MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in Solomon Island 5.7 and 5.1 in Japan, 5.4 Fiji and 5.2 St Lucia! More info here.

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

• S&P warns of a second downgrade.(Politico).One day after lowering the nation’s platinum triple-A credit rating, Standard & Poor’s analysts warned Saturday that the U.S. government could face a second downgrade if the economy continues to struggle and the government fails to make the cuts outlined in the debt ceiling agreement.The ratings agency on Friday downgraded the nation to AA+ for the first time in history, saying partisanship in Washington is preventing dramatic deficit reduction.S&P managing director John Chambers told reporters on a Saturday conference call that the toxic mix of a listless economy and political infighting will cause government debt to grow.“Compared to some other highly rated governments, the U.S. government does not have the proactive ability to put public finances on a firm footing,” Chambers said.His colleague David Beers said the partisan discord increases the risk that Washington will not achieve effective policy remedies.“For that reason, there’s a lot of uncertainty about the future debt burden,” Beers said.The White House on Saturday issued its first public comments on the fiscal developments, without directly citing either S&P or the downgrade.“The president believes it is important that our elected leaders come together to strengthen our economy and put our nation on a stronger fiscal footing,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a statement. “The bipartisan compromise on deficit reduction was an important step in the right direction. Yet, the path to getting there took too long and was at times too divisive. We must do better to make clear our nation’s will, capacity and commitment to work together to tackle our major fiscal and economic challenges.The possibility of a second downgrade could increase the pressure on the White House and House Republicans to find common ground on deficit reduction and measures to stimulate the economy.On Tuesday, Moody’s and Fitch credit agencies affirmed the government’s platinum rating, though both firms cautioned that a downgrade could occur if the next rounds in deficit cuts prove unsatisfactory.Hmmmmm......Something like Obama's 'We don't need a balanced budget'?Read the full story here.

• Today, There's A Much Bigger Story Than The S&P Downgrade.(BusinessInsider).Worried about the Monday open? You probably should be, but really, the S&P downgrade isn't the big worry.It's Italy.Italy has the third largest bond market in the world (after the US and Japan), and it's teetering on the brink of disaster.The belief in Germany is that existing bailout mechanisms aren't sufficient to save the country and that expanding them isn't the right idea, since at that point you're talking about placing massive risk on Germany's sovereign debt itself.The last backstop is the ECB, which will be deciding today (call at 12:00 PM ET) whether it will begin intervention in the Spanish and Italian markets. Last week German leaders (not surprisingly) opposed this, however that was before Berlusconi came out on Friday with an announcement of accelerated austerity.It's also not clear whether, at the margins, ECB bond buying will be enough to halt the crisis, unless it really brings a gigantic bazooka to the game.Regardless, concerns about the US debt, the changed perception of the dollar, and the political mess are all valid. Tonight and tomorrow, It's about Italy.Read the full story here.

• “A Closed ‘Super Congress’? Oh, I Don’t Think So.”(Cato).By Jim Harper.That was my inner conversation when I heard that the “Super Congress”* (or “Super Committee”) created by the debt ceiling deal might operate behind closed doors.Congress is free to create any committee it wants, of course. Congress determines the rules of its proceedings. But ordinary committees and subcommittees are too opaque. A “Super Committee” should lead—not lag—in transparent operations.In a forthcoming report on government transparency, we’ll be looking at the kinds of things committees should be publishing in computer-useable formats, and in real time or near-real-time: meeting notices, transcripts, written testimonies, live video, original bills, amendments to bills, motions, and votes. There are ways that many of these documents and records can be optimized for transparency, including by flagging agencies, programs, dollar amounts, and so on in the texts of published documents.That’s why I’m glad to see transparency stalwart the Sunlight Foundation calling for a transparent Super Committee. “Congress pushed through the ‘Debt Ceiling’ bill with almost no transparency,” they say. “Let’s make sure the new ‘Super Congress’ committee created by this bill operates in the open.”The things they highlight, reflecting priorities of transparency groups across the ideological spectrum, include: live webcasts of all official meetings and hearings; the committee’s report being posted for 72 hours before a final committee vote; disclosure of every meeting held with lobbyists and other powerful interests; Web disclosure of campaign contributions as they are received; and financial disclosures of committee members and staffers.The legislation creating the Super Committee calls for some minimal transparency measures: public announcement of meetings seven days in advance; release of agendas 48 hours ahead of meetings, and:  Upon the approval or disapproval of the joint committee report and legislative language pursuant to clause (ii), the joint committee shall promptly make the full report and legislative language, and a record of the vote, available to the public.

By my read, that’s a requirement to release the language the committee is voting upon after the vote has been taken.I’m not havin’ it. Kudos, Sunlight Foundation, for pressing an open Super Committee.Hmmmmm.......Supreme Council...Soviet style?Read the full story here.

• 4.2 earthquake hits Israel.Tsunami warning issued for Greek Islands.(Ynet).Epicenter of tremor at sea, 60 kilometers deep and 800 kilometers off Israel coastline; An earthquake measuring 4.2 on the Richter scale was felt throughout the country on Sunday. The epicenter of the tremor was 40 kilometers west of Binyamina. The Coastal District Police Department stated that it received many calls from frightened citizens, mainly in the coastal region and Haifa. Magen David Adom in the Carmel Subdistrict also received many calls but they noted that there have been no reports of injuries or damages.Director of the Seismology Division at the Geophysical Institute, Rami Hofstetter, said the earthquake was a rare occurrence both in potency and location."The area in which the quake took place this time is usually far less active, but this happens too, as we can see," he said, adding that it had also been one of the most severe quakes of the past 20 years.Hofstetter also believes it could be a warning sign. "A 4.2-level quake does not cause damage or casualties, but could sometimes, as occurred in Japan, mean the beginning of movement in the ground," he explained.Eran Agami felt the earthquake in Rehovot and said: "The entire house shook left and right. My parents in Elad felt it too."The last earthquake that was felt throughout Israel occurred last April. Israel's Geophysical Institute said that the epicenter of the tremor was at sea at a depth of 60 kilometers and 800 kilometers off the Israel coastline.Read the full story here.

• Saudi government daily 'Okaz, titled "Obama – Get Out!" (Memri).Khalaf Al-Harbi accused U.S. President Barack Obama of applying a double standard in dealing with the revolution in Egypt and the revolution in Syria. He went on to demand – just as protestors are demanding of dictatorial Arab leaders – that Obama resign."All last month, I kept my eyes out for Mr. Obama, who appeared so often at the outset of the 'Arab Spring' and suddenly disappeared, leaving the tyrants' armored vehicles to wreak havoc in the land. I sought 'Abu Hussein' [i.e. Obama] everywhere [and] wondered where he was hiding – this man whose [face] did not leave the TV screen throughout the Egyptian revolution, and who had asked [Egyptian president Hosni] Mubarak to step down, appearing every five minutes to say to his erstwhile ally: 'Get out today, not tomorrow!'"Obama got lost in the old neighborhoods of Damascus. He 'dissolved like a lump of salt,' as our brothers in Egypt say. [He did so] even though, [in contrast to] the U.S.'s [close] ties with Hosni Mubarak's regime, U.S. relations with the Syrian regime [are weak], and even though the number of victims in the protests of the Egyptian revolution [was far smaller] than the number of victims in the protests now sweeping Syria's cities. "In Egypt, 'mother America' pressured Hosni Mubarak to step down immediately, while in Syria, 'mother America' has pressured the opposition to engage in dialogue with the regime."How is one to interpret this? Who supports whom, and who is against whom? What is Obama thinking? And why did 'mother America' become so hard of hearing the minute the cries broke out in Der'a, Hama, Homs, and Aleppo?"Obama is not the only one who uses a double standard [vis-à-vis the revolutions in Egypt and in Syria]. The Arabs as a whole are toeing his line. The press, the intellectuals, and the revolutionary parties all tried to coordinate [their positions] with the cries of the revolution of Egypt's youth, raising Cain throughout the world when [Libyan ruler Mu'ammar] Al-Qadhafi began to oppress his people, and demanding that the president of Yemen step down when the revolution broke out there. [But] less than an hour after the bloody events began in Syria, they all fell silent, as if a raven were sitting on their heads and pecked at the bodies of the innocent."When [Hizbullah leader] Hassan Nasrallah praised the revolution of Egypt's youth and then became an enemy of the youth in Syria, by asking them to adhere to their regime – it was not difficult to understand [his motives], nor was [it difficult to understand Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei's stance. But the position of the U.S., which is not very different from that of Iran in both cases – the Egyptian and the Syrian – is difficult to understand. Where is Obama hiding?"We do not want him to say a thing. This time, we want to say to him: Obama – get out!"Hmmmm....... Gore : "America Needs An Arab Spring”?Read the full story here.

• Riot blaze: North London in flames as police cars, bus and shops burn over police shooting of 'gangster'.(DailyMail).

Twenty-six police officers hurt in clashes, with eight treated in hospital.

Scotland Yard still dealing with 'isolated pockets of crime' this morning.

Mob of 500 people protest about death of father-of-four Mark Duggan who was shot by officers .

100 riot police on the streets as Tottenham burns.

Fears that violence was fanned by Twitter as picture of burning police car was re-tweeted more than 100 times.

Shop looted and youths storm McDonald's and start cooking their own food.

Mail on Sunday photographers beaten and mugged by masked thugs.

Twenty-six police officers were injured in riots that broke out two days after a man was shot dead by police.Scotland Yard said at least one of the officers had suffered head injuries after protesters clashed with police in Tottenham, north London.Scotland Yard said this morning: 'There remain isolated pockets of criminality in the Tottenham area involving a small number of people. Officers are currently taking steps to deal with these incidents.'

In a statement, Commander Adrian Hanstock said: 'Last night's disorder and violence in Tottenham is completely unacceptable. The behaviour by a criminal minority put police officers, fire brigade personnel and the public at significant risk.'The death of Mr. Duggan is extremely regrettable and will be the subject of an independent investigation by the IPCC. It is absolutely tragic that someone has died, but that does not give a criminal minority the right to destroy businesses and people's livelihoods and steal from their local community.'There was no indication that the protest would deteriorate into the levels of criminal and violent disorder that we saw. We believe that certain elements, who were not involved with the vigil, took the opportunity to commit disorder and physically attack police officers, verbally abuse fire brigade personnel and destroy vehicles and buildings. 'We do not believe that this is something that the vast majority of law abiding citizens in Tottenham would condone or would want.'So far police have made 42 arrests in connection with the trouble, which flared after members of the community took to the streets last night to demand 'justice', after Mark Duggan, 29, was shot dead by police on Thursday.Patrol cars, a shop and a double-decker bus were set ablaze and there were reports of looting amid scenes reminiscent of the violent unrest in the same area 26 years ago when PC Keith Blakelock was hacked to death.More than 100 officers and specialist riot police faced crowds of more than 500 people protesting about the death of Mr Duggan, who lived on the estate and was described last week by police sources as a ‘gangster’. Senior political figures were united in their condemnation of last night's unrest.Home Secretary Theresa May said: 'I condemn utterly the violence in Tottenham last night. Such disregard for public safety and property will not be tolerated, and the Metropolitan Police have my full support in restoring order.'I want to pay tribute to the officers who put themselves in harm's way.'Mayor of London Boris Johnson said: 'I'm appalled at the scenes of violence and destruction in Tottenham. The Acting Commissioner has assured me that the police are doing everything they can to resolve this situation. The events leading to these disturbances are rightly being investigated by the IPCC. Harming people and property will do nothing to facilitate the investigation, it will only make the situation worse.'There was concern that the disturbances were fanned by Twitter, with some of those taking part posting inflammatory comments from the scene and calling for reinforcements.One picture of a police car on fire in the area was re-tweeted more than 100 times on the social networking site within an hour.Mr Duggan was shot by officers from the Metropolitan Police’s CO19 unit on Thursday evening after the minicab he was travelling in was stopped. There was an apparent ‘exchange’ of fire and a bullet was found lodged in a police radio.Mr Duggan died at the scene and an officer was injured, but left hospital after treatment. The violence last night started soon after a crowd of about 120 had begun to gather at the High Road, near Tottenham Hotspur’s football ground, from about 5.30pm.Their target was the police station which was being guarded late last night by lines of officers and police vans. As the disorder spread, and the numbers of demonstrators swelled, two police cars being used to block the road were set ablaze by masked youths.Flames began to billow from a shop and then a double-decker bus was engulfed in flames and quickly reduced to a twisted shell. Witnesses also reported seeing a jewellery shop and a bookmakers being looted. Teenagers and younger children were seen carrying valuables through the shattered glass front of an electrical shop. Windows were smashed at a Barclays Bank and pictures on Twitter appeared to show the building being looted. There were also reports that youths had stormed McDonald’s and had started frying their own burgers and chips.Hmmmm.......What has become of the land of Shakespeare?Read and see the full story here.More here :Pictured: The 'gangsta' gunman killed in shoot-out with police whose death sparked riots.

• Report: SEAL Team Six Was on a Rescue Mission to assist military personnel pinned down by insurgents.(CNN).Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- In the single deadliest loss for U.S. troops since the Afghan war began in late 2001, 30 service members died early Saturday when a helicopter carrying them went down while they were reinforcing other troops, officials said.Insurgents are believed to have shot down the CH-47 Chinook, a U.S. military official said. The Taliban claimed militants downed the helicopter with a rocket-propelled grenade.Among the 25 U.S. special operations forces killed in Wardak province were 22 Navy SEALS, considered to be the "best of the best." Seven Afghan troops also died.The majority of the Navy SEALs who died belonged to the same covert unit that conducted the raid that killed Osama bin Laden in May, though they were not the same men, the military official said.The troops died during a "quick reaction" mission to assist military personnel pinned down by insurgents in a fierce firefight, a U.S. military official told CNN."It's a big loss" for the SEALs, one of the officials said. "The numbers are high."Reflecting on the sobering loss, President Barack Obama said the deaths were "a reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices made by the men and women of our military and their families, including all who have served in Afghanistan."NATO's International Security Assistance Force said 30 U.S. service members in ISAF, one civilian interpreter and seven Afghan commandos were killed. The nationality of the interpreter was not known late Saturday.The Chinook went down as an Afghan and coalition force operation targeted a bomb-making cell leader in Wardak, leading to the detention of numerous insurgents Friday, according to ISAF. It is not clear if the helicopter incident and the raid were connected.Mohammad Hazrat Janan, head of the provincial council, said Tangi village elders reported that insurgents shot at the craft when it was returning from an operation.Officials are being especially tight-lipped because recovery operations at the site are still underway and body identifications and family notifications are just beginning, a U.S. military official said.ISAF has not said how the incident occurred. Spokesman Justin Brockhoff acknowledged the helicopter had been flying in an area where there was reported insurgent activity.Hmmmmm.......Nice start for Panetta's career as secretary of defense?Read the full story here.

• As The Details Worsen, ‘Fast and Furious’ Becomes Dem. Party’s Trip To Jonestown.(TheOtherMCCain).Doug Ross offers an excellent summary of the whole fandango. I still maintain that, as this scandal is rolled out, either it or the threat of it running its course will be the real reason for Obama to resign.The Dems, especially Invertebrate Harry in the Senate, have got to see BHO as a liability. The question becomes at what point the cost/benefit analysis is such that it’s easier to eat the impeachment than drink the fatal political kool-aid of hanging on to him.One likely damage control course of action is to highlight the thuggery of Fast and Furious, and tie that to BHO personally, instead of the Dems as a whole. Or not. Maybe the Progressive cult goes full political suicide pact.This clip is NSFW, but captures the idiocy of both the Dems and, later, Ben Bernanke rather well: Obama: Debt Ceiling Deal A Prime Example Of Democrats And Democrats Sacrificing For The Greater Good.Read and see the full story here.

• How Obama Will React To U.S. Downgrade And How Conservatives Should.(Riehl).No one should welcome, or interpret any welcoming of a U. S. debt downgrade on the Right, as simply a chance to rejoice at a perceived personal failure for Obama. In part, it is also a failure for a big government Washington mentality that includes far too many Republicans. That is the critical point here. Conservatives should primarily view Standard and Poor's downgrading of America's debt as proof of the failure of Obamanomics and previous irresponsible Republican supported spending. That, more than any personal failure for Obama, is the far more important point to be made from the downgrade. S&P has already addressed a reported miscalculation, stating it does not change their determiniation. It shouldn't. We've acquired far too much debt, especially in proportion to GDP, thanks to an out of control, out of touch and unresponsive Washington. I believe S&P is correct and they do tend to be correct while also setting the ultimate course for other rating agencies that tend to follow.If recent negotiations and actions on the debt ceiling revealed anything, it's that Washington remains broken as anything much more than an ATM filled by the pocketbooks of hard working Americans. At least, the ones that still have jobs are hard working, while Washington refuses to get out of the way of industry and innovation to allow the market place to once again flourish, post correction.Unfortunately, an ideologue like Obama is not likely to heed any warning and alter his view. He might talk the talk but he will not walk the walk of prudence. Most likely, Obama will look to use the downgrade as supportive of the need to increase taxes. On the campaign stump, Obama is more likely to begin talking about shared sacrifice and the need for all Americans to step up and do their fair share in bad economic times. He will also likely focus much of his rhetoric on the rich to continue his never-ending class warfare; however, we should all know better than that.The kind of wealth Obama needs to drain from the private sector to prop up an ideology that has already failed world-wide does not sit in the bank accounts of some number of millionaires. It rests in the hands of a suffering, if not dwindling, middle-class. Obama will not hesitate to confiscate as much of it as he can to empower his failing agenda.In the end, what this represents is a tremendous opportunity for America, as well as fiscal conservatives. Obama's deceptive rhetoric in support of his Leftist politics and economics must not be allowed to dominate the public discourse during the coming election year. Along with focusing on jobs, the Right must also make this election about prudent economic policy to educate Americans on the need for and wonder of free market capitalism.That debate, more than anything else, has the potential to direct the future course of this great nation. For America's sake, our children's sake and our own sake, the Right must win that debate, as well as next November's elections. The long-term future of our nation may well depend upon it.Hmmmmm........If he really wanted to destroy America, would he have done anything different?Read the full story here.

• Gunwalker: It Must Have Been Eric Holder... Or higher. An informed examination of the facts leaves no other answer.(PajamasMedia).By Bob Owens. Now that the debt ceiling debate is over and done, let’s turn our attention back to Operation Fast and Furious and its alleged sister operations. The multi-agency operation (or operations) of the U.S. government allowed thousands of guns to be supplied to Mexican drug cartels, while American federal law enforcement effectively provided the straw purchasers and smugglers with the cover to operate with impunity.Despite the tens of thousands of words of outrage written about the Obama administration’s botched Operation Fast and Furious, most of the focus has been on the horrific impact of the program as measured by the number of firearms smuggled over the border and the number of lives lost. Some attention has been consequently paid to the potential political and criminal impact of the operation and cover-up within the Department of Justice.Sadly, the media has focused very little attention on the probable origins of the plot, or why Gunwalker was created as an adjunct of the longer-running and more successful Gunrunner campaign.Of course, that may not be entirely true. The crack investigative reporters of print, network, and cable news organizations may very well have done the research and followed the various clues about the origins of Gunwalker to their logical conclusion, and then simply decided that the most probable story was one they not dare tell.The story is this: no competent federal law enforcement officer would ever have concocted an operation as obviously doomed to catastrophic failure as Operation Fast and Furious.Let us count the reasons why:

1.Federal law enforcement agents don’t let guns “walk.” A gun that is allowed to flow into criminal hands is a gun that could end up killing a fellow cop or citizen. As a result, all prior known operations under the long-running and successful Gunrunner program ended when a straw purchaser was allowed to make the purchase, and then arrested on the spot or shortly thereafter. Throughout the process of these stings, the suspects were under constant surveillance whenever they had firearms in their possession, and officers considered it catastrophic failure if surveillance was lost.

2.Federal law enforcement agents knew that this operation would not lead to cartel kingpins. The profiling of criminal activity has become a blend of art and high science in recent decades, and when combined with the intelligence provided by informants and a history of thousands of arrests, the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, and IRS agents assigned to the task force knew from the beginning that cartel leaders could not be implicated in Fast and Furious, because they simply aren’t involved. Obtaining weapons for cartel gunmen is a problem for the lower to middle ranks of a cartel’s hierarchy, no different than acquiring vehicles or safehouses. The most commonly used cartel weapons are viewed by the organizations as consumable commodities to be bought, used, and discarded. Do CEOs, company presidents, and vice presidents, or even middle managers go out shopping for paper clips and pens?

3.Federal law enforcement agents knew from the outset that they could never arrest their targets, who were outside of their jurisdiction. Jurisdictional battles between federal, state, and local agencies are legendary, and sensitivity to jurisdictional issues is something every law enforcement agent learns, often with frustration. Knowing for a fact that the individuals running cartel gun acquisition would be based in Mexico, and staying in Mexico, agents would have realized from the mission planning phase — well before operational implementation — that effecting arrests of the operation’s stated targets was nearly impossible.

4.Middle managers in government would never dare to try such a dangerous, high-risk operation without express orders from above. All agencies — public or private — are saddled with bureaucracy, internal politics, and institutional inertia, which forms a powerful and pervasive cultural force that significantly inhibits change. Changes that threaten the equilibrium of agencies are viewed as a threat, and the more radical the proposed change, the more resistance there is to block it from occurring. Resistance to change occurs even when change is thought to be strongly beneficial.From the ground up and at the very beginning, Fast and Furious was a radical and dangerous proposal that would threaten the very existence of the ATF.

There is no way a politically experienced operative like Phoenix Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Bill Newell would have offered up such a plan merely out of the self interest of furthering his own career. Federal law enforcement officers never would have conceived of and did not support the implementation of Operation Fast and Furious. Agents fought tooth and nail with supervisors over the plot, as has been documented extensively in congressional testimony.

Operation Fast and Furious would not have come from agents in the field.

Operation Fast and Furious could not have come from regional SACs.

The one and only way that this multi-agency operation could have been organized and forced into action against the wishes and better judgment of seasoned professionals is through a top-down push from high-level executives within the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, State, and Treasury, which all played a role in the plot. Four executive branch departments, led by cabinet-level political appointees loyal to the Obama administration, worked on an operation together that was explicitly doomed to failure from the outset.

Was the goal of the project ever law enforcement?

The most logical explanation for Fast and Furious and related operations was that it was not a law enforcement operation, but a political operation designed to advance an anti-gun political agenda that Attorney General Eric Holder and President Barack Obama have been pursuing since the beginning of this presidency.This explosive scandal at the heart of Gunwalker isn’t a matter of “what did he know and when did he know it?” It now instead seems to be a matter of who will come forward, and how much evidence will they provide to implicate officials at the highest levels of a lawless government.Hmmmm........Gunwalker....These boots will go on walking, one of these days these boots will walk all over you.Read the full story here.

• The U.S. Is Downgraded, and Obama Will Be Too.(CommentaryMagazine).This is a terrible day. For the first time, the creditworthiness of the United States has been called into question by an independent entity, Standard and Poor’s, which has downgraded the country’s credit rating from AAA to AA+. Its statement features this terrifying phrase: “The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed.” S&P assigns blame to all players, and by seeing a “negative outlook” down the road, is saying it expects to downgrade to a simple AA within two years.The Left will and is already blaming the Tea Party and Republicans. The Right will and is blaming the growth of the federal debt and the refusal to deal with the unsustainable path created by the entitlement programs. This is a grinding battle that will lead to an intellectual and ideological stalemate. There’s truth to the Leftist charge that the conservative Republican decision to use the debt ceiling fight as leverage to force a cut in the national debt at a particularly risky time was unsound. But that is nothing next to the liberal fantasy that the U.S. can stay on its current course—the most destructive notion in present-day politics.But the ideological stalemate does not mean the political fallout will be evenly distributed. This is a colossal disaster for Barack Obama​, and anybody who says otherwise is kidding himself or trying to spin you. We know that the election of 2012 is going to be fought on jobs, the economy, and the wisdom of health care. But now the GOP has an overarching theme that I predict will be at the core of a $500 million advertising campaign: “America needs its good name back.”Hmmmm......."Change you can forget about"?Read the full story here.

• Power companies prepare as solar storms set to hit Earth.(Reuters).Three large explosions from the Sun over the past few days have prompted U.S. government scientists to caution users of satellite, telecommunications and electric equipment to prepare for possible disruptions over the next few days."The magnetic storm that is soon to develop probably will be in the moderate to strong level," said Joseph Kunches, a space weather scientist at the Space Weather Prediction Center, a division of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).He said solar storms this week could affect communications and global positioning system (GPS) satellites and might even produce an aurora visible as far south as Minnesota and Wisconsin.An aurora, called aurora borealis or the northern lights in northern latitudes, is a natural light display in the sky in the Arctic and Antarctic regions caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere.Major disruptions from solar activity are rare but have had serious impacts in the past.The NOAA Space Weather Scale measures the intensity of a solar storm from one being the lowest intensity to five being the highest, similar to scales that measure the severity of hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes.The first of the three solar explosions from the sun this week already passed the Earth on Thursday with little impact, Kunches said, noting, the second was passing the Earth now and "seems to be stronger."And the third, he said, "We'll have to see what happens over the next few days. It could exacerbate the disturbance in the Earth's magnetic field caused by the second (storm) or do nothing at all."Power grid managers receive alerts from the Space Weather Prediction Center to tell them to prepare for solar events, which peak about every 12 years, Tom Bogdan, director of the center said.He said the next peak, called a solar maximum, was expected in 2013."We're coming up to the next solar maximum, so we expect to see more of these storms coming from the sun over the next three to five years," Bogdan said.Read the full story here.

• Ayatollah of the RAF: Academic 'university' head is Muslim convert who claims Nazi gas chambers were British propaganda and criticises Libya air strikes.(Dailymail).The head of studies at the Royal Air Force pilot training college is a convert to Islam who has criticised Nato air strikes on Libya in a Muslim magazine.Dr Joel Hayward is dean of the college at Cranwell, the RAF’s equivalent of Sandhurst, and has taught many of the pilots spearheading the military operation against Colonel Gaddafi.But, to the dismay of defence chiefs, he has cast doubt on the widely held belief that the Nato actions averted the mass killing of civilians in Benghazi. He also warned against the RAF becoming ‘the air corps of a rebel army’.Dr Hayward has previously expressed remorse after appearing to claim that far fewer Jews were killed by the Nazis than generally thought and that the gas chambers of the Holocaust were British propaganda.In another article recently he likened Churchill to Mohammed.The magazine article on Libya was published under the headline ‘The West runs the risks of its good intentions (and inconsistencies) leading to distrust’.Dr Hayward wrote: ‘When western aircrafts began to destroy tanks and a downpour of missiles wrecked Libya’s air force and air defence system, various leaders congratulated themselves for preventing an “atrocity” or “slaughter” - evocative words which conjured up images of a Srebrenica-style massacre [the 1995 killing of Bosnian Muslims].‘Yet we do not know that his army would have “slaughtered” civilians in a Srebrenica-style massacre.’Dr Hayward also takes issue with the UN Security Council resolution authorising ‘all necessary measures’ to protect civilians from the dictator’s forces.Describing the resolution as ‘elastic’, he says: ‘Strangely, that resolution condemned human rights abuses and torture to which the world (and the UN) had turned a blind eye for decades.’His views and behaviour have caused disquiet among senior officers at RAF Cranwell, Lincolnshire, where he is the most senior academic and taught Prince William.In a letter to The Mail on Sunday entitled The Air Force Ayatollah, one senior officer expressed concern that Dr Hayward was focusing more on ‘Islamist activities that are nothing to do with the RAF’.He also accused him of giving Muslim cadets preferential treatment and making other students take a ‘softly, softly line when writing about Muslim terrorists/Islamist extremists’.Another officer claimed cadets and lecturers ‘are in fear’ of expressing anything that might be construed as anti-Muslim sentiment. ‘Anyone who fails to follow the line that Islam is a peace-loving religion is hauled into his office for re-education,’ he said.Last night Dr Hayward said he did not ‘recognise’ the allegations.The Mail on Sunday understands that Dr Hayward’s views have embarrassed RAF chiefs, who feel that while he is entitled to his opinions, it was unwise for him to air them in a Muslim magazine.It is not the first time the New Zealand-born academic has attracted controversy. In 2000, he was accused of denying the Holocaust after the publication of a thesis he had written in 1993 questioning the number of Jews killed. He claimed the idea of gas chambers being used was propaganda invented by Britain, the US and Jewish lobbyists. He has since expressed remorse over the ‘mistakes I made as an inexperienced student’.Dr Hayward has frequently challenged claims of Islamic aggressiveness. Most recently, he wrote on the subject for the Cordoba Foundation, described by David Cameron as a front for the Islamist group, the Muslim Brotherhood. In that article, Dr Hayward likens the prophet Mohammed’s inspirational qualities to that of Sir Winston Churchill. He said Mohammed had to go to extra lengths – just as Churchill did in the Second World War - to exhort his people to believe in victory and fight for it.Dr Hayward was appointed to RAF Cranwell in 2007, but was investigated the following year over complaints of ‘harassment and bullying’. It is not clear what became of the investigation. He is employed not by the RAF but by King’s College, London, which runs academic courses at Cranwell.An RAF spokesman said: ‘Dr Hayward writes for a number of publications. These activities are conducted in his own time and do not impinge on his duties in support of the RAF.’Hmmmmm........ Sir Winston Churchill must be rolling over in his grave.Read the full story here.

• Kuwait manhunt on to find kidnapped Filipina being raped daily by seven men.(Emirates24/7).Kuwait police have launched an extensive campaign in search of a Filipina believed to have been kidnapped and raped by seven men and they hope she will just switch her mobile phone on to pinpoint her location by satellite.The search campaign has been triggered by a report by the Philippine embassy, which told police that it had received a mobile phone call from the Filipina saying she had been kidnapped and that seven men are taking turns in raping her daily.The embassy in Kuwait City provided police with details of a taxi cab which the unnamed girl said was involved in her kidnap.When police found the car and interrogated its owner, they were surprised to find out he had not used his taxi for 23 days because of a leg fracture.“Police have tried many times to call the kidnapped girl’s number but her phone was always turned off,” the Kuwaiti Arabic language daily Alanba said on Sunday. “It seems that the only hope now is that she turns her mobile on so police can locate her whereabouts by satellite and free her.”Read the full story here.

• Greece to Build Ditch To Stem Flow of Illegal Immigrants from Turkey.(Novinite)According to an August 04 publication of Greek newspaper To Vima, as cited by Bulgarian Sega daily, the trench will be seven meters deep and 30 meters wide and will run along the Maritsa River, which forms the Greek-Turkish border.The area is reported as the most common overland entry point for illegal immigration to the EU.The European Union border guard Frontex has reported that 48 000 illegal aliens enter the EU through this territory, including illegal immigrants and refugees from Afghanistan, Iraq and Palestine.According to unofficial statistics, a total of 128 000 undocumented immigrants managed to set foot in Greece in 2010, highest for any European Union member state.Earlier on, Greece planned to build a 12.5-km fence along a section of the north-eastern border with Turkey, but the plan was met with opposition from leftists and human rights organizations, including the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR).The plan to build a trench has already come under fire from German human rights organization Pro Asyl, which stated that "Such actions only increase the tribute paid by refugees crossing the border".Hmmmm.......What no alligators in the ditch?LOLRead the full story here.

• PAKISTAN - Punjab: Christian woman forced to convert and marry her kidnapper.(AsiaNews) – Another young Christian woman in Pakistan has been abducted and forced to convert to Islam and marry her kidnapper. Despite a formal complaint, police did not intervene because the author of the crime is a “respectable businessman”. Local Muslim religious authorities also claim that the woman’s conversion was legal. However, her case however is similar to that of Farah Hatim (see Jibran Khan, “The drama of Farah Hatim, common to many women in Pakistan,” in AsiaNews 25 July 2011) and is indicative of a climate of impunity for people who abuse Christian women. The bishop of Islamabad warns that the “the cases of forced conversion are rising at an alarming rate”.Mariam is a young Christian woman from Kahota, a town some 20 kilometres from Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad. She was abducted on Wednesday by one Muhammad Junaid, a local Muslim, who forcibly converted her to Islam and married her.The young woman’s father, Munir Gill, said that Junaid is an “important businessman”. He had “his eyes on my daughter and asked her for marriage.” He complained to the man’s fathers “without results”.“Mariam went to the market on Wednesday, but never returned,” said her brother Sohail Gill. “We searched for her everywhere. Some people in the market told us that they saw Muhammad Junaid forcefully taking Mariam from the market. We went to the police to register a case, but they delayed the application and showed no interest in the matter.”Yesterday, a local Muslim religious leader, Maulana Hafeez Aziz, “converted Mariam to Islam and celebrated her marriage with Muhammad Junaid”.“Muhammad Junaid is a respectable Muslim businessman,” said Amir Mirza, a police officer in Kahota. “The young woman converted and married him of ‘her own free will’.For Maulana Hafeez Aziz, “Muhammad Junaid is a true follower of Prophet Muhammad. He has fulfilled Sharia. Converting a non-Muslim is a pious act. Only a true Muslim can do that.”Yesterday, Mariam Gill was interrogated by local officials. She told them that she was abducted and forced to convert and that she has no intention of abandoning Christianity. At the end of the meeting, they decided to return the young woman to her family, urging the two sides to reach an agreement. However, Muhammad Junaid issued threats, saying that if he did not get the young woman back, there would be “terrible consequences” to pay.Contacted by AsiaNews, the bishop of Islamabad Rufin Anthony described the case as “a dreadful incident”. In his view, “the cases of forced conversion are rising at an alarming rate. The matter needs to be checked, kidnapping of Christian girls is becoming a common practice in Punjab. Law enforcement agencies need to enforce the law.”Young Christian women are not alone. Many young Hindu women have been forced to flee across the border into India in the face of government and police indifference.“It is time to take concrete action to guarantee the safety of minorities in Pakistan,” the prelate said.Hmmmm........Read the full story here.

• Activist in Belarus Faces Up to 7 Years in Prison.(TheMoscowTimes).The detained leader of the most prominent human rights group in Belarus faces up to seven years in jail for helping political prisoners and government critics, the group said Friday. Police detained Ales Belyatsky of the Vesna group outside his home in the capital, Minsk, on Thursday and also conducted searches in his apartment, country house and the group's offices. The U.S. Embassy in Minsk condemned Belyatsky's detention as "another, unfortunate sign of Belarus' self-isolation and further deviation from European standards and principles." Belyatsky faces up to seven years in jail on charges of "concealment of income," the group said in a statement. It said Belyatsky received large amounts of cash in neighboring Lithuania from the group's Western donors since his group was officially barred from receiving grants in Belarus. The charges against Belyatsky "are punishment and revenge for many years of his work as a human rights advocate," said the statement posted on the group's web site. The group criticized Lithuanian authorities for providing information on Belyatsky's activities to Belarussian police, saying their cooperation "created favorable conditions for initiating a criminal case" against him. But a Lithuanian Justice Ministry official said the country wasn't aware of the intentions of neighboring Belarus to use the information against an opposition member. The ministry said it will now cut off communication channels that were used to provide legal information to Belarus. "These agreements were quite convenient in criminal or civil cases, but now that we see that they use the data for political purposes, we stop providing information," Vice Justice Minister Tomas Vaitkevicius said. Since 1996, Vesna has provided legal assistance to thousands of Belarussians who were fined, arrested or imprisoned for criticizing President Alexander Lukashenko's authoritarian policies. In 2003, authorities terminated the group's official registration for reporting violations during the presidential elections. Vesna has also been active in reporting on the police crackdown on a recent series of peaceful rallies that have reflected mounting public discontent against Lukashenko whom the West has dubbed "Europe's last dictator." The German government's human rights commissioner, Markus Löning, demanded Belyatsky's immediate release. Germany "condemns in the strongest terms this political abuse of criminal law," Löning said in a statement. Meanwhile, Europe's main security and rights watchdog delivered one of its sharpest attacks on Belarus, saying Friday that Minsk was systematically persecuting the opposition and civil society while gagging the media. The Vienna-based Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has been a vocal critic of a crackdown on opposition protesters and journalists following Belarus' disputed presidential election in December. Belarus, which is under U.S. and European Union sanctions over the clampdown, describes itself as a victim of discrimination and says the OSCE has double standards. Using some of his strongest language so far, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Audronius Azubalis condemned the government's actions, including the arrest of Belyatsky, which he called "the latest example of persecution."A group of 14 Western states, led by the Czech Republic and backed by the United States, has been trying to raise diplomatic pressure on Belarus at the Vienna diplomatic body. They asked the OSCE to carry out a rare report on human rights in Belarus — which concluded in June that the state was using fear, harassment, torture and blackmail in its clampdown. The findings infuriated Belarus, which had already forced the OSCE to close its field office there after election monitors raised concerns about the conduct of the vote and its aftermath. Azubalis said Belarus must comply with its OSCE commitments, which include upholding a democratic society, allowing free media and protecting human rights.Hmmmm......Lukashenka the last Sovjet era dictator.Read the full story here.