MFS - The Other News

                       Afternoon  Posting.

• Syria Live Blog - May 22. Here .(Al-Jazeera).

• Libya Live Blog - May 21. Here (Al-Jazeera).

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Japan  today 5.0  lots of activity In Turkey  today! More info here.

• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 115. Source : Here .

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

• RSOE Emergency and Disaster Information Service Grimsvotn Volcano Info Situation Update No. 4  - On 22.05.2011 at 10:42 GMT+2  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

Grimsvötn volcano is located under Vatnajökull ice cap in central Iceland. Two major volcanic centers lie beneath the ice, the Bardarbunga volcanic centre and the Grimsvötn volcanic centre. Grimsvötn centre is the more active of the two. About every 5-10 years glacial melting causes large floods (jökulhlaup) on the sandur plain. Eruptions at Grimsvotn Volcano are phreatomagmatic.

2011 Subglacial Eruption

An eruption began at Grímsvötn volcano in Iceland at approximately 17:30 UTC, on 21st May 2011. The volcano is located under the Vatnajokull glacier in south-east Iceland. The subglacial eruption sent a plume 50,000 ft high, which makes it the largest eruption in Iceland since Hekla in 1947. A 120 nautical mile flight restriction has been placed around the volcano. A group of people stayed in a hut in Grímsvötn volcano the night before the eruption, and had left an midday on Saturday six hours before the eruption started. The group noticed nothing unusual, but another group that climbed Hrútafellstindar in the southern part of Vatnajökull glacier said they smelled suphur on the morning of 21st May. More than one hundred people climbed Öræfajökull, Iceland’s highest peak on Saturday and saw nothing unusual. A flood in Skeidarársandur is expected, and will depend on the exact location of the eruption.Read the full story here.Live webcam here and here.Google map location here.More info here.

• Icelandic volcano ash could enter UK airspace, forecasters warn.(Guardian).Britain may be at risk as early as Tuesday, although the impact is not expected to be as great as it was in April 2010.Ash from an erupting Icelandic volcano that has already grounded planes locally could enter UK airspace by Tuesday, forecasters have warned.The Grimsvotn volcano began erupting on Sunday, causing flights to be cancelled at Iceland's main Keflavik airport after it sent a plume of ash smoke and steam 12 miles into the air.However experts said the eruption was unlikely to have the dramatic impact that the Eyjafjallajökull volcano had in April last year, when flights were cancelled over the UK and much of Europe for several days.Paul Mott, forecaster at Meteogroup, said ash from the volcano could potentially reach the UK by Tuesday."Both the upper level and lower level winds will be becoming north-westerly through Monday and Tuesday as well, so between Iceland and Scotland there'll be northwesterlies," he said last night."So certainly any ash plume could potentially move from Iceland towards northern Scotland. I think that risk does increase through tomorrow night and into Tuesday."Mott said that ash was "fairly unlikely over southern Scotland or anywhere south of that", although the Met Office said it was too early to rule out ash entering other parts of Britain."At the moment if the volcano continues to erupt to the same level it has been, and is now, the UK could be at risk of seeing volcanic ash later this week," said Helen Chivers, Met Office spokeswoman. "Quite when and how much we can't really define at the moment."Chivers said the weather situation is set to be different to last year, with the wind direction set to change continuously.She added: "If it moves in the way that we're currently looking, with the eruption continuing the way it is, then if the UK is at risk later this week, then France and Spain could be as well."While the ash has grounded aircraft in Iceland, it is not anticipated that it will have a similar impact in the rest of Europe.Dr Dave McGarvie, volcanologist at the Open University, said that the amount of ash reaching the UK "is likely to be less than in the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption", and said the last two times Grimsvotn erupted it did not affect UK air travel."In addition, the experience gained from the 2010 eruption, especially by the Met Office, the airline industry, and the engine manufacturers, should mean less disruption to travellers."Read the full story here.

• Analysis: Saleh puts ball in GCC and US courts with embassy siege in Yemen capital.(Al-Arabia).Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is playing for high stakes.The embattled Yemeni president upped the ante Sunday by allowing armed gunmen to surround the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in the capital Sana’a where the ambassadors of the United States, Britain, the European Union, the six GCC nations – Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman – and GCC secretary general Abdullatif al-Zayani had gathered in expectation that Mr. Saleh would finally sign a GCC-mediated agreement that would have eased him out of office.Mr. Saleh earlier delayed signing the agreement that had already been inked by opposition leaders on Saturday, saying he would only sign it at a public ceremony in the presidential palace. That too may have only been a diversionary tactic. Thousands of Mr. Saleh’s supporters blocked roads leading to a building where Mr. Saleh was meeting with senior officials of his ruling party in a bid to prevent him from leaving his compound to sign the agreement.Mr. Saleh’s bold sabotage of the deal throws down a gauntlet for Saudi Arabia and the United States. The siege of the UAE embassy, even if Mr. Saleh tries to distance himself from his loyalists, is virtually certain to kill the GCC proposal. It is hard to see how there can be any confidence that Mr. Saleh would stick to the agreement’s terms even if he were as yet to sign it.If Mr. Saleh hopes that the siege will allow him to negotiate better terms, it is equally hard to see how the GCC and its Western backers in the wake of the siege can agree to anything less than his immediate departure.Under the current proposal, Mr. Saleh would have remained in power for 30 days after which he would have handed over power to his vice president. Similarly, the granting of immunity from prosecution to Mr. Saleh and his family as part of the agreement is likely to be even more unacceptable to Yemenis than it was prior to the embassy siege and a difficult pill to swallow for the GCC and its Western backers.By apparently sabotaging a solution to Yemen’s three-month old crisis sparked by mass anti-government protests demanding the president’s departure after 33 years in office, Mr. Saleh has increased the risk of Yemen descending into chaos. He has also put the credibility of Saudi Arabia, the GCC and the United States on the line.The collapse of the GCC-negotiated deal would constitute an embarrassment, particularly for Saudi Arabia, which in recent months has deployed its diplomatic and financial clout to blunt the anti-government protests sweeping the Middle East and North Africa in a bid to shield the kingdom and the Gulf from turmoil. Increased turmoil and chaos in Yemen or a Yemen ruled by an unpredictable, embattled leader on Saudi Arabia’s border threatens that core goal of Saudi policy.US President Barack Obama’s credibility is on the line given that he hesitated for months before expressing support for Mr. Saleh’s departure as part of the GGC-sponsored agreement.Mr. Obama cushioned his demand that Mr. Saleh complies with the terms of the GCC proposal by referring to the president as a friend of the United States. Many Yemenis read Mr. Obama’s statement as saying that in line with their perception of Saudi intentions, Mr. Obama wants to see Mr. Saleh go but not a change of regime that could result in weakened Yemeni resolve to fight Islamist militants. That reading will be reinforced if Mr. Obama fails to respond forcefully to the embassy siege.For now, Saudi Arabia and Mr. Obama face the problem of how to respond to Mr. Saleh’s apparent refusal to voluntarily leave office. While it is not immediately clear what options the kingdom and the United States have at their disposal, forcing Mr. Saleh out of office will not be sufficient to persuade a majority of Yemenis that Mr. Obama backs real political and economic change in Yemen. But in the wake of his broad-ranging policy speech last week, in which he called for political and economic change across the Middle East and North Africa, Mr. Obama will have to show to Yemenis that the United States is not just interested in the fight against Al Qaeda but also in supporting their political and economic aspirations. He will also have to demonstrate that he will not allow a recalcitrant, unpopular leader challenge his authority and violate international diplomatic codes.To do so, Mr. Obama will have to help Yemen build truly democratic institutions once Mr. Saleh is gone. That could put Mr. Obama at odds with Saudi Arabia if the kingdom indeed is reluctant to see a Western-style democracy flourish in the country.Hmmmm.......A man who could make the whole world fight a "Nobel Peaceprize winner".Read the full story here.

• Related - Gulf Arab states suspend Yemen power transition deal after Saleh refuses to sign.(Al-Arabia).In yet another bizarre twist to a geopolitical game with international implications, Gulf Arab states suspended their Yemen power transition deal late Sunday evening after diplomats failed to persuade Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh to sign a plan that would ease him out of power.“(The Gulf Cooperation Council) decided to suspend the initiative because of a lack of the suitable conditions that had been agreed upon,” a statement released after a meeting by Gulf foreign ministers in Riyadh said.There was no indication if—or when—the six-member GCC would try to reactivate the Yemen transition plan, on which Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had staked their diplomatic prestige.Earlier in the day, ambassadors from the Gulf States, the United States, Britain, and the European Union were trapped by gunmen at the embassy of the United Arab Emirates in Yemen’s capital city, Sana’a. But Yemeni officials said late Sunday that the envoys had been driven to the presidential palaceThere were conflicting reports late Sunday how many envoys escaped by boarding two helicopters.The gunmen claimed loyalty to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.The secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Abdullatif al-Zayani, who was at the UAE embassy, was reported to have arrived in the Saudi capital of Riyadh Sunday night.The UAE officially asked Yemen to ensure that its diplomats and diplomatic premises were protected.In a day filled with political drama, the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council said it might withdraw its Yemen initiative after Mr. Saleh’s failure to sign a deal that would have ended his 33 years of authoritarian power, Agence-France Presse reported a Gulf diplomat as saying.A State Department official, who declined to be named because of the sensitive ongoing situation, said it appeared that the Yemeni government was behind the demonstration.But government spokesman Abdu Ganadi said the protesters were “expressing their views peacefully,” and that officials from the ruling General People's Congress were also inside the embassy.According to CNN, President Saleh announced Sunday night that he would only sign the agreement if opposition leaders—who signed the pact Saturday—re-inked the deal at a public event at his presidential palace. The president warned that the country faced civil war if they refused.“If they do not wise up and if they want this country to enter civil war, then they must carry the responsibility of this and carry the responsibility of the bloodshed that has ensued and will ensue if they remain hard headed,” Mr. Saleh said in a televised address Sunday night.CNN reported that four members of Yemen’s ruling party signed GCC proposal, according to party spokesman Tareq Shami, leaving only President Saleh to make the pact official. But opposition protesters were blocking the roads to the presidential palace, according to Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office.Earlier on Sunday, in a clear escalation of the already fraught Yemeni situation, thousands of Saleh loyalists took to the streets Sunday morning in what seemed to be a new obstacle to the reconciliation process.They blocked many major roads in many cities across the country, according to Al Arabiya’s correspondent Hamoud Mnasar, in protest at the GCC initiative which is due to be supposedly signed by Mr. Saleh himself today.The opposition, which includes both Islamists and leftists, eventually agreed to have Mr. Noman as the first opposition signer while keeping Mr. Basindwa on the list of additional signatories. President Saleh refused and the deal fell through, the sources said.The ruling party later said President Saleh was willing to sign but wanted to deal only with “legally recognized parties” represented in parliament.Hmmmm......"Change" Obama style.Read the full story here.

• Obama "The Talmud teaches us that so long as a person still has life, they should never abandon faith. And that lesson seems especially fitting today,"

"Hmmmm.......The Talmud also says"Never expose yourself unnecessarily to danger; a miracle may not save you...and if it does, it will be deducted from your share of luck or merit." More here.

• Israel - 41 years ago,"the land where peace time stoud still"?(AmnonAndJonathan).The Avivim school bus massacre was a terrorist attack on an Israeli school bus on May 22, 1970 in which 12 Israeli civilians were killed, nine of them children, and 25 were wounded. The attack took place on the road to Moshav Avivim, near Israel's border with Lebanon. Two bazooka shells were fired at the bus. The attack was one of the first carried out by the PFLP.Read and see the full story here.

• Rejoice - Knesset preparing to recognise the Armenian Genocide! The Knesset is preparing to give the Turkish government a smack across its arrogant face. With Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan making false accusations against Israel, the Knesset looks like it will finally fight back. After years of succeeding Israeli governments avoiding giving it recognition, the Knesset is on the verge of officially recognizing the Armenian genocide (Hat Tip: IsraelMatzav). Shortly before the one year anniversary of the Free Gaza Flotilla that marked a low point in Israel-Turkey relations, the Knesset made history Wednesday afternoon when it held its first open discussion on recognition of the Armenian genocide.With a number of Armenian religious and lay leaders watching in the visitors’ gallery, MKs ranging from Shas to Meretz took the stand to speak in favor of officially recognizing the series of massacres and deportations that killed an estimated 1.5 million Armenians in the years during and shortly after World War I.For years, consecutive governments had blocked attempts by MKs to raise the subject of recognizing the genocide out of concern that such recognition could damage relations with Ankara. This year, however, the government did not block the hearing.MKs voted by a unanimous vote of 20-0 following the hearing to refer the subject for a further hearing to the Knesset’s Education Committee, a hearing that will also be broadcast, at least via Internet. In contrast, any previous discussions concerning the genocide had been held exclusively behind the closed doors of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.Hmmmmm.....Erdogan "Muslims don't commit Genocide"......sorry if you can't read look at the picture!Read the full story here.

• Nearly 3 Million Paid Hours Spent By Federal Employees on Union Activity.(ATR).A new OPM report details over $120 million paid towards federal employees performing union work.The United States Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has finally released its FY2009 report laying out the tremendous cost incurred by federal employees dealing with union issues on the clock- nearly 3 million hours and over $120 million. For some background, federal employees are designated, under their current collective bargaining agreement with the government, “official time” during which they are allowed to participate in union activities.After looking into the numbers, it is clear why the Obama Administration might have wanted to hide the data:

• Hours of paid union activity in FY2009 totaled 2,991,378- a 3.37% increase from FY2008.

• Total costs to the Federal government for on-the-job union work grew by $9 million to $129,100,798.

• Over 75% of time reported was spent on “General Labor-Management” issues, as opposed to bargaining or dispute resolution.

• The total “Hours Per Employee” (HPE) rate, which “indicates the average number of official time hours expended per bargaining unit employee” was 2.58 hours.

• Just for fun, the agency with the highest HPE rate- 11.57- was our old friend the National Labor Relations Board, which has apparently found a new way to waste taxpayer money. This may explain their unnecessary desire for more funding.

This time and money serves as a direct handout to public sector labor unions, allowing them to piggyback free labor off the United States taxpayers. This fact is even readily admitted by OPM in their report!  “There are fewer incentives for Federal employees to join and pay union dues than there are for private sector and many state and local government employees…This voluntary membership in Federal sector unions results in considerable reliance by unions on the volunteer work of bargaining unit employees, rather than paid union business agents, to represent the union in representational matters such as collective bargaining and grievances”Note that OPM is using this statement as justification for the “official time” rules. Because there are fewer federal sector union members than at other levels, the government ought to make life a little easier by providing free work, according to the report. Free to the union, that is; expensive to the taxpayer.Although the report has made its way out of OPM, it still remains mysteriously missing from the agency’s website. Rep. Phil Gingrey [R-LA] was one Member of Congress who repeatedly had his requests for the report’s release stonewalled by OPM. To tackle this issue, Rep. Gingrey earlier this year re-introduced the Federal Employee Accountability Act of 2011, H.R. 122. Back when the legislation was first introduced in 2009, the Alliance for Worker Freedom released this letter in support of its passage. This vital legislation would forbid federal employees from performing any and all union activity while on official time, ending the practice of wasting taxpayer money on what should be union funded work. Hopefully, the release of this startling new report will renew focus on Rep. Gingrey’s legislation, ensuring its swift passage and a greater commitment to transparency on the part of OPM in the future.Hmmmmm.......Dictatorship or Democracy.Read the full story here.

• Can we trust that what we're beeing served is "Clean"?New Trend Of Fecal And Urinary Jihad.(FaithFreedom).Allah hates all non muslims because they are the worst of creations, lowest of the low , worse than animals and evil ( 2.99, 8.22,8.55,95.5, 98.6). They have been declared filthy and najis (untouchable) likefeces (9.28). Here is very famous learned muslim scholar of quran Dr Qazi vey rightly describes a non muslim .As good people are served with good food najis and evil people are served with feces and urine. Here are some jihadi muslims who made the whole umma proud by serving kuffar with urine and feces.

1. Yasser serves urine popsicles. Ice cream with an attitude !Yasser made Allah happy by carrying his urine in bottles in his ice cream truck; and every time a little one bought an ice cream cone he sprinked his urine on it. He carried frozen urine also for those who big kids who wanted a big bowl of ice cream .
2. “A man sprayed a mixture of urine and feces in two supermarkets, a pub and a bookshop in Gloucestershire, a jury at Bristol Crown Court has heard. Sahnoun Daifallah, 42, a devout muslim of Bibury Road, Gloucester, is alleged to have caused damage estimated at £700,000 last May.
3. Two muslim Bakery/Pizzeria owners were today fined for selling chocolate cake – which had been sprinkled with human feces.A horrified customer ate the foul-smelling gateaux but noticed that it didn’t taste or smell “quite right” and handed the cake to public health scientists.The analysts soon established that the sweet treat was covered in feces and legal proceedings against the bakery owners were started.Owners Saeed Hasmi, 25, and Syed Jan Yadgari, 23, were fined £1,500 for selling food unfit for human consumption.The pair – who ran the Italiano Pizzeria in Roath, Cardiff – admitted the charge but did not say how the chocolate cake was contaminated.
4. Dallas, USA where Behrouz Nahidmobarekeh, 49, a devout muslim ,is on trial for allegedly throwing the feces on pastries at a Fiesta grocery store. Police said that during an investigation, they found a pile of human feces by his bed. Investigators believe Nahidmobarekeh would dry the feces, either by microwave or just letting it sit out, grate it up with a cheese grater and then sprinkle it at the store. A young boy, maybe 3 years old, was later seen on the surveillance tape, eating one of the defiled cookies.”HT: HIDF. Hmmmm.......FDA.......comment?......Silence?Read the full story here.

• Israel's unexpected ally against Iran,not counting Obama's "Fairytales".Saudi Arabia Advances Gulf Cooperation Council, Further Cuts U.S. Ties.(BigPeace).A major realignment led by Saudi Arabia is in progress in the Mideast, triggered by the Arab uprisings and by anger in the Gulf states over President Obama’s responses, especially with respect to Iran.The incident that started the Saudis on the path to realignment was President Obama’s humiliation of long-time ally Hosni Mubarak, calling for him to step down in the face of the student protests. This raised the fear the Obama would also call for Saudi King Abdullah to step down, and led to the conclusion that the U.S. could no longer be trusted. (See “11-Feb-11 News — Egypt ‘contagion’ threatens stability of Saudi Arabia.”)The uprising in Bahrain resulted in further sharp disagreements. The Saudis sent 1,000 troops into Bahrain to take over non-combat roles, so that the Bahraini security forces would be freed up to combat the protesters. Obama said that he opposed this move by the Saudis, and in his speech on Thursday, Obama condemned the “repressive military action.”For the Saudis and the other Gulf nations, human rights for the Bahrain protesters is not the issue. What IS the issue is the concern that Iran is trying to destabilize the entire region, and that the Obama administration either does not care about this threat or is not concerned about it.According to Nawaf Obaid, senior fellow at the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, writing for the Washington Post earlier this week:“A tectonic shift has occurred in the U.S.-Saudi relationship. Despite significant pressure from the Obama administration to remain on the sidelines, Saudi leaders sent troops into Manama in March to defend Bahrain’s monarchy and quell the unrest that has shaken that country since February. For more than 60 years, Saudi Arabia has been bound by an unwritten bargain: oil for security. Riyadh has often protested but ultimately acquiesced to what it saw as misguided U.S. policies. But American missteps in the region since Sept. 11, an ill-conceived response to the Arab protest movements and an unconscionable refusal to hold Israel accountable for its illegal settlement building have brought this arrangement to an end. As the Saudis recalibrate the partnership, Riyadh intends to pursue a much more assertive foreign policy, at times conflicting with American interests. …Iran’s efforts to destabilize its neighbors are tireless. As Riyadh fights a cold war with Tehran, Washington has shown itself in recent months to be an unwilling and unreliable partner against this threat. The emerging political reality is a Saudi-led Arab world facing off against the aggression of Iran and its non-state proxies.Saudi Arabia will not allow the political unrest in the region to destabilize the Arab monarchies — the Gulf states, Jordan and Morocco. In Yemen, the Saudis are insisting on an orderly transition of power and a dignified exit for President Ali Abdullah Saleh (a courtesy that was not extended to Hosni Mubarak, despite the former Egyptian president’s many years as a strong U.S. ally). … In Iraq, the Saudi government will continue to pursue a hard-line stance against the Maliki government, which it regards as little more than an Iranian puppet. In Lebanon, Saudi Arabia will act to check the growth of Hezbollah and to ensure that this Iranian proxy does not dominate the country’s political life. Regarding the widespread upheaval in Syria, the Saudis will work to ensure that any potential transition to a post-Assad era is as peaceful and as free of Iranian meddling as possible. …Saudi Arabia has the will and the means to meet its expanded global responsibilities. In some issues, such as counterterrorism and efforts to fight money laundering, the Saudis will continue to be a strong U.S. partner. In areas in which Saudi national security or strategic interests are at stake, the kingdom will pursue its own agenda. With Iran working tirelessly to dominate the region, the Muslim Brotherhood rising in Egypt and unrest on nearly every border, there is simply too much at stake for the kingdom to rely on a security policy written in Washington, which has backfired more often than not and spread instability. The special relationship may never be the same, but from this transformation a more stable and secure Middle East can be born.”Hmmmm.....King Abdullah knows a snake when he sees one.Read the full story here.

• Video - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Accuses the Europeans of Emptying the Clouds So That Iran Would Have No Rain.Hmmm....I knew ,i knew it ...it's a Zionist plot!Read and see the full story here.