MFS - The Other News

                       Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity today.More info here.
• Japan - Latest official Situation Update No. 138.Source : Here .
• Japan : For the most accurate info on the nuclear disaster go to : Paul Langley's Nuclear History Blog.Here.

• It's true the sky will fall ! Treasury Secretary Geithner urges Congress to raise $14.3 trillion debt ceiling by August 2 or USA will face Greek-style “default crisis”.(OnceuponatimeintheWest).So, after decades of national and personal debt-based spending, the USA is bankrupt. This has been widely known for a long time, but now dot.gov is unable to hide the truth. “The Treasury Department continues to project that the United States will exhaust its borrowing authority under the debt limit on August 2, 2011,” Assistant Treasury Secretary for financial markets Mary Miller said in a statement last week. Miller added: “Secretary Geithner urges Congress to avoid the catastrophic economic and market consequences of a default crisis by raising the statutory debt limit in a timely manner.” When dot.gov uses terms like “exhaust,” “catastrophic,” and “crisis,” you know things are probably much worse.Read the full story here.

• Executed by the Taliban: British soldier is kidnapped and killed on day PM Cameron makes surprise Afghan visit.(DailyMail).A British soldier was snatched and executed by the Taliban yesterday after he wandered off alone from a remote checkpoint in southern Afghanistan.It was the first kidnap of a British soldier in the conflict. His disappearance in an area riddled with insurgents and Improvised Explosive Devices sparked a 12-hour search with hundreds of troops and vehicles and all available helicopters.David Cameron was forced to abandon part of an unannounced visit to the country so personnel and equipment which would have been with him could be diverted to help.The murder cast a shadow over what was supposed to be a victory tour for Mr Cameron to highlight progress in transforming Afghanistan and preparing for a withdrawal of British troops. Last night the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the soldier’s body was found inside a four-mile cordon set up around the area he was last seen alive.It is understood he was shot in the back of his head – which would indicate a cold-blooded execution – as well as suffering other gunshot wounds. Some of his equipment had been stolen.An investigation is under way. The unnamed soldier was from the 4th Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland and his family have been informed.He was last seen alive early yesterday after finishing duty at a vehicle checkpoint named Salaang near a remote joint British and Afghan base in central Helmand province.Instead of returning to join fellow members of 4 Scots he is said to have walked – armed and in full combat uniform – in the opposite direction.  He was seen passing a checkpoint manned by the Afghan Army and said nothing as he walked into hostile territory. Taliban positions are often only a few hundred yards from those of Nato forces.Colleagues raised the alarm when he failed to return and a massive manhunt was launched involving British, U.S. and Afghan forces.Within hours, a Taliban spokesman claimed they had captured and killed the soldier after a fire fight but gave no further details.Military insiders scotched reports from Afghanistan that the soldier had been ambushed or that there had been a fire fight between insurgents and British troops.‘Rather than heading back to the base with the other soldiers, he has gone off in the other direction. That was the last time he was seen.’ Checkpoint Salaang is close to the Nahr-e-Bughra canal. It is also near the much fought over village of Kopak, in the south of the Nahr-e-Saraj district, which stands on the Shamalan canal.Brigadier Ed Davis, the commander of Task Force Helmand – Britain’s mission in Afghanistan – recently described the area as ‘one of the most dangerous in Central Helmand’.Defence chiefs have won a crunch battle over troop numbers in Afghanistan after David Cameron agreed to make only a ‘modest’ cut before the end of next year.On his visit to Afghanistan yesterday, the Prime Minister made clear that British frontline troops will be gone by the end of 2014.But he bowed to demands from generals not to reduce dramatically the 9,500 ground forces battling the Taliban before the end of next year’s summer fighting season.Mr Cameron made clear that his deadline of bringing combat troops home before 2015 is set in stone, regardless of the situation on the ground. ‘I’ve always been clear. The end of 2014 is a deadline. We won’t be here in large numbers or in a combat role,’ he said.‘It is my judgment that it’s right for the British public to know, for the Afghan public to know and the Afghan and British military to know that there is an endpoint.’ Asked if the generals had won, a senior officer said last night: ‘We have. We have ended up in the right place.’ General Sir David Richards, the Chief of the Defence Staff, who was travelling with Mr Cameron, said British and Afghan troops were on course to allow a withdrawal of all combat forces by the end of 2014. ‘I think we are on track,’ he said. ‘The trick isn’t that we have completely finished off the insurgents but by the time we transition out finally, the Afghan National Security Force can handle it.Hmmmmm.......Obama regime:"We're talking to the Taliban".Read the full story here.

• A towering tribute: 10ft statue of Ronald Reagan is unveiled in London.(DailyMail).It was a fitting occasion for the 4th of July. A statue of Ronald Reagan was unveiled at the American Embassy in London yesterday to mark the centenary of the former U.S. president's birth.Foreign Secretary William Hague and former U.S. secretary of state Condoleezza Rice watched as the 10ft bronze figure was revealed in Grosvenor Square.Sadly Mr Reagan's great political ally and friend, former prime minister Baroness Thatcher, was unable to attend due to her frailty.Mr Hague paid tribute to the late president at the ceremony outside the U.S. embassy, hailing him 'a great American hero'.Speaking of Baroness Thatcher's absence, he added: 'She has asked me to say these words to you: "Ronald Reagan was a great president and a great man - a true leader for our times. Through his strength and his conviction, he brought millions of people to freedom as the Iron Curtain finally came down."'The statue of Mr Reagan was commissioned as part of a year of celebrations. It will stand alongside statues of other American presidents such as Franklin D Roosevelt and Dwight D Eisenhower, another Republican who served two terms.It is the sixth of a U.S. president in Central London. The others are George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy.Although the embassy is moving from its central London home next year, (Sold to Qatar)the statues will remain at their current Grosvenor Square location.Miss Rice, who was representing the late president's widow Nancy Reagan, gave the keynote speech at a gala dinner for 700 people at The Guildhall later in the day.The statue was commissioned by the Reagan Memorial Fund Trust.Mr Reagan died in 2004 at the age of 93, having served as president between 1981 and 1989. The unveiling of the statue - which cost $1million - is part of a year-long series of events to mark the centenary of Reagan's birth, organised by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation.In the weeks prior to the London unveiling, statues have been unveiled and conferences convened in Krakow, Budapest and Prague.Hmmmm.......Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged. Ronald Reagan.Read the full story here.More on the move to the estimated $ 1 Billion new Embassy here and here.

• The Jews still lost in the political desert,perhaps a burning Jerusalem might show them the way?Obama, Israel and the Jewish vote.(Jpost).Obama will undoubtedly continue to enjoy wide support among American Jewry, but this does not mean his Mideast policies will be good for Israel.Judging from voting trends during the past three decades, Democratic President Barack Obama can rest assured that he will receive a majority of Jewish votes in the 2012 presidential election. Even Ronald Reagan, who was the only modern Republican presidential candidate to seriously challenge Democrats’ dominance among Jews, mustered just 39 percent of the Jewish vote in the 1980 elections. Subsequent Republican candidates have received anywhere from 11% to 24% of the Jewish vote. In the last elections, John McCain received 22% to Obama’s 78%.That said, a report by Ben Smith in Politico at the end of June, which has generated quite a bit of attention, claims to have located a possible “tipping point” in American Jewish opinion. Obama’s falling out with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, during the latter’s May visit to Washington, purportedly has forced more center-left Jews to reconsider their political loyalties ahead of next year’s presidential race.Particular note has been made of the controversy sparked by Obama’s statement during his speech before AIPAC that Israel should embrace the country’s 1949 armistice lines – which the US president referred to as the 1967 border with “land swaps,” as a basis for peace talks.It might very well be an exaggeration, however, to claim that the US president is losing the Jewish vote over his policies vis-a-vis Israel.As JTA’s Washington bureau chief Ron Kampeas blogged recently, AJC surveys in the past four years have shown that Israel has consistently ranked no more than fifth on American Jewish voters’ priority list.Ranking higher are domestic matters such as unemployment, house prices and health care, and international military conflicts in which US soldiers’ lives were under constant danger.In addition, a recent Pew Research Center poll found that Americans in general (there was no breakdown for Jews) perceive the Obama administration to have a fundamentally positive approach to Israel. In a survey conducted just days after Obama’s May 19 State Department speech and his May 22 AIPAC address, 50% said the president was striking the right balance in the Middle East situation, while 21% said he favors the Palestinians too much.A combination of factors seems to be coming together to ensure that the Obama administration will once again enjoy the vast majority of Jewish votes.Another example given by Abrams is the Obama administration’s different approach to the United Nations. The Bush administration cast nine vetoes blocking anti-Israel resolutions in the Security Council over an eight-year span, out of a conviction that the UN is inherently biased against Israel. In contrast, the Obama administration “is desperate to avoid vetoes,” Abrams said.Abrams also implied that until now Obama might have been constrained by domestic politics and that in a second term he might feel freer to place more pressure on Israel. Perhaps this helps explain the Palestinians’ success in using their September statehood bid in the UN to put pressure on Israel.Hmmmm.......you would think after 6 Million victims they would have learned?Read the full story here.

• Sexual Harassment of Christian spouce Turns Into Violence Against Christian Villagers in Egypt.(Aina).On Thursday evening, June 30, Muslims looted and torched Christian homes and businesses in the village of western Kolosna in Samalut, Minya province. It was reported that some 10 Christians were injured, but none went to hospital and first aid was administered at home.Muslim violence broke out when a Coptic couple was returning to Kolosna by bus when the wife was severely sexually harassed by Muslims at the bus terminal. The husband tried to defend his wife but was severely beaten.Coptic witnesses said that shortly after the altercation thousands of Muslims from the predominantly Muslim east side of Kolosna roamed the western side of Kolosna, which is about 75% Coptic, and started looting and torching Christian property. Christians hid in their homes for fear of attacks by the Muslim mob.Several calls were made to CTV, Coptic TV Channel, asking for help and besieged resident reported on live television the horror of the mob attacks, saying Muslims surrounded Christian homes and chanted "Allahu Akbar" and shouted "Get their weapons.""They were cursing the cross and taunting us that we will stay inside and never be allowed in the streets again," said one caller to the television program.Copts reported that Muslims were armed with swords, batons and guns and they shot into the air."There were 3 army and 2 central security vehicles, in addition to one local police car, which was not enough to contain the attack," said an eyewitness, adding "not that they wanted to contain it."Reports indicate 6 Coptic homes, including the home of the harassment victim ere looted or torched, as well as 3 supermarkets, an auto parts store, a foundry, a timber shop and a clothing store.Father Estephanos, a priest from nearby Samalut, said in an interview with the US-based Way-TV that the Copts contacted the diocese in Samalut asking for help. "The army commander, the army and the military police were contacted, but arrived three hours later and did not take action while properties were looted and torched. They let everything to happen."Father Estephanos said that while the army was in the village, beside torching and trying to break into Christian homes, the Muslims were on the main road of Kolosna, searching cars. "If the cars belonged to Christians, its passengers were beaten, insulted and windshields were smashed. If the car belonged to Muslims, it passed safely. All this happened while the army stood there watching." He said that Muslims threw Molotov cocktails to burn Christian property.The army searched Christian homes, looking for weapons, and found one rusty rifle in the home of the harassment victim. The police officer could was unable to fire the rifle, according to Coptic activist Mariam Ragy. Never-the-less, nine members of the victim's family were arrested and charged with possession of weapons.Way TV said that their correspondent was stabbed by the mob while trying to cover the incident live in Kolosna.Shafiq Botros, who comes from Kolosna, said the incident was a pre-planned attack by Salafists who came from outside the village and who were aided by local Muslims.After several attempts to disperse the Muslim mob failed, the army fired teargas. A curfew was imposed on Kolosna Thursday night."We are fed up. Every few days an incident takes place between individuals such as this one, where a Coptic man was simply defending his wife and his honor against Muslims, turns into an attack on Christians," said activist Nabil Naggar. "We have to blame the policy of impunity adopted by the Army, which lets Muslims get away scot-free every time they attack Copts."Hmmmmm.........The Obama administration their buddies the Muslim brotherhood in their natural habitat.Read the full story here.

• Afghan Man Beheaded For converting to Christian Faith.(WomenAgainstSharia).HERAT PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN (BosNewsLife)-- Islamic militants in Afghanistan have beheaded what is believed to be a Christian convert and warned other Afghani Christians of "dire consequences" for leaving Islam, after American forces withdraw from Afghanistan, BosNewsLife learned Sunday, July 3.A video message obtained by the respected Christian oriented WORLD Magazine shows a man being beheaded by four men claiming to be members of Afghanistan's Taliban group. Abdul Latif, somewhere in his 40's, was recently kidnapped from his village outside of Enjeel, a town south of Herat, the capital of Herat province.The video, approximately two minutes in length, show Latif being pinned to the ground while his kidnappers, wearing suicide vests and kaffiya head scarves to cover their faces, recite verses from the Quran."You who are joined with pagans, your sentence is to be beheaded," one of the militants reads from what looks like a paper decree. "Whoever changes his religion should be executed."The passages refer to Sura 8:12 of the Koran ("I will instill terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks...") and the hadiths, or sayings, of Islam's prophet, Mohammed.In the video, Latif can be seen struggling with his captors from the ground while one of the militants thrust a medium-sized blade in the side of his neck. The men then began shouting "Allahu Akhbar," or "God is great," until Latif is fully beheaded and his head placed upon his chest.It was not yet clear Sunday, July 3, when the execution took place, but WORLD Magazine said the video had been distributed in recent weeks, suggesting the killing may have taken place in May or early June.Christians said the killing of Latif followed a Taliban-incited attack on a United Nations compound in Mazar-e-Sharif in April of this year that followed the March burning of Korans overseen by American pastor Terry Jones in Florida.An estimated 4,000 Afghans poured into the streets of Mazar-e-Sharif and marched on the compound, killing 10 UN officials, and, according to reports, beheading two of them....Hmmmmm........Now guess what will happen once the US troops have withdrawn?Read the full story here.

• Palestine.....money doesn't grow always on pledges?On Palestinians, Pledges, And Budgets.(EliotAbrams).A fair measure of the dedication to the Palestinian cause on the part of Arab governments is whether they put their money where their mouth is. In that context, a news story today conveys an answer: “The Palestinian Authority will pay its employees only half their monthly salaries in July, the prime minister told reporters here on Sunday, because of what he said was ‘the failure of donors, including our Arab brothers, to fulfill their pledges.’”Donors had pledged $971 million to the Palestinian Authority this year, but the year is half over and only $330 million has been delivered. It turns out that only the UAE, Algeria, and Oman have met the pledges they made years ago via the Arab League. The rest, including the vastly wealthy Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, are delinquent. Despite the roughly $100 billion in extra domestic spending this year of the Arab Spring to buy off its populace, Saudi Arabia will record a budget surplus of about $25 billion. So the failure to assist the Palestinians is the product of hostility, neglect, or uninterest. By comparison, the EU significantly increased its aid to the PA this year, from 100 million to 185 million Euros, or about $275 million–and this does not count the assistance coming from individual member states of the EU. Total aid to the Palestinians from the United States runs about $700 million per year.It is probably an exaggeration to say the Palestinians would be better off if instead of all those Arab pledges they got five dollars for every speech, TV or radio program, and newspaper article in Arabic that denounces Israel and swears eternal loyalty to the Palestinian cause.Or perhaps not.Hmmmmm..........Guess when Obama became US President.Read the full story here.

• Thousands of British schoolgirls At Risk of Mutilation Abroad.(Aina).Thousands of British schoolgirls as young as eight face being taken abroad this summer to have their genitals mutilated and stitched up to preserve "purity".A campaign by the Metropolitan Police and Foreign Office will suggest that more than 22,000 girls under the age of 15 risk being taken abroad by their family for "cutting", based on data from The International Centre for Reproductive Health.Campaigners say the victims are being failed by a lack of awareness from teachers and neighbours.Girls may have their outer genitals removed and stitched up to preserve their virginity, with an opening as small as a matchstick head, meaning it can take up to 20 minutes to urinate.Female genital mutilation (FGM) is most common in Muslim areas, from North Africa to the Far East, although Koranic scholars have proclaimed it incompatible with Islam. Engaging or assisting in it carries a prison sentence of up to 14 years in the UK.A specialist with the Metropolitan Police, Detective Sergeant Vicky Washington, said: "There are no legitimate cultural or religious reasons for FGM -- it's child abuse."Read the full story here.

• Germany able and willing to Supply Battle Tanks to Saudi Arabia.(Spiegel).Germany is prepared to deliver modern "Leopard" battle tanks to Saudi Arabia in a reversal of its decades-old policy not to supply heavy weapons to the authoritarian kingdom.According to information obtained by SPIEGEL, the German security council, in which Chancellor Angela Merkel, Defense Minster Thomas de Maizière, and Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle are represented, last week approved the deal in principle. The Saudis are interested in purchasing more than 200 units of the most modern Leopard version, the Type 2A7+. German defense companies including Krauss-Maffei Wegmann, Rheinmetall and many supply firms, are hoping for a deal worth billions of dollars because the Saudis are aiming to buy brand-new tanks rather than used ones.Riyadh had initially negotiated with Spain where the company Santa Bárbara, part of a US engineering group, makes Leopard tanks under license. But now it appears that a large number of the tanks to be purchased will be made in Germany.In recent decades, various German governments had turned down Saudi Arabian requests to buy Leopard tanks by arguing that such deals might endanger Israel's security. But Israel's high-tech military no longer sees Saudi tank units as a threat.Hmmmm.......It seems the 'love story' between the Saudi king and Obama has ended.Read the full story here.

• Wannebe Stalin Lukashenka attacks foreign foes in Independence Day speech.(Naviny).While opening the parade, Mr. Lukashenka, dressed in a military uniform, accused foreign enemies of attempting to orchestrate a "color revolution" in Belarus. "We understand that the purpose of these attacks is to sow uncertainty and alarm, destroy public concord and in the end bring us to our knees and bring to naught all gains of independence. This will not happen," he said. Mr. Lukashenka stopped short of referring to Belarus' deepening economic crisis, saying that the country would "overcome any difficulties and withstand worthily any ordeals imposed on us." He used the speech to emphasize that Belarus was not posing any threats to international security. "We do not threaten anyone, do not attack anyone and are not going to do so in the future. We do not develop or use weapons of mass destruction, do not finance international crime and terrorism. We do not train militants for organizing revolutions in neighboring countries. We do not trade in women and children," he stressed. Mr. Lukashenka hit out at "certain circles" for seeking to use force, pressure and economic sanctions for promoting their interests. He pointed to "an escalation of information intervention" and efforts to manipulate public opinion through media outlets. "The world's superpowers are using weapons of mass information destruction against countries out of favor with them. This all is aimed at dictation, the imposition of political will [on others], the unification of the world, forcing peoples into a new world order," Mr. Lukashenka said. According to the Belarusian leader, Minks seeks to develop relations based on mutual respect, equality and partnership with Russia, former Soviet Union countries and the rest of the world. He noted that the development of the country's defense capability was a priority for the government. More than 20 military aircraft roared overhead as troops, tanks and vehicles filed past Mr. Lukashenka and his six-year-old son Mikalay, who was traditionally dressed in a specially tailored military uniform. Both were performing a military hand salute simultaneously.The parade was followed by a traditional march by members of the Belarusian National Youth Union and athletes. At a carefully rehearsed ceremony that also featured singer Anatol Yarmolenka, his daughter Alesya and her son Anatol who sang Soviet-era patriotic songs, a girl presented Mr. Lukashenka with a bunch of flowers "on behalf of parade participants." The city police said that some 150,000 people had braved rainy and fairly cold weather to attend the parade, while reporters estimated that the event had drawn a crowd of no more than 5,000. The US charge d'affaires and the ambassadors of European Union countries were not in attendance. Some EU diplomats had complained that they had received invitations to the event too late.Hmmmmm.........Nice uniform for serving 4 years in the Russian army.I wonder was he carrying his 'golden gun'?Read the full story here. More about the demonstrations against his dictatorship here.