MALIA, Greece: Even in a sea of tourists, it is easy to spot the Britons here on the northeast coast of Crete, and not just from the telltale pallor of their sun-deprived northern skin.

They are the ones, the locals say, who are carousing, brawling and getting violently sick. They are the ones crowding into health clinics seeking morning-after pills and help for sexually transmitted diseases. They are the ones who seem to have one vacation plan: drinking themselves into oblivion.

"They scream, they sing, they fall down, they take their clothes off, they cross-dress, they vomit," the mayor of Malia, Konstantinos Lagoudakis, said in an interview. "It is only the British people - not the Germans or the French."

PRAGUE, Aug 23 (IPS) - The coinciding of military confrontation between Russia and Georgia and the 40th anniversary of the brutal crushing of the 'Prague Spring' in 1968 in what was Czechoslovakia has triggered a debate on whether a comparison between the two events is justified.

As Czech and Slovak leaders held solemn ceremonies in Prague and Bratislava to mark the historic Aug. 21, 1968, the Czech leaders were conspicuously divided in their views on the conflict between the great power Russia and its tiny neighbour Georgia.

Czechoslovakia split peacefully in 1993 into the Czech and Slovak republics, on the heels of the fall of the Berlin Wall that paved the way for parliamentary democracy in the country.

Czech President Vaclav Klaus has strongly criticised Georgia. Klaus, together with eminent writer Vaclav Havel and his Social Democrat counterpart Milos Zeman is recognised as one of the three most important Czech politicians of the 1990s, and the last of them to remain active.

Klaus argues that Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili's "fatal" actions against the separatist region of South Ossetia were to blame for the conflict.

The German military attache in Moscow described the Russian military response in Georgia as "appropriate" in an internal document, according to a report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.

"The extent of the use of military force by the Russian side appears -- seen from here and despite reports to the contrary from Georgia and the picture conveyed by the media -- not inappropriately high," Brigadier General Heinz G Wagner wrote on Aug. 11.

 

The German Foreign Ministry said it did not comment on internal documents.

  

According to the FAZ report, the general said some three days after the outbreak of hostilities that Russia had no choice but to react to the Georgian military action in South Ossetia.

  

The Russian peacekeeping forces stationed in the breakaway Georgian region "were not in a position, given their weapons and equipment, to defend themselves effectively or even to resist," the general wrote.

A fire started at 8:45 has forced a shut down at the plant and the activation of the Nuclear Emergency Plan in Tarragona, according to the CSN.  A problem in the electric generator appears to be the cause of the fire. The alert was cancelled at 10:30.  "All security systems have performed according to plan and have not been affected.  Right now the plant is off and stable", says the report.

The Asociación Nuclear Ascó - Vandellòs (ANAV), [i.e. Endesa] which runs the plant is working to determine the origin and evaluate the damage.  ...

...CSN explained that the fire was produced by the "heating of some component in the electric generator".

However, Greenpeace and Ecologistas en Accion .... have asked for the cancellation of the exploitation permit and the paralization of the plants
Asco I, Asco II and Vandellos II run by ANAV, due to the cummulative number of accidents they have.

A plant with diverse incidents
Last July....
Last April... a level 2 escape that forced a local evacuation.

In May 2007, CSN president call Endesa executives to demand explanations about the triple number of incidents than in other nuclear plants.  That same year, the plant was shut down for four months due to a severe malfunction in the refrigeration system.

There are drawings and location map here: http://tinyurl.com/5rkvqy  

http://www.foronuclear.org/ is the big nuclear players PR page and has good info about who they are.

P.S.  The CSN is at least ineffective and always late to take appropriate measures, but the courts have ordered a fine between €9-22 million against Endesa for the previous Asco incidents.

How can these companies be relied upon to provide ´base load´, with this performance?


Our knowledge has surpassed our wisdom. -Charu Saxena.

Italy's Northern League, the populist, xenophobic, sometimes separatist movement that is a key component of Silvio Berlusconi's governing coalition, has proposed new legislation which would effectively halt construction of new Islamic mosques.

The bill, which the League's chief of deputies Roberto Cota is expected to send to parliament next week, would require regional approval for the building of mosques. It would also require that a local referendum be held, that there be no minaret or loudspeakers calling the faithful to prayer, and sermons must be in Italian, not Arabic.

What has made global economic events so compelling in the past year has been the pace at which perceptions have changed. The eurozone is no exception. After a growth sprint at the start of the year, the region's economic fortunes appeared to deteriorate as fast as those of Liu Xiang, China's hobbled Olympic hurdler. Growth contracted in the second quarter for the first time since the euro's launch in 1999, while the US expanded.

But has the eurozone's outlook really worsened so dramatically? Change is usually incremental in the bloc's economy, reflecting cultural and structural differences with more dynamic parts of the world. The latest evidence - August's purchasing managers' indices released last week - suggested prospects had stabilised in the third quarter, albeit with the eurozone still dicing with recession. So here, at the risk of making my job less exciting, are a dozen reasons why the eurozone economic malaise might have been exaggerated and why we could even see positive signs in the coming months.

Employment lawyers and legal helplines are reporting a sharp rise in businesses seeking advice on how to sack staff, suggesting a further surge in redundancies may be on the way.

Allianz, the insurance group, says its legal helpline Lawphone last month received a record number of calls seeking advice on redundancy issues.

More than a third of calls received by the helpline were about employment issues, compared with just 2.4 per cent in the same month last year, it said.

Employment lawyers have also reported a rise in businesses seeking advice on redundancies as trading conditions have deteriorated over the summer.

The government is poised to radically expand the academies programme to include children as young as four by announcing that it has given the go-ahead for the takeover of three struggling local primaries.

Lord Adonis, the schools minister, told the Guardian that he had sanctioned the first so-called "matrix" academy, where three primaries on separate sites will feed into a secondary under a central management system to serve a total of 2,200 children.

The plan to involve privately sponsored academies in turning round primary schools comes amid increasing concern that the government's focus on improving struggling secondaries has not addressed fundamental flaws in primary schools.

An increasing number of children are being criminalised by the justice system, it was claimed yesterday, as new figures showed that more than 1,000 youngsters have been jailed for an average of six months each for breaching anti-social behaviour orders.

Penal reformers and children's groups warned last night that the heavy-handed use of Asbos against youngsters risked turning them into criminals in adult life. And new figures showed that 986 children aged 10 to 17 were jailed for breaking Asbos between 2000, when they were launched, and the end of 2006. Another 300 to 400 youngsters are thought to have joined the total in 2007 and 2008.

The figures emerged as a report warned that the move towards instant justice has fuelled a huge rise in the number of children and others brought into the criminal justice system.

A takeover of British Energy by Electricité de France is still the UK government's preferred option for the nuclear generator, the energy minister has told the Financial Times.

Malcolm Wicks described a deal with EDF as "the most sensible option", adding: "We think that's the natural link."

His comments show the government has not given up hope on EDF taking control of most of Britain's nuclear power stations, in spite of the failure of its attempt to agree a £12bn deal with British Energy at the end of last month.

However, speaking on a visit to Lagos last week, Mr Wicks said that while the UK government was "very intimately involved" in the negotiations - it owns about 35 per cent of British Energy's equity - the group's future was "very much in its own hands".

GORI, Georgia: As Russia said its military pullback from Georgia had been completed, though it still held several key areas of the country, the Georgian government began over the weekend to prepare cities and villages in the conflict areas for the return of thousands of refugees.

Large columns of Georgian police special forces were visible in and around the city of Gori. The officers said they had arrived to provide security for returning residents.

Georgian Army units also appeared in Gori for the first time since they retreated under heavy Russian bombardment two weeks ago. They were lightly equipped - most had only their rifles and pistols and rode in pickups and personal cars - and arrived at a base that had been ransacked.

Pakistan's governing coalition is on the verge of collapse less than a week after the partners successfully forced out the country's former army chief and president, Pervez Musharraf.

The Pakistan Muslim League (N) will meet Monday to decide whether to abandon support for the Pakistan People's Party, the coalition's senior partner, according to a spokesman for the Pakistan Muslim League, Ahsan Iqbal. Mr. Iqbal says the Pakistan People's Party has "unilaterally" taken recent decisions, casting a pall over a political partnership formed after February's parliamentary elections. The coalition's two main parties have split sharply over the restoration of judges that Mr. Musharraf had ousted, as well as who his successor should be.

"In a way, they are trying to drive us out of the coalition," said Mr. Iqbal in a telephone interview. "It seems they've made up their minds they want to do it themselves."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has sacked two senior military commanders over an air strike two days ago that he said killed 89 civilians.

The president had previously criticised US forces for "unilateral operations" over the strike in the Afghan west.

But he later appeared to suggest Afghan forces were partly to blame, ordering the removal of a general and a major.

The US originally said its strike had killed 30 militants. It is looking into the claims of many civilian deaths.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returns to the Middle East on Monday in another effort to bridge gaps holding up an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal that Washington says could still be achieved this year.

Few analysts believe Rice, who plans talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and negotiators from both sides, can secure a major breakthrough that would set Palestinians on a fast track to statehood.

Many banks and companies are paying more to raise money in the bond markets than at any time since the recession in the early 1990s amid signs that the financial crisis is deepening.

Spreads for US investment grade banks and companies rose to the highest level last week since the early 1990s, according to Lehman Brothers. Spreads measure the extra interest a company must pay above safe government bonds. This is known as the risk premium.

One of the biggest concerns is the health of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the US government-sponsored enterprises that have run into trouble because of the US mortgage crisis. The mortgage financiers, which underpin the US housing market, paid the price for these worries when both were forced to pay record high risk premiums on dollar-denominated bonds this month.

Other issuers forced to pay very high yields over government bonds this month include Citigroup, American Express, AIG and Deutsche Telekom.

Jim Reid, a credit strategist at Deutsche Bank, said: "I think it is fair to say the crisis is deepening because people are very worried about the health of some financial institutions. Will more fail? The fact is if you mark to market some of the illiquid assets the banks hold at prices they could sell them in today's climate, it could make many of them insolvent."

The Bush administration is set to put a high-profile nuclear deal with Russia on hold, according to US diplomats.

Officials expect Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, to recommend that George W. Bush, president, recall the civil nuclear co-operation agreement from Congress in the wake of Russia's conflict with Georgia.

"At this point, it's dead," a congressional staffer said.

The deal would be one of the most visible victims so far of tensions between Washington and Moscow, which have risen to levels rarely seen since the end of the cold war. US officials have warned Russia it faces "consequences" for its conduct in Georgia and they increasingly write off Russia's hopes of joining the World Trade Organisation.

Following one of the most violent weeks in Algeria for years, speculation is likely to intensify about the strength of an Islamist group linked to al-Qaeda and the security forces' ability to counter militants that have been using increasingly sophisticated and deadly means of attack.

Although no group has claimed responsibility for either the suicide car bomb attack on a police academy on Tuesday or the two car bombings the following day - that time remotely detonated - the killings bore the hallmarks of a group calling itself al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

More than 50 people were killed in the attacks, taking the death toll for the month above 70. The bombings took place east of Algiers, in a region that is a stronghold of the group.

The cost to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae of raising capital is getting more prohibitive by the day, making it likely that the government will have to inject cash into the largest U.S. mortgage finance companies.

Declines in the common stocks of the government-chartered companies accelerated last week to more than 90 percent for the year and yields on their preferred shares more than doubled on speculation Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson may need to bail them out, reducing or wiping out the value of the securities.

 McLean, Virginia-based Freddie fell 52 percent last week to $2.81 on the New York Stock Exchange and Fannie of Washington dropped 37 percent to $5. Their preferred shares are trading as low as 19 cents on the dollar on speculation their dividends may be suspended.

Two Zimbabwean MPs have been arrested, as they were due to be sworn in five months after disputed elections, an opposition spokesman says.

They were detained as they entered parliament, said Nelson Chamisa.

He said the police wanted to arrest 15 MPs, to ensure the ruling party wins the vote for the speaker of parliament.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif says his PML-N party is pulling out of the country's multi-party governing coalition.

He has been in dispute with the country's biggest party, the PPP, over who should be the next president.

The two sides also disagree on the reinstatement of judges sacked by former President Pervez Musharraf.

The move throws Pakistan into further turmoil in a time of economic gloom and growing threats from militants.

ARARE, Aug 23 (IPS) - In a highly contested election marred by violence and held under very difficult economic conditions, Zimbabwean women politicians defied the odds to participate as candidates in the March 29th elections.

In terms of seats actually won, results fell far short of the 50 percent female representation in political decision-making set out in the African Union (AU) Protocol on Gender and Women's Human Rights or the recently signed Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development. Women got just 14 percent of seats in parliamentary elections, down from 16 percent female representation in the previous parliament.

However, at a national conference held on 14th and 15th August in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, women celebrated the fact that they had participated as candidates in their highest numbers ever.

"We managed to mobilise each other to increase women's contestation by almost 50 percent," said Luta Shaba, executive director of the Women's Trust, the organisation that has spearheaded the 'Women Can Do It' campaign to get more women in politics.

(Fortune) -- What do Oreo cookies made by Nabisco (KFT, Fortune 500), Cheez-It crackers from Kellogg's (K, Fortune 500) or General Mills' (GIS, Fortune 500) Fiber One Chewy Bars have to do with global warming and the destruction of tropical rainforests? A lot, say environmental activists.

The link between the supermarket shelf, climate change and shrinking rainforests is palm oil, a controversial ingredient that may now be the most widely-traded vegetable oil in the world.

Here's the problem: Demand for palm oil, which is found in soaps and cosmetics as well as food, has more than doubled in the last decade as worldwide food consumption has soared. Farmers, in turn, are expanding their plantations, burning forests in Indonesia and Malaysia, where nearly all of the palm oil imported to the United States originates. Deforestation is the primary reason that Indonesia's greenhouse gas emissions are the third-highest in the world

London Mayor Boris Johnson has criticised the use of a portrait of murderer Myra Hindley in a video shown at a London 2012 event in Beijing.

The image was shown during a promotional video advertising London.

A spokesman for the London Mayor told BBC News Boris Johnson was "deeply disturbed" the image had been shown for "a split second".

Turning CO2 into chalk and sand

By Davide Castelvecchi, Science News
Web edition : Friday, August 22nd, 2008

New method could make carbon sequestration cheaper

Removing carbon dioxide from smokestacks and storing it permanently is one of the possible solutions to global warming, but remains expensive to do. A new technique could make carbon sequestration economical on a large scale, while producing useful materials on the side.

Dirk Van Essendelft, a chemical engineer at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, described the method on August 19 in Philadelphia during a meeting of the American Chemical Society. He proposed a new way to mix CO2 with a type of mineral called serpentine, producing sand and another common mineral similar to chalk.

Capturing the CO2 from smokestacks requires energy. Van Essendelft said that, according to his calculations, a power plant that captures its emissions for storage into serpentine would suffer only a 10 percent loss of energy. If the technique can be applied on a large scale, storing carbon in minerals would become competitive with other proposals for carbon sequestration, such as pumping CO2 deep underground. "It puts mineral carbonation back in the game, as far as energy consumption," he said.

Mercedes Maroto-Valer of the University of Nottingham in England says that the technique could be economical for large-scale carbon sequestration.

-Truncate-

Osama bin Laden's brother is choosing a different path to prominence. Sheikh Tarik bin Laden wants to build a gigantic suspension bridge which would connect Africa to Asia. By 2025, he envisions two brand new cities in the desert. The price tag, though, is daunting.

Tarik's bridge would cross the Bab el Mandeb, the narrow straits where the Indian Ocean feeds into the Red Sea. Bearing a six-lane highway, a railway line and an oil pipeline, the structure would stretch fully 29 kilometers (18 miles) between continents -- an unprecedented piece of engineering. Huge pillars would have to be anchored to the sea floor some 300 meters (984 feet) below the surface. They would be spaced three kilometers apart.

Within five years, there could be deepwater ports, airports and power stations bringing plenty of jobs along with them. Research facilities, universities and 100,000 apartments are to follow within 10 years. And finally, 15 years on, the bridge will connect two ultramodern cities -- ecologically sound, low in emissions and above all, innovative.

As well as getting rid of staff, financial firms have put the squeeze on their travel and entertainment spending in response to deteriorating economic conditions.

Now McKinsey claims that some US investment banks could save up to $2bn a year by cutting costs in ways that are less likely to antagonise their remaining workers.

The consultant reckons that for some banks, spending on things like real estate, IT and office supplies grew too fast during the fat years and could now be pruned aggressively without sowing discord among the troops:

Inititatives to curb expenditures need not be extremely demoralizing to frontline employees... 80 percent of fixed costs have minimal or no impact on a bank's employees or culture. Launching initiatives that target these areas, we estimate, could in many cases produce most of the noncompensation savings that banks aim to achieve while reducing the possibility of targeting areas that could damage employee morale.

Hang on a minute. I've just noticed the fifth entry on McKinsey's list of investment bank costs that could be cut with "minimal or no impact on employees/culture". The entry says "consulting".

Let me try to get my head around that. Is McKinsey - a consultant - seriously recommending that investment banks consider ways of cutting their spending on consultants?

It looks that way to me. A McKinsey spokeswoman declined to comment.

From shotguns to bespoke suits, lingerie to leather goods, the purveyors of luxury goods to the world's rich are supposed to be immune from the credit crunch.

But on London's Savile Row, Bond Street and the Royal Exchange, most stores admit that there are signs of change. Nothing as stark as the middle class switching from Sainsbury to Aldi, but indicators, nonetheless, that even the very well-heeled are altering their behaviour.

In a development that is sure to bring the house down, US Senator Edward M. Kennedy is expected to attend the Democratic National Convention, most likely to deliver a speech tomorrow night.

Kennedy is battling brain cancer, and his doctors are said to be worried that his treatment has compromised his immune system and that attending the convention could put him at further risk. Still, the senator has recently told people that he has a speech written for the convention and that he badly wants to come, pending a final medical consultation.

Buzz has built among Massachusetts politicos that Kennedy would come, and today a source close to the family confirmed that he had made a decision to come.

``He is definitely planning to be here,'' said the Kennedy family confidant. ``The whole Kennedy family will be in a special section. It should be quite moment.''

Uncle Teddy's comin' to Denver tomorrow.  This is going to be great.

Be nice to America. Or we'll bring democracy to your country.