MFS - The Other News

                      Morning Posting.

• Live broadcast info from Japan directly ! Here.

• Firefox 4 leaked ahead of official release. Here.

• Libya Live Blog - March 22. Here .(Al-Jazeera)And here (BBC). Latest here.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world ,lots of seismic activity in Japan between 5.2 and 6.6 today.More info here.

• Updated : The wind directions over Japan. Here.

• Very interesting Radiation Chart here.

• Latest official Situation Update No. 52.On 21.03.2011 at 12:45 GMT+2

• Fresh fears for Fukushima: Stricken nuclear plant heats up AGAIN as radioactive particles are detected in Iceland.Workers desperately battling to contain a meltdown at Japan's crippled nuclear plant today faced a fresh crisis as a pool for storing spent fuel began heating up.The news came as diplomatic sources said the Icelandic capital Reykjavik had become the first European city to detect radioactive particles believed to be from the Fukushima plant.Temperatures in the facility have already reached boiling point and staff believe this is responsible for the clouds of steam drifting from reactor two yesterday. The hot storage pool is another complication in bringing the plant under control and ending the nuclear crisis which followed the massive earthquake and tsunami which devastated the north-east coast on March 11.If water in the pool bubbles away and exposes fuel rods, more radiation would be released.Away from the plant, mounting evidence of radiation in vegetables, water and milk stirred concerns among Japanese and abroad despite officials' assurances that the levels were not dangerous. The Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) said radiation has been found in the Pacific Ocean close by which is not surprising given the reactors have been hosed with sea water. Radioactive iodine in the sea samples was 126.7 times the allowed limit, while caesium was 24.8 times over. But that still posed no immediate danger, said TEPCO. 'It would have to be drunk for a whole year in order to accumulate to one millisievert,' a TEPCO official said, referring to the standard radiation measurement unit.Read the full story here.

• Russia rebukes Gates, demands “immediate cease fire” in Libya.In a rebuke of U.S. policy in Libya, the Russian defense minister condemned civilian deaths from coalition airstrikes and called for immediate cease-fire on Tuesday as Defense Secretary Robert Gates sat stonily beside him.Speaking to reporters following an hourlong meeting with Gates, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said Russia continued to support the United Nations resolution authorizing the creation of a no-fly zone over Libya but made clear that Moscow was increasingly uneasy about the escalating campaign.“Unfortunately, recent developments in the country demonstrate that it is experiencing real hostilities, destroying civilian facilities, and the killing of civilians,” Serdyukov said. “This shouldn’t have been let to happen and we informed our U.S. counterparts of our opposition.”Gates, in his own remarks, said the coalition was going out of its way to avoid civilian deaths, noting that most of the strikes have targeted Libyan defensive systems located far away from major population centers. Gates also said he expected major combat operations over Libya to taper off markedly within the next few days; he is the first senior American official to put any sort of timetable on the ongoing offensive there.Hmmmm.....The vacationer-in-chief in full operational mode.Read the full story here.

• Who's in charge? Germans pull forces out of NATO as Libyan coalition falls apart.Tensions with Britain as Gates rebukes UK government over suggestion Gaddafi could be assassinated

French propose a new political 'committee' to oversee operations

Germany pulls equipment out of NATO coalition over disagreement over campaign's direction

Italians accuse French of backing NATO in exchange for oil contracts

No-fly zone called into question after first wave of strikes 'neutralises' Libyan military machine

U.K. ministers say war could last '30 years'

Italy to 'take back control' of bases used by allies unless NATO leadership put in charge of the mission

Russians tell U.S. to stop bombing in order to protect civilians - calls bombing a 'crusade'

Deep divisions between allied forces currently bombing Libya worsened today as the German military announced it was pulling forces out of NATO over continued disagreement on who will lead the campaign.A German military spokesman said it was recalling two frigates and AWACS surveillance plane crews from the Mediterranean, after fears they would be drawn into the conflict if NATO takes over control from the U.S.The infighting comes as a heated meeting of NATO ambassadors yesterday failed to resolve whether the 28-nation alliance should run the operation to enforce a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone, diplomats said.Yesterday a war of words erupted between the U.S. and Britain after the U.K. government claimed Muammar Gaddafi is a legitimate target for assassination.U.K. government officials said killing the Libyan leader would be legal if it prevented civilian deaths as laid out in a U.N. resolution.But U.S. defence secretary Robert Gates hit back at the suggestion, saying it would be 'unwise' to target the Libyan leader adding cryptically that the bombing campaign should stick to the 'U.N. mandate'.President Barack Obama, seeking to avoid getting bogged down in a war in another Muslim country, said on Monday Washington would cede control of operations against Muammar Gaddafi's forces within days, handing the reins over to NATO.But Germany and European allies remain unwilling to have NATO take on a military operation that theoretically has nothing to do with the defence of Europe.Today the German defence ministry announced Berlin had pulled out of any military operations in the Mediterranean.A ministry spokesman said two frigates and two other ships with a crew of 550 would be reverted to German command.Some 60 to 70 German troops participating in NATO-operated AWACS surveillance operations in the Mediterranean would also be withdrawn, according to the ministry.Berlin isn't participating in the operation to impose a no-fly zone in Libya and abstained on the U.N. resolution authorising it.France, which launched the initial air strikes on Libya on Saturday, has argued against giving the U.S.-led NATO political control over an operation in an Arab country, while Turkey has called for limits to any alliance involvement.In a bid to halt the embarrassing bickering, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe today proposed a new war committee to oversee operations.The new body, Mr Juppe said, would bring together foreign ministers of participating states - such as Britain, France and the U.S. - as well as the Arab League.Meanwhile the head of the Italian Senate's defence affairs committee, Gianpiero Cantoni, said the original French anti-NATO stance was motivated by a desire to secure oil contracts with a future Libyan government.Some allies are even questioning whether a no-fly zone is still necessary, given the damage already done by air strikes to Gaddafi's military capabilities.The President has already been criticised for continuing with a tour of Latin America as the military operation over Libya began. And yesterday he insisted again that while Gaddafi must go, the U.S. is not prepared to remove him by force, but merely to enforce the no-fly zone. Even that hesitant stance, which has already earned him the title of the Great Vacillator, left him criticised for not seeking proper approval from Congress before sending the American military in.Hmmmm.....The Community organiser - in - chief? Or the mouse that roared?Read the full story here.

• UN Official Accuses Israel of “Ethnic Cleansing”.Israel’s expansion of Jewish “settlements” in east Jerusalem and eviction of Palestinians from their homes there is a form of ethnic cleansing, a United Nations investigator said on Monday.US academic Richard Falk was speaking to the UN Human Rights Council as it prepared to pass resolutions condemning Israeli behaviour on territory it has occupied since 1967.The “continued pattern of settlement expansion in East Jerusalem combined with the forcible eviction of long-residing Palestinians are creating an intolerable situation” in the part of the city previously controlled by Jordan, he said.This situation “can only be described in its cumulative impact as a form of ethnic cleansing,” Falk declared.Israel declines to deal with Falk or even allow him into the country, accusing him of bias against the Jewish state.Read the full 'story' here.

• Did Obama lose Congress on Libya?President Barack Obama is facing growing anger from lawmakers who believe he overstepped his authority by launching missile strikes into Libya without first seeking the consent of Congress.The criticism is from all directions: from moderates, like Sens. Jim Webb (D-Va.) and Dick Lugar (R-Ind.); from those on the far left and right, like Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Ron Paul (R-Texas), who believe the president acted outside the Constitution; and from the establishment on both sides, including House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson of Connecticut and Republican Rep. Candice Miller of Michigan, a self-described “hawk.”What it adds up to is this: The president, already taking heat for a perceived lack of engagement on pressing domestic matters, will arrive home from South America needing to justify to Congress and the public his decision to use force in Libya without seeking approval.It remains to be seen whether Congress has reached a tipping point in its cession of war-making power to the executive branch, but it’s clear that U.S. intervention in Libya has hit a nerve with a war weary legislative branch.“What is the vital U.S. national interest? … How much does he think it will cost us? What is the scope of the mission? How do you define success?” Miller said, ticking off a list of unanswered questions. “The president should come home, call us into session … and explain what he’s doing.”Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) tweeted Sunday that the president is treating Congress as a “potted plant.”Kucinich, whose words still hold sway among some on the left, raised the question of why it’s not called an impeachable offense.“We’re neutered as a Congress. It’s like we don’t exist,” said Rep. Walter Jones (R-N.C.), a longtime member of the Armed Services Committee who turned against the Iraq War. “I wish the president had not gone into Libya without first coming to Congress. We have for too long, as a Congress, been too passive when it comes to sending our young men and women to war.”Hmmmm......While they're busy they might bring up why American and Canadian oil compagnies are not allowed to provide for the American market?Read the full story here.

• HT:AmericanThinker.Turkish deputy PM calls for bombing Israel.Michael Rubin reports at Commentary Contentions.After assuring both Libyans and Turks that Turkey was not involved in airstrikes on Libya, Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, of Turkey, said, “We wish that the United Nations had made such resolutions and countries had taken action in the face of incidents in Gaza, Palestine and the other regions."This is exactly the problem I thought might arise from President Obama’s endorsement of the trendy principle of “Responsibility to Protect”. In yesterday’s blog, “The Rise of Samantha Power and the risks for the American-Israel relationship,” I speculated that the rationale Obama adopted to bomb Libya bore the risks of others adopting the same “principle” to justify punishing, if not bombing, Israel.I wrote:

It is not hard to envision that this R2P concept, swirling through the United Nations and in international foreign policy circles, can one day be applied against Israel when that nation is forced to respond from attacks coming from the West Bank, Gaza, and Lebanon. Terrorists hide behind civilians; Israeli actions to defend themselves often happen in densely populated areas where civilian deaths are almost inevitable – despite all the precautions Israel takes to prevent them.

And noted Omri Ceren’s excellent analysis of the history of this amorphous concept of the Responsibility to Protect and how it has already been used to criticize Israel. It seems that adversaries of Israel are eager to apply this concept to attack Israel, metaphorically and diplomatically, if not militarily (yet).Barack Obama listened not to Congress but to the Arab League, the United Nations, and people like Samantha Power to launch military attacks. But he has also opened a Pandora's Box by endorsing the Responsibility to Protect as an international norm that can be used to justify attacks by those the so-called " international community" consider to be threatening civilians.This is yet another irresponsible action by Barack Obama - one that bears with it the risk of being used to justify all sorts of mischief in the years ahead.

I also found it quite interesting that George Soros - a huge supporter of Barack Obama's campaign, funds efforts to promote Responsibility to Protect as an international norm. Samantha Power (who heavily influenced Obama to launch attacks on Libya) also is a supporter of the R2P movement and played a key role at a think tank (The International Crisis Group) heavily funded by George Soros.The ties that bind.Hmmmm....And the MANY phone calls behind the scenes between Obama and Erdogan .Read the full story here.

• Past Recipients Ask Nobel Committee to Strip Obama of Peace Prize.The Bolivian President and a Russian political leader have launched a campaign to revoke Obama’s honour after the US attacked Libya.Liberal Democratic Party of Russia leader and Vice-Chairman of the State Duma Vladimir Zhirinovsky released a statement today calling for the Nobel Prize Committee to take back the honour bestowed on US President Barack Obama in 2009.Zhirinovsky said the attacks were “another outrageous act of aggression by NATO forces and, in particular, the United States,” and that the attacks demonstrated a “colonial policy” with “one goal: to establish control over Libyan oil and the Libyan regime.” He said the prize was now hypocritical as a result.Bolivian President Evo Morales echoed the call: “How is it possible that a Nobel Peace Prize winner leads a gang to attack and invade? This is not a defence of human rights or self-determination.”Morales won the Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights in 2006.Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009 for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and co-operation between peoples." The Committee praised the "change in the international climate" affected by Obama's presidency. In his Nobel Lecture, he discussed the "hard truth" of the inevitability of war, saying: "There will be times when nations — acting individually or in concert — will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified." A message has been widely retweeted on Twitter yesterday: "Obama has now fired more cruise missiles than all other Nobel Peace prize winners combined."Hmmmm....... Just consider how 'peacefull' the countries are that Obama has visited so far.Read the full story here.

• HT:AmnonAndJonathan.Do you still believe in elections in 2012?This week promises to be an explosive one on the Glenn Beck Program…Glenn and staff will be breaking a huge story this week that will blow your mind. We are talking about people on tape planning the overthrow of the United States government. You will simply not believe your eyes… Do not miss a single episode this week.Read and see the full story here.

• HT:businessinsider.Caught On Tape: SEIU Official Reveals Secret Plan To Destroy JP Morgan, Crash The Stock Market, And Redistribute Wealth In America.Here are the key remarks:

Unions are almost dead. We cannot survive doing what we do but the simple fact of the matter is community organizations are almost dead also. And if you think about what we need to do it may give us some direction which is essentially what the folks that are in charge – the big banks and everything – what they want is stability.

There are actually extraordinary things we could do right now to start to destabilize the folks that are in power and start to rebuild a movement.

For example, 10% of homeowners are underwater right their home they are paying more for it then its worth 10% of those people are in strategic default, meaning they are refusing to pay but they are staying in their home that’s totally spontaneous they figured out it takes a year to kick me out of my home because foreclosure is backed up

• If you could double that number you would you could put banks at the edge of insolvency again.Students have a trillion dollar debt.We have an entire economy that is built on debt and banks so the question would be what would happen if we organized homeowners in mass to do a mortgage strike if we get half a million people to agree it would literally cause a new finical crisis for the banks not for us we would be doing quite well we wouldn’t be paying anything…We have to think much more creatively. The key thing… What does the other side fear the most – they fear disruption. They fear uncertainty. Every article about Europe says in they rioted in Greece the markets went downThe folks that control this country care about one thing how the stock market goes what the bond market does how the bonuses goes. We have a very simple strategy.

How do we bring down the stock market

How do we bring down their bonuses

How do we interfere with there ability to be rich…

So a bunch of us around the country think who would be a really good company to hate we decided that would be JP Morgan Chase and so we are going to roll out over the next couple of months what would hopefully be an exciting campaign about JP Morgan Chase that is really about challenge the power of Wall Street.And so what we are looking at is the first week in May can we get enough people together starting now to really have an week of action in New York I don’t want to give any details because I don’t know if there are any police agents in the room.

The goal would be that we will roll out of New York the first week of May. We will connect three ideas

that we are not broke there is plenty of money

they have the money - we need to get it back

and that they are using Bloomberg and other people in government as the vehicle to try and destroy us.And so we need to take on those folks at the same timeand that we will start here we are going to look at a week of civil disobedience - direct action all over the city then roll into the JP Morgan shareholder meeting which they moved out of New York because I guess they were afraid because of Columbus.There is going to be a ten state mobilization it try and shut down that meeting and then looking at bank shareholder meetings around the country and try and create some moments like Madison except where we are on offense instead of defense. Where we have brave and heroic battles challenging the power of the giant corporations. We hope to inspire a much bigger movement about redistributing wealth and power in the country and that labor can’t do itself that community groups can’t do themselves but maybe we can work something new and different that can be brave enough and daring and nimble enough to do that kind of thing.Listen to the tape here.Hmmmm.....And where stands 'dear leader' in all this?Read and see the whole story here.

• US: Obama, Turkey PM want 'broad' Libya effort.U.S. President Barack Obama and Turkey's prime minister agreed to seek a "broad" global effort on Libya, the White House said Tuesday, after the allies sparred over Western airstrikes.Obama, on a visit to Latin America, spoke by telephone Monday evening to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan who has publicly denounced the military campaign against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi as counter-productive.Obama and Erdoğan "reaffirmed their support for the full implementation" of recent U.N. Security Council resolutions "in order to protect the Libyan people," a White House statement said. "The leaders agreed that this will require a broad-based international effort, including Arab states, to implement and enforce the U.N. resolutions, based on national contributions and enabled by NATO's unique multinational command and control capabilities to ensure maximum effectiveness," it said.A White House official on Air Force One said that Turkey was "uniquely aware of command and control capabilities of NATO" but that Erdoğan declined to discuss what Turkey may do on Libya.Turkey is the sole predominantly Muslim member of NATO but has criticized the military drive led by France and Britain against Gadhafi, who has waged an intense campaign against rebels threatening his rule.In a speech Tuesday to his Islamist-rooted party, Erdoğan said that Turkey "will never point a gun at the Libyan people" and would explain its position to NATO allies.Hmmmm.....Since when is Turkey dictating the US and NATO policy?GET TURKEY OUT OF NATO NOW !Read the full story here.

• Turkish PM criticizes airstrikes on Libya as NATO continues debate.Criticizing the Western-led airstrikes in Libya, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed Tuesday that Turkey would never point guns at the Libyan people, a position he said Ankara would make clear to NATO.Speaking to his party’s parliamentary group amid ongoing debate about how NATO should proceed on the issue, Erdoğan said the United Nations should only head up humanitarian operations, not military ones, in Libya.“The operation should proceed on legitimate grounds,” Erdoğan said, adding that Ankara’s position would be explained to its NATO allies Tuesday at a meeting in Brussels.Disagreements on the intervention among NATO member states have largely been eliminated, with Turkey’s reservations taken into consideration, according to news reports from Brussels. The private channel NTV meanwhile reported that Adm. James Stavridis, NATO’s supreme allied commander for Europe, will visit Turkey on Thursday.NATO officials met again Tuesday in Brussels after failing to reach a consensus agreement Monday among the alliance’s 28 member states about intervention in Libya. Erdoğan said Monday that his government would give conditional support to a NATO-led operation, as long as it is done to ensure that Libya belongs to its people, not to distribute the country’s natural resources to outside powers, and as long as the intervention does not turn into an occupation.On Tuesday, Erdoğan said Turkey was willing to be involved in the distribution of humanitarian aid in Libya, to manage the Benghazi airport and to deploy naval forces to control the area between Benghazi and the Greek island of Crete.“We will not participate with our fighting forces. It is impossible for us to think that our fighters would drop bombs over the Libyan people,” he said.Erdoğan discussed the situation in Libya with U.S. President Barack Obama in a telephone conversation late Monday after chairing a summit with his ministers and military commanders. The prime minister did not give details of the talks.France taking the lead in the Libya operation drew criticism from Ankara, with Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül on Monday, saying: “We are having difficulty understanding [France] acting like it is the only executor of the U.N. resolution.”“We see the well-being and domestic peace of the Libyan people as fundamental goals. Turkey will never be a party that points a gun at the Libyan people,” the prime minister said. “Turkey’s policy is very clear, its attitude is clear ... Our relations with Libya have nothing to do with oil or [other] interests. Our Libyan brothers know very well Turkey has made no such calculations.”Hmmmm......NATO is not a humanitarian organisation, if Erdogan insists on only doing humanitarian work then he should leave NATO!Every action NATO undertakes Turkey becomes a greater problem and more the spokesperson for Iran, GET THEM OUT OF NATO NOW !Read the full story here.

• HT:Ross'sRightAngle.Italy Wins ‘Right’ to Stay Christian!Deutsche Welle reports that there has been a small but useful victory for European values in a European Court.

Schools in Italy have won back the right to display crucifixes.The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that crucifixes are acceptable in public school classrooms, dismissing claims that they violate the rights of non-Christian and atheist students.The European Court of Human Rights on Friday ruled that displaying crucifixes in classrooms does not breach the rights of non-Catholic families.The case was brought to the court by an atheist mother whose two sons attend a public school in the Italian city of Abano Terme. The woman had argued that the refusal to remove the crucifix from classrooms was in violation of the secular principles that public schools are to uphold.She had, without success, exhausted all levels of jurisdiction within Italy before taking the case to the European Court of Human Rights.The new verdict is binding on all 47 countries that are members of the Council of Europe, the continent’s human rights watchdog.A victory for democracy at last. The Court had to admit that “Ms. Lautsi retained in full her right as a parent to enlighten and advise her children and to guide them on a path in line with her own philosophical convictions.”Hmmm......Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Martin Luther King, Jr.Read the full story here.

• Fire tears through Egypt Interior Ministry building.Before blaze erupted, police officers stage protest outside building to demand better pay, minister's resignation.Fire tore through an Egyptian Interior Ministry building in central Cairo on Tuesday and a ministry source said it was probably linked to a protest by police demanding the minister's resignation. Ambulances and at least five fire engines raced to the scene of the blaze, which appeared to have ripped through all seven storeys of the building, part of an Interior Ministry compound in central Cairo. It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.The military had earlier cordoned off the building to protect it from the police protesters, the state news agency reported. The protesters numbered about 3,000, witnesses said. The demonstrators' demands included better pay and conditions. Since President Hosni Mubarak was toppled, policemen have staged strikes and protests to press similar demands. The police protesters had held aloft signs reading: "Where is social justice for policemen?" and "We want the cancellation of military trials", reflecting police fears that they will face prosecution for police violations under Mubarak.Essawy met representatives of the protesters and promised to work to resolve their demands, the state news agency reported."It is likely to be related to the protests, but it is not the building of the ministry itself that is on fire," an Interior Ministry source told Reuters, as flames and a column of black smoke billowed up over the centre of the city. Read the full story here.

• "The War On Christianity".California boy banned from singing and dancing to song about Jesus because it was 'too religious'!A disabled boy was banned from performing a Christian song in a talent show by his school because of its religious content, a lawsuit claims.Jerilyn Shubert, Superior Street Elementary School principal in Chatsworth, California, allegedly told the mother of the cerebral palsy sufferer that the lyrics were ‘offensive’.She said the fifth-grader should choose a less religious song - but the school district has backed down after a lawsuit said the boy’s First Amendment rights were violated.The boy auditioned for last month’s talent show by dancing to his favourite tune, 'We Shine', but his mother was told by Mrs Shubert that he should change the song, it said.She asked if he could pick another song that ‘does not say Jesus so many times’ as the lyrics were ‘offensive’ and a violation of the ‘separation of church and state’.Superior Street principal Mrs Shubert was acting on behalf of the Parent-Teacher Association, who sponsored the show and thought the song might be inappropriate, a district spokesman said.The district guidance now says: ‘Student speakers at student assemblies and extracurricular activities such as sporting events or talent shows may not be selected on a basis that either favours or disfavours religious speech.’Hmmmm........More "Change" from the Left.Read the full story here.

• And now for something completely different !Lu Hao, the three-year-old who weighs a whopping NINE-AND-A-HALF stone(132 lb - 60,5 Kg).At 132lbs, Lu Hao is already five times the size of a normal child his age.The three-year-old toddler from China eats a staggering THREE bowls of rice when he sits down for a family meal. When Lu Hao was born he weighed just 2.6kg (5.7 lbs), however, from the time he was three months old he began to gain weight rapidly.'His appetite is so good that for a meal he can eat 3 big bowls of rice, even larger than I and his mother,' said Hao's father Lu Yuncheng.Since Hao was one-year-old his parents have tried to keep a careful eye on his diet.However, Hao's mother Chen Yuan comments: 'We have to let him be as if we don't feed him he will cry non-stop'.No matter how hard the family restricts Hao's diet and pushes him to move more the toddler has still managed to put on 10kg (22 lbs) in the past year.Now Chen Yuan is unable to pick her son up.'In both of our families, there was no such giant person,' said father Yuncheng.Read the full story here.