Video - NASA Radar Detects relative large Asteroid Prior to Flyby.

Video - NASA Radar Spots Relatively Large Asteroid Prior to Flyby. (NASA).

Radar images of asteroid 2014 JO25 were obtained in the early morning hours on Tuesday, with NASA's 70-meter (230-foot) antenna at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California. The images reveal a peanut-shaped asteroid that rotates about once every five hours. The images have resolutions as fine as 25 feet (7.5 meters) per pixel.

Asteroid 2014 JO25 was discovered in May 2014 by astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey near Tucson, Arizona -- a project of NASA's Near-Earth Objects Observations Program in collaboration with the University of Arizona. The asteroid will fly safely past Earth on Wednesday at a distance of about 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers), or about 4.6 times the distance from Earth to the moon. The encounter is the closest the object will have come to Earth in 400 years and will be its closest approach for at least the next 500 years.

“The asteroid has a contact binary structure – two lobes connected by a neck-like region,” said Shantanu Naidu, a scientist from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, who led the Goldstone observations. “The images show flat facets, concavities and angular topography.”

The largest of the asteroid’s two lobes is estimated to be 2,000 feet (620 meters) across. Radar observations of the asteroid also have been conducted at the National Science Foundation's Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. Additional radar observations are being conducted at both Goldstone and Arecibo on April 19 20, and 21, and could provide images with even higher resolution. Read the full story here.

Second Asteroid In A Month Sails By Without Us Detecting It First.

Second Asteroid In A Month Sails By Without Us Detecting It First.(Popsci).

Know what's really comforting? When a completely unobserved asteroid snuck up on Earth at the end of last month and went whizzing by our planet like a golf ball, without so much as a "Fore!" from any of our detection systems. And it happened this week. Again.

The new asteroid, both smaller and a closer call than the next most recent specimen (from like two weeks ago—seriously this isn't comforting), was still tens of thousands of miles away and had no chance of hitting Earth as it sailed by. And I guess that's comforting to someone.

But regardless, sailing by unnoticed is not a good sign when we're trying to build early warning systems to protect ourselves from the potential of mass extinction events caused by impact.

Someone should really try and study these things.

Hmmm....... The "dino killer" is estimated to have been between 5 and 15 kilometers across (3 to 10 miles).

'GloBULLwarming Myths' - Climate change helps slow, not quicken, rising sea levels – NASA.

@JohnnyThe6ix Sea level at the Marshall Islands is the same now as it was in 1950.https://t.co/vAMg6pjeVj pic.twitter.com/ye7eZKVTlq

— Steve Goddard (@SteveSGoddard) February 5, 2016

'GloBULLwarming Myths' - Climate change helps slow, not quicken, rising sea levels – NASA. (RT).

Glaciers are still melting, but climate change is having an unexpected effect on sea levels, NASA has found. Satellites show 3.2 trillion tons of water has been stored on land over the past decade, slowing the pace of rising sea levels by 20 percent.

Never before has the climate and weather-driven impact on water storage been so accurately studied. With the help of two satellites, the University of California at Irvine and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) determined that through lakes, aquifers, and other routes, land is practically soaking up the liquid like a giant sponge. The study is set to be published on Friday in the journal Science.

Enough water to fill Lake Huron, the seventh largest lake in the world, has been trapped, according to NASA. Before this study, researchers could only faintly guess at how the natural water cycle, or hydrologic cycle, would be impacted by climate change.

“We always assumed that people’s increased reliance on groundwater for irrigation and consumption was resulting in a net transfer of water from the land to the ocean,” the study’s lead author, J.T. Reager of JPL, said on NASA’s website. Reager started the research as a UC Irvine graduate student.

“What we didn’t realize until now is that over the past decade, changes in the global water cycle more than offset the losses that occurred from groundwater pumping, causing the land to act like a sponge – at least temporarily. These new data are vital for understanding decadal variations in sea level change. The information will be a critical complement to future long-term projections of sea level rise, which depend on melting ice and warming oceans,” Reager said.

The JPL-UC Irvine study contradicts a study from last year published in the journal Nature, which said the rising rate of sea levels was proceeding 2.5 times faster than it had been in 1990. Read the full story here.

Video - Satellite Movie Sees Record-Breaking Hurricane Patricia - NASA

At 8 a.m. EDT on October 23, 2015, the National Hurricane Center reported Patricia became the strongest eastern north pacific hurricane on record with sustained winds near 200 mph. This animation of images captured from October 20 to 23 from NOAA's GOES-West satellite shows Hurricane Patricia near western Mexico. Credit: NASA/NOAA GOES Project. More info here.
Live updates via Twitter HERE.

When NASA-NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite passed over Patricia on October 23 at 5:20 a.m. EDT the VIIRS instrument that flies aboard Suomi NPP looked at the storm in infrared light. Cloud top temperatures of thunderstorms around the eyewall were between 180K (-135.7F/ -93.1C) and 190 Kelvin (-117.7F/ -83.1C). Credits: UW/CIMSS/William Straka III.

#HurricanePatricia: LIVE stream https://t.co/piXDKGapy5 @AFP

— Silver Surfer (@RobPulseNews) October 24, 2015

NASA and ESA Will Move A Small Moon By Slamming A Spacecraft Into It.

NASA and ESA Will Move A Small Moon By Slamming A Spacecraft Into It. HT: Popsci.

We've smashed into the moon, and bounced onto a comet, but a whole 17 years after Deep Impact and Armageddon debuted in 1998, we still haven't managed to change the course of an asteroid.

The mission is called AIDA (Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment) and involves two different spacecraft.

The first, ESA's Asteroid Impact Mission (AIM) will launch in 2020, and take two years to get to the asteroid Didymos. Once there, AIM will map Didymos and its small satellite, nicknamed "Didymoon."

Then AIM will move to a safe distance and deploy its own satellites to get an up-close-and-personal view of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft slamming into Didymoon in 2022. It will be watching to see how DART changes Didymoon's orbit around Didymos. Hmmm......Ever seen someone playing pool for the first time? Read the full story here.

Video - NASA’s Steamy Test Of Its Giant Rocket Engine.....'To boldly go where no men went before'

Video - NASA’s Steamy Test Of Its Giant Rocket Engine.....'To boldly go where no men went before'  HT and more info here at  Popsci.

Video - NASA Unveils ‘Valkyrie’ Robot for DARPA Competition.

HT: IEEE Spectrum:

Valkyrie (officially designated “R5″ by NASA) is a 1.9 meter tall, 125 kilogram, 44 degree of freedom, battery-powered humanoid robot. A team from NASA’s JSC in Houston, in partnership with the University of Texas and Texas A&M and with funding from the state of Texas itself, built the robot for the DRC, which will hold a preliminary competition later this month.
…

The challenge created by DARPA involves tasks like walking over uneven terrain, climbing a ladder, using tools, and driving. This means that Valkyrie has to be capable of operating in the same spaces that a person would operate in, under the control of humans who have only minimal training with robots, which is why the robot’s design is based on a human form. The overall goal of the DRC is to help drive innovation towards robots that are able to take over from humans directly, without needing any special accommodations. In that context, a human form makes sense because we’re humans, and these robots will be doing the jobs that we don’t want to be doing because they’re too dangerous.

Sign of the Obama time? Two comets racing towards Earth and Sun: ‘unprecedented’.

Sign of the Obama time? Two comets racing towards Earth and Sun: ‘unprecedented’.(The ExtinctionProtocol).

SPACE – NASA spotted Comet ISON coming on strong on Thursday. An awesome set of images shows Comet Encke, its tail wriggling, along with Mercury and Earth. Then ISON enters the field. It looks like a comet race. 

It’s evidence, the space agency says, that ISON is still intact and hasn’t splintered as it approaches the sun. A camera on NASA’s Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory captured the action Thursday. Watch the tails of the comets below. Solar wind, the particles that stream outward from the sun at 1 million miles per hour, make the comets’ tails move. – LA Times

Double Comets: Battams points out another exciting development: Comet Encke and Comet ISON are converging for a photogenic close encounter. “No they’re not going to hit each other – in reality they are millions of miles apart – but as seen from the STEREO-A spacecraft, they are going to get very close!” he says. 

“We are probably a couple of days away from seeing two comets almost side-by-side in that camera, with long tails flowing behind them in the solar wind. To say that such an image will be unprecedented is rather an understatement.” Stay tuned for that. –Space Weather

NASA – CO2 is a Global Coolant.

NASA – CO2 is a Global Coolant. HT: InfiniteUnknown. By Bob Nichols.

Real scientists predict a GLOBAL COOLING period (from 50 to up to 250 years).m

[Editors Note: Armand Hammer of Occidental Petroleum (Hammer's wikipedia has remained cleaned of his espionage history, despite it's being out over a decade now. You can guess why) was the financial and political mentor for both Senator Gores. So they hold the honor of having a top Soviet spy as a patron. Hammer's much advertised early Soviet business ventures (all of which lost money) were a cover for his espionage venture.

This was finally revealed when Prof. Harvey Klehr of Emory University here in Atlanta in his book, Venona, Decoding Soviet Espionage in America. 
The proof came from the Soviet archives when Yeltsin had them open for a few years. I was fortunate to spend an afternoon with him around ten years ago shooting two one hour Jim Dean Journals, one of them on Venona...and hoping to get this up on the Net some day... Jim W. Dean]

(San Francisco) The United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) lowers the Boom on Al Gore’s Big Lie that the humble, beneficial gas – CO2 – causes global warming. 

NASA states absolutely that Carbon Dioxide (CO2) is a Global Coolant and massively cools the Earth.

You can bet that the NASA scientists designed, built, launched and placed in Earth orbit the satellite machinery to prove it, too.
So, there we have it. In addition, the Earth has not gotten any warmer for 17 years. NASA has finally pulled the plug on Gore’s Big Lie and ended the gigantic, world wide charade on CO2.

This “discovery” about CO2 is nothing new, it’s well known by scientists not employed by the Gore-istas. The Gore-istas probably know it, too; but the money was just too good to pass up. Besides, you don’t have to do anything except sit around, make up wild stories and tell lies. Great “job” if you like that sort of thing.

Why did Gore do it?

If you follow the money, Gore, a career politician, now has a net worth of about $200 million to $300 million dollars, conservatively. That is a stratospheric increase from about $1 million dollars in the year 2000.
They say all politics is local and if we look around in Gore’s home state of Tennessee, there are many Tennessee companies, both private and governmental, that owe their existence to Gore Jr. or his dad, Gore Sr.

Video - NASA satellite witnesses Arctic ice sheet being torn to shreds.

Video - NASA satellite witnesses Arctic ice sheet being torn to shreds.(Yahoo).The fracturing started in late January, as a warm-weather system over Alaska fed an ocean current known as the Beaufort Gyre. This strengthened current picked away at the southwest corner of the ice sheet until a massive crack opened up north of central Alaska (at about 3 secs into the video), and then another crack, apparently around 1,000 kms long, opens up in late February (at around 30 sec in the video), leading to the collapse of the rest of the ice sheet, all the way east to Bank Island.

“It took just seven days for the fractures to progress across the entire area from west to east,” Trudy Wohlleben, senior ice forecaster at the Canadian Ice Service, told the National Post.
According to Walt Meier, a research scientist with the National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC), it's not unusual for this area to experience fracturing events. However, what is unusual is the extent of the fracturing and the scale (both length and width) of the cracks being seen, and it's the age of the ice that's being blamed.Read the full story here.

Video - NASA releases video of hellish plasma ‘rain storm’ on surface of the sun, Coronal hole"--has opened

HT: NASA.

More info on this ongoing event here: CORONAL HOLE: A dark gap in the sun's atmosphere--a "coronal hole"--has opened up, and it is spewing a stream of solar wind into space. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) photographed the opening during the early hours of Feb 24th.

Iranian-American 'Mohawk Guy' to sit with First Lady at State of the Union.

Iranian-American 'Mohawk Guy' to sit with First Lady at State of the Union.(UOI).According to SPACE.com: "The Iranian-American Mohawk Guy — whose name is Bobak Ferdowsi — will sit in the first lady's box to highlight President Barack Obama's call for more visas for skilled immigrants in the fields of math, science and engineering, Southern California Public Radio reported Monday (Feb. 11)." "Ferdowsi's American flag-inspired hairstyle — a red- and blue-streaked mohawk set off by white stars on the side of his head — rocketed the mission flight director to international fame during Curiosity's nail-biting landing on the night of Aug. 5."Hmmm....After cutting down Nasa's space travel?'Comforting' news for Israel, U.S. State Dept interpreter's perspective on Iran: "Iran and the U.S. are much less different than people realize."Read the full story here.

Related: Obama Administration Proposes Big Cuts to NASA’s Mars Programs

Obama's devastating Nasa cuts

Open letter: Neil Armstrong, James Lovell and Eugene Cernan urge Obama not to forfeit US progress in space exploration

Video - Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi Caught in Lie about Working for NASA.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi Caught in Lie about Working for NASA.Following are excerpts from statements made by Egyptian talk-show host Mahmoud Saad, which aired on Al-Nahar TV on January 11, 2013.

Mahmoud Saad: Let’s see what [Morsi] said in an interview with Nader Al-Bakkar:
Footage of Nader Al-Bakkar’s interview with Mohamed Morsi.

Mohamed Morsi: I never said or wrote that I used to work for NASA. This never happened. I have never worked for NASA. I never wrote that I did. My CV does not say that I worked for NASA.
Cut back to studio.

Mahmoud Saad: What do you think? This is Dr. Mohamed Morsi’s CV: “Dr. Mohamed Morsi is the leader of the Freedom and Justice Party, and a former member of the Guidance Council of the Muslim Brotherhood.”

[...]

“He conducted research for NASA and worked for NASA.” This is what you wrote. They say that I don’t understand the difference between working and being a consultant. He didn’t work there, nor was he a consultant, and there is nothing wrong with that. What is shameful is that the president wrote things that are not true. That is what is shameful. That is the problem.
Morsi told Nader Al-Bakkar that none of this was true, even though he himself had said, in an interview with Khairi Ramadhan, that he had worked for NASA. Let’s watch.

Footage of Khairi Ramadhan’s interview with Mohamed Morsi.

Mohamed Morsi: I worked in teaching, in industry, and as a consultant for NASA, in the field of spaceship engines. I did this for a long period. I conducted a lot of research on this.
Cut back to studio.

Mahmoud Saad: I don’t get it. He said that he had worked as a consultant for NASA for a long time. This means that he worked there. Then he took it back in the interview with Nader Al-Bakkar. What is this?Source: Memri.

Video - NASA releases ‘Told Ya So’ apocalypse video early.

NASA releases ‘Told Ya So’ apocalypse video early.Dec. 21, 2012, has long been rumored to be the day of the Mayan apocalypse, when Earth comes to its inglorious end. The good folks at NASA want you to know that isn't going to happen.

In fact, NASA is so confident that it recently published a video that appears as if it were intended to be aired on Dec. 22. Titled "The World Didn't End Yesterday," the four-minute clip explains how the idea of the Mayan apocalypse was a huge hoax and how the rumors began. A commenter on YouTube jokes, "The correct title for this video: Told ya so!—Love, NASA."

Time magazine reports that the space agency has been besieged with questions from citizens worried that their lives are about to end. NASA is taking the fears seriously, not because there is any danger, but because irrational fears can sometimes lead to irrational and dangerous actions.

NASA's official site features an area dedicated to debunking the claims. "The world will not end in 2012," NASA writes. "Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012."

Neil Armstrong, - “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” First Man on the Moon, Is Dead at 82.

Neil Armstrong, - “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” First Man on the Moon, Is Dead at 82.(NYT).Neil Armstrong, a quiet, self-described nerdy engineer who became a global hero when he made “one giant leap for mankind” with a small step on to the moon, died Saturday. He was 82.
Mr. Armstrong died after complications from cardiovascular procedures, according to a statement from his family. The statement did not say where he died. He lived in Cincinnati. Mr. Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, capping the most daring of the 20th century’s scientific expeditions.
His first words after setting foot on the surface are etched in history books and the memories of those who heard them in a live broadcast. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” Mr. Armstrong said.
In those first moments on the moon, during the climax of the heated space race with the Soviet Union, Mr. Armstrong stopped in what he called “a tender moment” and left a patch commemorating NASA astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts who had died in action. “It was special and memorable, but it was only instantaneous because there was work to do,” he told an Australian television interviewer in 2012. Mr. Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, who was known as Buzz, spent nearly three hours walking on the lunar surface, collecting samples, conducting experiments and taking photographs. The moonwalk marked America’s victory in the cold war space race that began on Oct. 4, 1957, with the launching of the Soviet Union’s Sputnik 1, a 184-pound satellite that sent shock waves around the world. Although he had been a Navy fighter pilot, a test pilot for NASA’s forerunner and an astronaut, Mr. Armstrong never allowed himself to be caught up in the celebrity and glamour of the space program. “I am, and ever will be, a white socks, pocket protector, nerdy engineer,” he said in February 2000 in a rare public appearance. “And I take a substantial amount of pride in the accomplishments of my profession.”
A man who kept away from cameras, Mr. Armstrong went public in 2010 with his concerns about President Obama’s space policy that shifted attention away from a return to the moon and emphasized private companies developing spaceships. He testified before Congress, and in an e-mail to The Associated Press, Mr. Armstrong said he had “substantial reservations,” and along with more than two dozen Apollo-era veterans, he signed a letter calling the plan a “misguided proposal that forces NASA out of human space operations for the foreseeable future.” Read the fulll story here.

Asteroid or glitch? Strange glowing rock believed to be in our solar system......heading for Earth?

Asteroid or glitch? Strange glowing rock believed to be in our solar system......heading for Earth?(DM).A user has found a ‘huge asteroid’ while scanning the virtual heavens using Googly Sky. Youtube user planetkrejci, who has investigated other anomalies on NASA pictures, claims the object – found using the Google website which transports the heavens to desktop computers and smartphones – is an asteroid which is heading towards Earth.
He says the asteroid – which, if real, has not been spotted by other scientists or astronomers – has only appeared recently on Google Sky, which receives updated images every few months. Announcing his find on YouTube, he says the black object, mottled with green spots, is so clear that it must be within the solar system. The user had been exploring the region a few months earlier, and had ‘bookmarked’ a spot just to the left of the asteroid – so he is certain the object was not there previously. One thing that planekrejci does not substantiate is his claim that the object is moving towards the Earth, as it is not apparent how this calculation could be obtained without more information than the image provides. However, if planetkrejci has found a new object, it will be quite an achievement for an earth-bound Internet user to discover a new object in our solar system before NASA or other observatories. The object is easy to find on Google Sky, by typing in the co-ordinates 5h 11m 33.74s -12 50′ 30.09″ – although conspiracy theorists might read something into the fact that the search function on Google Sky is currently down.Read and see the full story here.


 

Mauritania- Amazing & Mysterious Geologic Structure Seen from Space.

Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers snapped this photo of a lava crater in Mauritania from the International Space Station.CREDIT: ESA/NASA . View full size image.

Mauritania- Amazing and Mysterious Geologic Structure Seen from Space.(Yahoo).A huge, copper-toned formation in West Africa dominates a mesmerizing photo taken by an astronaut aboard the International Space Station.
Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers snapped this hypnotic image of the so-called Richat structure in Mauritania, as the space station flew over the Sahara Desert on the Atlantic Coast of West Africa. Erosion of the various rock layers created the ring-like features that make up the sprawling structure, but the origin of the Richat structure remains somewhat mysterious, geologists have said.
The photo shows Kuipers' unique vantage point from the orbiting complex, which flies approximately 240 miles (386 kilometers) above the surface of the Earth. The image was taken on March 7 using a Nikon D2Xs camera, officials at the European Space Agency said in a statement.
During their months-long stints aboard the International Space Station, astronauts often perform Earth observations for science and public outreach.Throughout their mission, many spaceflyers maintain active social media presences, such as on Twitter or Google+, to share stunning views from spacewith members of the public.
Space agencies also use photos taken by astronauts to engage students and space enthusiasts in geography, planetary science and human spaceflight.
Editor's Note: This story was updated to reflect that the Richat structure in Mauritania is not a lava crater.Read the full story here.

NASA: Our only Solar Storm warning satellite ACE ‘could falter soon’ – Coincidence or Cover-Up?

NASA: Our only Solar Storm warning satellite ACE ‘could falter soon’ – Coincidence or Cover-Up?(TTBTS).NASA: A US satellite that offers the only advance warnings of incoming solar storms is more than a decade past its expected orbital lifetime and is possibly on its last legs, researchers say.
Stationed around 1 million miles from Earth. NASA’s Advanced Composition Explorer satellite, nicknamed ACE, cautions about incoming high-energy particles from the sun which can wreak havoc on radio, GPS, satellite communications that are now embedded in modern life.
“It would be a very bad day for us if that spacecraft was not working,” the Discovery News quoted William Murtagh, program coordinator for NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo., as saying.“When an eruption occurs on the sun, there are still quite a few question marks as to if it’s going to hit the Earth and when it’s going to hit the Earth,.”
Until the sun’s free-flying and highly energetic outbursts, known as coronal mass ejections, hit the ACE spacecraft, forecasters are not acquainted with the orientation of their embedded magnetic fields.
Depending on the polarity, or alignment, Earth’s magnetic shield will either peel away, giving the highly charged particles more freedom to disturb electrically sensitive equipment and communications, or rebuff the particles, like what happened during this week’s outburst.
NOAA has asserted that over 22,000 utility operators, airlines, satellite owners, GPS users and others are signed up to receive space weather alerts and millions more get the information on NOAA’s website.“ACE is a single point of failure and it’s old,” Murtagh said.“Every time I have a space weather storm I cringe a little bit that our very own space weather satellite doesn’t succumb to the storms I’m relying on it to help forecast.”
Another satellite with space weather sensors was slated to be launched in 2003 by the doomed shuttle Columbia crew, but the spacecraft, known as Triana, was nixed by the Bush administration as it was supported by former vice president and Democratic presidential nominee Al Gore.
Gore championed the spacecraft for its ability to incessantly relay live pictures of Earth from the vantage point of 1 million miles away in space, in hopes that the global view of the blue planet would rally environmental awareness.“There were no technical reasons why it couldn’t go. We were getting ready to send it the Cape (Kennedy Space Center) for launch and we got an order that the mission was not going to go,” project scientist Adam Szabo, with NASA’s Heliospheric Physics Laboratory at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said.
After its ride was called off, Triana was put into storage at Goddard. It is presently undergoing checkouts and refurbishments in preparation for rebirth as NOAA-operated space weather sentry.
Launch is targeted for June 2014. The sun’s 11-year solar cycle is expected to peak in May 2013!!
Heightened solar activity, which is ramping up this year, will carry on for nearly the next six years.
NASA Issues 2012 Warning

NASA, along with The National Academy of Science and other world renowned scientist are so concerned about this up and coming solar maximum in late 2012, that way back in March 10, 2006 NASA issued a solar storm warning for 2012.

Then in 2010, NASA again warns the general population of a pending solar storm, telling the population to get ready for a once in a lifetime solar storm

And Astrophysicist Alexei Dmitriev further supports NASA’s original 2012 solar storm warning issued back in March of 2006.

Dmitriev: “Our sun, as well as our entire solar system, is now moving into an interstellar energy cloud and as this interstellar energy cloud continues to excite/charge the sun, it causes the sun to become more active, resulting in greater output from the sun. IE: Bigger and more frequent solar storms and CME’s resulting in the Carrington effect. This interstellar cloud of electrical energy is also absorbed by the Earth, and Scientist have found that it results in more earth quakes, all while dramatically effecting our weather here on earth”.Read the full story here.

MFS - The Other News

                        Morning Posting.

• Updated !Earthquakes in the last 24 hours in the world seismic activity in NewZealand: 4.9 and Indonesia 4.9! More info here.

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

• Hurricane Irene : Latest Updates here , more here.

• BREAKING ! Two of Muammar Qaddafi's sons, his wife and his daughter have entered Algeria, says Algerian press service.Hmmm....TWO days ago MFS - The Other News:"Was Qaddafi spotted fleeing?Six Armored Mercedes cars enter Algeria from Libya."Read the breaking story here.

• Obama Harvard Law Review: Lack of Writing Skills.(MaggiesNotebook).Those of us who try to put the pieces together of who and what Barack Obama is, have found it profoundly odd that the once-president of the Harvard Law Review wrote nothing under his own name during that the time. An article out today analyzes the one known letter the student Obama wrote, and contends that Michelle Obama also had no skill with the written word. Read and see the full story here.

• Dr. Simon Atkins: Hurricane Irene is being way over-hyped.(Rightscoop).Mark Levin had Dr. Simon Atkins on his show a bit ago, shortly after Dr. Atkins’ article was linked on Drudge, and his main beef is that Hurricane Irene is being over-hyped as if it were a much worse hurricane than it really is and it’s causing mass hysteria. He says this is no Katrina, no 1954 Hazel and it’s no Hurricane Ike. Right now it’s a strong category one hurricane and he doesn’t see it really strengthening. But his fear is that when a huge hurricane actually does hit the Northeast, it will be like the boy who cried wolf and people will simply ignore it because they’ve heard it all before. As for this storm, he says the strongest winds are in the eastern quadrant and that he doesn’t expect many places to get sustained winds over 60mph. That’s not to say that this storm won’t do damage. In fact he believes that it will be in the top 10 for power outages and the storm surge will certainly cause problems. But again, he simply doesn’t believe this hurricane warrants the mass hysteria or the closing of mass transportation.Hmmmm......Or was it orchestrated to 'project' the picture of a 'President' in "Controll" of everything.......even the Media?Read the full story here.

• Obama Supports VAT Sympathizer for Top Job at Council of Economic Advisers.(Cato).By Daniel J. Mitchell. The White House has announced that it is nominating Alan Krueger, a professor at Princeton, to be the new Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers.In a Freudian copy-editing slip, the Fox News story (at least as of 8:44 a.m.) says “Krueger’s job will be to provide policy prescriptions on ways to spur unemployment.”That’s obviously tailor-made for a joke about the Obama Administration not needing any help when it comes to stimulating joblessness.On a more serious note, though, I’m worried about Krueger’s sympathy for a value-added tax (VAT). Here’s what he wrote back in 2009.

…a 5 percent consumption tax would raise approximately $500 billion a year, and fill a considerable hole in the budget outlook. In addition, a consumption tax would encourage more saving in the long run. Many economists consider a consumption tax an efficient way of raising tax revenue, especially in a global economy. The prospect of greater revenue flowing into federal coffers would probably help lower long-term interest rates because the government would need to borrow less down the road, and further bolster the economy.

To be fair, Krueger was very careful to leave himself some wiggle room, even going so far as to write that, “I’m not sure it is the best way to go.”But it seems rather obvious that Krueger, like other leftists, wants this giant new source of revenue. Heck, President Obama also has semi-endorsed a VAT, saying it is “something that has worked for other countries.”Hmmmm......If he really wanted to destroy the US economy would he do anything different?Read the full story here.

• Will Congressman Eliot Ness Please Stand Up?(BigPeace)By Ben Barrack.As the United States continues on its downward trajectory, thanks to the policies of Barack Obama, the debate rages about whether he’s doing it all on purpose or is just incompetent. When talk radio giant Rush Limbaugh discusses this, he concludes that “it doesn’t matter” because the result is the same either way.Limbaugh misses a very critical line of distinction when he says that. If Obama is incompetent, it means he must be voted out of office. If he is intentionally destroying the country as it was founded, it means he has malicious intent and must be removed through impeachment and a Senate trial. It would also mean that he is a domestic enemy.It wouldn’t matter if Al Capone were president of the United States, impeachment and a Senate trial is the only way to remove a sitting president from office. As for Capone, the Chicago mob boss was guilty of many things, the worst of which was murder. The Feds knew it but they couldn’t prove it. They also knew Capone was guilty of income tax evasion, which they could and did prove. Perhaps he wasn’t convicted of his most egregious crimes but it didn’t matter; he could do no more damage.If this administration is intentionally destroying our nation (Rush at least doesn’t dismiss this possibility), the responsibility to remove Obama necessarily falls to 535 congressmen who took an oath to defend us against an occupant of the White House who is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors. Maybe they can’t prove he’s doing it on purpose but if they know it, they should impeach and convict for a crime they can prove. It is their Constitutional duty to do so. With a solid majority in the House, speaker John Boehner would succeed, with the right message and the right case. Even if the House impeached and the Senate didn’t convict, Obama might think twice before usurping anymore power from the legislative branch.In May of 2010, then Republican minority whip, Eric Cantor spoke at the Heritage Foundation. Someone in the audience asked him the following question:“In light of what Obama has done… what would he have to do differently to be defined as a domestic enemy?”Cantor’s response was the following:“Listen, let me respond very forthright to that. No one thinks the president is a domestic enemy.”Now House majority leader, Cantor has an even greater responsibility to get to the truth. If he is ultimately proven wrong about Obama’s intentions, he will have violated his oath by not doing everything in his power to reveal them and help to prevent them from being carried out.There have only been two impeachments in the history of our republic. Both were Democrats – Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton – whose presidencies survived because the Senate failed to convict. The only other president who was certain to be both impeached and convicted was Republican Richard Nixon, who resigned when he saw the writing on his administration’s stonewalls.Read the full story here.

• CAP (Center for American Progress) : 'Anti-Islamists small in number, but influential beyond US'(TodaysZaman).In fact, according to the study, the “majority of terrorist plots in America since Sept. 11 have been committed by non-Muslims, particularly right-wing extremists and white supremacists.”A report on the Islamophobia network in the United States released by the Washington-based Center for American Progress (CAP) has highlighted that although the sources that spread anti-Islam sentiments based on false information in the country are but a handful of people, their influence on American politics and public opinion reach beyond the US borders and reach distant corners of the world as well as extremists, including the Norwegian assailant who murdered 76 people in a matter of hours to underscore his claim that Islam is a threat to the world.The extensive research, titled “Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America,” was published in August with collaborative efforts by prominent experts of the center on the eve of the 10th anniversary of the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, which traumatized not only the US but the whole world when planes hijacked by the al-Qaeda terrorist organization brought down the World Trade Center towers, a scene that still haunts the American psyche to this day.The center noted in the study that the anniversary of the tragic events might be an opportunity for right-wing extremists in the US to manipulate and “to ratchet up the nonexistent threat of Shariah and warn of apocalyptic dangers stemming from Muslims living in America,” while it claimed that the groups espousing anti-Islamic rhetoric were “small but effective,” with a reaching and extending influence over right-wing extremists across the world.Commenting on the ability of right-wing media outlets on cable TV and more abundantly on the Internet to disseminate ideas of hate and intolerance against Muslim with belief that the followers of the faith have been conspiring to control the US, the study drew attention to the rhetoric of right-wing officials elected at a state and national level, who “put these myths as facts and then craft political fundraising campaigns and get-out-the-vote strategies based on debunked information about Muslims and Islam.”Hmmmm......Did these 'authors' even contact the FBI for numbers?Read the full story here.

• Ground Zero Mosque Imam Calls For Integrating Sharia Law Into American And British Legal Systems.(WZ).(Herald Scotland) — AMERICA’S most controversial imam — the man at the centre of the storm over plans for the “Ground Zero Mosque” in New York last year — flew into Edinburgh yesterday to tell the Festival of Spirituality and Peace that greater integration between Islam and the West depends on the incorporation of Sharia law into the legal systems of the UK and the United States as well as Muslims adopting the culture of their host countries.Many see Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf as an Islamic moderate even though he has been vilified in the US press as an apologist for radical Muslims. In an interview with the Sunday Herald, Rauf said he believes the world is in the grip of a “dangerous myth” and “self-fulfilling prophecy” that “Islam and the West are at war. But the real battleground is not between Islam and the West, but between the wise, fair-minded people of all faith traditions and the extremists.”Although he is a pro-US imam who has argued that America is the embodiment of Islam’s ideal society, Rauf became a hate figure in the US over the so-called Ground Zero Mosque. The plan offended relatives of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, and led to a US pastor proposing a “Burn a Koran day”.Hmmmm.......We don't want to take over your country ....only your laws?Read the full story here.

• TSA agent arrested on six counts of lewdness with a child.(BlacklistedNews).A city officer arrested a Spring Creek man Wednesday morning at the Elko Area Regional Airport, where he works for the Transportation Security Administration, on a warrant charging six counts of lewdness with a child.The Elko County Sheriff’s Office was notified in July of possible sexual contact between David Ralph Anderson, 61, and a girl younger than 14.According to Elko Justice Court records, the victim told investigators that on seven to 10 occasions between 2010 and this year, Anderson allegedly taught the victim about various sexual acts and had sexual contact in the form of touching each other’s genitals.Investigators reported Anderson also told the girl to sleep in his bed and taught her to say various vulgar words associated with body parts and sexual activities.In addition, the girl stated he would rub lotion all over her body, placed his hand up her shirt to touch her breasts, had her watch pornographic films with him, encouraged her to consume alcohol and would French kiss her.Deputy District Attorney Tyler Ingram submitted a warrant request to Elko Justice of the Peace Al Kacin on Aug. 23, which was granted along with an objection to any reduction of bail.Anderson, who is a TSA employee according to Elko County Jail records, is being held on $250,000 bail. Read the full story here.

• Market crash 'could hit within weeks', warn bankers.(Telegraph).A more severe crash than the one triggered by the collapse of Lehman Brothers could be on the way, according to alarm signals in the credit markets. Insurance on the debt of several major European banks has now hit historic levels, higher even than those recorded during financial crisis caused by the US financial group's implosion nearly three years ago.Credit default swaps on the bonds of Royal Bank of Scotland, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Intesa Sanpaolo, among others, flashed warning signals on Wednesday. Credit default swaps (CDS) on RBS were trading at 343.54 basis points, meaning the annual cost to insure £10m of the state-backed lender's bonds against default is now £343,540.The cost of insuring RBS bonds is now higher than before the taxpayer was forced to step in and rescue the bank in October 2008, and shows the recent dramatic downturn in sentiment among credit investors towards banks."The problem is a shortage of liquidity – that is what is causing the problems with the banks. It feels exactly as it felt in 2008," said one senior London-based bank executive."I think we are heading for a market shock in September or October that will match anything we have ever seen before," said a senior credit banker at a major European bank.Read the full story here.

• Euro bail-out in doubt as “hysteria” sweeps Germany.(Telegraph).Mrs Merkel has cancelled a high-profile trip to Russia on September 7, the crucial day when the package goes to the Bundestag and the country’s constitutional court rules on the legality of the EU’s bail-out machinery.If the court rules that the €440bn rescue fund (EFSF) breaches Treaty law or undermines German fiscal sovereignty, it risks setting off an instant brushfire across monetary union.The seething discontent in Germany over Europe’s debt crisis has spread to all the key institutions of the state. “Hysteria is sweeping Germany ” said Klaus Regling, the EFSF’s director.German media reported that the latest tally of votes in the Bundestag shows that 23 members from Mrs Merkel’s own coalition plan to vote against the package, including twelve of the 44 members of Bavaria’s Social Christians (CSU). This may force the Chancellor to rely on opposition votes, risking a government collapse.Mrs Merkel's aides say she is facing "war on every front". The next month will decide her future, Germany's destiny, and the fate of monetary union. Read the full story here.

• Wisconsin: Labor Day Parade Organizers Says No Republicans Will Be Allowed To Participate.(WAOW)Labor Day parade organizers confirm that no Republicans will be allowed to participate in this year’s Labor Day Parade.Council president Randy Radtke says they choose not to invite elected officials who have “openly attacked worker’s rights” or did nothing when state public workers lost most of their right to collectively bargain.The parade is sponsored by the Marathon County Labor Council. A Wausau city spokeswoman said the city does not contribute any money to the parade.Rep. Sean Duffy’s chief of staff, Brandon Moody, released a statement to Newsline 9:“Having walked in this parade in past years, Congressman Duffy was hoping that for a moment, we could set our differences aside and simply have some fun in a family-friendly event.”Hmmmm......What's next 'Kein Juden - Juden Raus (“Jews out") ?'Read the full story here.

• Underpublicized Muslim Threat Deep in White House.(WND).FBI: Penetration by radical agents worse than thought.Infiltration of the federal government by members of the radical Muslim Brotherhood is worse than some have warned recently, says a former FBI special agent in Washington.The agent confirmed that at least three operatives of the Egypt-based Brotherhood – whose credo is “Jihad is our way and death in the cause of Allah is our dream” – have penetrated the Obama administration.The shocking charge was first leveled by Muslim reformer Tarek Fatah during a recent speech in Toronto.“When someone says that there is penetration of jihadi Islamists within society, do not dismiss it as some right-wing, xenophobic, racist rant,” warned Fatah, a Canadian journalist.“Today in the White House, there are three members of the Muslim Brotherhood that influence Obama’s policy,” he told the audience gathered for an IdeaCity conference. “One is Rashad Hassan, who is the American ambassador to the 52-nation Organization of Islamic (Conference).”Fatah also named “Dalia Mogahed, who writes (Obama’s) speeches, who comes from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt; and another woman, an academic, (who) was appointed in that circle.”Former FBI special agent John Guandolo says Obama’s ties to agents for the Muslim Brotherhood are even more extensive.“The level of penetration in the last three administrations is deep,” he said. “For this president, it even goes back to his campaign with Muslim Brotherhood folks working with him then.”Equally alarming, the Brotherhood also has placed several operatives and sympathizers within key positions in Homeland Security and the U.S. military, notes Guandolo, a former Marine Corps officer.The veteran federal agent says such infiltration threatens national security, because the U.S. leadership of the international Brotherhood has outlined a secret plan to “destroy” the U.S. and other Western governments “from within.”After the 9/11 attacks, he says the FBI discovered the plan written in Arabic among documents seized from the basement of a prominent Brotherhood leader living in a Washington suburb.Guandolo says the stated Muslim Brotherhood strategy for change “from within” includes the installation of loyal Brothers into political office.President Obama’s top Muslim ambassador, Rashad Hussain, has raised suspicions. He is U.S. special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference, a powerful international group headquartered in Saudi Arabia and closely aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood.Before first joining the White House as a lawyer, Hussain regularly spoke to Brotherhood front groups and defended Brotherhood leaders like Sami al-Arian. Hussain at first denied defending the convicted terrorist, claiming he was misquoted, but then recanted after Politico.com produced a tape-recording of his remarks.Recently, he has been overseas encouraging devotion to Islam, including in terror hotspots like Afghanistan.In fact, Hussain has told Afghans the antidote to Islamic violence “is Islam itself.”“I am of the opinion that one of the strongest tools that you can use to counter radicalization and violent extremism is Islam itself, because Islam rejects violent extremism,” he said during a recent speech in Kabul.Hussain, a devout Muslim, says promotion of the Muslim faith is “key” to the administration’s strategy to turn Muslims away from violence.“We see that as one of the key elements of a strategy to address this type of violence,” he said.The strategy is at odds with what the co-chairmen of the 9/11 Commission recently recommended in their follow-up report on homegrown terror, “Assessing the Terrorist Threat: A Report of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s National Security Preparedness Group.”The study found that Islam was motivating terrorists not just abroad, but inside America’s Muslim community. And it scolded U.S. leaders for pretending religion is not a factor in growing violence.Still, Hussain insists: “When it comes to the problem of violent extremism, Islam is not the problem.”Hussain helped draft Obama’s conciliatory Cairo speech to Muslims. Also helping with the president’s speeches and policies toward Muslims is Mogahed, whose pro-Islamist statements have been posted on the Muslim Brotherhood’s website, ikhwanweb.com.Obama appointed the hijab-wearing Mogahed to the President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. On a British television program, Islam Channel, Mogahed defended Shariah law, the barbaric Islamic legal code that treats women as second-class citizens.Muslim women actually “associate gender justice or justice for women with Shariah compliance,” she argued. “It is ‘only a small fraction’ that associate Shariah with ‘oppression of women.’”She added that Muslims should work to integrate Islamic law into public law.Another Brotherhood-tied figure influencing the White House is Azizah al-Hibri.Obama this June appointed her to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. A Muslim professor, al-Hibri is also the granddaughter of a sheik, who claims the Saudi criminal justice system is more moral than the American one because it accepts blood money from murderers.Al-Hibri herself has proclaimed: “Islamic fiqh (law) is deeper and better than Western codes of law.”She served on the advisory board of the American Muslim Council and made joint appearances with its leader Abdurahman Alamoudi. Now defunct, the AMC was a front group for the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood, and Alamoudi was the Brotherhood’s top leader in America. He is now behind bars as one of al-Qaida’s top fundraisers in America.Al-Hibri has also made appearances at Islamic Society of North America conferences. The Justice Department says ISNA is a Brotherhood front and recently named the group an unindicted co-conspirator in a plot to provide material support to Hamas terrorists.Guandolo identified several other Brotherhood-connected agents of influence – all of whom are just as politically savvy and moderate sounding – who have worked their way into government positions, including:Arif Alikhan, who was assistant Homeland Security secretary for policy development and is now a distinguished visiting professor of homeland security and counterterrorism at the National Defense University.Syrian-born Kareem Shora, who is Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s senior policy adviser.Navy Cmdr. Youssef Aboul-Enein and Jocelyne Cesari, a Muslim convert who previously worked with Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, both of whom teach at colleges within the National Defense University.Guandolo blames the advances Brotherhood figures on political correctness and lax vetting at government agencies.Even at the FBI, he notes, an Iranian-born Muslim has taken over the agency’s weapons of mass destruction program.Stung by workplace discrimination lawsuits by Arab and Muslim employees, the FBI has come under pressure to hire more Arab and Muslim agents and language specialists and promote existing ones, while clearing them for higher security levels, according the best-selling book “Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld That’s Conspiring to Islamize America.”The book cites internal FBI records showing the agency has been sued by no fewer than 14 Arab and Muslim employees since 9/11. Some of the lawsuits have been solicited or aided by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, another Muslim Brotherhood front group. The FBI in 2008 cut off formal outreach with CAIR and its branch offices.“This is happening as we remain silent. And I say that as a liberal Democrat who worked and campaigned for Barack Obama,” said Fatah, a Pakistan-born journalist and activist who founded the moderate Muslim Canadian Congress to fight the spread of “Islamofascism.”“Muslim Mafia” also has prompted a lawsuit from CAIR over the acquisition by the authors of CAIR documents.In the lawsuit, CAIR, a self-described Muslim civil-rights group, does not defend itself against the book’s claims, and the FBI has seized the CAIR material from the Washington law office of one of the attorneys for the authors. A previous filing in the case revealed a federal grand jury is investigating CAIR for possible violation of laws that ban financial dealings with terrorist groups or countries under U.S. sanctions.CAIR’s complaint seeks to expunge all copies of “Muslim Mafia” in an attempt, according to defense lawyers, to eliminate evidence that could lead to criminal prosecution.Read the full story here.

• Senior Official in Egyptian Islamic Jihad: If We Come to Power, We Will Launch a Campaign of Islamic Conquests to Instate Shari'a Worldwide.(Memri).On August 13, 2011, the Egyptian daily Roz Al-Yousef published an interview with Sheikh 'Adel Shehato, a senior official in Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ), who, on March 23, 2011, was freed from prison in the wake of the Egyptian revolution. He was imprisoned in 1991 upon returning from a three-year sojourn in Afghanistan.Hmmmm....The 'People' the Obama administration is pledging 2.57 Billion dollar and Abrams tanks to.Read the full story here.

• Imprisoned Egyptian blogger enters fifth day of hunger strike.(IW).Prison officials have refused to officially record the hunger strike by Maikal Nabil Sanad, the first blogger to be arrested after the overthrow of Mubarak for allegedly defamatory remarks about Egypt's ruling military council.Egyptian blogger Maikal Nabil Sanad has entered the fifth day of his hunger strike at El-Marg prison where he is serving a three-year sentence for defaming the military.According to Sanad’s family, Maikal Nabil decided to begin his hunger strike in opposition to the military council’s decision to pardon certain political activists and protesters while ignoring others imprisoned after military trials.Human rights activists stated that his health has, in the past few days, been deteriorating and that the prison officials have, as yet, refused to officially record his hunger strike.Maikal Nabil Sanad was accused of defaming the Egyptian Armed Forces and was handed a three-year sentence. Sanad’s act of sedition, in the eyes of Egypt’s de-facto rulers, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, was a blog post, published last March, called “The army and the people are not one hand” in which he accused the SCAF and the army of working against the revolution.He was the first Egyptian blogger to be arrested and convicted after the toppling of president Hosni Mubarak. Furthermore, he was the second Egyptian blogger, after blogger Abdel Karim Amar, in Egypt to face prison time because of his opinions and writings. Nabil was heading an online campaign against the mandatory military service of youth in Egypt.There is currently an online solidarity campaign with Maikal Nabil. Last Saturday, many Egyptian Twitter users started a tweeting campaign, using the hash tag ‘#FreeMaikal’ which drew the support of many activists, even those totally against his controversial views on religion and Egyptian-Israeli relations. These activists have set these differences aside, citing the primacy of ‘freedom of expression.’Read the full story here.

• Report: Israel allows 1,500 Egyptian troops into Sinai.(Ynet).1,500 Egyptian soldiers deployed across the Sinai Peninsula on Monday following an agreement between Israel and Egypt to increase the number of Egyptian troops in the peninsula's areas B and C, the London-based al Hayat newspaper reported on Monday.According to the report, the sides are currently negotiating an agreement to deploy additional troops in the area.Former Egyptian Ambassador to Israel Muhammed Basioni told the newspaper that "the Egypt-Israel peace treaty provides in clause 4 that each one of the sides can amend the security arrangements if the other side agrees to it."Egypt relied on this article – which prohibits the entrance of Egyptian military forces into area C and allows only police force presence – in order to amend its deployment arrangements in the area," he said.According to Basioni, "In 2008, Palestinians infiltrated Egypt from the Gaza Strip. Egypt then asked for the deployment of 750 border guard officers and the request was granted."Following recent security developments in Sinai, the authorities decided to launch a wide-scale security operation with large military and police forces, and to that end we requested to scour the area between Rafah, al-Arish and Sheikh Zawid," the former ambassador said."We've reinforced our deployment to 1,500 soldiers and armored vehicles in areas B and C," stated Basioni without saying when the forces entered the area.Meanwhile, a senior Egyptian military official said that Cairo was "considering amending clauses in its peace treaty with Israel relating to deployment of forces, their scope and equipment stationed in the Sinai Peninsula in order to maintain security in the area," the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm reported. According to the report, the military council is reevaluating the clauses to adapt them to Egypt's new foreign policy following the January 25 revolution.At the beginning of the year, the Israeli government unexpectedly decided to allow the Egyptian army to deploy 800 soldiers in the peninsula, for the first time since signing the peace agreement more than three decades ago.In the 1979 peace treaty, the Sinai Peninsula was declared as a demilitarized zone and was divided into areas A, B and C, with the latter only open to international peacekeepers and Egyptian civilian police forces. Meanwhile, IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz has ordered a reinforcement of army presence near the southern Gaza Strip and the Israel-Egypt border following a terrorist alert indicating that the Islamic Jihad was planning to perpetrate an attack in the area. It is estimated that the terrorist cell has already left the Gaza Strip to Sinai, which has become a hotbed of terrorist activity in recent months. The defense establishment has also passed on details of the alert to Egypt.Hmmmmm.......Great....Lets give the Muslim Brotherhood a bridgehead in the Sinai.Read the full story here.

• Egypt: We Will Not Establish a Buffer Zone on Gaza Border.(Memri).General Gaber Al-Arabi, North Sinai Governorate Secretary-General, has denied reports that Egypt intends to establish a buffer zone on the Gaza border.Al-Arabi also denied reports that Egypt would demolish tunnels on the Egypt-Gaza border.Read the full story here.

• Sit-Down Strike in Moscow for World Qods Day; Chants of 'Death to Israel' and 'Death to America'.(Memri).A Hamas website has reported that on August 25, a conference for World Qods Day was held at the headquarters of the RIA Novosti news agency in Moscow. It was attended by Russian journalists and Middle East experts, as well as Iranian representatives, and dealt with the dangers facing Jerusalem and the Palestinian matter.On August 27, a sit-down strike was held in Moscow, attended by members of the Arab and Islamic diaspora. Musa Gurbanov, an activist for the Iran-based international shi'ite foundation Ahl Al-Bayt, said that the Jews killed Allah's messengers, and therefore their current crimes are routine for them.Gurbanov added that in addition to its desire to conquer Arab countries, Israel strives to control all Islamic countries. He claimed Israel set its sights on Azerbaijan, where authorities have banned the wearing of the hijab, demolish mosques, and arrest clerics.Attendees of the sit-down strike carried signs protesting the siege of Gaza and calling for the liberation of Palestine. The crowd chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America."Read the full story here.

• Abbas: International Recognition Would Create An Occupied State; UN Would Become Source of Authority.(Memri).Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told the Qatari daily Al-Watan that international recognition of a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders would create the situation of an occupied state, and would make the UN the source of authority to discuss the Palestinian matter.Abbas further said that the PLO, which represents 8 million Palestinians worldwide, would continue to operate until the Palestinian matter is completely resolved. He added that Hamas and Islamic Jihad could join the PLO if they commit to its charter, which cannot be changed.He said that the PA is suffering a true financial crisis, and accused Arab countries of not fulfilling their financial obligations to the PA. According to Abbas, the U.S. transfers $570 million to the PA annually, and discontinuing that aid would worsen conditions.Abbas stressed that he would not consent to an armed intifada during his term, and claimed that Israel refuses to discuss the refugee dossier, which deals with some 5 million people.Hmmmm.......Please re-examine the Conditions for statehood?"A sovereign state is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states".Read the full story here.

• Israeli diplomats train on 'Twitter PR'.(Ynet).Staff members in Israeli missions worldwide are learning how to bolster their messages on the internet and social networks in preparation for September's UN vote on the Palestinian statehood bid. As part of efforts to form a "moral majority" among major powers, some 60 staff members of embassies in Europe and representatives of Jewish organizations are taking part in a seminar in Brussels which trains them on the combination between public diplomacy and online media.The diplomats are learning how to use the advantages of online media in such networks as Facebook and Twitter as well as PR activity in campuses. They are also learning how to use search engines to increase the exposure of Israel's messages. This is part of the NIS 10 million PR campaign the Foreign Ministry has been pushing this past year. Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has hired the services of several European PR companies to this end. "More than 80% of articles that are read in newspapers and traditional media outlets originate from such social networks as Facebook and Twitter," David Saranga, one of the organizers of the seminar, said. "Our purpose is to upgrade the pro-Israeli coalition's abilities in Europe, particularly ahead of September," he added. Saranga, a European Parliament delegate and former Consul for Media and Public Affairs in New York said: "European Union nations cannot be considered one piece. The public opinion in Britain or France is different from public opinion in Italy or Poland, which are more sympathetic towards Israel."That is why our purpose is to see how we can adjust the Israeli message to each of these countries and reach the ultimate combination between public diplomacy and the tools provided by social networks."D.J. Schneeweiss, one of the seminar's organizers, noted that the course also aims to lift the pro-Israeli bloc's performances in Europe to a new level. "Handling the anti-Israeli bloc warrants activity on the ground, which is achievable by boosting contacts in the online arena." Read the full story here.

• Turkey - Gov't gives go ahead for return of seized property to non-Muslim foundations.(TodaysZaman).The Turkish government has adopted a decree to return all confiscated immovable property belonging to minority foundations in Turkey, a long-overdue step to expand the rights of minorities in the country.According to this decree, which was published in the Official Gazette on Saturday, minority foundations will be able to reclaim real property that they had declared back in 1936. All real property, cemeteries and fountains will be returned to their rightful holders. Immoveable property currently belonging to third persons will also be paid for.The government's move to return seized property to non-Muslim foundations came just before a fast-breaking (iftar) dinner during which Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan came together with the representatives of non-Muslim communities in Turkey at the İstanbul Archeology Museum on Sunday evening.“This is a first in the history of the Turkish Republic and a very significant move,” said Kezban Hatemi, an attorney specializing in minority rights.“This is restoration of a right. This is a move that is a requirement of the Lausanne Treaty and one which makes our non-Muslim citizens feel like equal citizens in Turkey,” Hatemi told Today's Zaman.She also noted that returning the seized properties of the non-Muslim foundations is the second most important thing following the end of the military tutelage in Turkey.Minority foundations will have to apply to the Turkish authorities within 12 months to reclaim their property.Most recently, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ordered the Turkish government to reregister a historic Orthodox orphanage to the İstanbul-based Fener Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and also told Ankara to pay 26,000 euros in total to the patriarchate for both non-pecuniary damages and costs and expenses. Turkey returned the orphanage to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in November 2010.Turkey has so far been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of euros to minority foundations in accordance with European court rulings. With the government's latest move, Turkey will have returned the property of the minority foundations even before some of the ongoing cases are concluded at the ECtHR.Professor Ayhan Aktar, author of various books on minorities, said the decision on minority property is a revolutionary one which deserves applaud, adding that this step may encourage the government to take further steps to expand the rights of minorities in Turkey who have long been deprived of their rights.“The most important thing is Turkey has done it with its own will before facing foreign pressure. If government didn't take any initiative, Turkey would have been faced with severe sanctions from the ECtHR regarding ongoing trails,” Aktar told Today's Zaman.Hmmmmmm........Is the keys to Europe the prize, or will it be Cyprus?Read the full story here.

• Netanyahu requests 6 months Marmara report delay.(JPost). Channel 2 reports Netanyahu told US that in 6 months time he expects to be stronger politically, better able to deal with consequences of report.The Prime Minister’s Office opted Sunday night not to respond to a Channel 2 report saying Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu asked the US to persuade UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon to delay publication of the Palmer Commission report on the Mavi Marmara incident by six months, because by then he might be stronger politically and able to apologize to the Turks for the incident.The report – which was originally to have been released in May – was to have been issued last week, but was delayed again at Turkey’s request, and Israel’s agreement, to give both sides more time to come up with a formula that would repair ties that have deteriorated badly since the raid in 2010.But now, according to the Channel 2 report, Netanyahu wants even more time, saying that both because of the restraint he showed last week in response to the terrorist attack near Eilat and the continuing missiles from Gaza, and the continuous cost of living protests, he was not in a strong enough position politically to issue any type of apology.But, according to this report, he said this could change in six months time.While Defense Minister Ehud Barak has come out in favor of doing what it takes to mend fences with Turkey, both Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Ya’alon and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman are adamantly opposed.The Palmer Commission completed its work a number of months ago, and the commission’s findings have been widely leaked and are believed to include upholding Israel’s legal right to maintain a naval blockade of the Gaza Strip, and its right to stop ships from breaking the blockade, along with criticism of the IDF for an “excessive” use of force in stopping the Mavi Marmara – an operation in which nine Turks who attacked IDF commandos who boarded the ship were killed.Hmmmm....So why apologise?Read the full story here.

• Gaddafi's girl executioner: Nisreen, 19, admits shooting 11 rebel prisoners, now she is shackled to hospital bed awaiting justice.(DailyMail).First you see her large brown eyes and rosebud lips, framed by a pink headscarf. Then you notice that her bruised feet are secured by manacles to the foot of her bed.Nisreen Mansour al Forgani is a pretty 19-year-old. She was also a serial killer for Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.Yesterday, in a heavily guarded room at the Matiga military hospital in Tripoli, she admitted to the Mail that she had executed as many as 11 suspected rebel prisoners in the days leading up to the fall of the Libyan capital last week. Shot at point-blank range, in cold blood.‘I killed the first one, then they would bring another one up to the room,’ Nisreen said. ‘He would see the body on the floor and look shocked. Then I would shoot him too. I did it from about a metre away.’One of thousands of girls and young women recruited by Gaddafi’s all-female militias, Nisreen is now a prisoner of the rebels and in fear of her life. Yet despite her killings, it is impossible not to feel pity for her. Nisreen claims – and her doctors and even some of the rebel fighters believe her – that she had to shoot under great duress. She also says that she was sexually abused by senior military figures, one of whom was the commander of the elite Tripoli brigade tasked with protecting Gaddafi himself. ‘I told them [the rebels] what I did,’ she said. ‘They are angry. I do not know what will happen to me now.’So how did this slight young woman, who used to live with her mother in Tripoli and enjoy dance music, come to have so much blood on her hands?Nisreen says that her family were not supporters of the Gaddafi regime, although that is hard to verify at this stage in post-liberation Tripoli. Her parents split up when she was a child, and Nisreen did not like her father’s new wife so she went to live with her mother.One of her mother’s friends, a woman called Fatma al Dreby, was the leader of the female branch of Gaddafi’s Popular Guards militia – and this, it seems, was the fateful factor.Last year, Nisreen left college intending to look after her mother, who was sick with cancer. Instead, Fatma recruited her for the Popular Guards. The family protested, but Fatma would not be swayed. Nisreen was young and pretty – just the type they wanted. ‘There were about 1,000 girls from all over Libya,’ Nisreen recalled of their training camp in Tripoli. ‘I was there with a girl called Faten, whom I knew from college.’ The recruits were instructed in the use of firearms, and Nisreen was trained as a sniper. By the start of the uprising in February, the two girls were being housed by the militia in a mobile home near Tripoli airport. Their duties mainly involved manning checkpoints around the city.Their unit was based at the HQ of 77 Brigade, next door to Gaddafi’s Bab Al-Azizya residential complex, but Nisreen says she saw the dictator only once, when his convoy swept past her checkpoint. Fatma was a zealous supporter of the regime, says Nisreen. ‘She told me that if my mother said something against Gaddafi that I should immediately kill her. If I said anything about the leader that she did not like I would be beaten and locked in my room. She also told us that if the rebels came, they would rape us.’It was a shameless piece of manipulation from the militia leader who, according to Nisreen, pimped her female recruits for the sexual gratification of her senior male colleagues.‘Fatma had an office at the 77 Brigade base and there was a room with a bed next door. One day, she summoned me and put me in that room by myself. Mansour Dau, who was the commander of 77 Brigade, then came in and shut the door.’He raped her. ‘After it was over Fatma told me not to tell anyone, not even my parents,’ says Nisreen.‘Every time Mansour came to the HQ he was given another girl by Fatma. She was given presents in return.’Nisreen said she was later raped by Mansour’s son Ibrahim, also an officer in the brigade, as well as another military relative of the commander, called Noury Saad. It happened to many girls she knew. And as the Gaddafi regime began to crumble, the abuses increased.Tragically, her friend Faten was killed in bizarre and brutal circumstances as the rebels closed in on Tripoli in the past month.The two girls were on a checkpoint near the Bab Al-Azizya complex when Colonel Gaddafi’s son and heir, Saif Al-Islam, arrived with an entourage. ‘Saif was wearing a bulletproof vest, helmet and aviator sunglasses,’ Nisreen recalls. ‘Faten went to have a closer look, and Saif’s bodyguard shot her in the head. She had simply got too close.’The spiral of horror gathered pace. There is a saying in Libya: ‘Cut my throat but do not get a girl to shoot me in the back.’ One suspects that the deployment of Nisreen as an executioner of ‘traitors’ was meant as a final insult to the condemned. Nisreen explains that she was taken to a building in the Bosleem district of Tripoli, put in a room and armed with an AK 47 rifle. There, a black woman soldier in a blue uniform kept guard and prevented her from escaping.The rebel prisoners were tied up and kept under a tree outside,’ she says. ‘Then one by one they were brought up to the room. There were three Gaddafi volunteers with guns also in the room. ‘They told me that if I didn’t kill the prisoners then they would kill me.’She begins to cry. ‘Some of the prisoners looked like they had already been beaten. Others were beaten up in front of me in the room. They did not speak. I do not remember their faces ... most of them were about the same age as me.’She wipes her eyes and stares at a weeping wound on her elbow.‘I tried not to kill them ... I turned and shot without looking. But if I hesitated, one of the soldiers would flick off the safety catch of his own rifle and point it at me.‘I killed ten, perhaps 11, over three days,’ she says, slowly and almost disbelievingly, counting the murders on her fingers. ‘I don’t know what they had done.’She wails: ‘I never harmed anyone before the uprising began. I used to have a normal life.’Nisreen eventually escaped by jumping from the window of the second-floor room where she carried out the killings. Despite being injured in the fall and then hit by a reversing pick-up truck, she managed to limp out of the compound.‘I was found by some anti-Gaddafi people who took me to a mosque where I was given water,’ she said. ‘Then I was brought here.’Two fighters are on guard outside her door at the hospital. ‘We are here to protect her as much as to prevent her escaping,’ one says.A woman in a white coat, presumably a doctor, enters the room. She begins to talk seriously to Nisreen, who bursts into tears. In fact, the woman is a volunteer medical orderly who has come to give ‘the girl sniper’ a piece of her mind.‘How could your conscience let you kill all these people, just for Gaddafi?’ she exclaims. She leaves the room and a rebel fighter, no older than Nisreen and with a rifle slung over his shoulder, replaces her. He leans on the end of the bed and addresses the girl.‘Do you pray?’ the fighter asks her. ‘I used to,’ she whispers. ‘What time of day did you kill them?’‘In the mornings.’Her tears begin to roll again. He turns to us and asks: ‘If a girl killed 11 people in your country, what would you do?’Read the full story here.

• IDF Wants Robot Strike Force.(ArutzSheva).Robots to lead the way in the first stage of engagement, which usually results in heavy casualties.IDF battle lore reserves a special place for the call "Acharai!" – "follow me!" – uttered by commanders who lead their soldiers on a charge into enemy positions. If Israeli military technology firms succeed in meeting the IDF's latest challenge, though, the exclamation may soon be uttered by robots.According to the IsraelDefense website, Israeli defense companies are competing for the nod to develop a robot-based combat solution dubbed "Advance Guard,” which the IDF ground forces are keenly interested in."The basic idea is for robots to function as a strike force, leading the way in the first stage of engagement with the enemy, which usually results in heavy casualties," the website explained. "The defense establishment wants the industries to examine a range of possible robotic forms on the battlefield, from micro-robots to large unmanned vehicles. An essential feature of the program is that the robots will be capable of interacting with each other and not only as individual warriors." Brigadier General (ret.) Shmuel Yachin, former director of R&D in the IDF, told IsraelDefense that Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is reviewing different types of robot designs, including "see-fire" systems that can identify a target in the field and zero in on it.One of the firms competing for the job of supplying the IDF with robot warriors may invest in the development of an unmanned tank.Robotic tools are already employed in surveillance, including unmanned ground vehicles like "Guardium," produced by a company jointly owned and run by IAI and Elbit Systems. In the past, the IDF revealed a robotic snake that can be used for infiltration of targets.Hmmmmm......Jewish droid to Arab: "We'll Be Back!" Read the full story here.Video here.

• And now for something completely Different.Spacecraft Earth to Perform Asteroid 'Flyby' This Fall, On November 8, asteroid 2005 YU55 will fly past Earth.(Nasa).Since the dawn of the space age, humanity has sent 16 robotic emissaries to fly by some of the solar system's most intriguing and nomadic occupants -- comets and asteroids. The data and imagery collected on these deep-space missions of exploration have helped redefine our understanding of how Earth and our part of the galaxy came to be. But this fall, Mother Nature is giving scientists around the world a close-up view of one of her good-sized space rocks -- no rocket required."On November 8, asteroid 2005 YU55 will fly past Earth and at its closest approach point will be about 325,000 kilometers [201,700 miles] away," said Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object Program Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "This asteroid is about 400 meters [1,300 feet] wide – the largest space rock we have identified that will come this close until 2028."Despite the relative proximity and size, Yeomans said, "YU55 poses no threat of an Earth collision over, at the very least, the next 100 years. During its closest approach, its gravitational effect on the Earth will be so miniscule as to be immeasurable. It will not affect the tides or anything else."Then why all the hubbub for a space rock a little bit wider than an aircraft carrier? After all, scientists estimate that asteroids the size of YU55 come this close about every 25 years. "While near-Earth objects of this size have flown within a lunar distance in the past, we did not have the foreknowledge and technology to take advantage of the opportunity," said Barbara Wilson, a scientist at JPL. "When it flies past, it should be a great opportunity for science instruments on the ground to get a good look."2005 YU55 was discovered in December 2005 by Robert McMillan, head of the NASA-funded Spacewatch Program at the University of Arizona, Tucson. The space rock has been in astronomers' crosshairs before. In April 2010, Mike Nolan and colleagues at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico generated some ghostly images of 2005 YU55 when the asteroid was about 2.3 million kilometers (1.5 million miles) from Earth. (See related story: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-144. "The best resolution of the radar images was 7.5 meters [25 feet] per pixel," said JPL radar astronomer Lance Benner. "When 2005 YU55 returns this fall, we intend to image it at 4-meter resolution with our recently upgraded equipment at the Deep Space Network at Goldstone, California. Plus, the asteroid will be seven times closer. We're expecting some very detailed radar images."The chunk of space rock called YU55 weighs more than 55 million tons. An impact would be equivalent to 65,000 atomic bombs. The crater would be about 10 km wide and 500 meters deep.Rea the full story here.