cryptogon.com

“This issue of space weather has got to be taken seriously,” said John Beddington, the UK government’s chief scientific adviser, speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Washington DC. “We’ve had a relatively quiet [period] in space weather and we can expect that quiet period to end. Over the same time, over that period, the potential vulnerability of our systems has increased dramatically. Whether it’s the smart grid in our electricity systems or the ubiquitous use of GPS in just about everything these days.”

“It’s reasonable to expect there will be more [solar storm] events,” said Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “The watchwords are predict and prepare.”

The sun’s activity goes up and down on a roughly 11-year cycle, and the next period of maximum activity is expected in 2013.

A solar storm starts with a solar flare that is accompanied by a burst of electromagnetic radiation that, when it arrives at Earth, ionises the outer atmosphere. On the ground, we would be safe but GPS satellites and others would be affected.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi will fight a popular revolt to “the last man standing,” one of his sons said on Monday as people in the capital joined protests for the first time after days of violent unrest in the eastern city of Benghazi.

Anti-government protesters rallied in Tripoli’s streets, tribal leaders spoke out against Gaddafi, and army units defected to the opposition as oil exporter Libya endured one of the bloodiest revolts to convulse the Arab world.

Speaking on state television on Monday, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi said: “Our spirits are high and the leader Muammar Gaddafi is leading the battle in Tripoli, and we are behind him as is the Libyan army.

“We will keep fighting until the last man standing, even to the last woman standing … we will not leave Libya to the Italians or the Turks.”

In the coastal city of Benghazi protesters appeared to be largely in control after forcing troops and police to retreat to a compound. Government buildings were set ablaze and ransacked.

Soldiers defect

In the first sign of serious unrest in the capital, thousands of protesters clashed with Gaddafi supporters.

Gunfire rang out in the night and police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators, some of whom threw stones at Gaddafi posters.

The Justice Department, which in the last few months has gotten protective orders from two federal judges keeping details of the technology out of court, says it is guarding state secrets that would threaten national security if disclosed. But others involved in the case say that what the government is trying to avoid is public embarrassment over evidence that Mr. Montgomery bamboozled federal officials.

A onetime biomedical technician with a penchant for gambling, Mr. Montgomery is at the center of a tale that features terrorism scares, secret White House briefings, backing from prominent Republicans, backdoor deal-making and fantastic-sounding computer technology.

The governor of Konar province, Fazlullah Wahidi, said that NATO forces launched the operation four days ago in the Ghaziabad district, a desolate area near the province’s northern border with Pakistan, where a lethal mix of insurgent groups operate.

“According to locals in the area, American helicopters have been constantly bombing the village and have caused tremendous civilian casualties,” Wahidi said in an interview. He said he received his information from residents “trapped” in the village.

Sitting in the lobby of Manhattan’s Ace Hotel, one of new-school tech’s favourite hangouts, Farai predicts the boom has just begun. “People who not long ago started startups because they couldn’t get a job are turning down jobs now,” she says. “There’s so much money about. The idea that your idea could be the next big idea is very real. There’s a real air of excitement.” Could it all end in tears? “It always does.”

Right now, though, who wouldn’t be excited? Every week, one of the new generation of internet firms seems to attract a sky-high valuation. Zynga, the social-network games company that has tempted millions to grow virtual vegetables in its FarmVille game, has been valued at $9bn (£5.54bn). Profitless Twitter is said to be worth $10bn. Groupon, vendor of online discounts, rejected a $6bn offer from Google and is considering a flotation with a potential valuation of $15bn. Tech-watchers say this is just the start: the real boom will come when Facebook, the head boy of the new dotcom frenzy, goes public, probably next year.

This month it emerged that Facebook staff are planning to sell $1bn of private shares at a price that values the private company at $60bn – that’s $10bn more than January’s valuation and close to 10 times the price Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies paid employees who sold shares in 2009.

Up to 15 leading Chinese rights lawyers and activists have disappeared since Saturday amid a nationwide police mobilisation, according to activists, while the government appeared to censor Internet postings calling for the demonstrations.

“We welcome… laid off workers and victims of forced evictions to participate in demonstrations, shout slogans and seek freedom, democracy and political reform to end ‘one party rule’,” one Internet posting said.

The postings, many of which appeared to have originated on overseas websites run by exiled Chinese political activists, called for protests in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and 10 other major Chinese cities.

Protesters were urged to shout slogans including “We want food to eat”, “We want work”, “We want housing”, “We want justice”, “Long live freedom”, and “Long live democracy”.

At Beijing’s central Wangfujing shopping district where protesters were told to gather, a massive police presence was in place but no demonstrations were seen as thousands of shoppers milled about on what is normally a busy shopping day.

At least two people were seen being taken away by police, one for cursing at the authorities and another person who was shouting: “I want food to eat.”

According to Internet postings, only a few demonstrators appeared in other cities, although large police contingents were seen at designated protest spots in Shanghai, Harbin, Guangzhou and Chengdu.

“I don’t think the call to protest was serious, no one really intended to protest because there are too many police,” leading rights lawyer Li Jinsong told AFP.

“By taking this so seriously, police are showing how concerned they are that the Jasmine Revolution could influence China’s social stability.”

The four banks are Bohae Mutual Savings & Finance Co. and three subsidiaries of Busan Savings Bank — Jungang Busan Savings Bank, Busan II Savings Bank, and Jeonju Savings Bank, the financial watchdog said in a statement today.

“They have suffered a bank run” after the recent suspension of two other banks, the FSC said in a statement after a meeting at 7:30 a.m. today. “We concluded that they will not be able to meet demand for withdrawals, eventually hurting depositors’ interests and credit order.”

Busan Savings Bank and Daejeon Mutual Savings Bank were ordered to halt operations for six months from Feb. 17 due to soured construction project loans. The commission is tightening scrutiny of smaller mutual savings banks, with a plan to buy as much as 3.5 trillion won ($3.1 billion) worth of deteriorating loans made to builders and developers.

“I don’t think an increase to 10 percent is enough,” former Financial Services Minister Hakuo Yanagisawa said yesterday in an interview at his office in Tokyo. “Our discussions must be based on new realities.”

Kan appointed the 75-year-old Yanagisawa to the panel that will meet for the first time on Feb. 5. Yanagisawa, a former colleague of Economy Minister Kaoru Yosano, who is leading Kan’s push for a debate on the sales tax and has advocated doubling the levy. The government is set to issue a plan on shoring up Japan’s social welfare system by June.

Concern over Japan’s rising debt, the largest in the developed world, prompted Standard & Poor’s to cut the country’s credit rating last week. Social security costs in Japan, the world’s most rapidly aging society, have risen more than 60 percent since 2000 and will account for 53 percent of government spending in the fiscal year beginning in April.