Awesome Pictures

North Korea missile launch is 'provocative act'

 
The White House was quick to condemn North Korea's successful launch of a long-range rocket, calling it a "highly provocative act" that threatens regional security.

Tuesday's launch, which caught the world by surprise, apparently placed an object in Earth orbit, the North American Aerospace Defense Command said, but neither the missile nor debris from the launch posed a threat to North America.

The launch directly violated U.N. Security Council resolutions and contravened North Korea's international obligations, the White House said in a terse statement that labeled the launch "a highly provocative act."

"This action is yet another example of North Korea's pattern of irresponsible behavior. The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations and fully committed to the security of our allies in the region," the statement from National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said. "Given this current threat to regional security, the United States will strengthen and increase our close coordination with allies and partners."

"The international community must work in a concerted fashion to send North Korea a clear message that its violations of U.N. Security Council resolutions have consequences," Vietor said.

North Korea declared the launch of a rocket and satellite a success early Wednesday local time. Three hours later, the U.S. military confirmed that an object appeared to achieve orbit.
On Saturday, North Korea had widened the dates during which it might conduct the launch of its Unha-3 rocket, citing a technical problem. Washington says the launch is a cover for testing technology for missiles that could be used to strike the United States. The previous four attempts all failed.
"It was a surprise in terms of the timing," said Bruce Bennett, senior defense analyst with the RAND think tank. "They had talked about postponing for a week. To recover so quickly from technical problems suggests they have gotten good at putting together a missile."

North Korea has also conducted two nuclear tests since 2006, deepening international concern over its capabilities, although it is not believed to have mastered how to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile.

The U.S., Japan and South Korea last week vowed to seek further U.N. Security Council action if the North conducted a launch. It remained to be seen whether Russia and China, the North's main ally, would agree to further sanctions.

Victor Cha, a Korea expert at Georgetown University and a former White House policy director for Asia, said a successful launch was a major national security concern for the United States.

He said there would still be technical hurdles for the North to overcome, particularly in terms of getting a rocket to re-enter the atmosphere, but it would mean that North Korea is able to launch a long-range ballistic missile — the first rival state to the U.S. do so since the Soviet Union and China.

Rep. Ed Royce, incoming Republican chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the launch showed that new North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had no intention of giving up his nuclear weapons program. Royce also criticized U.S. policy toward Pyongyang, calling it a "long-term failure."

"The Obama administration's approach continues to be unimaginative and moribund. We can either take a different approach, or watch as the North Korean threat to the region and the U.S. grows," Royce said in a statement.

US recognizes Syria's main rebel group

 
President Barack Obama declared Syria's main opposition group the sole "legitimate representative" of its country's people Tuesday, deeming the move "a big step" in the international diplomatic efforts to end Syrian President Bashar Assad's embattled regime. Obama said the newly formed Syrian Opposition Council "is now inclusive enough" to be granted the elevated status, which paves the way for the greater U.S. support for the organization.
"Obviously, with that recognition comes responsibilities," Obama said in an interview Tuesday with ABC News. "To make sure that they organize themselves effectively, that they are representative of all the parties, that they commit themselves to a political transition that respects women's rights and minority rights."
Recognition of the council as the sole representative of Syria's diverse population brings the U.S. in line with Britain, France and several of America's Arab allies, which took the same step shortly after the body was created at a meeting of opposition representatives in Qatar last month.
Obama's announcement follows his administration's blacklisting of a militant Syrian rebel group with links to al-Qaida. That step is aimed at blunting the influence of extremists amid fears that the regime may use or lose control of its stockpile of chemical weapons.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Tuesday that the Syrian government seems to have slowed preparations for the possible use of chemical weapons against rebel forces. Last week, U.S. officials said there was evidence that Syrian forces had begun preparing sarin, a nerve agent, for possible use in bombs.
"At this point the intelligence has really kind of leveled off," Panetta told reporters traveling with him to Kuwait, where he will visit U.S. troops at the start of a four-day trip. "We haven't seen anything new indicating any aggressive steps to move forward in that way."
U.S. recognition of the opposition council is expected to be a centerpiece of an international conference on the Syria crisis in Morocco this week. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had been due to attend Wednesday's meeting in Marrakech but canceled her trip because she was ill with a stomach virus, her spokesman, Philippe Reines, said. Instead, Deputy Secretary of State William Burns will lead the U.S. delegation.
On Monday, Clinton designated Jabhat al-Nusra, or "the Support Front" in Arabic, a foreign terrorist organization. The move freezes any assets its members may have in U.S. jurisdictions and bars Americans from providing the group with material support. The designation is largely symbolic because the group is not thought to have holdings or support in the United States, but officials hope the penalties will encourage others to take similar action and discourage Syrians from joining.
That step was part of a package intended to help the leadership of the Syrian Opposition Council improve its standing and credibility as it pushes ahead with planning for a post-Assad future.
The administration took further action Tuesday against extremists on both sides, with the Treasury Department setting separate sanctions against two senior al-Nusra leaders and two militant groups operating under the control of the Syrian government. Two commanders of the pro-Assad shabiha force also were targeted.
"We will target the pro-Assad militias just as we will the terrorists who falsely cloak themselves in the flag of the legitimate opposition," said David S. Cohen, the department's sanctions chief.
More significant, though, is the upgraded status for the council. It's expected to be accompanied by pledges of additional humanitarian and nonlethal logistical support for the opposition. It's unlikely that the U.S. would add military assistance to that, at least in the short-term. Providing arms remains a matter of intense internal debate inside the administration, officials said.
The U.S. had been leading international efforts to prod the fractured Syrian opposition into coalescing around a leadership that would truly represent all of the country's factions and religions. Yet it had held back from granting recognition to the group until it demonstrated that it could organize itself in credible fashion.
In particular, Washington had wanted to see the group set up smaller committees that could deal with specific immediate and short-term issues, such as governing currently liberated parts of Syria and putting in place institutions to address the needs of people once Assad is ousted. Some of those committees could form the basis of a transitional government.
Officials said the U.S. evolution in recognizing Syria's opposition would closely mirror the process the administration took last year in Libya with its opposition.
"I would remind you of how this went in the Libya context where we were able to take progressive steps as the Libyan opposition themselves took steps to work with them, and to advance the way we dealt with them politically," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Monday.
In that case, Libya's National Transitional Council moved from being "a'' legitimate representative to "the" legitimate representative of the Libyan people. While the revolution was still going on, the council then opened an office in Washington, and the administration sent the late Ambassador Chris Stevens to Benghazi, Libya, as an envoy in return. The move also opened the door for Libya's new leaders to access billions of dollars in assets frozen in U.S. banks that had belonged to the Gadhafi regime.
The move could allow the Syrian opposition to set up a liaison office in Washington with a de facto ambassador.
It is unclear, however, given the level of violence in Syria and the potential threat of chemical weapons, if the U.S. would soon send a representative to rebel-controlled areas of the country.
The conflict started 20 months ago as an uprising against Assad, whose family has ruled the country for four decades. It quickly morphed into a civil war, with rebels taking up arms to fight back against a bloody crackdown by the government. According to activists, at least 40,000 people have been killed since March 2011.

Egyptian army abruptly postpones "unity" talks

Efforts to resolve Egypt's rapidly worsening political crisis suffered a blow on Wednesday when the army abruptly postponed "unity" talks that the opposition had minutes earlier said they would attend. Confirmation that the secular, liberal opposition coalition would join the meeting after boycotting reconciliation talks hosted last week by Islamist President Mohamed Mursi had raised hopes of an end to street protests and deadly violence.
The latest convulsion in Egypt's transition to democracy was brought on by a decree last month from Mursi in which he awarded himself sweeping powers to ram through a new constitution.
The constitution, to be voted on in a national referendum, is a necessary prelude to parliamentary elections due early next year.

Mursi's move caused huge controversy, dividing the Arab world's most populous state and bringing thousands of pro- and anti-government protesters onto the streets in the worst upheaval since the fall of Hosni Mubarak almost two years ago.

The unrest has so far claimed seven lives in clashes between the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood and the opposition. But the army has yet to use force to keep protesters away from the presidential palace, now ringed with tanks, barbed wire and concrete barricades.
The postponement of the talks came as Egyptians abroad began voting at embassies in the referendum on the new constitution that Mursi fast-tracked through an Islamist-dominated drafting assembly.
The start of the voting process was a setback for the opposition, which had hoped to delay the plebiscite.
OPPOSITION 'NO' VOTE
The main opposition coalition will push for a "no" vote in the referendum rather than boycotting it.
"We will vote 'no'," opposition politician and former Arab League chief Amr Moussa told Reuters. Another senior opposition figure also announced that the group would push for a "no" vote.

Moussa also said he would attend the army's unity talks, along with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mohamed ElBaradei, leftist Hamdeen Sabahy and the liberal Wafd party leader Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour

Moussa, contacted after the army announcement of a delay, said he was not aware of the change of plans.
The army said the delay was due to a low level of acceptances from those invited. It did not immediately say when the talks might be reconvened.
Defence Minister Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who is also head of the armed forces, said on Tuesday that the talks would not be political in character. "We will sit together as Egyptians," he said.
The army dominated Egypt throughout the post-colonial era, providing every president from its ranks until Mubarak was overthrown last year, and oppressing the Muslim Brotherhood.
After his election in June backed by the Brotherhood, Mursi shunted aside generals who had held interim power after Mubarak and appointed a new high command. The army nonetheless portrays itself as a guarantor of national security.
The government said voting on the referendum at home would be spread over two days, December 15 and December 22, while the opposition said it wanted the vote to be held on one day only.
CHAOTIC PROTESTS
The opposition had argued that the chaotic protests and counter-protests of the last two weeks meant the referendum should be postponed, but large opposition rallies this week did not change the Islamist president's mind.
State media said the two-day voting plan had been adopted because many of the judges needed to oversee the vote were staying away in protest at the decision to hold the referendum. Voting therefore had to be staggered to move around those judges willing to cooperate.
The crisis is already damaging the Egyptian economy, with the national currency at an eight-year low against the dollar.

Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Said said on Tuesday that a $4.8 billion International Monetary Fund loan, a cornerstone of Egypt's economic recovery hopes, would be delayed until next month because of the crisis.

Any further delay beyond the first quarter of next year would damage recovery hopes, HSBC warned in a research note. "Egypt's room for maneuver, however, is now extremely limited and the consequences of more protracted delay will be severe," the bank said.

On Tuesday, thousands of opposition supporters had gathered outside the presidential palace in Cairo to demand that Mursi postpone the referendum. But a bigger crowd of flag-waving Islamists, who want the vote to go ahead, assembled at two mosques and some remained on the streets through the night.

The Terrible Cost Of Ghana's Electronic Waste Dump

 

Agbogbloshie is a wasteland of smoke and rubble nicknamed 'Sodom and Gomorrah' by the locals. Plastic parts, wires, and pieces of metal and glass lie strewn across the terrain, alongside more immediately recognizable household objects like televisions and refrigerators.

And the air is thick with the harsh smell of burning plastic and foul sewage gases drifting in from the heavily polluted Odaw River. Men and boys wander this bleak landscape in search of anything they can salvage and re-sell.

The Melkweb Bridge

This freaky and beautiful bridge is located in Purmerend, the Netherlands. The lower level is for bicycles and the top level is for pedestrians:

This deck was designed as a pendulum over the water, so that the slope could be limited to a minimum. Because pedestrian traffic was separated from cyclists, the direct line between the Melkweg-road and city centre could remain. Furthermore the 48m arch remains the fastest possible way to cross the water.
The pedestrian bridge weighs 85 tons, consists of 130 steps and is supported by a steel arch. The design makes it able to retain the spatial openness of the channel and its surroundings. Both bridge sections flow smoothly into each other and form one whole. This unity is enhanced by the continuity of materials and colors. In the edges of the bridge LED lines are applied that follow the contour of the bridge and guarantees a spectacular view on the bridge even after sunset.

More | Architects' Website

The Classics

Got milk?

In an age of vitamin waters and energy drinks, the decadeslong decline in U.S. milk consumption has accelerated, worrying dairy farmers, milk processors and grocery chains.

The industry "is coming to recognize this as a crisis," says Tom Gallagher, CEO of Dairy Management Inc., a farmer-funded trade group that promotes milk products. "We cannot simply assume that we will always have a market."

Per-capita U.S. milk consumption, which peaked around World War II, has fallen almost 30% since 1975, even as sales of yogurt, cheese and other dairy products have risen, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics. The reasons include the rise in popularity of bottled waters and the concern of some consumers that milk is high in calories.

Another factor, according to the USDA, is that children, who tend to be heavy milk drinkers, account for a smaller share of the U.S. population than they once did.

Further details at the Wall Street Journal.

Iron Age Feast Found in England

Just in time for the holidays, this discovery shows how our ancestors celebrated big events more than 2,000 years ago.  

Read more

 

How to Sail a Boulder Across Lake Titicaca on a Reed Boat

Thousands of years ago, ancient sailors and builders moved gigantic boulders 55 miles across Bolivia's mighty Lake Titicaca. Could this be how they did it? More

Bizarre Flowers Launch Seeds in Raindrops

The splashy trick can send seeds soaring at 90 miles per hour and now scientists know how. Read more

Daily Comic Relief

Israeli 'spy vulture' captured in Sudan

Officials in Sudan say they have captured an electronically-tagged vulture suspected of being dispatched by Israel on a spying mission. The avian discovery was made in Kereinek, a town in the Darfur region of western Sudan, Israeli media have reported.
Sudanese officials are said to have concluded that the bird was a secret agent after discovering it was fitted with GPS and solar-powered equipment capable of broadcasting images via satellite. The vulture also had a tag attached to its leg with "Israel Nature Service" and "Hebrew University, Jerusalem", leading to accusations that it was on an Israeli surveillance mission.

The reports follow allegations by Sudan that Israel carried out the bombing of a munitions depot near the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, in October, after jamming the country's radar defenses. Israel has made no comment on the raid, which left two people dead. The arms depot was said to be supplying weapons to the Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.

Israeli officials have acknowledged that the bird, which can fly up to 375 miles a day, had been tagged with Israeli equipment but insisted it was being used to study migration patterns. Ohad Hazofe, an ecologist with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority, said that it was one of 100 vultures fitted in October with a GPS system equipped to take distance and altitude readings but not surveillance images. "That's the only way we knew something had happened to the bird – all of a sudden it stopped flying and started traveling on the ground," he said.

Violence in Mali threatening survival of endangered elephants

University of British Columbia and Oxford University researchers have revealed the secrets of survival of an endangered population of African ...

Continue Reading 

Animal Pictures

The Daily Drift

 

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO
THAT GOOD NIGHT

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rage at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light. 

Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

~ Dylan Thomas

Some of our readers today have been in:

Shunyi, China

Cape Town, South Africa

Phuket, Thailand

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Belgrade, Serbia

Waterloo, Canada

Petalin, Jaya, Malaysia

San Jose, Costa Rica

Guatemala City, Guatemala

Quito, Ecuador

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Bangkok, Thailand

Paris, France

Yerevan, Armenia

Sampaloc, Philippines

Sofia, Bulgaria

As, Norway

Johannesburg, South Africa

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Karachi, Pakistan

T, Philippines

Roubaix, France

Chisinau, Moldova

Beirut, Lebanon

 

Today is Poinsettia Day

Don't forget to visit our sister blog!

Today in History

1753		George Washington, the adjutant of Virginia, delivers an ultimatum to the French forces at Fort Le Boeuf, south of Lake Erie, reiterating Britain's claim to the entire Ohio River valley.
1770		The British soldiers responsible for the "Boston Massacre" are acquitted on murder charges.
1862		The Union loses its first ship to a torpedo, USS Cairo, in the Yazoo River.
1863		Orders are given in Richmond, Virginia, that no more supplies from the Union should be received by Federal prisoners.
1901		Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi receives the first transatlantic radio transmission in St. John's Newfoundland.
1927		Communists forces seize Canton, China.
1930		The Spanish Civil War begins as rebels take a border town.
1930		The last Allied troops withdraw from the Saar region in Germany.
1931		Under pressure from the Communists in Canton, Chiang Kai-shek resigns as president of the Nanking Government but remains the head of the Nationalist government that holds nominal rule over most of China.
1943		The German Army launches Operation Winter Tempest, the relief of the Sixth Army trapped in Stalingrad.
1943		The exiled Czech government signs a treaty with the Soviet Union for postwar cooperation.
1956		The United Nations calls for immediate Soviet withdrawal from Hungary.
1964		Kenya becomes a republic.
1964		Three Buddhist leaders begin a hunger strike to protest the government in Saigon.
1967		The United States ends the airlift of 6,500 men in Vietnam.
1995		Willie Brown beats incumbent mayor Frank Jordon to become the first African-American mayor of San Francisco.

Non Sequitur

Americans finding dozens of ways to mark 12-12-12

A Michigan sixth-grader will put aside her nerves and get her ears pierced on her 12th birthday. Two law-enforcement officials will exchange wedding vows at 12:12 p.m. in Pittsburgh's federal courthouse. And gamblers can take advantage of promotions some casinos are using to lure in patrons who want to test their luck.

With a once-a-century date arriving Wednesday, some people across the United Stated are betting on good fortune for 12-12-12.
In New England, Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut will offer $12 in free slots play to rewards cards members who sink $12 into the slots.
A southwestern Michigan casino is also betting that 12-12-12 is going to be a lucky day for opening its new hotel. A ribbon-cutting is planned for 12:12 p.m. Wednesday for the eight-story, 242-room hotel at FireKeepers Casino near Battle Creek.
Hours later, Anna Gandy, of Battle Creek, Mich., will head to the Lakeview Square Mall after school lets out. She realized last year that she would turn 12 on 12-12-12, her father Bryan Gandy said Tuesday. But between her sports team commitments and nerves, Anna decided to wait until Wednesday to get her ears pierced.
"She's been looking forward to it for a year," he said of the special birthday. "She obviously likes the number 12."
Fans of some of music's biggest names will feel lucky to see them share a stage Wednesday in New York's Madison Square Garden. The charity show for Superstorm Sandy victims has been dubbed the "12-12-12" concert and will include Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, Paul McCartney, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Eric Clapton, Billy Joel, Kanye West, Alicia Keys and Bon Jovi.
For Green Bay Packers fans, Wednesday's date also will carry special meaning.
Quarterback Aaron Rodgers wears No. 12, and the Wisconsin state Legislature has designated the day Aaron Rodgers Day in honor of the Super Bowl winner and last year's MVP. Some businesses are encouraging employees to wear Rodgers jerseys and make $12 donations to a charity fund.
According to Vicki MacKinnon, who practices numerology — the study of the occult significance of numbers — Wednesday's date represents two energies merging, including masculine and feminine energies.
MacKinnon, of Calgary, Alberta, author of "Please Take a Number: Numerology for Real Life and Everyday Success," said Tuesday that those kinds of energy are good news for couples planning to marry on 12-12-12.
Among them are Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Johnson and Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Allen. A federal judge in Pittsburgh will marry the couple at 12:12 p.m. as they exchange 12-word vows.
Johnson, 34, said the couple had been planning a small ceremony until word leaked out of their numerically unusual plans.
"A lot of people started thinking it was interesting and intriguing that we chose this day. Prior to that it was going to be a very small venture, but it's kind of spiraled into something," Johnson said.
Officials at the Milwaukee County Courthouse also expect the hallways to be bustling with brides and grooms. At least 27 couples are getting hitched on the 12th day of the 12th month of 2012, compared with about six on a typical Wednesday.
In Las Vegas, MGM Resorts spokeswoman Yvette Monet says all six of the casino wedding chapels the company has along the strip are close to fully booked for Wednesday.
But weddings aside, MacKinnon, said her reading of the date shows good fortune can come to anyone who demonstrates good intentions in whatever they do on 12-12-12.
"I just believe that as long as we conduct our lives with the highest intentions for ourselves and others, we can make very good use of the energy tomorrow for manifestation of what we want to bring into our lives."

Soledad O’Brien pins repugican Sessions over fiscal cliff proposal to cut food stamps to kids

Soledad O’Brien was not amused that Mr. Sessions plans on taking food out of the mouths of starving children.

Soledad O’Brien does it again.  As part of her ongoing crusade to ask serious people serious questions, CNN’s Soledad O’Brien asked Alabama repugican Jeff Sessions to explain why he thinks balancing the budget on the backs of starving children, by cutting food stamps, is a good idea.(Sessions is the worst of the worst. He’s a walking stereotype of your worst nightmare of a politician from Alabama.)
Sessions was speechless.  Nearly. It’s not often that journalists have the nerve to ask US Senator actual normal questions with normal follow-up questions when they don’t answer the first one.
Mother Jones does a great write-up of the interview, here’s one great quote:

Then, O’Brien went for the jugular. “I mean, it’s 61 percent of households in your state have children who are recipients of the food program they are on,” she said. At a loss, Sessions attempted to shift the conversation. “Do you think there’s no problem with the program?” he asked O’Brien. “Do you think it’s perfectly well-run?”
“I guess my question would be, when are you thinking of things to cut… Why not cut something else? There are other things that could be on the table before you pick a program that is feeding the nation’s poor children.”

And here’s a great pic of Sessions, just stone-faced, as O’Brien looks at her notes and says, wait, you just complained about the Food Stamp program growing, but you voted twice to expand it.  Priceless:

Yes, my favorite 16 deadly Sol-splainin’ faces were out in full force.
 
Sessions didn’t have a chance.