Massacre: Taliban Storms Pakistan School, Killing 126, Mostly Children
December 16th, 2014Via: USA Today:
Taliban gunmen stormed a school in Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 126 people, mostly children, that country’s government said.
Hours after the attack, it was still not clear if hostages were being held or whether the militants were killed by Pakistan’s military.
The attack began in the early morning, with the gunmen entering the school — a military-run facility in the northwestern city of Peshawar with students in grades 1-10 — and shooting at random, said police officer Javed Khan. Army commandos quickly arrived at the scene and exchanged fire with the gunmen, he said.
Mushtaq Ghani, the province’s information minister, said most of the dead were students, children and teenagers.
Bahramand Khan, director of information for the regional Chief Minister’s Secretariat, said 122 people were wounded, Reuters reported.
Taliban spokesman Mohammed Khurasani claimed responsibility for the attack in a phone call to media, saying that six suicide bombers carried out the attack in revenge for the killings of Taliban members at the hands of Pakistani authorities. The army said five militants were killed, according to Reuters.
New Zealand: “Are Electricity Prices Rising Too Quickly?”
December 16th, 2014Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand.
There are multiple retailers, so a functional market must exist!
Right?
Cartel. Cartel. Cartel. This is a word that crooks on both the left and right hope you’ll never understand.
In economics, a cartel is an agreement between competing firms to control prices or exclude entry of a new competitor in a market. It is a formal organization of sellers or buyers that agree to fix selling prices, purchase prices, or reduce production using a variety of tactics. Cartels usually arise in an oligopolistic industry, where the number of sellers is small or sales are highly concentrated and the products being traded are usually commodities. Cartel members may agree on such matters as setting minimum or target prices (price fixing), reducing total industry output, fixing market shares, allocating customers, allocating territories, bid rigging, establishment of common sales agencies, altering the conditions of sale, or combination of these. The aim of such collusion (also called the cartel agreement) is to increase individual members’ profits by reducing competition.
After our solar power system was installed, I spent several months struggling with our power retailer to get our import/export meter connected properly. They hooked it up incorrectly two different times. Long story short, we finally received an accurate bill. Here’s why New Zealand is the most solar hostile country in the developed world (see the green arrow on our most recent electricity bill):
We normally pay about NZ$250 at this time of year. I like NZ$10 a lot better.
F these bastards. And we don’t even have batteries yet.
This machine kills fascists.
In case you don’t click through, here are some selected gems from the many satisfied customers who took the time to leave comments:
I clearly remember a certain bill birch saying that `we will all be better off and have cheaper power` back in the `90`s when the power companies were `freed` to compete. maybe all our power bills should be sent to him to pay
—martynA despicable industry, working on a cost plus mentality. It doesn’t matter how many companies are available if they are all driven by greed. The Minister conveys what he is told by officials and we should remeber that “Yes Minister” was a documentary, not a comedy. By the way, I’m a long term supporter of the Government but this industry is out of control.
—Gary HDoes not matter how many competitors you have if they all work together then there really is no competition. This is the case in NZ. Yeah yeah, we get the spiel about low margins, expenses blah blah blah yet all their profits have increased even with lower demand and their senior management are still getting huge salary increases and packages. We are to small for all this free market guano. It did not work when Douglas introduced it and it does not work now with a business friendly Government practicing corporate welfare on a grand scale.
—GrahamIt’s interesting to note that all the power company execs are all on a million plus. Says it all really. That money has to come from somewhere.
—IVAN TURKThey shouldn’t be rising at all in view of the current surplus of electricity. The more that power rises, the more you realise what a racket we are all caught up in. This isn’t an exercise about the real cost of electricity, it’s more about how to extract money from our wallets into the hands of power company shareholders. But conversely new technology is slowly evolving that will in time make current electricity providers near redundant to other than major users. This will be a sunset industry in the not too distant future.
—DJSTUGet alternative, off-the-grid energy! Use battery banks and screw the thieving power companies. Power prices will continue to wreck your budgets and winter will remain the nightmare of the poor, as they either stay cold so they can afford to eat, or pay the power bill. Utterly, utterly shameful for a supposedly 1st world democracy!
—The Orator
It goes on and on. I don’t see a single comment supporting the outlaw cartel that’s operating here.
Via: New Zealand Herald:
Residential electricity prices rose again on average in 2014, outstripping inflation and pushing up the cost of living.
Last month the Green Party released figures showing Kiwis are spending more of the pay packets on electricity, saying power bills make up 3.5 percent of expenditure this year.
Green Party energy spokesperson Gareth Hughes says power prices have gone up 25 per cent in six years, despite a 10 per cent drop in demand over the same time period.
The Government has rejected claims that the electricity market is failing, pointing out the large number of power supply companies available, giving people more chance to shop around.
Iraq War Veteran Suspected in 6 Fatal Pennsylvania Shootings Still at Large
December 15th, 2014Via: Los Angeles Times:
An Iraq war veteran suspected in a shooting rampage that left six of his estranged family members dead remained at large late Monday as the manhunt continued north of Philadelphia.
The victims included his ex-wife, her mother, her grandmother, her sister, her brother-in-law and a niece. A nephew was wounded.
Former Marine Sgt. Bradley William Stone, 35, also may have abducted his two daughters from his ex-wife’s home, a witness said, but dropped them off with a neighbor before he vanished. By late Monday night, the manhunt had spilled from Montgomery County into Bucks County, leading residents in Doylestown to shelter indoors.
Reposit Power
December 15th, 2014Disclosure: I sell solar power systems in New Zealand.
Via: REneweconomy:
A Canberra-based company is to introduce new technology that it says could help turn electricity markets on their head – by allowing households to buy and sell electricity on the market.
The buying and selling of electricity has hitherto been the province of large or specialised companies such as electricity retailers. But Reposit Power says that homes and businesses can and should be able to trade electricity with the help of battery storage, and production facilities such as solar panels.
Reposit Power plans to install battery storage in six homes around Canberra to run a six-month pilot of its technology, known as GridCredits. The Australian Renewable Energy Agency is contributing $445,000 to the $900,000 project.
Reposit Power says GridCredits is a world-first energy storage program that will put consumers in the driving seat and will “transform the grid forever.”
Spokesman Luke Osborne says the technology will allow households to “buy low and sell high” – adding a new layer of possibilities to homes that have solar and storage. He says this will enable some households to virtually eradicate their bills and still remain connected to the grid by doing what the retailers do – maximising their earnings on the market.
“A lot of what retailers do is buying services from peaking power stations. Consumer with storage and solar panels can provide the same services themselves,” Osborne told RenewEconomy in an interview.
“What we are doing is when it makes sense – households can be a seller, and then buy electricity at a low price.”
Russia Defends Ruble With Biggest Rate Rise Since 1998
December 15th, 2014Via: Bloomberg:
Russia took its biggest step yet to shore up the ruble and defuse the currency crisis threatening its stricken economy.
In a surprise announcement just before 1 a.m. in Moscow, the Russian central bank said it would raise its key interest rate to 17 percent from 10.5 percent, effective today. The move was the largest single increase since 1998, when Russian rates soared past 100 percent and the government defaulted on debt.
The news prompted an immediate gain in the ruble, with one-month ruble forwards up 1.6 percent in Asian trading.
The Devalued American Worker
December 15th, 2014Via: Washington Post:
The American economy has stopped delivering the broadly shared prosperity that the nation grew accustomed to after World War II. The explanation for why that is begins with the millions of middle-class jobs that vanished over the past 25 years, and with what happened to the men and women who once held those jobs.
Millions of Americans are working harder than ever just to keep from falling behind; Green is one of them. Those workers have been devalued in the eyes of the economy, pushed into jobs that pay them much less than the ones they once had.
Today, a shrinking share of Americans are working middle-class jobs, and collectively, they earn less of the nation’s income than they used to. In 1981, according to the Pew Research Center, 59 percent of American adults were classified as “middle income” — which means their household income was between two-thirds and double the nation’s median income. By 2011, it was down to 51 percent. In that time, the “middle” group’s share of the national income pie fell from 60 percent to 45 percent.
For that, you can blame the past three recessions, which sparked a chain reaction of layoffs and lower pay.
Millions of American jobs disappeared during the 1990, 2001 and 2008 recessions. That’s what happens in recessions. But for decades after World War II, lost jobs came back when the economy picked up again. These times, they didn’t. And it was a particular sort of job that disappeared permanently in those downturns, economists from Duke University and the University of British Columbia have found: jobs that companies could easily outsource overseas or replace with a machine.
Strikes Across Belgium Cause Transport Chaos
December 15th, 2014Via: BBC:
A nationwide strike in Belgium has brought air, rail and road transport to a standstill and forced many businesses to close.
Hundreds of flights to and from Belgium have been cancelled, as well as Eurostar services to Brussels.
The widespread industrial action is the latest in a series of strikes protesting against the new centre-right coalition’s austerity policies.
The government plans to save €11bn (£8.7bn) in the next five years.
The 24-hour strike is the largest to have taken place in Belgium for many years. It has forced government offices and schools to close, and the country’s ports have been blockaded.
Unions are opposing a decision by Charles Michel – Belgium’s new leader – to scrap a cost-of-living wage rise next year. Belgian law currently mandates that wages rise at the same pace as inflation.
They are also protesting against public sector cutbacks and plans to increase the retirement age.
Australia: Hostage Situation in Sydney
December 14th, 2014Update: Hostage-Taker Was Dropped From Watch List
Via: Reuters:
A gunman responsible for a deadly siege in a Sydney cafe was once on the national security agency’s watch list — but was dropped off it years ago for reasons that remain unclear, Australia’s prime minister said Wednesday.
—
Update: Gunbattle, Three People Confirmed Dead Including Hostage Taker Man Monis
Via: 9News:
Three people are confirmed dead, including gunman Man Monis, after a hostage situation in Sydney ended in a hail of gunfire.
The self-styled Muslim cleric, who took the group of people hostage yesterday morning, was confirmed dead early today, along with two other people, believed to be hostages.
Police confirmed the 50-year-old gunman died when police stormed the building about 2am.
—
Update: Siege Over
Via: CBC News:
Australian security forces opened fire on Tuesday as they stormed the Sydney café where several hostages were being held at gunpoint, in a dramatic end to a standoff that had dragged on for more than 16 hours.
—
I don’t know any more than what has been shown on the live feeds.
Via: NZ Herald:
Witnesses described how a man wearing a headband covered in Arabic walked into the Lindt cafe in Martin Place and produced a shotgun from a blue bag at around 9.45am.
Shortly afterwards hostages were seen with their hands pressed against the windows holding up the Shahada flag belonging to the extremist group Jabhat al-Nusra, which is fighting the Assad government in Syria.
Afghanistan War: One Trillion Dollars
December 14th, 2014Hope + Change we can believe in = Priceless
Via: Financial Times:
The Afghanistan war, the longest overseas conflict in American history, has cost the US taxpayer nearly $1tn and will require spending several hundred billion dollars more after it officially ends this month, according to FT calculations and independent researchers.
Around 80 per cent of that spending on the Afghanistan conflict has taken place during the presidency of Barack Obama, who sharply increased the US military presence in the country after taking office in 2009.
The enormous bill for the 13-year conflict, which has never been detailed by the government, will add to the pervasive scepticism about the war in the US where opinion polls show a majority of Americans believe it was a bad idea.
Google’s Internet Balloons Are Staying Aloft Longer Than Anyone Expected
December 14th, 2014Via: The Verge:
When Google announced Project Loon in June of last year many balloon experts were skeptical of its chances. The stated goal was that the balloons that would last 100 days or more in the air, but nobody was routinely getting anywhere near that kind of longevity. Much larger NASA balloons typically stayed in flight for less than 60 days. Google was aiming to nearly double that, and at a much lower cost. “Absolutely impossible—just talk to anybody in the scientific community,” veteran balloonist Per Lindstrand told Wired. “Even three weeks is very rare.”
Today, Google is announcing a number of achievements, the most important of which it’s dubbed The Marathoner, a balloon launched in July from New Zealand that came back to Earth in Chile 134 days later. “When we started out, 10 days was an achievement. Then we hit 30, then 70 and now it is commonplace for us to get into the 100 day realm,” said Mahesh Krishnaswamy, who leads Project Loon’s manufacturing efforts.
More: Google Partnering with France’s Space Agency
