Japan ups nuke crisis severity to match Chernobyl!!!

Japan's nuclear regulators raised the severity level of the crisis at a stricken nuclear plant Tuesday to rank it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

An official with the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan, speaking on national television, said the rating was being raised from 5 to 7 — the highest level on the international scale.

The official, who was not named, said the amount of radiation leaking from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant was around 10 percent of the Chernobyl accident.

The level 7 signifies a "major accident" with "wider consequences" than the previous level, according to the standards scale.

"We have upgraded the severity level to 7 as the impact of radiation leaks has been widespread from the air, vegetables, tap water and the ocean," said Minoru Oogoda of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency.

NISA officials said one of the factors behind the decision was that the total amount of radioactive particles released into the atmosphere since the incident had reached levels that apply to a Level 7 incident.

The action lifts the rating to the highest on an international scale designed by an international group of experts in 1989 and is overseen by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

In Chernobyl, in the Ukraine, a reactor exploded on April 26, 1986, spewing a cloud of radiation over much of the Northern Hemisphere. A zone about 19 miles (30 kilometers) around the plant was declared uninhabitable, although some plant workers still live there for short periods and a few hundred other people have returned despite government encouragement to stay away.

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Hiroshima and Nagasaki Cast Long Shadows Over Radiation Science

Nori Nakamura's mother, who lived near Hiroshima, had a rule for when her son went out to play.

"My mother did not want me to wear colored shirts in the summer," said Nakamura, a radiation biologist, born the year after the atomic bomb fell. "Only white."

The rule wasn't about fashion, he said. It came from a lesson well-learned.

His mother had seen the permanent record carried by survivors of the atomic blast. When the bomb fell, it burned their morning's wardrobe into them. Heat reflected off white tank tops, sparing skin; dark shirts absorbed it, charring flesh in checkered patterns. A mile from its center, the Hiroshima bomb singed black ink out of untouched white paper.

Every survivor of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has a similar story. But while their individual testimonies are moving, perhaps the most important tale told by these men and women -- more than 40 percent of the survivors remain alive -- has been collective. It is how they have lived, and how they die. For more than six decades, their medical histories have provided the authoritative source for how scientists understand the effects of radiation on the human body.

"These radiation standards are accepted worldwide," said George Kerr, a consultant and health physicist, formerly of the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory. "They're kind of the Rosetta Stone."

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Radiation risks from Fukushima 'no longer negligible'

The risks associated with iodine-131 contamination in Europe are no longer "negligible," according to CRIIRAD, a French research body on radioactivity. The NGO is advising pregnant women and infants against "risky behaviour," such as consuming fresh milk or vegetables with large leaves.

In response to thousands of inquiries from citizens concerned about fallout from the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Europe, CRIIRAD has compiled an information package on the risks of radioactive iodine-131 contamination in Europe.

The document, published on 7 April, advises against consuming rainwater and says vulnerable groups such as children and pregnant or breastfeeding women should avoid consuming vegetables with large leaves, fresh milk and creamy cheese.

The risks related to prolonged contamination among vulnerable groups of the population can no longer be considered "negligible" and it is now necessary to avoid "risky behaviour," CRIIRAD claimed. 

However, the institute underlines that there is absolutely no need to lock oneself indoors or take iodine tablets.

CRIIRAD says its information note is not limited to the situation in France and is applicable to other European countries, as the level of air contamination is currently the same in Belgium, Germany, Italy and Switzerland, for instance.

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Gadhafi OKs plan to end fighting

Embattled Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has agreed in principle to stop all hostilities in his North African nation and allow outside forces to help keep the peace, his government and African Union mediators said Monday in a joint statement.

The announcement came the same day UNICEF, the United Nations children's agency, released a statement saying at least 20 children -- including some as young as 9 months old -- have been killed by shrapnel or bullet wounds in the city of Misrata.

Ramtane Lamara, the African Union's commissioner for peace and security, read off the agreement with Gadhafi early Monday, flanked by Libyan government spokesman Musa Ibrahim.

The deal announced on Monday does not address whether or not Gadhafi will step down, nor is it binding. It does have four basic elements, according to the memorandum detailed by Lamara:

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IMF Set to Cut U.S., Japan Growth Forecasts Today

The International Monetary Fund has lowered its forecast for economic growth in the U.S. amid rising commodity prices and downgraded its outlook for Japan after the earthquake and tsunami, a German government official said.

Deficit reduction strategies in the U.S. and Japan lack credibility, the IMF said in its World Economic Outlook, the German official told reporters in Berlin today on condition of anonymity because the report will be published in Washington later today. The IMF, which forecast 3 percent U.S. growth this year in January, left its latest projection for global growth unchanged, the German official said, without giving time-frames.

“U.S. forecasters became overly optimistic in the latter part of last year,” John Greenwood, chief economist at Invesco Ltd. in London, said in a telephone interview. “In general, the economic forecasting community doesn’t pay enough attention to the longer-term balance sheet issues of large-scale government debt and private-sector debt and the need for deleveraging in both households and the financial sector.”

While the likelihood of a double-dip economic slump have decreased, risks to growth mean the world economy is more likely to disappoint than to beat expectations, the German official cited the IMF as saying. Commodity-price shocks, especially oil, have emerged as a new risk to global economic expansion, the official said. The IMF and World Bank will hold their Spring meetings in Washington on April 15-17.

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EPA: New Radiation Highs in Little Rock Milk, Philadelphia Drinking Water

FORBES

Milk from Little Rock and drinking water from Philadelphia contained the highest levels of Iodine-131 from Japan yet detected by the Environmental Protection Agency, according to data released by EPA Saturday.

The Philadelphia sample is below the EPA’s maximum contaminant level (MCL) for iodine-131, but the Little Rock sample is almost three times higher.

Nonetheless, the EPA does not consider the milk dangerous because the MCL is set for long-term exposure, and the iodine-131 from Japan’s Fukushima-Daichi nuclear accident is expected to be temporary and deteriorate rapidly.

The EPA’s MCL for iodine-131 is 3 picoCuries per liter.

The Little Rock milk sample contained 8.9 picoCuries per liter. It was collected on March 30.

Three drinking water samples collected in Philadelphia on April 4 contained Iodine-131, according to Saturday’s data release:

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Emergency Action Alert: Michael C. Ruppert

If you don't know Mr.Ruppert, he was one of the first to say that the attacks of September 11, 2001 were accomplished through an amazing orchestration of logistics and personnel. His seminal book, Crossing the Rubicon, discovers and identifies key suspects—finding some of them in the highest echelons of American government—by showing how they acted in concert to guarantee that the attacks produced the desired result. He left the US due to government harassment, office break-ins, stolen manuscripts, etc. Now, he's back in the states living in California.

Banks Are Off the Hook Again

NY TIMES

Americans know that banks have mistreated borrowers in many ways in foreclosure cases. Among other things, they habitually filed false court documents. There were investigations. We’ve been waiting for federal and state regulators to crack down.

Prepare for a disappointment. As early as this week, federal bank regulators and the nation’s big banks are expected to close a deal that is supposed to address and correct the scandalous abuses. If these agreements are anything like the draft agreement recently published by the American Banker — and we believe they will be — they will be a wrist slap, at best. At worst, they are an attempt to preclude other efforts to hold banks accountable. They are unlikely to ease the foreclosure crisis.

All homeowners will suffer as a result. Some 6.7 million homes have already been lost in the housing bust, and another 3.3 million will be lost through 2012. The plunge in home equity — $5.6 trillion so far — hits everyone because foreclosures are a drag on all house prices.

The deals grew out of last year’s investigation into robo-signing — when banks were found to have filed false documents in foreclosure cases. The report of the investigation has not been released, but we know that robo-signing was not an isolated problem. Many other abuses are well documented: late fees that are so high that borrowers can’t catch up on late payments; conflicts of interest that lead banks to favor foreclosures over loan modifications.

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Obama administration's anti-terror architecture: Too much like Bush

President Obama last week decided to try Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and four other accused Sept. 11 conspirators before a military commission in the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, rather than in a civilian court in the United States. It's the latest example of Obama, who was acidly critical of George W. Bush's policies in the war on terror, embracing those policies or acquiescing in their continuation. Explanations abound: an assertive Congress, a lack of public support, a seductive bureaucracy or a change in Obama's thinking from candidate to president. Each example tells a different story, but the end result is disappointing. And the responsibility ultimately lies with the president.

The fiasco of the Mohammed trial is an example of good intentions followed by inept execution. When Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr. announced in 2009 that the self-proclaimed Sept. 11 mastermind and his confederates would be tried in a civilian court, we said that the decision "makes an eloquent statement about the Obama administration's determination to avenge the victims of terrorism within the rule of law." Holder said Mohammed and the other defendants would be tried in New York "to answer for their alleged crimes in a courthouse just blocks from where the twin towers once stood." But that was precisely the problem for many New Yorkers, who regarded a trial near ground zero as a sacrilege or who feared it would be a magnet for terrorists.

The uproar over a trial in New York drowned out the compelling arguments for a civilian trial somewhere in the United States. Civilian courts have ample experience in trying suspected terrorists, including Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 20th hijacker. A trial before a military commission, which lacks some of the protections accorded to defendants in a civilian trial, would make it easier for America's enemies to portray it as a show trial.

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Human embryos in US likely bioaccumulating radioactive iodine, cesium, and strontium

Radiation from Japan is now detectable in the atmosphere, rain water and food chain in North America. Fukushima reactors are still out of control and hold 10 times more nuclear fuel than there was at Chernobyl, thousands of times more than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The official refrain is, “No worries here, perfectly harmless.” Our best scientists of the previous century would be rolling over in their graves.

In the 1940s many of the world’s premier nuclear scientists saw mounting evidence that there was no safe level of exposure to nuclear radiation. This led Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atom bomb, to oppose development of the hydrogen bomb.

In the 1950s, Linus Pauling, the only two-time winner of the Nobel Prize, began warning the public about exposure to all radiation. This opinion, ultimately endorsed by thousands of scientists worldwide, led President John F. Kennedy to sign the nuclear test ban treaty.

In the 1960s, Drs. John Gofman, Arthur Tamplin, Alice Stewart, Thomas Mancuso and Karl Morgan, all researchers for the Atomic Energy Commission or the Department of Energy, independently came to the conclusion that exposure to nuclear radiation was not safe at any level.

The government terminated their services for coming up with what Dr. Gofman called the “wrong answer,” that is, the opposite of what the AEC wanted to hear. The top Russian nuclear physicist in the 1960s, Andrei Sakharov, also a Nobel Prize winner, and Vladimir Chernousenko, who the Soviet Union placed in charge of the Chernobyl cleanup, are among other international experts who drew similar conclusions.

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Giant filament wave may create hyder flare upon collapse

 GRAND FILAMENT: A magnificent filament of magnetism is curling around the sun’s southeastern quadrant today. Measuring more than 700,000 km from end to end, the vast structure is about twice as long as the separation between Earth and the Moon. Arrows trace the filament’s meandering path in this extreme UV image from NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory:  It’s not easy for such a filament to remain suspended indefinitely above the stellar surface, and indeed a collapse is possible. Filaments falling onto the sun can trigger explosions called “Hyder flares.” Is one in the offing? Readers with solar telescopes are encouraged to monitor developments. –SpaceWeather.com

We should anticipate more severe disruptions of the Earth’s geomagnetic field and tectonic/volcanic activity.

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Syrian forces fire at mourners after mass funeral

Syrian security forces opened fire on mourners near the old Omari mosque in the southern border city of Deraa following a mass funeral for dead pro-democracy protestors, two witnesses said on Saturday.

They said security forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse thousands of Syrians who were chanting freedom slogans, after assembling close to the mosque in the old quarter of the city near the border with Jordan.

NATO 'strongly regrets' Libyan 'friendly fire' attack

Tripoli, Libya (CNN) -- NATO's top official "strongly regretted" a fatal airstrike that may have mistakenly killed people it has pledged to protect, angering Libyan opposition leaders amid an increasingly frustrating campaign to oust Moammar Gadhafi.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the incident unfortunate and said he regretted the loss of life.

"We are conducting operations in Libya in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution with the aim to protect civilians," he said. "This is also the reason why our aircraft target military equipment that could be used to attack civilians, but I can assure you that we do our utmost to avoid civilian casualties."

His comments came after the the deputy commander of the NATO operations refused to apologize

Gadhafi's forces attacked the western city of Ajdabiya on Friday with a barrage of artillery fire at the city's western gates. Ajdabiya has changed hands several times already, and rebels were forced to flee again in a war that is now viewed in some circles as unwinnable for the opposition, even with NATO air support.

NATO, meanwhile, was on the defensive Friday after reports of casualties apparently caused by the airstrike. British Royal Navy Rear Adm. Russell Harding said NATO forces may have hit rebel tanks near the eastern oil town of al-Brega on Thursday.

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White House and Republicans reach deal to avoid government shutdown

POLITICO

After a long day of trading offers, the White House and House Republicans reached agreement Friday night on a budget framework that would cap 2011 appropriations near or below $1.050 trillion while cutting domestic and foreign aid by more than $40 billion from the rate of spending at the beginning of this Congress.

Behind the closed doors of special meeting of the Republican Conference, Speaker John Boehner presented the package to his party as at least an agreement in principle and said at one point “We have a deal.” He has yet to speak publicly but all signs indicate that the Senate will now feel confident enough to move ahead with a stop gap spending bill to avert—or at least shorten—any shutdown beginning at midnight.

Boehner made a final bid at getting a still lower top line directly to President Barack Obama, when Obama called him in the early evening. A second key variable is Pentagon spending, where Democrats had moved up to $514 billion –a $5.3 billion increase— but were also asking for an across-the-board government-wide percentage cut that would not exempt defense.

Aides on both sides were cautiously optimistic after so many twists-and-turns in the talks. And if a deal is reached, the plan called for House and Senate Appropriations Committee clerks to immediately begin writing a bill this weekend from the revised spending allocations.

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US 'may have broken international law' over Iraqi attack on Iranian camp

Iraqi forces storm Camp Ashraf, home to 3,500 Iranian exiles, as supporters call on US and UN to intervene

Iraqi forces have stormed a camp of Iranian dissidents in north-eastern Iraq amid warnings that the US government may have broken international law by failing to protect the camp.

An Iraqi general, Ali Ghaidan, confirmed that an operation took place in the early morning at Camp Ashraf, home to 3,500 Iranian exiles, all members of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) militia. He said no one was killed, but representatives of the group in London said 23 people died, including six women.

A hospital official in Baquba, capital of the Diyala province, reported three deaths and 13 wounded. The figures could not be confirmed as access to the camp, whose residents have "protected persons" status under the Geneva convention, is restricted.

Ghaidan said troops were responding to exiles who had been throwing stones and throwing themselves in front of soldiers' trucks over the past several days. The group's supporters in London, who had been warning of an attack, said Iraqi forces used metal bars, sticks and batons to beat the residents and opened fire on the camp. The supporters called for urgent UN and US intervention.

"This is a massacre, a catastrophe," said Behzad Saffari, who has lived at Ashraf for nine years and acts as the camp's legal adviser. "They came inside the camp and attacked people with grenades and teargas, and then they started to shoot people. When people saw the attack was about to begin, they lined up to defend their homes."

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Government Will Violate US Constitution By Forcing Employees to work Without Pay During Shutdown

WASHINGTON - Ordering federal employees to work during a government shutdown violates the U.S. Constitution, according to a lawsuit filed today by the nation's largest federal employee union.

The American Federation of Government Employees filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Office of Management and Budget Director Jacob Lew and Office of Personnel Management Director John Berry are named as defendants.

The lawsuit contends that the Obama administration is violating the U.S. Constitution's Appropriations Clause and Thirteenth Amendment by requiring federal civilian employees to work without pay during a period of lapsed federal appropriations.
"Hundreds of thousands of federal employees will be required to work during a shutdown, and there's no guarantee that Congress will keep the administration's promise to pay those employees once the shutdown is over," AFGE National President John Gage said.

Section 1341 of Title 31 of the U.S. Code prohibits federal and D.C. government workers from spending or obligating funds that have not already been appropriated by Congress.

The administration claims that it can require certain employees to work during a shutdown under Section 1342 of Title 31, which includes a clause covering "emergencies involving the safety of human life or the protection of property."

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Uncle Sam heading closer to a fresh financial meltdown

The man who brought us the global financial crisis, Alan Greenspan, has spoken out on how to fix the system. Of all the advice he might give, he has given the most unexpected. In essence, he has said: "Don't even try."

In one of the most remarkable statements of our time, the former chairman of the US Federal Reserve has argued that it is inherently impossible to usefully regulate a modern financial system, telling us to relax because "the global invisible hand" of the free market has created a stable economy over the longer run.

Greenspan went further. In an opinion piece in London's Financial Times, he suggested that an ever-growing and unmanageably complex financial system might even be "a necessary condition of growth".

Incredulous, the US congressman who has led the regulatory reform effort, Barney Frank, responded that while many had suggested ways of improving regulations, "until last week no one had seriously suggested that we should have done nothing in response to the financial crisis".

Frank reminded Greenspan of the cost of his failures: "His rosy view overlooks a monumental crisis that threatened the foundations of the American economy, led to soaring unemployment, a continuing foreclosure crisis and weakened economies in the US and Europe."

It is breathtaking audacity that the chief arsonist should scold the fire brigade, saying: "Put away your hoses and enjoy the fire". Even more so because there was a day in late 2008 when he did seem remorseful, accepting that he might have made an ideological error in refusing to adequately regulate banks: "Yes, I've found a flaw.

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Don't be fooled by the spin: radiation is bad

SMH

With the 25th anniversary of Chernobyl looming, the pro-nuclear lobby is in overdrive.

You have to hand it to the nuclear industry and its acolytes. In the middle of the second-worst nuclear power disaster in history at Fukushima, and with still no end in sight, you would think they would respond with contrition, humility and profuse mea culpas. Not on your life. The industry representatives and its acolytes came out swinging in full denial attire.

Ziggy Switkowski, former chair of ANSTO (Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation) and a proponent of nuclear power for Australia, claimed "the best place to be whenever there's an earthquake is at the perimeter of a nuclear plant because they are designed so well", and then quickly added: "On the other hand, you know, if the engineers do lose control of the core, then the answer becomes different."

Strident nuclear advocate Professor Barry Brook gave assurances in his running commentary that seemed ironically prescient of what was about to happen, stating ''I don't see the ramifications of this as damaging at all to nuclear power's prospects'' and that ''it will provide a great conversation starter for talking intelligently to people about nuclear safety''. Other arguments trotted out by pro-nuclearists about how safe nuclear power is demonstrated their chutzpah more than their good judgment

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Cleaning up Japan's radioactive water could take decades

For nearly four weeks, Japanese emergency crews have been spraying water on the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, a desperate attempt to avert the calamity of a full meltdown.

Now, that improvised solution to one nuclear nightmare is spawning another: what to do with the millions of gallons of water that has become highly radioactive as it washes through the plant.

The water being used to try to cool the reactors and the dangerous spent fuel rods is leaking through fissures inside the plant, seeping down through tunnels and passageways to the lowest levels, where it is accumulating into a sea of lethal waste.

No one is sure how to get rid of it safely.

"There is nothing like this, on this scale, that we have ever attempted to do before," says Robert Alvarez, a former assistant secretary of the U.S. Energy Department.

Japanese officials estimate that they already have accumulated about 15 million gallons of highly radioactive water. Hundreds of thousands of gallons are being added every day as the plant's operator, the Tokyo Electric Power Co., continues to feed coolant into the leaky structures.

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Gold price hits record high on inflation fears

Concerns over the continuing turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa also boosted safe haven demand for precious metals, with the silver price rising to a 31-year high of $39.77 an ounce. The price was last at this level in January 1980, when the global economy was in turmoil following the 1979 oil crisis.

After hitting new highs, the gold price closed in London at $1,462.93, up $26, while silver ended the day up $1.21 at $39.71.

The dollar weakened against major crosses, making precious metals cheaper in other currencies. An imminent interest rate increase in the world's largest economy is looking less likely after Dennis Lockhart, president of the Atlanta Fed, said the US economy was too fragile for such a move at present. Tuesday's minutes of the Federal Reserve Open Markets Committee also supported this view.

On Thursday, the European Central Bank is expected to raise interest rates, making the euro more attractive to foreign investors and raising the prospect of further weakening of the dollar. On Wednesday, the dollar fell to a 14-month low against the single European currency.

Meanwhile, fears over inflationary pressures around the world are building. This boosts demand for gold as some investors see the metal as protection from rising prices.

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