Protests could hit Prince of Wales’s visit to Morocco

By Gordon Rayner

Charles and Camilla walk through the Alcazar in Seville Photo: EPA

Yesterday 4,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Casablanca demanding reforms including the repeal from the constitution of Article 19, which makes King Mohammed VI the highest religious authority in Morocco.

The Prince and the Duchess will arrive in Rabat today and will meet members of the Moroccan royal family, including the king, during their three-day visit. Clarence House said security arrangements would be monitored “closely” as protests continue to grip the region.

Demonstrators in Casablanca chanted “No to corruption”, “End social injustice”, and “The people want an end to authoritarianism” as they marched through the streets yesterday. Dozens were injured during a march in the northern city on March 13 after riot police tried to break up demonstrations with truncheons.

[more at telegraph.co.uk...]

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70 metal books found in Jordan cave could change our view of Biblical history

Revelation: Experts speculate that the tablets could be the lost collection of codices referred to in the Bible's Book Of Revelation.

For scholars of faith and history, it is a treasure trove too precious for price.

This ancient collection of 70 tiny books, their lead pages bound with wire, could unlock some of the secrets of the earliest days of Christianity.

Academics are divided as to their authenticity but say that if verified, they could prove as pivotal as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.

On pages not much bigger than a credit card, are images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Adding to the intrigue, many of the books are sealed, prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation.

The books were discovered five years ago in a cave in a remote part of Jordan to which Christian refugees are known to have fled after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. Important documents from the same period have previously been found there.

Initial metallurgical tests indicate that some of the books could date from the first century AD.

This estimate is based on the form of corrosion which has taken place, which experts believe would be impossible to achieve artificially.

If the dating is verified, the books would be among the earliest Christian documents, predating the writings of St Paul.

The prospect that they could contain contemporary accounts of the final years of Jesus’s life has excited scholars – although their enthusiasm is tempered by the fact that experts have previously been fooled by sophisticated fakes.

David Elkington, a British scholar of ancient religious history and archeology, and one of the few to have examined the books, says they could be ‘the major discovery of Christian history’.

‘It is a breathtaking thought that we have held these objects that might have been held by the early saints of the Church,’ he said.

But the mysteries between their ancient pages are not the books’ only riddle. Today, their whereabouts are also something of a mystery. After their discovery by a Jordanian Bedouin, the hoard was subsequently acquired by an Israeli Bedouin, who is said to have illegally smuggled them across the border into Israel, where they remain.

However, the Jordanian Government is now working at the highest levels to repatriate and safeguard the collection. Philip Davies, emeritus professor of biblical studies at Sheffield University, said there was powerful evidence that the books have a Christian origin in plates cast into a picture map of the holy city of Jerusalem.

‘As soon as I saw that, I was dumbstruck,’ he said. ‘That struck me as so obviously a Christian image. There is a cross in the foreground, and behind it is what has to be the tomb [of Jesus], a small building with an opening, and behind that the walls of the city.

‘There are walls depicted on other pages of these books too and they almost certainly refer to Jerusalem. It is a Christian crucifixion taking place outside the city walls.’

The British team leading the work on the discovery fears that the present Israeli ‘keeper’ may be looking to sell some of the books on to the black market, or worse – destroy them.

But the man who holds the books denies the charge and claims they have been in his family for 100 years.

Dr Margaret Barker, a former president of the Society for Old Testament Study, said: ‘The Book of Revelation tells of a sealed book that was opened only by the Messiah.

‘Other texts from the period tell of sealed books of wisdom and of a secret tradition passed on by Jesus to his closest disciples. That is the context for this discovery.’

Professor Davies said: ‘The possibility of a Hebrew-Christian origin is certainly suggested by the imagery and, if so, these codices are likely to bring dramatic new light to our understanding of a very significant but so far little understood period of history.’

Mr Elkington, who is leading British efforts to have the books returned to Jordan, said: ‘It is vital that the collection can be recovered intact and secured in the best possible circumstances, both for the benefit of its owners and for a potentially fascinated international audience.’

*British scientists have uncovered up to eight million mummified dogs, thought to have been sacrificed to Anubis, the god of the dead, 2500 years ago after excavating tunnels in the ancient Eygptian city of Saqqara.

Source

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View the original article here

70 metal books found in Jordan cave could change our view of Biblical history

Revelation: Experts speculate that the tablets could be the lost collection of codices referred to in the Bible's Book Of Revelation.

For scholars of faith and history, it is a treasure trove too precious for price.

This ancient collection of 70 tiny books, their lead pages bound with wire, could unlock some of the secrets of the earliest days of Christianity.

Academics are divided as to their authenticity but say that if verified, they could prove as pivotal as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.

On pages not much bigger than a credit card, are images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Adding to the intrigue, many of the books are sealed, prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation.

The books were discovered five years ago in a cave in a remote part of Jordan to which Christian refugees are known to have fled after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. Important documents from the same period have previously been found there.

Initial metallurgical tests indicate that some of the books could date from the first century AD.

This estimate is based on the form of corrosion which has taken place, which experts believe would be impossible to achieve artificially.

If the dating is verified, the books would be among the earliest Christian documents, predating the writings of St Paul.

The prospect that they could contain contemporary accounts of the final years of Jesus’s life has excited scholars – although their enthusiasm is tempered by the fact that experts have previously been fooled by sophisticated fakes.

David Elkington, a British scholar of ancient religious history and archeology, and one of the few to have examined the books, says they could be ‘the major discovery of Christian history’.

‘It is a breathtaking thought that we have held these objects that might have been held by the early saints of the Church,’ he said.

But the mysteries between their ancient pages are not the books’ only riddle. Today, their whereabouts are also something of a mystery. After their discovery by a Jordanian Bedouin, the hoard was subsequently acquired by an Israeli Bedouin, who is said to have illegally smuggled them across the border into Israel, where they remain.

However, the Jordanian Government is now working at the highest levels to repatriate and safeguard the collection. Philip Davies, emeritus professor of biblical studies at Sheffield University, said there was powerful evidence that the books have a Christian origin in plates cast into a picture map of the holy city of Jerusalem.

‘As soon as I saw that, I was dumbstruck,’ he said. ‘That struck me as so obviously a Christian image. There is a cross in the foreground, and behind it is what has to be the tomb [of Jesus], a small building with an opening, and behind that the walls of the city.

‘There are walls depicted on other pages of these books too and they almost certainly refer to Jerusalem. It is a Christian crucifixion taking place outside the city walls.’

The British team leading the work on the discovery fears that the present Israeli ‘keeper’ may be looking to sell some of the books on to the black market, or worse – destroy them.

But the man who holds the books denies the charge and claims they have been in his family for 100 years.

Dr Margaret Barker, a former president of the Society for Old Testament Study, said: ‘The Book of Revelation tells of a sealed book that was opened only by the Messiah.

‘Other texts from the period tell of sealed books of wisdom and of a secret tradition passed on by Jesus to his closest disciples. That is the context for this discovery.’

Professor Davies said: ‘The possibility of a Hebrew-Christian origin is certainly suggested by the imagery and, if so, these codices are likely to bring dramatic new light to our understanding of a very significant but so far little understood period of history.’

Mr Elkington, who is leading British efforts to have the books returned to Jordan, said: ‘It is vital that the collection can be recovered intact and secured in the best possible circumstances, both for the benefit of its owners and for a potentially fascinated international audience.’

*British scientists have uncovered up to eight million mummified dogs, thought to have been sacrificed to Anubis, the god of the dead, 2500 years ago after excavating tunnels in the ancient Eygptian city of Saqqara.

Source

70 metal books found in Jordan cave could change our view of Biblical history, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating Related posts:

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View the original article here

70 metal books found in Jordan cave could change our view of Biblical history

Revelation: Experts speculate that the tablets could be the lost collection of codices referred to in the Bible's Book Of Revelation.

For scholars of faith and history, it is a treasure trove too precious for price.

This ancient collection of 70 tiny books, their lead pages bound with wire, could unlock some of the secrets of the earliest days of Christianity.

Academics are divided as to their authenticity but say that if verified, they could prove as pivotal as the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947.

On pages not much bigger than a credit card, are images, symbols and words that appear to refer to the Messiah and, possibly even, to the Crucifixion and Resurrection.

Adding to the intrigue, many of the books are sealed, prompting academics to speculate they are actually the lost collection of codices mentioned in the Bible’s Book Of Revelation.

The books were discovered five years ago in a cave in a remote part of Jordan to which Christian refugees are known to have fled after the fall of Jerusalem in 70AD. Important documents from the same period have previously been found there.

Initial metallurgical tests indicate that some of the books could date from the first century AD.

This estimate is based on the form of corrosion which has taken place, which experts believe would be impossible to achieve artificially.

If the dating is verified, the books would be among the earliest Christian documents, predating the writings of St Paul.

The prospect that they could contain contemporary accounts of the final years of Jesus’s life has excited scholars – although their enthusiasm is tempered by the fact that experts have previously been fooled by sophisticated fakes.

David Elkington, a British scholar of ancient religious history and archeology, and one of the few to have examined the books, says they could be ‘the major discovery of Christian history’.

‘It is a breathtaking thought that we have held these objects that might have been held by the early saints of the Church,’ he said.

But the mysteries between their ancient pages are not the books’ only riddle. Today, their whereabouts are also something of a mystery. After their discovery by a Jordanian Bedouin, the hoard was subsequently acquired by an Israeli Bedouin, who is said to have illegally smuggled them across the border into Israel, where they remain.

However, the Jordanian Government is now working at the highest levels to repatriate and safeguard the collection. Philip Davies, emeritus professor of biblical studies at Sheffield University, said there was powerful evidence that the books have a Christian origin in plates cast into a picture map of the holy city of Jerusalem.

‘As soon as I saw that, I was dumbstruck,’ he said. ‘That struck me as so obviously a Christian image. There is a cross in the foreground, and behind it is what has to be the tomb [of Jesus], a small building with an opening, and behind that the walls of the city.

‘There are walls depicted on other pages of these books too and they almost certainly refer to Jerusalem. It is a Christian crucifixion taking place outside the city walls.’

The British team leading the work on the discovery fears that the present Israeli ‘keeper’ may be looking to sell some of the books on to the black market, or worse – destroy them.

But the man who holds the books denies the charge and claims they have been in his family for 100 years.

Dr Margaret Barker, a former president of the Society for Old Testament Study, said: ‘The Book of Revelation tells of a sealed book that was opened only by the Messiah.

‘Other texts from the period tell of sealed books of wisdom and of a secret tradition passed on by Jesus to his closest disciples. That is the context for this discovery.’

Professor Davies said: ‘The possibility of a Hebrew-Christian origin is certainly suggested by the imagery and, if so, these codices are likely to bring dramatic new light to our understanding of a very significant but so far little understood period of history.’

Mr Elkington, who is leading British efforts to have the books returned to Jordan, said: ‘It is vital that the collection can be recovered intact and secured in the best possible circumstances, both for the benefit of its owners and for a potentially fascinated international audience.’

*British scientists have uncovered up to eight million mummified dogs, thought to have been sacrificed to Anubis, the god of the dead, 2500 years ago after excavating tunnels in the ancient Eygptian city of Saqqara.

Source

70 metal books found in Jordan cave could change our view of Biblical history, 5.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating Related posts:

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View the original article here

NASA picture shows 1,235 planets that could house extra-terrestrial lifeforms

Home » Astronomy, North America » NASA picture shows 1,235 planets that could house extra-terrestrial lifeforms

Alien home? The black spots represent 1,235 planets orbiting their suns. As a point of reference, the lone planet on the right below the top row represents our sun, with Earth and Jupiter as tiny black silhouettes.

If aliens exist, these are what their planets look like, according to NASA.

Astronomers at the U.S. space department have spent the last two years scouring the Milky Way for Earth-like planets in their quest for foreign life forms.

And this is what they have come up with. The black spots represent 1,235 planets orbiting their suns, which have been arranged by order of size.

As a point of reference, the lone planet on the right below the top row represents our sun, with Earth and Venus as tiny black silhouettes.

Of these candidate planets, there are 54 where life could possibly exist in the ‘Goldilocks Zone’.

The ‘Goldilocks Zone’ is the distance from a star where an Earth-like planet can maintain liquid water and Earth-like life on its surface.

Kepler’s main mission is not to examine individual worlds, but give astronomers a sense of how many planets, especially potentially habitable ones, there are likely to be in our galaxy.

They would use the one-four-hundredth of the night sky that Kepler is looking at and extrapolate from there.

Scientists figured one of two stars has planets and one of 200 stars has planets in the habitable zone, announcing these ratios Saturday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual conference in Washington.

And that’s a minimum because these stars can have more than one planet and Kepler has yet to get a long enough glimpse to see planets that are further out from the star, like Earth, Borucki said.

For example, if Kepler were 1,000 light years from Earth and looking at our sun and noticed Venus passing by, there’s only a one-in-eight chance that Earth would also be seen, astronomers said.

To get the estimate for the total number of planets, scientists then took the frequency observed already and applied it to the number of stars in the Milky Way.

For many years scientists figured there were 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, but last year a Yale scientist figured the number was closer to 300 billion stars.

Either way it shows that Carl Sagan was right when he talked of billions and billions of worlds, said retired NASA astronomer Steve Maran, who praised the research but wasn’t part of it.

And that’s just our galaxy. Scientists figure there are 100 billion galaxies.

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View the original article here

NASA picture shows 1,235 planets that could house extra-terrestrial lifeforms

Home » Astronomy, North America » NASA picture shows 1,235 planets that could house extra-terrestrial lifeforms

Alien home? The black spots represent 1,235 planets orbiting their suns. As a point of reference, the lone planet on the right below the top row represents our sun, with Earth and Jupiter as tiny black silhouettes.

If aliens exist, these are what their planets look like, according to NASA.

Astronomers at the U.S. space department have spent the last two years scouring the Milky Way for Earth-like planets in their quest for foreign life forms.

And this is what they have come up with. The black spots represent 1,235 planets orbiting their suns, which have been arranged by order of size.

As a point of reference, the lone planet on the right below the top row represents our sun, with Earth and Venus as tiny black silhouettes.

Of these candidate planets, there are 54 where life could possibly exist in the ‘Goldilocks Zone’.

The ‘Goldilocks Zone’ is the distance from a star where an Earth-like planet can maintain liquid water and Earth-like life on its surface.

Kepler’s main mission is not to examine individual worlds, but give astronomers a sense of how many planets, especially potentially habitable ones, there are likely to be in our galaxy.

They would use the one-four-hundredth of the night sky that Kepler is looking at and extrapolate from there.

Scientists figured one of two stars has planets and one of 200 stars has planets in the habitable zone, announcing these ratios Saturday at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual conference in Washington.

And that’s a minimum because these stars can have more than one planet and Kepler has yet to get a long enough glimpse to see planets that are further out from the star, like Earth, Borucki said.

For example, if Kepler were 1,000 light years from Earth and looking at our sun and noticed Venus passing by, there’s only a one-in-eight chance that Earth would also be seen, astronomers said.

To get the estimate for the total number of planets, scientists then took the frequency observed already and applied it to the number of stars in the Milky Way.

For many years scientists figured there were 100 billion stars in the Milky Way, but last year a Yale scientist figured the number was closer to 300 billion stars.

Either way it shows that Carl Sagan was right when he talked of billions and billions of worlds, said retired NASA astronomer Steve Maran, who praised the research but wasn’t part of it.

And that’s just our galaxy. Scientists figure there are 100 billion galaxies.

Source

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View the original article here

PBIO: “Eating Your Own Dog Food Could Save Your Life”

Grant Zeng, CFA

PBIO: “Eating your own dog food could save your life”

The story
On March 28, 2011, the Venture Development Center, Boston’s leading startup incubator for technology and life science companies, published a very interesting article about the unique business model of Pressure BioSciences, Inc. (PBIO). The article was entitled “Eating your own dog food could save your life.”
In short, the article told a story like this. A scientist took a walk in the woods one day and found a tick on his arm three days later. The tick was removed and a rash was developed. Then the scientist brought the tick to his lab and asked that it be tested for the DNA of the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease.
In preparation for the testing, the tick was initially processed by the company’s newly developed SG3, a device that is developed to improve the safety, speed, and accuracy of processing difficult samples from tough, fibrous, and other difficult-to-disrupt tissues and organisms, such as ticks. The shredded tick was further processed by the company’s pressure cycling technology platform, and then tested for the presence of B. burgdoreri DNA. The tick was determined to be potentially infectious.
An expert in the area of Lyme disease confirmed the infection of the scientist by the bacteria causing Lyme disease. The scientist sought medical attention based on the evidence he had obtained. Because he acted quickly, using tools that his own lab had developed, and sought advice and treatment, the scientist is not expected to develop Lyme disease.

What does the story mean for Pressure Bioscience Inc.?

The story vividly illustrated how PBIO’s unique business model works. If a company uses its own products for day to day operations, which was described by the article as eating its own dog food, this sends a strong message that it considers its own products the best on the market.
PBIO is a company just like this. The Company has developed a unique platform technology: pressure cycling technology (PCT) and related equipments and products, for the sample preparation market. Scientists around the world routinely extract bio-molecules from a diverse range of biological samples using a variety of extraction methods. Some methods are labor-intensive, time consuming, and expensive; others engender safety and quality concerns; and still others lack the versatility required for today’s cutting-edge research laboratory. Data so for have demonstrated that the PBIO’s PCT platform technology and related equipments/products offer many advantages such as greater safety, flexibility, quality, and speed than the currently used methods.
PBIO has been marking every effort to develop new products for the biology research market and has made great progress. The Company has launched quite a few new systems and products recently such as the mitochondrial kits, focused on the isolation of mitochondria from solid tissues, such as skeletal muscle and lung, and the SHREDDER SG3 system, developed in conjunction with the mitochondrial kits, to allow for a safe, rapid, efficient, and standardized method to isolate mitochondria from human and animal cells.
We think PBIO has all the makings of success. With many advantages, PBIO’s PCT platform and related products will be recognized and used by more scientists and researchers worldwide. As a result, the Company’s top line will be further boosted in the coming years.

We have been, and continue to be, optimistic about PBIO. The Company’s strong fundamentals and management’s strong commitment make us believe it is poised to grow rapidly and deliver shareholder value.

We have an Outperform rating on the Company’s shares with a price target of $5.   

For a free copy of the full research report, please email scr@zacks.com with PBIO as the subject.

Follow Zacks Small Cap Reserach on Twitter at Twitter.com/ZacksSmallCap

PRESSURE BIOSCI (PBIO): Free Stock Analysis Report

View the original article here

Disaster Relief 2.0: What the UN could not have done without the Volunteer Technical Community

Ed note: The report Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies analyzes how the humanitarian community and the emerging volunteer and technical communities worked together in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and recommends ways to improve coordination between these two groups in future emergencies.  The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), together with the United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership, commissioned the report, which was researched and written by a team at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

The Disaster Relief 2.0 Blog Series provides a public forum for people from both the humanitarian and volunteer and technical communities to discuss ideas in this report and the future of disaster relief.

You can follow conversations about the report on Twitter using the hashtag #DisasterTech and on the UN Foundation’s Facebook page. Readers can submit questions to the report’s authors through those channels; a transcript with answers to select questions will be published on UN Dispatch on April 11, 2011.

What the UN could not have done without the Volunteer Technical Community

By Andrej Verity

The office that I work for – UN OCHA – recently took a big leap forward by engaging the VTCs for responding to the Libyan and Japan crises. We dove into a collaboration with the VTCs in a first effort to try to make the responses better. However, the most common questions I have received are “So what?” and “What was the impact?”.

When the Libya crisis broke out, I asked permission in OCHA to call a meeting between OCHA and many of the VTCs. In the first teleconference, the Stand By Task Force (SBTF), an organized group of 150+ volunteers skilled in online Crisis Mapping, was activated to map out the social media and traditional media reports from within the country – the result: LibyaCrisisMap.net. So what?  Well, given that the UN had virtually no access to the country, we now had situational awareness. How much is that worth to a agency planning its response?  Could you plan with virtually no information? I know the site was being used by agencies such as the World Food Programme, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) the Red Cross,and USAID to perform certain types of analysis and to aid in their planning.

In addition, we requested the SBTF to help with collection of Who’s-doing-What-Where (3W) information and baseline indicators values.  Within 48 hours, we had 100+ activities collected and compiled. Let’s put that in perspective: the same amount of data took about 4 weeks in the Philippines, 2 weeks in Haiti, and 2 weeks in Pakistan to be made avalable.  See an improvement? Combining this data with Libya Crisis Map, we can now overlay the reported health needs with the actual health response – gap analysis. In regards to the baseline indicator compilation task, it had never been done before so I cannot even compare it to past experience. More future potential.

Crisis Commons compiled data sources under the framework of the Common Operational Datasets (CODs) for Japan. Within minutes of our request, they had a Japan Data Profile wiki online. They automated Google searches as well as Google Translate to search Japanese sites. I understand that the compiled data was used by MapAction responders (supporting UNDAC), NetHope partners, and others providing relief.  The comprehensive search and compilation would not have happened without the VTCs.

This was our first step and we have learned many lessons.  In combination with these lessons learned and the recommendation from the Disaster Relief 2.0 report, I believe that we are just starting to find our footing in the collaboration space with the VTCs. I am hopeful that we have found a concrete way forward.  I am excited. OCHA is planning a lessons-learned session with the VTCs in June, but the question is: “will we have time to stop and review?”.  I am already getting emails from partners such as Open Street Map and Internews asking when we will be starting a Crisis Map for Cote D’Ivoire.  We have taken one step, but might have to run sooner than we thought.

Andrej has been an Information Management Officer in UN OCHA for the past 7 years. He responded to three recent major emergencies in less than one year: typhoons in the Philippines, earthquake in Haiti and floods in Pakistan. In two instances, he was the lead OCHA Information Management Officer on the ground.  Although a strong advocate for collaboration with the V&TCs, he is also a realist and knows that a lot of work is required to reach the true potential of such collaboration.

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Could a Japanese U.S. Debt Selloff Trigger a Dollar Meltdown?

With the disaster in Japan being far from over, the question of how Japan will finance their reconstruction efforts has, for the most part, stayed out of focus. According to reports, the damage is estimated in excess of $300 billion, nearly four times higher than hurricane Katrina. This number will likely rise the longer the nuclear crisis remains unresolved. Karl Denninger of Market Ticker says there are several problems facing the Japanese:

(Video interview of Denninger on Fox Business follows excerpts and commentary)

The Tsunami did a tremendous amount of damage to the landscape and once they get that cleaned up they’re going to have to rebuild. And then you’ve got about 8 gigawatts of electrical generation that’s been taken offline and there’s no hope of restoring that anytime in the near future.

So, the capital flows that have gone into Japan from exports are going to turn into capital flows going the other direction because Japan has to buy the materials that it needs in order to rebuild its society.

The main issue in terms of rebuilding is one of funding. While the US may send foreign aid to help get Japan back on its feet, such measures are not very popular due to our already troubled debt levels and spending problems, so any support we provide will be limited. Japan can’t depend on international aid of any significance either, because, well, no one else gives like the US. Private donations may help people on the ground with food, clothing and shelter, but those are a drop in the bucket compared to what is necessary.

Considering that Japan is the third largest economy in the world, they will be left to come up with the money themselves.

Karl Denninger says that how Japan will come up with the money is “an open question.”

How they’re going to manage to do that without either printing more money, which at some point will cause problems over there, or selling some of their Treasuries is an open question.

Japan owns about 20% of all US debt. It’s safe to say that Japan’s regular purchases of US Treasuries are about to come to a screeching halt, or at least, be reduced significantly. This fact alone means someone is going to need to step in to buy up that excess debt. We can all guess, fairly accurately, who will end up with those new issues.

But even if the Federal Reserve were to buy up the new debt that Japan won’t, there is the question of how Japan is going to fund the $300 billion plus in recovery efforts. And given that there is no end in sight, we may be talking about double that amount – no one really knows.

So, the question is, will Japan need to sell off some of its US debt in order to pay for recovery and reconstruction efforts? And if so, could that be the black swan that could trigger the domino effect that will lead to a US debt sell off, and ultimately, a currency collapse? Until a month ago this was nowhere on the radar. Now, we have every reason to be concerned about this possible black swan event. Karl Denninger weighs in:

The obvious thing to do is to sell some of those holdings. The danger for the United States is not tomorrow, it’s a few months out. Right now, they’re still trying to clean up the mess. But once they actually start actively rebuilding they’re going to have to have a way to finance this.

And that’s where the danger comes from, because if Japan was to start unloading Treasuries, it would be reasonable to assume that the Chinese, who hold an even larger amount, would look at that activity and say ‘well, if we don’t sell now we lose even more. Maybe we want to be selling some ourselves.’ And, that puts quite an interesting squeeze into our budget picture for the United States.

In January, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner confirmed that we are literally on the brink of a catastrophic debt collapse resulting from a need for money and raising of our debt ceiling. So, it is clear that we’re already in serious trouble as it is. If Japan were to stop buying our treasuries and actually start selling their existing US debt holdings, it could potentially accelerate the already destructive path on which we find ourselves.

As we’ve suggested previously, all it will take is for buyers and holders of US debt to say ‘no more’ and the jig is up. Mainly, we’re talking about China, and if they pull the plug on all of the credit they have thus far extended, then we could literally be talking ‘lights out’.

This may be a low probability event, but so was an earthquake driven Tsunami wiping out the generators that powered the fuel rod cooling stations in Fukuskima.

Watch Karl Denninger and Neil Cavuto:

View the original article here

Ground operation in Libya could start in April – Russian intelligence

Ground operation in Libya could start in April.

The international coalition force is planning a ground operation in Libya that could start in late April, a high-ranking Russian intelligence service source said on Friday.

“Information coming via different channels shows that NATO countries, with the active participation of Britain and the United States, are developing a plan for a ground operation on Libyan territory,” he said.

“From all indications, a ground operation will be launched if the alliance fails to force the Gaddafi regime to capitulate with air strikes and missile attacks.”

If the events in Libya follow this scenario, the ground operation could start “in late April-early May,” he added.

The UN Security Council imposed a no-fly zone over Libya on March 17, allowing “all necessary measures” to protect civilians from Muammar Gaddafi’s attacks on rebel-held towns.

The operation to enforce the no-fly zone, codenamed Odyssey Dawn, is being conducted jointly by 13 states, including the United States, Britain and France.

Western warplanes have flown more than 300 sorties over the North African country and fired 162 Tomahawk missiles in the UN mission.

Source

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‘Libya war could last 30 years’: Armed forces minister’s extraordinary admission

Defiant: Colonel Gaddafi appeared on Libyan state TV to declare he is ready for a drawn-out conflict.

Ministers admitted yesterday that they have no idea how long the military operation against Colonel Gaddafi could take.

Asked for an estimate, Armed Forces Minister Nick Harvey said: ‘How long is a piece of string? We don’t know how long this is going to go on.

‘We don’t know if this is going to result in a stalemate. We don’t know if his capabilities are going to be degraded quickly. Ask me again in a week.’

The comments come as a defiant Muammar Gaddafi made a speech on Libyan state television last night in which he claimed said he was ready for entrenched conflict, saying; ‘In the short term, we’ll beat them, in the long term, we’ll beat them.’

The Libyan leader was said to have delivered the message to supporters at his residential compound near the capital Tripoli which was hit by an allied cruise missile on Sunday.

He denounced the ‘unjust’ action against his country and called those taking action against Libya as ‘crazed fascists’.

And as Tory MPs expressed fears that the war could last for 30 years, Foreign Secretary William Hague added to fears of an expensive and open-ended commitment, saying that it was impossible to put a deadline on British involvement.

Mr Hague said: ‘It’s too early to speculate. It depends what happens one way or another.

‘I don’t think you can put a deadline or a time objective to that.

‘We need to do those things as long as it is necessary, and that will depend on how people react in Libya, the reaction of the Gaddafi regime, on so many factors.’

In a major speech last night, he added: ‘We will continue to enforce United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973 until there is a complete and genuine ceasefire and an end to attacks on civilians.’

Liberal Democrat Mr Harvey went further than any minister yet in admitting that ground forces may be needed.

The UN resolution rules out an ‘invasion’ and an ‘occupying force’ but not ground force assistance to protect civilian lives.

‘I don’t think we would at this stage rule anything in or rule anything out,’ Mr Harvey said.

‘It’s something that the twists and turns of the next few days and weeks will determine, what any individual country puts into this fray.

‘I think it’s a question of interpretation where the deployment of ground troops becomes the landing of an occupying force and I just don’t think it’s productive to speculate on that, but I cannot foresee it on any significant scale.’

The uncertainty over the length of the war comes after mixed messages from the Government over whether Colonel Gaddafi himself was a legitimate target.

On Monday, Downing Street was forced to publicly contradict claims by the Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards that the dictator could not be legally killed in a military strike.

Chancellor George Osborne sought to reassure the public that the cost of the war would not spiral out of control, saying it would be ‘in the tens of millions not the hundreds of millions of pounds’.

He said it would be paid for from the Treasury’s reserve, rather than the main defence budget.

The Government expects the air campaign, featuring RAF Typhoon and Tornado jets plus Tomahawk cruise missiles fired from the submarine Triumph, to cost around £3million a day, though the Daily Mail has calculated that the first three days cost nearly £6million each.

But costs and the length of the deployment will soar if either of those scenarios prompts a need for ground troops.

Other members of the military coalition have already decided not to stick with the mission for ever.
Norwegian foreign minister Jonas Gahr Støre last night announced that his country would put a time limit on its military involvement.

‘We have made our planes available for three months,’ he said.

Intelligence chiefs and diplomats are preparing a series of options papers for David Cameron spelling out what might happen next.

The scenarios they are examining include the possibility of a military stalemate between Gaddafi’s forces and the opposition, where the rebels lack the firepower to seize the capital Tripoli.

They are also looking at the prospect that Libya will split in two, with a de facto separation between the Gaddafi-controlled West and the rebel-occupied East.

Tory MP Rory Stewart, a former diplomat who was deputy governor of an Iraqi province after the war there, warned that Britain could be sucked into a three-decade long imbroglio in the Middle East.

‘Don’t get sucked into Libya. I think the no-fly zone is the correct thing to do but this is a 20-to 30-year marathon with a very complicated region.’

Tory MP John Baron, one of only 13 MPs to vote against the war during a Commons debate on Monday night, also warned that the commitment could be open-ended.

‘What is the exit strategy?’ he asked.

‘We risk being drawn into an ill-defined mission whilst civilian casualties rise.

‘If there is a stalemate on the ground, are we simply going to walk away? These are questions that are not being answered at the moment, and I think they should be.’

Lord Browne, the former chairman of oil giant BP, which did deals with Gaddafi’s regime, predicted that the conflict would drag on.

He said: ‘I have a sense that everything I have seen of him [Gaddafi] is that he is someone who will stick around to the last possible moment.’

Plans for Nato takeover of mission ‘are in chaos’

Attempts to get Nato to take charge of the military mission in Libya were in chaos last night.

With America determined to surrender command of the no-fly zone, world leaders were on the verge of creating a cumbersome two-tier structure to answer the question: Who is running the war?

David Cameron had called for Nato in Brussels to assume command from the U.S. general co-ordinating the air strikes.

But after a day of bitter exchanges between Nato ambassadors, it became clear that some countries, such as Germany and Turkey, will not give the green light for Nato to take over.

Instead, officials were last night racing to create an international committee to oversee the military action, while the nuts and bolts of the command and control would be operated by Nato officers.

The coalition of the willing will bring together Britain, France, the U.S., Canada and other hawkish members of Nato, leaving the refuseniks on the sidelines.

Mr Cameron and Foreign Secretary William Hague were last night fighting to persuade Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to join the grouping.

Nato is launching an operation to enforce an international arms embargo on Libya and has completed plans ‘if needed’ to take charge of the operation to enforce the no-fly zone declared by the United Nations Security Council last week, Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said.

However Nato ambassadors have so far failed to agree whether the alliance should take over when the United States relinquishes command in the next few days.

Mr Cameron discussed the need for Nato to play a ‘key role’ in the military action in Libya with U.S. President Barack Obama last night. In a telephone call this evening with Mr Obama, Downing Street said the two leaders had agreed ‘that these arrangements now needed to be finalised’.

Diplomatic sources described yesterday’s meeting of the North Atlantic Council in Brussels as a moment of ‘theatre’.

One envoy said: ‘The meeting became a little bit emotional.’

Turkey opposed a Nato mission, in part because the country’s prime minister Tayyip Erdogan felt snubbed because he was not invited to a summit on the military action in Paris by French President Nicolas Sarkozy last weekend.

Mr Sarkozy, whose armed forces have only recently rejoined Nato, had pushed for a separate command structure parallel to Nato.

His foreign minister Alain Juppe said:

‘This is therefore not a Nato operation.’

The compromise deal being thrashed out is expected to see an awkward hybrid of Nato infrastructure and a political front.

A senior No 10 source said last night: ‘We are getting close but we are not yet over the line.’

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Japan nuclear meltdown could be another Chernobyl

Turi Predictions: guest, seer Louis Turi talked about the crisis in Japan, and its connection to the astrological 'Tail of the Dragon".Workers at the Fukushima nuclear complex are trying to restore power and prevent the worst case scenario ,Japanese engineers work to prevent a meltdown at a stricken nuclear plant as rescuers try to help millions left without food, water or heating by a

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for the full story www.Trends2012.co.cc ]]

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Coming Stock Market Correction: What Could Be the Best Indicator Yet

Everything is due for a correction now: stocks, commodities, and several currencies. The stock market isn’t overvalued; it’s just had a great run and a correction would be healthy. In addition, the majority of the world’s commodities have also been in a bull market and they too are due for a correction.

Just because one’s economic analysis suggests that a correction would be healthy for the long-run action in stocks and commodities doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. If the S&P 500 Index pulled back 15% from its current level, I’d be a new buyer. If the price of gold retreated to $1,200 an ounce, I’d be a new buyer of gold stocks—a lot of them. From my perspective, the price trend is still up for both stocks and commodities. I’d like to see a correction in a number of markets, because I don’t like seeing securities go up in value like they’re following a straight line. I also would like a more attractive entry point for considering new positions.

If there was a pronounced correction in precious metal prices, I would seriously consider investing in gold and silver in a very meaningful way. I would take on new positions in intermediate producers as well as several juniors. I’d also own a gold fund or ETF that actually holds physical gold and silver bars in a vault. With all the risks out there (e.g. sovereign debt defaults, war, inflation, higher interest rates, housing prices, and unemployment), gold is a must-have asset. Perhaps for the rest of this decade.

Wall Street analysts and investment newsletters have been quite bullish since the beginning of fourth-quarter earnings season. Some see this as a sign that the current bear market rally is coming to an end. I don’t know what’s going to happen to stock prices, but my view is that it’s probable that the S&P 500 Index will keep ticking higher this year. My prediction is 1,500 on the index, as you know.

There’s a lot of risk out there that could sap global investor confidence and I think this is why a lot of individual investors are still sitting on the sidelines, not participating in equities in the way they were before. Individual investor confidence was decimated during the subprime financial crisis and the broader stock market still hasn’t recovered from the previous bubble in the technology sector. So, you have a situation where most of the market is being played by professional investors or speculators. This makes the price moves more pronounced and it almost removes a level of rationality from the marketplace, because all the action is with a short-term time horizon for making money.

It’s important for equity investors to keep listening to what large corporations say about their operations. It’s also very important for equity investors to follow the Dow Jones Transportation Average. This index is teetering on breaking down and it may be the best indicator yet for an upcoming stock market correction.

Mitchell is a Senior Editor at Lombardi Financial specializing in small-cap stocks. He’s the editor of a variety of popular Lombardi Financial newsletters, such as Penny Stock Reporter, Micro-Cap Stocks, and Monster Profits. Mitchell, who has been with Lombardi Financial for thirteen years, won the Jack Madden Prize in economic history and is a long-time student of equity markets. Prior to joining Lombardi, Mitchell was as a stock broker for a large investment bank. While Mitchell is not working he enjoys fly fishing, motorcycling and tending to his hobby farm.

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Japan’s strongest quake in 140 years could have been predicted

Written by Canadafirst on 11 March 2011

The strongest in 140 years earthquake near the north-east coast of Japan created the threat of giant tsunami waves across the entire Pacific area. In Japan, the disaster has already caused a 10-meter high wave that crashed onto the shore destroying everything on its path. Millions of houses have been left without electricity, including in the country’s capital, Tokyo.

The number of casualties is still unknown, although it is clear that the death toll is growing. Many of the victims have most likely been buried underneath the rubble.

International experts say that the giant waves may flood several small Pacific islands entirely. Many others, including the chain of Hawaii islands, are facing the threat of serious destruction.

The tsunami threat will stay on for hours. Japanese specialists say that today’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake is the strongest since 1872, when the country started to register quakes officially. The Great Earthquake of September 1, 1923 was measured 7.9 on Richter scale: over 140,000 people died in Tokyo and suburbs.

The epicenter of today’s earthquake was located 373 kilometers to the north-east from Tokyo, at the depth of 24 kilometers. Several other less powerful quakes (magnitude 6.0) took place in the area afterwards. The epicenter of one of them was located 67 kilometers far from Tokyo. Not less than 14 large industrial objects are currently ablaze in the area.

Russian scientist Yevgeny Rogozhin, deputy director of the Institute for Earth’s Physics, said that the Japanese quake could have been predicted. A weaker earthquake took place in the area a week ago, he said.

“There was another earthquake several days ago. I think that it was a foreshock. It occurred further north of the current quake, near Honshu island as well. It seems that it was the location of the edge of the seismic center of the quake, which took place today,” the scientist said.

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Senior Economist on Food: We Could “Certainly” See Social Unrest in Parts of the Developed World

For years the mainstream economists and media pundits ignored the trend. Now that it cannot be hidden from view any longer, it’s all of a sudden become a huge news story.

While we, and those in alternative news circles like us, are regularly referred to as fear mongers and doomsdayers, now that the mainstream is on board, it’s become credible news. Whatever the case, we hope that those who denied the analysis and assessments put forth by non-mainstream sources over the last several years will finally come around and realize that maybe, just to be on the safe side, stocking up on some reserve foods and other preparedness items may not be as bad of a tin foil hat wearing idea as originally thought.

The latest warnings for the Western world, thus far immune to uprisings resulting from high food costs and supply problems, come from senior global economist Karen Ward of HSBC:

Even in the developed world I think we have very, very low wage growth, so people aren’t getting more in their pay packet to compensate them for food and energy, and I think we could see social unrest certainly in parts of the developed world and the UK as well.

 

Ms. Ward refers to the situation resulting from high food costs and inability to put food on the family table as leading to “social unrest.” This is just a feel-good mainstream word for what we often refer to as Riots. Unless we see a change in the years’ long trend of rising food costs, “social unrest” is coming to a neighborhood near you – sooner rather than later.

Hat tip YourDaddy

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High Oil Could Kill Economic Renewal

By George Leong, B.Comm.

Oil is surging in the global markets and this has transformed into higher gasoline prices at the pump, which now average over $3.50 per gallon and may be heading higher. Gasoline prices are surging at the pumps. The jump in fuel costs will cut away at the disposable income of consumers and this would impact economic growth. The situation is made worse given that the busy summer driving season is only a few months away.

The situation in Libya continues to be a problem, as the conflict has worsened with intense fighting. There was news that Libya may enter into peace talks with the rebels and thus avert a major civil war, but this has yet to happen.

At issue is the oil in the ground that Libya is sitting above. The country has the 12th largest oil reserve in the world. Col. Qaddafi knows this and wants to keep the oil under his control. Libya has cut about one million barrels per day from its regular 1.6-million-barrel daily production. Saudi Arabia has increased its oil production to try to compensate for the loss, but oil continues to ratchet higher, with the April oil on the NYMEX trading at over $106.00 per barrel on Monday.

Basic economic analysis tells us that the surging oil prices are a real problem that could impact global economic growth. If the tensions spread through the oil-producing Middle East, oil could spike much higher and drown out the recovery.

There is news that oil-cartel Organization of Petroleum Producing Countries (OPEC) may increase its production output for the first time in two years to help offset the loss of the oil flowing from Libya. This would be positive, but again a temporary solution. The fear is that the conflict will intensify in other OPEC and non-OPEC oil producing countries in the Middle East. In this event, this would be damaging to the global economic renewal.

Technically, a look at the charts shows potentially higher prices ahead. The near-term technical picture for the April oil is bullish, with the contract holding above $105.00.

The April oil is trading above its 50-day moving average (MA) of $93.28 and well above its 200-day MA of $85.26. An upward move could target $106.95 and $108.96.

Energy mogul T. Boone Pickens, in his investment advice, suggests that oil could reach $120.00 per barrel, which is why this supporter of natural gas energy feels that the country should reduce its dependence on foreign oil. There is nothing surprising here, as a worsening of the situation in Libya and the surrounding regions could easily drive oil higher.

George is a Senior Editor at Lombardi Financial, and has been involved in analyzing the stock markets for two decades where he employs both fundamental and technical analysis. His overall market timing and trading knowledge is extensive in the areas of small-cap research and option trading. George is the editor of several of Lombardi’s popular financial newsletters, including The China Letter, Special Situations, and Obscene Profits, among others. His trading advice on stocks and options is also found on his daily trading site, Daily Profits. He has written technical and fundamental columns for numerous stock market news web sites, and he is the author of Quick Wealth Options Strategy and Mastering 7 Proven Options Strategies. Prior to starting with Lombardi Financial, George was employed as a financial analyst with Globe Information Services.

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China could match US military power in 10-15 years

Western cuts and swiftly rising defence spending in emerging economies are redrawing the global strategic map, a leading think-tank said on Tuesday, with the danger of conflicts between states also rising.

In its annual Global Military Balance report, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said the shift in economic power was already beginning to have a real military effect and closing any strategic gap.

“Western states’ defence budgets are under pressure and their military procurement is constrained,” said IISS director general John Chipman. “But in other regions – notably Asia and the Middle East – military spending and arms acquisitions are booming. There is persuasive evidence that a global redistribution of military power is under way.”

Asian Pacific nations particularly China were increasing defence spending by double digits annually, he said, with growing evidence Western states were losing their technological edge in areas such as stealth technology and cyber warfare.

Most estimates suggest Washington still accounts for roughly half of all global defence spending each year, much of it spent on conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Estimates of Chinese defence spending vary wildly, with many analysts suspecting it dramatically underreports.

“HALF A GENERATION”

According to the report, the United States spent $693 billion on defence in 2010 – 4.7 percent of its GDP – compared to China’s $76 billion (1.3 percent/GDP) and Britain’s 57 billion dollars (2.5 percent/GDP).

Speaking to Reuters after the report launch, Chipman said if current trends were continued it would still take 15-20 years for China to achieve military parity with the U.S.

“We’re talking about half a generation,” he said. “The United States has always said it would never let another power get to parity so in the next few years it is going to have to make some very significant decisions on what it does.”

In the shorter term, he said much of the equipment China was aiming to acquire such as the submarines and anti-ship missiles was designed to dent the dominance of U.S. aircraft carriers in nearby waters particularly the Taiwan Strait.

Beijing’s military growth was itself driving other nearby Asian powers to ramp up their own purchases, he said, while worries over Iran coupled with strong oil revenues were driving similarly rapid expansion in Gulf military forces.

It was too soon to say whether the rash of uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East would prompt authoritarian rulers to focus more on internal security threats, he said.

Exchanges of fire along the borders of Thailand and Cambodia as well as between North and South Korea showed that the risk of local state-on-state war was back on the map after a decade of focus on more fringe threats such as militancy, he said.

“It had become conventional wisdom bordering on cliche that interstate conflict was a thing of the past and now that’s being called into question,” he said.

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