MFS - The Other News

                          Morning Posting.

• Opt Out of a Body Scan? Then Brace Yourself !HAVING been taught by nuns in grade school and later going through military boot camp, I have always disliked uniformed authorities shouting at me. So I was unhappy last week when some security screeners at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago started yelling.“Opt out! We got an opt out!” one bellowed about me in a tone that people in my desert neighborhood in Tucson usually reserve for declaring, “Rattlesnake!”Other screeners took up the “Opt out!” shout. I was marched from the metal detector lane to one of those nearby whole-body imagers, ordered to take everything out of my pockets, remove my belt and hold my possessions up high. Then I was required to stand still while I received a rough pat-down by a man whose résumé, I suspected, included experience at a state prison.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Britain promises to change laws to protect Israelis.Britain has pledged to change its laws for Israelis to be able to visit the country without the risk of being legally pursued for their actions in the Middle East conflict areas.British Foreign Secretary William Hague promised Thursday to make it safe for Israeli leaders and military to land in London without risking detention based on complaints of war crimes, the Jerusalem Post reported."We are acting to correct [universal jurisdiction]... I was critical of the outgoing Labor government for not correcting it," Hague told Channel 10 in an interview taped during his two-day visit to the country."I would expect it to be in place next year, but we will continue to do it to our own timetable. We do not need any intervention by other foreign ministers in that process, including the Israeli one," he said.Read the full story here.

• Obama Set to Reveal $700m Indonesian Forest Funding.US President Barack Obama is expected to use his brief visit to Indonesia next week to announce hundreds of millions of dollars in funding to help the nation tackle climate change, a senior official said on Wednesday. Obama, who is scheduled to visit the country on November 9, is likely to announce $700 million for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, a development fund formed under the Bush administration.“Obama’s good intention should be appreciated; however, we still don’t have any clear mechanism to manage this money. It would be open to misuse,” Teguh said.Hmmmm....ain't it great playing Santa with American taxpayer money for Muslims,while Americans rely on foodstamps?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Group Demands Immediate Halt of Full-Body Airport Scanners.A leading privacy group is urging a federal appeals court to suspend the government’s program of introducing full-body imaging machines at airports across the country.The Transportation Security Administration began deploying 450 of them in March to dozens of airports nationwide.“The suspicionless search of all airport travelers in this most invasive way violates the reasonableness standard contained in the Fourth Amendment,” Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, said Tuesday. He said the devices, costing $1 billion, were designed “to store and record and transmit the unfiltered image of the naked human body. ”The government is expected to respond next month to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• 'There were two loud bangs, then flames': Terror as London to Sydney superjumbo engine 'explodes' with 459 on board.Passengers today described their terror as an engine of their superjumbo burst into flames just minutes after take-off.Witnesses reported a blast that sent debris from the Qantas plane - flying from London to Sydney via Singapore - hurtling to the ground over western Indonesia.The pilot was forced to make an emergency as the 459 people onboard, many of whom are British, braced themselves for the worst.They eventually landed safely in Singapore where they have been offered counselling.There are currently 37 of the A380 aircraft in operation around the world.Singapore Airlines has 11 of the superjumbos, Emirates 13, Qantas six, Air France four and German carrier Lufthansa three.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• US Opposes United Nations as Venue for Mideast Diplomacy.The Obama administration Monday said it opposes shifting the venue of Israel-Palestinian peacemaking to the United Nations. U.S. officials say only direct dialogue and agreement between the parties can produce a two-state settlement of the conflict.The Obama administration is giving a chilly reception to suggestions that recognition of Palestinian statehood by U.N. or other international bodies might advance prospects for an Israeli-Palestinian accord.At a news briefing, State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley was asked to respond to a question by the Arab League chief on Sunday as to "what is wrong with having the U.N. sanction (authorize) or support the peace process?"It doesn't solve the conflict. The only way to end the conflict is to resolve the final-status issues. And the only way to resolve the final status issues is through a direct negotiation," he said. "Unilateral declarations or unilateral actions on one side or the other does not end the conflict, and that is our goal."Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• US president to take chopper into city of Mumbai. US President Barack Obama, who arrives in Mumbai on Saturday, is likely to use a chopper to travel between the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and the city. Though the US officials wanted the Air Traffic Control (ATC) to be manned by all-American controllers, the authorities here decided that they would be allowed on the panel along with their Indian counterparts. "Air traffic will be controlled in view of Obama's schedule in both Mumbai and Delhi," said an official.Meanwhile, an elaborate security drill — involving US secret service agents, Indian intelligence agencies, air traffic controllers and elite NSG commandos — and full rehearsals of arrangements will be held in Mumbai on Thursday to welcome Obama. Hmmm.......someone having fear,what's not being said here?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• 34 warships sent from US for Obama visit.The White House will, of course, stay in Washington but the heart of the famous building will move to India when President Barack Obama lands in Mumbai on Saturday.Communications set-up, nuclear button, a fleet of limousines and majority of the White House staff will be in India accompanying the President on this three-day visit that will cover Mumbai and Delhi.He will also be protected by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, which will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast during his two-day stay there beginning Saturday. The measure has been taken as Mumbai attack in 2008 took place from the sea.Arrangements have been put in place for emergency evacuation, if needed.Even Roosevelt - Churchill did not need that during WWII.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Mumbai's Holy Name School students gear up to welcome Obama to celebrate Diwali."We were surprised and happy to know that our school has been chosen for the Diwali celebrations with the American President Obama," principal of the school Fr Michael Pinto told Press Trust of India.The children of the school are very excited and they feel honoured about Obama's visit to the school, Pinto said.In fact, a group of students have started preparing cultural programmes, projects to impress the president, he added."The president would come to school on Sunday morning and we would give him few presentations on environment. Then a small cultural programme which includes a Diwali dance and a traditional Koli dance would be performed."Small interaction session would be conducted between the students and Obama," Pinto said.When asked if the school was chosen because its a convent institute, the principal denied saying "we have 60% Hindu students, 35% Muslims and only five% Christians. But it may that we have a very good record in academics as well as cultural activities," he said.Nope the President has not "seen the light",still good move for 2012 votes.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:IowntheWorld.The Obama Liquor Cabinet.Rare & pricey beverages cached for President’s visit to Mumbai; special foods already under lock & key, hotel source says.“The hotel has arranged for the best available liquor for Obama and wife Michelle,” a “hotel source” told India’s NDTV. “These drinks are kept only for our special guests. We are hoping that the President will have a drink with us when he is here.”Mrs. Obama does not like the hard stuff, according to NDTV, which notes “A fine selection of wine topped off by the Dom Perignon Rose will be served to Michelle on request.”Hmmm....probably to take away the pain of us she's feeling?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:WUWT.‘Greenest President Ever’ trip to India has a carbon footprint bigger than the citizens of many US cities.Carl Pope, Executive Director of the Sierra Club, wrote in January 2010 on the Huffington Post that President Barack Obama was “The Greenest President Ever“.Weeellll….maybe not. Estimate of the carbon footprint of President Obama’s trip to India.If Obama wanted to offset the Carbon using the tool of choice of his buddy, Al Gore, the Chicago Climate Exchange, he could do so pretty cheaply since carbon offsets there are selling for 5 cents per metric ton.So with 8,469 metric tons of CO2 emitted for the Washington to Bombay round trip, he could buy a carbon indulgence for a mere $423.45. That’s chump change when you are blowing a cool 200 million per day to keep everybody traveling in style.Read the full scandal story here.Click here for comments.

• White House Talking Points Suggest Veto Of Health Care Repeal.In his press conference this morning, President Obama said he'd be willing to tweak and improve his signature initiatives, particularly health care reform. But in new talking points sent our way, the White House makes clear that Obama will veto any attempt to repeal those accomplishments.Meanwhile at his press conference this morning, soon-to-be House Speaker John Boehner insisted that repealing health care reform remains a key GOP priority.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• What’s Wrong with Obama?“Why are they all so afraid to say it: There’s something seriously wrong with Barack Obama. And until the day he’s no longer in the White House, there will be something seriously wrong with America.”– Judi McLoed, Editor of CanadaFreePress.com.Like a broken record, Obama is still talking about Washington’s lobbyists and “special interests.” Obama is a president who looks and sounds “normal”, but whose behavior all points to a variety of pathologies, beginning with narcissism and proceeding through an obsessive attachment to a Marxist ideology, the centralizing of all power, that has been tried and has failed everywhere. There is, too, the complete inability to accept responsibility for his saying instead that “It’s George Bush’s fault” to “I inherited a mess” to “the Republicans must compromise.”Nothing Obama said during his press conference offers any comfort. Rather, a close examination suggests that there is “something seriously wrong” with the 44th President of the United States.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Commission for education proposes mandatory Islamic values in Turkish schools. The unions are opposed to the proposal that will be debated by the National Board of Education, the majority of which is linked to the government, because it will lead to the legitimization and spread of Islamic education in the early grades.The values taught in Turkish schools should be based on "faith in God" and delivered using the terminology of Islam, said a committee of the Board of Education, creating concern among educators in the country. Several committees within the Council have announced proposals for reform that would affect the length of compulsory education, and the fact that classes are or are not mixed. Although the proposals must then be adopted by the General Council, many fear the tendency to impose an Islamic ideology on the national education system.The representatives of the teachers union have left the Council in protest because the time given to trade unions to submit their views was too short, and because they claim that the reforms will lead to a greater spread of the ideology and legitimisation of Islamic education. The unions also complain that the Council is dominated by representatives of the ruling party. "We left because the Council did not meet in a democratic, participatory and democratic manner," said one trade unionist. On the division between male and female he added: "The suggestion to create schools and classes divided according to sex are made by people close to the ruling party."Hmmm.....Erdogan is building another Iran it seems, a dark veil is coming over Turkey, time for Israel and NATO to take their conclusions.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Obama security concern drowns Gateway ferries in Mumbai.Services suspended for Diwali weekend; Mumbai Darshan bus operators also mull cancellations.Yet another casualty of President Obama's visit to the city will be ferry boat operators, that too during one of their most important business weekends of the year.The Mumbai police has issued a notice to the boat operators, asking them to stop boat services from November 5 to November 7. Obama is expected to lodge at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel on November 6 and the cops are not taking any chances with his security arrangements.In addition, the cops have also instructed boat owners to submit ID proofs of all their employees to the nearest police station before Obama lands in the city.Three days of shutdown means a lot of loss, especially during Diwali when the tourist season starts."Meanwhile, another tourist-based service might also suffer the brunt of Obama's security. The popular Mumbai Darshan bus services are now contemplating running during the Diwali weekend. "The entire south Mumbai will remain shut. It makes no sense if we take tourist for Mumbai Darshan as most important places are located in south Mumbai. Considering this situation, we have decided not to ply the buses," said Harsh Kotak, owner of Modern Travels.Hmmm....are birds allowed to fly during his "Highness" his stay?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Deputy FM Ayalon : Israel won't cooperate with UNESCO.Ayalon says world culture organization's call to remove Cave of Patriarchs, Rachel's Tomb from list of Israel's national heritage sites 'part of Palestinian escalation in international organizations'. Last week Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded to UNESCO's decision on Rachel's Tomb and the Cave of Patriarchs by saying that "the attempt to disconnect Israel and its heritage is absurd." Ayalon says world culture organization's call to remove Cave of Patriarchs, Rachel's Tomb from list of Israel's national heritage sites 'part of Palestinian escalation in international organization.A statement released by Netanyahu's office said, "It is unfortunate that an organization established in order to promote historic heritage sites around the world is trying, for political reasons, to uproot the connection between Israel and its heritage." To me all this is part of a bigger plan to brand Israel as a "Rogue" state.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• YouTube Drops Radical Cleric Awlaki's Videos.Popular video-sharing site YouTube has removed videos featuring calls to holy war by an Al Qaeda-linked Muslim cleric after pressure from British and U.S. officials.YouTube spokeswoman Victoria Grand said the videos by Anwar al-Awlaki violated the site's guidelines prohibiting "incitement to commit violent acts," The New York Times reported Wednesday. American and British officials had been pressuring the Google-owned company to take down the videos, fearing that Awlaki's Internet preaching would radicalize Muslims.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• CAIR to Announce Suit Challenging Oklahoma Anti-Islam Amendment.On Thursday, November 4, the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK) will hold a news conference with religious and civil rights leaders in the State Capitol Building to announce the filing of a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of an anti-Islam ballot measure (State Question 755) passed in yesterday's election. The measure amends the state constitution to forbid judges from considering Islamic law or international law when making a ruling.Ok let me get this straight a minority is taking a majority who voted democratically on something to the courts....hmmm ...strange i thought democracy worked in another fashion?Read the full dictatorship story here.Click here for comments.

• Obama's star fades in Muslim world. Euphoria swept the world after the election of President Obama, a symbol of hope and yearning for compromise after years of war and resentment toward his predecessor's style and policies. Today, after an electoral rebuke at home, Obama is still popular among America's traditional allies, but his star power among Muslims -- a focus of his international outreach -- is fading.A survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, released in June, found that Obama's approval ratings were generally positive outside the Muslim world, although not quite as high as in 2009. However, the poll found that in Egypt, the percentage of Muslims expressing confidence in Obama fell 10 percent to 31 percent over the same period; from 33 percent to 23 percent in Turkey; and from 13 percent to eight percent among Pakistani Muslims.Hmmmmm.....that outreach to Muslims thing seems to yield great results Mr President, something in the order of the value of the Dollar during your watch.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Turkish NATO PA member sees ‘perception' problem in missile shield. Kürşat Atılgan, NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA) Turkish group member, has said the threat perception in the alliance poses a major problem to the approval of the missile shield proposal advanced mainly by the United States.Atılgan, a retired air forces general, told Today's Zaman that the missile shield system was proposed to protect Europe from external threats, likely to originate from Iran. “The growing concern is that Iranian conventional missiles might be equipped with nuclear warheads in the future,” he said, stressing that Turkey does not share the same perception as the US on that issue.He also pointed to Israel as another concern for Turkey in these calculations. Turkish officials do not want to be the frontline for Israeli defense against an Iranian threat, and they worry that there might be a hidden agenda on the part of the Americans to promote the defense of Israel under the NATO umbrella.Hmmm......."Also sprach Ahmadenejad?" Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Obama Doesn’t Get It.President Obama came close, but he still just cannot admit that his radical policies and their effects on the economy are the cause of his devastating political rebuke. For most of his press conference, an oddly depressed Obama voted present, as he all but said that the problems are mostly ours, not his — or at least not his agenda but perhaps an occasional inadequate communication.In short, there was little admission whatsoever that Obama’s message and the way he pushed it turned off millions — there was no repentant Clinton, circa autumn 1994, here; instead, a shocked Obama who seems hurt that we do not appreciate him.I don’t think the American people — who just last week heard their president boast that Republicans had to sit in the back seat, and that Latinos should punish their Republican “enemies,” and who have now given him the greatest midterm putdown in over a half-century — suddenly will pay much attention to his calls for an end to the old divisiveness.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Iran delays execution of 'stoning woman'.Tehran accused the West of trying to pressurise it over the case of an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning, as a judiciary official said she was in “perfect health” and her case was still being reviewed.“They (Western nations) have become so shameless that they have turned the case of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani, who has committed crime and treason, into a human rights case against our nation,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.“It has become a symbol of women’s freedom in Western nations and with impudence they want to free her. Thus, they are trying to use this ordinary case as a pressure lever against our nation,” the ISNA news agency quoted him as saying.France said it was informed by Iran that a final decision on Mohammadi-Ashtiani’s execution was still pending.Ms. Mohammadi-Ashtiani was sentenced to death by two different courts in the northwestern Iranian city of Tabriz in separate trials in 2006.The first death sentence, by hanging, for her involvement in the murder of her husband, was commuted to a 10-year jail term by an appeals court in 2007.But the second, by stoning, was on a charge of adultery levelled over several relationships, notably with the man convicted of her husband’s murder, and was upheld by another appeals court the same year.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Ink bomb fanatics in UK and still plotting.THE terror group behind the ink jet bomb plot is operating on the ground in Britain planning new atrocities, the Home Secretary warned yesterday.Theresa May said the police and security services were engaged in an ongoing struggle against the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), which is now working in the UK.And she spoke too of a second new threat to the country from young radicalised Britons being trained in Somalia to carry out atrocities when they return to Britain.In a speech filled with stark warnings, she revealed that one member of AQAP had already been arrested in the UK on suspicion of ‘planning a terrorist attack in the country’.The fanatic, who cannot be named for legal reasons, allegedly intended to cause mass murder by bringing down an airline with a suicide bomb.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Rights Group Says Secret Executions In Iranian Prison Continue.The International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran (ICHRI) says authorities at a prison in eastern Iran are continuing to carry out secret executions, RFE/RL's Radio Farda reports.According to the New York-based group, 13 prisoners at Vakilabad prison in the city of Mashhad were secretly hanged on October 5, and 10 more were hanged on October 12. It said the families and lawyers of those executed were not notified beforehand, which constitutes a violation of Iranian law.ICHRI Executive Director and spokesman Hadi Ghaemi told Radio Farda on November 1 that the executions of 23 prisoners in Vakilabad prison are the most recent he has been informed about by prisoners still able to communicate with the outside world.He estimated the number of prisoners clandestinely executed in Vakilabad in recent months to be in the hundreds. Ghaemi also said the authorities are trying to hide the ongoing executions by switching the venue and other changes.Amnesty International estimates that at least 388 people were put to death in Iran in 2009.Of course the UN is to busy hammering Israel - the USA and Europe about their alledged human rights abuses,to take notice of this .Read the full story here.click here for comments.

• HT:BacktoBasics.GOP Takeover Will Not Be All Smooth Sailing.My greatest fear now that the elections are history and the GOP has posted big victories in their quest for recapture of our government, is that more in-fighting and jockeying for control will take some of the bloom off the roses.The old establishment Republicans who led the party to defeat in 2008 because of runaway government exercised by the George Bush bunch and their propensity to act more like liberal big government lovers won’t take long to lay out the same type of agenda for the new class of 2010. But that isn’t what got us to this point; like it or not, the Old Guard has to admit that if it weren’t for the enthusiasm and energy of the Tea Partiers, victory would probably been a lot slimmer, if at all.Total control would have effectively stopped Obama’s mad dash to socialize the United States and bring it under United Nations control along with his favorable views of the militant Muslims and their abominable Sharia Law. We will have to be ever vigilant that it doesn’t happen by presidential fiat.So instead of just planning on getting the country back to more normalcy, we now will also have to devote a lot of time and energy on watching our backs from dangerous domestic attacks from within along with an ever increased level of watchfulness on the president’s ultra liberal cabinet and out-of-control czars. That area bears heightened attention from sneak attacks of un-American legislation or presidential directives that can cause more division of the country and weakening of our Constitution.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Curse the judge, shout fanatics as the Muslim girl who knifed MP smiles as she gets life.A judge was subjected to a tirade of abuse in his own courtroom yesterday as he jailed an Al Qaeda-inspired Muslim woman for attempting to assassinate an MP.Islamist protesters harangued Mr Justice Cooke from the public gallery at the Old Bailey, shouting ‘Allahu akbar’ (‘God is great’), ‘British go to hell’ and ‘Curse the judge’.The outbursts came as Roshonara Choudhry, 21, was sentenced to life imprisonment for stabbing former minister Stephen Timms. Choudhry smiled broadly as the judge told her: ‘You said you ruined the rest of your life. You said it was worth it. You said you wanted to be a martyr.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Saudi fatwa on women cashiers sparks outrage.Saudi women activists expressed outrage and confusion on Tuesday at a new fatwa challenging a government initiative to allow women to work as cashiers in supermarkets and department stores.The fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, issued on Sunday by the kingdom's governing body of clerics, said the cashier jobs were not permissible because they resulted in the women mixing with unrelated men, which is prohibited under Saudi Arabia's ultra-strict form of Islam.Signed by the country's grand mufti and six other top clerics, it contradicted a push by the government to create new jobs for women, who face high unemployment in the kingdom.Reem Asaad, a Jeddah economics professor, called the fatwa an attack on efforts like her campaign to create more jobs for women."Its an organised war to stop what we are trying to do," she told AFP, adding that "we don't know what will happen now."Objections also poured in from men and women on the internet."Another day, another misogynist fatwa," Eman al-Nafjan wrote on her popular website "Saudiwoman's Weblog."Like many, it was written in response to a question, published with the ruling, asking specifically if women should work as cashiers in markets.But uncommonly there was no source of the question given, Asaad said.Moreover, she said, "the answer to that question has been converted into a fatwa in record speed.""It's a planned thing... to hinder the progress of women."Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT:BacktoBasics.The Election Can’t Save Us From The Fed.“We can pay anybody by running a printing press.” — Thomas Gale Moore, a Ronald Reagan economic advisor, 1986.Don’t expect America’s fortunes to change in the wake of yesterday’s election. Even if some semblance of sanity comes to Congress we are still left with that other dysfunctional institution, the Federal Reserve, which is bent on inflating the United States economy, the dollar be damned.Part of the problem is Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve. He was reappointed by President Barack Obama last year and has shown himself to be a kindred spirit to the President. Both had zero business experience before moving to government. Bernanke spent most of his life learning economics as taught by Harvard and MIT, before becoming a professor at Stanford and Princeton.I write this before the elections have happened, so I don’t know if the GOP won. But what should scare you is that it doesn’t matter. Congress could include Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, and as long as we have a Federal Reserve acting as recklessly as the one now controlling our economic fate, we are in a lot of trouble.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Oklahoma bans Sharia law.Oklahoma on Tuesday approved a ballot measure blocking judges from considering Islamic or international law when making a ruling. Nearly 70 percent of voters in the state cast ballots approving the measure. The proposition’s sponsor, Republican Rex Duncan, told reporters Tuesday that the proposition is a "preemptive strike" against judges who he worries could be “legislating from the bench or using international law or Sharia law.”Opponents of the measure pointed out that the First Amendment bars Congress from make any law respecting the establishment of religion. The proposition also faced criticism from Muslim leaders who have said they intend to challenge it in court.Gingrich attracted national headlines in September at the Values Voter Summit in Washington when he declared, “I am opposed to any efforts to impose Sharia in the United States.”“We should have a federal law that says under no circumstances in any jurisdiction in the United States will Sharia [law] be used in any court to apply to any judgment made about American law,” Gingrich said.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• U.S. Labels Iran Sunni Group As Terrorists.The United States has designated a Sunni militant group as a terrorist organization. Jundallah (God's Soldiers) has engaged in attacks resulting in the death of scores of Iranian civilians and government officials over the past years, using tactics such as suicide bombings, ambushes, kidnappings, and targeted assassinations. Jundallah says it fights for the rights of Iran's Sunni Muslim minority and its activities are focused on Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan Province bordering Pakistan.The U.S. move puts Jundallah on a list of nearly 50 groups that Washington deems involved in terrorism and subjects to financial sanctions.Hmmmm.......your enemies are my enemies?Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• HT;BacktoBasics.Troubling Global Volcanic Activity on the Rise.The news is all about the Tuesday’s U.S. elections, but some of us are concerned about the news on Monday regarding a possible eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland. Never heard of it? You will.Grimsvotn is the most active volcano in Iceland. Here’s why volcano watchers around the world are on high alert.In his book, “Not by Fire but by Ice” the foremost authority on ice ages and magnetic reversals, Robert W. Felix, quoted Peter Vogt of the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office who warned that, “Almost all tectonic movement can be linked to magnetic reversals. Seafloor spreading, sea level changes, mountain growth, earthquakes, and volcanism all seem to speed up whenever the frequency of reversals speeds up.”Magnetic reversals are part of the cycles scientists have determined existed over the 4.5 billion years of the Earth’s existence. They range from the most ancient, the Devonian, to the Holocene, from 10,000 years ago to the present. “At least twelve (magnetic) reversals can be linked to extinctions and climatic deterioration during the last three million years alone,” says Felix.We are at the end of the latest interglacial period of 11,500 years and the next ice age will come on with blinding speed.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• The mean gene that makes people stingy.If you have a friend who never buys a round or who rarely pays their fair share, try not to get too angry.Because being mean could be in their genes. Scientists have pinpointed a stretch of DNA that makes people stingy with their cash, the Daily Mail reported.Around one in four of us carries the 'mean gene', which we have inherited from our parents.In the study, those with the gene gave less money to charity than others.Such thrifty sorts may also constantly cadge cigarettes, rather than buying their own, or regularly borrow cash for bus fares, but rarely pay it back.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Indonesia Volcano's Ongoing Eruptions Stump Scientists.Eruptions from Indonesia's ferocious Mount Merapi keep getting worse, prompting more villagers to run for their lives and puzzling scientists trying to decipher Mother Nature's plans."It looks like we may be entering an even worse stage," state volcanologist Surono told The Associated Press. After predicting earlier this week that eruptions would ease up, scientists are throwing up their hands as they are confronted today with eruptions three times stronger than expected. "We have no idea what's happening now." Surono said.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.

• Shisha could be a cause of impotency.Excessive smoking with the beloved water pipe is hurting Middle Eastern men.Smoking is sexual suicide, comes the resounding statement from world-renowned author and sex therapist, Dr Rosie King, with shisha smoking being the root cause of impotency in men in the Middle East.In a country where the shisha culture is embedded in its social makeup, the news that excessive usage of the water pipe causes impotency in men has seen many a heavy smoker cross his legs in a seemingly protective move.Dr King's bombshell simply draws attention to the long discovered medical fact that excessive smoking causes erectile dysfunction in men.Indeed, shisha, the water pipe that burns flavored tobacco, can expose users to the smoke equivalent to five packs of cigarettes, according to statistics from the WHO."The health risks are catastrophic, but for men especially, this high amount of tobacco in the body can only lead result in a downward trend," says Dr King, adding: "I always give my patients this advice, but it is up to them if the want to adhere."And what advice is that, you wonder?"The more you smoke, the less you poke," she states.Read the full story here.Click here for comments.