You mean the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism?

You're either naive or you lie a lot. If you do, at least do it in a way that isn't easily found out through fact checking. If you're genuine then check your facts better.

Also, Israeli soldiers have been denying access to the Temple Mount to religious Jews during Ramadan so as not to upset the Muslims.

As I said, check your facts. A lot.

Edited by thupercoach: 6/8/2013 03:14:32 PM

Edited

Edited by zimbos_05: 6/8/2013 05:54:20 PM

Uh...Al Aqsa Mosque is built on On Temple Mount buddy.

Muslim leader Ahmed Abdelshafy Mohamed El-Kahly guilty of sex assaults


http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/muslim-leader-ahmed-abdelshafy-mohamed-el-kahly-guilty-of-sex-assaults/story-fni0cx12-1226691712375

A 16 year old? Jeeze.

I retract my statement. I didnt read his post properly. I read it as if he was talking about the one mosque in particular.

I know what the Temple Mount is.


I cant seem to get over this idea that many on here seem to think Israel are the victims in this conflict. Im not saying that Palestinians are the only ones suffering, but for people to come out and pretty much put all the onus on Palestine and blame it all on them is rather bewildering.

Edited by zimbos_05: 6/8/2013 05:55:29 PM

They're both assholes.

http://www.activistpost.com/2013/08/radioactive-water-from-fukushima-is.html

Monday, August 5, 2013

[size=6]Radioactive Water From Fukushima Is Systematically Poisoning The Entire Pacific Ocean[/size]

Michael Snyder
Activist Post

Right now, a massive amount of highly radioactive water is escaping into the Pacific Ocean from the ruins of the destroyed Fukushima nuclear facility in Japan. This has been going on all day, every day for more than two years.

The enormous amounts of tritium, cesium and strontium that are being released are being carried by wind, rain and ocean currents all over the northern Hemisphere. And of course the west coast of the United States is being hit particularly hard. When you drink water or eat seafood that has been contaminated with these radioactive particles, they can stick around for a very long time. Over the coming years, this ongoing disaster could potentially affect the health of millions upon millions of people living in the northern hemisphere, and the sad thing is that a lot of those people will never even know the true cause of their health problems.

For a long time, the Japanese government has been trusting Tepco to handle this crisis, but now it has become abundantly clear that Tepco has no idea what they are doing. In fact, the flow of radioactive water has gotten so bad that authorities in Japan are now calling it an “emergency”…
Highly radioactive water seeping into the ocean from Japan’s crippled Fukushima nuclear plant is creating an “emergency” that the operator is struggling to contain, an official from the country’s nuclear watchdog said on Monday.
This contaminated groundwater has breached an underground barrier, is rising toward the surface and is exceeding legal limits of radioactive discharge, Shinji Kinjo, head of a Nuclear Regulatory Authority (NRA) task force, told Reuters.

The amount of water that we are talking about is absolutely enormous. According to Yahoo, 400 metric tons of water is being pumped into the basements of destroyed buildings at Fukushima every single day…
The utility pumps out some 400 metric tons a day of groundwater flowing from the hills above the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant into the basements of the destroyed buildings, which mixes with highly irradiated water that is used to cool the reactors in a stable state below 100 degrees Celsius.
Tepco is trying to prevent groundwater from reaching the plant by building a “bypass” but recent spikes of radioactive elements in sea water has prompted the utility to reverse months of denials and finally admit that tainted water is reaching the sea.
And of course all of that water has to go somewhere. For a long time Tepco tried to deny that it was getting into the ocean, but now they are finally admitting that it is…
Tepco said on Friday that a cumulative 20 trillion to 40 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium had probably leaked into the sea since the disaster. The company said this was within legal limits.
Tritium is far less harmful than cesium and strontium, which have also been released from the plant. Tepco is scheduled to test strontium levels next.
40 trillion becquerels of radioactive tritium have gotten into the Pacific Ocean?

And that is what they are publicly admitting. The reality is probably far worse.

And all of that tritium is going to be around for a very long time. You see, the truth is that tritium has a half-life of about 12 years.

But strontium is even worse. Strontium can cause bone cancer and it has a half-life of close to 29 years.

And now Tepco is admitting that extremely dangerous levels of strontium have been escaping from Fukushima and getting into the underground water. And of course the underground water flows out into the Pacific Ocean…
Tepco said in late June that it had detected the highly toxic strontium-90, a by-product of nuclear fission that can cause bone cancer if ingested, at levels 30 times the permitted rate.
The substances, which were released by the meltdowns of reactors at the plant in the aftermath of the huge tsunami of March 2011, were not absorbed by soil and have made their way into underground water.
Subsoil water usually flows out to sea, meaning these two substances could normally make their way into the ocean, possibly affecting marine life and ultimately impacting humans who eat sea creatures.
Cesium has an even longer half-life than strontium does. It has a half life of about 30 years, and according to samples that were taken about a month ago levels of cesium at Fukushima have been spiking dramatically…
Samples taken on Monday showed levels of possibly cancer-causing caesium-134 were more than 90 times higher than they were on Friday, at 9000 becquerels per litre, Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) revealed.
Levels of caesium-137 stood at 18 000 becquerels per litre, 86 times higher than at the end of last week, the utility said.
“We still don’t know why the level of radiation surged, but we are continuing efforts to avert further expansion of contamination,” a Tepco spokesperson stated.
When cesium gets into your body, it can do a tremendous amount of damage. The following is an excerpt from a NewScientist article that described what happens when cesium and iodine enter the human body…
Moreover the human body absorbs iodine and caesium readily. “Essentially all the iodine or caesium inhaled or swallowed crosses into the blood,” says Keith Baverstock, former head of radiation protection for the World Health Organization’s European office, who has studied Chernobyl’s health effects.
Iodine is rapidly absorbed by the thyroid, and leaves only as it decays radioactively, with a half-life of eight days. Caesium is absorbed by muscles, where its half-life of 30 years means that it remains until it is excreted by the body. It takes between 10 and 100 days to excrete half of what has been consumed.
And it is important to keep in mind that it has been estimated that each spent fuel pool at the Fukushima nuclear complex could have 24,000 times the amount of cesium that was produced by the nuclear bomb that the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima at the end of World War 2.

Overall, the Fukushima nuclear facility originally contained a whopping 1760 tons of nuclear material.

That is a massive amount of nuclear material. Chernobyl only contained 180 tons.

And of course the crisis at Fukushima could be made even worse at any moment by a major earthquake. In fact, a magnitude 6.0 earthquake hit northern Japan on Sunday.

This is a nightmare that has no end. Every single day, massive amounts of highly radioactive water from Fukushima is systematically poisoning the entire Pacific Ocean. The damage that is being done is absolutely incalculable.

Please share this article with as many people as you can. The mainstream media does not seem to want to talk about this, but it is a matter that is extremely important to every man, woman and child living in the northern hemisphere of our planet.

About the author: Michael T. Snyder is a former Washington D.C. attorney who now publishes The Truth. His new novel entitled “The Beginning Of The End” is now available on Amazon.com.

The radioactive water only reached the ocean this week.

http://www.straight.com/news/fukushima-radiation-moving-seawater-across-pacific-ocean-according-consulting-company

Fukushima radiation moving in seawater across Pacific Ocean, according to consulting company

by CHARLIE SMITH on MAR 18, 2012 at 11:43 AM

OCEANIC RADIATION FROM last year's Fukushima nuclear disaster is approaching northern Hawaii, according to the latest tracking by ASR Limited.


The coastal-management consulting company has created a map that follows the movement of radiation in seawater since the Japanese earthquake on March 11, 2011.


ASR Limited suggests radiation is crossing the Pacific Ocean.

Last April, Japanese officials claimed that they had halted the release of radioactive radiation from the crippled nuclear reactors at Fukushima.

On December 5, however, the Los Angeles Times revealed that "45 tons of highly radioactive water" had been released from the plant on the previous weekend.

Greenpeace has also reported finding highly radioactive sea life off the Japanese coast.

Meanwhile, ASR Limited has also released a map showing how far the floating island of Japanese debris has travelled since last year's earthquake.

It's expected to reach the B.C. coast in 2013.

Use a valid news source instead of these drivel sites.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1377703/Radiation-levels-seawater-crippled-Fukushima-plant-jump-6-500-times-legal-limit-ahead-new-5-9-earthquake.html

[size=8]Radiation levels in seawater[/size] at crippled Fukushima plant jump 6,500 times above legal limit ahead of new 5.9 earthquake
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
UPDATED: 00:30 GMT, 17 April 2011

Radiation levels have risen dramatically in seawater near the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan, sparking fears of a new leak, according to the country's government.
The announcement came ahead of a fresh 5.9-magnitude earthquake that hit the Kanto region, in the eastern part of the country on Saturday morning.

Ironically the new quake hit hours after the country's nuclear safety agency ordered plant operators to beef up their quake alert systems to prevent a recurrence of the previous nuclear crisis.

New Leak: Volunteers arrive to clean up tsunami generated debris in Iwate prefecture, while radiation levels have risen dramatically in seawater near the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant
New Leak: Volunteers arrive to clean up tsunami generated debris in Iwate prefecture, while radiation levels have risen dramatically in seawater near the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant

There were no reports of damage from the earthquake, and there was no risk of a tsunami similar to the one that struck the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant.
Since the earthquake and tsunami of March 11 knocked out the nuclear plant's cooling systems, workers have been spraying massive amounts of water on the overheated reactors.
Levels in the water had dropped, but on Friday levels of radioactive iodine-131 were found to have spiked to 6,500 times the legal limit.

Risk: Japanese police officers carry a body in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, close to where radiation levels had rise 6,500 times above the legal limit
Risk: Japanese police officers carry a body in Namie, Fukushima Prefecture, close to where radiation levels had rise 6,500 times above the legal limit
This was up from 1,100 times the limit in samples taken the day before.
Levels of cesium-134 and cesium-137 rose nearly fourfold. The increased levels are still far below those recorded earlier this month before the initial leak was plugged on April 5.
The new rise in radioactivity could have been caused by the installation on Friday of steel panels that were intended to contain radiation that may have temporarily stirred up stagnant waste in the area, Hidehiko Nishiyama of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency told reporters.
Devastation: Two sisters look at a catamaran that was thrown onto a two-storey building during the tsunami, at Iwate prefecture, while a fresh 5.9-magnitude hit Eastern Japan on Saturday morning
Devastation: Two sisters look at a catamaran that was thrown onto a two-storey building during the tsunami, at Iwate prefecture, while a fresh 5.9-magnitude hit Eastern Japan on Saturday morning
However, the increase in iodine-131, which has a relatively short eight-day half life, could signal the possibility of a new leak, he said.
'We want to determine the origin and contain the leak, but I must admit that tracking it down is difficult,' he said.
Authorities have insisted the radioactivity will dissipate and poses no immediate threat to sea creatures or people who might eat them. Most experts agree.
String of disasters: A fire broke out at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant last week, but was soon extinguished
String of disasters: A fire broke out at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant last week, but was soon extinguished

Regardless, plant workers today began dumping sandbags filled with zeolite, a mineral that absorbs radioactive cesium, into the sea to combat the radiation leaks.
Meanwhile, the newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported, without citing its sources, that a secret plan to dismantle Tokyo Electric Power Co, which runs the radiation-leaking Fukushima plant, was circulating within the government.
The proposal calls for putting TEPCO, the world's largest private electricity company, under close government supervision before putting it into bankruptcy and thoroughly restructuring its assets.

In the wake of the nuclear crisis, the government ordered 13 nuclear plant operators to check and improve outside power links to avoid earthquake-related outages that could cause safety systems to fail as they did at the Fukushima plant, Nishiyama said.
Damage: Despite its size there were no reports of damage from the new earthquake, and there was no risk of another tsunami that caused so much devastation on March 11
Damage: Despite its size there were no reports of damage from the new earthquake, and there was no risk of another tsunami

The operators, including TEPCO, are to report back by May 16.
Power outages during a strong aftershock on April 7 drove home the need to ensure that plants are able to continue to operate crucial cooling systems and other equipment despite earthquakes, tsunamis and other disasters, Nishiyama said.
Utility companies were ordered to reinforce the quake resistance of power lines connected to each reactor or to rebuild them.

They also must store all electrical equipment in watertight structures. Earlier, the nuclear agency ordered plant operators to store at least two emergency backup generators per reactor and to install fire pumps and power supply vehicles as further precautions.
Still searching: A man looks for his lost belongings amongst tsunami devastation, as cherry blossoms bloom in Iwate prefecture
Still searching: A man looks for his lost belongings amongst tsunami devastation, as cherry blossoms bloom in Iwate prefecture

The massive 14-metre wave that swamped Fukushima Dai-ichi last month knocked out emergency generators meant to power cooling systems. Since then, explosions, fires and other malfunctions have compounded efforts by TEPCO to repair the plant and stem radiation leaks.
TEPCO said it had moved power sources for some of the reactors at the stricken plant to higher ground by Friday evening in order to avoid another disastrous failure in the event of a tsunami.

Goshi Hosono, an adviser to the prime minister and member of the nuclear crisis management task force, said the damaged reactors were much more stable than they had been earlier in the crisis and TEPCO was preparing to unveil a plan for restoring cooling capacity to the ailing reactors 'soon.'

'Problems are still piled up and we are far from the end of crisis,' he told a TV news programme, citing radioactive water as one of the biggest headaches.
'I expect there will be more mountains that we have to climb over.'
The crisis at the Fukushima plant has forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate the area, while radiation leaks have contaminated crops and left fishermen unable to sell their catches, adding to the suffering of communities already devastated by earthquake and tsunami damage.

Government officials fanned out across the affected areas to explain their decisions and calm nerves.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama apologised for the uncertainty and confusion to residents in Litate village, parts of which the government recommended be evacuated because of the nuclear crisis.

More...
Evacuated families caught in Japan's nuclear nightmare to receive compensation from Fukushima plant operator
Japanese show their resilience by setting up communal bath in the middle of tsunami disaster zone
'Everyone in the village must be extremely troubled, uncertain and worried,' he said, promising to provide temporary housing and financial support for the residents, many of them farmers.

In the city of Inawashiro, Hiroshima University Professor Kenji Kamiya, who has been appointed a health risk adviser to Fukushima prefecture, met with about 250 education officials to explain that radiation levels in the area do not pose an immediate or significant threat to the public.

'I hope people understand that the levels we are seeing are fairly low. Even in the most impacted areas, we have screened more than 1,000 children for radiation abnormalities in their thyroids and have found none at all,' he said.
Kamiya has been giving almost daily lectures in an effort to prevent people from overreacting to the possible danger.

'People fear things that they don't understand. We were even afraid before of the rain, because we just didn't know if it was safe,' said Takaaki Kobayashi, a father of two grade school children.

'I feel more comfortable now about sending kids to school. It helps to understand.'

Gets told to post from a valid news source...posts Daily Mail :lol:

Zimbabwe’s election body says 305,000 voters were turned away, but outcome not affected

By Associated Press,

HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe’s state election commission has acknowledged some mistakes in disputed elections last week, but says they were not enough to sway what it said was a landslide victory for President Robert Mugabe.

The panel said Thursday that nearly 305,000 people were turned away from voting and another 207,000 were “assisted voters” who needed help from polling officials to cast ballots. Previously, it reported that some voters went to the wrong polling stations, as well as other errors.

The defeated opposition leader, outgoing Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, has said alleged vote-rigging was widespread.

About half of Zimbabwe’s 12 million people were eligible to vote.

The African Union and a bloc of southern African nations have generally been supportive of the vote. Sharp criticism has come from non-governmental groups and Western governments.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/zimbabwes-election-body-says-305000-voters-were-turned-away-but-outcome-not-affected/2013/08/08/1d21326a-0022-11e3-8294-0ee5075b840d_story.html?

Turkish ministry report suggests psychic assassins using telepathy could be responsible for 'mysterious' deaths of four young engineers

Neuropsychology expert asks government not to rule out possibility of telepathy being responsible for suicide of engineer

ROB WILLIAMS THURSDAY 08 AUGUST 2013
   
The deaths of four young Turkish engineers, all within the space of 14 months during 2006 and 2007, could be connected to telepathy, according to a report from the Inspection Board of the Turkish Prime Ministry.

Four engineers working for Turkish defence giant ASELSAN died in alleged mysterious circumstances and all four deaths were recorded as suicide.

Sceptical families have, however, continued to question the cases despite reports that the men had been undergoing psychological treatment before they died.

According to 'Today's Zaman' the investigation into the deaths of the men, Hüseyin Başbilen, Halim Ünsem Ünal, Evrim Yançeken and Burhaneddin Volkan, suggests that the victims could have been directed toward the suicides by way of telekinesis, citing the work done by neuropsychology expert Nevzat Tarhan.

Nevzat Tarhan asks prosecutors not to disregard the possibility of telepathy being responsible for the headaches and severe distress that may have caused the men to take their own lives.

One of the men, Hüseyin Başbilen, was found dead in his car in August 2006, Halim Ünal died from a gunshot in January 2007, Evrim Yançeken fell from the balcony of his sixth-floor apartment nine days later and two years later another engineer at the company, Burhanettin Volkan, allegedly also killed himself.

At least two of the men were said to be working on a friend-or-foe recognition system for Turkish warplanes at the time of their suicides, a project that was brought back to debate during the Ergenekon coup trials which saw significant numbers jailed for an alleged plot to overthrow the government.

Hurriyet Daily News quotes Nevzat Tarhan saying that the headaches and distress in the men could have been sent using brainwaves from 1.5km (just under a mile) away.

The report, which has been submitted to the Ankara Chief Prosecutor's Office for further investigation, doesn't come to any conclusion over whether or not the deaths were murder or suicide.

Recently the news anchor and editor-in-chief of private Turkish broadcaster 24, Yiğit Bulut, claimed that 'certain powers' were attempting to kill controversial Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan using telekinesis. Mr Bulut, although widely ridiculed for the comments, has since been named a chief consultant for Erdoğan.


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/turkish-ministry-report-suggests-psychic-assassins-using-telepathy-could-be-responsible-for-mysterious-deaths-of-four-young-engineers-8752302.html

So uh...500,000+ votes for Mugabe that he wouldn't have got..

FBI reopens kidnapping case of Paul Fronczak after fresh DNA evidence

by: Staff Writers
From: AP August 09, 2013 5:20PM


Paul Fronczak. Picture: KLAS-TV Channel 8 News Now

THE FBI is reopening its investigation into the 1964 kidnapping of a newborn boy from a Chicago hospital, after recent DNA testing revealed that a boy found in New Jersey more than a year later and returned to the elated parents wasn't actually their son.
Paul Fronczak, 49, is a married father of his own now and works as a college administrator and living in Henderson, Nevada. He told the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper in June that he had long wondered why he didn't resemble his parents, Chester and Dora Franczak, so they underwent DNA testing earlier this year to see if he was their biological son. He wasn't.

Fronczak said he wrote his parents a letter when he got the results to let them know.

"I really feel in my heart that the real Paul Fronczak is alive and well and out there, and nothing would make me more happy in this life than to find the real kidnapped child and at the same time, I wouldn't mind finding out who I am,'' Fronczak told the newspaper. He said he came forward with his story because the case is unsolved.

Hundreds of police officers and FBI agents searched for the Oak Lawn couple's newborn son after his abduction from Michael Reese Hospital in April 1964. The case came to an apparently happy end more than a year later when an abandoned child resembling the Fronczak's baby was found in New Jersey and returned to them.

A woman who answered the phone Wednesday at a listing for Dora Franczak in Oak Lawn told the AP she declined to comment about the reopening of the investigation, saying, "I don't have any remarks about that.''

In June, she spoke briefly to the Sun-Times, telling the paper, "We went through this once, and we certainly don't want to go through this again.''

Joan Hyde, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Chicago office, said the bureau decided to reopen the Fronczak case after reviewing the original case file.

"We decided it merited another look,'' Hyde said. "The main thing is to look at physical evidence and see if technology and tests that weren't available when the case was originally worked could provide leads.''

Hyde said the bureau could interview witnesses as part of the investigation, which she said is expected to "take time.''

Paul Fronczak didn't immediately respond to an AP phone message seeking comment. But he told KLAS-TV in Las Vegas this year that he is trying to learn his true identity.

"I don't know how old I am, or who I am, or what nationality, all those things you just take for granted,'' Fronczak said.



Read more: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/fbi-reopens-kidnapping-case-of-paul-fronczak-after-fresh-dna-evidence/story-fnet085v-1226694428931#ixzz2bSdb2Ijw

Zims election is rife with inaccuracies and problems, yet the African Union and SADC are all muppets.

Hoards of people were turned away from voting...but the SADC et al seem perfectly ok with that. I'd love to know why.

You dont understand Africa much. Its all corrupt, almost every corner of the continent is corrupt. Obasanjo said the elections were not fair because their were too many irregularities, but as head of the African Union observation committee, was happy to declare the result the will of the people and therefore no reason to question the answers.

[youtube]IMQlnCKoewM[/youtube]

Mugabe's 89 now right? He's got to die soon...does he have a 2IC he's grooming?

The Economist explains
Why is Gibraltar a British territory?

Aug 7th 2013, 23:50 by T.W.

SPAIN is protesting to Britain again about a certain rocky outcrop at the neck of the Mediterranean. Gibraltar, a 2.6 square mile (6.7 square kilometre) peninsula that is home to about 30,000 people, is a British territory to which Spain has long laid claim. This week the old argument resurfaced as Spanish officials toughened border inspections, slowing traffic to a crawl, and Spain’s foreign minister threatened a €50 ($67) charge on crossings, to the alarm of locals on both sides of the border. The measures were apparently in response to the Gibraltar government’s decision to sink spiked concrete blocks into the sea to fend off Spanish fishermen, whom it accuses of poaching Gibraltarian fish. Perhaps more relevant, the Spanish government is desperate to change the subject from an ongoing party-funding scandal, which has threatened to engulf Mariano Rajoy, the prime minister. A phone call between Mr Rajoy and David Cameron, the prime minister of Britain, on August 7th apparently defused tensions somewhat. But why is Gibraltar, which lies 1,000 miles south of London, a British territory in the first place?

The days when the sun never set on the British empire are long gone. But Britain retains 14 “Overseas Territories”, spread around the world from the Pacific to the South Atlantic. With the exception of the British Antarctic Territory, a wedge of wilderness populated by a few scientists and many penguins, they are tiny specks. The Pitcairn Islands, which lie roughly half way between New Zealand and Peru, are home to about 50 people; Bermuda, the most populous of the Territories, has only about 65,000 residents. Many, including Gibraltar, have been home to Royal Navy bases. These days they are more likely to earn their keep through tourism and offshore finance.

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain following the War of the Spanish Succession of 1701-14. Charles II of Spain, who was known as “The Bewitched” because of his severe physical and mental disabilities, died in 1700 without an heir. It was unclear who should succeed him, and so Europe’s great powers began to push their own preferred candidates. War soon broke out, and in August 1704 British soldiers, fighting alongside Dutch allies, captured the Rock, as Gibraltar is known. The war continued until 1713, when the Treaty of Utrecht determined that Philip V, a grandson of the king of France, would inherit the Spanish throne. As part of the deal some Spanish territories were dished out to other countries. Britain got Gibraltar, as well as Minorca, which changed hands several times before being returned to Spain as part of the Treaty of Amiens in 1802.

Gibraltar has remained under British control ever since, in spite of various attempts to take it back, including an unsuccessful siege by Spain that lasted for nearly four years until 1783. Under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, Spain shut its border with Gibraltar entirely; it was reopened fully only ahead of Spain’s accession to the European Union in 1985. Fishing boats aside, no further invasions are likely. But Spain continues to claim Gibraltar as its own. Those who live on the Rock disagree: referendums in 1967 and 2002 were almost unanimous in their support for maintaining British sovereignty. Britain looks likely to keep its scrap of Mediterranean coastline for now. It may be just as well for Spain: if Britain were to hand over Gibraltar, the Catalans, who lost their autonomy to Spain in the aftermath of the Treaty of Utrecht, might consider it an interesting precedent.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/08/economist-explains-4

Floating rubbish dump in Pacific Ocean 'bigger than US'

XAVIER LA CANNA AAP FEBRUARY 03, 2008

Mega sludge ... the world's largest rubbish dump, or the Pacific plastic soup, is twice as big as the US continent, and is starting to alarm scientists.

IT has been described as the world's largest rubbish dump, or the Pacific plastic soup, and it is starting to alarm scientists. It is a vast area of floating plastic debris.

It is a vast area of plastic debris and other flotsam drifting in the northern Pacific Ocean, held there by swirling ocean currents.

Discovered in 1997 by American sailor Charles Moore, what is also called the great Pacific garbage patch is now alarming some with its ever-growing size and possible impact on human health.

The "patch" is in fact two huge, linked areas of circulating rubbish, says Dr Marcus Eriksen, research director of the US-based Algalita Marine Research Foundation, founded by Moore.

Although the boundaries change, it stretches from about 500 nautical miles off the coast of California, across the northern Pacific to near the coast of Japan.

The islands of Hawaii are placed almost in the middle, so piles of plastic regularly wash up on some beaches there.

"The original idea that people had was that it was an island of plastic garbage that you could almost walk on. It is not quite like that. It is almost like a plastic soup," Dr Eriksen says.

"It is endless for an area that is maybe twice the size as continental United States," he says.

The concentration of floating plastic debris just beneath the ocean's surface is the product of underwater currents, which conspire to bring together all the junk that accumulates in the Pacific Ocean.

Moore, an oceanographer who has made the study of the patch his full-time occupation, believes there is about 100 million tonnes of plastic circulating in the northern Pacific - or about 2.5 per cent of all plastic items made since 1950.

About 20 per cent of the junk is thought to come from marine craft, while the rest originates from countries around the Pacific like Mexico and China.

Australia plays its part too, he says.

The waste forms in what are called tropical gyres - areas where the oceans slowly circulate due to extreme high pressure systems and where there is little wind.

The garbage in the patch circulates around the North Pacific Gyre, the world's largest.

A lack of big fish and light winds mean it's an area of the Pacific less travelled by fishing boats and yachts.

Moore says he discovered the floating mass of rubbish by chance, after steering his catamaran into the gyre while returning home from a yacht race.

Historically, flotsam in the gyres has biodegraded. But modern plastics do not break down like other oceanic debris, meaning objects half a century old have been found in the North Pacific Gyre.

Instead the plastic slowly photodegrades, becoming brittle and disintegrating into smaller and smaller pieces which enter the food chain and end up in the stomachs of birds and other animals.

Because the plastic is translucent and lies just beneath the surface, it is apparently undetectable by satellite photos.

"It is not like going to a parking lot after a rugby match. It is not like a landfill," he says.

"The material is breaking down continually. It is photodegrading all the time. It is what I call a kaleidoscope or an alphabet soup. You won't see it from a satellite shot of the ocean. You only see it from the bows of ships," he says.

If the waste is to be controlled people must stop using unnecessary disposable plastics, otherwise it is set to double in size during the next 10 years, Moore warns.

Dr Eriksen said the small plastic particles acted like a sponge to trap many dangerous man-made chemicals that found their way into the ocean, like hydrocarbons and DDT.

"What goes into the ocean goes into these animals and onto your dinner plate, It is that simple," Dr Eriksen said.

Larger pieces of plastic are also a threat to birds, which mistake them for food.

Dr Eriksen said he has found syringes, cigarette lighters and tooth brushes from the patch inside sea bird carcases.

Professor David Karl, an oceanographer from the University of Hawaii, said the garbage patch represented a new habitat, and more studies were needed to find out what impact it was having on the ocean's eco-system.

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/world/floating-dump-bigger-than-us/story-e6freopf-1111115471319

I wonder how hard it would be to send some boats and start picking it up?

Yep, 89. Turns 90 in Feb next year. Him dying in office is worse for the country than another party winning the election or him stepping down. There are 2 Vice Presidents in zim, the power struggle would be immense.




Asylum seeker problem solved?

Police in Northern Ireland braced for more parade violence

DAVID MCKITTRICK SUNDAY 11 AUGUST 2013
   
Police in Northern Ireland are bracing themselves for a fresh wave of violence today after officers came under sustained attack during riots that again proved that no solution has been found to the parades problem.

As Belfast counts the cost of the latest eruption of violence, officers are preparing for another contested parade in the border village of Castlederg, County Tyrone.

Police described as "mindless anarchy" the activities of loyalist rioters who injured 56 officers on Friday night when half-bricks, pieces of metal and debris flew through the air in Belfast's main shopping street, Royal Avenue.

One of the most striking images of the clashes was that of a semi-conscious policeman stretched out on the street for 30 minutes while colleagues, working under a hail of missiles, administered first aid. Police responded by dousing loyalists with water cannon, firing 26 plastic baton rounds and arresting seven people for offences including riotous behaviour, disorderly behaviour and hijacking.

Today's march, organised by Sinn Fein, has been condemned by local people who claim it will glorify the IRA, which killed almost 30 people in the area during the Troubles. But Sinn Fein has argued that the event, to mark the deaths of two IRA members whose bomb prematurely detonated 40 years ago, is intended as a commemoration, not a celebration.

The marching issue will top the agenda for talks later this year under the chairmanship of the former US diplomat Richard Haass, who has been invited by local parties to tackle issues they have been unable to resolve.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/police-in-northern-ireland-braced-for-more-parade-violence-8755955.html

One-third of Scots men are offenders

exclusive By Judith Duffy
Sunday 11 August 2013

MORE than one-third of adult men and nearly one in 10 adult women in Scotland have at least one criminal conviction.

The figures are contained in a report looking at overhauling the rules governing when convictions should be considered spent.

The Scottish Government is due to launch a consultation shortly on the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act, which dates back nearly 40 years.

The legislation was originally intended to help those who have committed a crime back into employment by giving them the chance to "wipe the slate clean" and start afresh after staying out for trouble for certain period.

But concerns have been raised that issues such as more demands for criminal record checks and tougher penalties handed down for minor offences are making it increasingly difficult for ex-offenders to find jobs, even though being in work is a known factor in helping keep people out of jail.

A 25-year-old man fined for drunken behaviour, for example, would have to disclose his criminal record for five years.

One suggestion is that offences would only have to be disclosed to employers if they were relevant to that particular field of employment, such as a convicted fraudster having to disclose their criminal history if applying for an accountancy job, but not for a job as a driver.

Report co-author Professor Fergus McNeill, of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR), said: "Increasingly over the course of the years, as crime and punishment became more and more sensitive political issues, the approach to criminal conviction and disclosure of criminal convictions has become more and more conservative.

"An act which actually was intended to facilitate reintegration has, most would argue, become something of a barrier to it. "

The report notes figures compiled by Scottish Government analysts that show "at least one-third of the adult male population and nearly one in 10 of the adult female population is likely to have a criminal record".

McNeill added: "We are talking about an experience that is close to being normal for men, in the sense that so many have some kind of criminal conviction. To have too cautious an approach to the way we allow people back from that negative experience is liable to become more and more counter-productive."

Pete White, co-ordinator of the charity Positive Prisons? Positive Futures, which works to reduce re-offending, said the act was originally a well-intentioned piece of legislation to help people back into work.

But he added: "Unfortunately due to the way in which things have moved on since then, any disclosure of a criminal conviction of any kind increases the likelihood of an application being binned without any kind of personal or risk assessment being carried out."

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Government said it was planning to issue a discussion paper on how the act might be modernised shortly.

She added: "We do not hold a fixed view about how the regime might be modernised and reformed, and this paper is designed to provide all those with potential interest the chance to influence how specific proposals for modernisation and reform might be developed."

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/home-news/one-third-of-scots-men-are-offenders.21839513?

Australian government resents Afghan government’s exit tax on their military equipments

Posted by wadsam    | August 11, 2013 | 0

The Australian government has strongly objected the tax imposed on their withdrawal of military equipment from Afghanistan.

This comes as the Afghan government announced a USD 3,545 exit tax on every container leaving Afghanistan soil by road, which will be accompanied by another USD 1,000 tax charges if paperwork is not duly processed.

Currently, around 55 armored accommodation containers belonging to the Australian defense forces are waiting for clearance at the Pakistan border, and Australia will be liable to pay $200,000 exit tax once it crosses the frontier.

According to News Limited, Australian defense officials have said to transport military equipments by air using RAAF C-17 transport jets and XC-130 hercules planes from the airport at the main base in Tarin Kowt to Dubai.

Being one of the major donors to the Afghan government, Australia has so far given USD 1 billion in civilian aid funds during the past five years and has pledged an annual aid of USD 200mn to Afghanistan.

http://www.wadsam.com/australian-government-resents-afghan-governments-exit-tax-on-their-military-equipments/?

:lol: Watch as that tax gets passed on to the 'Australian taxpayer'. :lol: