By Harold Pinter
03/30/07 "Assassinated Press " -- -- - "Earlier this year I had a major operation for cancer. The operation and its after-effects were something of a nightmare. I felt I was a man unable to swim bobbing about under water in a deep dark endless ocean. But I did not drown and I am very glad to be alive. However, I found that to emerge from a personal nightmare was to enter an infinitely more pervasive public nightmare - the nightmare of American hysteria, ignorance, arrogance, stupidity and belligerence; the most powerful nation the world has ever known effectively waging war against the rest of the world. "If you are not with us you are against us" President Bush has said. He has also said "We will not allow the world's worst weapons to remain in the hands of the world's worst leaders". Quite right. Look in the mirror chum. That's you.
The US is at this moment developing advanced systems of "weapons of mass destruction" and it prepared to use them where it sees fit. It has more of them than the rest of the world put together. It has walked away from international agreements on biological and chemical weapons, refusing to allow inspection of its own factories. The hypocrisy behind its public declarations and its own actions is almost a joke.
read more...Labels: why+George+Bush+is+Insane
Harrison Koehli
Signs of the Times
Wed, 28 Mar 2007 16:14 EDT
Having returned from Afghanistan in March of 2002, Sgt. 1st Class Rigoberto Nieves fatally shoots his wife then himself. Eighteen days later, on June 29, Master Sgt. William Wright, having returned the month before, strangles his wife to death. On July 9, Sgt. Cedric Griffin (who had yet to be deployed) stabs his wife to death. Ten days later, Sgt. 1st Class Brandon S. Floyd and his wife, Andrea, are found shot to death; another murder-suicide. All were stationed at Fort Bragg.
Read More...Labels: programmed+to+kill
(WCCO) Minneapolis A Minneapolis city worker is worried about blood in the sewer system because he said, while he was cleaning the system, blood sprayed out of a hole and got all over him.
"We could tell it was blood, I mean large amount of blood," said Minneapolis Sewer Maintenance Worker Ron Huebner.
It happened about two weeks ago in Northeast Minneapolis near a lab that does medical testing and dumps blood into the sewer. It is allowed but the city is now making changes to help protect workers in the future.
"Blood just all over my face, in my mouth, I could taste it. It was terrible. I had it in my mouth and I kept spitting and I couldn't get rid of it," said Huebner.
Huebner said he hasn't been sleeping much. He's worried about the blood that he swallowed when he was operating a jet machine to clean out the sewer.
The Met Council said it was a mix of human and animal blood used in medical testing at this nearby lab.
In fact, the company, R & D Systems, does have a permit to dump blood in the sewer system.
However, Huebner wasn't protected or warned about the blood because his immediate bosses didn't know about.
"We did not specifically know that this particular facility was discharging blood into the sewer system," said Minneapolis Public Works Deputy Director Heidi Hamilton.
There have been some changes, including more coordination among city departments so key information in permits gets to the right people and there's more required safety gear.
"We have changed the procedure to ensure they're wearing goggles or a face mask while they are above that manhole," said Hamilton.
The Met Council is changing the permit to say that the city has to warn the lab it's coming to clean the sewer, and the lab has to stop discharging blood until they're done. R & D told the city the blood shouldn't present any risk, but Huebner's still worried.
"I'm going to hope that nothing's wrong with me, but I don't want to see this happen to anyone else in my department," said Huebner.
The Met Council issued the permit. When asked if it's safe to have blood in the sewers, the Met Council said it is no more harmful than most other wastes in the sewer.
The sanitary sewer system is the appropriate place for this type of liquid wastes. There are other companies that have permits to discharge blood in the sewer system.
According to the Met Council, there are about four slaughterhouses, about 20 hospitals, and about a dozen medical and pharmaceutical companies that have permits.Labels: blood+sprays+out + sewer+on+city+worker
By Dennis Kucinich
This past week in the Congress of the United States, I noted that the administration has threatened aggressive war against Iran. This is a violation of the UN charter. Charters are treaties. Article 6 of the Constitution of the United States says that treaties are the law of our land, the supreme law of our land. It's illegal to threaten aggressive war against another nation.
Video and transcript
Labels: Impeachment +Do+you +Think+it's+time
Laura Knight-Jadczyk & Henry See
Signs of the Times
Tue, 20 Mar 2007 14:59 EDT
Often, some of the most important news comes from local papers, stories that don't make it up the feeding chain and onto the news wires or major newspapers or nightly network news. It can be news that at first glance wouldn't appear to have a national or international impact. Second glance, and a good memory, can reveal that the impact may well be quite significant.
The other day a reader sent us an article link that he found on another alt.news website: Bad news - we are way past our 'extinct by' date
Since we had run the same story back when it first came out, we thought "yeah! Flashback!" After all, with all the talk about Global Warming, it served to remind readers that human caused CO2 levels are not all there is to what is going on here on the BBM today.
Read More...
Labels: global + Warming+one+step+from+extinction
A US woman who claims her cat died after eating tainted pet food is suing the manufacturer, Menu Foods.
On Friday, Canada-based Menu Foods said it was recalling 60m cans and pouches of dog and cat food after several animals died during taste testing.
But Chicago resident Dawn Majerczyk claims the company knew that there was a problem earlier and failed to act.
Her nine-year-old cat Phoenix suffered kidney failure last week after, she says, eating just one of the pouches.
Taste test deaths
The ginger cat was taken to the vet on Friday but had to be put to sleep on Saturday, just four days after Ms Majerczyk says he ate the serving of Special Kitty Select Cuts.
The cat had reportedly lost 6lb (2.7kg) in the four days and was unable to walk and almost blind by the time he was put down.
"By Friday, he couldn't walk," his owner said. "He couldn't even meow or lift his head up."
Ms Majerczyk filed her lawsuit against Menu Foods in a Chicago federal court on Tuesday. She says that she wants to be compensated for the veterinary bills and the trauma suffered by her children.
The US Food and Drug Administration says that 14 animals - one dog and 13 cats - have been killed by the food.
Menu Foods said it was alerted to a problem with the food during routine taste tests carried out at the company.
The food was fed to 40 animals - 25 cats and 15 dogs - and nine of the cats subsequently died.
More predicted to die
As a result the company issued a product recall for 40 brands of cat food and 51 brands of dog food.
The recall list includes well-known brands like Iams, Eukanuba, PetCare and Science Diet.
A further four cats and one dog owned by customers have also died, according to the US Federal Drugs Administration (FDA).
Dr Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine, said he expected more pets to die as an investigation into what could have contaminated the food continued.
Dr Sundlof said the inquiry is currently focussing on wheat gluten used as a gravy thickener, though he said that may change.
The gluten is not used in dry pet foods.
The recall has triggered panic across the US with pet owners frantically contacting information lines and vets to find out if their pet is in danger. Labels: US+lawsuit+over +pet +food + death
Lawmakers are probing the dismissal last year of eight US attorneys, which critics say was politically motivated.
Mr Bush's Attorney General, Alberto Gonzales, has faced calls to resign over the dismissals.
The president has thus far stood by Mr Gonzales, a long-time confidant from their days in Texas before they came to Washington together.
read more...Labels: bush+advisor's+ordered + to+ testify
Laura Knight-Jadczyk
Signs Of The Times
Fri, 16 Mar 2007 09:07 EDT
Is this the face of the man who brought the "greatest nation on earth" to its knees?
Not too long following the revelation that CNN and BBC broadcast videos indicated that both news sources had reported the collapse of WTC7 at least 20 minutes BEFORE it was "pulled," (which suggests government and media complicity in the 911 attacks), Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man accused of masterminding the 9/11 attacks, has now appeared before a closed hearing at Guantanamo Bay where he is said to have confessed leading involvement in the September 11 attacks.
Not only! In addition, Sheikh Mohammed ALSO confessed to playing a leading role in THIRTY - yes, count them: 30 - additional terrorist plots! This a stunning range of terrorist activities he claims to have had a hand in including both the 1993 and 2001 assaults on the World Trade Center, as well as the beheading of the Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, attacks on Heathrow airport, Big Ben and Canary Wharf in UK, and still more!
Time Magazine remarks - with tongue in cheek, I suspect - that KSM "came across as an earnest, somewhat chatty mass murderer taking credit for plans to detonate the Panama Canal as well as New York City landmarks like the stock exchange. He also mentions assassination plots directed at former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton as well as Pope John Paul II. Several of the conspiracies he cited, notably the one involving President Carter, have not previously been disclosed."
Yes indeedy! KSM is your veritable one-stop shopping Terrorist Super Store! The Wally-World of Wickedness!
Read More...
Stephen Lendman
sjlendman.blogspot.com
Thu, 15 Mar 2007 08:44 EDT
The US electorate sent a clear, unequivocal message in the November mid-term elections. End the Iraq war and bring home the troops. Many supporting war in the 109th Congress lost out to more moderate voices taking over their seats because voters want change and expect new faces to deliver starting with the top issue on voters' minds in recent polls - Iraq. A majority of the public demands it, protests and heated rhetoric continue building over it, and the Congress is about to disappoint again proving getting into war is easy but even an act of Congress can't get us out because doing nothing is less risky than taking a stand against the prevailing view in Washington.
Read More...Labels: fake +congressional+opposition+to+war
by FIONA MACRAE - More by this author » Last updated at 16:51pm on 15th March 2007
This clouded leopard which feasts on monkeys, deer and pigs has been discovered living deep in the Borneo rain forest.
Long thought to be identical to the clouded leopards living on mainland South East Asia, genetic analysis has shown that the Bornean big cat is in fact a separate species.
Scientists have counted at least 40 key differences in the DNA of the two felines - making the two species of clouded leopard almost as different as a lion is to a tiger.
Some of the differences are clear to the naked eye, with the elliptical spots or 'clouds' which give it its name, being smaller and darker on the island variety.
The Bornean clouded leopard also has darker fur than its mainland cousin.
Dr Andrew Kitchener, of National Museums Scotland, said: "The moment we started comparing the skins of the mainland clouded leopard with the leopard found on Borneo, it was clear we were comparing two different species.
"It's incredible that no one has ever noticed these differences."
read more...Labels: new+species+leopard+discovered
Tue Mar 13, 3:07 AM ET
BANGKOK (AFP) - Hundreds of thousands of farmed fish have been found dead in one of Thailand's key rivers, the fisheries department said Tuesday, prompting fears that factories were polluting the waterway.
Parts of the central provinces of Ang Thong and Ayutthaya along the Chao Phraya river were officially declared disaster zones Tuesday, after the fish started dying there on Sunday night.
Officials said they were still trying to determine what had caused the deaths of up to one million caged tubtim fish, a type of tilapia, at different locations along the river about 100 kilometres (60 miles) north of Bangkok.
Jaranthada Karnsasuta, director general of the fisheries department, said a sudden lack of oxygen in the water killed the fish.
"Oxygen in water is very poor. Some reported zero to 0.5 percent of oxygen in the water, while fish need more than three percent to survive," he told AFP.
He said they were currently investigating two possible explanations -- that a sugar boat which capsized earlier this month released toxic byproducts into the river, or that upstream factories had polluted the waterway.
Local villagers and farmers suspect that factories, including one that produces the food additive monosodium glutamate, had released untreated water into the Chao Phraya, which flows down to the capital Bangkok, Jaranthada said.
It was less likely to have been caused by the capsized boat, he said, as the accident happened March 3 and the fish would have been affected earlier.
The Ministry of Agriculture will compensate fish farmers for their losses, which total about 40 million baht (1.3 million dollars), Jaranthada said.
An official in Ang Thong told AFP that the public health ministry had reassured him that the dead fish were not poisonous to humans, but added that they would be buried rather than entering the food chain.
Jaranthada said that the quality of water on the affected stretch of the Chao Phraya was improving after the irrigation department released clean water from an upstream dam.Labels: One+Million+dead+fish+thai
Laura Knight-Jadczyk
Signs Of The Times
Wed, 14 Mar 2007 07:15 EDT
What is the truth about Climate Change?Some time ago I wrote about Climate Change as being probably the most pressing problem facing humanity today. It is so pressing that I am convinced that possibly 90% of the human race - over 6 billion people - could be at risk of certain death in the very near future - like within ten years - if this matter is not addressed adequately and appropriately very, very soon by our "glorious leaders" who seem to have little on their mind other than blowing up innocent people.
But then, that war-mongering has a hidden agenda behind it: to grab and hold resources.
But rest assured that the intent is not to grab and hold those resources for you and me; it is to get them for the "elite," that 6% of humanity that is on the top of the heap and intends to stay there regardless of the fact that those genes should never be passed on.
Well, the Climate Change Confusion factor is heating up.
Channel 4 recently broadcast a special on the "Climate Change Swindle," that was intended to "expose the myths about climate change that have been promulgated in order to hoodwink the world into accepting the man-made theory of global warming."
As far as it went, this special wasn't too bad. However, it didn't really tell the whole story which is that, yes, Climate Change is real and a serious threat, but not for the reasons given.
As it happens, one of the experts included in the presentation has now announced that he was badly mis-quoted, or quoted out of context, and he is back-pedaling like mad.
Keep in mind that this is really just a distraction, something to keep the masses busy so that they don't see the real agenda: that it is intended that they should be "left out in the cold" because they didn't act to get rid of corrupt leaders in time to do anything to prepare for what is coming.
To make the point, let's look at this little debacle a bit more closely.
Read More...Labels: climate change + global warming + ice age
CSIRO
Physorg.com
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:25 EDT
Cold-water eddy 'monsters' mighty current off Sydney
Oceanographers have identified a huge, dense mass of cold water off Sydney but know very little about what causes it or the influence it has in the Tasman Sea ecosystem.
"What we do know is that this is a very powerful natural feature which tends to push everything else aside - even the mighty East Australian Current," says CSIRO's Dr David Griffin.
Dr Griffin, from the Wealth from Oceans Flagship Research program, said cold-water eddies regularly appear off Sydney.
"Until 20 years ago we would not have known they even existed without accidentally steaming through them on a research vessel," he said.
"However, now that we can routinely identify them from space via satellite, marine scientists can evaluate their role as a source of life in the marine ecosystem."
Reaching to a depth of more than 1000m, the 200km diameter ocean eddy has a rotational period of about seven days. Its centre is about 100km directly offshore from Sydney.
Ocean eddies can have a life of 2-3 weeks although similar eddies identified off South Australia and Western Australia are known to have survived several months.
In a complex cause-and-effect relationship, the East Australian Current is being forced to take a wide detour around the eddy off Sydney instead of flowing along the edge of the continental shelf.
In its centre, cold water from 400m is raised upwards some 200m. The sea surface, conversely, is lowered by 70cm. This dip in the surface of the ocean is invisible to the eye, but it can be accurately measured by the European and US satellites Jason-1, Envisat and GFO orbiting the Earth.
The upward displacement of the water was recorded by a robotic Argo float deployed by CSIRO as part of the international Argo program.
The cold-water eddy phenomena will be one of a wide range of issues to be discussed during a meeting which began in Hobart today of nearly 200 European, US and Australian scientists working with satellite altimetry - instruments that measure the height of the ocean to detect cold and warm water.
LINKLabels: mass + cold+water+sydney
ELEPHANT POACHING ON THE RISE
Africa Mulls Loosening Ivory Trade Ban
Some African nations are seeking to relax an international ban on the ivory trade, but wildlife conservations fear that will lead to a renewed massacre of African elephants. Meanwhile, poachers in Africa are killing more elephants than they have in almost 20 years. By Philip Bethge more...Labels: elephant +poaching+on+the+rise
by Michael Carmichael
Global Research
Tue, 13 Mar 2007 07:27 EDT
Hitler in War Propaganda Poster Nazi Era Germany
The core doctrine of the Bush Era is pre-emptive war. ... In academic discourse, the Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive war has been equated with the idea of committing suicide because of the fear of dying.
War propaganda glorifies military indoctrination as the highest form of patriotism while simultaneously demonizing the enemies of the state.
Adolf Hitler realized the power of propaganda to mould and shape public opinion. Hitler wrote a highly informed essay on the powers of propaganda in his political autobiography, Mein Kampf.
Read More...Labels: Propaganda + Politics +of + Perception
MONKEYS GOING TO POTPrimate Hunting Reaches Crisis Point in Latin America
Monkey numbers in Latin America have fallen dramatically in recent years as primate hunting reaches unsustainable levels. Most are used for food, but an increasing number of souvenirs are also produced using dead monkeys. more...Labels: primate +hunting+crisis+latin+america
A quarter of US veterans treated by doctors when they return from Iraq and Afghanistan suffer mental health problems, according to US research.
The study, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, looked at 103,788 personnel between 2001 and 2005.
The most frequent diagnosis was post-traumatic stress disorder, but anxiety, depression and substance-use also counted as mental health problems.
Those surveyed were already being treated at veterans' health centres.
read more...Labels: veterans + trauma
Thomas F. Barton
Albasrah.net
Sat, 10 Mar 2007 10:09 EST
"Given What We Were Doing To Them, Who Could Blame Them For Wanting To Kill Us, And All Americans?"
Joshua Key. Excerpt from The Deserter's Tale, published by House Of Anansi
Joshua Key, 28, was a poor, uneducated Oklahoma country boy who saw the U.S. army and its promised benefits -- from free health care to career training -- as the ticket to a better life. In 2002, not yet 24 but already married and the father of two , Key enlisted. He says his recruiting officer promised he'd never be deployed abroad, but a year later he was in Iraq.
Read More..Labels: the + american +soldiers +were + the+ terrorists
Stephen Lendman
sjlendman.blogspot.com
Thu, 08 Mar 2007 09:14 EST
The Samson Option is terminology used to explain Israel's intention to use its nuclear arsenal as an ultimate defense strategy if its leaders feel threatened enough to think they have no alternative. It comes from the biblical Samson said to have used his great strength to bring down the pillars of a Philistine temple, downing its roof and killing himself and thousands of Philistine tormentors. It's a strategy saying if you try killing me, we'll all die together, or put another way, we'll all go together when we go. Richard Wagner had his apocalyptic version in the last of his four operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen - Gotterdammerung, or Twilight of the Gods based on Norse mythology referring to a prophesied war of the Gods resulting in the end of the world.
Read More...Labels: George + Bush + Samson + Option
A 15-year-old girl from Laos has died from the virulent H5N1 strain of bird flu, becoming the country's first official fatality from the disease.
The Laos health ministry said the girl, who lived near the capital Vientiane, died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in neighbouring Thailand.
A 42-year-old woman, who also lived close to Vientiane, died of suspected bird flu a few days ago.
Tests have yet to confirm whether she died of the H5N1 virus.
A World Health Organization spokeswoman said last week that there was no link between the two cases.
Globally, more than 160 people have died of bird flu since late 2003. Most have been in East Asia, with Indonesia registering more human deaths than any other country.
But the virus has also spread to Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Millions of birds across the world have died or been culled because of the disease.
At the moment, the virus is essentially confined to birds and remains hard for people to catch.
But there is a fear that it could mutate to a form which is easily passed from human to human, triggering a pandemic and potentially putting millions of people's lives at risk.
Labels: laos + teenager+dies+from+bird+flu
By Katya Adler
BBC News, Jerusalem
An Israeli human rights group has accused Israel's army of using two young Palestinians as human shields during a recent raid in the West Bank.
The B'Tselem group said it had testimony from a 15-year-old boy, his 24-year-old cousin and also an 11-year-old boy.
They said soldiers had forced them at gunpoint to enter houses ahead of the troops during the raid in Nablus.
The use of human shields is illegal under Israeli and international law.
The Israeli defence force says it is investigating the allegations.
'Knowingly exposed'
The Israeli army occupied the Kasbah, or old town, in Nablus for five days at the end of last month. It said it was hunting for militants and their weapons.
Soldiers conducted house-to-house searches. They imposed a two-day curfew on tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians.
Amid Omeira, aged 15, told B'Tselem that a group of soldiers used the barrels of their rifles to force him to enter a number of houses ahead of them.
His 24-year-old cousin Samah told the group and the BBC of a similar experience, as did Jihan Dadush, aged 11.
From their testimonies, B'Tselem says it believes the Israeli soldiers knowingly exposed Samah and the two children to danger as they expected to find armed men in the houses.
B'Tselem has accused Israel's military authorities of not adequately informing soldiers about both Israeli and international laws which prohibit using civilians as human shields.
B'Tselem says the delay in investigating similar alleged incidents in the past suggests a leniency in the army's attitude towards soldiers who use civilians in this way.
Labels: Israeli+army+ used+human+ shields
Joe Quinn
Signs of the Times
Thu, 01 Mar 2007 10:34 EST
An innocent blindfolded Palestinian woman sits detained inside an Israeli army jeep in the West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron)
Few people in our technologically developed, yet morally bankrupt Western world possess even a basic understanding of just how horrible life in the Israeli occupied Palestinian territories is. Gaza is a small strip of land about 7 miles wide by 30 miles long. It is completely fenced in by the Israeli military, with the vast majority of its 1.5 million Palestinian inhabitants (making it one of the most densely populated areas in the world) denied the right to leave. Ever.
It is not surprising then that the Gaza strip has been compared to a giant open-air prison, because that is exactly what it is. In fact, there is a more exact phrase to describe urban areas like Gaza that have been turned into prisons for the inhabitants, it is a phrase that was made famous during the Second World War - 'Concentration Camp'.
Similar to the concentration camps in WWII, the inmates of the Gaza strip are often summarily shot in cold blood, by the Israeli camp guards, for no reason other than to "maintain order" in a pre-emptive way. Sometimes entire families are massacred and Palestinian houses are regularly demolished by Israeli tanks for the same reason. Gaza fishermen, desperate to make a little money risk coming under fire from bored Israeli gunboat captains by putting out to sea. Curfews are imposed as Israeli tanks rumble along the tattered streets of the Gaza strip, firing indiscriminately at nothing and everything, sometimes they kill something, sometimes not. Soon after every such incursion, news wires dutifully disseminate the Israeli military's version of events, you may have heard them before:
"during an operation to root out members of (insert name of Palestinian resistance group) in the Gaza strip, the Israeli military returned fire when they were shot at by Palestinian terrorists".
read more...
Labels: Israeli +occupied+ Palestinian+ Gaza
By Jason Szep Wed Mar 7, 7:18 AM ET
BOSTON (Reuters) - More than 30 Vermont towns passed resolutions on Tuesday seeking to impeach
President Bush, while at least 16 towns in the tiny New England state called on Washington to withdraw U.S. troops from
Iraq.
Known for picturesque autumn foliage, colonial inns, maple sugar and old-fashion dairy farms, Vermont is in the vanguard of a grass-roots protest movement to impeach Bush over his handling of the unpopular Iraq war.
"We're putting impeachment on the table," said James Leas, a Vermont lawyer who helped to draft the resolutions and is tracking the votes. "The people in all these towns are voting to get this process started and bring the troops home now."
The resolutions passed on Vermont's annual town meeting day -- a colonial era tradition where citizens debate issues of the day big and small -- are symbolic and cannot force Congress to impeach Bush, but they "may help instigate further discussions in the legislature," said state Rep. David Zuckerman.
"The president must be held accountable," said Zuckerman, a politician from Burlington, Vermont's largest city.
read more...Labels: Vermont +towns+seek+to+impeach+Bush
Dick Cheney has been diagnosed with a blood clot in his left leg, leading to speculation he will be forced to resign as U.S. Vice-President.
The 66-year-old has a history of major health problems, including four heart attacks, and has undergone quadruple-bypass surgery.
He is a driving force in both the war in Iraq and the 'war on terror' and his resignation would be a huge loss to George Bush.
read more...Labels: blood + clot+force+Cheney+to+step+down
US SOLDIER CONVICTED OF DESERTION
Agustin Aguayo, convicted by a US military court martial in Würzburg on Tuesday, says he is a conscientious objector. The US military considers him a coward. For the stalled anti-war movement, the Iraq veteran has become a symbol. By Charles Hawley in Würzburg, Germany
more...
Labels: Aguayo + follows + his + conscience + to + brig
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands - British scientists have embarked on a mission to study a gigantic hole in the Atlantic seabed - an enigma that defies traditional geophysical theory and will give researchers an unprecedented look into the centre of the Earth.
The 12-person team left the Canary Islands on Monday with a new hi-tech vessel and a robotic device named Toby that will dig up rock samples at the bottom of the crater and film what it sees.
The hole is about 5 000m under the surface of the Atlantic and located half way between Tenerife and Barbados. It has a diameter of 3 000 to 4 000m. Its depth is unknown.
The mysterious hole is in an undersea mountain range, the kind of structure believed to form when Atlantic tectonic plates separate and volcanic lava surges upward to fill the gap. But that did not happen this time. Instead, the hole exposes the mantle, the material that makes up Earth's interior, said British geophysicist Roger Searle of Durham University, one of the researchers.
"We do not know why that is," Searle said before setting sail on the RRS James Cook for the six-week mission. "Because of this gap we can see directly into the Earth's mantle." - Sapa-AP
Labels: mysterious + hole + Earth's + core
©ibiblio.org
NarcissusBy Clayton Collins
Christian Science Monitor
Tue, 06 Mar 2007 09:36 EST
A new study points to disturbing data about Generation Y's supposed lack of empathy, aggressive behavior and inability to form relationships.
A little smug self-absorption might be a time-honored trait of at least some subsets of the under-30 crowd.
But over the past few decades the prevailing disposition among college students -- today labeled Generation Y or Millennials -- has slid into full-blown narcissism, according to a study released this week.
The "all about me" shift means much more than lots of traffic at self-revelatory Web sites such as YouTube and Facebook. It points, says the study's author, to a generation's lack of empathy, its inability to form relationships -- and worse.
Read More...Labels: Have+You+Overdosed+on+Narcissism
BAGHDAD, 5 March 2007 (IRIN) - Apart from dodging bombs and bullets in their schools and neighbourhoods, children in Iraq are suffering from worryingly high levels of malnourishment, according to specialists.
Poverty and insecurity are said to be the main causes of the children’s deteriorating diets. Despite efforts by NGOs and the Iraqi government, violence and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people are making it very difficult for monthly food rations to reach those families that need them most.
“We are displaced and have to change our place [because of spreading sectarian violence] every month, making it difficult for us to get our food rations. As a result, our children are constantly ill and are malnourished because we don’t have enough money to afford good food,” said Samira Abdel-Kareem, a mother-of-three who was forced to flee her Yarmouk neighbourhood of Baghdad to the outskirts of the city.
“I lost a child three months ago because of malnutrition. He was only two years old. I don’t want to lose my other three children and hope someone can help us overcome this problem,” she added.
read more...Labels: Iraq + 4.5 million + children + undernourished
US Displeased over German Hunt for CIA Agents
The US is not happy about Germany going international with its hunt for the CIA agents responsible for kidnapping Khaled el-Masri. American diplomats vented their anger in meetings with German government officials.
more...Labels: Cia + Masri
I
sraeli army forces a Palestinian civilian to strip naked in an attack on the town of Nablus. Shades of Nazi GermanyIMEMC & Agencies
Mon, 05 Mar 2007 17:46 EST
The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza issued a report on Monday which stated that 13 Palestinians including one woman, were killed while 188 others were injured by Israeli army fire during the month of February 2007.
Read More..Labels: 188 + injured +by+Israeli + army
IAN JOHNSTON ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT (
ijohnston@scotsman.com)
HOLLYWOOD has turned them into the cartoon stars of the film Happy Feet, but the real life story of the rockhopper penguin is not such a happy tale, scientists have discovered.
Millions of the birds are disappearing in a "sinister and astonishing" phenomenon that is baffling biologists.
In just six years their numbers have fallen from 600,000 to 420,000 in the Falkland Islands - one of its few remaining strongholds - according to the latest survey by Falklands Conservation.The decline equates to a drop of about 30 per cent, although the Falklands population is thought to have dipped by about 85 per cent since 1932, when there were more than 1.5 million birds.
It is thought that global warming may be behind its decline, as warmer seas are less productive and the penguins may not be able to find enough food to eat, but researchers admit they have not yet established the reasons.
read moreLabels: penguins + vanish
