Tiny Switzerland is now dealing with a huge forest fire, no thanks to dry weather.
Switzerland has been dealing with a drought, now a fire that started near an auto repair shop has spread into the dry forest. About 300 firefighters are battling the blaze, people are being told to stay indoors.
A Libyan delegation is meeting with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in an effort to find a solution to the civil war, and NATO attacks.
So far Venezuela, Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua have expressed political support for the Libyan government.
A natural gas pipeline, from Egypt to Israel, has been blown up. Witnesses say it is on fire. The same pipeline was attacked during the February uprisings.
Israel gets 40% of its natural gas from Egypt.
The Kostenko coalmine in central Kazakhstan is on fire. At least 319 people have been evacuated out of the mine. The fire is 30 meters (98 feet) down.
Dozens of emergency units are working to put the fire out. Coal mine fires are disastrous, they can last for years. Amazingly the mine owner, ArcelorMittal, doesn’t expect any interruption in its operations.
A volcano that erupted in January this year, is causing more problems for the people of Miyakonojo, Japan.
The southern island of Kyushu is home to some powerful volcanoes. In January, 2011, the Shinmoedake volcano threw ash more than 3,000 meters high, covering the Kyushu prefectures. Now there is another warning.
People in the city of Miyakonojo are being told to prepare to evacuate, due to possible mudslides. This is not the first time. Ever since the volcano started spewing ash, heavy rains have created a muddy mess, resulting in periodic evacuations.
Sony is warning PlayStation users to monitor their credit card accounts, after a hacker got into 77 million accounts. Sony says it ”cannot rule out the possibility” that credit card data was hacked.
The incident also includes the music and video service Qriocity. This could be the worst case of information leaks in Sony’s history. Sony wants all users of PlayStation and Qriocity to change their passwords and user IDs.
According to international law a refugee is a person who’s been forced to leave their home, due to war or other violence in their home country. They are supposed to be given certain protections under international law.
The Europeans, along with the United States, were so keen on escalating the violence in North Africa (Libya), yet they don’t want to deal with the flood of refugees that are a natural result of war! Instead the Europeans are calling the people fleeing the war, “migrants”. In this way the Europeans don’t have the same legal requirements as they would if they called them refugees.
In fact, the Europeans are scrambling to figure out how to get rid of these refugee/migrants. The Europeans are even going so far as to dismantle one of the corner stones of the European Union, free travel across borders. The EU is now considering adopting a law that would allow them to close their borders.
How hypocritical is this? The “Western world” launches a war against North African countries, in the name of supporting freedom and democracy, and then they refuse to help any of the people fleeing the violence!
For those people out their who think the military action of U.S. led NATO is still about “protecting civilians”, please explain why refugees, ooops, I mean migrants are being treated like sh*t by the Europeans.
Japan’s big three automakers, Toyota, Nissan and Honda, have been downgraded to negative by Standard & Poor’s.
S & P also downgraded the biggest parts suppliers for the Japanese car companies. S & P blames the disruption to manufacturing caused by the March 11 disasters.
Standard & Poor’s has reduced Japan’s rating from stable to negative. The cut is in regards to Japan’s sovereign debt (things like bonds).
S & P says the cost of rebuilding after the March 11 disasters, will raise Japan’s estimated debt load beyond 2013.
There are rumors that President Barack Obama is ready to change his military and national security staff.
Current Defense Secretary Robert Gates wants to leave. He could be replaced by current CIA chief Leon Panetta. The position of chief of the CIA could go to current Army General David Petraeus, who is about to finish his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Petraeus’ old job, Commander of Coalition Forces in Afghanistan, could go to Marine Lieutenant General John R. Allen.
There seems to be a clear pattern of ladder climbing. Obama is expected to name a new ambassador to Afghanistan, someone who is from the Bush Jr camp (as is Robert Gates); Ryan C. Crocker.
Crocker has lots of experience being an ambassador. Obama even gave him the highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Crocker is currently the dean of the Bush School of Government and Public Service. Guess who else was dean of that school? Current Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
So even with all the staffing changes there might not be much change to U.S. foreign policy.