ended in ominous disarray, drawing nearer the threat of a world recession.

Leaders were unable to agree upon a boost to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help distressed countries, while debt-ridden Italy, now seen as the epicentre of the euro crisis, was forced to put its austerity programme under the fund’s control.

UK hopes that the Germans would relent and allow the European Central Bank to become the lender of last resort for the euro were also dashed.

In a day of unremitting gloom, and yet more market turbulence, the Greek government also stood on the precipice of collapse, risking an uncontrolled default, as the government of George Papandreou faced a late-night confidence vote in parliament. Prime Minister Papandreou was forced to cancel plans for a referendum on the euro.

Full Story Here: G20 summit fails to allay world recession fears | World news | guardian.co.uk.

Full Story Here: Europe tells Greece: ‘no more money unless you cancel referendum’ – Telegraph.

Groups Urge G20 Not to Ignore Development Agenda 

Global development groups on Friday called on G20 leaders to step up to their commitments to tackle global food security and come up with new ways to boost world growth that also benefit the poorest.

With Europe’s sovereign debt crisis set to dominate the G20 summit on November 3-4 in Cannes, France, there is concern leaders will avoid firm decisions to address increased global food price volatility and new ways to finance development.

“The challenge for the G20 is can they see beyond the immediate crisis to what is needed to ensure broader prosperity,” said Samuel Worthington who heads InterAction, an alliance of U.S. based international development groups.

Full Story Here: Groups Urge G20 Not to Ignore Development Agenda | Common Dreams.

The scientist, Brian Baptie, seismic project team leader with the British Geological Survey, said data from the two quakes near Blackpool — one of magnitude 2.3 on April 1, the other of magnitude 1.5 on May 27 — suggested the temblors arose from the same source. Cuadrilla Resources, a British energy company, was conducting hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, operations at a well nearby when the quakes occurred.

In fracking, water, sand and chemicals are injected into a well at high pressure to split shale rock and release trapped gas.

Full Story Here: Expert Says Quakes in England May Be Tied to Gas Extraction – NYTimes.com.

Anti-capitalist protesters have started a second camp in London – as a demonstration outside St Paul’s Cathedral entered its seventh day.

About 30 tents have been put up in Finsbury Square in London’s business district.

The move came as up to 300 protesters from Occupy London Stock Exchange (OccupyLSX) refused to leave the front of St Paul’s.

The cathedral has been closed since Friday amid safety concerns.

OccupyLSX said it had been working “to accommodate the cathedral’s concerns”.

The group says it is protesting against “corporate greed”.

Although the cathedral was closed to tourists, a planned wedding did take place on Saturday.

Rather than using the cathedral’s grand entrance, bride Navaisha Ighodaro, an account manager for a PR company, entered through a side door.

Full Story Here: BBC News – ‘Occupy London’ start camp in Finsbury Square.

Morales told reporters he had sent an amendment to Congress, controlled by government supporters, halting plans for the road through the Isiboro Secure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS).

“Therefore, the issue of the TIPNIS has been resolved,” Morales said. “This is governing by obeying the people.”

Morales made the announcement just ahead of a meeting with representatives of around 2,000 indigenous people who entered La Paz on Wednesday after a two-month march from their homeland in the Amazon lowlands to press him to cancel the highway.

Full Story Here: AFP: Bolivia cancels controversial Amazon highway.

Greek unions have promised to flood Athens with protesters in the biggest demonstrations the capital has so far seen, as politicians prepared for Thursday’s vote on potentially make-or-break reforms demanded by the EU and IMF in return for further aid.

As activists warned of “the mother of all strikes” and the debt-laden country edged closer to chaos with rubbish piling up in streets and ministers locked out of their offices, 5,000 riot police were rushed to the capital in preparation for the protests.

“All of Athens will be flooded with protesters. These will be the biggest protests that Greece has ever seen,” said Ilias Illiopoulos, who heads the union of public-sector employees, Adedy. “The ability of the people to tolerate policies that have only yielded poverty and despair has come to an end.”

Full Story Here: Athens braced for ‘mother of all strikes’ | Business | The Guardian.

Officials are working on the broad outlines of a three-pronged agreement to keep the debt crisis from spiraling into Europe’s large countries.

They have been giving serious consideration to increasing the size of a new euro zone bailout fund of 440 billion euros to at least 1 trillion to 1.5 trillion euros (about $1.3 trillion to $2.06 trillion), an idea pushed by the United States Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, who argues that similar action helped stem the financial crisis that started on Wall Street in 2008.

Full Story Here: France to Defend Credit Rating After Moody’s Warning – NYTimes.com.

The Harper government rejected assurances offered Tuesday by the U.S. ambassador to Canada, who defended the controversial Buy American provisions in his president’s new jobs bill.

Envoy David Jacobson told an audience of hundreds that President Barack Obama’s $447-billion jobs legislation was good news for the economic recovery of both countries. He said it would get the U.S. economy back on track — and Canada’s with it.

But International Trade Minister Ed Fast rejected Jacobson’s overture, emphasizing the Tories’ staunch commitment to free trade and breaking down all protectionist barriers.

“The view reflected in the ambassador’s comments which seek to justify the ‘Buy American’ provisions from the proposed American Jobs Act is of concern,” Fast said in an emailed statement to The Canadian Press.

Full Story Here: U.S. ambassador to Canada says Buy America policy is good for Canada in long run – Winnipeg Free Press.

Protesters inspired by the growing ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement in the U.S have today taken over the City of London.

Thousands have descended on the area known as the Square Mile – under the banner ‘Occupy the Stock Exchange’ – for a ‘peaceful protest’ against the global financial system.

They had planned to take Paternoster Square, where the Stock Exchange is located, but police cordoned off the area prior to the protest.

A notice was put up stating the square is private property and access would be restricted. Police sources said a High Court injunction had been taken out to prevent members of the public from accessing the square.

Full Story Here: Global protests: Occupy the London Stock Exchange takes over the City | Mail Online.

HUNDREDS of people inspired by the Occupy Wall Street protests in the US took to the streets in Sydney’s CBD last night to protest against corruption and corporate greed.

The organisers, relying heavily on social networking sites Facebook and Twitter, said their demonstration would continue with a permanent campsite to be set up outside the Reserve Bank in Martin Place until early next week.

Around 500 protestors held banners reading “you can’t eat money” and “we are the 99 per cent” while others wore face masks and cloaks.

A NSW Police spokeswoman said protestors were in breach of council orders and would be charged if they did not follow police directions.

Full Story Here: Hundreds of people protest in Martin Place against corruption and corporate greed | thetelegraph.com.au.

The study comes in response to concerns over the health consequences of the serious radiation leaks caused by multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station in March. Japanese officials hope to study about 360,000 children who were under 18 at the time of the accident and track their health through their lifetimes, according to Fukushima Prefecture officials.

Children and pregnant women are particularly sensitive to radioactive iodine, which can harm the thyroid, studies after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986 have shown. According to research presented at a 2006 global conference, at least 4,000 cases of thyroid cancer among children have been linked to Chernobyl’s fallout.

Full Story Here: Japanese Study Nuclear Leaks Health Effects – NYTimes.com.

The local government in Chongqing says the firm falsely advertised the meat as being organic.

China’s official Xinhua news agency said officials claimed a total of 63,547 kilogrammes of pork were involved, over two years.

Wal-Mart told the BBC a total of 13 stores have been closed for a 15-day period.

Full Story Here: BBC News – Wal-Mart stores closed in China after pork probe.

The dire forecasts came while inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, EU and European Central Bank, known as the troika, were in Athens scouring the country’s books to decide whether to approve a loan tranche. Without that installment, Greece would run out of cash as soon as this month.

The 2012 draft budget approved by cabinet on Sunday predicts a deficit of 8.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) for 2011, well short of the 7.6 percent target.

Full Story Here: Greece to miss deficit targets despite austerity | Reuters.

He will talk about the run on French banks and how President Sarkozy’s administration is dealing with this and the European debt crisis.

Many analysts are saying that it may not be a Greek default that spurs the next big crisis, but a liquidity crunch at French banks.

France’s largest banks have lost almost half their value since August 1, leading to solvency concerns.

Without an injection of cash from the European Central Bank investors may continue to flee French finance, spreading panic along the way

Full Story Here: French banks and the European debt crisis-On the Edge with Max Keiser-09-30-2011 – YouTube.

Is it possible to be both terrified and bored? That’s how I feel about the negotiations now under way over how to respond to Europe’s economic crisis, and I suspect other observers share the sentiment.

On one side, Europe’s situation is really, really scary: with countries that account for a third of the euro area’s economy now under speculative attack, the single currency’s very existence is being threatened — and a euro collapse could inflict vast damage on the world.

On the other side, European policy makers seem set to deliver more of the same. They’ll probably find a way to provide more credit to countries in trouble, which may or may not stave off imminent disaster. But they don’t seem at all ready to acknowledge a crucial fact — namely, that without more expansionary fiscal and monetary policies in Europe’s stronger economies, all of their rescue attempts will fail.

Full Story Here: Euro Zone Death Trip – NYTimes.com.

Mr. President of the General Assembly of the United Nations,

Mr. Secretary-General of the United Nations,

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

At the outset, I wish to extend my congratulations to H.E. Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser on his assumption of the Presidency of the Assembly for this session, and wish him all success.

I reaffirm today my sincere congratulations, on behalf of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian people, to the government and people of South Sudan for its deserved admission as a full member of the United Nations, wishing them progress and prosperity.

I also congratulate the Secretary-General, H.E. Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on his election for a new term at the helm of the United Nations. This renewal of confidence reflects the world’s appreciation for his efforts, which have strengthened the role of the United Nations.

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Full Story Here: Mahmoud Abbas speech at the UN – The full official text :: www.uruknet.info :: informazione dal medio oriente :: information from middle east :: [vs-1].

Prime Minister George A. Papandreou of Greece canceled a planned trip to Washington to meet with his cabinet Sunday, in what looked like an increasingly desperate attempt to show foreign benefactors that the government can keep the promises it made in return for aid. Without the aid, the country would certainly default on its debt, an event that economists have warned could lead to bank failures in other countries and ignite another financial crisis.

“Greece’s imminent default is assured,” Carl B. Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York, wrote in an e-mail Sunday. “Without an injection of cash within the next weeks, the nation will run out of resources to service its debt.”

Full Story Here: Greece Nears a Tipping Point in Its Debt Crisis – NYTimes.com.

Sligo, Ireland.

By the mid-1990s, the historically troubled Irish economy began to move into a phase of rapid growth. Of course, the Irish economy could only improve from lows of the 1980s, but this economic success was measured against the collapse of economies in nations such as Japan. The turn of the decade was characterised by a global recession, and the rise of the Irish economy at this time was likened by some commentators as having similarities with the ‘Tiger’ economies of South East Asia in the late 1980s By 2005, the New York Times was lauding ‘Ireland’s Economic Miracle publishing ‘the amazing story of how Ireland went from sick man of Europe to rich man in less than a generation’ (NY Times, April 25, 2009). Many factors contributed to Ireland ’s phase of accelerated economic growth, some planned, some serendipitous. European Union support and subsidies, low corporation tax rates of 10–12.5 per cent, the high rates of young, well educated, English speaking graduates in the workforce, the cultural links between Ireland and the United States, the Peace Process in Northern Ireland and the support for Ireland provided by successive US Governments, ongoing state support for direct foreign investment, the development of better internal infrastructure and the increase in female participation in the workforce all contributed to growth in the 1990s.

Ireland’s key area of industry was no longer agriculture and domestic manufacturing. By the 1990s, the Irish economy shifted, and high technology based multinationals, financial services and the internet-based knowledge economy supplanted the traditional forms of economy, as the economy boomed. This transformation was facilitated by a number of factors, such as the establishment of the International Financial Services Centre in Dublin , whereas Ireland ’s low corporate tax rate which was far below many European countries. Concerns about some of the factors in such a dramatic transformation began to be voiced by international commentators. These concerns were to be addressed by the establishment of the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (IFSRA) in 2003. Of course, Ireland ’s banking sector was itself historically problematic. According to Irish author and Senator Shane Ross:

Full Story Here: The Irish Debt Crisis Story » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names.

What waits for him instead at the United Nations this coming week is closer to a diplomatic nightmare that may isolate the United States, anger Congress, deepen the Mideast divide and cloud the rest of his agenda.

Fed up with failed talks with Israel, Palestinians plan to appeal directly to the U.N. for statehood. Obama is adamant that that approach will undermine the chances of a Palestinian state by ignoring the unresolved issues with Israel. So now he is in the unenviable spot of opposing an effort whose goals he supports and he’s nearly standing alone in doing so.

From the U.S. perspective, the options are not good.

Full Story Here: Palestine Statehood Bid: Obama’s U.N. Visit Could Bring Another Troubled Middle East Moment.

Six months after the nuclear meltdowns in Fukushima Prefecture, the public’s awareness of the threat posed by radiation is entering a new phase: the realization that the biggest danger now and in the future is from contaminated soil.

The iodine-131 ejected into the sky by the Fukushima No. 1 power station disaster was quickly detected in vegetables and tap water — even as far away as Tokyo, 220 km south of the plant.

But contamination levels are now so low they are virtually undetectable, thanks to the short half-life of iodine-131 — eight days — and stepped up filtering by water companies.

But cesium is proving to be a tougher foe. The element’s various isotopes have half-lives ranging from two to 30 years, generating concern about the food chain in Fukushima Prefecture, a predominantly agricultural region, as the elements wash fallout into the ground.

The root of the problem is, well — roots.

Full Story Here: Effect of contaminated soil on food chain sparks fears | The Japan Times Online.

Gales, combined with heavy rain, could cause significant disruption in Ireland, England and Scotland

A severe weather warning covering northern Ireland, England and Scotland has been issued by the Met Office, with forecasts saying Britain will be lashed by the tail of Hurricane Katia, causing gale-force winds of up to 80mph late on Sunday and Monday.

The gales, combined with heavy rain, could cause “significant disruption” for Monday morning commuters and, where high winds coincide with high tides along western coasts, there could be flooding.

Full Story Here: Severe weather warning as Hurricane Katia tail approaches | UK news | The Guardian.

Fukushima just gets worse

Up to 750,000 people could die as Somalia’s drought worsens in the coming months, the UN has warned, declaring a famine in a new area

The UN says tens of thousands of people have died after what is said to be East Africa’s worst drought for 60 years.

Bay becomes the sixth area to be officially declared a famine zone – mostly in parts of southern Somalia controlled by the Islamist al-Shabab.

Some 12 million people across the region need food aid, the UN says.

A sixth region of Somalia has been declared a famine area by the UN, which warns the situation will only worsen in the coming months.

Full Story Here: BBC News – Somalia famine: UN warns of 750,000 deaths.

This is the most significant activity I’ve witnessed at the Katla Volcano since the last update, and whether or not this raises the odds of an imminent eruption remain to be seen; there have been a few earthquake swarms and other seismic activity since the last update, but nothing significant enough to report upon. Today is different. This recent spate of activity began on September 1st when there was a Magnitude 3.2 quake in Katla’s caldera. Prior to that, The Global Volcanism Program noted that:

From 18 July until mid-August, ten new ice cauldrons formed along the W, S, and E borders of the Mýrdalsjökull caldera (figure 3), signifying increased geothermal activity along a large part of the caldera rim. Changes on the icecap surface have been reported for some of the earlier eruptions of Katla, and the current activity could be a possible long-term precursor to a new eruption. A flight over the area on 9 September by Reynir Ragnarsson at Vík, revealed that the ice cauldrons did not develop much after mid-August. (My emphasis) MUCH MORE

Seismic activity is still rising at Katla and you can view the activity at this LINK. What makes today’s activity especially notable was reported on by Jón Frímann wherein he presents evidence of inflation within the Katla Volcano:

Full Story Here: An Eruption At Iceland’s Katla Volcano Could Be Imminent – Update 2 | ThePoliticalBandit.com.

Starvation in the Horn of Africa is not only a natural disaster – conflict rages and international aid is hampered

The emergency unfolding in and around Somalia is being portrayed by many aid organisations and the media in one-dimensional terms, such as “famine in the Horn of Africa” or “worst drought in 60 years”. But only blaming natural causes ignores the complex geopolitical realities exacerbating the situation and suggests that the solution lies in merely finding funds and shipping enough food. Glossing over the man-made causes of hunger and starvation in the region and the difficulties in addressing them will not help resolve the crisis.

I have just returned from Kenya and Somalia and what I and my Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) colleagues are seeing indicates a profoundly distressing situation. In Mogadishu, I met a young woman from the southern region of Lower Shebelle who is now living in one of the many makeshift camps appearing all over the city. She left home with her husband and seven children because of a bad harvest and her inability to afford food and water. Somewhere along her trek, she had to leave her husband and three children behind, as they were too weak to complete the five-day walk.

Her story echoes those of thousands of other families in southern and central Somalia who have been ravaged by conflict for years and were tipped over the edge by drought. Malnutrition is chronic in many parts of the Horn of Africa and there needs to be a long-term international effort to ensure nutritious foods reach the people who need them. Today, however, the most urgent needs are concentrated in southern and central Somalia. Even if we do not have a full picture, we know the situation is dire from the large numbers of Somalis arriving in weak condition in the capital, Mogadishu, and at camps across the border in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Full Story Here: Famine in Somalia: a man-made crisis | Unni Karunakara | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

Bank funding costs are rising, liquidity is being choked off, and interbank lending has started to stall. A full-blown crisis can still be averted, but leaders will have to knuckle down and resolve the political issues fast. Otherwise the 17-member monetary union will fracture and the euro will be kaput. Here’s a clip from the Wall Street Journal:

“Commercial banks boosted their reliance on the European Central Bank, borrowing €2.82 billion ($4.07 billion) from an emergency lending facility on Tuesday … While the amount of borrowing is tiny … the increase from €555 million a day earlier, nonetheless suggest that some lenders are struggling to borrow from traditional funding sources.”(“Europe Banks Lean More on Emergency Funding”, Wall Street Journal)

Sure, it’s a pittance compared to the trillions floating around in the EU banking system, but the pattern is the same as it was in 2007 when the troubles began at French bank PNB Paribas. Back then, the problems seemed small, too, but things got out of hand quick. Over the following year, trillions in mortgage-backed securities (MBS) were downgraded forcing bigger and bigger losses on the bondholders, many of which were the nation’s largest banks. The bloodletting dragged on until September 2008, when Lehman blew up and the whole financial system went into cardiac arrest. The Fed had to rush to Wall Street’s rescue with $12 trillion in loans and other guarantees in hand just to keep the patient from croaking on the Emergency Room floor. Now it looks like history is repeating itself.

As the collateral the banks hold (mainly foreign sovereign bonds) continues to lose value, the banks will come under greater pressure making funding more costly and harder to get. In fact, the mad-scramble for short-term funding has already begun. Banks are hoarding capital just as they did after the Crash of ’08, depositing larger and larger amounts in overnight accounts with the ECB in order to avoid lending to the other banks. All of this is taking a toll on consumer and household lending which will inevitably push eurozone GDP further into the red. The negative feedback loop into the real economy will send unemployment higher while further crimping business investment. This is from Businessweek:

Full Story Here: Timebomb in Euroland: The Eurozone is Heading for a Crash..

The British government has applied a blanket ban on all kind of marches and protest gatherings in London amid fears of violence and disorder.

The Home Office announced the blanket ban on all marches in five London boroughs for 30 days starting from September 2, the Independent reported.

Home Secretary Theresa May banned all marches in Tower Hamlets, east London, and four neighbouring boroughs in the capital for a 30-day period following a request from Scotland Yard Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin.

The move comes amid fears of violence and disorder if the marches were allowed to go ahead.

“Having carefully considered the legal tests in the Public Order Act and balanced rights to protest against the need to ensure local communities and property are protected, I have given my consent to a ban on all marches in Tower Hamlets and four neighbouring boroughs for a 30-day period”, said the Home Secretary.

“I know that the Metropolitan Police are committed to using their powers to ensure communities and properties are protected”, added Theresa May.

Full Story Here: PressTV – Britain enacts blanket ban on protests.

The civil war in Libya went on longer than expected, but the fall of Tripoli came faster than was forecast. As in Kabul in 2001 and Baghdad in 2003, there was no last-ditch stand by the defeated regime, whose supporters appear to have melted away once they saw that defeat was inevitable.

While it is clear Colonel Muammar Gaddafi has lost power, it is not certain who has gained it. The anti-regime militiamen that are now streaming into the capital were united by a common enemy, but not much else. The Transitional National Council (TNC) in Benghazi, already recognised by so many foreign states as the legitimate government of Libya, is of dubious legitimacy and authority.

There is another problem in ending the war. It has never been a straight trial of strength between two groups of Libyans because of the decisive role of Nato air strikes. The insurgents themselves admit that without the air war waged on their behalf – with 7,459 air strikes on pro-Gaddafi targets – they would be dead or in flight. The question, therefore, remains open as to how the rebels can peaceably convert their foreign-assisted victory on the battlefield into a stable peace acceptable to all parties in Libya.

Full Story Here: Patrick Cockburn Qaddafi Has Lost; But Who Has Won?.

Full Story Here: Inside Fukushima | Common Dreams.

Iran has sentenced two American hikers to eight years in prison for illegally entering the country and spying for a US intelligence agency, state television said on Saturday.

“According to an informed source with the judiciary, Shane Bauer… and… Josh Fattal, the two detained American citizens, have been each sentenced to three years in prison for illegal entry to the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the television reported on its website.

It further said the two have been “sentenced to five years in prison on charges of espionage for the American intelligence agency,” without saying when the verdict had been reached.

“The case of Sarah Shourd, who has been freed on bail is still open,” the report said referring to the third hiker who is being tried in absentia.

Full Story Here: Iran sentences US hikers to 8 years ‘for spying’ | The Raw Story.

It is one of the mysteries of Japan’s ongoing nuclear crisis: How much damage did the March 11 earthquake do to the Fukushima Daiichi reactors before the tsunami hit? The stakes are high: If the quake structurally compromised the plant and the safety of its nuclear fuel, then every other similar reactor in Japan will have to be reviewed and possibly shut down. With virtually all of Japan’s 54 reactors either offline (35) or scheduled for shutdown by next April, the issue of structural safety looms over the decision to restart every one in the months and years after.

The key question for operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) and its regulators to answer is this: How much damage was inflicted on the Daiichi plant before the first tsunami reached the plant roughly 40 minutes after the earthquake? TEPCO and the Japanese government are hardly reliable adjudicators in this controversy. “There has been no meltdown,” top government spokesman Edano Yukio famously repeated in the days after March 11. “It was an unforeseeable disaster,” Tepco’s then President Shimizu Masataka improbably said later. As we now know, meltdown was already occurring even as Edano spoke. And far from being unforeseeable, the disaster had been repeatedly forewarned.

Full Story Here: David McNeill / Jake Adelstein: TEPCO’s Darkest Secret.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will submit an application for full U.N. membership at the General Assembly next month, his foreign minister said on Saturday, without specifying exactly when the request would be made.

“I think that the president, when he gets to the United Nations and meets the secretary general, will present the application,” Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said in a briefing in Ramallah.

Malki’s statement narrowed down the timing of the application to September during Abbas’ visit to New York, but when asked give a specific date, Palestinian officials said it would still have to be determined.

Full Story Here: Palestinians to Seek UN Statehood Vote Next Month: Foreign Minister | Common Dreams.

Trading opened as normal on Sunday, the first day of Israel’s working week, but mandatory suspensions went into effect minutes into the session as the stock exchange plunged.

The leading TA-100 indice was down 5.73 percent at 988.24 points by the time trading was halted, while the blue-chip TA-25 had fallen 5.42 percent to 1,092.41, according to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange website.

Full Story Here: Tel Aviv exchange halts trade after 6% fall – FRANCE 24.

The company that owns Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant says it has detected record-high radiation on site.

Almost five months after Japan’s government announced a nuclear emergency, the company which owns the Fukushima nuclear plant, Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), says radiation levels have reached at least 10 sieverts per hour near Fukushima’s No. 1 and No. 2 reactors.

The radiation levels are more than double the previous record high that was reached in early June.

One nuclear expert predicts the clean-up from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami will be even more difficult, but there is speculation that the reading could be an aberration.

Peter Burns, former chief executive officer of the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency, says given the scale of the Fukushima emergency, the high reading is to be expected.

Full Story Here: Record-high radiation detected at Fukushima – ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).

Geiger counters, used to detect radioactivity, registered more than 10 sieverts an hour, the highest reading the devices are able to record, Junichi Matsumoto, a general manager at the utility, said today. The measurements were taken at the base of the main ventilation stack for reactors No. 1 and No. 2.

The Fukushima plant, about 220 kilometers (137 miles) north of Tokyo, had three reactor meltdowns after the March 11 magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami knocked out power and backup generators. Radiation leaks displaced 160,000 people and contaminated marine life and agricultural products.

Full Story Here: Tepco Says Highest Radiation Yet Is Detected at Fukushima Dai-Ichi – Bloomberg.

The U.S.G.S. says the earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 struck at 3:53 a.m. Sunday in the Pacific Ocean, about 11 miles (18 kilometers) east-southeast of Iwaki on Honshu Island. Its depth was 27 miles (43.5 kilometers).

Full Story Here: Japan Earthquake: 6.4 Quake Reportedly Hits Japan.

OPS: Fine. Now, WHAT is happening at Fukushima? How bad has it gotten?

ICC contradicts William Hague’s suggestion that Muammar Gaddafi could be allowed to remain in Libya under peace plan

The international criminal court has dismissed suggestions by Britain and France that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi could be allowed to remain in Libya as part of negotiated deal to remove him from power, insisting that a new government would be obliged to arrest the dictator under warrants issued by the court.

The ICC, which Britain and France have signed up to, said that Gaddafi could not be allowed to escape justice. “He has to be arrested,” said Florence Olara, spokeswoman for the court’s chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

On Monday the foreign secretary, William Hague, said Britain was prepared to agree to a political settlement in Libya that would see Gaddafi remain in the country after relinquishing his hold on power.

Full Story Here: Gaddafi can’t be left in Libya, says international criminal court | World news | The Guardian.

More than 2,600 cattle have been contaminated, Kyodo News reported July 23, after the Miyagi local government said 1,183 cattle at 58 farms were fed hay containing radioactive cesium before being shipped to meat markets.

Agriculture Minister Michihiko Kano has said officials didn’t foresee that farmers might ship contaminated hay to cattle ranchers. That highlights the government’s inability to think ahead and to act, said Mariko Sano, secretary general for Shufuren, a housewives organization in Tokyo.

“The government is so slow to move,” Sano said. “They’ve done little to ensure food safety.”

Full Story Here: Japan’s Food-Chain Threat Multiplies as Fukushima Radiation Spreads – Bloomberg.

The judge in charge of the phone hacking inquiry has attended parties at the home of Rupert Murdoch’s son-in-law.

Full Story Here: Phone hacking inquiry judge attended parties at home of Rupert Murdoch’s son-in-law – Telegraph.

Breivik described himself as a cultural conservative and a Christian conservative who felt that Protestantism had lost its way and that Christianity should recombine under the banner of a reconstituted and traditionalist Catholic Church. These views are almost identical to the views of the late Paul Wyrich, founder of the Christian Right epicenter in the United States, the Free Congress Foundation. Weyrich and Lind developed an aggressive theory of Cultural Conservatism as a way to save Western Culture.

In 1987, Weyrich commissioned a study, “Cultural Conservatism: Toward A New National Agenda”, which argued that cultural issues provided antiliberalism with a more unifying concept than economic conservatism. “Cultural Conservatism: Theory and Practice” followed in 1991. William “Bill” Lind spent years building the Center for Cultural Conservatism at Weyrich’s Free Congress Foundation.

Full Story Here: | Updated: Norway Shooting Suspect is Islamophobe Using Antisemitic “Cultural Marxism” Model.

Even though their ice is called ‘eternal’, many alpine glaciers’ lives may come to an end within this century. For 150 years, most of them have been more or less constantly retreating, and since the eighties, their shrinkage has visibly increased.

The Furka Pass in central Switzerland has long been awaiting its visitors with a special attraction. Just below the highest point of the pass, tourists may enter an ice grotto dug into the Rhone glacier to discover glacier life from the inside. Each year however, the grotto’s entry can be found a few metres further downhill. Long-term measurements reveal that from 1879 to 2010, the Rhone glacier has lost 1266 metres of its original length.

Full Story Here: Europe Headed for Water Crisis – IPS ipsnews.net.

The New York Times on June 8, reporting on the German economy, stated, “Germany, with its 6% unemployment rate against the US 14 % unemployment rate,” enacted policies based on strengthening and building unions as a way of increasing consumer spending through higher wages paid to union workers. Thus this policy reduces unemployment by increasing workers’ purchasing power. In addition, German policies encouraging union building and negotiation power found that it was able to reduce economic inequality. Proof of this is the fact that the top 1% of German households earns 11% of all income, virtually unchanged since 1970. However, in the US the top 1% makes more than 20% of all income, up from 9% in 1970. It should be noted that Germany has the tightest market regulation of banks in Europe.

Germany does not have a smaller deficit than the US because it spends less; it has a smaller deficit because its tax policies take a heavier toll from huge corporations. Thus, this reduces the total amount of governmental deficits that it carries. Unlike the US, the German government believes that fairness demands that its huge corporations pay a heavier share of taxes which increases their general government revenue stream. It is the obverse of US tax policies as illustrated by the Bush tax cuts.

Full Story Here: Germany discovers that boosting unions reduces unemployment | Union Review.

As you may be aware, radiation sickness was a stigma to many in post-war Japan. A primitive response, to be sure, but one which served as a coping mechanism. Film reviewer Roger Ebert provided some insight into how it works shortly after Black Rain was released in the United States (emphasis added).

Full Story Here: Will Fukushima Survivors Be Doubly Victimized With Radiation Sickness and Stigmatization? | FPIF.

Famished, traumatized Somali refugees stream into Kenya and to new UN refugee camp.

East Africa’s worst drought in 60 years is putting 11 million lives at risk, many of them in war-torn Somalia, where thousands of hungry families are making the dangerous trek across parched, violent territory to the promise of safety and food in Kenya.

Aid agencies warn the drought is regional — affecting Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia — and the hunger that now stalks the land may become famine.

Most of the Somali refugees arrive at Dadaab, a sprawling complex of overcrowded camps in northeastern Kenya built in 1991 for 90,000 people. Today it is home to more than four times that number. It is the world’s largest refugee camp and one of the fastest growing human settlements on the planet.

But it is not large enough for the new refugees, who are currently arriving at a rate as high as 1,000 per day.

Full Story Here: East Africa drought | Somalia | Kenya | Refugees.

Kansai Electric Power Co. said it would manually shut down reactor No. 1 at its Ooi plant in central Japan because of a temporary pressure drop in a standby tank.

The tank contains boric acid solution that can be pumped in to slow nuclear fission in case of emergency.

Pressure in the tank had already returned to the correct level, but the company decided to shut down the reactor “to give the top priority to safety and find out the cause,” a company spokesman said on Saturday.

The company did not yet know when the reactor would resume operations, but there had been no radiation leak, he said.

Full Story Here: Japan nuclear reactor halted over pressure drop | The Raw Story.

The spill from the oil field, which the United States’ ConocoPhillips operates with China’s state-run oil giant CNOOC, has polluted a total area of almost 4,250 square kilometres (1,650 square miles), government figures showed.

The figures, which were announced on the State Oceanic Administration website earlier this week but only reported on Friday, were almost five times the size of the 840-square-kilometre area previously reported.

Full Story Here: AFP: China oil spill six times size of Singapore: govt.

Reiko Nakamura, a 37-year-old mother of three children, said she has been checking radiation levels outside her house in Meguro Ward, Tokyo, every day since she bought a dosimeter in May.

Based on her readings, she decides whether to open the windows or leave them shut tight.

Trying to protect her children from radioactive materials spewing from the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, Nakamura has been buying produce grown in west Japan since mid-March.

“I’m buying produce on the Internet. Also we’ve been drinking water delivered from Yakushima (in Kagoshima Prefecture),” said Nakamura, who was at a gathering organized by Setagaya Kodomo Mamoru Kai (The Group to Protect Children in Setagaya) in late June. Nearly 30 mothers discussed ways to prevent radiation exposure.

Full Story Here: Citizens’ radiation fears beyond crisis zone mount | The Japan Times Online.

Other attendees: Mr. George Sourlas, Ex-President of Greek Parliament; Mr. Ioannis Adamopoulous, President of Athens Lawyers Association; Mr. Ioannis Sakas, Prosecutor General at Athens Court; Mr. Ioannis Athanasiou, President of Prosecutors and Judges Association; Mr. Nikos Xidiroglou Giournalist, Panel Coordinator

Spain’s Indignant: First We Took the Steets, then the Squares, Now the Roads. “After That, We Will Take Europe.”

Spain’s “indignant” activists began their last and longest protest march on Saturday, leaving from the northeastern city of Barcelona to cover 650 kilometres on their way to a major Madrid rally on July 24.

Two other marches set off earlier this week, from Valencia in the east on Monday and Cadiz in the south on Thursday, spreading the message of their anger at unemployment, welfare cuts and corruption.

Some 50 marchers left Barcelona early in the morning to applause from passers-by and sympathisers, expecting to pick up more en route.

Full Story Here: Spain’s ‘Indignant’ Launch New Protest March | Common Dreams.

\By MICHAEL HUDSON

The fight for Europe’s future is being waged in Athens and other Greek cities to resist financial demands that are the 21st century’s version of an outright military attack. The threat of bank overlordship is not the kind of economy-killing policy that affords opportunities for heroism in armed battle, to be sure. Destructive financial policies are more like an exercise in the banality of evil – in this case, the pro-creditor assumptions of the European Central Bank (ECB), EU and IMF (egged on by the U.S. Treasury).

As Vladimir Putin pointed out some years ago, the neoliberal reforms put in Boris Yeltsin’s hands by the Harvard Boys in the 1990s caused Russia to suffer lower birth rates, shortening life spans and emigration – the greatest loss in population growth since World War II. Capital flight is another consequence of financial austerity. The ECB’s proposed “solution” to Greece’s debt problem is thus self-defeating. It only buys time for the ECB to take on yet more Greek government debt, leaving all EU taxpayers to get the bill. It is to avoid this shift of bank losses onto taxpayers that Angela Merkel in Germany has insisted that private bondholders must absorb some of the loss resulting from their bad investments.

The bankers are trying to get a windfall by using the debt hammer to achieve what warfare did in times past. They are demanding privatization of public assets (on credit, with tax deductibility for interest so as to leave more cash flow to pay the bankers). This transfer of land, public utilities and interest as financial booty and tribute to creditor economies is what makes financial austerity like war in its effect.

Full Story Here: Michael Hudson: Bankers Gear Up for the Rape of Greece, as Social Democrats Vote for National Suicide.

After a 40% rise in global prices over the past year, droughts and floods threaten to seriously damage this year’s harvest

Food prices will soar by as much as 30% over the next 10 years, the United Nations and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development have predicted.

Angel Gurría, secretary-general of the OECD, said that any further increase in global food prices, which have risen by 40% over the past year, will have a “devastating” impact on the world’s poor and is likely to lead to political unrest, famine and starvation. “People are going to be forced either to eat less or find other sources of income.”

The joint UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and OECD report predicted that the cost of cereals is likely to increase by 20% and the price of meat, particularly chicken, may soar by up to 30%.

Full Story Here: Food price explosion ‘will devastate the world’s poor’ | Environment | The Guardian.

Once again, the global economy seems vulnerable to a crisis brewing in a single country, as the turmoil in Greece and the risk of a government default raise the prospect of losses rippling out across Europe and to the United States.

In recent months, Americans have been buffeted by a series of unseen challenges that have repeatedly dashed hopes for a sustained economic recovery and the resumption of hiring, from the tsunami in Japan to rising oil prices. Now, with unemployment high and anxieties growing, a new economic threat has taken shape, raising fears of potentially enormous financial losses.

Though those fears eased somewhat on Friday as European bankers and the International Monetary Fund inched closer to an agreement that would avert a Greek default, grim calculations occupied financial capitals around the globe, as investors estimated the consequences of an effective bankruptcy. They considered a scenario much like the one that followed the collapse of major financial institutions in the fall of 2008, with the crisis potentially spreading throughout Europe, causing banks and governments to fail and freezing lending in major economies.

Full Story Here: As Greece Becomes More Likely To Default, American Economic Recovery Is At Stake.

After an inspiring mass mobilization of people across Italy with demonstrations of all kinds: banner drops, critical mass bike rides, workshops, information booths, film screenings, use of the social networking and facebook, people running nude through the streets, flash mob die-ins, young people living confined in a giant rendition of a radioactive drum for over a month, and a door to door, neighbor to neighbor, person to person grassroots storm, the Italian people have won a historic vote against the forces of global capitalism and privatization to ban the construction of Nuclear Power plants now and forever, to keep or return Water resources to public ownership and to Prosecute the criminal behavior of political leaders — first and foremost Silvio Berlusconi.

Italians managed to overcome the daunting task of a quorum of 50 per cent + 1 of all Italian voters in the face of a mass media controlled by Berlusconi and a government that was encouraging voters to go to the beach instead of vote on the first weekend of summer vacation for Italian grade school, middle school and high school students. The quorum had not been reached for over a decade on any referendum. This time the Italian people responded with 57 per cent of the voters turning out to the polls, the highest on any referendum in over 20 years, and with the quorum being surpassed in every region of the country. 95 per cent of the voters have voted “SI” to say No as the Italian winds of change have grown to gale force.

The vote began on Sunday morning and by mid-day the results showed that only around 10 percent of voters had responded nationally. There was a frenzy of activity in every town and city, on the streets, in the coffee bars, in the town squares, on the beaches, everywhere! The proponents of the referendums threw all caution to the wind as they called to every passerby to go to the polls and not let this important opportunity to express our collective democratic voice pass by. This was an incredible mobilization that had a domino effect, as students, families and co-workers pushed one another to make the democratic process function for the people once and for all. Flags sprung up on balconies, stickers on the windows of busses and walls of the metros, with bicyclists up and down the coasts whistling and shouting to get out the vote. By 7 o’clock on Sunday the attendance at the polls was up to 30 per cent. The depression of the morning gave way to a nervous feeling that maybe it really was possible that the quorum could be reached. People went to the phones and text messages and continued to hit the streets contacting and calling out to everyone to let them know that they could be that one vote to tip the scales.

Full Story Here: Michael Leonardi: No! to Nuclear Power and Privatized Water.

There is one entire country, however, that Google Earth won’t show you: Israel.

That’s because, in 1997, Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act, one section of which is titled, “Prohibition on collection and release of detailed satellite imagery relating to Israel.” The amendment, known as the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, calls for a federal agency, the NOAA’s Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs, to regulate the dissemination of zoomed-in images of Israel.

When asked about the regulation, a Google spokeswoman said to Mother Jones, “The images in Google Earth are sourced from a wide range of both commercial and public sources. We source our satellite imagery from US-based companies who are subject to US law, including the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act of 1997, which limits the resolution of imagery of Israel that may be commercially distributed.”

Full Story Here: Why Google Earth Can’t Show You Israel | Mother Jones.

About 7,000 shareholders are expected to attend the June 28 meeting, said the official, who declined to be identified, citing the agency’s policy. Residents from Fukushima, where Tokyo Electric’s crippled nuclear plant lies, may stage demonstrations, the official said. Officers and riot police will be stationed around the Prince Park Tower Tokyo Hotel, the venue for the shareholder meeting, the official said.

Tokyo Electric’s stock has slumped 91 percent, erasing 3.2 trillion yen ($40 billion) in market value, since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami triggered the worst nuclear crisis in 25 years. The disaster at the Fukushima nuclear station displaced 50,000 households in the evacuation zone because of radiation leaks into the air, soil and sea.

Full Story Here: Tokyo Riot Squad to Safeguard Tepco Meeting – Bloomberg.

Tens of thousands Greeks rallied in central Athens on Sunday to denounce politicians, bankers and tax dodgers, as the government prepared to inflict another bout of austerity demanded by its international lenders.

“Thieves – hustlers – bankers,” read one banner as more than 50,000 people packed the main Syntagma square outside parliament to vent their frustration over rising joblessness as austerity bites, blaming the crisis on political corruption.

Turnout was the biggest so far in a series of 12 nightly rallies on the square inspired by Spain’s protest movement.

Full Story Here: Greece Austerity Protests Grow.

The National Service of Geology and Mining said the explosion that sparked the eruption also produced a column of gas 10 kilometers (six miles) high, hours after warning of strong seismic activity in the area.

“You can see the fire (in the volcano) and a plume of smoke, and there’s a strong smell of sulfur,” top Los Rios region official Juan Andres Varas told reporters.

Full Story Here: Chilean volcano erupts, forces mass evacuations | The Raw Story.

Following complaints from citizens, the European Ombudsman has opened an investigation into the EU’s permitted levels of food contamination following the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan and their communication to the wider public. Similar complaints are also being heard in France.

“Based on complaints submitted to me, it appears that a number of Union citizens perceive a lack of precise and reliable information as regards the changes made to the maximum permitted levels in the aftermath of the Fukushima accident,” wrote EU Ombudsman P. Nikiforos Diamandouros in a letter addressed to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso on 19 May.

Diamandouros noted that while the EU executive’s websites provide links to relevant adopted legislation (297/2011 and 351/2011), “no comparative information on the maximum permitted levels before and after the Fukushima accident has apparently been made available”.

Full Story Here: Ombudsman slams secrecy over Fukushima contamination | EurActiv.

The U.S. isn’t doing enough to curtail excessive banker bonuses, Europe’s top financial regulator told the Obama administration in a recently-disclosed letter.

“I think you agree with me that ‘bankers’ bonuses’ is a matter that continues to cause public outrage,” Michel Barnier, the European commissioner overseeing finance, wrote to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. “Getting this matter right is key to restoring our citizens’ confidence in the financial system -– and ultimately -– their confidence in the public authorities regulating the financial institutions.”

Lavish compensation paid to traders and bankers during the housing-driven bubble fueled risk-taking at the nation’s largest financial firms, experts have said. Those risks eventually led to the collapse of storied firms, the near-collapse of the financial system and the most punishing economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Full Story Here: Michel Barnier: Obama Administration, Regulators Not Doing Enough To Curb Banker Bonuses.

They watched as the Amazon rain forest fell around them. Instead of staying quiet, as so many people in the lawless region do, environmentalist leader Jose Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and his wife, Maria, fought back.

They reported illegal loggers to police and federal prosecutors. They confronted powerful interests that destroy the forest for the quick economic gains to be made from selling timber, or from clearing land to raise cattle or soybeans.

This week, like so many Amazon activists before them, the Silvas were gunned down.

Full Story Here: Adelino Ramos Killed: Third Environmental Activist Murdered This Week In Brazil.

From the FT:

Full Story Here: The Greek “Ultimatum”: Bailout (For The Bankers) And (Loss Of) Sovereignty | zero hedge.

Full Story Here: 100,000 Protesting In Athens Right Now | zero hedge.

More than 100,000 demonstrators took to the streets in 20 cities across Germany on Saturday to call for a rapid end to nuclear power, even as a government-sponsored national commission is expected to recommend that Berlin abolish nuclear energy within a decade.

The Ethics Commission is set to announce the results of its final report on Germany’s energy future, calling for nuclear power to be phased out by 2021.

Chancellor Angela Merkel had tasked the commission with forging a national consensus on how to replace nuclear power with renewable energy in the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe in Japan last March.

Full Story Here: Massive nationwide protests call for an immediate end to nuclear energy | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 28.05.2011.

“No hay peor ciego que el que no quiere ver”

– Spanish saying

(There is no worse blind person than the one who does not wish to see.)

On May 13, Miami newspaper headlines and TV leads should have said: “Obama makes fool of himself.” The “leads” would have referred to his statement: “I would welcome real change from the Cuban government.”

Obama’s conditions? “For us to have the kind of normal relations we have with other countries, we’ve got to see significant changes from the Cuban government and we just have not seen that yet.”

A clever tabloid might have headlined, “Obama Goes Blind – Can’t See Changes Right in Front of His Eyes!”

If Granma had a sense of humor its editorial would have begun with: “President Obama stands for `Change we can believe in,’ but does not stand for change Cuba’s leaders believe in.”

Full Story Here: Saul Landau and Nelson Valdés: Cuba: Facts and Realities.

Now that I’ve dispensed with the obvious and obnoxious teaser headline, let’s drop the towel and expose Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s history of arrogant abuse. The truth is, the grandee of the IMF has molested Africans for years.

On Wednesday, the New York Times ran five – count’em, FIVE – stories on Strauss-Kahn, Director-General of the International Monetary Fund. According to the Paper of Record, the charges against “DSK,” as he’s known in France, are in “contradiction” to his “charm” and “accomplishments” at the IMF.

>Au contraire, mes chers lecteurs.

>Director-General DSK’s cruelty, arrogance and impunity toward African and other nations as generalissimo of the IMF is right in line with the story told by the poor, African hotel housekeeper in New York City.

Full Story Here: The Free Press — Independent News Media from Columbus, Ohio.

I examined in a previous article the ethical case for America repudiating its financial obligations to China.  While considering this tempting possibility—which makes for a better bargaining position if nothing else—we should recall the fact that China has, in fact, repudiated its own financial obligations to other nations.

The key here is that the formerly (and still nominally) communist government in Beijing refused, upon taking control of the country in 1949, to honor the debts incurred by the previous government, the Nationalists of Chiang Kai-shek.

That previous government, like all governments, had a substantial public debt, and just like the U.S. today, much of it was owed to foreigners.

The amount at stake?  As these unpaid obligations have been accumulating for over sixty years now, it is now estimated to come to about $260 billion, mostly bonds. (Source

This repudiation didn’t exactly come as a surprise. At the time, the new government was sincerely communist, and these debts were regarded as the debts of an evil capitalist regime. Furthermore, they were owed to evil capitalists abroad, and if refusing to pay them caused financial hardship or chaos overseas, so much the better.

Unfortunately, international law doesn’t work that way.

If nations were permitted to repudiate their debts due to ideological differences with the previous government, we could wipe out our national debt every time Republicans replaced Democrats in Washington, or vice versa. Indeed, this is why debts are considered “national” debts in the first place: they are obligations of the nation itself, not of any particular group of politicians who happen to be ruling it at a given moment.

The flip side of this principle is, of course, that not only liabilities but also assets carry over from one regime to the next.  This includes everything from the typewriters in the nation’s embassy in Ruritania to the national territory itself.  (And, of course, it includes the money owed to the nation by foreigners.)

Beijing should remember that its claim to the territories of Tibet and Taiwan are based (however dubiously in Tibet’s case) upon historical claims predating the Communists’ seizure of power. But are those who repudiate history entitled to base claims upon it? Hmm…

No nation is entitled to have things both ways.  Either the People’s Republic of China is the successor state to Nationalist China, in which case it must honor the latter’s debts, or it isn’t, in which case it is not the legitimate government of the country, and we might as well go back to the curious era (1949-71) in which we regarded Taipei as the legitimate government of all China.

China is not, of course, the only nation to have welched on its international debts.  Russia did it in 1917, Cuba in 1961, and North Korea in 1964.

Conversely, any number of nations have gone through wrenching ideological transitions without repudiating their debts.  For example, South Africa’s government continues to honor the debts incurred by the apartheid state that preceded it. When the communist government of Russia fell in 1991, there followed a flurry of claims on its successor, which were worked out in various (not entirely satisfactory) ways.

There were partial settlements of some of China’s foreign debts in 1979, but this did not include the aforementioned $260 in bonds.  In 1987, the British did a deal with China concerning their share of the outstanding obligations, but this deal did not cover non-UK citizens. But in 2006, the Chinese Ministry of Finance formally informed the U.S. government that it was not willing to repay the rest of China’s outstanding obligations.

China’s debt repudiation has not, as one might imagine, receded into ancient history.  On July 17, 2008, the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade of the House Committee on Foreign Relations held hearings on the matter. So it remains a quiet but live issue.  Bondholders seem to have long memories.

Distressingly,  there is also another very contemporary angle to this issue. The very same credit ratings agencies that approved billions of bad mortgage securities stand accused of complicity in China’s attempt to run from its financial past. There is a formal legal complaint outstanding with the U.S. Department of Justice antitrust division (viewable here) accusing these agencies of colluding with each other and Beijing to do this.

The significance for the present day is that  they stand accused of overstating the reliability of contemporary Chinese debt by, among other things, ignoring the government’s past unreliability.  (As we saw in the Asian Crisis of 1998, these agencies are quite capable of mis-rating governments.)  Given the scale of sovereign borrowing by the world’s second-largest economy, this may  not remain an abstract problem forever.

Ian Fletcher is Senior Economist of the Coalition for a Prosperous America, a nationwide grass-roots organization dedicated to fixing America’s trade policies and comprising representatives from business, agriculture, and labor. He was previously Research Fellow at the U.S. Business and Industry Council, a Washington think tank, and before that, an economist in private practice serving mainly hedge funds and private equity firms. Educated at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, he lives in San Francisco. He is the author of Free Trade Doesn’t Work: What Should Replace It and Why.

Tens of thousands of people are defying a pre-election ban on demonstrations and protesting unemployment in squares around Spain in defiance of an order to quit at midnight.

The government avoided saying if it would order police to break up the crowds on Saturday, but at the stroke of midnight officers kept a discreet presence on the edges of the demonstrations.

Demonstrators kept quiet as city clocks chimed the beginning of a new day, many with sticky tape over their mouths in a gesture organizers said suggested they have things to say but were being gagged by the ban.

Full Story Here: Spain: Massive Crowds Defy Ban on Protests | Common Dreams.

Tens of thousands of Spaniards angry over joblessness protested for a sixth day on Friday in cities all over the country, and the government looked unlikely to enforce a ban on the demonstrations, fearing clashes.

Dubbed “los indignados” (the indignant), tens of thousands of protesters have filled the main squares of Spain’s cities for six days, in a wave of outrage over economic stagnation and government austerity marking a shift after years of patience.

The electoral board ruled on Thursday that protests would be illegal on Saturday, the eve of elections when Spaniards will choose 8,116 city councils and 13 out of 17 regional governments.

Full Story Here: Spain Protests Rock Nation, Tens Of Thousands Fill The Cities Over Joblessness.

Greece must avoid debt restructuring and push on with budget cuts and privatisations to overcome its debt crisis, the country’s Prime Minister George Papandreou and senior ECB officials said on Saturday.

Papandreou must present a fiscal plan next week that is credible enough for the European Union and the International Monetary Fund to continue bankrolling his debt-laden country.

But a large majority of Greeks reject more austerity, according to a poll published on Saturday, which also shows the ruling socialists losing their lead versus the conservative opposition for the first time since their 2009 election victory.

Full Story Here: Greek Prime Minister Papandreou Rejects Debt Restructuring.

Iceland closed its main international airport and canceled all domestic flights Sunday as a powerful volcanic eruption sent a plume of ash, smoke and steam 12 miles (20 kilometers) into the air.

The eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano was far larger than one a year ago at another Icelandic volcano that upended travel plans for 10 million people around the world, but scientists said it was unlikely to have the same widespread effect.

University of Iceland geophysicist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson said this eruption, which began Saturday, was Grimsvotn’s largest eruption for 100 years.

Full Story Here: Iceland Volcano: Grimsvotn Ash Shuts Airport, Flights Canceled.

JAPAN has started the first evacuations of homes outside a government exclusion zone after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami crippled one of the country’s nuclear power plants.

About 4000 residents of Iidate-mura village and 1100 people in Kawamata-cho town, in the quake-hit northeast, began the phased relocations to public housing, hotels and other facilities in nearby cities.

Their communities are outside the 20km radius from the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, officially designated as an area of forced evacuation due to health risks from the radiation seeping from the ageing and damaged plant.

Full Story Here: Japan left with no choice but to widen nuke evacuation zone | Herald Sun.

The arrest of IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn complicates a key European meeting on whether to give Greece billions more in aid – but experts insisted one man’s troubles won’t keep the 17 eurozone nations from trying to contain a debt crisis that threatens them all.

Eurozone financial leaders are to discuss Greece’s deteriorating economy Monday at a Brussels meeting where experts will brief them on the situation in Athens. Key questions include what conditions to put on more help to the debt-strapped nation, with European leaders unhappy at what they see as limited Greek efforts to raise money by selling government property.

Strauss-Kahn was arrested Sunday in New York on suspicion of sexual assault on a hotel maid.

Despite the arrest, the International Monetary Fund said in a statement it remains “fully functioning and operational.” The IMF Executive Board convened an informal session Sunday and made Strauss-Kahn’s deputy, John Lipsky, acting managing director while its chief was unavailable.

Full Story Here: IMF Head’s Arrest Casts Shadow On Greek Bailout Meeting.

By MICHAEL LEONARDI

Naples.

Italy’s democracy is in tatters as Silvio Berlusconi and his ruling right-wing coalition work to block a citizen’s referendum that would repeal the decision of the Berlusconi government to return to nuclear energy production on the peninsula. Italy has not produced nuclear energy since 1990 and recent polls indicate that more than 75 % of Italians are opposed to nuclear energy production. The referendum in question is on the ballot for the 12th and 13th of June, although a recent call by the Berlusconi government for a one year moratorium on the relaunch of nuclear energy in Italy threatens to push the referendum off the ballot through a last minute legal ruling. The campaign to bring this referendum to a vote was spearheaded by opposition political party Italia Dei Valori (Italy of Values) which led a broad based coalition of citizen and environmental groups to gather the 500,000 signatures needed to get the referendum on the ballot.

Italy is the only G8 country that does not produce nuclear energy. It has been free of functioning nuclear power plants since 1990 but does receive around 10% of its electricity from nuclear energy generated in France and Germany. Citizens successfully passed a referendum in 1987, one year after the catastrophic Chernobyl accident, that called for the phasing out and suspension of nuclear energy production. In 1987 Italy had two operating nuclear plants and has had four operational reactors in its history. In 2007 while campaigning for his third election, Berlusconi announced his intentions to return to nuclear energy production in Italy as a strategic part of a national energy policy.

Full Story Here: Michael Leonardi: Italy’s Great Nuclear Swindle.

Thousands of people rallied in Japan Saturday to demand a shift away from nuclear power after an earthquake and tsunami sparked the world’s worst atomic crisis since Chernobyl a quarter-century ago.

Braving spring drizzle, thousands of demonstrators gathered at a park in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, many holding hand-made banners reading: “Nuclear is old!” and “We want a shift in energy policy!”

The protest came a day after Prime Minister Naoto Kan called a halt to operations at a nuclear plant southwest of Tokyo because it is near a tectonic faultline, fearing a disaster like that which hit the Fukushima Daiichi plant in March.

Full Story Here: Thousands Rally in Japan Against Nuclear Power | Common Dreams.

By FIDEL CASTRO

Those persons who deal with these issues know that on September 11 of 2001 our people expressed its solidarity to the US people and offered the modest cooperation that in the area of health we could have offered to the victims of the brutal attack against the Twin Towers in New York.

We also immediately opened our country’s airports to the American airplanes that were unable to land anywhere, given the chaos that came about soon after the strike.

The traditional stand adopted by the Cuban Revolution, which was always opposed to any action that could jeopardize the life of civilians, is well known.

Although we resolutely supported the armed struggle against Batista’s tyranny, we were, on principle, opposed to any terrorist action that could cause the death of innocent people. Such behavior, which has been maintained for more than half a century, gives us the right to express our views about such a sensitive matter.

Full Story Here: Fidel Castro: The Assassination of Osama Bin Laden.

Mexican poet Javier Sicilia, who became the leading voice of the discontent towards the government’s method of tackling the drug trafficking problem after his son Juan Francisco was killed, is inviting all those who want ‘peace and justice’ to join the protests next Sunday.

Here is Javier Sicilia’s message in English:

Full Story Here: Mexico Prepares for Massive National Protest on May 8 · Global Voices.