Japan's whaling fleet has cut short its hunt in the Antarctic after a fire two weeks ago crippled the main boat.
The controversial annual hunt, which Japan says was carried out for research purposes, was meant to continue until the end of March.
But Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research said the Nisshin Maru boat could not be fully repaired at sea.
Japanese government officials said the fleet had caught 508 of this season's target of 860 whales.
The six-vessel fleet had been dogged by anti-whaling activists since it set sail in December.
But an unrelated fire aboard the Nisshin Maru, which killed one crew member and left the boat without power for 10 days, proved a bigger problem.
"Far from an embarrassment, the situation in the Antarctic was an unfortunate event that no-one could have predicted," said Hiroshi Hatanaka, director general of the ICR.
He said much of the boat's whaling equipment had been damaged.
The government of New Zealand and the environmental group Greenpeace protested to Japan after the boat had floundered off Antarctica, near a large penguin colony.
Fears of a fuel oil leak prompted an offer from Greenpeace to tow the vessel out of the area which Japan rejected.
Japan is strongly opposed to the international ban on commercial whaling. It hunts whales every year under what it describes as a scientific research programme.Japanese officials said the research hunting would resume in December.
Laura Knight-Jadczyk
Signs Of The Times
Tue, 27 Feb 2007 08:22 EST
There has been a gathering storm of potentially explosive controversy between Christians and Jews that we have been observing with some interest. It may not be apparent to some that this issue has the potential to ignite global conflict, but if all factors are taken into consideration, including the fact that this very event was predicted years ago by Douglas Reed in his book
Controversy of Zion, the arrangement of playing pieces on the board should give us some clue about what is in store.
Obviously, of course, it is only some Jews and some Christians, but the ramifications of the situation - especially considering the background and details - are startling. We hope that you will peruse this mini-series including some comments and understand that this is just another salvo in a long-term project and the when the storm finally breaks, things could get very ugly.
Let's begin our review with the basic claims.
Read More...Labels: James Ossuary +Jesus Ossuary
By Ker Than
LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 28 February 2007
01:28 pm ET
Scientists scanning the deep interior of
Earth have found evidence of a vast water reservoir beneath eastern Asia that is at least the volume of the
Arctic Ocean.The discovery marks the first time such a large body of
water has found in the planet’s
deep mantle.
The finding, made by Michael Wysession, a seismologist at Washington State University in St. Louis, and his former graduate student Jesse Lawrence, now at the University of California, San Diego, will be detailed in a forthcoming monograph to be published by the American Geophysical Union.
Looking down deepThe pair analyzed more than 600,000 seismograms—records of waves generated by
earthquakes traveling through the Earth—collected from instruments scattered around the planet.
They noticed a region beneath Asia where seismic waves appeared to dampen, or “attenuate,” and also slow down slightly. “Water slows the speed of waves a little,” Wysession explained. “Lots of damping and a little slowing match the predictions for water very well.”
Previous predictions calculated that if a cold slab of the
ocean floor were to sink thousands of miles into the Earth’s mantle, the hot temperatures would cause water stored inside the
rock to evaporate out.
“That is exactly what we show here,” Wysession said. “Water inside the rock goes down with the sinking slab and it’s quite cold, but it heats up the deeper it goes, and the rock eventually becomes unstable and loses its water.”
The water then rises up into the overlying region, which becomes saturated with water
[image]. “It would still look like solid rock to you,” Wysession told LiveScience. “You would have to put it in the lab to find the water in it.”
Although they appear solid, the composition of some ocean floor rocks is up to 15 percent water. “The water molecules are actually stuck in the mineral structure of the rock,” Wysession explained. “As you heat this up, it eventually dehydrates. It’s like taking clay and firing it to get all the water out.”
The researchers estimate that up to 0.1 percent of the rock sinking down into the Earth’s mantle in that part of the world is water, which works out to about an Arctic Ocean’s worth of water.
“That’s a real back of the envelope type calculation,” Wysession said. “That’s the best that we can do at this point.”
The Beijing anomalyWysession has dubbed the new underground feature the “Beijing anomaly,” because seismic wave attenuation was found to be highest beneath the Chinese capital city. Wysession first used the moniker during a presentation of his work at the University of Beijing.
“They thought it was very, very interesting,” Wysession said. “China is under greater
seismic risk than just about any country in the world, so they are very interested in seismology.”
Water covers 70 percent of Earth’s surface and one of its many functions is to act like a lubricant for the movement of continental plates.
“Look at our sister planet,
Venus,” Wysession said. “It is very hot and dry inside Venus, and Venus has no plate tectonics. All the water probably boiled off, and without water, there are no plates. The system is locked up, like a rusty Tin Man with no oil.
Labels: Ocean + Inside + Earth
VOLCANO ALARM
Island on Alert as Stromboli Erupts
The volcano on the Sicilian island of Stromboli regularly attracts visitors keen to catch a glimpse of flowing molten lava. Now the island is on general alert after the volcano started erupting more violently than usual. Authorities fear a tidal wave.
more...Labels: Stromboli + Erupts
Joe Quinn
Signs of the Times
Tue, 27 Feb 2007 19:37 EST
In the aftermath of the release of footage of BBC and CNN news reports on the afternoon of September 11th 2001, Head of BBC World News has publicly responded to the apparently prophetic reports and offers a less than convincing explanation.
Part of the conspiracy?
Richard Porter
Head of BBC World News
The 9/11 conspiracy theories are pretty well known by now. The BBC addressed them earlier this month with a documentary, The Conspiracy Files, shown within the UK.
Until now, I don't think we've been accused of being part of the conspiracy. But now some websites are using news footage from BBC World on September 11th 2001 to suggest we were actively participating in some sort of attempt to manipulate the audience. As a result, we're now getting lots of emails asking us to clarify our position. So here goes:
1. We're not part of a conspiracy. Nobody told us what to say or do on September 11th. We didn't get told in advance that buildings were going to fall down. We didn't receive press releases or scripts in advance of events happening.
Such claims are all well and good, but they must be backed up by the evidence if they are to taken seriously.
2. In the chaos and confusion of the day, I'm quite sure we said things which turned out to be untrue or inaccurate - but at the time were based on the best information we had. We did what we always did - sourced our reports, used qualifying words like "apparently" or "it's reported" or "we're hearing" and constantly tried to check and double check the information we were receiving.
Fair enough. The fact that the BBC was simply reporting information that it had obtained is not the issue. The issue is the origin of the report about the demolition of WTC7 that the BBC received somehow in advance of the collapse itself.
Our reporter Jane Standley was in New York on the day of the
attacks, and like everyone who was there, has the events seared on her mind. I've spoken to her today and unsurprisingly, she doesn't remember minute-by-minute what she said or did - like everybody else that day she was trying to make sense of what she was seeing; what she was being told; and what was being told to her by colleagues in London who were monitoring feeds and wires services.
A classic bit of sidestepping the issue. It doesn't matter what Ms Standley remembers, we have the precise details on tape.
4. We no longer have the original tapes of our 9/11 coverage (for reasons of cock-up, not conspiracy). So if someone has got a recording of our output, I'd love to get hold of it. We do have the tapes for our sister channel News 24, but they don't help clear up the issue one way or another.
It's the BBC's lucky day! The footage is all over the internet.
5. If we reported the building had collapsed before it had done so, it would have been an error - no more than that. As one of the comments on You Tube says today "so the guy in the studio didn't quite know what was going on? Woah, that totally proves conspiracy... "
An "error"? Well,I beg to differ. This was no mere common or garden "error", this was an unadulterated precognitive error! After all, what are the chances that the BBC would 'erroneously' report that building 7 of the WTC complex had collapsed, even though it was visible, standing proudly in the background of the BBC report, yet just 20 minutes later the BBC's report comes true!
What are the chances of something like that happening when there was absolutely no logical reason for anyone to think that building 7 was about to collapse because no steel framed building has ever collapsed due to fire, and on that day there were only two small fires in WTC 7.
What are the chances?
Mr Porter needs to understand that this is not an 'error'. This was something much, much bigger. But what was it? Obviously the important question is: who provided the data to the CNN and BBC reporters that building 7 had already collapsed long before it did? To answer that question we need to revisit the essence of the 9/11 event.
As we detail in our book, 9/11: The Ultimate Truth, Israel was the main conspirator in the events of that day, with the current Bush administration in the role of facilitator. The most important point to understand is that Bush and Co. were the victims of a double-cross - on the morning of 9/11, they thought they knew the minute details of what was about to transpire, but they were in for an unpleasant shock. The Bush gang fully expected Flight 77 to hit the Pentagon, and they did not expect the twin towers to be demolished in such a spectacular and frankly unbelievable fashion. Israel, as the chief architect of 9/11, deliberately orchestrated the attacks in such a way that glaring holes would be left in the official "Osama did it" story, holes that would easily fuel "conspiracy theories" - holes that Israel knew it could use to threaten, intimidate and blackmail the Bush gang into submission.
And that is exactly what has happened since 9/11. The Bush government and the US military have been rendered little more than extensions of the psychopathic policy-making arm of the Zionist government of Israel. I am not however suggesting that, had this Zionist 'sword of Damocles' not been hanging over the head of the Bush government for the past 6 years, world peace would have by now broken out - far from it, but there is a particular recklessness that is unique to the Zionist mind that puts even the warmongers in the Bush government to shame.
So, back to today. It is more than a little strange that on the same day, not one but two pieces of archive news footage from the BBC and CNN were released that punch yet another large hole in the Bush government's official story of what happened on 9/11. Furthermore, the story seems to have gone mainstream with the head of BBC World News apparently feeling compelled to publicly offer a rather implausible explanation. Don't they usually just ignore these 'crazy conspiracy theories'? What, we wonder, is the point of this? Who is behind it, and why now?
You may have noticed that, among the threatening voices being raised towards Iran over the past year, there is one voice that stands out for it aggressiveness and persistence? I speak, of course, of Israel. The Zionist regime and its associated lobby groups in the US have been figuratively peeing their pants about the prospect of an attack on Iran. Like a psychopathic pimp, Israel has been struggling to conceal the destructive principle that underpins the Zionist ethos as it calls for immediate action to ramp up the war on terror and for the American prostitute in chief to get active in 'stopping Iran'. The Zionists are not content with 1 million dead in Iraq. They want more, much more, and as I have noted, are in a position to get what they want, at least in the short term.
It is from this perspective that today's anomalous release of the two pieces of 9/11 footage should be viewed. These videos represent a continuation of the Zionist blackmailing of the Bush government and the American people that began with the 9/11 attacks. As the dancing Israelis made clear after they were apprehended whooping and cheering the demolition of the twin towers: "We are Israelis. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are your problem."
But for the Zionist final solution to the Palestinian question to be implemented, Iran must be dragged into the fray, and today the Bush government has been given a gentle reminder that Israel wants war with Iran, and Bush and Co have no choice but to deliver. In their arrogance and wishful thinking however, the Zionists may be overlooking the fact that, no one likes to be blackmailed, even an American psycho, and in the confusion of war, 'mistakes' are often made.
LINKLabels: BBC + CNN + 911 + Footage
New Sea Life Species Discovered in Antarctica
LIFE IN THE DEPTHS
New Sea Life Species Discovered in Antarctica
Fan-finned ice fish, spindley orange sea stars, and roving sea cucumbers -- an unknown underwater world full of new species and exotic sealife has been discovered by an international team of scientists in Antarctica.
more...Labels: new sea life + antarctica
GARY LEUPP
CounterPunch
Sat, 24 Feb 2007 10:23 EST
The Jewish Lobby
Former CIA counterterrorism specialist Philip Giraldi, comparing the propaganda campaign against Iran to that which preceded the war on Iraq, has recently declared, "It is absolutely parallel. They're using the same dance steps-demonize the bad guys, the pretext of diplomacy, keep out of negotiations, use proxies. It is Iraq redux." He's only one of many in his field (including Vincent Cannistraro, Ray McGovern, and Larry C. Johnson) doing their best to expose the Bush-Cheney neocon disinformation campaign according to which Iran is planning to produce nukes in order to commit genocide, while abetting terrorists in Iraq who are killing American troops.
Read More...Labels: AIPAC + Iran
Rodrigue Tremblay
The New American Empire
Mon, 26 Feb 2007 11:08 EST
Cases of Conservative Hysteria Skyrocket!The Iraq war is turning into a war against the American people and its institutions. According to the latest poll, an overwhelming majority of Americans (63 %) want U.S. troops to be out of Iraq by the end of next year. This is the clear message the American electorate is sending to President George W. Bush. On February 16 (2007), 56 percent of the members of the U.S. House of Representative essentially said the same thing when they adopted Resolution 63, by a vote of 246 against 182, in which they stated that "... Congress disapproves of the decision of President George W. Bush announced on January 10, 2007, to deploy more than 20,000 additional United States combat troops to Iraq." And, to make it complete, 56 percent of U.S. Senators signified their opposition to the war on February 17 (2007). These clear democratic signals of the people's wishes came after the November 7 (2006) election, in which pro-war Republican candidates took a thumping. They also came after a blue ribbon study group, the Baker-Hamilton Commission, unanimously concluded that the solution in Iraq is political and not military, and unanimously recommended that the U.S. terminate its open-ended presence in Iraq and begin its disengagement and "redeployment" from that country.
Read More...
Labels: Bush + War + against + american + people
February 25, 2007
The plane of US Vice-President Dick Cheney has reportedly been diverted to Singapore because of mechanical problems.
Mr Cheney flew out of Sydney en route to the United States on board Air Force 2, a Boeing 757, about 9am today after a four-day visit marred by violent protests, arrests and traffic chaos.
The US Consulate in Sydney said the vice-president's plane had been scheduled to make a fuel stop in Singapore and a spokeswoman could not confirm if the plane was experiencing mechanical problems.
She said any information on the flight would come directly from the White House, but it is unknown if a statement will be released confirming or denying the reports.
Mr Cheney's plane was due to depart on schedule from Singapore, she said.
Prime Minister John Howard told reporters in Sydney that he had heard reports the plane was being diverted, but had few details.
"I have had a report to that effect,'' Mr Howard told reporters at a NSW Liberal Party campaign event.
"I'm not aware of the full circumstances.
"I have not been told except that it has been diverted.
"As to the precise circumstances, I am not as advised.''
Sky News said Air Force Two was being diverted to Singapore.
The near perfect weather during the visit turned to rain today as the 20-vehicle vice presidential entourage travelled to Sydney's Kingsford Smith Airport and entered Gate 12A near the domestic terminal.
Airforce 2, a Boeing 757, and a much larger US Air Force KC-10 transport, were loaded by US support staff prior to Mr Cheney's arrival on the tarmac.
No Australian politicians were present at the airport, but US Ambassador Robert McCallum, and his wife Mimi, farewelled the vice-president.
Under a heavy guard of NSW police, US Secret Service and other security personnel, Mr Cheney boarded the flight.
Labels: cheney + plane
©BBC
According to the photographer, Mr Peretz looked through the capped binoculars three times, nodding as Gen Ashkenazi explained what was in view.Laura Knight-Jadczyk
Signs Of The Times
Fri, 23 Feb 2007 06:27 EST
He is not the first politician to demonstrate so graphically how out of touch with reality they really are. For example, George Bush was caught in the exact same gaffe:
©AP
George Bush at the Korean DMZ in 2002. Another photo later in the sequence showed the lens caps removed, so someone apparently figured it out.Now, don't go sending me the Snopes "debunking" links. Snopes didn't debunk this photo. They admit that they don't know whether the photo is real or manipulated.
Read More...Labels: Amir Peretz + binoculars
Rescue crews work around the area of Guatemala City where a 330-foot-deep sinkhole swallowed homes and businesses on Friday.POSTED: 2:38 p.m. EST, February 23, 2007
GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AP) -- A giant sinkhole opened before dawn Friday, swallowing several homes and a truck and leaving a father and two teenagers missing in Guatemala City.
Officials said the 100-meter-deep (330-foot-deep) sinkhole in a crowded neighborhood of poor, concrete homes was caused by recent rains and an underground sewage flow from a ruptured main.
National disaster coordinator Hugo Hernandez identified the missing as Domingo, Irma and David Sosyos, ages 53, 18 and 15, respectively. A body appeared in a river of sewage near the sinkhole, but it was unclear whether the corpse was a victim.
"The shaking of the house woke us up," said 26-year old Edward Ramirez, who lives 50 meters (50 yards) from the sinkhole and said residents had been hearing noises and feeling tremors for about a month. "People were shouting 'the electric posts are falling down!' We are going to a friend's house now, there's no way we'll stay here."
Authorities said the hole was extremely unstable, forcing the evacuation of nearly 1,000 people from their homes. Police helped residents, some even carrying refrigerators and televisions on their shoulders.
The pit was emitting foul odors, loud noises and tremors, and a rush of water could be heard from its depths. Authorities feared it could widen or others could open up.
Security officials were on guard for possible looters and to clear the area of onlookers.
Cristobal Colon, a spokesman for the municipal water authority, said the sewage main ruptured after becoming clogged. He said the city was aware of the blockage and the army had considered a controlled explosion to clear the pipe, which carries both rainwater and sewage for much of the capital.
Antonio Fuentes, 50, said he plans to abandon the run-down neighborhood he has called home for 15 years.
"Last night a friend had to take my handicapped wife out on motorcycle," he said. "Now I'm leaving for good, never to come back."
Labels: Giant + Sink hole + guatemala
Idaho Observer
Wed, 21 Feb 2007 09:21 EST
It wasn't "experts" who figured out that when a canary stops singing and starts teetering on his perch, its time to get out of the coal mine. Not surprisingly, the "experts" claim they cannot determine conclusively why reports from all over the world describe flocks of birds dying by the thousands. The forensic sciences have improved to a point that causes of death can be accurately determined upon autopsy - if the death is not political. Recent bird kills have been reported in Idaho, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Australia, Turkey, SE Asia and Africa. Though the dead birds in SE Asia, Turkey and Africa have been blamed on "bird flu," the causes of death remain mysteries in the U.S. and Australia.
"THOUSANDS of birds have fallen from the skies over Esperance and no one knows why. Is it an illness, toxins or a natural phenomenon? A string of autopsies in Perth have shed no light on the mystery," reported The Australian Jan. 10, 2007.
more...
Labels: dead birds
Thursday 22 February 2007
There has been no clear explanation as to what caused hundreds of fish to wash up on 90 Mile Beach at Hukatere a day after nearly one thousand fishing enthusiasts brought a close to the biggest competition in New Zealand.
Hundreds of dead fish washed up on 90 Mile Beach on Sunday turning the golden sands into a sea of decaying flesh and scales.
As nearly one thousand fishermen walked off the beach on Saturday afternoon at the end of the Snapper Classic, the biggest surfcasting fishing competition in New Zealand, there were many complaints about the numbers caught over the five day event. However, it is believed that hours after the competition was officially brought to a close hundred of dead fish washed up on the beach at Hukatere.
"They were everywhere; as far as the eye could see. There must have been about a thousand of them," said Brian McDonald who was driving along the beach on Sunday at 3pm when he made the shock discovery.
" You couldn't walk on the sand because there were so many of them. I didn't think it was caused by a trawler and a lot of the fish were really small. There were tour buses coming back from Cape Reinga stopping so the passengers could take pictures," Mr Mc Donald added.
Ministry of Fisheries personnel who were at the Snapper Classic Fishing Competition said that there were reports of bait flowing straight out of the water and there were also claims of a large wave which had allegedly carried them in.
However, MP Shane Jones has dismissed these claims as unrealistic and believes a full investigation must be carried out.
The large majority of the fish that were washed up were jack mackerel and kahawai, two fish which are not traditionally found so close to shore.
District compliance manager for MAF, Ian Bright, said that jack mackerel is not a commercial target species in this area and felt that it was more likely to have been a big wave. But revealed that an investigation would be carried out by his officers to try and get to the bottom of the mystery.
"We will be looking searchingly at the Ministry of Fisheries to exhaustively investigate this issue," Shane Jones MP said.
"It is too early to point the finger, but it is fair to say that acts like this deepens suspicion of the fishing industry. Jack mackerel is not a species of fish that usually gets as close to the shore and as for kahawai, they are agile fish and I think it would take a Tsunami wave to bring them in. If it is as the Ministry of Fisheries suggest at this early stage that it has been a wave then I want further verification. The people of the north do not want to see large quantities of food being left to rot on the beach."
Mr Jones revealed that there has been occasions in the past when a commercial fishing boat has suffered gear failure and they have lot their nets, bring their entire catch to shore. However, if the fish have been abandoned that will be a must more serious issues as jack mackerel is a quota fish and commercial operators are well aware of the penalties of abusing their quota.
"Fisheries should meet with the local Iwi to ensure that there are arrangements made for the disposal of the fish. Given that MAF had 10-15 people chasing a suspected illegal operation related to smoked mullet this is not a lot of ask.
"But whatever this is, it is wanton waste," he added.
Labels: dead fish + new zealand
Torture at Abu Ghraib: The full sworn testimony of Ali Shalal
Global Research, February 19, 2007
Perdana Global Peace Organization, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Editor's Note
The following text is the testimony given by Professor Ali Shalal, who was tortured at Abu Ghraib Prison. This statement was presented to the War Crimes Commission set up under the helm of former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, as evidence in the procedure launched in Kuala Lumpur directed against US President George W. Bush, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair and Australia's Prime Minister John Howard.
Ali Shalal, known to the World as the "man behind the hood", is a man of tremendous courage and determination. I heard his testimony, I had the opportunity of speaking to him on several occasions in the course of the war crimes Conference. We established bonds of friendship and solidarity. We shared our determination to bring the war criminals in high office to justice.
Ali Shalal is a professor of theology. He is a tremendous source of inspiration. It is important to understand that what Ali Shalal experienced is part of a routine process of torture, applied systematically to those arrested. Many of his companions in Abu Ghraib died as a result of torture or were executed upon their release so that they would not reveal the gruesome horrors and atrocities committed on the orders of the Bush administration. Also of significance, as confirmed by his testimony, was the fact that Israeli "civilians" were involved in assisting the US prison interrogators.
Ali Shalal survived and provided testimony in the name of all those who were tortured to death. Ali Salal's words will go down in history.
The war criminals in high office will be brought to justice. It is also our determination that they will be given a fair trial.
Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 19 February 2007
Ali Shalal and Michel Chossudovsky in Kuala Lumpur, & feb 2007
STATUTORY DECLARATION
I, Ali Sh. Abbas (alias Ali Shalal) of full age and an Iraqi citizen do hereby solemnly and sincerely declare as follows:
1.
I am 45 years old
2.
I now live in Amman, Jordan.
3.
I was an Islamic education lecturer in the city of Al-Alamiya, Iraq
4.
The purpose of making this statutory declaration is to put on record my torture experience in the Abu Ghraib prison.
5.
On the 13th October, 2003 while I was going to prayer in the mosque in Al-Amraya, the American troops arrested me. They tied my hands to the back of my body and put a bag over my head. They took me to a small prison in a U.S. military camp in Al-Amraya.
6.
The Commander of this military camp, one Captain Philips told me that he had received an order from his superior to arrest him and he did not know the reasons for my arrest. I was left alone in the prison.
7.
After two days, they transferred me to the Abu Ghraib prison. The first thing they did to me was to make a physical examination of my body and abused me. Together with other detainees, we were made to sit on the floor and were dragged to the interrogation room. This so called room is in fact a toilet (approximately 2m by 2m) and was flooded with water and human waste up to my ankle level. I was asked to sit in the filthy water while the American interrogator stood outside the door, with the translator.
8.
After the interrogation, I would be removed from the toilet, and before the next detainee is put into the toilet, the guards would urinate into the filthy water in front of the other detainees.
9.
The first question they asked me was, "Are you a Sunni or Shiia?" I answered that this is the first time I have been asked this question in my life. I was surprised by this question, as in Iraq there is no such distinction or difference. The American interrogator replied that I must answer directly the questions and not to reply outside the question. He then said that in Iraq there are Sunnis, Shiias and Kurds.
10.
The interrogators wore civilian clothes and the translator, an Afro-American wore American army uniform.
11.
When I answered that I am an Iraqi Muslim, the interrogator refused to accept my answer and charged me for the following offence:
(a) That I am anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic.
(b) I supported the resistance
(c) I instigated the people to oppose the occupation
(d) That I knew the location of Osama bin Ladin
I protested and said that Muslims and Jews descended from the same historical family. I said that I could not be in the resistance because I am a disabled person and have an injured hand.
12.
The interrogator accused me that I had injured my hand while attacking the American soldiers.
13.
The interrogator informed me that they knew that I was an important person in the community and therefore could help them. As an inducement for my cooperation, the interrogator offered medical help for my injured hand.
14.
When I did not cooperate, the interrogator asked me whether I considered the American army as "liberator" or "occupier". When I replied that they were occupiers, he lost his temper and threatened me. He told me that I would be sent to Guantanamo Bay where even animals would not be able to survive.
15.
They took me to another room and took record of my thumb print, a photo of my eye and a sample of my saliva for DNA analysis. After this procedure, they tagged me by putting a band round my wrist with the following particulars: my name, a number, my religious status and whether I had previous arrest.
16.
They then beat me repeatedly and put me in a truck to transfer me to another part of the Abu Ghraib prison.
17.
This part of the prison, was in an open space and consisted of five sectors, surrounded by walls and barb wires and was called "Fiji Land". Each sector had five tents and surrounded by barb wires. When I was removed from the truck, the soldiers marked my forehead with the words "Big Fish" in red. All the detainees in this camp are considered "Big Fish". I was located in camp "B".
18.
The living conditions in the camp were very bad. Each tent would have 45 to 50 detainees and the space for each detainee measured only 30cm by 30cm. We had to wait for 2 to 3 hours just to go to the toilets. There was very little water. Each tent was given only 60 litres of water daily to be shared by the detainees. This water was used for drinking and washing and cleaning the wounds after the torture sessions. They would also make us to stand for long hours.
19.
Sometimes, as a punishment, no food is given to us. When food is given, breakfast is at 5.00 am, lunch is at 8.00 am and dinner at 1.00 pm. During Ramadhan, they bring food twice daily, first at 12.00 midnight and the second is given during fasting time to make the detainees break the religious duty of fasting.
20.
During my captivity in the camp, I was interrogated and tortured twice. Each time I was threatened that I would be sent to Guantanamo Bay prison. During this period, I heard from my fellow detainees that they were tortured by cigarette burns, injected with hallucinating chemicals and had their rectum inserted with various types of instruments, such as wooden sticks and pipes. They would return to the camp, bleeding profusely. Some had their bones broken.
21.
In my camp, I saw detainees brought over from a secret prison which I came to know later as being housed in the "Arabian Oil Institute" building, situated in the north of Baghdad. These detainees were badly injured.
22.
After one month and just before sunset my number was called and they put a bag over my head and my hands were tied behind my back. My legs were also tied. They then transferred me to a cell.
23.
When I was brought to the cell, they asked me in Arabic to strip but when I refused, they tore my clothes and tied me up again. They then dragged me up a flight of stairs and when I could not move, they beat me repeatedly. When I reached the top of the stairs, they tied me to some steel bars. They then threw at me human waste and urinated on me.
24.
Next, they put a gun to my head and said that they would execute me there. Another soldier would use a megaphone to shout at me using abusive words and to humiliate me. During this time, I could hear the screams of other detainees being tortured. This went on till the next morning.
25.
In the morning, an Israeli stood in front of me and took the bag from my head and told me in Arabic that he was an Israeli had interrogated and tortured detainees in Palestine. He told me that when detainees would not cooperate, they would be killed. He asked me repeatedly for names of resistance fighters. I told him that I do not know any resistance fighters but he would not believe me, and continued to beat me.
26.
This Israeli dressed in civilian clothes tortured me by inserting in turn first with a jagged wooden stick into my rectum and then with the barrel of a rifle. I was cut inside and bled profusely. During this time, when any guard walked past me, they would beat me. I had no food for 36 hours.
27.
The next morning, the Israeli interrogator came to my cell and tied me to the grill of the cell and he then played the pop song, "By the Rivers of Babylon" by Pop Group Boney M, continuously until the next morning. The effect on me was that I lost my hearing, and I lost my mind. It was very painful and I lost consciousness. I only woke up when the Israeli guard poured water on my head and face. When I regain consciousness, he started beating me again and demanded that I tell him of the names of resistance fighters and what activities that I did against the American soldiers. When I told him that I did not know any resistance fighters, he kicked me many times.
28.
I was kept in the cell without clothes for two weeks. During this time, an American guard by the name of "Grainer" accompanied by a Moroccan Jew called Idel Palm ( also known as Abu Hamid) came to my cell and asked me about my bandaged hand which was injured before I was arrested. I told him that I had an operation. He then pulled the bandage which stained with blood from my hand and in doing so, tore the skin and flesh from my hands. I was in great pain and when I asked him for some pain killers, he stepped on my hands and said "this is American pain killer" and laughed at me.
29.
On the 15th day of detention, I was given a blanket. I was relieved that some comfort was given to me. As I had no clothes, I made a hole in the centre of the blanket by rubbing the blanket against the wall, and I was able to cover my body. This is how all the prisoners cover their bodies when they were given a blanket.
30.
One day, a prisoner walked past my cell and told me that the interrogators want to speed up their investigation and would use more brutal methods of torture to get answers that they want from the prisoners. I was brought to the investigation room, after they put a bag over my head. When I entered the investigation room, they remove the bag from my head to let me see the electrical wires which was attached to an electrical wall socket.
31.
Present in the room was the Moroccan Jew, Idel Palm, the Israeli interrogator, two Americans one known as "Davies" and the other "Federick" and two others. They all wore civilian clothes, except the Americans who wore army uniforms. Idel Palm told me in Arabic that unless I cooperated, this would be my last chance to stay alive. I told him that I do not know anything about the resistance. The bag was then placed over my head again, and left alone for a long time. During this time, I heard several screams and cries from detainees who were being tortured.
32.
The interrogators returned and forcefully placed me on top of a carton box containing can food. They then connected the wires to my fingers and ordered me to stretch my hand out horizontally, and switched on the electric power. As the electric current entered my whole body, I felt as if my eyes were being forced out and sparks flying out. My teeth were clattering violently and my legs shaking violently as well. My whole body was shaking all over.
33.
I was electrocuted on three separate sessions. On the first two sessions, I was electrocuted twice, each time lasting few minutes. On the last session, as I was being electrocuted, I accidentally bit my tongue and was bleeding from the mouth. They stop the electrocution and a doctor was called to attend to me. I was lying down on the floor. The doctor poured some water into my mouth and used his feet to force open my mouth. He then remarked, "There is nothing serious, continue!" Then he left the room. However, the guard stopped the electrocution as I was bleeding profusely from my mouth and blood was all over my blanket and body. But they continued to beat me. After some time, they stopped beating me and took me back to my cell.
34.
Throughout the time of my torture, the interrogators would take photographs.
35.
I was then left alone in my cell for 49 days. During this period of detention, they stopped torturing me. At the end of the 49th day, I was transferred back to the camp, in tent C and remained there for another 45 days. I was informed by a prisoner that he over heard some guards saying that I was wrongly arrested and that I would be released.
36.
I was released in the beginning of March 2004. I was put into a truck and taken to a highway and then thrown out. A passing car stopped and took me home.
37.
As a result of this experience, I decided to establish an association to assist all torture victims, with the help of twelve other tortured victims.
38.
I feel very sad that I have to remember and relive this horrible experience again and again, and I hope that the Malaysian people will answer our call for help. God willing.
And I make this solemn declaration conscientiously believing the same to be true and by virtue of the provisions of the Statutory Declarations Act 1960.
more...Labels: man behind the hood + abu ghraid + Ali Shalal
The threat to ocean-going sharks is more severe than previously thought, according to conservation experts.
Scientists with the World Conservation Union, which publishes the Red Lists of Threatened Species, have upgraded the "threat" category of several sharks.
Those now considered "vulnerable to extinction" include the shortfin mako, a favourite of recreational fishermen, and the long-tailed thresher shark.
Scientists say over-fishing is a principal reason for the decline.
The World Conservation Union's (IUCN) shark specialist group announced their re-assessments at a workshop in Oxford, UK.
"Despite mounting threats and evidence of decline, there are no international catch limits for pelagic (ocean-going) sharks," said Sonja Fordham, deputy chair of the shark specialist group and policy director for the Shark Alliance.
"The workshop results underscore the urgent need for international fishery commissions to limit fishing for these vulnerable species and strengthen regulations on the wasteful practice of finning."
Cutting off shark fins, which are prized for soup in some east Asian cultures, is banned in many fisheries. But IUCN says enforcement is often weak.
Mature problem
Sharks are more vulnerable than many other types of fish to environmental threats because they generally mature slowly and reproduce relatively late in life.
"The qualities of pelagic sharks - fast, powerful, wide ranging - too often lead to a misperception that they are resilient to fishing pressure," commented Sarah Fowler, shark specialist group co-chair.
"But several species are now threatened with extinction on a global scale."
The world's biggest fish, the whale shark, is one of them. Researchers found evidence last year that so many large specimens are being caught that the average length of the fish is falling.
However, many of the most threatened species are found in rivers and coastal waters, with the Ganges shark, the striped dogfish of South America and the European angel shark among those considered
"critically endangered".The new assessment sees the status of the scalloped hammerhead, another coastal species, worsen from "near threatened" to "endangered".
Hammerheads are among the most commonly caught sharks for finning.
Accidental catching by fishermen is as much a threat as targeted fishing.
There is a complex set of criteria for deciding which species go in which category of risk.
"Vulnerable" can mean that species numbers have declined by 50% in 10 years if the main threat is removed, or by 30% if the threat is still present; "critically endangered" can mean a 90% decline over 10 years.
The Oxford workshop is one of a series in which IUCN scientists are aiming to generate a more accurate picture of the threats to sharks and their close cousins, the rays.
Many of these species have not been studied sufficiently for scientists to assess their status, yet threats in the form of fishing and habitat disruption are clearly present.
Labels: ocean + sharks + endangered
Henry See
Signs of the Times
Thu, 22 Feb 2007 06:18 EST
Guards escort a prisoner in the ubiquitous orange suit at Guantanamo Bay.After six years in power, the Bush gang have been able to put their pathocratic cronies into positions on the Supreme Court, as well into many seats in the Appeals Court system. In so doing, they have been able to subvert even the weak protection of rights for the poor and dispossessed in the United States, as well as being able to successfully create a parallel 'legal' system for individuals the US wishes to make disappear from the world.
read more...
Labels: guantanamo bay
A tropical cyclone has struck central Mozambique with strong winds destroying houses and uprooting trees and pylons.
Cyclone Favio made landfall in the central province of Inhambane near the town of Vilanculos and is heading inland towards the city of Beira.
Winds are reported to be in the range of 100mph-130mph (160km/h-200km/h).
The country is still struggling to cope with the effects of recent floods. An estimated 120,000 Mozambicans have already been driven from their homes.
Travel warning
"It's dangerous for people. They have to close their windows, doors and they have to look for safer places and avoid being under trees," said Helder Sueia from the meteorological office.
"[Favio] is a category four cyclone... It's a very strong cyclone."
The cyclone is expected to lose much of its power over land, but the fear is that heavy rainfall may add to severe flooding in Mozambique, says the BBC's Adam Mynott.
The Mozambican authorities are on high alert, and thousands of volunteers are on stand-by to help move people to the relative safety of communal buildings, such as schools and churches.
The UK's Foreign Office has advised against all travel to the tourist islands around Bazaruto, as well as low-lying coastal areas.
The cyclone passed through Bazaruto but there is no word yet of its effect there. There have also been storms as far south as Xai Xai.
The government in Mozambique has been praised for its response to the recent crisis, says the BBC's southern Africa correspondent Peter Biles.
It has been far better prepared than it was seven years ago when hundreds of people lost their lives during the worst floods in the country's history.
Experts tracking the expected path of Cyclone Favio over the past week think it is unlikely to badly affect the flooded areas around the Zambezi river, but they emphasise that cyclones are highly unpredictable.
Labels: cyclone + favio + mozambique
Tom Tvedten MD
Via Email
Wed, 21 Feb 2007 15:05 EST
Dear Mr. Monbiot,
I too am a lifelong activist. I started in my pre-teen years by insisting on riding in the back of the bus in Baton Rouge Louisiana when only blacks were supposed to ride there. I am half Danish and half Norwegian. From Civil Rights I moved on to the Anti-Viet Nam War movement of the 60's and early 70's. Then on to the Union of Concerned Scientists and the Freedom of Choice movements (I am a physician.) as well as other environment causes both specific and general in nature. I have been and am still actively working for campaign finance reform as I feel that without this we can never have a true democracy. I fight for a national health insurance plan based loosely on the current Medicare model and for enforcement of the existing immigration laws.I fight against NAFTA as I feel that it is destroying the industrial base of this nation and really does threaten the existence of the middle class in this nation (the U.S.)
Like almost everyone else, I was shocked and awed by the horror of 9/11/01 and watched in disbelief as the Twin Towers fell. I did not find out about bldg. 7 until years later. Why not? I try to keep up with current events. I was willing to let the 9/11 Commission do its job and reserve judgment until their report came out. I was shocked and awed again by the glaring omissions made by this report. I decided to investigate further and discovered WTC 7, but it wasn't even mentioned in the Kane Zelicow-Hamilton Report.
Read More...Labels: monbiot
Denmark will withdraw its troops from Iraq by August, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has said.
The troops, numbering about 460, will be replaced by a unit of about 50 soldiers manning four observational helicopters, he said.
It comes as Tony Blair announced a timetable for reducing British troop numbers in Iraq from 7,100 to 5,500.
Most Danish troops are based in the southern city of Basra, where they operate under British command.
The mandate for Danish troops to serve in Iraq is due to expire in June.
Waning public supportMr Rasmussen said the decision to pull out was taken after consultation with the Iraqi government and the British.
"We expect that the Iraqis during 2007 will take over security in southern Iraq," she said.
Five Danish soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the conflict began in 2003.
Denmark was one of the original countries involved in the coalition.
There was general public support for the initial invasion, reports the BBC's Julian Isherwood in Copenhagen, but backing for the war is now at its lowest level.
A recent poll showed 64% of Danes thought it completely or predominantly wrong for Denmark to continue to have troops in Iraq.
Mr Rasmussen said the withdrawal from Iraq would enable Denmark to increase its troop deployment to Afghanistan.
He said no final decision had been taken, but the country's troop deployment could rise from 400 to 600.
"We are favourable to sending more troops to Afghanistan... because it is essential that Nato wins its battle against the Taleban," he said.
Most Danish troops in Afghanistan are under UK command in southern Helmand province.
Labels: troop withdraw + denmark
Mozambican authorities have put the country on the highest level of alert, as it waits for an approaching cyclone.
The cyclone, named Favio, is predicted to arrive on Wednesday with winds of up to 175km/h (109m/h).
Central and southern parts of the country are expected to be worst hit, particularly Sofala, Inhambane and Gaza provinces.
The country is already struggling to recover from recent heavy floods that forced 120,000 people from their homes.
Inhabitants of central and southern parts of the country have been warned and told that the army and Red Cross are on standby.
"We are warning people not to climb the trees and they must keep their doors and windows well closed," said Belarmino Chivambo, spokesperson for the Mozambique National Office for Natural Disasters Management.
The Red Cross is mobilising volunteers to move people to communal buildings.
Six years ago more than 700 people lost their lives to floods.
Labels: cyclone + Favio
Kurt Nimmo
Another Day In The Empire
Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:53 EST
Did George Swallow a Sour Grape Along with the "official conspiracy theory"?
It stinks of desperation. George Monbiot, inveterate leftist of the foundation financed environmentalist persuasion, has once again taken a swing at the "conspiracy idiots" who believe government is capable of mass murder, including the reflexive murder of its own subjects.
Not unlike his brethren, most notably Noam Chomsky and Alex Cockburn, Monbiot buys the Ward Churchill version of events in regard to the attacks of September 11, 2001 - that is to say Osama and a small number of cave-dwelling Wahhabi fanatics magically made NORAD stand down and defied the immutable laws of physics, thus delivering one to the conclusion a piece of paper cannot be slipped between Monbiot and the moonstruck followers of the neocons, as they all buy the same Brothers Grimm fairy tale.
Read More...Labels: 911 + george monbiot
Japan has expressed its displeasure at a resolution before the US Congress calling on Tokyo to apologise for the country's use of sex slaves in wartime.
Foreign Minister Taro Aso said the resolution was not based on facts.
Sponsored by several members of the US House of Representatives, the proposed text urges Tokyo to formally resolve the issue of so-called
"comfort women".Japan admits its army forced women to be sex slaves during World War II but has rejected compensation claims.Historians believe at least 200,000 young women captured during World War II were forced to serve in Japanese army brothels.
A large number of the victims - who were known as comfort women - were Korean, but they also included Chinese, Philippine and Indonesian women.
Private fund
Mr Aso described the non-binding resolution, which was introduced in Congress earlier this month, as "extremely regrettable".
"It was not based on objective facts," he told a parliamentary committee meeting.
The resolution calls on Japan's prime minister to "formally acknowledge, apologise and accept historical responsibility" for the comfort women.
The House of Representatives heard last week from three former comfort women who described the rape and torture they endured at the hands of the Japanese soldiers.
Japan acknowledged in 1993 that the imperial army set up and ran brothels for its troops during the war.
The government set up a special fund in 1995, which relies on private donations to provide compensation.
But many former comfort women reject the fund and want formal compensation from the government.
Labels: sex + slave + bill
Last Updated: Monday, 19 February 2007, 16:29 GMT
A Romanian priest has been jailed for 14 years for conducting an exorcism that led to the death of a nun who he believed was possessed by devils.
Irina Cornici, 23, died after being starved and chained to a cross at a secluded convent in the north-east.The ritual in 2005 was led by Daniel Petru Corogeanu, 31, the priest at the Holy Trinity convent in Tanacu village.
He and four nuns were convicted of manslaughter. The nuns got jail terms ranging from five to eight years.
Nicoleta Arcalianu got eight years, while Adina Cepraga, Elena Otel and Simona Bardana were given five-year sentences.
All the defendants plan to appeal against the verdict in a case which has shocked Romania.
The Orthodox Church, which described the Tanacu incident as "abominable", has promised reforms, including psychological tests for those seeking to enter monasteries.It banned Corogeanu from the priesthood and excommunicated the four nuns.
In 1999, when the Vatican issued its first new guidelines since 1614 for driving out devils, it urged priests to take modern psychiatry into account in deciding who should be exorcised.
After hearing the sentence, Corogeanu said: "We will appeal and hope that it will succeed. We didn't expect this sentence, but this is the judge's decision. We will pray to God for help."
Dozens of Corogeanu's supporters packed the courtroom and several burst into tears when the verdict was announced, AP news agency reported.
Labels: priest +jailed +exorcism
US contingency plans for air strikes on Iran extend beyond nuclear sites and include most of the country's military infrastructure, the BBC has learned.
It is understood that any such attack - if ordered - would target Iranian air bases, naval bases, missile facilities and command-and-control centres.
The US insists it is not planning to attack, and is trying to persuade Tehran to stop uranium enrichment.
The UN has urged Iran to stop the programme or face economic sanctions.
But diplomatic sources have told the BBC that as a fallback plan, senior officials at Central Command in Florida have already selected their target sets inside Iran.
BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner says the trigger for such an attack reportedly includes any confirmation that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon - which it denies.
Alternatively, our correspondent adds, a high-casualty attack on US forces in neighbouring Iraq could also trigger a bombing campaign if it were traced directly back to Tehran.
read moreLabels: us + Iran attack plans
Robin McKie, science editor
Sunday February 18, 2007
The ObserverA few months ago, the clear blue Pacific Ocean waters off the coast of Oregon suddenly turned a thick greenish brown. A swell of nutrients produced a bizarre blooming of plankton that reached levels never seen before by scientists. Then the plankton died and sank, causing oxygen levels in the water to plummet to zero.
The living ocean was transformed into a dead zone. Scientists conducted a submarine survey and found only the bodies of crabs and marine worms scattered across the ocean floor. There were no signs of any fish. Nothing had survived the cataclysm.
Nor has this been the only such disaster to strike a marine ecosystem in recent years. As scientists reported at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Francisco yesterday, unprecedented changes to ocean currents are having a devastating effect on finely balanced marine ecosystems all over the globe. Similar upheavals have been recorded in other parts of the world, particularly off South America and Africa.
Marine researchers are convinced the evidence points to one culprit: global warming. Man-made changes to the climate are throwing previously predictable seasonal winds out of kilter. 'We finger the winds as the important culprit, but we do not know definitively why these winds are changing,' said Professor Jane Lubchenco from Oregon State University. 'However, we know the changes are what would be expected under climate change scenarios, and climate change is a viable hypothesis. We should expect more surprises.'
Seasonal winds blowing across the sea affect ocean currents by pushing away surface water, which is then replaced by colder water from below. But warmer land temperatures result in higher pressures and stronger winds, which in turn have an impact on currents, said the scientists. Normally these effects were predictable, but recently the system had become unstable and volatile - a pattern that mirrors climate change models. 'Wild fluctuations in the intensity of ocean upwellings are wreaking havoc with ecosystems,' added Lubchenco. 'We're seeing extreme distortions on both sides of the norm. This is a system that is out of kilter. It's fluctuating rapidly.'
Up to five decades of data have shown that these events were unprecedented, she said, pointing out that similar ocean current disruption had been seen in other regions, particularly off Peru, Chile and parts of Africa.
Last year's ecosystem collapse on the Oregon coast was the second to strike there in as many years. In 2005, a nutrient-rich ocean current that normally appears off northern California and Oregon in spring was delayed by a month. This led to a loss of plankton, the microscopic plant organisms upon which larger animals depend for food. Salmon, which normally take to the sea at this time, starved. The effects rippled through the food web as predators, including sea birds, went hungry and died. Huge numbers of dead birds washed up on the shores.
'Beaches were littered with the bodies of dead sea birds,' said Dr Julia Parrish, from the University of Washington in Seattle. Many of the starving survivors have been unable to breed since then, she added.
Then, a year later, in 2006, the dead zone appeared and remained for nearly 17 weeks. 'It grew to an area the size of the state of Ohio and lasted much longer than we thought would be possible, from something that we tracked day to day for months on end,' said Dr Francis Chan, from Oregon State University in Corvallis. 'It went from a low-oxygen system to a no-oxygen system. This had a dramatic effect on marine life.'
Labels: ocean + dead zones
A £150 MILLION space mission should be launched to deflect an asteroid which is set to pass dangerously close to Earth, experts warned yesterday.
The call for action to protect the world from Apophis - named after the Egyptian god of destruction - came from a coalition of astronauts, engineers and scientists with close links to US space agency NASA.
Scientists have estimated the asteroid has a one-in-45,000 chance of striking Earth on 13 April, 2036. Travelling at 28,000mph it could release 80,000 times the energy of the Hiroshima bomb.
The group believes the United Nations should assume responsibility for a space mission - using a vessel called a "gravity tractor" - to knock Apophis off course.
read more...Labels: asteroid + earth
NEUROTECHNOLOGY
A network of artificial nerves is growing in a Swiss supercomputer -- meant to simulate a natural brain, cell-for-cell. The researchers at work on "Blue Brain" promise new insights into the sources of human consciousness. By Manfred Dworschak
more...Labels: supercomputer
By CHASE SQUIRES
DENVER (AP) - Thousands of travellers heading to ski areas for the weekend were stalled by giant traffic jams Saturday as highways were blocked by crews removing snow slides.
One avalanche at Berthoud Pass on Highway 40, the main road to the Winter Park ski resort, knocked a state maintenance vehicle off the road during the night, said Colorado Department of Transportation spokeswoman Stacey Stegman.
That pass was the scene of an avalanche last month that knocked two vehicles off the road and stranded several motorists. No injuries were reported.
Elsewhere, avalanche crews firing explosive charges to break up potential avalanches dislodged a massive slide that buried Interstate 70, the main access from Denver and the urban Front Range corridor to many of the state's major ski resorts, including Vail and Aspen.
Officials opened I-70 during the morning to let motorists already stuck in traffic jams move on. But newcomers heading west from Denver were turned back at Georgetown, 72 kilometres west of Denver.
The storm, which had moved out of the state Saturday, piled up as much as 46 centimetres of snow in the mountains, Stegman said.
The storm also blasted the metropolitan area with wind as high as 160 km/h.
At Denver International Airport, officials were still "baffled" Saturday by cracks that formed during the storm in the windshields of 12 airliners, airport spokesman Steve Snyder said.
Investigators had found no evidence of wind-blown debris that could have caused the cracks, which delayed some flights, Snyder said.
Windshields on two Frontier airliners were cracked while they were airborne near Denver, and two others were cracked while the planes were on the ground, said Joe Hodas, spokesman for Denver-based Frontier Airlines.
Airplane windshields are heavily reinforced, designed to handle travel at hundreds of kilometres per hour and even survive collisions with birds, Hodas said.
SkyWest Airlines reported cracked windshields on eight planes that were taking off or landing Friday, spokeswoman Marissa Snow said. One plane's windshield cracked while it was airborne.
Elsewhere, a twin-engine Cessna crashed during a snowstorm southeast of the airport at Council Bluffs, Iowa, killing at least three people late Friday, officials said.
The cause of the crash was not yet known. The National Weather Service said a fast-moving storm was pushing through the area with wind gusting up to 85 km/h and poor visibility.
In Pennsylvania, the last of hundreds of motorists stranded on a 80-km stretch of Interstate 78 were freed Friday, but several other highways remained shut as crews struggled to clear ice and snow following a huge storm across the Midwest and Northeast.
Some motorists were stranded for as long as 24 hours.
At least 24 deaths were blamed on the storm system and accompanying cold: six in Ohio; three in Nebraska; two each in Illinois, Indiana, New York, New Jersey and Delaware; and one each in Missouri, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Hampshire and Louisiana.
Labels: Airliner windshields crack
Laura Knight-Jadczyk Interview on BBC
Here's a terrific interview with Laura Knight-Jadczyk that aired last week on BBC Wales.
Click on "listen again" on the right hand side, then in the new window that pops up under "A-Z OF ALL SHOWS" click the "MON" edition of the "Adam and Mal" show, the interview is about five minutes in (after Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky". The link should be good until next Monday.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/radiowales/
Transcript
here on her blog.
Here is an excerpt where Laura discusses the core thesis of her book,
The Secret History of the World: LKJ: Well, the fundamental thesis of the book is that our reality is projected from, or embedded in, a higher or hyper-dimensional reality, and that what we perceive with our senses, you know, the, - the three dimensions of space and the four dimensions of space and time - are not all there is. And that, you know, even when we try to measure things that come from these other realities with our limited three-dimensional instrumentation, they fall short; you know, you can’t even go there. So, that’s the fundamental thesis, so taking history, taking the data that we have about human history, some of which is extremely mysterious; some of which is baffling, some of it’s very shocking; putting it together, you begin to see a pattern, a flow, of something that enters and exits our reality in a way that, uhm; if you’re familiar with the story ‘Flatland’ where, where the plane being, where the fingertips are put on the plane and what you see on the plane are round circles. And, if the hand were to be put through a membrane, you would just see, you know, circles going through, until the hand actually coalesced into a larger object, but to the beings of the membrane, it would never be anything other a circle that appeared and disappeared in time.
So, our reality is something like that and that there are denizens of this other reality that are perceivable to some people through history, and, they’ve - down through history - they’ve referred to them as gods or goddesses, or, uhm, you know, forces, beings, whatever; and they ascribe to them powers, appearances, you know, based upon how they read them. I don’t think they necessarily are amorphous either, and that’s, that’s where the new age community has completely gone astray, by thinking that anything outside this reality must be amorphous, must be a spirit. It doesn’t have to be a spirit at all. Just a slight shift in the dimensional reality and you have a completely other reality that is as physical as our own.
...AW: And, obviously, people have vested interests in preserving their own version of the facts, which is incredible. Now you mentioned multiple realities, why is it important for us as humans to try to question or determine a reality that is beyond our own? In other words, we can’t actually change the other reality, or change our own reality, is there any point in you making the voyage you have, as it were?
LKJ: Well, there is nothing that says that we can’t change it if we know about it and understand it. What you don’t know can definitely hurt you, especially in this respect. Uh, one of the things that really got me going many years ago was that I would, you know, I would read these so called conspiracy theories, and I would follow each theory as far as I could follow it - you know following a paper trail - and I always came up against a dead end. I mean, it was like, you would take it as far as you could go and then it was a dead end. It was like, ok, beyond this, there is a mystery. And, yet at the same time, you could look at the vast pattern of history and you could see that, you know, that there was a strong indication that something was maneuvering things toward a particularly directed end. And yet there was no possibility in my mind, after following all these many trails, that this could be a human conspiracy, because human beings simply, simply can’t conspire over thousands of years; they can’t keep something going that long. They, they work on immediate, uh, immediate reward, they want, you know, cause and effect, if I am going to do something, I want my reward in this lifetime.
And, uhm, so, there is no possibility that any of these conspiracies could be human originated and that was, uh, that was where I was for a long time. And then I began to think about manipulations from other realities. And then, of course, it was when I got into my channeling experiment, because I was very frustrated at that point, because I could go no further. I mean, I had, I had, I had pretty much exhausted everything; I had exhausted the normal avenues of, of information and I had exhausted the so-called paranormal avenues of information and I kept coming up against that funny thing that Charles Fort said, you know, he says, “I think we’re property”. And it struck me, uh, that is exactly how it appears, when you look at this vast sweep of history, it’s as though we’re one big experiment.
AW: Well, and, and who is, you know, perpetrating the experiment?
LKJ: Who perpetrates it? Well, I would suggest that it is denizens of this other reality that are referred to by the ancients as gods, and nowadays, of course they, they may refer to them as aliens. I don’t think they’re aliens. I don’t think they come from other planets. I think they are hyperdimensional beings and I think that they’ve been here for many thousands of years, if not for all of human history. There are records of lights in the sky and strange beings that are similar to, you know, what are called aliens down through history. Jacques Vallee referred to it as a control system. Control system, hyperdimensional reality; it’s pretty much the same thing.
AW: Hmm, I’m just wondering why, you know, why they would appear to be so fascinated with us, especially over such a long protracted amount of time. Clearly, I don’t know what their intentions are, so it’s difficult to try to gauge that, or even if they do have intentions like human beings have intentions. But what do you hypothesize is the reason that people might want to manipulate us in this way, or, I’m sorry, beings, might want to manipulate us in this way?
LKJ: Well, the evidence strongly indicates that we are food for them.
(long silent pause)
AW: Uhm, what evidence suggests that?
LKJ: Well, the evidence of, say for example, wars, and plagues and famines, and, uh, the… and I’m not saying that we are physical food necessarily, I’m saying that, you know, energy, energetic food, emotional; that pain and suffering is something they uh, they feed on, that gives energy to them. Just as the movie ‘The Matrix’, you know, said that people were in pods and their emotional energy produced energy for the system, for the machine, that they were batteries, it’s very similar, that we are, in essence, a, uh, a power supply.
AW: Well, if we, the, the, the human way of maybe responding to something like that, to maybe analyze it scientifically, typically, is to try to look for, perhaps, an example within our universe. So to look at maybe, you know, a microcosm within, I don’t know, the flora or the fauna that we research and I, I can’t think of anything, you know, and I’m sure you’ll correct me. Or at least an example within our universe of an ecosystem that behaves in that way, where you put things kind of under stress rather than just eating them or devouring them, it seems a…
LKJ: Think of the cat and the mouse. What does the cat do with the mouse?
AW: He plays with the mouse.
LKJ: I mean, is it necessary for the cat to play with the mouse before it eats it?
AW: No, it’s not (laughs) that was a very, yeah, that’s a very obvious example isn’t it? A very good example. So, is the point then that they need to kind of maintain us, and keep us here, keep us going as a food source in the same way we try to sustain our own food sources?
LKJ: More or less, and I think that in many respects, they cut us some slack, you know, they make sure we know enough to create a civilization, to feed that civilization, to build that civilization up, to increase the numbers of people in that civilization; and then, to put people into conflict with one another so that they fight and kill one another so that there is massive pain and suffering.
Perhaps they know something's on the way.
By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News, San Francisco
A draft UN treaty to determine what would have to be done if a giant asteroid was on a collision course with Earth is to be drawn up this year.The document would set out global policies including who should be in charge of plans to deflect any object.
It is the brainchild of the Association of Space Explorers, a professional body for astronauts and cosmonauts.
At the moment, Nasa is monitoring 127 near-Earth objects (NEO) that have a possibility of hitting the Earth.
The association has asked a group of scientists, lawyers, diplomats and insurance experts to draw up the recommendations.
The group will have its first meeting in Strasbourg in May this year. It is hoped the final document will be presented to the UN in 2009.
"We believe there needs to be a decision process spelled out and adopted by the United Nations," said Dr Russell Schweickart, one of the Apollo 9 astronauts and founder of the Association of Space Explorers.
Known threat
The threat of an asteroid hitting the Earth is being taken more and more seriously as more and more NEOs are found.
In the US, Congress has charged Nasa with the task of starting a more detailed search for life-threatening space rocks.
"Congress has said that Nasa's efforts to date are not sufficient to the threat," said the US space agency's Dr Steven Chesley.
"They have changed Nasa's targets so that the cataloguing and tracking of asteroids is part of its mandate."
Congress has asked the agency to mount a much more aggressive survey.
At the moment, Nasa tracks all objects greater than 700m (2,300ft) in diameter. The agency's new goal is to track all objects greater than 70m (230ft) in diameter.
To do this, the agency needs to use a new suite of telescopes.
Alternatives include building a new Nasa-owned system or investing in other proposed telescopes such as the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) or the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System (Pan-Starrs).
Pan-Starrs is a wide-field telescope being developed at the University of Hawaii, whilst the LSST is a proposed ground-based instrument being developed by the not-for-profit LSST corporation based in the US.
Nasa estimates that there are about 20,000 potentially threatening asteroids yet to be discovered.
"Out of those thousands, there will be without question many that look like they might hit the Earth with a high enough probability that the public and everyone else will be concerned," said Dr Schweickart.
"This has gone from being an esoteric statistical argument to talking about real events," added Dr David Morrison, an astronomer at the Nasa's Ames Research Center.
Future plans
The UN draft treaty would establish who should be in charge in the event of an asteroid heading towards Earth, who would pay for relief efforts and the policies that should be adopted.
In addition, it would set out possible plans to deflect the object.
Ideas could include hitting the asteroid with a spacecraft or rocket to deflect its orbit.
Other less destructive proposals include a "gravity tug" that would simply hover over the asteroid and use gravity as a "towline" to change its path.
But any decision to deflect an NEO could come with its own set of conundrums for the UN, as changing its path may simply alter its final target.
"It's important to understand when you start to deflect an asteroid that certain countries are going to have accept an increase in risk to their populations in order to take the risk to zero for everyone," said Dr Schweickart.
It is difficult decisions like this which can only be addressed by the UN, the Association of Space Explorers believes.
And it is under no illusion that the process can be sorted out quickly.
"You have to act when things look like they are going to happen - if you wait until you know for certain, it's too late," said Dr Schweickart.
Experts who will draw up the treaty include Lord Rees, the English Astronomer Royal and head of the Royal Society; the ex-director of science at the European Space Agency, Roger Bonnet; and former UK government advisor Sir Crispin Tickell.
The proposals were outlined at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in San Francisco, US.
Labels: killer asteroids
By Jonathan Fildes
Science and technology reporter, BBC News, San Francisco
The delicate interplay between the oceans and atmosphere is changing with catastrophic consequences.Entire marine ecosystems have been wiped out, devastating populations of sea birds and larger marine mammals.
These "dead zones" occur where there are disturbances to the nutrient-rich ocean currents, which are driven by coastal winds.
Extreme marine suffocations have occurred off the west coast of the US every year for the last five years.
The most intense event, which left the ocean floor littered with the carcasses of crabs, happened in 2006.
It was unlike anything that we've measured along the Oregon coast in the past five decades," said Dr Francis Chan, of Oregon State University (OSU).
Other coastal countries including Chile, Namibia and South Africa have also been affected.
read moreLabels: wind shifts devastate ocean life
By Dr. June Scorza Terpstra
During a heated debate in a class I teach on social justice, several US Marines who had done tours in Iraq told me that they had "sacrificed" by "serving" in Iraq so that I could enjoy the freedom to teach in the USA. Parroting their master's slogan about "fighting over there so we don't have to fight over here", these students proudly proclaimed that they terrorized and killed defenseless Iraqis.
more...Labels: marine tours + killing iraqis
Greg Mitchell
Editor and Publisher.com
Wed, 14 Feb 2007 20:54 EST
After the latest widely-publicized stories in national newspapers about weapons from Iran allegedly killing Americans in Iraq -- based completely on unnamed sources -- at least one smaller news outlet has had enough of it.
The news director of the public radio station in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has directed his staff to "ignore national stories quoting unnamed sources." He also called on other news outlets to join this policy.
Bill Dupuy sent the following to his news staff.
Effectively immediately and until further notice, it is the policy of KSFR's news department to ignore and not repeat any wire service or nationally published story about Iran, China, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia or any other foreign power that quotes an "unnamed" U.S. official.
What we have suspected and talked about at length before is now becoming clear. "High administration officials speaking on the condition of anonymity," "Usually reliable Washington sources," and others of the like were behind the publicity that added credibility to the need to go to war against Afghanistan and Iraq.
Our news department covers local news. But, like local newspapers and others, we occasionally are taken in by national stories that we have no way to verify.
This is a small news department with a small reach. We cannot research these stories ourselves. But we can take steps not to compromise our integrity. We should not dutifully parrot whatever comes out of Washington, on the
wire or by whatever means, no matter how intriguing and urgent it sounds, when the source is unnamed.
I am also calling on our colleagues in other local news departments -- broadcast and print -- to take the same professional approach.
LINK
Chris Floyd
Empire Burlesque
Tue, 13 Feb 2007 13:57 EST
Paint It Black
Imagine a city torn by sectarian strife. Competing death squads roam the streets; terrorists stage horrific attacks. Local authority is distrusted and weak; local populations protect the extremists in their midst, out of loyalty or fear. A bristling military occupation exacerbates tensions at every turn, while offering prime targets for bombs and snipers. And behind the scenes, in a shadow world of double-cross and double-bluff, covert units of the occupying power run agents on both sides of the civil war, countenancing - and sometimes directing - assassinations, terrorist strikes, torture sessions, and ethnic cleansing.
Read More...
Labels: Iraq + dirty war
Stephen Lendman
sjlendman.blogspot.com
Thu, 15 Feb 2007 07:45 EST
Tune in online to hear The Steve Lendman News and Information Hour on The Micro Effect.com each Saturday at noon US central time.
The world community calls them "Blue Helmets" or "peacekeepers," and the UN defines their mission as "a way to help countries torn by conflict create conditions for sustainable peace" by implementing and monitoring post-conflict peace processes former combatants have agreed to under provisions of the UN Charter. The Charter empowers the Security Council to take collective action to maintain international peace and security that includes authorizing peacekeeping operations provided a host country agrees to have them under Rules of Engagement developed and approved by all parties. At that point, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations enlists member nations to provide force contingents to be deployed once the Security Council gives final approval.
Read More...
Labels: UN + Peacekeeping
Newswise — Albert Einstein is supposed to have said, “If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would only have four years left to live.”
Well, there’s no need to get your affairs in order just yet, but a mysterious ailment called Colony Collapse Disorder is causing agricultural honeybees nationwide to abandon their hives and disappear.
It’s a regular bee Bermuda Triangle, and a team of University of Montana honeybee researchers has been enlisted to find out what’s bugging the bees -- the leading pollinator of humanity’s crops.
“Individual beekeepers are really taking a beating,” UM entomologist Jerry Bromenshenk said. “A guy down in Oklahoma lost 80 percent of his 13,000 colonies in the last month. In Florida, there are a whole lot of people facing 40, 60 and 80 percent losses. That’s huge.”
With CCD, most adult honeybees abandon a hive and disappear, leaving the queen and a remnant of younger bees. The malady also is characterized by uncapped brood -- when the cells of young bees in the pupa stage are not covered and protected by their older sisters -- probably because most of the adult bees have left. Dead adult bees aren’t found near the hive; they are just gone.
“We don’t want to panic the beekeeper industry because we are not sure it’s time to push the panic button yet,” Bromenshenk said. “But we do know this is real, it’s severe and it’s widespread.”
CCD also is known as disappearing disease, dwindling disease and autumn collapse. Bromenshenk said similar outbreaks have been documented in beekeeping literature as far back as 1896, and the last major occurrence was likely in the 1960s.
“My belief is that what’s going on right now has been seen before, but we’ve never really gotten a handle on it,” he said.
At the bequest of concerned beekeepers, the UM research group has teamed with Penn State scientists to do chemical and genetic analysis of hives hit by CCD. Other partners include the Florida Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“Our CCD group is trying to bring some fact-finding into play on this whole issue,” Bromenshenk said. “We have some new technologies available now that weren’t available in the ’60s.”
Bromenshenk also has spoken with beekeepers around the nation, as well representatives of the National Honey Board and the Almond Board of California. West Coast almond crops are completely dependent on healthy hives for pollination.
Bromenshenk said at least 22 states -- including Montana -- have been affected by CCD during the latest outbreak. Theories about what causes the malady range from a rouge protozoan that killed bees in Spain to new chemicals or a soil fungus. But no one knows for sure.
“This is just one man’s opinion, but we suspect there might be something contagious or communicable,” said Bromenshenk.
That could cause problems in California, where thousands of hives from across the nation congregate each winter to pollinate the Sunshine State’s massive almond crop. Bromenshenk, who leads a UM technology spin-off company called Bee Alert Technology Inc., also worries beekeepers will combine the remnants of hives hit by CCD with healthy colonies, which might spread the malady further.
Bee Alert staff members have traveled to many of the hardest hit states to take samples. Field technician and self-professed bee lover Scott Debnam said the impacted bee yards are a little spooky to visit.
“Fortunately the sites I’ve visited have been recovering,” he said, “but in Georgia I saw a lot of small colonies, a lot of uncapped brood and a lot of early-stage brood. The adults had flown the coop.”
Bromenshenk said interest is growing in the CCD disorder. He is scheduled for an appearance on “The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric” this week.
Labels: bees + CCD
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