Sarkozy and the other hypocritical clowns of the west
When I hear members of the U.S. administration say that "all options are on the table" I feel highly tempted to tell them exactly what they can do with that table and where they can shove it. The reeking, oozing hypocrisy of U.S. and western officials is enough to make you want to slap them silly. Now Hillary Clinton announces proudly that she is to meet with terrorists operating in Libya this coming week. How quaint.

As we have been reporting in this space, most everything the western corporate mainstream media has been reporting about Libya has been lies and fabrications. They accuse Quaddafi of all kinds of crimes while they themselves are involved in crimes against peace, crimes against humanity: torture, destruction of the environment, attacking civilian infrastructure and wanton murder of innocent civilians.

Nothing is said or done about the crimes committed by Israel in Lebanon and Palestine which, despite having being condemned by the United Nations, have never been considered by the United States or NATO for a possible armed intervention, much less "no fly zones."

In recent months, the sky has been merciless to us. Record strong solar flares cause terrible magnetic storms that provoke headaches and heart attacks. The astronomers are scaring us saying this is only the beginning of the solar awakening. Now it is the turn of the natural satellite of the Earth to bring another surprise. In a few days it will approach the Earth the closest in the last twenty years. What should we be expecting from a phenomenon that scientists call "perigee" and that journalists named the "Supermoon"?

The Internet is once again filled with anxious apocalyptic predictions: the world is facing its death or at least a big trouble. At this time the cause of public concern was the moon. On March 19, as promised by scientists, the Moon will be at the point of perigee - its maximum proximity to the Earth. Only 356.6 thousand miles will separate us from our natural satellite on the night of the Supermoon. In terms of space distances it is just a stone's throw away.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan has said Japan is experiencing its greatest hardships since World War II as it tackles the aftermath of an earthquake, tsunami and a growing nuclear crisis.

He said the situation at the quake-hit Fukushima nuclear plant remained grave, a day after an explosion at a reactor.

Japanese broadcaster NHK says the total number of confirmed deaths caused by the disaster now stands at 1,596.

But police warn that the death toll in Miyagi region alone could top 10,000.

Millions of survivors remain without electricity and authorities are stepping up relief efforts as the scale of the tragedy becomes clearer.

About 310,000 people have been evacuated to emergency shelters, NHK says.

The powerful earthquake that unleashed a devastating tsunami Friday appears to have moved the main island of Japan by 8 feet (2.4 meters) and shifted the Earth on its axis.

"At this point, we know that one GPS station moved (8 feet), and we have seen a map from GSI (Geospatial Information Authority) in Japan showing the pattern of shift over a large area is consistent with about that much shift of the land mass," said Kenneth Hudnut, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Reports from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Italy estimated the 8.9-magnitude quake shifted the planet on its axis by nearly 4 inches (10 centimeters).

The temblor, which struck Friday afternoon near the east coast of Japan, killed hundreds of people, caused the formation of 30-foot walls of water that swept across rice fields, engulfed entire towns, dragged houses onto highways, and tossed cars and boats like toys. Some waves reached six miles (10 kilometers) inland in Miyagi Prefecture on Japan's east coast.

An explosion at a nuclear power station Saturday destroyed a building housing the reactor, but a radiation leak was decreasing despite fears of a meltdown from damage caused by a powerful earthquake and tsunami, officials said.

Government spokesman Yukio Edano said the explosion destroyed the exterior walls of the building where the reactor is placed, but not the actual metal housing enveloping the reactor.

That was welcome news for a country suffering from Friday's double disaster that pulverized the northeastern coast, leaving at least 574 people dead by official count.

The scale of destruction was not yet known, but there were grim signs that the death toll could soar. One report said four whole trains had disappeared Friday and still not been located. Local media reports said at least 1,300 people may have been killed.

Edano said the radiation around the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant had not risen after the blast, but had in fact decreased. He did not say why that was so.