For the third time this year, a volcano is erupting in Indonesia. This time it’s the Mount Lokon volcano, on the same island as two other volcanoes; Sulawesi island.
This time at least 4,600 people were forced to evacuate. In March, Mount Karangetang erupted, then on July 3 Mount Soputan erupted. Mount Lokon, Soputan and Karangetang are all on the Sulawesi island chain.
The last time Mount Lokon erupted was in 1991.
“It does highlight the fact that the Palace was trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes last week.”-Graham Smith, anti-monarchy organization know as ‘Republic’.
Despite the belief, in the U.S., that the Royal Family in the United Kingdom are just figure heads, the Royal Family commands true Royal Power, and it’s the British taxpayers that pay for it.
The Queen of England is just a figure head when it comes to the larger Commonwealth, but in the United Kingdom she reigns supreme: She is the Governor of the Church of England and Scotland. She is the Head of the Armed Forces. She opens every yearly session of Parliament by dictating the agenda. She is the one who signs new laws, not the Prime Minister.
Now the part of the British Parliament, know as the House of Commons (representing the non-lorded class of people), has just released a financial study of the taxes paid to the Royal Family in the past year. They discovered that the Queen ripped off British taxpayers by at least 4 million pounds ($6 million).
Last week the Royal Family officially stated that they got only 32.1 million pounds, but it turns out they actually got 36.2 million pounds ($52 million). On top of that the House of Commons investigation (conducted by the Commons Library) revealed other expenses, paid by taxpayers, that were not accounted for by the Royal Family.
Last year’s estimated cost of the Royal Family, to the British taxpayers, was about 202 million pounds ($326 million). The Royal Family gets taxpayer money from several programs called Grants. The biggest one is called the Sovereign Grant, and is guaranteed never to decrease.
People of the United States should realize what the Royal Family is doing now is basically what the Royal Family did to push the American colonies to declare independence in 1776, leading to the Revolutionary War. Back then King George 3rd was ripping off the American colonies by making them pay taxes with no representation, and no return benefit (just like our grand U.S. government is doing to us now).
On July 13, the International Monetary Fund issued a report in which they said Greece needed to cut even more public spending, and that it needs a third bailout. European officials are still hammering out the details of the second bailout.
The IMF says Greece needs a third bailout, consisting of at least 71 billion Euros from the European Union, and 33 billion Euros from private creditors.
Enough! Just let the dominoes start falling!
In a July 11 statement to the media, about Syria, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, used phrases very similar to phrases used in speeches that preceded U.S. led attacks on other countries.
She said Syria’s president was “…not indispensable…”, and that “…he has lost legitimacy, he has failed to deliver on the promises he’s made…”. Clinton also made the obligatory accusation that Syria was getting help from a sponsor of terrorism, Iran.
Clinton is meeting with European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, no doubt they will be talking about military action against Syria. Syria, which included Lebanon, was placed under French control after World War One. The Imperialist French President Sarkozy seems to be interested in regaining all of France’s former colonies.
Syrian officials have countered the statements by Hillary Clinton, saying: “These remarks amount to further proof of the flagrant interference of the U.S. in the internal affairs of Syria.”
July 12, the lower house of the French Parliament approved an extension to the war against Libya. The vote was 482 in favor, only 27 against.
The French Senate will vote next. The war with Libya is costing French taxpayers 1 million Euros per day.
It is a sign of desperation when the leaders of a government throw millions, if not billions in taxpayer money at a war that seems to have no end. The leaders must think that controlling Libya’s oil is the only option for saving their own economy.
“If NATO loses, the consequences are enormous. There are enormous, trillion dollar financial consequences for those NATO member countries that are seen as aggressors and invaders here.”-Franklin Lamb, Americans Concerned for Middle East Peace
Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al-Maliki, told the newly appointed U.S. Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, that he will ask for U.S. troops to stay beyond the original withdraw date.
The Prime Minister said it would be contingent upon the Iraqi Parliament to approve such a request. At least half the members of the Iraqi Parliament have warned of dire consequences if the United States keeps troops in Iraq.
Leon Panetta was in Iraq on July 11, to push the Iraqis to keep U.S. troops in their country, despite the promised pullout by the end of the year.
Since my last posting about Dengue fever, in April 2011, the disease is infecting even more people in even more countries.
Asia is seeing the most increase in cases this year.
As of July 11, the Philippines has tens of thousands of cases, and almost 200 deaths. Officials are warning that when the rainy season hits, they expect Dengue cases to jump.
In India, just one hospital treated 160 children with Dengue, 10 of which died. Indian officials are also warning of a sharp increase in cases when the rainy season starts.
In Australia, health officials are reporting that many Australians, returning from vacations, are coming home infected with Dengue. So far 354 cases have been confirmed. Last year Australia had only 156 confirmed Dengue cases.
“I have to keep an Excel spreadsheet now to keep up to date with all the outbreaks that occur up here.”-John McBride, Cairns Base Hospital, Australia
In Saudi Arabia, just in the capital city of Jeddah, an average of 130 new cases are being reported every week.
In Mexico an experimental Dengue vaccine is being tried on 1,000 children in the towns of Valladolid and Tizimín. The vaccine is in the third stage of study, before it can be approved for widespread use.
In Peru, the mayor of one city has ordered fumigation of the entire city, after 10 people became sick with the hemorrhagic fever. Two of the infected have died. As many as 150 Peruvians are sick with Dengue.
Brazil has been enjoying some success in fighting Dengue. So far this year 340 cases have been confirmed, compared to last year’s 2589 cases (then again this year isn’t over).
Dengue is spread by mosquitoes. Travelers are being warned of vacation spots that have high risk of Dengue hemorrhagic fever: Asia, Africa, Middle East and South America.
Next time you fly to China, think twice about using the airline blanket.
An investigation of Chinese airlines discovered that 80% of their non-disposable blankets are not washed. But don’t blame the airlines, blame the contractor who didn’t clean them, even though they were paid to.
Yingtailong Airline Commodity has contracts to clean blankets from airline companies. The problem, they finally admit, is that they do not have the facilities to wash the 3,000 blankets they get on a daily bases.
The company has 30 employees, but only three washing machines. Company officials told employees to wash only those blankets that were noticeably dirty. As a result about 600 of the 3,000 blankets get washed every day.
Within Japan, at least $3.7 billion has been raised by charities, like the Japanese Red Cross and Central Community Chest of Japan. It was all to help the victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunamis.
A report shows that so far only 23% of that money has actually gone to the victims.
The charities are working with local governments to get the money out, but local officials say the logistics of such an operation, because of the huge number of displaced victims, is making the job difficult. On top of that, local governments are short on manpower. Most government workers are involved with clean up, rebuilding, radiation checks and decontamination.
Here’s an idea: Why not take some of the victims, who’re complaining of not having anything to do because their homes and jobs have been destroyed, and create a disaster relief crew that helps the charities distribute the donations?
The $3.7 billion does not include all the money Japan got from other countries.
“The slowdown in import growth will last two to three months or even longer due to both falling demand and possible commodity price drops.”-Li Wei, Standard Chartered Shanghai
While China’s industry activity looks great, compared to other countries, the fact is that it’s slowing down. The latest import numbers are the lowest ‘increase’ since November 2009. This means that Chinese industries are buying less materials from other countries.
Imports are at 19.3%, compared to the previous year. But export numbers are down as well.
China’s June export numbers are 17.9%, compared to May’s 19.4%. Export numbers to the U.S. and EU dropped to 16.9%.
“The slow recovery of the global economy and the European debt crisis have added uncertainties to export growth.”-Zheng Yuesheng, GAC statistics
While some Chinese industry analysts remain optimistic, some Chinese officials are not so positive: “Exporters in Zhejiang have experienced a disappointing first half, and the second half will not be better.”-Han Jie, Zhejiang Department of Commerce