Shortage of RAF pilots for Libya as defence budget cuts bite

The RAF risks running short of pilots for operations over Libya as cuts to the defence budget threaten to undermine front-line operations, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Since the conflict began, a squadron of 18 RAF Typhoon pilots has enforced the Libya no-fly zone from an air base in southern Italy. However, a shortage of qualified fighter pilots means the RAF may not have enough to replace all of them when the squadron has to rotate in a few weeks.

The situation is so serious that the RAF has halted the teaching of trainee Typhoon pilots so instructors can be drafted on to the front line, according to air force sources. The handful of pilots used for air shows will also be withdrawn from displays this summer.

The shortage has arisen because cuts to the defence budget over the past decade have limited the number of pilots who have been trained to fly the new Typhoon.

There are also fewer newly qualified pilots coming through after the RAF was forced to cut a quarter of its trainee places due to cuts announced in last year’s Strategic Defence and Security Review.

The Government’s decision to decommission HMS Ark Royal, Harrier jump jets and the Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft — all of which could have played a role in the Libya conflict — has exacerbated the problem. Serving RAF pilots contacted The Daily Telegraph to warn of the risks to the Libya operation. “We have a declining pool of pilots,” one said. “There’s less people to do twice as much work. If we are not training any more we are going to run out of personnel very soon.” (read more)

Japan nuclear crisis continues: Contaminated Water Extends at Least a Mile Into the Ocean Near the Plant, Officials Say

As radiation in seawater near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant increases, Japanese officials said the reactors have damaged fuel rods and may be in partial meltdown.

In a newly released video, smoke can be seen billowing from reactors two and three — the only visible sign of the catastrophe happening inside.

On Monday, workers continued to pump out radioactive water inside the plant, according to the Associated Press. Officials said the contaminated water must be taken out before workers can restart and restore the plant's cooling system.

Radioactive water has been found in all four of the reactors at the plant.

The news comes a day after officials apologized for an inaccurate reading of a major increase in radioactivity which caused a panic that led workers to flee the plant. The inaccurate reading was confirmed as a mistake Sunday night by operators at the plant.

"The number is not credible," said Tokyo Electric Power Company spokesman Takashi Kurita. "We are very sorry."

The mistake prompted harsh criticism from the government.

"Such a mistake is not something that should be forgiven or acceptable," said government spokesman Yukio Edano. (read more)

U.S. military considers mandatory evacuations in Yokosuka, Japan

The U.S. military is considering the mandatory evacuation of thousands of American troops and their families in Japan out of concern over rising radiation levels, a senior defense official tells CNN.

The official, who did not want to be on the record talking about ongoing deliberations, says there are no discussions to evacuate all U.S. troops across the country. The talks have focused exclusively on U.S. troops in Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo, the official said. Yokosuka is home to America's largest naval base in Japan. The military is monitoring radiation levels on a constant basis.

As of Monday, the U.S. Navy had no more warships in port at the base. The aircraft carrier USS George Washington, which had been undergoing maintenance in Yokosuka, left port Monday to get away from the plume of radioactive particles that could blow over the base. Because it left port with a much smaller than normal crew, the George Washington will not take part in the Japanese relief effort.

The official said the talks originated with Pacific Command, the military authority that directly oversees U.S. troops in the region, but "discussions have since taken place here in Washington as well."

The official told CNN this is strictly a contingency plan, and could be accomplished "if they needed to do it in a hurry, with gray tails," or large military transport planes like a C-17. (read more)

CBS News first reported that the evacuations were being considered.

Status report: Reactor-by-reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi plant

Since March 11, the six reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant have been in various states of disrepair after being battered by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami.

Here is the latest on the status of each reactor and what is being done to prevent further emissions of radioactive material.

Reactor No. 1

The temperature has been rising in the reactor's core, Hidehiko Nishiyama of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said Monday.

To address this issue, the flow rate of freshwater into the reactor core will be further adjusted, the nuclear safety official said. That water is being directed in via a fire truck and temporary electricity-driven pump.

On Tuesday, the plan is to switch over to more a permanent power generator for the unit's cooling system, Nishiyama said. The No. 1 unit's power supply will be distinct than those for other reactors to "avoid risks" trickling down elsewhere if there is a breakdown, according to the official.

Cable was being laid Monday to supply power to permanent monitoring outposts around the No. 1 unit complex, Nishiyama said. Since the March 11 quake, radiation has been monitored from mobile systems. (read more)

Western double standards over Libya will help Islamists

After the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979, the West nervously waited for similar uprisings in the "Arab Street." Practically nothing changed in the Arab world in the last 30 years. Yet, since the beginning of 2011, events in the Middle East have been unfolding at a dizzying pace.

We are only in March, and already regimes in Tunisia and Egypt have been overthrown by the peoples' demonstrations; the uprising in Libya has forced the international community to take military action against Muammar Gadhafi; Yemen is witnessing bloody chaos; Syria is showing signs of serious unrest and Saudi Arabia intervened in Bahrain to crush the opposition.

Welcome to a rapidly changing new Middle East.

So far, none of the peoples' movements have been directed against the West. It was not "Western imperialism" but a combination of domestic political repression, youth unemployment, heightened expectations and socio-economic deprivation that mobilized Arab masses.

Unfortunately, this positive dynamic may soon come to an end. (read more)

Low-level radiation found in Massachusetts rainwater

Trace amounts of radioactive iodine linked to Japan's crippled nuclear power station have turned up in rainwater samples as far away as Massachusetts during the past week, state officials said on Sunday.

The low level of radioiodine-131 detected in precipitation at a sample location in Massachusetts is comparable to findings in California, Washington state and Pennsylvania and poses no impact to drinking supplies, public health officials said.

Air samples from the same location in Massachusetts have shown no detectable radiation.

The samples are being collected from more than 100 sites around the country that are part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Radiation Network monitoring system.

"The drinking water supply in Massachusetts is unaffected by this short-term, slight elevation in radiation," said Massachusetts Public Health Commissioner John Auerbach. "We will carefully monitor the drinking water as we exercise an abundance of caution." (read more)

Unpaid jobs: The new normal? (The new slavery?)

While businesses are generally wary of the risks of using unpaid labor, companies that have used free workers say it can pay off when done right.

With nearly 14 million unemployed workers in America, many have gotten so desperate that they're willing to work for free. While some businesses are wary of the legal risks and supervision such an arrangement might require, companies that have used free workers say it can pay off when done right.

"People who work for free are far hungrier than anybody who has a salary, so they're going to outperform, they're going to try to please, they're going to be creative," says Kelly Fallis, chief executive of Remote Stylist, a Toronto and New York-based startup that provides Web-based interior design services. "From a cost savings perspective, to get something off the ground, it's huge. Especially if you're a small business."

In the last three years, Fallis has used about 50 unpaid interns for duties in marketing, editorial, advertising, sales, account management and public relations. She's convinced it's the wave of the future in human resources. "Ten years from now, this is going to be the norm," she says. (read more)

Japan Extended Fukushima Nuclear Reactor’s Life, Despite Warning

Just a month before a powerful earthquake and tsunami crippled the Fukushima Daiichi plant at the center of Japan’s nuclear crisis, government regulators approved a 10-year extension for the oldest of the six reactors at the power station despite warnings about its safety.

The regulatory committee reviewing extensions pointed to stress cracks in the backup diesel-powered generators at Reactor No. 1 at the Daiichi plant, according to a summary of its deliberations that was posted on the Web site of Japan’s nuclear regulatory agency after each meeting. The cracks made the engines vulnerable to corrosion from seawater and rainwater. The generators are thought to have been knocked out by the tsunami, shutting down the reactor’s vital cooling system.

The Tokyo Electric Power Company, which runs the plant, has since struggled to keep the reactor and spent fuel pool from overheating and emitting radioactive materials.

Several weeks after the extension was granted, the company admitted that it had failed to inspect 33 pieces of equipment related to the cooling systems, including water pumps and diesel generators, at the power station’s six reactors, according to findings published on the agency’s Web site shortly before the earthquake.

Regulators said that “maintenance management was inadequate” and that the “quality of inspection was insufficient.” (read more)

Is the silver price heading for a fall?

On Thursday last week, silver reached its highest level since February 1980. For the past two years it has outpaced gold as the precious commodity to own, but is the price now set for a fall?

Certainly, the fundamentals are sound. Declining mine production has resulted in a tight supply as demand continues to rise.

Investors are still keen on silver because of currency and geopolitical concerns. Holdings in the iShares Silver Trust, the largest silver exchange-traded fund (ETF) in the world, increased by 179 tonnes to 11,140 tonnes in the week to March 24. Gold holdings in ETFs fell over the same time period.

"The psychologically important mark of $40 a troy ounce is meanwhile within a reachable proximity," Commerzbank said on examining the ETF figures.

The fact that investors are keen on silver means that ETFs take supply out of the market, which can mean price rises become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Silver is also an industrial metal, so demand for it is rising as the global economy recovers. Although it is no longer used much in photography, as the industry switches to digital applications, its use in electronics sectors, especially in semiconductor production, is increasing. There are also new applications for the metal emerging, such as silver oxide batteries. (read more)

Idaho: Flooding spiked lead levels in Lake Coeur d’Alene

An estimated 352,000 pounds of lead washed into Lake Coeur d’Alene on Jan. 18 after flooding related to a rain-on-snow event.

That’s the weight equivalent of 70 Dodge Ram 1500 pickups – and the highest volume of lead recorded in a 24-hour period since major flooding in February 1996.

Greg Clark, a U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist, attributed high lead concentrations to a rapid rise in the Coeur d’Alene River caused by pounding rains and melting snow. At Harrison, where the river empties into Lake Coeur d’Alene, the Jan. 18 flows averaged 19,000 cubic feet per second.

“We haven’t seen those kinds of flows in quite a while,” said Clark, associate director of the Idaho Water Science Center in Boise. “We end up with a lot of metals – lead in particular – transported to the lake during those types of events.”

The lead is the legacy of 140 years of hard-rock mining in the Coeur d’Alene River’s headwaters. Government officials said the January data demonstrates the complexity of mine Superfund cleanup.

“There’s so much lead in that upper basin,” said Ed Moreen, a program manager for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “It’s going to continue to get picked up and redistributed into Lake Coeur d’Alene until we can do something about it.” (read more)

US: Interior Secretary Ken Salazar opens 750M tons of Wyoming coal to mining

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced plans Tuesday to auction off vast coal reserves in Wyoming over the next five months, unleashing a significant but controversial power source amid uncertainty about clean and safe energy development.

The four coal leases next to existing strip mines in the Powder River Basin - the largest coal-producing region in the United States - total 758 million tons and will take between 10 and 20 years to mine.

Last year's Gulf of Mexico oil spill raised questions about offshore oil drilling and the current Japanese nuclear power plant crisis has renewed concern about nuclear energy, but coal has its own baggage - especially when it comes to climate change.

About 40 percent of the nation's coal comes from Wyoming, and coal from the Powder River Basin used in power plants accounts for nearly 14 percent of all U.S. carbon dioxide emissions, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. (read more)

Gross: More sewage treatment disks on Massachusetts shores

More of those little white disks from a New Hampshire sewage plant are washing up on shores further down the Massachusetts coast. The latest place they've been found is Revere Beach and there's word that they could end up on Cape Cod.

A stormy day at Revere Beach, and while the rain didn’t keep everyone away, there is concern that the disks will.

A new wave of sewage treatment disks are invading Massachusetts beaches further south than before.

“I hope they can take care of it as fast as possible,” said Brad Cranston, beachgoer. “The whole idea of having something like that out here is pretty disturbing.”

“It’s not something I’d want to see on a beach and having my kids pick up,” said Barry Cohen, beachgoer.

Eight million of the mesh disks that filter sewage in Hooksett, New Hampshire overflowed. First the problem was on the Merrimack River and then it moved into Newburyport and Plum Island, and now Nahant, Lynn and Revere are all affected, and officials say there will be more. (read more)

Libya rebels say seeking to lift oil sanctions - 28th Mar 2011

BENGHAZI, Libya, March 28 (Reuters) - A senior Libyan rebel official said on Monday rebels were in "active discussions" to have sanctions lifted on purchases of crude produced from east Libyan fields that are no longer in Muammar Gaddafi's control.

"We hope they will be lifted for the liberated areas as quickly as possible," Ali Tarhouni, a rebel official in charge of economic, financial and oil matters, in rebel-held Benghazi told Reuters. "Not with everybody, but with some countries."

A U.S. Treasury Department official said rebels could sell Libyan crude without being subject to U.S. sanctions if they conducted the transactions outside the National Oil Corporation and other sanctioned entities in Gaddafi's administration. (Reporting by Alexander Dziadosz; Editing by Ibon Villelabeitia in Cairo and David Gregorio in New York) Source

Japan finds plutonium at stricken nuclear plant - 28th Mar 2011

Plutonium found in soil at the crippled Fukushima nuclear complex heightened alarm on Tuesday over Japan's lengthy battle to contain the world's worst atomic crisis in 25 years.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said the radioactive material, which is used in nuclear bombs, was traced in soil at five locations at the complex, hit by an earthquake and tsunami on March 11.

The drama at the six-reactor facility has compounded the Asian nation's agony after the natural disasters killed at least 11,000 people, left more than 17,000 missing, and made about a quarter of a million people homeless in the devastated north.

In a briefing around midnight in Tokyo, the vice-president of under-pressure TEPCO apologized for making people even more worried with the announcement -- but stressed the traces of plutonium 238, 239 and 240 were not dangerous.

"Plutonium found this time is at a similar level seen in soil in a regular environment and it's not at the level that's harmful to human health," Sakae Muto told reporters.

Muto said the readings were similar to those found in the past in other parts of Japan due to particles carried in the atmosphere after nuclear testing abroad.

TEPCO said it was unclear where the plutonium was from, though it appeared two of the five finds were related to damage from the plant rather than from the atmosphere. Read More

Physicists create heaviest form of antimatter ever seen - 22nd Mar 2011

A newly created form of antimatter is the heaviest and most complex anti-thing ever seen. Anti-helium nuclei, each containing two anti-protons and two anti-neutrons, have been created and detected at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) in Upton, New York.

Anti-particles have the opposite electrical charge to ordinary matter particles (anti-neutrons, which are electrically neutral, are made up of antiquarks that have the opposite charge to their normal quark counterparts). They annihilate on contact with matter, making them notoriously tricky to find and work with. Until recently, the most complex unit of antimatter ever seen was the counterpart of the helium-3 nucleus, which contains two protons and one neutron.

But experiments at RHIC are changing that. RHIC collides heavy atomic nuclei such as lead and gold to form microscopic fireballs, where energy is so densely packed that many new particles can be created. Read More

The 'Holy Grail' of science: The artificial leaf researchers claim will turn every home into its own power station - 28th Mar 2011

Scientists claim to have found the 'Holy Grail' of science in an artificial leaf that could turn ever British home into its own power station.

The leaf, which is the same size as a playing card, mimics the process of photosynthesis that plants use to convert sunlight and water into energy.

Scientists behind the invention say it could provide an affordable solution to the third world's growing energy crisis.

Dr Daniel Nocera, who led the research team, said: 'A practical artificial leaf has been one of the Holy Grails of science for decades.

'We believe we have done it.

'The artificial leaf shows particular promise as an inexpensive source of electricity for homes of the poor in developing countries. Our goal is to make each home its own power station.

'One can envision villages in India and Africa not long from now purchasing an affordable basic power system based on this technology.' Read More

Sick Britain: The jeering crowds who urged suicidal man on McDonald's roof to 'jump off' - 28th Mar 2011

Jeering crowds urged a suicidal man to man to jump 50ft to his death from the roof of a McDonald's restaurant while police tried to talk him down, it was claimed yesterday.

He teetered on the edge of the building in Lowestoft, Suffolk, as spectators allegedly yelled 'jump off' and 'stop wasting our time, we've been here for ages, do us a favour' .

Trained police negotiators were brought in and spent nearly 11 hours talking to him as firefighters and paramedics stood by.

The 38-year-old called police at 5pm on Friday to say he was on the roof and about to throw himself off.

The man, who had climbed on to the roof via a fire escape, eventually agreed to come down safely and was arrested just before 4am.

Ian Armitage, 28, of Norwich, Norfolk, was shocked to hear drunken revellers shouting at the man to jump when he arrived at Lowestoft station at 11pm after a family event in the town.

He said: 'There were around 30 people watching on, huddled around the station building. I don't know if they had been out drinking or messing about but some were laughing and pointing.

Read More

Fact or Fiction - Family send in paranormal experts after 'capturing ghost' in home video - 28th Mar 2011

A spooked family have called in a real-life 'ghostbuster' - after claiming to have captured on video a poltergeist moving a chair across a bedroom.

Lisa Manning and her children Ellie, 11, and Jaydon, six, have fled their house in terror several times because of bizarre goings-on.

They include pots and pans being thrown around the kitchen, window blinds moving up and down by themselves, lights being switched on and off and drawers being opened.

Last week they were even forced to climb out of a window after being trapped in their living room when the door locked by itself.

Now they have been advised to wear crucifixes by a priest after capturing video footage of a chair moving by itself in Ellie's bedroom.

Carer Miss Manning, 34, shot the film two weeks ago after putting hidden cameras in the family's home in Holbrooks, an area of Coventry.

The 52-second clip shows a wardrobe door opening before a pink swivel chair moves slowly backwards towards the wall. Read More

Northern Rock to axe 680 jobs to 'cut costs'... weeks after paying £13million in bonuses to staff - 28th Mar 2011

Nationalised lender Northern Rock said today that it expects a further 680 job losses by the end of the year as it moves to drive down its costs.

The taxpayer-owned bank, which recently posted an annual loss in 2010, said the cuts are necessary as it tries to return to profit and prepares for a return to private ownership.

But the move comes just weeks after it announced it would pay staff bonuses worth a total of £13.1million despite making a £232million loss.

Northern Rock was nationalised in February 2008 after it collapsed amid the credit crisis, sparking the first run on a UK bank for 150 years.

It employed a workforce of around 6,500 in 2007; this latest announcement reduces the workforce to fewer than 2,000.

The Government split Northern Rock in two at the start of last year, forming a mortgage and savings bank called Northern Rock plc and Northern Rock Asset Management (NRAM) to house the more toxic loans.

Earlier this year, the Government launched a tender for advisers to look at options for Northern Rock plc, including a possible sale. Read More

'Death Squad': Full horror emerges of how rogue U.S. brigade murdered and mutilated innocent Afghan civilians - and kept their body parts as trophies

Shocking new details emerged today of how American soldiers formed a 'death squad' to randomly murder Afghan civilians and mutilate their corpses.

An investigation by Rolling Stone magazine details how senior officers failed to stop troops killing Afghans and keeping their body parts as trophies.

In one horrific episode, the magazine claims troops chopped off a dead Afghan boy's finger and later used it as 'gambling chip' in a game of cards.

The damning dossier is likely to prove to be highly damaging for the Army still reeling from last week's revelations about the brutal acts of violence carried out by the notorious 'death squad'.

The investigation by Rolling Stone also revealed how:

• Troops shot dead civilians and tried to cover their tracks;
• U.S. soldiers hacked off part of a dead man's skull;
• Soldiers cheered as they filmed a U.S. airstrike blowing up two Afghan civilians;
• A video showed two Afghans on a motorcycle being gunned down.

Read More

"Fukushima probably exceeds Chernobyl and there is no end in sight"

Watch at the 3:00 mark when the headline quotation is made. Scary.

US Marines on ground in Libya?

WCTI-TV in New Bern reports those Marines, assigned to the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) at Camp Lejuene, are "preserving the sanctity of the city [of Ajdubiyah] and the safety of the civilians within it."

Capt. Timothy Patrick with the 26th MEU told the station: "In Libya right now they are doing exactly what we need them to do. They are doing what they are told, and right now that's protecting Libyan people against Qadhafi forces."

Evidently the Marines' efforts are being successful. The commanding officer of the 26th MEU, Col. Mark Desens, says that following a second round of strikes by AV-8B Harrier jets, the Libyan dictator's forces "are now less capable of threatening the town than before."

According to the report, the 2,200 Marines with the 26th MEU are nearing the end of their deployment in the Mediterranean area and are due to be replaced with Marines from the 22nd MEU out of Camp Lejeune. A March 7 notice from the commanding officer of the 22nd MEU says that unit was being deployed to the Mediterranean Sea earlier than previously planned. (read more)

Shipwreck threatens island penguins on Nightingale Island

A wrecked ship is threatening to cause an environmental disaster on an island which is home to endangered penguins, conservationists warned today.

The vessel has grounded on Nightingale Island, part of the Tristan da Cunha UK overseas territory in the South Atlantic, causing an oil slick around the island which is home to nearly half the world's population of northern rockhopper penguins.

Some 1,500 tonnes of heavy crude oil from the MS Olivia, which was shipping soya beans between Rio de Janeiro and Singapore, is leaking into the sea.

According to the RSPB, oil now surrounds Nightingale Island and extends into a slick eight miles offshore, threatening the endangered penguins and the economically important rock lobster fishery.

Hundreds of penguins have already been seen coming ashore covered in oil, the wildlife charity said.

The shipwreck could also lead to any rats onboard colonising the island and posing a huge risk to the native seabird populations - whose chicks and eggs could be eaten by the invasive rodents.

The Tristan da Cunha islands, in particular Nightingale and its neighbour Middle Island, are home to millions of nesting seabirds.

There are more than 200,000 northern rockhopper penguins on the island.

RSPB research biologist Richard Cuthbert said: "The consequences of this wreck could be potentially disastrous for wildlife and the fishery-based economy of these remote islands. (read more)

Chart: Why $4-Per-Gallon Gas Is Damn Cheap

Inspired by Cord's thought-provoking post on the per gallon prices of various liquids, and by Sarah Palin's ill-informed Facebook rant on the "$4-Per-Gallon President," I decided to take a closer look at gasoline prices around the world. Mrs. Palin might be interested to learn, that the world already has quite a few $4-Per-Gallon Presidents. In fact, the world already has $6-Per-Gallon Parliaments, $7-Per-Gallon Prime Ministers, and $8-Per-Gallon Presidents!

We've collected a broad sample of gas prices from throughout the industrialized Western world in the chart below. Important to note: this chart includes only official data from throughout the European Union and North America. I've included some self-reported gas prices from a handful of relevant nations below the chart. (read more)

Capitalism is great: Working mothers spend just over an HOUR a day with their children

Working mothers spend just over an hour a day day with their children, a study has revealed.

The average figures include weekends - so many manage no more than a few minutes each day with their youngsters during the week.

Despite the figures, experts said working parents juggling a career with their household duties should focus on quality of time with their children rather than quantity.

British mothers manage just one hour and 21 minutes a day with their children - making them some of the busiest in Europe. In contrast, Irish working mums manage almost twice as much.

Hard-working BBC newsreader and mother-of-three Sophie Raworth has said she dedicates 15 minutes of her parenting time to each of her children following the U.S. Fast parenting scheme.

She explored the programme, which is designed to improve behaviour, in a recent BBC Two documentary.

Although working mothers struggle to squeeze in their household duties around their jobs, stay-at-home mums manage two hours and 35 minutes with their children each day. (read more)

Seven months pregnant woman told to give up her British Airways seat... just so Gordon Brown could fly Club Class: UK

Gordon Brown sparked a mutiny on a British Airways flight after he was blamed for an attempt to downgrade a heavily pregnant woman and Red Cross doctor into more cramped seats.

The extraordinary scenes - dubbed Mutiny On The Brown-ty - unfolded on a flight from Abu Dhabi to London, when passengers lost their seats before the former Prime Minister's six-strong entourage got on board.

It prompted an angry war of words with an 'aggressive' Brown aide, and led to a formal complaint to BA and an offer of compensation described as 'derisory' by those involved.

The dispute flared when passengers were told they would have to move to a lower class of seats because of a sudden 'overbooking' problem.

When they checked in at Oman, where the flight originated, some of those in business class were told they would have to switch to premium economy, some in premium economy moved to regular economy - and an unlucky few in economy were kicked off the plane altogether.

The seven-months-pregnant woman, who had bought a £700 premium ticket to secure extra legroom, refused to budge, but her husband was persuaded to shift to economy. The doctor reluctantly agreed to be moved from business. (read more)

New UK Justice: Jon Venables has sex with female prison worker... what a tough life he leads

The mother of James Bulger reacted with disgust and anger last night to revelations that one of her son’s killers had sex with a female guard.

Jon Venables had a tryst with the woman in an empty building at his secure children’s home in 2000 – shortly before he was granted parole.

The guard has not been prosecuted over the sordid episode, which took place when the killer was 17.

Denise Fergus, whose toddler son James was tortured and killed by Venables and his accomplice Robert Thompson, is now demanding a Government inquiry amid claims of a decade-long ‘cover-up’.

And she questioned whether Venables would have been cleared for release in 2001 if the Parole Board had been aware of the incident at Red Bank secure unit in Merseyside.

Officials had been told that Venables – who is now back in jail for possession of child pornography – had been making good progress.

It was reported yesterday that five independent sources were aware of an incident of sexual misconduct – and Red Bank’s attempts to cover it up. (read more)

US: Soaring gas, food prices spell trouble for rural families

Twice a week, Myriam Garcia puts snow chains on her 22-year-old gas guzzler and noses 3.2 kilometres down the hill from her trailer in rural western Montana. Then, instead of turning south and driving the 72 kilometres to Helena for grocery shopping like she used to, she parks on the side of the road and waits for a friend or neighbor heading into town to give her a lift.

In Helena, Jackie Merenz loads her beat-up SUV with juice boxes, graham crackers and apple sauce she bought at Walmart for her 6-year-old daughter's birthday party. The 96-kilometre round trip she makes twice a week for groceries hits her wallet hard — the food stamps don't go far, gas prices are skyrocketing and to top it off, her husband had to stop working after getting injured.

Living out in Montana's Big Sky Country often means driving long distances for the basic necessities, and people on tight budgets like Ms. Garcia, 49, and Ms. Merenz, 26, have long been creative in making ends meet.

But with food prices up nearly 4 per cent last month — the biggest leap in 36 years — and the national average for a gallon of gas at a whopping $3.57 (U.S.), this economic double-whammy is stretching family budgets to the breaking point.

“It took me $50 to fill up my car yesterday. And it will be gone in three days, probably,” Ms. Merenz said. “We already live in HUD housing, we're already on Medicaid, we already have food stamps — and we still struggle.” (read more)

NEWSWEEK gave 1,000 Americans the U.S. Citizenship Test--38 percent failed. The country's future is imperiled "ignorance"

They’re the sort of scores that drive high-school history teachers to drink. When NEWSWEEK recently asked 1,000 U.S. citizens to take America’s official citizenship test, 29 percent couldn’t name the vice president. Seventy-three percent couldn’t correctly say why we fought the Cold War. Forty-four percent were unable to define the Bill of Rights. And 6 percent couldn’t even circle Independence Day on a calendar.

Don’t get us wrong: civic ignorance is nothing new. For as long as they’ve existed, Americans have been misunderstanding checks and balances and misidentifying their senators. And they’ve been lamenting the philistinism of their peers ever since pollsters started publishing these dispiriting surveys back in Harry Truman’s day. (He was a president, by the way.) According to a study by Michael X. Delli Carpini, dean of the Annenberg School for Communication, the yearly shifts in civic knowledge since World War II have averaged out to “slightly under 1 percent.”

But the world has changed. And unfortunately, it’s becoming more and more inhospitable to incurious know-nothings—like us. (read more)

Not over yet: Global economy faced with a new recession following Japan's destruction

Japan’s struggle to avert a nuclear disaster and prepare for a reconstruction of epic proportions is one more risk for a global economy already grappling with mounting risks.

The threats to the fragile recovery were already rising before the devastating earthquake and tsunami brought the world’s third-largest industrial economy to its knees.

And they span the globe – from conflict and oil disruptions in the Middle East and rising inflation in China and other high-growth emerging economies to continuing debt woes in Europe and persistent weakness in U.S. housing and employment, whose recovery is essential to any sustained U.S. rebound.

Adding to the wall of worry, governments have pulled the plug on massive stimulus programs, which played a crucial role in turning around economic fortunes in the wake of the 2008 financial meltdown and ensuing recession.

In their place have come a wave of austerity measures and tighter monetary policies, forced by financial circumstance, political pressure or, in the case of China and India, fears of runaway inflation.

Put it all together and “there is no logical reason” why the global economy will not slow markedly this year, warns Robert Kessler, head of Kessler Investment Advisors in Denver, who advises large corporations and institutions around the world on U.S. Treasury bond investments.

The green shoots of recovery that sparked optimistic forecasts last summer have been buried by a dark winter of growing geopolitical and economic discontent.

“Some time in the next few months, we will be seeing brown shoots again,” Mr. Kessler says. “You have a world that is going through a tremendous amount of turmoil.” (read more)

Quantitative Easing is the end of America as we know it

Each time we begin to approach the end of an announced QE period, the nervous jitters of financial markets start to set in. Will Bernanke continue with QE(n+1) or won’t he? Now it’s true that professional traders live and die by their ability to front run rumor and perception, but for long term investors who fret over such decisions, it demonstrates a fundamental lack of understanding of what QE really is. To put it succinctly, QE is an economic deal with the Devil. Once it is begun in earnest there can be no turning back. It must be played to its ultimate conclusion.

In Bernanke’s 2009 interview on 60 Minutes, he suffered a momentary lapse into honesty and stated that Quantitative Easing was effectively money printing. So why then the complicated euphemism of Quantitative Easing? Because that is what modern central banking sponsored economics is all about – the intentional obfuscation of otherwise simple economic principles to cause the eyes of normal people to glaze over. Once accomplished, the central bankers (and their financial community brethren) are able to pursue policies that greatly benefit themselves but are devastating to everyone else. .

Long term investors who worry about whether QE will continue clearly recognize the fact that everything is now correlated to the Fed’s balance sheet. What they don’t understand is how QE is related to the larger economic cycle and its mission of preventing economic recessions. (read more)

Saturn's UFO moons: Bizarrely-shaped Pan and Atlas baffle scientists

They look more like flying-saucers than icy moons, but Pan and Atlas are two of Saturn's strangest satellites.

Scientists have long been puzzled by how the oddly-shaped moons, which are only 20miles across, came to be.

Researchers based at the European Space Agency now think they have some answers after studying several years worth of cosmic images.

They realised that 14 of Saturn's small moons had a very low density - about half that of water ice - and shapes that suggested they had grown out of the rings themselves.

However, they would have needed a jump start as it is not gravitationally possible for small particles to fuse together within the rings.

Therefore, each moon would have started with a massive core that was a leftover from the original collisions that caused the rings. (read more)

Russia: No UN mandate to attack Gaddafi forces

Russia said on Monday attacks on forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi amounted to intervention in a civil war and were not backed by the U.N. resolution authorising no-fly zones.

In the latest Russian criticism of military action by the Western-led coalition, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the resolution passed by the U.N. Security Council on March 17 had the sole aim of protecting Libyan civilians.

"And yet there are reports -- and nobody denies them -- of coalition strikes on columns of Gaddafi's forces, reports about support for actions by the armed insurgents," Lavrov said. "There are clear contradictions here."

"We consider that intervention by the coalition in what is essentially an internal civil war is not sanctioned by the U.N. Security Council resolution," Lavrov said when asked about Libya at a news conference with the Kyrgyz foreign minister.

Russia has veto power as a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council but chose not to block the resolution, which authorised "all necessary measures to enforce compliance" with no-fly zones.

However, Russian leaders have expressed concern that the resolution gave coalition forces too much leeway and the intervention was causing civilian deaths. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin compared the resolution to "medieval calls for crusades".

Lavrov did not say whether Russia would make any effort to restrict operations by the coalition, which is now led by NATO. (read more)

Reuters: Syrian security forces open fire on hundreds of Demonstrators - 28th Mar 2011

Reuters reported on Monday that syrian security forces opened fire on hundreds of demonstrators chanting against emergency laws in the southern city of Deraa.

According to a witness, the demonstrators had converged on a main square in the city, chanting "We want dignity and freedom" and "No to emergency laws."

Syria has witnessed a wave of unrest that began earlier this month with protests to demand major reforms in the country, which has been ruled by the Baath party since 1963.

Officials have said more than 30 people have been confirmed killed in the violence.

But activists say more than 126 people have died, with upwards of 100 killed on Wednesday alone in a bloody crackdown on protests in the southern town of Daraa. Source

Jordan Protest turns Deadly - 25th Mar 2011

At least 70 people killed and many more wounded in an explosion at Yemen ammunition factory Monday, security officials said. - 28th Mar 2011

An ammunition factory blast killed at least 70 people and wounded many others on Monday near the south Yemeni town of Jaar, a day after Al-Qaeda suspects looted the plant, an official said, updating an earlier toll.

The security official said the explosion came as dozens of residents were inside the factory searching for ammunition, a day after a raid by suspected Al-Qaeda fighters. The cause of the explosion remained unclear.

Around 30 armed and hooded gunmen looted the factory on Sunday and made off in four vehicles with cases of weapons, witnesses said.

The incident came as a security official said that suspected Al-Qaeda militants had seized control of Jaar, a town in the restive southern province of Abyan. Source

Highly radioactive water leaks from Japanese Nuclear Plant - 28th Mar 2011

Highly radioactive water has leaked from a reactor at Japan's crippled nuclear complex, the plant's operator said on Monday, while environmental group Greenpeace said it had detected high levels of radiation outside an exclusion zone.

Reflecting growing unease about efforts to control the six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi complex, plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) had appealed to French companies for help, the Kyodo news agency said.

The plant, 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, was damaged in a March 11 earthquake and tsunami that left more than 27,000 people dead or missing across northeast Japan.

Fires, explosions and radiation leaks have repeatedly forced engineers to suspend efforts to stabilize the plant, including on Sunday when radiation levels spiked to 100,000 times above normal in water inside reactor No. 2 Read More

Fighting fire with volts: How water hoses could be replaced with electric wands - 28th Mar 2011

The fireman's hose could become a thing of the past after scientists discovered the latest flame-fighting tool - an electric wand.

Tests revealed that a bolt of high-powered electricity from hand-held wands is enough to extinguish a raging fire.

A single beam of electricity shot from the wand that opens a path through the flame could then allow firemen to run into a burning building and rescue people inside safety.

The incredible idea is based on a 200-year-old observation that electricity can affect the shape of flames, making flames bend, twist, turn, flicker, and even snuffing them out.

Researchers even hope that 'electric sprinklers' that fire bursts of electricity from the ceiling could replace the present day water ones, causing much less damage.

Research leader Dr Ludovico Cademartiri from Harvard University said: 'Controlling fires is an enormously difficult challenge.

'Our research has shown that by applying large electric fields we can suppress flames very rapidly. We're very excited about the results of this relatively unexplored area of research.'

Read More

I told police who Night Stalker was SEVEN YEARS ago - but they still didn't arrest him, claims friend - 28th Mar 2011

The police had all the details they needed to question Delroy Grant - nicknamed the Night Stalker - seven years ago according to a former friend who claims he contacted Crimestoppers in 2004.

The 53-year-old, who was handed a life sentence last week for robbing and raping hundreds of elderly victims, was not caught by police until 2009 after a series of missed opportunities.

And Ken Buttrick has said that he contacted the authorities in 2004 after seeing an E-fit image which looked like Grant on a televised appeal - and handed the police his former work colleague's name and address.

But still the police did not question Grant and Mr Buttrick believes the rapist went on to attack dozens - if not hundreds - of more victims.

'I gave his name and address - all his details,' the 49-year-old told the Sun. 'He probably attacked hundreds more people after I made that call.'

When Grant, from Brockley in South East London, was eventually arrested two years ago, police interviewed Mr Buttrick - and his old work mate was sentenced to a life behind bars last Friday. Read More

Tokyo protesters demand all nuclear power stations be shut down after agency admits terrible mistake over radiation level readings - 28th Mar 2011

Several hundred protesters took to the streets in Tokyo yesterday to demand the closure of all nuclear plants - as workers at Japan’s crippled nuclear plant fled for their lives following massive radiation readings which later turned out to be false.

The furious demonstrators gathered outside the head office of the Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), which operates the ill-fated Fukushima station as Japan's nuclear crisis continued.

Tepco officials said yesterday that radiation in leaking water in the Unit 2 reactor was 10 million times above normal - an apparent spike that sent employees fleeing the unit. The day ended with officials saying the huge figure had been miscalculated and offering apologies.

'The number is not credible,' Tepco spokesman Takashi Kurita said hours later. 'We are very sorry.'

Then, Tepco Vice President Sakae Muto said a new test had found radiation levels 100,000 times above normal - far better than the first results, though still very high. Read More

Furious mob attack police van as taxi driver Chris Halliwell appears in court to face charge of murdering Sian O'Callaghan - 28th Mar 2011

Taxi driver Christopher Halliwell was greeted by a furious mob as he arrived at court to face a charge of murdering nightclubber Sian O'Callaghan.

Two men had to be restrained by police as the van carrying Halliwell, 47, drove to Swindon Magistrates' Court. They ran up to the van, banging on the side, and were moved back by police.

A crowd of around 50 people had gathered outside the back entrance to the court this morning to await his arrival, many shouting abuse and threats, with some women in tears.

Miss O'Callaghan disappeared after leaving the Suju nightclub in Swindon a week last Saturday after a night out with girlfriends.

Police are trawling through missing persons records in an attempt to identify a second body found after a two-day intensive search of a field.

Officers said they were shown to the spot by a suspect arrested on suspicion of killing Miss O’Callaghan.

Halliwell, from Ashbury Avenue, Swindon, was arrested by Wiltshire Police on Thursday and charged on Saturday night with killing the 22-year-old PA from Swindon.

This morning he was remanded in custody to March 30, and will next appear at Bristol Crown Court. Read More

UK Release Libya Strike Video - 28th Mar 2011

North Korean arms shipment intercepted (but not all) - 23rd Feb 2011

A North Korean weapons shipment bound for Central Africa has been intercepted, in a breach of the United Nations' sanctions against the rogue state.

South African officials told a UN committee that they had seized a container ship last November that was carrying parts for T-54 or T-55 military tanks.

The cargo, which was originally shipped by a North Korean company, was headed for the Republic of the Congo.

After being first loaded onto a ship in China, it was then transferred to a French-owned vessel in Malaysia before making the journey to Africa. The cargo was listed on the manifest as spare parts for a bulldozer.

However, the French crew is thought to have alerted authorities about the suspect containers.

A letter sent by South Africa to the UN Security Council's North Korea sanctions committee said that "the contents fell within the definition of conventional arms in that the contents consisted of components of a military tank T-54/T-55."

Note: 28th March 2011 - "In their hurried retreat from Ras Lanuf, government forces abandoned piles of ammunition. They included grey wooden boxes containing rockets but stamped as holding "parts of bulldozer", manufactured in North Korea.

Rebels Claim 'Gaddafi's Home Town' Taken - 28th Mar 2011

Libyan rebels claim to have taken Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's home town of Sirte, as they continue to push westward towards the capital Tripoli.

"It's confirmed Sirte has fallen into pro-democracy hands," a rebel spokesman, Shamsiddin Abdulmolah, said.

The fall of the town - 280 miles east of Tripoli - could not been independently verified and journalists inside Sirte said there were no indications that the rebels had moved into the centre of the city.

Sky's Emma Hurd, in the rebel-held city of Benghazi, said: "They announce that have taken these places once they reach the eastern edge ... so the status of Sirte is still not clear.

"We were expecting yesterday that it would be very difficult for the rebels to take. We were told that Gaddafi's forces had only retreated as far as Sirte and were digging in there. Read More

Note: The Libyan Government are still denying this report and stand by their comments that Sirte is still under Gaddafi's Command

Off the coast of Costa Rica, an attempt to drill into an Unexplored Frontier - 28th Mar 2011

Scientists are pondering whether Costa Rica might be the best destination for a journey to the Earth's mantle. Geologists want to obtain the deepest rock samples ever obtained below the Earth's surface right off the coast of Costa Rica.

"That has been a long-term ambition of earth scientists," geologist Damon Teagle told National Geographic News.

Teagle said getting rock samples from below the planet's crust would be the equivalent in importance as observing samples taken from the moon. However, technology and funding has hampered this endeavor.

Teagle wrote in the latest issue of the journal Nature that technological advances and better knowledge of the Earth's surface could make obtaining mantle samples easier. If all goes as plan, drilling could begin by 2020. An exploratory drilling mission will begin in Costa Rica this summer.

The Earth's volume and mass mainly comes from the mantle, which begins at the bottom of the crust and goes to the Earth's core – a distance of 1,800 miles down.

A mantle sample would provide many details about the Earth's origins and history. In addition, it would provide better understanding about plate tectonics. The samples would give researchers insight into natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanic eruptions.

Off Costa Rica's Pacific coast could be one of the ideal spots for drilling since it's where Earth's crust is thinnest, only about 2.5 miles thick. Other options considered for drilling include the ocean surface near Baja California in Mexico and Hawaii. Read More