TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran's
state television
says a 6.2-magnitude earthquake has hit northwestern Iran but that
there have been no reports of possible casualties or damages.The
main news channel says the moderate quake hit the town of Ahar in
East Azerbaijan province. It gave no further details.Iran is located on
seismic fault lines
and is prone to earthquakes. It experiences at least one earthquake
every day on average, although the vast majority are so small they go
unnoticed.
Barroso to Ponta: Stop fighting, protect judges
BRUSSELS
- The head of the EU
commission on Friday (10 August) sent a harsh letter to Romanian Prime
Minister Victor Ponta, urging him to stop political infighting and
ensure that top judges can do their work without threats."I am deeply
concerned about recent developments relating to the
Constitutional Court's validation of the referendum, despite the
assurances you have personally given me in our contacts," Jose Manuel
Barroso wrote.In recent days, the EU justice commissioner and a panel of
top
European jurists have appealed to Romanian authorities to protect the
country's top judges after some of them received death threats.The court
is to rule on 31 August on the validity of a referendum
which took place last month and which was aimed at ousting President
Traian Basescu from office for alleged abuse of power.A large majority
of voters were in favour of his removal, but the turnout was below the
required 50 percent.The government appealed to the court to recalculate
the turnout
figure, saying the voters' lists contained names of deceased people. It
also tried to organise a mini-census, which the court said was not
necessary.Meanwhile, Ponta has reshuffled his government after the
interior
minister and one of his deputies resigned, citing political pressure and
their unwillingness to participate in unlawful practices.Leaked
transcripts of alleged discussions between the sacked
minister, Ioan Rus, and other party colleagues on Friday caused a stir
in Romanian media as it portrayed an administration struggling to "fix"
the voters lists so that the minimum turnout is met.Barroso's letter
went on to say: "It is now crucial that the Romanian
government responds without undue delay to the requests of the
Constitutional Court as regards the transmission of the relevant
electoral lists."He added: "In this context it is of paramount
importance that it is
left to the Constitutional Court itself to clarify its position should
it consider that to be necessary, and all other parties should refrain
from making their own interpretation."The EU official also urged
Romanian authorities to investigate any
threats made against the judges "so that any attempt to put pressure on
the court is struck down.""I trust that you and your government will
take, in the interest of
Romania and of its citizens, the decisions required to implement the
commitments you have undertaken."Earlier, on 18 July, the EU commission
issued a report in which it
questioned whether the Romanian government has the "understanding of the
meaning of the rule of law in a pluralist democratic system."The report
contained an 11-point-long to do list, including independence of the
judiciary.Barroso said implementing the list "is essential for Romania's
credibility and economic and financial stability."He also called on the
Ponta and Basescu camps to cease hostilities."I am deeply worried about
the intensification of the divisions
between the various political actors in Romania and the tone of
political discourse across the party spectrum. Through you I would
therefore appeal to all political forces in Romania, in government and
in opposition, to act with responsibility and restraint and to set their
focus very firmly on the urgent need to restore stability."Another
special report on the Romanian situation will be drafted before the end
of the year.Romanian parliamentary elections are due in November.They
could coincide with new presidential elections if the referendum
is validated. If not, the spat is likely to continue for another two
years, when Basescu's mandate ends.
STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES
LUKE 21:25-26
25
And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars;
and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS
CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s
hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which
are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
THE FIRST JUDGEMENT OF THE EARTH STARTED WITH WATER-IT ONLY MAKES SENSE THE LAST GENERATION WILL BE HAVING FLOODING
GENESIS 7:6-12
6 And Noah was six hundred years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth.
7 And Noah went in, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons’ wives with him, into the ark, because of the waters of the flood.
8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
10 And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth.
11
In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the
seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the
great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
12 And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
GOD PROMISED BY A RAINBOW-THE EARTH WOULD NEVER BE DESTROYED TOTALLY WITH A FLOOD AGAIN.BUT FLOODIING IS A SIGN OF JUDGEMENT.
Philippine flood deaths climb to 66
AFP – 7 hours ago AUG 11,12
Philippine
authorities rushed to bring food and other emergency provisions
onSaturday to more than two million people affected by widespread
flooding, as the death toll rose to 66, an official said.The flooding
that submerged 80 percent of Manila early in the week
has largely subsided, allowing people to return to their homes, but
low-lying farming regions to the north remained under water.Civil
defence chief Benito Ramos told AFP the huge displaced
population, including 441,000 people crammed in crowded evacuation
camps, would need to be fed and taken care of for at least another seven
days."The government has a month's worth of relief goods if necessary.
We have substantial emergency supplies," Ramos said.Volunteers are
helping the government pack rice and other food items
into 100,000 grocery bags to replenish supplies at some of the camps, he
said.Nearly two weeks of monsoon rains across the Philippines' main
island
of Luzon peaked with a 48-hour deluge earlier this week that battered
Manila and surrounding regions.The government's disaster co-ordination
council said Saturday that 66 people had been confirmed killed, up from
60 on Friday.
It put the number of people affected by the floods
at 2.68 million, from 2.44 million on Friday.The Philippines endures
about 20 major storms or typhoons each rainy
season. But this week's rains were the worst to hit Manila since
Tropical Storm Ketsana killed 464 people in 2009.
Ernesto weakens over Mexico, still a flood threat
By MIGUEL ANGEL HERNANDEZ | Associated Press – 15 hrs ago AUG 11,12
VERACRUZ, Mexico (AP) — Ernesto weakened to a
tropical depression as it moved inland Friday, though
forecasters warned it could still dump dangerous rains in the mountains of Mexico's flood-prone
southern Gulf region,
where five people were killed by the storm.In Tabasco state, two
fishermen drowned when the stormed passed through the area Thursday,
Gov. Andres Granier told reporters.Granier
said the storm's strong winds ripped rooftops from several homes but
residents refused to evacuate, fearing their possessions might be
stolen. "People have chosen to stay in their homes and we are helping
them," he said.In neighboring Veracruz state, three people died
when strong winds knocked down a tree that fell on their car, the
state's civil protection department said in a statement.A 38-year-old
man, his wife and their 8-year-old boy were killed, it said.Ernesto came
ashore Thursday near the waters dotted with oil rigs operated by the
state oil company in the far southern Gulf of
Mexico. The government closed its largest Gulf coast port,
Veracruz, and the smaller ports of Alvarado and Coatzacoalcos.Coatzacoalcos,
a major oil port, got seven inches (177 millimeters) of rain in the 24
hours before Ernesto's center passed just a few miles (kilometers) away,
according to Mexico's weather service. San Pedro in the neighboring
state of Tabasco had seen more than 10 inches (273 millimeters).The
U.S. National Hurricane Center said Ernesto's sustained winds had
decreased to 35 mph (55 kph) by early Friday. It said the storm would
continue weakening and should dissipate by midday Friday, although it
warned that heavy rains could continue into Friday night.
Ernesto
was a weak hurricane when it made its first landfall late Tuesday near
the cruise ship port of Mahahual in Yucatan, but it weakened as it
crossed the peninsula and then spun into the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday
night.Early Friday, the storm was centered about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northwest of
Oaxaca, Mexico, and moving west near 13 mph (20 kph).The
U.S. hurricane center said Ernesto still had the potential to cause
flooding and could produce rainfalls of up to 15 inches in some parts of
the mountainous areas of Veracruz, Tabasco, Puebla and Oaxaca states
before dissipating.There were no reports of major flooding in
Veracruz state and there have been only minor landslides on some roads,
said Raul Zarrabal, the state's communications secretary.A
new tropical depression formed in the Atlantic on Thursday far from
land. It was the seventh tropical depression to form in the Atlantic and
forecasters said it could strengthen into a tropical storm Friday as it
took a path toward the Caribbean. Early Friday, it had
maximum sustained winds of 35 mph (55 kph) and was 930 miles (1,495 kilometers) east of the Windward Islands.The
Atlantic hurricane season got off to an early start and will likely
stay busy, producing a few more storms than originally predicted, U.S.
forecasters said Thursday.Forecasters
said warmer-than-normal sea surface temperatures and wind patterns that
favor storm formation mean chances are higher for an above-normal
season. However, that is tempered with the expected development of an El
Nino weather pattern over the Pacific that may suppress storms later in
the season.In the Pacific,
Gilma weakened from a hurricane to a tropical storm and was not seen as a
threat to land. It was about 665 miles (1,070 kilometers)
west-southwest of the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California
Peninsula, with maximum sustained winds near 65 mph (100 kph).
EZEKIEL 38:1-12
1 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
2 Son of man, set thy face against Gog,(RULER) the land of Magog,(RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW)and Tubal,(TOBOLSK) and prophesy against him,
3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog,(LEADER OF RUSSIA) the chief prince of Meshech(MOSCOW) and Tubal:TOBOLSK)
4 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws,(GOD FORCES THE RUSSIA-MUSLIMS TO MARCH) and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:
5 Persia,(IRAN,IRAQ) Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:
6 Gomer,(GERMANY) and all his bands; the house of Togarmah (TURKEY)of the north quarters, and all his bands:(SUDAN,AFRICA) and many people with thee.
7 Be thou prepared, and prepare for thyself, thou, and all thy company that are assembled unto thee, and be thou a guard unto them.
8 After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them.
9 Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.(RUSSIA-EGYPT AND MUSLIMS)
10 Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought:
11 And thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates,
12 To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land.
JEREMEIAH 49:35-37 (IN IRAN AT THE BUSHEHR NUKE SITE SOME BELIEVE)
35 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam,(IRAN/BUSHEHR NUCLEAR SITE) the chief of their might.(MOST DANGEROUS NUKE SITE IN IRAN)
36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven,(IRANIANS SCATTERED OR MASS IMIGARATION) and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.(WORLD IMMIGRATION)
37 For I will cause Elam (IRAN-BUSHEHR NUKE SITE) to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger,(ISRAELS NUKES POSSIBLY) saith the LORD; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them:(IRAN AND ITS NUKE SITES DESTROYED)
ISAIAH 17:1,12-14
1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.
12 Woe to the multitude of many people, which make a noise like the noise of the seas; and to the rushing of nations,(USELESS U.N) that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!
13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
14 And behold at eveningtide trouble; and before the morning he is not.(ASSAD) This is the portion of them that spoil us,(ISRAEL) and the lot of them that rob us.
JEREMEIAH 49:23-27
23 Concerning Damascus.(SYRIA) Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea;(WAR SHIPS WITH NUKES COMING ON SYRIA) it cannot be quiet.
24 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail.
25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy!
26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts.
27 And I will kindle a fire (NUKES OR BOMBS) in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.(ASSADS PALACES POSSIBLY IN DAMASCUS)
PSALMS 83:3-7
3 They (ARABS,MUSLIMS) have taken crafty counsel against thy people,(ISRAEL) and consulted against thy hidden ones.
4 They have said, Come, and let us cut them off from being a nation; that the name of Israel may be no more in remembrance.
5 For they (MUSLIMS) have consulted together with one consent: they are confederate against thee:(TREATIES)
6 The tabernacles of Edom,(JORDAN) and the Ishmaelites;(ARABS) of Moab, PALESTINIANS,JORDAN) and the Hagarenes;(EGYPT)
7 Gebal,(HEZZBALLOH,LEBANON) and Ammon,(JORDAN) and Amalek;(SYRIA,ARABS,SINAI) the Philistines (PALESTINIANS) with the inhabitants of Tyre;(LEBANON)
U.S., Turkey to explore imposing Syria no-fly zone
By Hadeel Al Shalchi | Reuters – 12 mins ago AUG 1,12
ALEPPO,
Syria
(Reuters) - The United States and Turkey indicated on Saturday they
might impose no-fly zones in Syria as battles between rebels and
President Bashar al-Assad's forces shook Aleppo and fighting erupted in
the heart of Damascus.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said after
meeting her Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul that
Washington and Ankara should develop detailed operational planning on
ways to assist the rebels fighting to topple Assad."Our intelligence services, our military have very
important responsibilities and roles to play so we are going to be
setting up a working group to do exactly that," she said.Asked about options such as imposing a no-fly zone over
rebel-held territory, Clinton said these were possibilities she and
Davutoglu had agreed "need greater in-depth analysis", while indicating
that no decisions were necessarily imminent."It is one thing to talk about all kinds of potential
actions, but you cannot make reasoned decisions without doing intense
analysis and operational planning," she said.
Nevertheless, her remarks were the closest Washington
has come to suggesting direct military intervention in Syria.No-fly zones imposed by NATO and Arab allies helped
Libyan rebels overthrow Muammar Gaddafi last year. Until recently, the
West had shunned the idea of repeating any Libya-style action.Saudi Arabia and Qatar are believed to be arming Syrian
rebels, while the United States and Britain have pledged to step up
non-lethal assistance to Assad's opponents.Davutoglu said it was time outside powers took decisive
steps to resolve the humanitarian crisis in cities such as Aleppo,
where Assad's forces have fought rebels for three weeks.
JETS, TANKS IN ACTION
In the latest battles, tanks and troops pummeled rebels
near the shattered district of Salaheddine, a former opposition
stronghold that commands the main southern approach to Aleppo.Tank fire crashed into the adjacent Saif al-Dawla
neighborhood as military jets circled over an abandoned police station
held by rebels, firing missiles every few minutes.Insurgents said they had been forced to retreat in the
latest twist in relentless, see-saw battles for Salaheddine, part of a
swathe of Aleppo seized by rebels last month.Some rebels, outgunned and low on ammunition in Aleppo,
have pleaded for outside military help, arguing that more weapons and a
no-fly zone over areas they control near the Turkish border would give
them a secure base against Assad's forces."The reason we retreated from Salaheddine this week is a
lack of weapons," complained Abu Thadet, a rebel commander in Aleppo
who said his fighters would regroup and fight back. "We can handle the
bombing. It's the snipers that make it hard."Ten of the 30 fighters in his brigade have been
wounded, mostly by snipers lurking even in areas rebels claim to
control. His men have broken holes in walls of buildings to try to
create safe passages for them to move around in Salaheddine.In Damascus, where Assad's forces have regained control
of districts overrun by rebels last month, a resident reported an
explosion near the Central Bank, followed by gunfire."The explosion was huge. There has been fighting for
the past half-hour along Pakistan Street. I am very close. Can you hear
that?" she told Reuters, a bang audible over the telephone.Syrian state TV said authorities were hunting
"terrorists" who had set off a bomb in Merjeh, an area near the central
bank, and who were "shooting at random to spark panic among citizens".
END GAME BEGINS?
Despite their superior firepower, Assad's forces have
been stretched by months of warfare against increasingly skilled and
organized fighters who have taken them on in every city and in many
parts of the countryside at one time or another.Germany's spy chief said the Syrian army had been depleted by casualties, deserters and defectors."There are a lot of indications that the end game for
the regime has begun," said Gerhard Schindler, head of the BND
intelligence agency, in an interview with Die Welt newspaper."The regular army is being confronted by a variety of
flexible fighters. The recipe of their success is their guerrilla
tactics. They're breaking the army's back."Syria's torment, however, is far from over and several
signs point to how the conflict could spill over into its neighbors.Jordanian and Syrian forces clashed along the border
overnight when Syrian refugees tried to cross into Jordan, a Syrian
opposition activist who witnessed the fighting said.He said armored vehicles were involved in the clash in
the Tel Shihab-Turra area, about 80 km (50 miles) north of Jordan's
capital, Amman. No deaths were reported on the Jordanian side.
Thousands of Syrians have fled into Jordan, but
tensions heightened after Assad's newly installed prime minister, Riad
Hijab, defected and escaped across the border this week.In Lebanon, Michel Samaha, a former information
minister and Assad ally, faces military indictment for his alleged part
in "terrorist plots" which included transporting explosives from Syria
for use in north Lebanon, a Lebanese security source said.
Lebanon, still scarred by its 1975-90 civil war, is
nervous about instability spreading from Syria and shattering its own
delicate sectarian power-sharing balance between Shi'ite and Sunni
Muslims, Christians and other minorities.Assad's main outside allies are Shi'ite Iran and
Lebanon's Shi'ite Hezbollah movement. His ruling system is dominated by
members of his Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.His foes are mostly from Syria's Sunni majority, who
are backed by Sunni-ruled states such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey,
which are also regional rivals of Iran.Arab foreign ministers will meet on Sunday in Jeddah to
discuss the Syria crisis and who should replace Kofi Annan, the United
Nations-Arab League envoy, a League official said.U.N. diplomats said veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi could be named next week as the new envoy for Syria.Annan quit after
his peacemaking efforts proved futile in the face of divisions in the
U.N. Security Council, where Russia and China have blocked Western
attempts to speed Assad's exit.
(Additional
reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut, Andrew Quinn and Ayla Jean Yackley
in Istanbul, Erik Kirschbaum in Berlin, Louis Charbonneau in New York
and Tamim Elyan in Cairo; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Angus
MacSwan)
Bizarre rock 'ice shelf' found in Pacific
AFP – Fri, Aug 10, 2012
A
huge cluster of floating volcanic rocks covering almost 26,000 square
kilometres (10,000 square miles) has been found drifting in the Pacific,
the New Zealand navy said Friday.The strange phenomenon, which witnesses said resembled a polar ice
shelf, was made up of lightweight pumice expelled from an underwater
volcano, the navy said.An air force plane spotted the rocks on Thursday about 1,000
kilometres (600 miles) offshore from New Zealand and warned a navy
warship that it was heading towards them.
[Slideshow: Giant iceberg's birth seen from space]
Lieutenant Tim Oscar said that while he knew his ship the HMNZS
Canterbury was in no danger from the pumice, which is solidified lava
filled with air bubbles, it was still "the weirdest thing I've seen in
18 years at sea"."As far ahead as I could observe was a raft of pumice moving up and down with the swell," he said.
"The rock looked to be sitting two foot (half a metre) above the
surface of the waves and lit up a brilliant while colour in the
spotlight. It looked exactly like the edge of an ice shelf."
[Slideshow: Amazing volcano lightning photos]
Scientists aboard the ship said the pumice probably came from an
underwater volcano called Monowai, which has been active recently.They said the phenomenon was
unrelated to increased volcanic activity in New Zealand this week,
including an eruption at Mount Tongariro that sent an ash cloud 20,000
feet into the atmosphere.
Enormous 400ft deep Louisiana sinkhole swallows 100ft tall trees and raises concerns of explosions and radiation leaks
- Fears that low levels of radiation are being emitted from the sinkhole and residents are being asked to leave
- Gas bubbles have been bubbling in the Louisiana bayou for weeks and residents have felt small tremors for years
- Officials
said on Friday it will be at least 40 days before they get definitive
answers about an enormous sinkhole that opened up in Assumption Parish
- Some residents have refused to leave their homes
By
Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED:
03:09 GMT, 11 August 2012
|
UPDATED:
12:34 GMT, 11 August 2012
A massive 400-foot deep sinkhole
that has opened up in a Louisiana bayou has swallowed all of the
100-foot trees in the surrounding area and led to mandatory evacuations.
About
150 people have been ordered to leave their residences after the
400-sqaure-foot gaping hole opened in Assumption Parish amid fears of
potential radiation leaks and natural gas explosions.
But
despite the authorities enacting the mandatory evacuation, most people
have decided to stay following allegations of a cover-up and industrial
mis-management from the owners of a nearby salt cavern.
Diesel sheen is seen on the water in an aerial
view of the sinkhole. State officials said on that small amounts of
diesel hydrocarbons were found in swamp water where an acre of swampland
liquefied over the last week
As state scientists monitored
the toxicity of naturally occurring radiation at a slurry hole in
Assumption Parish, residents said Thursday they were furious with their
public state officials because they think they have been withholding
information.
The Louisiana
Department of Environmental Quality said the slurry hole near Bayou
Corne is near areas that have been used for oil and gas exploration. Low
levels of radioactivity may be remaining from the work, though not at
harmful levels, officials say.
'Out of abundance of caution
and because of the ongoing incident, I have decided to further enhance
our monitoring efforts,' DEQ Secretary Peggy Hatch said in a statement.
Officials
said the first set of 15 samples from the area show that there are no
detectable levels of naturally occurring radioactive material on the
surface of the sinkhole and Hatch says they're confident residents
aren't at risk for exposure.
Bubbles come to the surface where pipelines come across Bayou Corne and a pipeline sign is seen on the right
Department spokesman Rodney
Mallett said such material tends to accumulate in low levels on
equipment used to drill for oil and gas.
Gas
bubbles have been erupting in the area for weeks. Residents have been
especially alarmed at the possibility of a natural gas explosion after
28 residents in Grand Bayou had to evacuate their homes on Christmas
2003 because natural gas was seeping from a salt dome storage cavern and
bubbling up into water wells.
Residents
have also been reporting earthquakes but despite a battery of tests
conducted by federal, parish and local officials, no one has been able
to figure out the source of the tremors.
Randy
Rousseau, who lives in Grand Bayou and owns a body shop in Belle Rose,
said he's noticed tremors for years. He eventually moved out of his
house because he didn't feel safe and has been unable to sell it because
the property value plummeted after several small sinkholes opened up in
his yard.
