Six In The Morning Friday March 20

Best solar eclipse in years creeps across Earth

58 minutes ago

Millions of people in the UK and northern Europe are witnessing the best solar eclipse in years.

In a solar eclipse, a swathe of the Earth is plunged into darkness as the Moon comes between us and the Sun.

This process began at 07:41 GMT and the deepest part of the Moon's shadow touched the Earth's surface at 09:13 GMT. It reached the UK at 09:23, where the darkness will peak at about 09:35.

Experts are warning people not to look directly at the phenomenon.

This is because even during the eclipse, looking directly at the Sun causes serious harm - but there are ways to watch the eclipse safely and many people are looking for a chance to do so.

Within the UK, those opportunities are heavily dependent on the cloud cover that currently shrouds much of the country.

Greece agrees to draft new list of reforms ‘within days’

German chancellor says Greece must meet commitments before accessing EU money

Suzanne Lynch

 Greece agreed last night to submit a fresh list of reforms “within days” to LENDERS, as the impasse between Athens and creditors continued amid signs that the Greek government could face a possible cash crunch by early April.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tspiras held more than three hours of talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and senior EU figures following the first day of an EU leaders’ summit in Brussels.

Speaking after the meeting, Dr Merkel said the meeting had been “good and constructive,” but warned that the government will have to meet commitments before it can access EU money. The Greek prime minister travels to Berlin for talks with Dr Merkel on Monday.

Medieval Fantasies? Islamic State Pursues Apocalyptic Logic

An Essay By Georg Diez

Islamic State is making headlines by destroying historical artifacts in Iraq. But far from being an expression of medieval nihilism, the campaign on culture is a strategy aimed at drawing the West into battle. The destruction is reminiscent of that wrought by the US.

The images are meant to create an impression, and in this war of images, they don't miss their mark. Heads are cut off: both the heads of human beings and those of statues. Museums are looted, ancient sites are bulldozed. These images are then dispatched around the world.

It is a calculated escalation that Islamic State is pursuing. It may even be that the images of destroyed artifacts are more effective than those depicting executions, because they are televised everywhere and not relegated to the depths of the Internet. And because we can understand the images of destruction -- unlike the photos and videos of executions, which we see as acts of insanity beyond the scope of rational thought.

We aren't just able to kill in the present, that is the message of these images, we are also able to destroy the past: We are the masters of both time and space. The caliphate's goal is to expand its path of destruction into the fourth dimension.

Sri Lanka's Rajapaksa officials stashed billions abroad: investigators

March 20, 2015 - 11:41AM

Shihar Aneez

Colombo:  Sri Lankan investigators have located more than $US2 billion ($2.6 billion) that was secretly transferred to accounts in Dubai by figures close to the administration of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, the government said on Thursday.

Cabinet spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said the funds represented about of fifth of the total amount of so-called "black money" that the authorities suspect was illicitly stashed abroad.

"We have information that more than $US10 billion, more than our country's foreign reserves, is kept outside the country by those closely related to the last government," he said.

A former top official in Mr Rajapaksa's administration dismissed as "nonsense" the government's suggestion that the money found was evidence of corruption.

President Maithripala Sirisena, who defeated Mr Rajapaksa in a January election, has ordered an investigation into all financial deals sealed by his predecessor. Mr Rajapaksa and his former government officials have rejected allegations of corruption and nepotism and said they are ready to face any investigation.

What's Wrong With China's Army?

By David Tweed5 hours ago

In the “century of humiliation” that President Xi Jinping often evokes for his goal of turning China into a great power, one particular episode resonates: The defeat of China’s navy by Japan in 1894.

The Battle of Yalu in the Yellow Sea was a mortifying defeat in the first Sino-Japanese war, a conflict that China’s leaders assumed they would win against a smaller, if recently modernized opponent.

China had better, newer guns. But its navy was furnished with shells that were either filled with cement or porcelain, or were simply the wrong caliber, S.C.M. Paine writes in “The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions, Power, and Primacy.” To blame? Ordnance officials on the take.

Now, Xi is seeking to transform the military into a modern outfit that can “fight and win wars,” acknowledging the effect of corruption on the People’s Liberation Army -- the world’s largest ground force -- alongside decades of patchy training and tolerance of underperformers. At an annual meeting of lawmakers this month, he said stamping out graft would make for better troops.

Arctic Sea Ice Hits Record Low Winter Maximum, Points To Evidence Of Long-Term Climate Change

Arctic sea ice this year is the smallest in winter since satellite records began in 1979, in a new sign of long-term climate change, U.S. data showed on Thursday.

The ice floating on the Arctic Ocean around the North Pole reached its maximum annual extent of just 14.54 million square kms (5.61 million sq miles) on Feb. 25 - slightly bigger than Canada - and is now expected to shrink with a spring thaw.

"This year's maximum ice extent was the lowest in the satellite record, with below-average ice conditions everywhere except in the Labrador Sea and Davis Strait," the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) said in a statement.

A late season surge in ice was still possible, it said. The ice was 1.1 million sq kms smaller than the 1981-2010 average, and below the previous lowest maximum in 2011.

With the return of the sun to the Arctic after months of winter darkness, the ice shrinks to a minimum in September.