Morgan Tsvangirai says military junta is running Zimbabwe
Morgan Tsvangirai is due to address a Movement for Democratic Change rally in Harare, defying a police order that it be cancelled Photo: REUTERS
Mr Tsvangirai on Friday returned from a trip to urge neighbouring leaders to act to prevent Zimbabwe sliding back to the “dark days” of violence seen in the disputed 2008 elections which saw him form a coalition with his rival Mr Mugabe.
On Saturday, he is due to address a Movement for Democratic Change rally in Harare, defying a police order that it be cancelled.
Diplomatic sources in Harare said they feared the rally, which will take place close to a meeting of Mr Mugabe’s Zanu PF supporters, could end in bloodshed if police intervene.
There are also concerns that Zimbabwe’s Joint Operations Command, made up of the heads of the police, armed forces and state security, could use the opportunity to arrest Read more…
House-Size Asteroid Zooms Close by Earth
This NASA graphic depicts the orbit (blue curve) of asteroid 2011 EB47, which will pass close by Earth within the orbit of the moon on March 16, 2011, one day after it was discovered. The asteroid poses no threat of impacting Earth.
An asteroid the size of a house zoomed by Earth Wednesday, flying within the orbit of the moon just one day after astronomers spotting the space rock in the sky, NASA says.
The small asteroid 2011 EB74 was about 47 feet across and posed no threat of hitting Earth, since it was too small to survive the trip through the planet’s atmosphere.
Instead, the asteroid passed our planet at a comfortable distance of about 203,000 miles when it made its closest approach at 5:49 p.m. EDT, NASA officials said.
For comparison, the average distance between the Earth and the moon is about Read more…
RADIATION?/ JET STREAM – MEGA STORM forms in the Pacific! March 17, 2011 (Video)
Russia warns of “full-scale military action” following Security Council vote on Libya
AFP Photo / Adek Berry
Following a decision by the UN Security Council to take “all necessary measures” against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, Russian politicians and experts are warning of further destabilization in the region.
The UN Security Council voted on Thursday to impose a no-fly zone, which includes the possible use of military force, against pro-Gaddafi forces.
Presently, the Libyan strongman’s military is successfully beating back a large anti-government uprising, and is in the process of consolidating his forces around Benghazi, a city to the north where the “interim Libyan government” is penned in.
Diplomats said the resolution, which was written in the eleventh hour of the Libyan conflict, allows for a wide range of actions, including strikes on air-defense systems and missile attacks from ships.
Indeed, full-blown military activity could commence “within hours,” they said.
Russia and four other council members – China, Germany, Brazil and India – abstained from Read more…
Japan raises nuclear alert level
Japan holds minute silence one week on from quake
Japan has raised the alert level at a stricken nuclear plant from four to five on a seven-point international scale for atomic incidents.
The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi site is now two levels below Ukraine’s 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog warned in Tokyo the battle to stabilise the plant was a race against time.
The crisis was prompted by last week’s huge quake and tsunami, which has left at least 16,000 people dead or missing.
The Japanese nuclear agency’s decision to raise the alert level to five grades Fukushima’s as an “accident with wider consequences”.
It also places the situation there on a par with 1979’s Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Read more…
Dr. Michio Kaku on Japan’s Nuclear Crisis: ‘We’re Very Close to the Point of No Return’
RBS says CNY has the potential to become global reserve currency
The FINANCIAL — The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc (RBS) believes Chinese Renminbi (CNY) can potentially become a world reserve currency comparable to the USD.
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This is one of the findings in the newly released research report ‘CNH Market Guide: A precursor to internationalisation of the Chinese Renminbi’, the most comprehensive research yet to look at the offshore CNY market in Hong Kong, also known as the CNH market.
The combination of growth in the offshore CNY market and the sheer size of the Chinese economy will support the Chinese government’s ambition to internationalise its currency, according to RBS.
“China now holds 30% of the world’s USD9trn foreign reserves. The other 70% which does not belong to the People’s Republic of China (PBOC) could potentially be held in CNY. As China’s share Read more…
Ex-FEMA chief says Arkansas should prepare for quakes
Former Federal Emergency Management Agency director James Lee Witt is urging Arkansans to better prepare for major earthquakes in light of the natural disaster that’s ravaging Japan.
Witt made the comments at a rotary club gathering in downtown Little Rock on Tuesday.
He says that people in Arkansas need to make sure that the state’s bridges, schools and nursing homes are capable of withstanding earthquakes, especially with a rash of quakes hitting the towns of Greenbrier and Guy and the presence of the New Madrid Fault in northeast Arkansas, where seismologists say a major quake could occur any time.
President Bill Clinton appointed Witt to head FEMA in 1993. He’s now considered one of the nation’s go-to guys for disaster response.
Time to Trade Stocks and Silver for Gold?
Market professionals and experienced investors consider it to be common knowledge that silver has more real-world uses than its precious metal sister gold. Silver is used in coins, photography, batteries, bearings, electronics, and mirrors. Silver also aids in numerous medical applications and even contributes to helping capture and use solar energy. The Silver Institute describes “silver uses” as follows:
Demand for silver is built on three main pillars: industrial and decorative uses, photography, and jewelry & silverware. Together, these three categories represent more than 95 percent of annual silver consumption. In 2007, 455.5 million ounces of silver were used for industrial applications, while over 128 million ounces of silver were committed to the photographic sector, 163.4 million ounces were consumed in the jewelry market, and 58.8 million ounces were used in the silverware market.
Why is this indispensable metal in such demand? The reasons are simple. Silver has Read more…
Djibouti evicts US vote group ahead of election
Djibouti’s government has kicked out an American election monitoring group less than a month before the nation’s presidential election, a vote opposition politicians are boycotting because they say the president is repressing dissent.
Djibouti is a tiny East African nation that hosts the only U.S. military base in Africa. Situated on the Gulf of Aden between Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Yemen, the city-state is a major shipping hub in a volatile region.
The country is nominally democratic, but events leading up to the April 8 presidential election appear to show a hardline approach by President Ismail Omar Guelleh at a time when democracy movements are upending administrations.
Democracy International, a U.S. group that works on democracy and governance programs, was halfway through a two-year, $2.2 million U.S. government-funded contract when it was accused of assisting opposition politicians and barred from the country earlier this month. Read more…
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