MFS - The Other News

                       Morning  Posting.

• Syria Live Blog - May 23. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Libya Live Blog - May 23. Here (Al-Jazeera).

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan  today 5.8  ! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 117.On 24.05.2011 at 04:00 GMT+2
  
  Tokyo Electric Power Co , the operator of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disabled by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, confirmed on Tuesday that there were meltdowns of fuel rods at three of the plant's reactors early in the crisis. It had said earlier this month that fuel rods in the No.1 reactor had melted, but officials of the utility, known as Tepco, confirmed at a news conference that there were also meltdowns of fuel rods at the plant's No.2 and No.3 reactors early in the crisis. Engineers are battling to plug radiation leaks and bring the plant northeast of Tokyo under control more than two months after the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and deadly tsunami that devastated a swathe of Japan's coastline and tipped the economy into recession. The disaster has triggered a drop of more than 80 percent in Tokyo Electric's share price and forced the company to seek government aid as it faces compensation liabilities that some analysts say could top $100 billion. The Tepco officials said damage to the No.2 reactor fuel rods began three days after the quake, with much of the fuel rods eventually melting and collecting at the bottom of the pressure vessel containing them. Fuel rods in the No.3 reactor were damaged by the afternoon of March 13, they said. They repeated that the tsunami that followed soon after the quake disabled power to the reactors, knocking out their cooling capabilities.

Situation Update No. 116- On 24.05.2011 at 03:35 GMT+2

Nuclear waste disposal tanks that hold radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are almost full, officials at Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO), the operator of the plant, said on Monday. TEPCO said that the storage tanks will be filled in four days, yet a system to treat the water—already reaching levels of more than 80,000 tons—for reuse in the reactors will not be completed until mid-June, Kyodo News reported. TEPCO said they could also use a temporary storage tank, but that will not be ready until early July. Compounded by the expected rise in leaks and the coming rainy season, the radioactive water could pose another challenge for the beleaguered facility. The contaminated water could overflow into the sea again. In April, the No. 2 reactor leaked contaminated water into the ocean, triggering a sharp rebuke inside and outside of Japan. Contaminated water has pooled inside reactor and turbine buildings via cracks and fissures since the March 11 earthquake damaged the plant’s cooling systems as well as several key containers. TEPCO workers can only pump more water into the reactors to cool them down, which ends up producing more radioactive water. TEPCO spokesman Junichi Matsumoto said that officials believe the basements in the buildings can hold the water for two more weeks.Source : Here .

• Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to : Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog.Here.

• There's a new "Player" in the Air,meet the Grimsvotn Volcano.By John Seach.(VolcanoLive)

64.42 N, 17.33 W - summit elevation 1725 m  - caldera

Read the full story here.Live webcam here and here.Google map location here.More info here.

• RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service Grimsvotn Volcano Info Situation Update No. 6  - On 24.05.2011 at 03:30 GMT+2
  
  Several airlines have decided to cancel more than 130 flights to and from Scotland on Tuesday morning as volcanic ash is expected to cover the country. The ash plume is coming from Grímsvötn, Iceland's most active volcano, which erupted on late Saturday afternoon at around 5.30 p.m. local time. It is believed to be the volcano's largest eruption in about 100 years, sending a plume of smoke more than 20 kilometers (12 miles) into the air. A disruption similar to that of last year when Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted is not expected, in part because aviation rules have since been changed to allow more flexibility. The ash plume has also, so far, not reached mainland Europe. But forecasters expect that a volcanic ash plume of high density will cover most if not all of Scotland by early Tuesday morning, forcing airlines to cancel their flights. Effects outside Scotland are expected to be minimal on Tuesday, although the plume could affect other countries later this week. As of early Tuesday morning, five airlines said they had canceled a total of at least 134 commercial flights to and from Scotland on Tuesday. That number is expected to rise as some airlines had not yet decided on the status of their flights.
  
  "Following forecasts of significant volcanic ash in Scottish airspace, British Airways has decided as a precaution that it will not operate any flights between London and Scotland on Tuesday May 24 that arrive in Scotland before 2 p.m. or depart from Scotland before 2 p.m.," British Airways said. "At present all other flights are unaffected." The airline's website showed that 16 flights are canceled between London and Glasgow, 10 are canceled between London and Aberdeen, and 24 are canceled between London and Edinburgh on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile, CityJet said it canceled five flights between London City Airport and the cities of Edinburgh and Dundee in Scotland. Aer Lingus said it canceled 11 flights to and from locations in Scotland. But Eastern Airways, which operates commuter planes, reported the most cancellations. A notice on its website said the airline has been forced to cancel 52 scheduled service flights to and from Scotland on Tuesday. Additionally, Dutch airline KLM said it has canceled 16 flights between Amsterdam and Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Newcastle. "KLM expects to operate all other flights as scheduled," it said.
  
  Since the massive flight disruptions last year, airlines in the United Kingdom are now allowed to operate in areas of medium and high density ash if they have a safety case which has been approved by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). While most airlines will fly with medium density ash, no airline has requested to fly in high density ash clouds which is the case in Scotland on Tuesday. "Our number one priority is to ensure the safety of people both onboard aircraft and on the ground. We can't rule out disruption, but the new arrangements that have been put in place since last year's ash cloud mean the aviation sector is better prepared and will help to reduce any disruption in the event that volcanic ash affects UK airspace," said CAA Chief Executive Andrew Haines. The UK Met Office said it expects low to medium ash density to cover Ireland on early Tuesday morning, but all airlines are expected to operate nonetheless under the new rules. "The Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) does not expect that there will be any disruption to services in Irish airspace or at Irish airports for the next 24 hours," the agency said on late Monday evening.
  
  Meanwhile, Keflavik International Airport - Iceland's main airport - was reopened on early Monday evening after it was closed on Sunday morning as a precaution. Flights are expected to travel on time to Iceland on Tuesday. Earlier on Monday, Eurocontrol said it has for the first time activated the European Aviation Crisis Coordination Cell (EACCC) in order to coordinate a response that can mitigate any potential impact while maintaining established safety levels. EACCC was established by European Union (EU) Transport Ministers in May 2010 to respond to crisis situations. The EACCC brings together representatives from Eurocontrol, the European Commission, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), the EU Member States and air transport stakeholders. Its main role is to facilitate the management of crisis situations affecting aviation in the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) region. The EACCC is further responsible for alerting the aviation community to an impending crisis and for proposing, coordinating and implementing the measures required to deal with it. A key function of the EACCC is therefore to keep all aviation stakeholders informed about the crisis, including the decisions that have been taken and the progress of the measures to deal with it. The Grímsvötn Volcano is situated about 220 kilometers (136 miles) east-northeast of the country's capital Reykjavik and is located underneath Vatnajökull, Europe's largest glacier. Eruptions at Grímsvötn are frequent and usually occur with an interval of a few years. Most of these eruptions last a few days and are small in volume. Source :Here .

• Nethanyahu adressing Congress live Here.

• Pakistan to Obama regime "Thanks for all the Billions of Dollars but we'll team up with China".China Warns US, “Any Future Attacks on Pakistan Will Be Construed as an Attack on China”.(PTI) — In the wake of the US raid in Abbottabad that killed Osama bin Laden, China has “warned in unequivocal terms that any attack on Pakistan would be construed as an attack on China”, a media report claimed today.The warning was formally conveyed by the Chinese foreign minister at last week’s China-US strategic dialogue and economic talks in Washington, The News daily quoted diplomatic sources as saying. China also advised the USa to “respect Pakistan’s sovereignty and solidarity”, the report said.Chinese Premier Mr Wen Jiabao informed his Pakistani counterpart Mr Yousuf Raza Gilani about the matters taken up with the US during their formal talks at the Great Hall of the People yesterday. The report said China “warned in unequivocal terms that any attack on Pakistan would be construed as an attack on China”. The two premiers held a 45-minute one-on-one meeting before beginning talks with their delegations.The Chinese leadership was “extremely forthcoming in assuring its unprecedented support to Pakistan for its national cause and security” and discussed all subjects of mutual interest with Mr Gilani, the report said. Mr Gilani described Pakistan-China relations and friendship as “unique.Hmmmm....Another Obamination accomplished!Read the full story here.

• New Al-Qaeda chief pledges major attack on London to avenge Bin Laden's death.(DailyMail).Osama Bin Laden's replacement as leader of Al-Qaeda is planning a major terrorist attack on London, ordering his followers to 'crush' the city.Soon after being officially appointed caretaker chief of the terrorist group, Saif al-Adel vowed to avenge the death of his former boss.'Our new leader has asked for a big plan for London,' Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said. 'He believes the UK is the backbone of Europe and must be crushed.In response to the heightened threat on London, British Transport Police (BTP) are to be given the power to carry weapons on the capital's trains, stations and the underground for the first time.Transport Secretary Philip Hammond will next week announce the plan, which is aimed at deterring the threat of another terrorist attack.The BTP, which protects the rail, tube and urban metro system, has 2,900 officers and the proposals involve giving around 100 of them firearms training.Security officials are particularly concerned about the possibility of an attack like that in November 2008 in Mumbai when gunmen attacked hotels and the city's main railway stations, killing nearly 200 people.The news comes as the Manchester 'Easter shopping' bomb plot has been linked directly to Bin Laden for the first time.Hmmmm.....What would be the odds for him to attack while Obama is in brittain, to show his determination?Read the full story here.

• Obama's "Fly me to the moon"version ?(Reuters) – President Ronald Reagan once famously said that a stack of $1,000 bills equivalent to the U.S. government’s debt would be about 67 miles high.That was 1981. Since then, the national debt has climbed to $14.3 trillion. In $1,000 bills, it would now be more than 900 miles tall.In $1 bills, the pile would reach to the moon and back twice.The United States hit its legal borrowing limit on Monday, and the Treasury Department has said the U.S. Congress must raise the debt ceiling by August 2 to avoid a default.The White House is trying to hammer out a deal with lawmakers to cut federal spending in exchange for a debt-limit increase.Most people have trouble conceptualizing $14.3 trillion.Stan Collender, a budget expert at Qorvis Communications, said the biggest sum most Americans have ever handled — in real or play money — is the $15,140 in the original, standard Monopoly board game.The United States borrows about 185 times that amount each minute.Hmmmm.....Great politics ,even for someone with an 'Irish accent".Read the full story here.

• Obama regime Adds New Position to Deal with Unfavorable Online Media.(MediaBistro).The White House has named Jesse Lee to a new position within its communications department titled Director of Progressive Media and Online Response. According to The Huffington Post, Lee will essentially be responsible for building up Obama’s online presence as he prepares for his reelection bid, and squashing any negative stories: The post is a new one for this White House. Rapid response has usually been outsourced to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), if not done on an ad-hoc basis by administration officials. And it signals that the White House will be adopting a more aggressive defense of the president and his policies as his re-election campaign gears up.If you’re going to post something online about Obama that isn’t true, Lee is going to be the one to handle you.Considering that Lee’s first tweet about his new position included a picture of The Terminator, we suggest you watch what you say OR BE DESTROYED.Hmmmmm.....Freedom of speech ,program not downloaded in this regime's terminator.Read the full story here. More here.

• Obama regime keeps ignoring Congress.(ChicagoTribune).Under the War Powers Act, President Barack Obama had until Friday to get congressional authorization to continue U.S. military operations in Libya. But the day passed without his even asking for it, which means he has to disengage within 30 days. Obama may not heed that requirement either.Some members of Congress, from both parties, are unhappy about the administration's disregard of the law. Six Senate Republicans wrote him a letter asking if he plans to meet its terms, while Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, says he'll introduce a bill to invoke the law in an attempt to force withdrawal.Obama is on the horns of a dilemma. As a candidate, he said the president does not have the power to go to war on his own except in cases of actual or likely attack. But if he were to ask Congress to authorize the Libyan intervention, he would probably be rebuffed. So he's chosen to simply ignore the law.But ignoring laws is not what presidents promise to do when they are sworn in. Unless Obama wants to make the case that it's unconstitutional, as some experts think, he should act (belatedly) to follow it or explain why the Libya operations don't qualify. The latter would be a stretch, but maybe Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to elaborate on his theory that Libya is merely a "limited kinetic action," not a war.The war in Libya has been hard to justify from the start because there is no important U.S. security interest at stake and because the president's goal of evicting Moammar Gadhafi appears more than a limited air campaign is likely to achieve. And now that we're in, there seems to be no clear strategy to get out.But a mere law, untested in the courts, is not much of a check on presidential decision-making if Congress lacks the backbone to use the powers it has. By not acting, members are inviting Obama to defy them.Hmmmm....Dictatorship or Democracy.Read the full story here.

• 'Rich Jews threaten Obama,' Norwegian headline reads.(JPost).Norway's largest paper, "Aftenposten," runs controversial headline in its Saturday edition; edits title online after reader complaints.BERLIN – The Oslo-based edition of Norway’s largest newspaper, Aftenposten, ran a headline in its Saturday edition stating “Rich Jews threaten Obama.”Only after reader complaints about the anti-Jewish tone of the headline did the newspaper edit the title on its website, writing “Jews threaten to withdraw Obama support.”According to the news portal and pro-Israel blog called Norway, Israel and the Jews, which posted screen shots of the original headline and the subsequently changed headline, the article reported on “how segments of American Jewry, 78 percent of whom voted for Obama in 2008, find Obama to be too critical of Israel and therefore are considering pulling economic support. So there is the threat: Some ‘rich Jews’ may be considering to stop giving Obama money.”The website noted that “on the one hand it is good to see that Aftenposten was able to recognize that the original title was unfortunate. On the other hand, Aftenposten ought to be sufficiently familiar with the history of anti-Semitism to avoid such mistakes in the first place."Read and see the full story here.

• Chrysler to Repay Government Loans Tuesday.....By taking other loans.(CNSnews).MACOMB TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne said Monday that his company will save $300 million in interest a year when it repays $7.5 billion in U.S. and Canadian government loans on Tuesday.Chrysler plans to announce the repayment at a Detroit-area auto assembly plant on Tuesday afternoon. Ron Bloom, the Obama administration official who oversaw the restructuring of the auto industry, is among those scheduled to attend.Marchionne has said that Chrysler is eager to pay back its loans in part because of the governments' high interest rates of around 12 percent, which cost the company $1.2 billion last year.Under a new loan package announced last week, the company's interest rates will fall to around 6 percent. That will boost the bottom line at Chrysler. The company reported a $116 million profit — its first quarterly profit since its 2009 bankruptcy — in the first quarter.To pay back the loans, Chrysler is issuing $3.2 billion in bonds and taking out $4.3 billion in bank loans. It also will use a $1.3 billion investment from Italian automaker Fiat SpA. In exchange, Fiat will increase its ownership stake in Chrysler to 46 percent.The company still owes the U.S. government $2 billion. The government could get some of that back by selling its 8.6 percent stake in Chrysler.Marchionne, speaking at a grand opening celebration for a Fiat dealership in Macomb Township north of Detroit, said he hasn't discussed with the U.S. government how soon it will sell its stake in Chrysler. Fiat, which was given management control of Chrysler by the government after the bankruptcy, has an option to buy the government's shares. The government also could sell them in an initial public stock offering.Marchionne said he expects the government to get out of Chrysler as quickly as possible.Marchionne said Fiat's stake in Chrysler will rise to 51 percent when Chrysler produces a 40 mpg car in the U.S. starting next year. He said Fiat can raise its stake as high as 76 percent if it exercises all options, including buying part of the 59-percent stake now owned by a health care trust fund for union retirees.Hmmmm......Sounds to good to be true?well you know how the saying go's!Read the full story here.

• Two killed and 12 injured in blast at Iran oil refinery during Ahmadinejad visit.(Al-Arabia).An explosion at an oil refinery in Iran during a visit by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday killed two people and injured 12, the Mehr news agency said.Mr. Ahmadinejad was not hurt and appeared on state television shortly after the blast giving a speech marking the inauguration of a new part of the refinery. The semi-official Mehr said the cause of the blast and fire was a gas leak, giving no source for its information.“A technical fault led to an explosion in one of the units of this refinery,” the Fars news agency earlier said, referring to the oil facility in the southwestern city.“The fire was immediately controlled. The blast did not interrupt the president’s program,” Fars added.Thick smoke was seen rising from the refinery in Abadan, but firefighters had the blaze under control, according to Agence-France Presse. Any damage to the plant would have no impact on oil exports from the world’s fifth-biggest exporter as it is involved in producing gasoline, mostly for domestic consumption, according to Reuters.Mr. Ahmadinejad’s presence at the inauguration shows the importance Tehran places on increasing its oil refining capacity at a time when international sanctions have squeezed its ability to import the automotive fuel.Read the full story here.

• Great !‘Free’ Countries Once Again a Minority on U.N. Human Rights Council.(CNSNews) – This year’s election for the U.N. Human Rights Council has, once again, produced a body that has fewer “free” countries – 21 of a total of 47 – and has more than one-third of the seats held by members of the Islamic bloc.Among the 15 countries to win seats on the Geneva-based HRC on Friday was Congo, which joins 11 other countries ranked “not free” by the democracy advocacy group, Freedom House, based on an annual assessment of political freedoms and civil liberties.Nonetheless, rights advocates did find some cause for cheer: In the only two regional groups to see any contest, Latin America and Eastern Europe, countries ranked “free” by Freedom House defeated candidates scoring a “partly free” grade.In Latin America, Nicaragua’s leftist regime was edged out in a four-way race for three seats, won by Peru, Chile and Costa Rica; the Czech Republic and Romania beat Georgia in a three-way contest for two seats for the Eastern Europe group.As expected, Kuwait secured the seat that Syria had been in line to win until President Bashar Assad withdrew his bid last week, after initially supportive Arab and Asian states bowed to pressure from Western governments and non-governmental activists. (Even though Syria was not standing, five countries still voted for it on Friday.)Every May for the past six years the U.N. General Assembly has held an “election” to fill a proportion of seats on the 47-member HRC, the world body’s foremost human rights watchdog.The presence on the HRC of such countries, and their tendency to vote as a bloc against initiatives promoted by Western and other democracies, has been among the issues raised most frequently by critics, including Republican lawmakers who want the Obama administration to withdraw from the HRC and to “explore credible, alternative forums to advance human rights.”Another target of criticism has been the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the bloc of mostly Muslim-majority states that has used the HRC to target Israel and to promote its provocative “defamation of religion” campaign.In 2010, the OIC held a record 18 seats in the council. On Friday that remained unchanged, with three OIC members (Bahrain, Pakistan and Gabon) leaving, and three joining (Kuwait, Indonesia and Benin).UN Watch, a Geneva-based organization that monitors the HRC, led a campaign both to deny Syria a seat, and to urge governments to vote for candidates with strong rights records. It argued that neither Congo, Nicaragua nor Kuwait deserved seats on the council.UN Watch Hillel Neuer deplored the election of Congo and Kuwait, while calling the defeat of Nicaragua a significant achievement.The HRC for the next year comprises:“Free” countries (21):

Austria, Benin, Belgium, Botswana, Chile, Costa Rica, Czech, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Italy, Mauritius, Mexico, Norway, Peru, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, United States and Uruguay.Hmmmmm........I could name a couple not that 'free' in this list.Read the full story here.

• Berlusconi: Opposition will Islamisize Milan.(IslamInEurope).Days ahead of a key run-off vote for mayor of Milan, Italy's prime minister Silvio Berlusconi warned the opposition centre-left would turn his hometown into an "Islamic" city overrun by Roma Gypsies and other immigrants."Milan can't become, on the eve of the Expo 2015, an Islamic city, a city of Gypsies, full of Roma camps and swamped by foreigners, a city that gives voting rights to immigrants in municipal elections," Berlusconi said on Monday."I don't think that we Milanese consider it a priority to build a beautiful mosque," Berlusconi said in a message posted to the website of his ruling conservative People of Freedom (PdL) party.The leader of Italy's largest centre-left opposition Democratic Party Pierluigi Bersani met Berlusconi's inflammatory remarks with an ironic putdown."Your words are laughable..you're going to need to wear a burqa to avoid people recognising you in the street," he jibed.Hmmmm......At least now you know who approves of the Burqa?Read the full story here.

• Father of Turkish-American flotilla victim to sue Israel in US court.(HurriyetDaily).The father of a Turkish-American man killed last year in an Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla will file a compensation case against the Israeli government Tuesday in the United States, his lawyer has said.“We will open a compensation case against Israel and we’ll declare this at a press conference tomorrow [Tuesday] in front of the U.S. Capitol,” Ramazan Arıtürk, a lawyer for the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, or İHH, which organized the ill-fated flotilla, told the Hürriyet Daily News on Monday.The declaration will come after the lawyers meet with officials from the U.S. Department of Justice as well as U.S. senators and congressmen on the issue, the lawyer said.The Israeli raid May 31, 2010, killed nine people aboard the Mavi Marmara, including Furkan Doğan, an American of Turkish descent, and eight Turkish citizens.“Furkan is an American citizen. He was martyred in international waters. The United States has not taken any action against Israel over the past year. The legal procedures launched by U.S. authorities have not reached any result,” Hüseyin Oruç, an İHH board member and the spokesman for a new flotilla set to sail to Gaza next month, told the Daily News.He declined to comment on the amount of compensation that is being sought, saying this would be set by Doğan’s father, Ahmet, who is currently in the United States along with a group of lawyers.Eight other compensation cases for the other victims will be opened in Turkey “very soon,” Arıtürk said.Last year, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan criticized the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama for remaining silent on the death of an American citizen. “We are protecting the rights of our eight martyrs. The United States is not taking care of Furkan, its own citizen. Is it because of his Turkish origin?” Erdoğan said.Hmmmm.....No it's because Israel has the right to protect it's borders.Read the full story here.

• In Belgium, WWII suddenly an issue again.(Ynet).As Belgium struggles with its yearlong government crisis, a 65-year-old issue is suddenly adding to the animosity between the feuding Dutch-speaking Flemish and Francophone politicians.Almost by stealth, the extremist Flemish Interest party pushed a bill on amnesty for World War II collaboration with Nazis to the senate floor last week. All at once, old wounds on both sides of the linguistic divide that cuts through Belgium opened again."Linguistic war over amnesty," headlined the De Standaard newspaper Thursday. "Amnesty heightens linguistic tensions," echoed the French-speaking Le Soir. Many in Francophone Wallonia, the southern region of the country, see collaboration with the Nazi occupier as having been primarily a flaw of the Flemish, cultural cousins to the Germans. But in Flanders, fingers are pointed in the direction of Leon Degrelle, a Walloon agitator and Belgium's best-known collaborator. Belgium was occupied by Nazi Germany from 1940 to 1944, and there was active collaboration with the Nazis in persecuting Jews. Some 50,000 Jews lived in Belgium in the 1930s and about half were killed during the Holocaust. In 2002, Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt apologized to the Jewish community for Belgium's role in the Holocaust. But more recently, collaboration, repression and amnesty had been largely confined to history books and library shelves. The topics almost never came up in bars or newspapers. Until this week. "The issue was not alive anymore. What is this about? About nothing," said Flemish legislator and historian Luckas Vander Taelen, who has worked extensively on World War II. Beyond the proposal of the right-wing Flemish Interest party, the issues were hotly debated again in the House of Representatives after Justice Minister Stefaan De Clerck said last week that it might be time to "forget" about collaboration. A few days later he argued he had never meant to say it and argued anything linked to World War II should always hold lessons for the present. But the damage had been done.International Jewish organizations were shocked by De Clerck's advice to "forget" something so closely linked to the Holocaust. "There is a strong undercurrent amongst certain European officials that the Holocaust should just recede into history and De Clerck is giving a voice to that," Moshe Kantor, the president of the European Jewish Congress, said Thursday. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, an organization that works for former Nazis to be brought to justice, called for De Clerck to be fired. De Clerck said he would have a meeting with Belgian Jewish organizations this week. "I understand that the word 'forget,' a word I used, gave rise to much emotion," De Clerck told the legislature late Wednesday. "I had no intention to use these words." A Dutch-speaker, he said he had been struggling to speak in French on such a delicate issue. "In no way can it be the intention to forget," he said. The increased divisiveness comes at a bad time, as the major parties on both sides of the linguistic border are trying to end an 11-month stalemate on forming a government. Deliberations on who collaborated more with the Nazis seem unlikely to improve the already tense atmosphere.Hmmmmm....And then there's the Role of the King at that period of time,something everyone 'forgets' to mention?Read the full story here.

• Belarus dictator Lukashenko devalues rouble by a third.(BBC).Belarus has cut the official value of its currency against the dollar by 36%.The rouble is not freely convertible, with currency transactions controlled by the country's central bank.The dollar now buys 4,930 roubles at the official rate, up from 3,155 - but still well below the freely-traded interbank rate of about 7,000 roubles.The country faces a severe financial crisis, thanks to a large trade deficit and rapidly falling hard currency reserves.'Positive step'Many shops have been emptied of goods, as importers lack hard currency to purchase foreign goods.Exporters are required to repatriate 30% of their foreign currency earnings at the official exchange rate."What they've done today is a positive step," says economist Alex Pivovarsky of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.He explains that Belarus has lost international competitiveness over recent years, not least because its government raised wages significantly last year in the run-up to elections.International monitors say those elections were rigged, and the US and Europe have imposed sanctions on the Belarus leadership.While the devaluation means that wages are not worth as much in dollar terms, it does mean the country will become more competitive, analysts said.The Belarus government directed banks to lend heavily to boost the economy in recent years.And Russia has raised the price that Belarus must pay for oil and gas imports, from their previously heavily subsidised levels closer towards the international market price.With hard currency rapidly draining from the country's reserves, the president, Alexander Lukashenko, secured a $3bn bail-out loan from Russia last week.However, the rescue loan, which will only be available in instalments over three years, only covers a fraction of the country's enormous trade deficit.It also came with conditions from Moscow, including a three-year privatisation programme which is due to start next month.The country had already laid out positive steps towards liberalising its economy as part of its latest five-year plan, according to Mr Pivovarsky.This included the planned transfer of about a fifth of the workforce into the private sector, by means of privatisation, as well as encouraging start-ups and foreign direct investment.Hmmmm.....There still remains a corrupt dictatorship at the head of the country.Read the full story here.

• Related - EU slaps sanctions on 13 more Belarus officials .(TodaysZaman).The European Union has imposed sanctions on 13 more Belarus officials as part of the bloc's efforts to punish the crackdown on the opposition by the authoritarian Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko.The 27 EU foreign affairs ministers agreed Monday to impose an asset freeze and visa ban on the officials. The EU had already placed 156 top Belarus officials on a sanctions list in the wake of flawed Dec. 19 elections.Read the full story here.