Kerry says unacceptable for Iran to have nuclear weapon!

Secretary of State John Kerry said on Friday he did not have high expectations that an upcoming presidential election in iran would change the calculus over Tehran's nuclear program, repeating it was unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

At a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, Kerry said Iran needs to understand that international patience was waning over the nuclear program that Tehran says is meant for peaceful purposes.

"Every month that goes by gets more dangerous," Kerry said. Westerwelle also said more diplomatic talks were necessary.

Tokyo Prepares for a Once-in-200-Year Flood to Top Sandy!

Tokyo, the world’s most populated metropolis, is building defenses for the possibility of a flood in the next 200 years that could dwarf the damage superstorm Sandy wrought on the U.S. East Coast.

Japan’s capital, flanked by rivers to the east and west, as well as running through it, faces 33 trillion yen ($322 billion) in damages should the banks break on the Arakawa River that bisects Tokyo, according to government estimates. That’s more than five times the $60.2 billion aid package for Sandy that slammed into the U.S. northeast last October.

“Japan hasn’t prepared enough,” said Toru Sueoka, president of the Japanes geotechnical Soceity, an organization of engineers, consultants and researchers. “Weather patterns have changed and we are getting unusual conditions. We need upgrades or else our cities won’t be able to cope with floods.”

In 2008, for the first time in human history, half of the world’s population lived in urban areas and that will rise to 60 percent by 2030, according to a World Bank report titled Cities and Flooding. The report says that trend combined with climate change means the world’s cities will bear the biggest loss of life and the largest economic costs from flooding.

Should the Arakawa River break its banks, about 2,000 people in Tokyo may lose their lives and around 860,000 will be stranded, according to the government. The waters would flood subway and regular train lines, crippling 97 stations.

Flood Defenses

The capital’s Edogawa City, one of Tokyo’s largest wards that is sandwiched by two major rivers, predicts it will cost 1.7 trillion yen to strengthen and rebuild the banks of the Arakawa and Edogawa rivers to prevent breaching during a flood, said Naomasa Tachihara, director of Edogawa’s department of public works planning.

Floods are the world’s most frequent destructive natural event and the costs of economic damage have surged, according to the 2012 World Bank report, citing examples in Pakistan, Australia, the Mississipi in the U.S., and Bangkok in Thailand in 2010 and 2011.

London's effort to prevent flooding is a barrier spanning the River Thames completed in 1982; a three-decade project started after a flood in 1953 that killed 300 people.

The Thames barrier across a 520-meter stretch of the river was closed four times in the 1980s, 35 times in the 1990s and more than 80 times since, according to the Environment Agency.

Typhoon Kathleen

Sea levels around London will rise as much as 88 centimeters in the next century as warmer temperatures melt polar ice caps, the government estimates. The barrier’s 20-meter tall gates are designed to withstand the worst case scenario --a 2.7 meter increase by 2100.

In Tokyo in 1947, about 1,00 people died and 31,000 houses were destroyed when Typhoon Kathleen struck the capital and caused the Tonegawa River north of the city to break its banks, according to the Cabinet Office. A repeat of that flood today with a larger concentration of people and property in the capital would cause catastrophic, the government says.

A storm tidal surge in Tokyo Bay may be the most devastating for the capital, leading to 7,600 deaths and flooding an area housing 1.4 million people, according to government estimates.

“We don’t know where could be next,” said Tomohito Noumi, an assistant manager in the river improvement and management section of the nation’s land ministry. The defenses need to be stronger, he said.

35 Million People

Metropolitan Tokyo, which spreads out around a bay and covers an area of 1,782 square kilometers, eclipsed New York-Newark as the world’s most highly populated area in 1975. Now it has 35 million people, compared with 19 million in New York-Newark, according to data compiled by the United Nations.

The United Nations estimates that investments in infrastructure and technology to mitigate the effects of climate change, including flooding, will total as much as $130 billion a year by 2030.

Arcadis NV (ARCAD), a Dutch engineering company that offers flood-protection services, has been growing through acquisitions, most recently snapping up ETEP, a Brazilian water engineering and consulting firm.

Arcadis’s revenue rose 26 percent last year to 2.5 billion euro ($3.2 billion). The company won contracts from New York’s Nassau County and New York City to help bring water treatment facilities back online after Sandy.

Protection

“The money spent on clean-up, repair and the loss of business in the aftermath can outweigh the costs of taking preventive measures and governments are starting to look at opportunities to protect themselves,” said Piet Dircke, who oversees water management at Arcadis.

Japan plans to spend 1 trillion yen on nationwide disaster prevention, including strengthening levies, in the fiscal year started April 1, according to the transport ministry.

Tokyo’s Edogawa, the fifth-most populated of Tokyo’s 23 districts or wards, is most at risk in the capital because it’s penned in by the Arakawa River on one side, the Edogawa River on the other, and faces Tokyo Bay, said Tachihara from the public works planning department.

“Edogawa is shaped like a basin, with the levees being the edges,” he said. ‘’Without levees 70 percent of Edogawa would be underwater in a storm.’’

Samurai Shovels

Tokyo has spent centuries changing the course of rivers and building levees to reduce flooding.

Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa, the first samurai to unite Japan in 1600 and who became shogun three years later, ordered river diversions 400 years ago.

He decided to change the course of the Tonegawa, Japan’s second-longest river, so it flowed into the Pacific Ocean rather than through Tokyo, then known as Edo.

It took three generations to complete, with Ieyasu’s grandson Tokugawa Iemitsu finishing the job, according to the Geotechnical Society’s Sueoka.

“Tokyo has been building defenses against floods since the Edo government,” said Tachihara. “What we’re doing now is for the future. We’re preparing for a once in 200 years event.”

About 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Tokyo is another flood protection project, the Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel.

Statue of Liberty

A shaft tall enough to house the Statue of Liberty has been built to feed water from five rivers into a reservoir carved underground. The space, big enough to hold four parthenons, is supported by 59 columns each weighing 500 tons.

A 6.3-kilometer underground tunnel draws flood waters to the reservoir, which has four of the engines used on Boeing Co. 737 passenger jets to pump away as much as 200 cubic meters of water a second.

“The amount of flooding in the area has dropped significantly since we started operations,” said Takashi Komiyama, who manages the facilities that took 13 years and 230 billion yen to build.

“We used to be prepared for about 50 millimeters of rain an hour, but now we need to be ready for 100 millimeters or 120 millimeters,” said the geotechnical society’s Sueoka. “It’s difficult to think in terms of 100 or 200 years to secure the nation’s safety, but that’s what it takes.”

Lebanese community in kano disassociates self from arrested nationals with alleged ties to Hezbollah

An armoury belonging to the Lebanese group Hezbollah has been discovered in northern Nigeria, the West African nation's army and spy agency has said.



Three Lebanese nationals have been arrested, an army spokesman, Brig Gen Ilyasu Isa Abba, said.

The cache, including rifles, anti-tank weapons and an RPG, were found in a warehouse in the city of Kano, he said.

Nigeria's State Security Service said they were intended for use against "Israeli and Western interests".

"This is the handwork of Hezbollah," Bassey Ettang, director of the State Security Service in Kano said.

"What has just been discovered is a cell of Hezbollah and what you have seen here is a Hezbollah armoury," he told journalists in Kano on Thursday.

Brig Gen Ilyasu Isa Abba said 11 anti-tank weapons, four anti-tank mines, a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) and 21 RPG missiles, 17 AK-47s, two sub-machine guns and 76 grenades had been amongst the weapons found.

The Lebanese owner of the warehouse where "the weapons of mass destruction" had been stored in sawdust was out of the country, he said

There is a large business Lebanese community in Kano city, the commercial hub of in northern Nigeria.

It is the first time that Nigerian authorities have alleged that Hezbollah has an operational interest in the country.

Kano and north-eastern Nigeria has suffered multiple attacks in the last three years since the home-grown Islamist militant group Boko Haram launched an insurgency.

Mr Ettang added: "You can also be sure that if a group like this is existing then it may even lend support to some of the local terrorists we have on the ground."

Hezbollah is a Shia military and political movement based in Lebanon considered by the US to be a terrorist organisation.

Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is forbidden", says its quest is to overthrow the Nigerian government and create an Islamic state.

There has been growing concern that Boko Haram could be receiving backing from al-Qaeda-linked militants in other countries.

Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan undergoes surgery!

Bollywood megastar Shah Rukh Khan has undergone surgery for a shoulder injury suffered while doing stunts for his new movie, "Chennai Express."

 

Sanjay Desai, his doctor, said Khan's surgery in a Mumbai hospital Tuesday was successful but he will need to rest for two months.

He refused to use body doubles and performed his own stunts for the movie, the Press Trust of India news agency said. The 47-year-old is expected to leave the hospital this weekend.

Khan is one of Bollywood's biggest stars in India. He has acted in more than 70 films in a career spanning more than two decades.

Ex-Minister's relative kills live-in Baby mama!

A relation of a former Minister of Interior, Capt. Emmanuel Iheanacho (retd.), has been accused of killing his live-in lover in Lagos. 





The suspect, George Iheanacho, allegedly killed his 32-year-old partner, Regina James, the mother of his three children – two boys and a girl.

“George, sensing that Regina had died, wanted to escape, but he was apprehended,” said a source.

 

He allegedly killed Regina in their residence at 3, Calvary Street, Iyana Isasi, Lagos-Badagry Expressway.
According to Punch, the accused, who worked in the ex-minister’s company, Genesis Worldwide Shipping Company, Apapa, on the fateful day, accused Regina, who had lived with him for 6 years, of unfaithfulness.
It was further learnt that subsequent argument over the accusation led to the suspect beating up Regina and in the process, she fell into a coma.
A source, who craved anonymity, said before Regina, believed to be from Nsit Ibom LGA of Akwa Ibom State, could be rushed to the hospital, she had given up the ghost.
National President, Akwa Cross Indigenes Association, Chief Etubom Samson, said his association received a distress call from a concerned citizen that “our    our   sister, Regina, has been killed by her lover.”
Chief Samson, who said the deceased was their daughter and member of the association, said, “George and Regina have been living together for six years. Since that time, he (George) has not deemed it necessary to go for their traditional marriage. The love has produced three children; two boys and a girl.
“We have always heard complaints of the two fighting. We did not know it would result into our sister’s death.”
Chief Samson said Regina's remains would not be buried until the deceased had been properly married.
Meanwhile, counsel for ACIA, Onwu Ekowa, Udo and Co., has written a petition to the police, calling for the prosecution of the accused immediately.
In a letter signed by the Managing Partner of the law chamber, Mr. Silas Udoh, the group also demanded N50m compensation for the family:

“We hereby demand the immediate prosecution of the accused in court, and in addition to pay compensation to the family within 24 hours of the receipt of the letter, or else we shall petition the National Human Rights Commission and address a press conference on the issue.”

The Nigeria police said the guy will be tried for murder as soon as the autopsy report is out.

Arik crew-member charged to UK court over alleged drug possession!

ARIK Air crew-member, Temitayo Daramola, appeared at Uxbridge Magistrate Court charged with possessing cocaine with a street value of £600,000, during the airline’s Lagos to London flight on the evening of Monday, May 20.

Daramola was arrested by UK Border officials on airport shuttle bus used to transport aircrew members after the plane had landed at Heathrow Airport.

“The first hearing was on May 22 at Uxbridge Magistrate Court and she was in court today via video link,” one male staff disclosed. Before her case is transferred to a Crown Court where she will face a jury trial, Daramola, 37, will make one final appearance before magistrates at the same court on June 4.

Home Office Press Officer, Simon Alford, also confirmed to The Guardian Tuesday that Daramola would be in court on June 4. In a statement he sent following The Guardian’s enquiry, he revealed that Daramola was in possession of six kilogrammes of cocaine and that the colleague arrested with her had been released without charge.

Titled: “Air stewardess charged over Heathrow cocaine seizure”, it stated that “An air stewardess has been charged following the seizure of around six kilos of cocaine at Heathrow Airport. It is estimated that the cocaine, if cut and sold on the UK streets, could have had a potential street value of around £600,000.

“37-year-old Temitayo Daramola was later charged with attempting to import a Class A drug. On Wednesday, May 22, she appeared before Uxbridge Magistrates where she was remanded in custody until her next court appearance on June 4. A second crew- member arrested at the same time as Daramola has now been released.”

Another member of the court, a lady, told The Guardian: “It will be a live video link hearing. There will be a link to the court from her prison. She can listen to the hearing and make her statements. You will be able to see her on the screen, but she will not be physically in court.” When asked what would happen next after next Tuesday’s hearing, the lady responded, saying: “She will be committed to a Crown Court and there will be a jury trial,” due to the nature of the offence. When asked who would represent her then, The Guardian source replied: “I don’t know. She doesn’t have a legal aid,” which would have entitled her to a solicitor.

Half of College Grads Are Working Jobs That Don't Require a Degree!

As the mother of a child who is finishing his junior year in high school, I am, like many parents in my shoes, in the throws of anxiety about where my son will go to college in 2015. Occasionally, between obsessing about his slipping grades in pre-calculus and Spanish and trying to figure out whether a school like university of Chicago should be on our “target” or “reach” list, I get a fleeting but deep pit in my stomach about a much more serious issue: where, and more importantly if, he will find a job when he finally gets his degree.

Then last week I received a report from consulting firm McKinsey, done together with student website Chegg, which is making that pit in my stomach deeper. In October and November of last year McKinsey surveyed 4,900 former Chegg customers, a mix of young people who went to private, public, vocational and for-profit institutions. The findings are truly sobering. Nearly half of grads from four-year colleges are working in jobs that don’t require a four-year degree. A striking sub-fact: grads from public universities are 11% more likely to feel overqualified than those who went to private schools. I would have thought it would be the other way around.  The study cites a Bureau of Labor Statistics number that underlines the McKinsey findings: 48% of employed U.S. college grads are in jobs that require less than a four-year degree.

Even more chilling than those numbers is a figure I read some time ago that I can’t get out of my head: In 2011, 1.5 million, or 53.6% of college grads under age 25 were out of work or underemployed, according to a 2012 Associated Press story that used an analysis of the U.S. government’s 2011 Current Population Survey data by Northeastern Univeristy University researchers, plus material from Drexel University economist  Paul Harrington, and analysis from libera Washington D.C. think tank, the EconomicPolicy Institute.

If only my son were a STEM kid, meaning that he were interested in science, technology, engineering or math. The McKinsey study says that 75% of those grads are in jobs requiring a four-year degree. Instead my child will be at the bottom of the bar graph, just two slots up from visual and performing arts, where only 43% are in jobs requiring a four-year degree. He is likely to graduate with a social science degree, where only 54% have jobs that require a four-year diploma.

Another frightening statistic from the McKinsey report: A third of grads don’t feel that college prepared them well for the world of work. Again, the visual and performing arts students are faring the worst: 42% feel that college didn’t prep them for employment, followed closely by social science grads, at 36%.

But thank goodness for one ray of light in this study: 77% of graduates of the top 100 four-year programs (based on the U.S. News and World Report rankings) who worked part-time, did internships or employee mentorships felt prepared for work, compared with 59% who lacked such experience. Still, they may have felt prepared but it’s not clear they got hired. An Accenture pollI wrote about earlier this month shows that while 72% of 2011/2012 grads had done internships, only 42% said the internships led to jobs.

Then comes what may be the most depressing part of the survey, headlined “regrets.” Half of grads say they would choose a different major or school if they could do their education over. It’s not surprising that the visual and performing arts majors have the most regrets, with 47% saying they would study something else given the chance. For social science majors, it’s 39%.

Yet more sobering news that I fear will affect my son: 40% of grads from the nation’s top 100 colleges couldn’t find jobs in their chosen field. In this measurement, social science grads are at the very bottom. Only 36% are working in their field of choice. Visual and performing arts grads are doing better, at 42%. At least there is a consolation prize if my kid gets into a top 100 school: He will earn 17%-19% more than students from other schools.

But back to more depressing news: Six times as many graduates are working in retail or hospitality as had originally planned. Since there are 1.7 million grads who are getting bachelor’s degrees this year, that means 120,000 young people are working as waiters, Gap salespeople, and baristas because it was the only work they could find.

I talked to Andre Dua, a McKinsey director who co-leads the firm’s education practice in North America, in hopes of finding a shred of encouraging news for my would-be liberal arts graduate. Will the employment outlook be as dim five years from now? At first Dua demurred, saying “your career prospects are highly variable depending on where you go and what you studied on the one hand, and what you do to prepare yourself on the other hand.” In other words, if you’re a STEM kid who does lots of internships, you’ll probably be fine. If you’re a liberal arts kid, not so much.

Dua made the interesting observation that university leaders and boards of directors are lavishing attention on digital instruction, including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), while virtually ignoring the fact that masses of students are working in jobs that they say don’t require a degree. The solution, says Dua: Find a way to teach “soft skills” like how to work effectively in teams, under pressure and with clients and customers.

Though the economy may be improving, he notes, my son will probably face a tough job market when (let’s hope!) he graduates five years from now. “There’s no reason to believe that it’s going to go back to the time when it’s simply enough to have a degree,” says Dua. “We’ve entered a time when it’s necessary to have competencies in addition to the credential of a degree.”