Monday, June 2, 2014


News Clips For The Day


Spain's King Carlos to Abdicate, Son Felipe Will Take Over – PM – NBC
Alastair Jamieson
First published June 2nd 2014

Spain's King Carlos is to abdicate after almost four decades and his son, 46-year-old Crown Prince Felipe, will take over the throne, the country's prime minister announced Monday.

A constitutional amendment will be required to allow the change to take place, Mariano Rajoy said in a televised statement.
"His majesty, King Juan Carlos, has just communicated to me his will to give up the throne," Rajoy announced. "I'm convinced this is the best moment for change."
A source told Reuters: "It's a political decision. He is abdicating given the new challenges in Spain because he thinks it's necessary to make way for the new generation."

Juan Carlos, 76, oversaw his country's transition from dictatorship to democracy but has had repeated health problems in recent years.
His popularity also dipped following royal scandals, including an elephant-shooting trip he took in the middle of Spain's financial crisis during which he broke his right hip and had to be flown from Botswana back to Spain for medical treatment aboard a private jet.
His image was also tarnished by the investigation of his son-in law, who is suspected of embezzling large amounts in public contracts. The king came to power in 1975, two days after the death of longtime dictator Francisco Franco.



Felipe, Prince of Asturias
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Felipe, Prince of Asturias (Spanish pronunciation: [feˈlipe], baptised as Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y de Grecia; born 30 January 1968) is the third child and only son of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía of Spain.

On 2 June 2014, King Juan Carlos I announced that he would abdicate in favour of Felipe at some point later in the year. When Felipe ascends the throne, he is expected to be known as Felipe VI (Philip VI).

He has made many official visits to European countries and to Latin America, as well as to countries in the Arab world, the Far East, and Australia. He shows special interest in all matters related to the European Union, the Middle East, North Africa, and Latin America. Since January 1996, Felipe has represented the Spanish State at the swearing-in ceremonies for many Latin American presidents. Felipe has also played a very active role in the promotion of Spain's economic and commercial interests and of Spanish language and culture in foreign countries. He frequently presides at economic and trade fairs held by Spain abroad (Expotecnia, Expoconsumo, and Expohabitat), and is especially interested in promoting the creation of Centres and University Chairs to disseminate the history and current situation of Spain in major foreign universities.

Felipe speaks Spanish, Catalan, French, English and some Greek.[3]

Marriage and children

The bachelorhood of Felipe was an issue in the Spanish press for several years. His name was linked with several eligible women, but only two with any conviction

 When Felipe finally began a serious relationship, nothing was suspected before the official announcement. On 1 November 2003 the Prince's engagement to Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano, an award-winning television journalist formerly with CNN, was proclaimed. Despite the fact she had been civilly married and then divorced, the public generally approved of Letizia since she represented the modern woman — independent, cultured, and accomplished in her profession.

The couple has two daughters:
Infanta Leonor de Todos los Santos of Spain, born 31 October 2005
Infanta Sofía de Todos los Santos of Spain, born 29 April 2007




"It's a political decision. He is abdicating given the new challenges in Spain because he thinks it's necessary to make way for the new generation." This article didn't indicate what stresses Spain was going through, so the following from Wikipedia will fill in some gaps.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain
Spain
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

During the 1980s the democratic restoration made possible a growing open society. New cultural movements based on freedom appeared, like La Movida Madrileña. On 30 May 1982 Spain joined NATO, following a referendum. That year theSpanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) came to power, the first left-wing government in 43 years. In 1986 Spain joined the European Community, which later became the European Union. The PSOE was replaced in government by the Partido Popular (PP) after the latter won the 1996 General Elections; at that point the PSOE had served almost 14 consecutive years in office.

On 1 January 2002, Spain ceased to use the peseta as currency replacing it with the euro, which it shares with 16 other countries in the Eurozone.

Spain has also seen strong economic growth, well above the EU average; however, well publicised concerns issued by many economic commentators at the height of the boom that the extraordinary property prices and high foreign trade deficits of the boom were likely to lead to a painful economic collapse were confirmed by a severe property-led recession that struck the country in 2008/9.[49]

A series of bombs exploded in commuter trains in Madrid, Spain on 11 March 2004. After a five-month trial in 2007 it was concluded the bombings were perpetrated by a local Islamist militant group inspired by al-Qaeda.[50] The bombings killed 191 people and wounded more than 1800, and the intention of the perpetrators may have been to influence the outcome of the Spanish general election, held three days later.[51]

Though initial suspicions focused on the Basque group ETA, evidence soon emerged indicating possible Islamistinvolvement. Because of the proximity of the election, the issue of responsibility quickly became a political controversy, with the main competing parties PP and PSOE exchanging accusations over the handling of the aftermath.[52] At 14 March elections, PSOE, led by José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, obtained a plurality, enough to form a new cabinet with Rodríguez Zapatero as the new Presidente del Gobierno or Prime Minister of Spain, thus succeeding the former PP administration.[53]
At the time, Spain had become one of the most secular societies in Europe, being one of the first in the world to allow same sex marriage.

The bursting of the Spanish property bubble in 2008 led to the 2008–2013 Spanish financial crisis.





EPA to Propose Major Cuts in Carbon Emissions – NBC
— Reporting by Kelly O'Donnell, Kristin Welker, Anne Thompson, Frank Thorp and the Associated Press
First published June 1st 2014

The Obama administration will announce tomorrow a sweeping plan to cut carbon emissions.

The Environmental Protection Agency will unveil its proposal that existing U.S. power plants will have to cut their carbon emissions by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030.

The announcement will work through Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, which requires states to adopt performance standards for existing sources of pollution. The EPA sets the benchmarks that states must meet and can improve upon.

In a statement, Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, called the plan a "scheme" that will "raise costs and destroy American jobs."

"This goes in exactly the wrong direction," Steel said.

Despite concluding in 2009 that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare, a finding that triggered their regulation under the 1970 Clean Air Act, it has taken years for the Obama administration to take on the nation's fleet of power plants. In December 2010, the Obama administration announced a "modest pace" for setting greenhouse gas standards for power plants, setting a May 2012 deadline.

EPA data shows that the nation's power plants have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 13 percent since 2005, or about halfway to the goal the administration will set Monday. The agency is aiming to have about 25 percent cut by 2020.

Obama has already tackled the emissions from the nation's cars and trucks, announcing rules to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by doubling fuel economy. That standard will reduce carbon dioxide by more than 2 billion tons over the life of vehicles made in model years 2012-25. The power plant proposal will prevent about 430 million tons of carbon dioxide from reaching the atmosphere, based on the 30 percent figure and what power plants have already reduced since 2005.

The EPA has not confirmed the details of the proposal Sunday.




“...existing U.S. power plants will have to cut their carbon emissions by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030....Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, which requires states to adopt performance standards for existing sources of pollution. The EPA sets the benchmarks that states must meet and can improve upon.” I'm sure some states will object and say that the requirements are unfair and even impossible to implement. This article says that the power plants have already reduced emissions by 13% since 2005, so it is definitely possible. They just need to continue the effort.

John Boehner had his spokesman Michael Steel to call the plan “a 'scheme' that will 'raise costs and destroy American jobs.'” I fail to see how power plants having to continue a path they have already started, the reduction of CO2 emissions, will “destroy American jobs.” Yes, it will raise costs, but they are wealthy companies and will be able to afford some higher costs.

The goal of reducing the amount of CO2 that reaches the atmosphere and therefore slowing down the progress of climate change is so important that some higher cost of doing business is warranted. If we, as a supposedly intelligent population, can prevent a disastrous process like global warming from getting worse – many are convinced that it has already begun – I will be proud. Some say that democracies are “less efficient” and therefore less desirable than totalitarian governments, but I like to think that we can function in a decisive way when necessary.





What 'War on Coal'? The Carbon Fuel Is Doing Fine – NBC
BY JAVIER E. DAVID
First published June 2nd 2014

If there's a war on coal, someone may have forgotten to tell the primary target.

As the Environmental Protection Agency prepares to unveil new standards on cutting carbon emissions at U.S. power plants, a confluence of factors underscore how coal still remains a vital source of generating electricity.

Regulations such as the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards, plus a shift toward natural gas by utilities, has put the fuel source under pressure. Yet nearly 40 percent of U.S. electricity is currently generated by coal, with both domestic and international use on the rise—fueled in part by a winter surge in natural gas prices. In recent research, Bank of America-Merrill Lynch noted that low U.S. coal supplies coincided with volatility in natural gas, triggered by "demand rationing" in the power sector.

Coal is a leading cause of global carbon emissions. However, in spite of predictions about its demise, demand for the fuel source is expected to rise by more than 4 percent this year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

"It's not surprising there's strong demand, because coal is a relatively cheap source of generating electricity when you don't account for social costs," said Jason Bordoff, director of Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy.

The rise in coal use—especially in Europe, where natural gas prices are far higher than in the U.S.—"is driven by market economics, especially with the rebound in gas prices," said Bordoff, who noted that it's cheaper for utilities to scale back on nat gas and use coal. Despite that, the EPA is likely to "change the economics of coal" by stiffening emissions targets for carbon intensive fuel, he added.

The new rules come as the Obama administration is under scrutiny from conservationists. With a climate change bill stalled by foes in Congress, the carbon reduction initiative looms as a major test of President Obama's climate bonafides.

The Union of Concerned Scientists cites coal plants as "the nation's top source of carbon dioxide," adding that the typical plant generates more than 3.5 million tons of greenhouse gasses per year. But the fuel is economically important for producing states like Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio, which have fought to preserve its use.

Even before the EPA's changes are made public, the battle over its substance has already been joined.

In a study, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said that curbing carbon emissions could cost the economy more than $50 billion a year, and result in the elimination of 224,000 jobs. Yet the Natural Resources Defense Council did a study of its own, saying new EPA rules could actually save the country more than $37 billion on electricity bills in 2020, and create more than 274,000 jobs.

The dynamic between natural gas and coal is important as well, because gas is a linchpin of the U.S. government's efforts to make coal obsolete. The White House hopes to push natural gas usage as a percentage of electricity generation up to 46 percent by 2030, up from its current levels near 30 percent.

Environmental regulations, the availability of coal and the price of natural gas are all determinants that utilities must weigh when deciding how to fire up plants.

"The EPA decision is part of a long-term analysis" made by the power sector, said Sue Kelly, CEO of the American Public Power Association. In an interview, she said utilities would do best "not to put too many eggs in the baskets of either coal or gas," adding that renewable energy should also be part of power companies' portfolio.

Coal's continued popularity in the face of mounting challenges can be attributed to some of the baggage carried by nat gas, often cited as one of the cleanest power sources. Kelly says a dearth of pipelines in the U.S. was a big factor behind the surge that sent gas prices up more than 40 percent over the winter.

"If I were handicapping natural gas vs coal, I would put my money on nat gas in the long run," she said. However, "with nat gas you are dependent on a pipeline delivery system, and there can be issues there."




“Regulations such as the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards, plus a shift toward natural gas by utilities, has put the fuel source under pressure.... 'It's not surprising there's strong demand, because coal is a relatively cheap source of generating electricity when you don't account for social costs,' said Jason Bordoff. An example of “social costs” is global warming, and environmental scientists have over the last few decades argued for the tallying of how much those costs are, and requiring that power plants and other industries pay those costs. That would make solar power and wind farms more viable options, in the eyes of conservative thinkers, for whom cost is the only important factor.

Natural gas is a cleaner burning product than coal and therefore preferable for reducing climate change, but as Sue Kelly says, “a dearth of pipelines in the U.S. was a big factor behind the surge that sent gas prices up more than 40 percent over the winter.” She says that the EPA decision is affecting the issue. “... utilities would do best 'not to put too many eggs in the baskets of either coal or gas,' adding that renewable energy should also be part of power companies' portfolio.” I hope that these predictions will turn out to be correct and that both coal and natural gas will be reduced in their use, with renewable resources taking a surge forward in their development and feasibility for producing electricity.





France arrests 4 alleged jihadist recruiters
CBS/AP June 2, 2014

PARIS, France -- Four people were arrested Monday for being members of a French jihadist recruiting network, the country's top security official said a day after authorities announced the detention of a French suspect in the deadly shooting at a Jewish museum.
French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the new arrests took place Monday morning in the Paris region and the south of France.

The arrests come in the wake of last Friday's detention of a suspected French jihadist who had spent time in Syria. Mehdi Nemmouche was arrested over the death of three people at the Belgian museum, and found in possession of firearms, ammunition and a video claiming responsibility for the May 24 attack. Cazeneuve said that Nemmouche was arrested minutes after he set foot on French soil.

CBS News correspondent Holly Williams reported that the French authorities believe hundreds of the country's citizens have fought in the Syrian conflict. Nemmouche is believed to have converted to radical Islam during a stint in a French prison. Williams said European interior ministers were to meet later this week to devise strategies to stem Syria-related violence in their countries.

"We will not give terrorists a chance," Cazeneuve told Europe 1 radio.

French prosecutors said Nemmouche had not spoken to investigators yet.

In a one-minute rampage that deeply shook Europe's Jewish community, a gunman opened fire at the Brussels museum. In addition to the fatalities, another person was gravely wounded.

Authorities raised anti-terror alert levels as they searched for the attacker. But it was ultimately a customs inspection in the French port city of Marseille that turned up Nemmouche, as he disembarked from a bus coming from Amsterdam, according to Paris prosecutor Francois Molins.

Molins said the suspect, a French-born 29-year-old from the northern city of Roubaix, had a revolver and a retractable automatic weapon like those used in the Brussels attack, and ballistics analyses were underway to determine if they were the same weapons.

At least one of the weapons was wrapped up in a white sheet scrawled with the name of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an extremist group fighting inSyria, Molins said. The group has also waged attacks in Iraq.

The Brussels killings led Belgian officials to boost their anti-terror measures, and raised fears of rising anti-Semitism. Cazeneuve said France had already raised its anti-terror measures, and notably had increased security at Jewish sites.

This follows the tragic incident in 2012 when a French-born radical Muslim attacked a Jewish school during a rampage in the south that left seven people dead.

"I understand that Jews in France are worried," Cazeneuve said.




“Four people were arrested Monday for being members of a French jihadist recruiting network, the country's top security official said....French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said the new arrests took place Monday morning in the Paris region and the south of France.... French authorities believe hundreds of the country's citizens have fought in the Syrian conflict.” Mehdi Nemmouche the assassin, when he was arrested, had in his possession a weapon marked with the name Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, an Islamist group involved in Syria.

Several cases of Muslim attacks on Jewish sites have caused France and Belgium to increase their anti-terror activities, and Jews in Europe are concerned with the rising anti-Semitism in the last few years. It goes along with the increase in right-leaning sentiment across much of the world, including the US. I think our Tea Partiers here are beginning to go through a diminished influence, as more moderate Republicans are beginning to regain power and speak out in oppositon. The Tea Party was blamed, rightfully, for the shutdown of the US government and have been involved in some racist incidents and anti-government groups. The fact that they are too extreme is being noticed by some who considered themselves to be “conservative,” like Senator McCain and John Boehner, and the difficulty of getting laws passed is lamented widely. I hope things are on a path of improvement in the US, and that “race wars” are not in our immediate future.





Hundreds of pro-Russian separatists attack Ukraine guards – CBS
AP June 2, 2014

DONETSK, Ukraine -- Hundreds of armed insurgents attacked a border guards' camp in eastern Ukraine Monday, a spokesman said.

Serhiy Astakhov told The Associated Press by telephone that five rebels were killed and eight injured in the continuing attack on the camp in Luhansk, a major city not far from the Russian border, according to a preliminary assessment. Seven servicemen were injured, three seriously.

The initial attack by around 100 insurgents was met by firing from the border guards, and the number of attackers swelled to around 400 a few hours later. Astakhov said the fighting was continuing, and that the Ukrainian forces sent an airplane to the area but still had been unable to quell the attack.

Vladislav Seleznyov, press secretary for Ukraine's operation against the rebels in the east, described the base as an important coordinating node for border guards across the province, and said the attack may have been an attempt to disrupt communications.

Seleznyov also said that there was another rebel attack Monday on a government checkpoint in Slovyansk, a city in the Donetsk region that has been an epicenter of the pro-Russian movement. He said that rebels had mined a number of power plants in Slovyansk, which he claimed would be detonated if the government were to move on the city.

For weeks, Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine has been the scene of deadly clashes between government troops and pro-Russian insurgents.

Months of protests during last fall and winter drove pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country. Many in Ukraine's east are suspicious of the new pro-Western government in Kiev, and protests in favor of greater independence from the Ukrainian capital soon turned into a separatist movement as the Luhansk and Donetsk regions declared independence following hastily called referenda.

The conflict between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian insurgents in eastern Ukraine escalated markedly in the past week, with rebels attempting to seize a major airport and the shooting-down of a Ukrainian military helicopter.

In Moscow, the Russian defense ministry announced on Monday a military exercise involving the launch of high-precision missiles. The ministry said the maneuvers of the Western Military District will continue through Thursday and will involve the deployment of Iskander surface-to-surface missiles.

Moscow didn't specify the areas where the exercise will be held and made no mention of the situation in Ukraine.




The Russia backed forces in Eastern Ukraine are still making attacks on Kiev's army, but the Ukrainians are holding their own. There have been a small number of casualties on both sides. Russia has stated plans for more military maneuvers but doesn't say if they will impact Ukraine, and on the net is another article about Russia's giving Ukraine more time to pay its gas bill. Another article that is of interest was written by Henry Kissinger, who states that absolute victory will not be reached by either party if there is to be peace. He goes into Ukraine's history of the period since 1939, and advocates neither NATO membership for Ukraine nor Russian dominance of the region again in an effort to reconstruct the old Soviet Union. The website is: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/henry-kissinger-to-settle-the-ukraine-crisis-start-at-the-end/2014/03/05/46dad868-a496-11e3-8466-d34c451760b9_story.html. It gives good background information and some “pieces of advice.” I enjoyed reading it, and suggest that others might, too.





Report: NSA Collects Millions Of Photos For Facial Recognition Project – NPR
by EYDER PERALTA
June 01, 2014

Because of the big news about the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, we missed another big story on Saturday that was published by The New York Times: Based on documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the paper reports the U.S. spy agency is collecting millions of pictures a day from emails, text messages, social media, videoconferences and other sources for a facial-recognition project.

It's important to note that it's not clear whether the bulk collection includes the pictures of Americans and it is also not clear whether a facial-recognition program of this sort is bound by current U.S. Law.

The Times reports that the NSA is crosschecking those public images with official databases. One document showed an image with other information like whether the person shown was on the no-fly list. The Times adds:

"The spy agency's reliance on facial recognition technology has grown significantly over the last four years as the agency has turned to new software to exploit the flood of images included in emails, text messages, social media, videoconferences and other communications, the N.S.A. documents reveal. Agency officials believe that technological advances could revolutionize the way that the N.S.A. finds intelligence targets around the world, the documents show. The agency's ambitions for this highly sensitive ability and the scale of its effort have not previously been disclosed.

"The agency intercepts 'millions of images per day' — including about 55,000 'facial recognition quality images' — which translate into 'tremendous untapped potential,' according to 2011 documents obtained from the former agency contractor Edward J. Snowden. While once focused on written and oral communications, the N.S.A. now considers facial images, fingerprints and other identifiers just as important to its mission of tracking suspected terrorists and other intelligence targets, the documents show.

'It's not just the traditional communications we're after: It's taking a full-arsenal approach that digitally exploits the clues a target leaves behind in their regular activities on the net to compile biographic and biometric information' that can help 'implement precision targeting,' noted a 2010 document.



http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2645304/New-report-says-NSA-intercepting-millions-images-day-create-facial-recognition-database.html

NSA is 'creating huge facial recognition database by taking millions of images off the internet'
By KIRK MALTAIS
PUBLISHED: 09:27 EST, 1 June 2014

The NSA has so far had mixed results with the accuracy of their facial recognition technology. An NSA Powerpoint from 2011 reportedly demonstrated the facial recognition of an unidentified man, who appeared in different photographs in different as at times bearded, while other times clean-shaven.
The slideshow presented several points of information about the man, such as his passports, visa, status on the TSA's no-fly list, and suspected relationship with terrorist groups.

However, the facial recognition algorithms used by the NSA have also been known to return with invalid results. In another 2011 document, the NSA's system processed a query using a photograph of Osama bin Laden. Results were returned with four other bearded men, who's faces only looked slightly like bin Laden.

This revelation of the NSA's farming of images online to collect facial pictures is similar to the discovery earlier this year that the British GCHQ intercepted streamed webcam chats from users of Yahoo. The discovery, publicized by the Guardian and also based on leaked documents from Snowden, revealed that 1.8 million users had their privacy compromised. According to that report, up to 11 per cent of the pictures taken contained  'undesirable nudity.'

American law currently does not provide specific protections for facial images. However, the NSA is still required to get court approval for communications collected of American citizens. These include photographs in addition to emails and telephone conversations.

According to an NSA spokeswoman who spoke with the New York Times, the NSA does not have access to state driver's license pictures, nor passport photos. The spokeswoman declined to say whether or not the NSA was collecting facial imagery of Americans through social media.

In the documents cited by the New York Times, one of the tools used by the NSA to collect facial images is a program called Wellspring, which strips out images from emails and other communications, and displays those that might contain passport images. Additionally, the NSA uses commercially available facial recognition technology, including PittPatt, a small company purchased by Google in mid-2011.




“'It's taking a full-arsenal approach that digitally exploits the clues a target leaves behind in their regular activities on the net to compile biographic and biometric information' that can help 'implement precision targeting,' noted a 2010 document.” If the NSA is going to maintain files on massive numbers of citizens, “precision targeting” is better than the use of less decisive information for identification as long as people will be arrested on those grounds. The Daily Mail, UK, article however says that the NSA's facial recognition program has failed in some cases to correctly identify people, specifically a photo of Bin Laden was fed in and instead of him four other bearded men were picked. It needs to be more accurate before it is even worthwhile as a tool.

The photographs used should be high quality resolution pictures. Those low resolution shots taken by some security cameras are not really good enough to make positive Ids, I don't think. Fewer innocent people will be picked up by authorities as long as very good photos are backed up by fingerprints and biographical information. The question is whether or not we should be compiling another huge file on US citizens at all. Of course, this NPR article doesn't say that it will be made up of US citizens.

The Daily Mail article states, “American law currently does not provide specific protections for facial images. However, the NSA is still required to get court approval for communications collected of American citizens. These include photographs in addition to emails and telephone conversations.” As long as the NSA gets court permission it doesn't bother me as much. Being able to pull up an accurate photograph of a suspected terrorist, or recognize him as he goes through Customs, is obviously worthwhile. We do need speedy means to identify and arrest would be terrorists, in order to prevent more crimes in the US or abroad.