UK Riots: 16000 officers to police London

Some 16,000 police officers will be on London's streets later in a bid to prevent a fourth night of rioting.The government's emergency committee, Cobra, met in the wake of Monday's violence, which spread across London and prompted unrest in other cities.PM David Cameron pledged to restore order, recalling Parliament on Thursday in response to the "sickening scenes". The Met Police, which is drafting in support from 30 other forces, says it will consider using plastic bullets.AdvertisementTwo 17-year-olds said they were "showing police and rich people they could do whatever they wanted".Deputy Assistant Commissioner Stephen Kavanagh said use of the ammunition - never before fired to deal with riots in England - would be "considered carefully".But he added: "That does not mean we are scared of using any tactic."

Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin had earlier ruled out calling in the Army.However, the force has cancelled all leave and called in Special constables and community support officers to ensure five times the usual number of officers for a Tuesday will be on duty.Meanwhile, Scotland Yard said a 26-year-old man found shot in a car in Croydon, amid rioting in the south London town, had died in hospital.

Hundreds of arrests

Mr Cameron met officers in the Met Police's Gold command in Lambeth on Tuesday afternoon, before speaking to emergency service personnel in Croydon.He condemned the "sickening scenes of people looting, vandalising, thieving, robbing", which the Met Police said had resulted in 525 arrests and more than 100 people being charged.AdvertisementClapham resident Nick Shaw escaped unhurt from his home which was set ablazeHe told rioters: "You will feel the full force of the law. And if you are old enough to commit these crimes, you are old enough to face the punishment."The recall of Parliament will allow MPs to "stand together in condemnation of these crimes and to stand together in determination to rebuild these communities", he said.The prime minister returned early from his holiday in Tuscany to discuss the unrest, which first flared on Saturday after a peaceful protest in Tottenham over the fatal shooting of a man by police.

London has seen a wave of "copycat criminal activity" over the past three days, the Met Police said.Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol are among the other cities where violence broke out.In other developments.Three people are being questioned on suspicion of attempted murder after a police officer was injured by a car in Wembley, north-west London, while trying to stop suspected looters,Part of London's Tramlink between has been suspended as a result of a fire.

Obama celebrates 50th birthday at White House

President Obama 50th birthday

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is expecting at least one birthday greeting when he turns 50 on Thursday.
"By the time I wake up, I'll have an email from AARP asking me to call President Obama and tell him to protect Medicare," Obama joked during a fundraiser in Chicago on the eve of his birthday.
Obama's big birthday comes just days after he reached a deal with Republicans to raise the nation's debt ceiling and avert a calamitous government default. While the mood around the White House hasn't exactly been festive since the deal was reached — Obama didn't get much of what he wanted — there will be plenty of celebration there Thursday for the president's 50th.
Senior members of Obama's staff will toast the president in the Blue Room of the White House Thursday afternoon. At night, he'll celebrate with family and friends, including some coming in from his hometown of Chicago, then cap the festivities with a weekend trip to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland.
An administration official said the Obamas will pay for the president's birthday party at the White House.
For the sake of his re-election campaign, the celebrations started a bit early for the president. He headlined birthday-themed fundraisers in Chicago Wednesday night to rake in money for his campaign and spoke via video conference to supporters holding their own presidential birthday events around the country.
A group from North Carolina sang "Happy Birthday," while another in Ohio held up signs wishing the president a happy 50th.
With the cloud of uncertainty that surrounded the debt debate now lifted, Obama had a wide smile on his face for much of the night. He got another birthday serenade from musicians Jennifer Hudson, Herbie Hancock and the band OK Go, along with the crowd of about 2,400 gathered at Chicago's historic Aragon Ballroom.
At a small dinner for high-dollar donors later in the night, Obama said there would be one very important present waiting for him in back in Washington on Thursday. His oldest daughter, Malia, was coming home from camp to celebrate his father's birthday.
Obama was born Aug. 4, 1961, near the end of the baby boom years of 1946-64. He's the third U.S. president who belongs to the baby boom generation, a population of more than 76 million. Bill Clinton was the first, followed by George W. Bush.

Republicans Back Short-Term debt deal that causes a downgrade Obama should veto

 
WASHINGTON -- Republicans are willing to push President Obama to the wall with their budget-slashing bill to raise the debt ceiling because they are convinced he will capitulate on his veto threat and sign it, GOP lawmakers declared Thursday.

The Republican bill, which passed the House Tuesday and which Democrats warn will require even steeper cuts than the unpopular House budget plan that passed in the spring, is starting debate in the Senate.

And although the President has threatened to veto the measure and Senate Democrats say it is unacceptable, the group of Republicans from the House and Senate said it was Democrats' only choice to avoid defaulting on America's debt -- and that Obama would take it to stave off catastrophe.

"This is the only viable plan, right now, that will do that," said Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) "And I will bet you a porterhouse steak that, if it lands on his desk, he'll sign that puppy."

As for Obama's threat to reject the Tea Party-inspired "Cut, Cap and Balance" bill, Coburn suggested they were empty words.

The Republican aides said the revenue increase in the plan was larger than one Boehner and Obama had tentatively agreed to. An administration official said the plan changed the political dynamics in the push for a deal.

Standard & Poor’s warned there is a 50 percent chance it will lower the U.S. government’s AAA credit rating by one or more levels within three months. S&P said that, even if Congress raises the debt limit in time to avert a default, it might lower the U.S. sovereign rating to AA+ with a negative outlook if it isn’t accompanied by a “credible solution” on the debt level.

Such a ratings change would “modestly raise” the government’s borrowing costs, S&P said. If the U.S. defaults on some obligations after Aug. 2, even if it pays bondholders, S&P forecasts short-term interest rates would rise 0.50 percentage points and long-term interest rates by 1 percentage point.

Greater-than-expected tax receipts might give the U.S. Treasury an extra week — until Aug. 10 — before exhausting its borrowing authority, analysts with New York-based Barclays Capital said. The government has collected about $14 billion more in tax revenue since July 14 “than we were expecting,” the analysts wrote.

Read more on Newsmax.com: Republicans Back Short-Term Debt-Limit Deal, Risking Obama Veto
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Dueling plans for debt ceiling

Reporting from Washington

The Republican leader of the House and the Democratic leader of the Senate issued dueling proposals to allow the federal debt ceiling to be raised — both with steep spending cuts, but neither with a clear route to ending the standoff over the government's ability to pay its bills.

The plan also provides an expedited track for the president to request a hike in the debt limit to be implemented in two stages. A first step calls for Congress to pass $1.2 trillion in spending cuts, allowing the president to request a $1 trillion hike in the debt ceiling. The request would be deemed passed unless Congress votes a resolution of disapproval – a procedure first proposed by Senate Republican leader (Mitch McConnell).

This expedited procedure allows Congress to raise the debt limit with only a third plus one votes in either the House or Senate, the threshold for sustaining a presidential veto – saving many lawmakers a difficult, but necessary vote.

The next stage empowers a new legislative commission – six Republicans and eight Democrats – to find an additional $1.8 trillion in spending cuts, that would include cuts to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which is a nonstarter for Democrats. If passed, this second-stage vote also opens the door to a presidential request to raise the debt ceiling through 2012, also on a fast track.

Finally, the GOP plan requires a vote in both the House and Senate on a balanced-budget amendment to the US Constitution. The House GOP’s cut, cap, and balance measure set a higher threshold – requiring that Congress pass a balanced budget amendment and send it on to the states for ratification.

But those hopes were dampened Monday by conservative opposition to the plan, highlighted by Rep. Jim Jordan (Ohio), who leads a conservative caucus of more than 170 GOP members. Jordan is one of 39 House Republicans who previously took a pledge vowing to increase the debt ceiling only in return for Congress sending to the states a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget.


 

Norway attacks in solo bombing

Norway Attack Suspect

Here is a brief update on what has happened in Norway over the last 24 hours.

The suspect, Anders Behring Breivik, has had ties to far-right, Christian fundamentalist movements in the past, but has reportedly been inactive in these groups for over 5 years now. He owned a farm where he had access to fertilizer, which could have been used to build the bomb that went off in the capitol yesterday. It would appear that my hypothesis in my prior article (which you can read here) was correct. However scary and unsettling it was, it appears to be the truth.

Appears to be like previous solo domestic terrorists. He had sympathies with groups who were against the government and felt something more had to be done. This is where the issue becomes more psychological rather than political and harder for me to understand. There was something psychologically different with Breivik that made him need to act in dramatic fashion where his old comrades were willing to sit on the side and wait. What the spark that set him off was may never be known, but there are posts on social media websites attributed to him that describe a belief that Muslims and non-Muslims cannot live together. Norwegian policies on this manor may have been his deciding factor for action.

There will always be people like Breivik and what needs to be discussed in the coming days is how to identify them before it is too late. That is the difficult question that will have to be answered for many to feel safe, however, it is most likely impossible to detect a solo actor on a mission. The only possible solution I see would be to give psychological tests to all known members of extremists groups, but there are obvious problems with this solution. First, everyone has human rights and many would feel this is a violation of those. Second, the government forcing an extremist group to submit to tests may force others into action. There is no simple answer for thwarting attacks such as these.

New methods will have to be developed and materials that cause damage such as this will have to be harder to come by. That is easy to say, but how do you stop a farmer from buying fertilizer? (Breivik owned and may have lived on a farm) The rest of the world should take warning from Norway and immediately set up committees to try and stop these acts before they occur. Many bright minds will have to be put to use in order to figure out a way to better predict domestic terror attacks before they occur. It will be interesting to see if anything changes in other countries besides Norway as a result of these attacks.