21 May 12

NATO activates missile shield, reaches out to Russia
Obama and his allies declared an "interim capability" at a Chicago summit, putting a US warship carrying interceptors in the Mediterranean and a Turkey-based radar system under NATO command in a German base.  

Costa Rica’s Turrialba volcano alert status raised to yellow: authorities say an eruption could be imminent
Costa Rica’s National Seismological Network has upgraded the color threat level to yellow of Turrialba Volcano, in the province of Cartago east of the capital. A statement issued by Raúl Mora-Amador, coordinator of Seismology, Volcanology and Geophysical Exploration at the University of Costa Rica, indicates a threat level of yellow means that the National Seismological Network believes an eruption is “probable” in a matter of days, weeks or a few months.  

Obama: Slaughter of Christians a misunderstanding
The violence in northern Nigeria is mistakenly viewed as a religious conflict rather than simply a tribal dispute over land, according to the Obama administration. Ads by GoogleThe Coming Of Jesus You Think You Know The Bible Well? Test Yourself With Our Trivia Game www.BibleTriviaTime.comConflict Resolution Workplace Conflict is Inevitable. Learn to Manage It Effectively! www.conflictdynamics.orgDespite the ongoing Muslim destruction of churches and the slaughter of Christians – including many murdered during worship services – the U.S. Agency for International Development claims that the misunderstandings make it difficult to administer aid programs.  

6.2-magnitude Quake Jolts Northeast Japan
A 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit seas off northeastern Japan on Sunday afternoon, said the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). The focus of the quake, which occurred at 16:20 p.m. local time (0720 GMT) , was located some 10 km under the sea off the northeastern Sanriku region on the Honshu Island, according to the agency.  

N.C. Teacher Tells Student He Could Be Arrested for Talking Badly About Obama
...a high school student in North Carolina engaged his social studies teacher in a heated debate about politics and the two leading presidential candidates. During the exchange, the teacher (an obvious Obama supporter) got very angry with the student and accused him of disrespecting the president. She even went so far as to tell the boy that he could be jailed for speaking ill of Obama.  

Greece Crisis Threatens To 'Open Door To Hell'
Interestingly, he admits there are elements of the bailout deal that he would seek to renegotiate but he says if Greece were to do what Syriza's leader, Alexis Tsipras, is proposing and fail to honour the promises the country has made in return for emergency funding then the results would be disastrous.  

Huge asteroid to fly close to earth, may destroy satellites
The asteroid, DA14, discovered by astronomers at LaSagra Observatory in Spain, could come so near to Earth on February 15, 2013, that it would disrupt geosynchronous satellites. While NASA has said the chance of the asteroid hitting Earth is 0.031 per cent, if it did, it would hit with the force of a 2.4 megaton explosion, similar to the mysterious Tunguska event of 1908 which levelled hundreds of square miles of Siberian forest...  

Fukushima Reactor 4 poses massive global risk
More than a year after a devastating earthquake and tsunami triggered a massive nuclear disaster, experts are warning that Japan isn't out of the woods yet and the worst nuclear storm the world has ever seen could be just one earthquake away from reality.  

Kuwait follows other Gulf states, urges citizens to leave Lebanon
Kuwait called on its citizens Monday to leave Lebanon and avoid traveling to the country due to the growing unrest, reported state-run news agency KUNA, citing a Foreign Ministry source. The source, KUNA reported, said the Foreign Ministry called on its citizen in Lebanon to return to Kuwait and contact the embassy in Beirut in case of any emergency.  

Islamist Leads Egypt Vote; Investors on Edge
A preliminary count of votes for Egyptians living abroad has put Islamist candidate Abdul-Moneim Aboul-Fotouh in the lead, followed by left-leaning Hamdeen Sabahi . The online statement by the State Information Service (SIS) on Saturday added that the figures "confirmed a sharp competition" for third between Amr Moussa and Mohamed Mursi.  

Two die in first Beirut clashes over Syria conflict
At least two people have been killed and 18 injured in clashes overnight in the Lebanese capital Beirut. The clashes, between Sunni pro- and anti-Syrian groups, followed the shooting dead on Sunday of two anti-Syrian sheikhs. The violence is the first in Beirut since the conflict began in neighbouring Syria in March last year.  

Italy quake homeless in emergency shelters
Thousands of people left homeless by a powerful earthquake in northern Italy have spent the night in shelters as aftershocks continue to hit the region. At least seven people died and more than 50 were injured when the quake struck in the early hours of Sunday. The magnitude six tremor, centred north of Bologna, destroyed or badly damaged many historic buildings.  

Pakistan supply routes row hits Nato summit
A row between the US and Pakistan over supply routes to Afghanistan is threatening to overshadow the summit of Nato leaders in Chicago. The two sides have been unable to reach agreement on Pakistan's conditions for reopening the routes, closed after a US air strike killed several troops. The summit goes into a second day with troop withdrawals from Afghanistan dominating the agenda.  

IAEA chief kicks off talks with Iran over its nuke program
United Nations nuclear chief Yukiya Amano started talks with senior Iranian officials on Monday, Iranian media reported, on his one-day visit to Tehran that diplomats say could lead to an agreement for further inspections of Iranian nuclear sites. Hours after his pre-dawn arrival in Tehran, Amano met the head of Iran's nuclear energy organization, Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, ISNA news agency reported.  

Pakistan restores Twitter after block
Pakistani authorities have restored access to the social media website Twitter, hours after blocking it for messages deemed "offensive to Islam". No clear reason was given for the ban, which came into force shortly after Interior Minister Rehman Malik said there were no plans to block Twitter.  

Americans in Afghanistan to fight through 2014, top commander says
The commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan bluntly warned Sunday that American soldiers will face combat in that war-torn country right up to the time they leave, December 31, 2014. General John Allen told reporters not to buy into a "narrative" that the handover of security responsibilities to Afghan forces next year means US troops will be out of harm's way.  

US warns NKorea against another nuke test
The top U.S. envoy for North Korea is warning Pyongyang that any nuclear test will be met with "swift and sure" international punishment. Glyn Davies said Monday after meeting his South Korean and Japanese counterparts that such a provocation would be a "serious miscalculation."  

Wheat Climbs To Highest Level Since September On Dry Weather
Wheat rallied for a sixth straight session, advancing to the highest level in more than eight months, as dry weather threatens harvests in the U.S. and Russia, two of the world’s three biggest shippers this year. The July-delivery contract jumped as much as 3.9 percent to $7.22 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the highest price for the most active contract since Sept. 13. Futures traded at $7.10 at 2:48 p.m. Singapore time, after surging last week by 16.5 percent, the most since the five days ended June 15, 2007.  

20 May 12

Convicted Lockerbie bomber dies in Libya
Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, a Libyan intelligence officer who was the only person ever convicted in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, died Sunday nearly three years after he was released from a Scottish prison to the outrage of the relatives of the attack's 270 victims. He was 60. Scotland released al-Megrahi on Aug. 20, 2009, on compassionate grounds to let him return home to die after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. At the time, doctors predicted he had only three months to live.  

NAACP announces support of same-sex marriage, shoring up Obama's base
he NAACP announced Saturday the 103-year-old black civil rights group is supporting same-sex marriage. The group's board of directors made the decision at a meeting this weekend, saying it was a "continuation of its historic commitment to equal protection under the law."  

Israel Celebrates Jerusalem Day
On Saturday night and Sunday Israelis will celebrate Jerusalem Day, which marks the reunification of Jerusalem in the 1967 Six Day War after 19 years of Jordanian occupation of the eastern part of the city. - On 28 Iyar 1967, Mota Gur, the legendary commander of the forces that entered the Old City, announced on Israel radio: "The Temple Mount is in our hands"  

Israel's southern border fence progressing
As public debate on the issue of refugees and infiltrators from Africa heats up, the Defense Ministry is expediting work on the border fence in the Eilat Mountains. Since the completion of the western part of the fence, on the Egyptian border, African infiltrators have been forced to detour south to find an ingress – sometimes through dangerous mountain terrain that stretches for 14 kilometers and is marked by canyons and cliffs up to 170 meters high.  

Medvedev Warns of "Full Blown Wars"
Military intervention in the sovereign affairs of other states may lead to outright war, including nuclear war, Russian PM Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday. “At some point such actions, which undermine state sovereignty, may well end in a full-blown regional war and even - I’m not trying to spook anyone - the use of nuclear weapons,” he said. The right of nations to choose their own path of development is a universal value, he said referring to the situation in Syria and the Middle East as a whole '  

Shin Bet uncovers Palestinian squad bent on kidnapping Israelis in West Bank
Security forces intercepted a Palestinian squad that attempted to kidnap Israeli citizens in the West Bank, the Shin Bet indicated on Sunday, adding that the squad's purpose was to negotiate the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jail. The squad was arrested in an operation two months ago, according to the Shin Bet, and included nine members, all residents of the West Bank city of Ramallah and its whereabouts.  

Euro austerity example Ireland 'may need second bailout'
As households struggle to pay their mortgages, the country’s rescued banks may need €4bn (£3.2bn) more to cover losses on loans than was assumed in stress tests last year, said analysts at Deutsche Bank. That would hit the finances of the Irish government, which has already pumped about €63bn into its banking sector in the last three years.  

G8 summit: French €57bn financial tax plan rejected by UK
...In talks at the White House, only hours before the Camp David summit, Obama met the new French president, François Hollande, for a one-to-one conversation in which he explored the possibility of a new approach to the eurozone crisis based on a pro-growth, stimulus strategy. Obama has been pressing for such a strategy for the past three years and has a potential ally in Hollande.  

UK special forces 'to stay in Afghanistan after 2014'
A small number of British soldiers could remain in Afghanistan after forces withdraw in 2014, a senior government official has said. The official made the disclosure ahead of a Nato summit in Chicago, which is expected to focus on Afghanistan. David Cameron has set a deadline of the end of December 2014 for Britain to stop all of its combat operations.  

Ed Balls warns of cuts 'catastrophe'
Labour's Ed Balls has warned the world economy faces a "catastrophe" unless Germany abandons pressure on eurozone countries to cut public spending. Speaking on Sky News, the shadow chancellor said David Cameron must urge leader Angela Merkel to change course. Labour's former chancellor, Alistair Darling, has also warned that austerity could damage living standards.  

China dissident Chen Guangcheng arrives in the US
Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng has arrived in New York to begin a new life in the United States. The blind human rights lawyer caused a diplomatic crisis when he escaped house arrest to arrive at the US embassy in Beijing last month. Speaking outside New York University, where he has been offered a fellowship, Mr Chen said China had dealt with the situation with "restraint and calm".  

Tropical storm Alberto churns off Southeast coast
Tropical Storm Alberto churned off South Carolina's coastline Sunday, the first storm of its kind to form in a hurricane season that doesn't officially begin until June 1, forecasters said.