Replies to post #323952 on $Stock*Shop*Charts*News*Option$

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bl<>Spanish, Portuguese Bonds Drop on Concern Austerity Plan Will Limit Growth

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NASA warns solar flares from 'huge space storm' will cause devastation

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7819201/Nasa-warns-solar-flares-from-huge-space-storm-will-cause-devastation.html

Britain could face widespread power blackouts and be left without critical communication signals for long periods of time, after the earth is hit by a once-in-a-generation “space storm”, Nasa has warned.

By Andrew Hough
Published: 1:00PM BST 14 Jun 2010

National power grids could overheat and air travel severely disrupted while electronic items, navigation devices and major satellites could stop working after the Sun reaches its maximum power in a few years.

Senior space agency scientists believe the Earth will be hit with unprecedented levels of magnetic energy from solar flares after the Sun wakes “from a deep slumber” sometime around 2013, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

In a new warning, Nasa said the super storm would hit like “a bolt of lightning” and could cause catastrophic consequences for the world’s health, emergency services and national security unless precautions are taken.

Scientists believe it could damage everything from emergency services’ systems, hospital equipment, banking systems and air traffic control devices, through to “everyday” items such as home computers, iPods and Sat Navs.

Due to humans’ heavy reliance on electronic devices, which are sensitive to magnetic energy, the storm could leave a multi-billion pound damage bill and “potentially devastating” problems for governments.

“We know it is coming but we don’t know how bad it is going to be,” Dr Richard Fisher, the director of Nasa's Heliophysics division, said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph.

“It will disrupt communication devices such as satellites and car navigations, air travel, the banking system, our computers, everything that is electronic. It will cause major problems for the world.

“Large areas will be without electricity power and to repair that damage will be hard as that takes time.”

Dr Fisher added: “Systems will just not work. The flares change the magnetic field on the earth that is rapid and like a lightning bolt. That is the solar affect.”

A “space weather” conference in Washington DC last week, attended by Nasa scientists, policy-makers, researchers and government officials, was told of similar warnings.

While scientists have previously told of the dangers of the storm, Dr Fisher’s comments are the most comprehensive warnings from Nasa to date.

Dr Fisher, 69, said the storm, which will cause the Sun to reach temperatures of more than 10,000 F (5500C), occurred only a few times over a person’s life.

Every 22 years the Sun’s magnetic energy cycle peaks while the number of sun spots – or flares – hits a maximum level every 11 years.

Dr Fisher, a Nasa scientist for 20 years, said these two events would combine in 2013 to produce huge levels of radiation.

He said large swathes of the world could face being without power for several months, although he admitted that was unlikely.

A more likely scenario was that large areas, including northern Europe and Britain which have “fragile” power grids, would be without power and access to electronic devices for hours, possibly even days.

He said preparations were similar to those in a hurricane season, where authorities knew a problem was imminent but did not know how serious it would be.

“I think the issue is now that modern society is so dependant on electronics, mobile phones and satellites, much more so than the last time this occurred,” he said.

“There is a severe economic impact from this. We take it very seriously. The economic impact could be like a large, major hurricane or storm.”

The National Academy of Sciences warned two years ago that power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications could “all be knocked out by intense solar activity”.

It warned a powerful solar storm could cause “twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina”. That storm devastated New Orleans in 2005 and left an estimated damage bill of more than $125bn (£85bn).

Dr Fisher said precautions could be taken including creating back up systems for hospitals and power grids and allow development on satellite “safe modes”.

“If you know that a hazard is coming … and you have time enough to prepare and take precautions, then you can avoid trouble,” he added.

His division, a department of the Science Mission Directorate at Nasa headquarters in Washington DC, which investigates the Sun’s influence on the earth, uses dozens of satellites to study the threat

The government has said it was aware of the threat and “contingency plans were in place” to cope with the fall out from such a storm

These included allowing for certain transformers at the edge of the National Grid to be temporarily switched off and to improve voltage levels throughout the network.

The National Risk Register, established in 2008 to identify different dangers to Britain, also has “comprehensive” plans on how to handle a complete outage of electricity supplies.

[Stock Lobster]

Funds selling? BP shares slip ahead of White House meeting

Robert Barr, Associated Press Writer, On Wednesday June 16, 2010, 5:39 am

The analysts say they believe the pressure on the shares is due to a sell-off by U.S. institutions "unwilling to be seen to be maintaining big positions in the stock, particularly ahead of end-June quarter reporting to investors."
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LONDON (AP) -- Shares in BP PLC slipped in London trading Wednesday ahead of what promises to be a tense meeting between the oil company's chairman and President Barack Obama in Washington.

Obama has vowed to make BP pay for all of the damage caused by its leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico, and has demanded that the company set up an independently controlled fund to assure that it will pay.

"I will meet with the chairman of BP and inform him that he is to set aside whatever resources are required to compensate the workers and business owners who have been harmed as a result of his company's recklessness," Obama said in an address from the White House on Tuesday.

That idea had been kicking around for a while, and Obama's statement didn't rattle the markets.

BP shares were down just 0.5 percent at 340.25 pence ($5.03) on the London Stock Exchange after briefly trading higher. They had traded at about 655 pence before the April 20 explosion which killed 11 workers on the drilling rig.

Obama has invited BP Chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg, who has kept a very low profile since the leak erupted eight weeks ago, to the White House meeting.

BP said Wednesday that Group Chief Executive Tony Hayward, BP America President Lamar McKay and Managing Director Robert Dudley would accompany Svanberg.

The company had said Tuesday that it shares Obama's goal of "shutting off the well as quickly as possible, cleaning up the oil and mitigating the impact on the people and environment of the Gulf Coast. We look forward to meeting with President Obama tomorrow for a constructive discussion about how to best achieve these mutual goals."

Obama has come under pressure for his response to the crisis.

An Associated Press-GfK poll released Tuesday found 52 percent of those surveyed don't approve of Obama's handling of the spill, but 83 percent disapprove of BP's performance.

BP said Tuesday it had approved initial payments on 90 percent of commercial large loss claims filed so far. The 337 checks totaled $16 million for businesses that had filed claims of more than $5,000, BP said.

The company added that it has issued approximately 25,000 checks totaling $63 million to cover small and large claims, and expects the total to rise to $85 million by the end of the week.

BP, which earned a profit of $6.1 billion in the first three months of this year, says it has spent in excess of $1.4 billion so far in attempts to stop the flow of oil billowing up from the seabed.

On June 3, the company announced it had set up a $360 million escrow account to pay for the construction of six sections of Louisiana barrier islands approved by the U.S. government.

Gordon Gray and James Evans, analysts at Collins Stewart in London, on Wednesday downgraded their target price for BP shares from 575 pence to 450 pence. They added that they believe BP will bow to U.S. pressure to suspend dividends.

"We think the balance of probability points to BP's shares offering good value at current levels. However, we think the risks of investing remain high and view BP as an investment for the risk-tolerant and the long-term at present," they said in a research note.

The analysts say they believe the pressure on the shares is due to a sell-off by U.S. institutions "unwilling to be seen to be maintaining big positions in the stock, particularly ahead of end-June quarter reporting to investors."