759th day of the Tens

The Anti-Defamation League Commends The European Union's Sanctions Against Iran

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) commends the European Union for adopting a ban on imports of Iranian oil and imposing other economic sanctions, including restrictions on transactions with Iran's Central Bank, in response to the country's continuing nuclear weapons program.

“The latest E.U. sanctions demonstrate strong leadership and a determination to take meaningful steps against Iran,” said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director. “These restrictions will not only economically impact Iran, but also signal that oil embargoes are not hypothetical threats and are not limited to the U.S.. When combined with the recent U.S. sanctions on foreign companies dealing with Iran's Central Bank, the regime's clearinghouse for oil transactions, the targeting of Iran's oil has moved from plan to action.”

In a letter to Catherine Ashton, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the ADL praised the E.U. for setting an example that will hopefully inspire other major purchasers of Iranian oil to act responsibly by contributing to the campaign against Iranian nuclear weapons.

The schedule for the oil embargo's enforcement begins on July 1.

SOURCE:

{1}. http://www.adl.org/PresRele/IslME_62/6225_62.htm

New York, NY, January 23, 2011 �

754th day of the Tens

Could A New Type Of Paint Generate Electricity?

A team of researchers at the University of Notre Dame, led by Prashant V. Kamat, develops a semi-conductive paint that turns surfaces of application into solar cells.
The U.S. Patent office describes the solar paint as “nanomaterial scaffolds for electron transport.”
Single wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNT's) create scaffold architecture, which allows electrons to move efficiently.
Titanium dioxide and either cadmium sulfide or cadmium senenide coats nanoparticles. When suspended in a water and alcohol mixture the particles then form a paste.
SWCNT's share special properties that can boost the solar paint’s photoconversion efficiency:
“The unique electrical and electronic properties, wide electrochemical stability window, and high surface area render SWCNT's beneficial as a scaffold to anchor light harvesting assemblies. In accordance with an embodiment, the electron accepting ability of semiconducting SWCNT's thus offers an opportunity to facilitate electron transport and thus increase the photoconversion efficiency of nanostructure semiconductor based solar cells,” said Kamat.
This points to clear possibilities surrounding an inexpensive and efficient solar paint. The generation of electricity could come from the application of the paint onto everyday surfaces like fences and homes. This product could serve as a huge breakthrough for renewable energy production.



SOURCE:



{1}. http://www.solarfeeds.com/futurewatch-solar-paint/

753rd day of the Tens

London's Big Ben Leans

The landmark clock tower containing Big Ben at Britain's Palace of Westminster starts to tilt. Media reports last week said the mother of all parliaments began its slippy slope toward the River Thames, raising fears over its future.

The House of Commons Commission met last week to discuss the responsibility for the upkeep of the 19th century neo-Gothic parliamentary estate, so popular with tourist photographers.
Media reports said the commission would discuss a surveyor's report which could recommend lawmakers move out for repairs costing up to one billion pounds. The Daily Telegraph said another proposal might mean selling the maintenance to Russian or Chinese developers for about 500 million pounds (£779.7 million).
But a commission spokesman said that no surveyor's report took place, and members met only to discuss setting up a group to look at general long-term renovation of the grade 1-listed building designed by Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Pugin.
“I think there's been twos and twos added together and {what they've} come up with {is that } we are selling to the Russians, but they won't be talking about anything like that,” the spokesman said.
The 96-metre tall clock tower, which houses the bell originally nicknamed Big Ben, leans about 46 cm to the left of its peak.
A construction expert, who worked on the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy and a multi-storey carpark under the houses of parliament in central London, said that people should not worry as it would take 10,000 years for the building to reach an angle of concern.
Professor John Burland of Imperial College London also said work on the underground Jubilee train line in the 1990s did not cause dramatic movement, while a spokesman for the commission said the tilt could come from the origin of its construction in 1859.
The lean, slightly visible to the naked eye, “had been there for years,” Burland said.
“When I first started work on the car park it was obvious that it was leaning,” he told BBC radio.
“It was probably developed at a very early stage because there's no cracking in the cladding and we think it probably leant while they were building it and before they put the cladding on,
“That was a long time ago and buildings do lean a little bit,” he said.
He also dismissed concern in the media that parliament should also slip into the Thames, while the commission's spokesman denied the walls around the palace suffer from a particularly bad subsidence problem causing Big Ben to lean.
The current building, built after its medieval predecessor, which houses the upper and lower chambers as well as the offices of some lawmakers, got largely destroyed by fire in 1834 and requires constant maintenance.
“There's no such thing as an old building that isn't cracked,” Burland maintained.

SOURCE:

{1}. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/23/us-britain-parliament-leaning-idUSTRE80M1IK20120123?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FoddlyEnoughNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Oddly+Enough%29

NB. Should House of Commons Commission sell maintenance of Big Ben to Russian or Chinese developers?

751st day of the Tens

U.S. Anti-Piracy Votes Delayed After Protests

Yielding to strong opposition from the high-tech community, U.S. Senate and House of Representatives leaders said on Friday they shall put off further action on legislation to combat online piracy.
Senate Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid said he must postpone a test vote set for Tuesday "in light of recent events." Those events included a petition drive by Google that attracted more than seven million participants and a one-day blackout by the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.
House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith, a Republican, quickly followed suit, saying consideration of a similar House bill would remain postponed "until there is wider agreement on a solution."
The Senate's Protect Intellectual Property Act and the House's Stop Online Piracy Act receive strong support from the entertainment industry and other businesses that lose billions of dollars annually to intellectual property theft and online sales of counterfeit products.
But they also face strong opposition from Internet-related companies that argue the bill would lead to over-regulation and censorship of the Internet.
Reid met with at least a half-dozen senators who sponsor the bill and announce that they now oppose it.

Piracy costs billions

Reid said counterfeiting and piracy cost the American economy billions of dollars every year and "there is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many about this bill cannot be resolved." Reid said he felt optimistic about reaching a compromise in the coming weeks.
The main Senate sponsor, Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy, said he respected Reid's decision to postpone the vote but lamented the Senate's unwillingness to debate the bill.
"The day will come when the senators who forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem," said Leahy. Criminals in China, Russia and other countries "who do nothing but peddle in counterfeit products and stolen American content are smugly watching how the United States Senate decided" that debating the bill proved worthless.
The two bills would allow the Justice Department, and copyright holders, to seek court orders against foreign websites accused of copyright infringement. They would bar online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as credit card companies from doing business with an alleged violator. They also would forbid search engines from linking to such sites.
The Tuesday vote centered around whether to move the legislation to the Senate floor for debate. A statement made on Thursday, by Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, stated it too early to consider the bill. Alongside the recent desertions it appeared supporters lacked the 60 votes needed to advance the measure.
McConnell on Friday applauded Reid's decision, saying it would "prevent a counterproductive rush toward flawed legislation."

Opponents relieved

In the House, Smith said he "heard from the critics" and resolved that " … we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products." Smith plans to hold further committee votes on his bill next month.
The bill's opponents felt relieved for the delay.
Markham Erickson, executive director of NetCoalition, commended Congress for "recognizing the serious collateral damage this bill could inflict on the Internet."
The group represents Internet and technology companies including Google, Yahoo! and Amazon.com. Erickson said they would work with Congress "to address the problem of piracy without compromising innovation and free expression."
Republican representative Darrell Issa, who joins Democratic senator Ron Wyden in proposing an alternative anti-piracy bill, credits opponents with forcing lawmakers "to back away from an effort to ram through controversial legislation."
But the CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, former Connecticut Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd, warned that, "as a consequence of failing to act, there will continue to be a safe haven for foreign thieves."
The MPAA, which represents such companies as Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., leads the advocacy for the anti-piracy legislation.

SOURCE:

{1}. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/story/2012/01/20/anti-piracy-vote-delay.html?cmp=rss

749th day of the Tens

The Crown Prosecution Service Announces Appointments To New Advocate Panels

The anxious wait ends today for barristers and solicitors from around England and Wales who applied to join the new Crown Prosecution Service Advocate Panel.
The CPS operates as the country's largest law firm, and now draws on a refreshed pool of high quality advocates to act on its behalf in the Crown Court and Higher Courts.
Keir Starmer QC, the Director of Public Prosecutions, said: “The creation of the CPS Advocate Panel is a turning point in prosecution advocacy which will shape the way in which we instruct cases for the next generation of advocates. It is crucial that the CPS can instruct the very best advocates to present our cases from both within and outside the organisation, and this scheme means we now have a pool of quality assured barristers and solicitors with the talent and experience to do that,
“Of those who applied, nearly three quarters (74 per cent) were successful in gaining a place on the panel at the level they applied for, with a further 17 per cent being offered a position at the next panel down,” said Starmer.
“Previously, advocates were selected from a list of around 4,500 individuals and the CPS will now draw on a pool of about 2,580 successful applicants who have been through an open and rigorous selection process,
“As a result of this process those members of the self-employed Bar and solicitors who have a place on an advocate panel will now have a greater opportunity to undertake advocacy work on behalf of the CPS,” concluded Starmer.
Advocates who applied found themselves placed in one of four levels, so that the work given to them, at the very least, matches their ability, knowledge and experience. About 236 or nine per cent of applicants did not succeed for a place on the panel, although 75 of those remain on a reserve list.
Applications came from 2,816 candidates, and now that their applications pass through evaluation and moderation by members of the CPS and the independent Bar, 2,580 barristers and solicitors have succeeded in their applications and shall begin providing the CPS with quality-assured advocacy. The CPS expects that the Panels shall come into operation from 1 February.
Mr Starmer said: "The scheme was developed in close co-operation with the Bar Council, and was run with the assistance of many members of the independent Bar itself. We are grateful for their support, and for the positive feedback we have received on the thoroughness, fairness and transparency with which the scheme was conducted. We are also grateful to the Law Society and their broad support of these proposals on behalf of solicitor advocates,
"Applicants will be told of the result of their application in the coming days and the selection process for the specialist Panels to be used by the CPS Central Casework Divisions will now begin."
Any applicants who do not succeed have the right to appeal that decision. Those advocates who currently represent the CPS in ongoing cases and have not been successful in obtaining a place on an Advocate Panel will continue to represent the CPS until their cases come to an end.



SOURCE: http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/press_releases/101_12/

748th day of the Tens

GALAXY'S LIGHT PUSHES BACK DARK AGES OF THE UNIVERSE

An international team led by astronomers from the University of Hawaii reported discovery of a galaxy which gives the earliest glimpse of the epoch when galaxies and stars form in the universe.
"This galaxy is forming stars at a time speculated to be in the 'Dark Ages' of the universe when galaxies begin to 'turn on'," said University of Hawaii professor Esther Hu, who led the team.
According to the generally accepted picture, the universe started with the Big Bang some 14-16 billion years ago. As the universe expanded and cooled over the next half million years, the glowing plasma of which composed it, recombined into atoms of neutral gas -- mostly hydrogen and some helium. The glow from this era of recombination, observed as the cosmic microwave background radiation, proves useful in the study of the large-scale geometry of the universe. Over the next nearly half billion years, termed the 'Dark Ages', the cold gas began to assemble into the first galaxies. The Dark Ages ended as the light from the newly formed galaxies and quasars reionized and changed the character of the surrounding neutral gas.
The earliest probes of the Universe, known as 'quasars', existed as extremely luminous distant objects powered by black holes. To capture an early snapshot of galaxies, typically a thousand times fainter in their infancy, researchers concentrate on a bright hydrogen emission line dubbed 'Lyman alpha' that gets strongly excited during star formation. Since a large fraction of the light from early forming galaxies emerges in this line, distant galaxies can look prominent viewed through filters which only pass wavelengths near the Lyman alpha emission but appear faint or undetected when seen through other filters.
The method of discovering distant galaxies by searching for objects identified as "Lyman alpha emitters" by the sharp increase in their detectability in narrow bandpass filters proves very successful, and team members had previously used one of the giant Keck 10-m telescopes to find the most distant galaxy previously known, an object whose light took some 15.3 billion years to reach us.
In order to reach fainter and yet more distant galaxies in the present work, Hu and her colleagues used a gravitational lens, in the form of a massive cluster of galaxies to further amplify the light. According to Einstein's theory of general relativity, very massive objects can bend and focus light in much the same way as a magnifying glass. The astronomers used the cluster Abell 370, 6 billion light years away and whose core contains the mass of several hundred galaxies, to magnify light from a galaxy behind the cluster to a distance of 15.5 billion light years away.
The discovery images made with the 10-m Keck Mk.I telescope, confirmed with spectra obtained later on the same telescope, showed a strong Lyman alpha emission line.
"It's significant that you can see the line," said Peter Capak, a University of Hawaii graduate student and team member. "If only a few galaxies had turned on by this point the emission would have been smothered by the surrounding hydrogen gas and the light would never have made it out to us."
Len Cowie, another Hawaii astronomer and team member added, "The fact that this is a galaxy, and not a quasar, is also important. When the first galaxies form, it's like turning on lights to clear out a fog bank. Quasars are really bright though rare, so they can make large clear cavities around themselves, but the fact that light from the fainter but much more numerous galaxies is getting out means that a significant amount of early star formation has already taken place and much of the general fog has already dissipated."
The newly discovered galaxy shows a 'redshift' – light seen coming from an object proportionally increased in wavelength – to the measurement of 6.56, and samples the universe when it forms at about 780 million years old. This view comes from about 50 million years earlier than the view supplied by the most distant quasar (redshift = 6.28), and 80 million years earlier than the speculated period of reionization (redshift ~6.1).
Since most of the light from these galaxies redshifted to infrared wavelengths, the team followed up their discovery with infrared images on the Subaru 8.3-m Telescope, also on Mauna Kea, to estimate the star formation rate -- finding that 40 times the mass of the Sun turns into new stars each year.
"You want to catch galaxies in their infancy and see how they develop," commented Hu. "Scaling the age of the Universe to a person's lifetime, we're showing you baby pictures. The last snapshot showed a toddler just past his fourth birthday. This one is three and a half."
"This is good news for the Next Generation Space Telescope planned for launch in the next decade," she concluded. "It means that there should be plenty of these distant galaxies bright enough to observe, using a large telescope with good infrared detectors, above the strong airglow of our atmosphere."

So, do we exist in the 'Dark Ages' of the Universe?

NOTES:

10-m: 'the 10-metre band': a portion of the shortwave radio spectrum internationally allocated to amateur radio and amateur satellite use on a primary basis.

~6.1: approximately 6.1
Infrared: Infrared (IR) light exists as electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength longer than that of visible light.

SOURCE:

{1}. http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~cowie/z6/z6.html

IMAGE SOURCE:: http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~cowie/z6/z6.html

747th day of the Tens

Alistair Burt Makes Clear The Foreign Office's Position on Human Rights With Respect To Syria


If the UK believes that an individual should take responsibilty for violence and repression against the Syrian people, according to good evidence, then the UK and EU partners shall take action to impose travel bans and the freezing of assets. 
 
“Of the 74 Syrian military and intelligence officers named in the December Human Rights Watch report,” says Alistair Burt, of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, “17 are already subject to EU travel bans and a freeze on assets, including President Assad.”
According to the Rt. Hon. Burt, The UK declares that those accused of the most serious of international crimes must account for their actions. He said, “there must be no impunity and we will continue to work with our international partners to ensure this.”

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, William Hague, made clear in his statement on 1 December, that EU sanctions, agreed to date, targeted on President Assad, his regime and those who support them, aim to increase pressure on the Syrian regime to stop the continuing violent repression of the Syrian people. In light of this Mister Burt said: “I welcome these moves which send a clear message that the Syrian regime's actions have left it isolated.”

SOURCES:

{1}. http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/d/syria.htm

{2}. http://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2012-01-16a.89229.h&s=Intelligence#g89229.r0

A full list of individuals listed by the EU can be found on the HM Treasury website, as above {1}.

746th day of the Tens

The Anti Defamation League Welcomes Supreme Court Decision Ensuring Victims Of Discrimination Their Day In Court

The ADL welcomes a U.S. Supreme Court decision ensuring that employees of religious organizations receive the opportunity to assert their claims in court if they believe they fall victim to discrimination. It gets dangerous to share beliefs these days it seems.
“We are gratified that the court articulated a view of the ministerial exception consistent with what we recommended in our amicus brief,” said Deborah M. Lauter, ADL Civil Rights Director. “The burden of showing that an employee is not entitled to the protection of anti-discrimination laws is now rightfully on the religious institution.”
The case, 'Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School vs. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission', involves the right of a teacher to bring a claim against her religious employer under the law of the United States Constitution in line with the Disabilities Act.
In its decision, the Court affirmed that a religious institution can claim exemption from anti-discrimination laws as these laws may apply to employees whose work advances the religious institution's mission.

SOURCE:

{1}. The Anti Defamation League, New York, NY, January 11, 2012 { http://www.adl.org/PresRele/SupremeCourt_33/6218_33.htm }

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.

NB. What does the Amicus Brief entail?

NUJ Elections

Barry Fitzpatrick has been elected NUJ Deputy General Secretary.

Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ General Secretary said: “I congratulate Barry on his election, and I am looking forward to working with him in his new role. He is widely known and respected across the media industries, and has been a determined champion of journalists and journalism. His previous career as a leading print union official and activist means he has plenty of experience and the ability to work with all our colleagues in the media in defence of jobs, conditions and ethical standards.”

Barry Fitzpatrick, NUJ Deputy General Secretary said "I am immensely proud to have been elected as Deputy General Secretary of the NUJ with a vote of confidence from our membership. Journalists today face enormous challenges in defending both their jobs and professional standards in the public interest. I look forward to meeting these challenges and working hard with Michelle, all of our officers and staff and most importantly our chapel officials and lay activists without whom there would be no NUJ."

Link to information on NUJ website: http://www.nuj.org.uk/innerPagenuj.html?docid=2363

RESULTS:
FITZPATRICK 2444 ELECTED
GAVAGHAN 473
YOUETT 1326
TOTAL 4243

Number of eligible voters: 29190
Total number of votes cast: 4308
Turnout: 14.8%
Number of votes found to be invalid: 65
Total number of valid votes to be counted: ४२४३

741st Day of the Tens

{ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AQohnTUa98 }

Breakqore died; Divte*h killed it for good. Qan anyone parallel this genius, Ipsissimus, of the genre of no genre? Anyone who hears Breakqore should know what it does. It moves. Divte*h moves me. Up there with Ladys*raper (why does he do soft most rexently?) and the likes of Eraserhead et al.

{ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBFsdmo9rko&feature=related }

See U l8r, I'm on Rotator!

NB. 'c' is out of the alphabet for the war ...

736th day of the Tens

Mossad Chief: Nuclear Iran does not pose ‘existential’ threat

The current head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency pulls the rug from under the feet of Israeli neoliberals - who keep their company with the likes of the 'presidential celebrity' - who want to attack Iran and/or Syria in order to orchestrate a third world war.

According to sources quoted in the 29th December Haaretz, Mossad chief Tamir Pardo told an audience of Israeli diplomats that a nuclear Iran does not necessarily present an existential threat to Israel. This view contrasts with that of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that a nuclear Iran might lead to another holocaust.

Pardo reportedly made his comments in a closed forum of 100 Israeli ambassadors on 27th December. According to Haaretz’s diplomatic sources, Pardo says that Israel [uses] various means to undermine Iran’s nuclear program, but [questions] the use of the term “existential threat” if Iran's nuclear power presents a threat to Israel's national security.

“What is the significance of the term existential threat?” Pardo asks. “Does Iran pose a threat to Israel? Absolutely. But if one said a nuclear bomb in Iranian hands was an existential threat, that would mean that we would have to close up shop and go home. That’s not the situation. The term existential threat is used too freely.” Pardo did not comment on the possibility of an Israeli military strike against Iran.

According to the sources, Pardo sees the European and world economic crises as a more serious and immediate threat. While devoting five minutes in his presentation to the Iranian threat, Pardo spent no less than 20 minutes on threats to the Israeli economy.

Reports of an all-out brawl over plans by Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Netanyahu, to launch a preemptive attack against Iran, rage within the Israeli military-security establishment. Pardo’s predecessor, Meir Dagan, makes the point against Barak and Netanyahu and last month said Israel should only resort to military force “when the knife is at its throat and begins to cut into the flesh," warning that their drive for a war could drag Israel and the entire region into a major war that would be disastrous.

The Great Wipeout of 2012 begins

Pardo recognises the global economic collapse facing Israel—and the world— as its existential threat. The financial body count of 2012 looks even worse than the horror of the past year. In 2011, global stock markets wiped out assets to the tune of US$6.3 trillion — a loss of 12.1 per cent, according to the January 1 Financial Times. But these losses, as dramatic as they seem, barely mark the beginning of the blowout to come early this year, in 2012. In the first quarter of the year alone, the countries of the Eurozone shall face 457 billion euros in sovereign debt rollover, with Italy alone scheduled to pay 113 billion euro. This seems impossible, especially with Italy paying more than 7 per cent yields on 10-year bonds at an auction over a week ago.

Sources at one of the regional Federal Reserve banks in the United States — upon which China depends for its growth and Australia for virtually its entire income — completed a study for internal circulation, which indicates that the housing collapse shall continue unabated, real unemployment shall equal the levels of that which the worst of the Great Depression saw, and inflation shall rise. The official government claims play these sombre facts down. Concerning Main Street, manufacturing remains at the same level of collapse as in September 2008, at the time of the Lehman Brothers blowout.

Sources:
[1]. Citizens Electoral Council of New Zealand {Wednesday, 4 January 2012, 11:40 am}::
[2]. Citizens Electoral Council of Australia {Media Release 3rd of January 2012}::

NB. Which Federal Reserve Bank in the US does Australia depend on for virtually its entire income?