The weather, I mean.

SNCF has officially announced that the Brétigny derailment was caused by a fishplate on the points that came loose and fell off.

According to the president of the region:

Brétigny : Jean-Paul Huchon n'exclut pas un acte de malveillance - Libération		Brétigny: Jean-Paul Huchon does not preclude a malicious act - Liberation
Jean-Paul Huchon, président PS de la région Ile-de-France et du Syndicat des transports d'Ile de France, n'a pas exclu que la catastrophe ait pu être provoquée par un acte de malveillance. «Cette pièce était tenue par quatre boulons et il paraît bizarre, curieux en tous cas, que les boulons aient tous sauté en même temps alors qu'un train est passé une demi-heure avant et n'a signalé aucune difficulté. Les hypothèses sur ce qui s'est passé sont de toutes natures: ou c'est une pièce mécanique qui était fatiguée, obsolète, ou bien alors ça peut être aussi un acte de malveillance. Personne ne peut à ce stade de l'enquête l'affirmer mais personne ne peut l'exclure non plus», a-t-il déclaré.		Jean-Paul Huchon, President PS of the Ile-de-France and the Union of Ile de France transport, did not rule out that the disaster could have been caused by a malicious act. "This part was held by four bolts and it seems odd, curious in any case, that the bolts should have all "jumped" at the same time, while a train passed half an hour before and reported no difficulty. There are all kinds of hypotheses about what happened: either it is a mechanical part that was worn out, obsolete, or else it could also be an act of malice. Nobody can assert this at this stage of the investigation, but nobody can exclude it either ", he said.

A police union had stated that local youths had engaged in looting and in "stoning" emergency personnel, but this is being denied now by the Transport Minister, the Red Cross, and SAMU (medical emergency teams).

Back in France after a trip to the Bay Area last week.
Our flight landed on runway 28R at SFO.
On our left, one could clearly see runway 28L littered with debris from the Asiana B777 who crash landed last Saturday: the tail lying down shortly after the runway threshold, the Asiana livery clearly visible, and the wreckage of the plane itself, off to the left side, a mere 500 meters later; a testament to the violence of the shock.

There were maybe a hundred people - NTSB investigators, I suppose - inspecting the accident scene. Two teenage girls from China were found dead at the scene, a third died yesterday at SF General Hospital.

Canada's 2nd Largest Fire on Record Spreading Smoke to Europe

A massive fire burning in northern Quebec is Canada's second largest fire since fire records began in 1959, according to the Canadian Forest Service. The fire was more than twice the size of Rhode Island on Tuesday--1,621,000 acres[655,995 hectares]. Called the Eastmain fire, the near-record blaze was ignited by lightning on May 25, and was burning along a 100-km front near the east shore of James Bay by the village of Eastmain. At times, the fire spread at 19 mph (30 kph). The fire cut power to Montreal's subway system and to 10% of the population of Quebec (500,000 customers) on July 4, when smoke from the fire ionized the air by key hydroelectric power lines, causing a cascade failure.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

In less than 48 hours the parliament is likely to give the green light to a huge waste of public money: 13 billion euro for the F-35 fighter Americans who do not serve us any good. But if we act now we can stop in time these crazy games of war!

It 's absurd! With € 13 billion, we could create jobs for 150,000 unemployed young people! And these F-35 aircraft have so many problems that many other countries are and decided not to buy them. M5S, SEL and many MPs of the Democratic Party want to stop the deal, and with enough pressure on the right leaders we can make sure that the majority of MPs vote to stop this spending absurd!

The final vote of the Senate is in less than 48 hours now signing this urgent petition to parliament and politicians as key Renzi and Epifani and share it with everyone. If we reach 100,000 signatures Avaaz will bring our voices in the Senate through parliamentary key just before the vote:

https:/secure.avaaz.org/it/italy_no_f35_rbs2?bJxSQab&v=27052

Many Italian politicians have said they are against the waste of public money for these bombers, including Renzi, Bersani, D'Alema, mountains and even Berlusconi! And military experts tell us that these planes have huge technical problems and would not be of any benefit to our army. Defense is so distressed that is now trying to argue that the parliament can not decide how to spend this $ 13 billion of public money!

Under such public pressure, some governments, including those in Canada, Denmark and Turkey are backtracking on investment in F-35 and also in Italy, the Minister of Defense is starting to suffer, for the first time last week admitted that the government might consider a cut in the number of F-35 that Italy will buy. If we get more pressure at this time we put an end to this huge waste of public money once and for all.

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

Nuff' said.

Grr. Firefox crashed and ate my translation with it. I will only post the original article for your attention.

EU greift Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz EEG an - SPIEGEL ONLINE

Das deutsche Erneuerbare-Energien-Gesetz (EEG) verstößt gegen europäisches Wettbewerbsrecht. Zu diesem Schluss ist nach Informationen des SPIEGEL EU-Wettbewerbskommissar Joaquín Almunia gekommen. Die Brüsseler Juristen konzentrieren sich dabei auf die sogenannte EEG-Umlage, die Stromkunden für die Erzeugung erneuerbarer Energie bezahlen.

OAS_RICH('Middle2'); Die Beamten rügen, dass energieintensive Betriebe von dieser Umlage weitgehend ausgenommen werden. Am kommenden Mittwoch will die EU-Kommission ein entsprechendes Beihilfeverfahren gegen Deutschland eröffnen. Dies soll nicht nur für die Zukunft alle Ausnahmen von der Zwangsabgabe verbieten.

Mit großer Wahrscheinlichkeit wird Brüssel auch rückwirkend eine Korrektur fordern: Energieintensive Betriebe müssten dann Millionen Euro an bereits in den Vorjahren eingesparten Abgaben an den Staat nachzahlen.

EU-Energiekommissar Günther Oettinger stellte auf einer Veranstaltung des Stromkonzerns E.on vergangene Woche in Brüssel sogar das gesamte EEG in Frage. Oettinger sagte, dass zahlreiche Regelungen mit dem EU-Binnenmarkt und dem Wettbewerbsrecht wohl nicht konform seien.

And additionally:

Wind Energy Encounters Problems and Resistance in Germany - SPIEGEL ONLINE

More than 700 citizens' initiatives have been founded in Germany to campaign against what they describe as "forests of masts", "visual emissions" and the "widespread devastation of our highland summits."

The opponents carry coffins symbolizing the death of environmental protection. They organize petitions on an almost daily basis. Local residents by Lake Starnberg have even filed a legal complaint alleging that the wind turbines violate Germany's constitution.

The underlying divide is basic and irreconcilable. On one side stand environmentalists and animal rights activists passionate about protecting the tranquility of nature. On the other are progressively minded champions of renewable energy and climate activists determined to secure the long-term survival of the planet.

The question is: How many forests must be sacrificed, how many horizons dotted with wind turbines, to meet Germany's new energy targets? Where is the line between thoughtful activism and excessive zeal? At what point is taxpayer money simply being thrown away?

The wrangling over these issues has led many in Germany's Green Party to question what their party really stands for. Enoch zu Guttenberg, a founding member of Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND), noisily left the association last year because of its support for wind power. Since then, he has felt a "panicky need" to warn humanity about the "giant totems of the cult of unlimited energy."