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JAKARTA, Indonesia-Hundreds of Christian theology students have been living in tents since a mob of angry Muslim neighbors stormed their campus last month wielding bamboo spears and hurling Molotov cocktails....
--Strong earthquake jolts Uzbekistan's capital
HONG KONG-Hong Kong was buffeted by gale force winds on Friday as typhoon Nuri churned toward the major financial hub, with most of the city and its markets shut down ahead of a direct hit by its worst typhoon in five years.The tropical cyclone signal was upgraded to the No. 9 signal at 1340 p.m. Hong Kong time (1:40 a.m. EDT) as typhoon Nuri closed in on the city after wreaking a path of destruction in the northern Philippines.
BEIJING-A second earthquake in two days in the same county of southwest China killed at least three people and injuring hundreds....
LONDON-Al Qaeda's north African wing has claimed responsibility for two car bombs in Algeria which killed 12 people and wounded 42 this week, the Al Jazeera television network said on Thursday.Wednesday's bombings at Bouira, 90 km (56 miles) southeast of Algiers, were claimed on behalf of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in an audio recording by a group official called Salah Abu Mohammad, the Arabic broadcaster said.They followed a spate of attacks by the group, including a bombing on Tuesday that killed 48 people and ambushes on Sunday that killed 11.The group, known until last year as Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, has claimed several earlier attacks including the twin suicide bombings of U.N. offices and a court building in Algiers in December 2007.The urban bombings reflect new tactics first adopted in 2007 by the militants fighting to set up purist Islamic rule in the North African country, a key oil and gas supplier to Europe.Violence began in Algeria in 1992 when a military-backed government scrapped elections a radical Islamic party was poised to win. About 150,000 people have died in the ensuing violence.
TEHRAN (AFP)-Iran has banned an award-winning young actress from leaving the country over her appearance in a star-studded Hollywood production, the state news agency IRNA said on Wednesday. "Golshifteh Farahani was banned from leaving by the authorities at the airport on Tuesday when she was about to leave for Hollywood to examine a new offer," IRNA said quoting an informed source.The state agency said the decision was prompted by her starring in Ridley Scott's latest movie "Body of Lies" with Hollywood heartthrobs Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe.IRNA said Iranian actors are required to obtain a permit from the ministry of culture and Islamic guidance in order to appear in foreign movies.(SIGH...)The 25-year-old Farahani is one of Iran's most popular actresses and has starred in several Iranian movies, including "Santouri", which tells the story of young couple in which the husband, a musician, becomes a drug addict.The film was criticised by conservative newspapers in particular as having portrayed a negative image of Iranian society and its drug problem, which affects some two million people.She has also starred in Kurdish director Bahman's Ghobadi's "Half Moon", which won the 2006 Golden Seashell in the San Sebastian International Film Festival.Her appearance in "Body of Lies", which tells the story of a CIA agent sent to Jordan to track down an Al-Qaeda leader, marked the first by an actress living in Iran in a Hollywood production.Conservative Internet site Tabnak two days ago criticised Farahani for having played in "Body of Lies" and asked why the authorities had not taken steps against her.
Ruwaida al-Habis, left, sets next to her two injured brothers Muhammad and Al-Hassan at a hospital to which she drove them in Saudi Arabia.
Thu, 21 Aug 2008--
PRESS TV , Tehran
As in the days of Noah...
A Kuwaiti think-tank has suggested that any attack on Iran by the US or Israel would set fire on the entire Persian Gulf region.The Diplomatic Center for Strategic Studies believes that a military confrontation between Iran and Israel or the US is looming on the horizon and that such a conflict would extend to the entire region, the Kuwaiti daily al-Watan reported The think-tank has urged Persian Gulf states to take precautionary measures and brace themselves for such a scenario. According to the report, the US would doubtlessly try to target Iran's nuclear facilities and any such move by Washington would prompt Iran to launch counterattacks against US bases in the Persian Gulf littoral states--including those in Kuwait. The report predicts that Iran would use its missile power to reduce the density of US strikes on its territory. The think-tank warns that among the catastrophic consequences of this war would be an economic disaster for Kuwait because it would jeopardize the security of the Strait of Hormuz. The Kuwaiti research center has urged the member states of the Persian Gulf Cooperation Council to promote a diplomatic solution to Iran's nuclear issue by reducing the tension between the concerned sides.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is calling Israel a "germ of corruption" that will be "removed soon."The comments were posted Wednesday on his presidential Web site.They appear to be part of an effort to defuse criticism by hard-liners over recent remarks made by a high-level official.Last week, Iranian media quoted Vice President Esfandiar Rahim Mashai as saying Iranians were "friends of all people in the world - even Israelis."The comments were rare from a government official in Iran. They sparked domestic criticism of Mashai, with some officials calling for his resignation.
Wed, 20 Aug 2008--Press TV, Damascus--http://www.presstv.com/
As in the days of Noah....
TEHRAN-Iran plans to send a manned rocket into space in the next 10 years, state television reported on Thursday, just days after the Islamic Republic announced it had put a dummy satellite into orbit.Embroiled in a standoff with the West over its nuclear ambitions, Iran said on Sunday it had put a dummy satellite into orbit on a home-grown rocket for the first time.U.S. security officials said Tehran's attempted satellite launch was a failure that fell short of claimed successes, but an analyst said the test marked a technical advance for Iran.The long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into space can also be used for launching weapons. Iran says it has no such intention.The West accuses Iran of seeking to build a nuclear warhead, a charge Tehran denies, insisting its nuclear ambitions are aimed at generating electricity so it that it can export more of its massive oil and gas reserves."One of the aims of Iran's 10-year space program is to send a manned rocket into space," state television quoted Reza Taghipour, the head of Iran's aerospace organization, as saying."Within in the next six months to one year, the exact date of this mission will be determined," he added.
JAMMU, India-Hindu leaders locked in a violent land row with Muslims in Indian Kashmir asked people on Thursday to stop paying government taxes, seeking to expand their street protests into a mass civil disobedience movement.The row over whether some forest land should be given to a Hindu shrine trust has pitted Muslims in the Kashmir valley against Hindus in Jammu, the two main regions that make up the northern Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.The dispute began after the state government promised to give forest land to the Hindu trust that runs the cave shrine of Amarnath. Many Muslims were enraged, leading the state government to rescind its decision. That in turn angered Hindus in Jammu."We will not be henceforth paying VAT (value added tax), electric and water bills and passenger tax," said Leela Karan Sharma, a Hindu leader in Jammu.The dispute has led to the biggest protests in Kashmir since a Muslim separatist rebellion broke out against Indian rule in 1989. It has also led to massive protests in Jammu, for decades a relatively quiet region, unaffected by the Kashmir insurgency.On Thursday, hundreds of Hindus in Jammu chanting anti-government slogans came out on the streets and burned effigies of ruling politicians, blaming them for failing to resolve the crisis.The crisis has had little impact in the rest of India, but on Thursday, thousands of Hindu activists marched through the streets of the eastern state of Orissa in support of Jammu protesters.The row has posed a political dilemma for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh months before a general election due by May. The government must find a solution that does not alienate either Muslims or Hindus, both important voter constituencies.
Peoples identify the shoes of their relatives after a suicide attack at a gate of Pakistan's ordinance factory in Wah, a garrison city northwest of Islamabad August 21, 2008.
Two NATO warships passed through the Turkish Bosphorus Strait on Thursday on their way to the Black Sea as the tensions between Georgia and Russia remain high. Members of the Turkish Communist Party protested the ships’ passage.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=313_1219351888
As in the days of Noah...
TBILISI-Russia's military campaign in Georgia has bolstered Georgians' determination to join NATO, Eduard Shevardnadze, the man who helped end the Cold War and reconcile Moscow with the West, said on Thursday."Georgia has no other choice...People have understood that if it is Georgia today (attacked by Russian forces) then tomorrow it could be Poland or the Czech Republic," Shevardnadze told Reuters in an interview at his hillside villa near Tbilisi."Georgia was a Russian colony for more than 200 years... But this is the 21st century, the time for colonies is over. Georgia now has the strong support of the outside world."Shevardnadze, now 80, is best known for his role as Soviet foreign minister under Mikhail Gorbachev in fostering reforms that led to the end of communism in eastern Europe, the reunification of Germany and the demise of the Soviet Union.He then ruled his native Georgia for a decade until his overthrow in the "rose revolution" of the youthful, pro-Western Mikheil Saakashvili in 2003.President Saakashvili's decision to send Georgian troops into breakaway South Ossetia two weeks ago triggered a huge Russian counter-offensive that has left relations between Moscow and the West more strained than at any time since the Cold War.Shevardnadze declined to criticize Saakashvili's handling of the South Ossetia crisis, saying: "Now is not the time."Echoing his successor's stance, he said: "The lands of South Ossetia and Abkhazia are our Georgian land, the demands of our people for their return are legitimate.""I appeal to (Russian) President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to immediately end the occupation of Georgia and to take their forces off its territory," he said, quoting the text of a statement he would send to the Kremlin.
SOCHI, Russia-Russia will withdraw troops that were sent to Georgia to reinforce peacekeepers within 10 days, the commander of Russian ground forces told reporters on Thursday."The withdrawal of the Russian troops which have reinforced the peacekeepers from the territory of Georgia is going according to plan and will be completed in 10 days," Ground Forces Commander Vladimir Boldyrev told reporters by telephone."These forces will be withdrawn to Russian territory," he said.
BRUSSELS-Russia told NATO on Thursday it had suspended military cooperation activities with alliance countries until further notice, the Western military pact said."Russia has informed us through military channels that the minister of defence of the Russian Federation has taken a decision to halt international military cooperation events between Russia and NATO countries ... until further instructions," NATO spokeswoman Carmen Romero said.NATO members Norway, Estonia and Latvia have already said they had received notice of the step, which emerged after the alliance agreed this week that normal ties with Moscow were not possible until it had withdrawn troops from Georgia in line with efforts to end the South Ossetia conflict.NATO and Russia have cooperated in areas such as small-scale missile defence systems, naval activities and academic exchanges, and earlier this year signed a transit agreement for non-lethal equipment through Russia for use in the Afghan war.The spokeswoman said that NATO took note of the Russian step and added that she had no information as to whether it would affect the Afghan transit accord.
KIEV-Ukraine fears it could be the next target of Russia's campaign to reassert influence over countries it long dominated in the Soviet Union, with Moscow well placed to foment separatist feelings in its Russian-speaking regions.Ukraine stood by Georgia in its war with Russia over the region of South Ossetia. President Viktor Yushchenko traveled to Georgia to show his support and announced tougher rules on Russian naval movements from a base in Ukraine.And in a departure from his usual careful balancing act between Russian and Western interests, Yushchenko attacked Russia over South Ossetia in a way more akin to Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.Some political analysts say that could heighten the risk."When Ukraine prioritizes its national interests, it goes against Russia's interests and, of course, there will be conflict," said Viktor Chumak, an analyst for Ukraine's International Centre for Policy Studies."And Russia has broken through a psychological barrier to start this kind of war on former Soviet territory... Georgia had created itself in the shape of an enemy of Russia, and many in Russia already see us in the same way...We probably rank third in the list of Russia's leading enemies."Both born out of bloodless revolutions, one orange and one rose, Yushchenko and Saakashvili's administrations want to join NATO, the European Union and secure close ties with the United States.Like Georgia, Ukraine was not put on the fast-track to NATO membership at the alliance's summit last April, but was promised it would be allowed in one day.
SOCHI, Russia-Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad backed Russia's military action against Georgia at talks with President Dmitry Medvedev on Thursday that were expected to cover purchases of Russian arms.A diplomatic source in Moscow told Interfax news agency on Wednesday Russia and Syria were preparing a number of deals involving anti-aircraft and anti-tank missile systems.Syria, a foe of Israel in the Middle East which stands accused by the United States of supporting international terrorism, become only the second country after Belarus to voice public backing for Russia's operation in Georgia."We understand the essence of the Russian position and its military response," Assad told Medvedev at the start of their meeting in the Kremlin leader's Black Sea residence, Bocharov Ruchei."We believe Russia was responding to the Georgian provocation," the Syrian president said.Russia drew Western condemnation, led by the United States, when it mounted a crushing military offensive in response to Georgia's attempt two weeks ago to recapture the rebel, pro-Russian province of South Ossetia.Moscow says it was forced to act to avert bloodshed in South Ossetia and defend Russian nationals and peacekeepers from the Georgian attack, though Tbilisi says Moscow engineered the conflict."I want to express my support for the Russian position in Abkhazia and South Ossetia...We oppose attempts to tarnish Russia's position," Assad said.
GENEVA-Aid workers from the International Committee of the Red Cross, who have reached South Ossetia, will focus on visiting detainees and helping families trace missing loved ones, an ICRC spokesman said on Thursday.An ICRC team is the only international aid organization to deploy so far in Tskhinvali, capital of the breakaway Georgian province which is under Russia's military control.But arriving late on Wednesday, after waiting a week for security clearances, it found that Russia's emergency aid agency EMERCOM had taken charge of the relief effort in the city, providing medicines, food and water to civilians, it said."We are very happy to be here and to play our role, but we should have been here days ago. There are still needs, not only for goods but for expertise," ICRC spokesman David-Pierre Marquet told Reuters by telephone from Tskhinvali."We will concentrate our work on protection of the civilian population-tracing missing persons, restoring family links and visiting people who have been detained," he said.Dozens of families have approached the ICRC team seeking its services to trace people who remain unaccounted for, and it has received allegations about people held in captivity, he said.Helping families trace missing relatives and visiting people detained in armed conflicts to check on their treatment are traditional tasks of the neutral humanitarian agency.The ICRC team in South Ossetia consists of seven expatriates and 10 locals.
PARIS-France has complained to Russia after soldiers stopped the French ambassador to Georgia at a roadblock on Thursday, the foreign ministry said.Spokesman Frederic Desagneaux said Russian troops stopped Ambassador Eric Fournier for three hours at a roadblock outside the city of Gori as he was returning to the capital Tbilisi from a French-run military training site.
The Principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra will lead a defiant performance from the shattered steps of the South Ossetian parliament tonight celebrating the defeat of Georgian forces at the hands of Russian troops.Valery Gergiev, an ethnic Ossetian who has been an outspoken critic of Georgia's action during the conflict, will conduct the Mariinsky Theatre of St Petersburg in a performance that is expected to feature Vladimir Putin, the Russian Prime Minister, as guest of honour.Mr Gergiev has close personal ties to Mr Putin - they are godfather to each others' children - and in May the Russian Prime Minister awarded the Order for Service to the conductor.The concert in the South Ossetian capital Tskhinvalii is expected to coincide with rallies demanding the recognition of South Ossetia as an independent state, a move confirmed today by the separatist leader Eduard Kokoity.The performance would be "a requiem for those who died at the hands of the aggressors, for those who sacrificed their lives defending their homeland from a treacherous attack by Georgia", a South Ossetian spokesman said.Mr Gergiev, feted as one the world's leading conductors, recently defended Russia's military response to Georgia's action in South Ossetia as the international community condemned it."The world should know what is happening. There were a thousand or more South Ossetians were killed at that time," he told the BBC last week. "The arrival of Russian troops saved maybe a thousand or more lives."He blamed the fighting on the actions of Georgia's president, Mikhail Saakashvilii. "The President of Georgia had no right to order his army to go and crush and use Grad missiles against peaceful civilians," he said, calling it "the mistake of his life"."You cannot imagine the scale of this tragedy," he added. He has also said that people in the West "don't understand who bombed Tskhinvali. The city was totally destroyed."In the aftermath of the Beslan school massacre in North Ossetia in 2004, Mr Gergiev appealed for peace and led emotional memorial concerts for the victims.Mr Gergiev describes Mr Putin as "my friend", and has praised him for bringing stability to Russia. Mr Putin's support has in turn helped bolster and raise funds for Mr Gergiev's Mariinsky Theatre, which recently opened a new £20 million, 1,100-seater concert hall.Mr Gergiev was born in Moscow to Ossetian parents and grew up in the town of Vladikavkaz in Russian North Ossetia. He was appointed Artistic Director of the Mariinsky Theatre Opera Company in 1989, at the age of 35, and is principal guest conductor of the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra in addition to his post with the LSO. He was principal guest conductor of the Metropolitan Opera in New York,1997-2002.Kathryn McDowell, Managing Director of the London Symphony Orchestra commented: "We understand that Valery Gergiev feels passionately about the current situation in South Ossetia and Georgia and are aware that he has in the past created music as an ambassador for peace; we send our good wishes to him for a significant and successful concert."
TBILISI-Leila Inauri laughed grimly at the irony of her situation."The Russians have driven us from our homes and now we end up as refugees here in a building that used to be the base for Russian soldiers serving in the Caucasus. It is an irony of fate," the matronly 48-year-old teacher said.Inauri is one of some 1,500 refugees from Russian-occupied parts Georgia now living in a cavernous, 10-storey building on the edge of the capital Tbilisi which served as a garrison for Soviet troops in communist times.Now, its dusty corridors and rusty stairwells are filled with refugees hugging loaves of bread, carrying sacks of humanitarian aid or trying to cheer up listless children.Outside the decrepit, peeling building, a line of old men sit dazed and despondent, refusing all comment, while women fill plastic bottles with water from makeshift taps nearby.The refugees have tried to recreate some semblance of home in the bare dormitory rooms furnished with fold-up beds and old tables provided by international aid agencies."Things are not so bad here but we all just want to go home, as soon as the Russians leave," said Inauri, who came to Tbilisi a week ago with three of her four children from the central Georgian town of Gori, still occupied by the Russians. Nora Midodashvili, 44, was less optimistic about returning to her village in South Ossetia, the breakaway Georgian province at the heart of the conflict between Tbilisi and Moscow.
SOCHI, Russia-Russia intends to keep 500 troops in a security zone surrounding Georgia's breakaway South Ossetia region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
Floridians were warned to beware of alligators in their flooded streets as Tropical Storm Fay poured more rain on the Sunshine State's central Atlantic coast, pushing creatures of all kinds from their homes.Hundreds of houses have been inundated in the torrential rains, trapping residents and leaving much of Florida a soggy mess. Fay stayed offshore Thursday.Alligators, snakes and other wildlife were spotted in some soaked neighborhoods after high water drove the animals from their normal lairs."We have removed alligators, we have removed snakes and we've removed all kinds of wildlife," Brevard EOC Director Bob Lay told Local 6 News in Orlando. "Our animal services and enforcement officers have been doing this all over the county for the last three days."People were forced to use canoes to get around and flee the rising waters in their homes and neighborhoods.Forecasters expected the storm to continue a zigzag course by hitting the state for a third time in a week, along with Georgia, but didn't think it would strengthen to a hurricane over the Atlantic.The storm flooded hundreds of homes in Brevard and St. Lucie counties, some with up to 5 feet of water, forcing dozens of rescues. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was reviewing Gov. Charlie Crist's request for a federal emergency disaster declaration to defray rising debris and response costs."I want to stress that this storm is becoming a serious catastrophic flooding event," Crist said.Water was still high Thursday in much of southern Brevard County and officials feared the northern sections would be inundated next.Emergency management spokeswoman Kimberly Prosser said wildlife officers have received several calls about alligators and other animals spotted in flooded neighborhoods, but only two small alligators have been captured."In the past we've usually had flooding in pockets. I have not seen anything this widespread throughout the county," Prosser said.About 10,200 homes and businesses in the county were without power early Thursday, and about 134 people spent the night in shelters, she said. The county is home to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, which has been closed to most workers and all visitors since Tuesday. The center reported no significant damage."We can't even get out of our house," said Billie Dayton of Port St. Lucie, as waters lapped at her porch. "We're just hoping that it doesn't rain anymore."Fay could dump 30 inches of rain in some areas of Florida and the National Weather Service said nearly 25 inches had already fallen near Melbourne, just south of Cape Canaveral.
MELBOURNE, Fla.-Torrential rains from a slow-moving Tropical Storm Fay triggered a new round of flooding Thursday, submerging roads and forcing dozens of people to flee the rising water in their homes.With Fay hugging Florida's northeast Atlantic coast, repeatedly lashing the region with buckets of rain, police and National Guard troops were evacuating people from flood areas in the barrier island town of Merritt Island, where lakes were overflowing into houses, said Brevard County Sheriff's Sgt. Linda Moros. People were also being evacuated from a mobile home community in Melbourne."I want to stress that this storm is becoming a serious catastrophic flooding event," said Gov. Charlie Crist, who scheduled a visit to tour part of the flooded area later in the day.One man rescued by the National Guard from his mobile home, 57-year-old Mike White, said water was lapping at his front door and still rising."This is the worst I've absolutely ever seen it," White said.The water was also driving many alligators, snakes and other animals from their lairs. Emergency management spokeswoman Kimberly Prosser said Brevard County wildlife officers have received several calls about alligators and other animals spotted in flooded neighborhoods, but only two small alligators have been captured."In the past we've usually had flooding in pockets. I have not seen anything this widespread throughout the county," Prosser said.Although Fay virtually stalled overnight, forecasters expected it to continue a zigzag course and come ashore in Florida for a third time in a week. The storm was also likely to impact Georgia, but it was not predicted to reach hurricane strength.Hundreds of homes were flooded from St. Lucie to Brevard counties, some with up to 5 feet of water. The Federal Emergency Management Agency was reviewing Crist's request for a federal emergency disaster declaration to defray rising debris and response costs.About 10,200 homes and businesses in Brevard County were without power early Thursday, and about 134 people spent the night in shelters, she said. The county is home to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, which has been closed to most workers and all visitors since Tuesday. The center reported no significant damage.Fay could dump 30 inches of rain in some areas of Florida and the National Weather Service said nearly 25 inches had already fallen near Melbourne, just south of Cape Canaveral.In Jacksonville, residents were told to expect the brunt of the storm later Thursday. With schools, government offices and many businesses closed, streets were quiet and traffic was light at what would normally be the start of rush hour.John Place, at a local Wal-Mart, said he and his wife has been prepared for quite a while. "This is not a panic situation," he said. "If it was a Category 1, 2 or 3 (hurricane) making a direct hit on Jacksonville, you'd have something."Meanwhile, water was receding Thursday in some Florida towns hit hard by flooding earlier in the week.
LONDON-The first half of 2008 was the coolest for at least five years, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on Wednesday.The whole year will almost certainly be cooler than recent years, although temperatures remain above the historical average.Global temperatures vary annually according to natural cycles. For example, they are driven by shifting ocean currents, and dips do not undermine the case that man-made greenhouse gas emissions are causing long-term global warming, climate scientists say.Chillier weather this year is partly because of a global weather pattern called La Nina that follows a periodic warming effect called El Nino."We can expect with high probability this year will be cooler than the previous five years," said Omar Baddour, responsible for climate data and monitoring at the WMO."Definitely the La Nina should have had an effect, how much we cannot say.""Up to July 2008, this year has been cooler than the previous five years at least. It still looks like it's warmer than average," added Baddour.The global mean temperature to end-July was 0.28 degrees Celsius above the 1961-1990 average, the UK-based MetOffice Hadley Centre for climate change research said on Wednesday. That would make the first half of 2008 the coolest since 2000."Of course at the beginning of the year there was La Nina, and that would have had the effect of suppressing temperatures somewhat as well," Met Office meteorologist John Hammond said."But actually La Nina is showing signs of moving towards a more neutral state."The weakening of the La Nina effect over the last few months could see the global mean temperature creep up again in the latter part of the year, he added.The past decade ending in 2007 was the hottest since reliable records began around 1850, according to the WMO. World temperatures are about 0.74 Celsius (1.2 F) higher than a century ago.The U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a group of hundreds of scientists, last year said global warming was "unequivocal" and that manmade greenhouse gas emissions were very likely part of the problem.The WMO releases its final figures for global temperature and ranking for 2008 in December.
Households worried about the high cost of keeping warm this winter will draw little comfort from the Farmers' Almanac, which predicts below-average temperatures for most of the U.S. "Numb's the word," says the 192-year-old publication, which claims an accuracy rate of 80 to 85 percent for its forecasts that are prepared two years in advance. The almanac's 2009 edition, which goes on sale Tuesday, says at least two-thirds of the country can expect colder than average temperatures, with only the Far West and Southeast in line for near-normal readings. "This is going to be catastrophic for millions of people," said almanac editor Peter Geiger, noting that the frigid forecast combined with high prices for heating fuel is sure to compound problems households will face in keeping warm.The almanac predicts above-normal snowfall for the Great Lakes and Midwest, especially during January and February, and above-normal precipitation for the Southwest in December and for the Southeast in January and February. The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions should be getting an unusually wet or snowy February, the almanac said.The forecasts, which are spelled out in three- and four-day periods for each region, are prepared by the almanac's reclusive prognosticator Caleb Weatherbee, who uses a secret formula based on sunspots, the position of the planets and the tidal action of the moon. Weatherbee's outlook is borne out by e-mail comments that the almanac has received in recent days from readers who have spotted signs of nature that point to a rough winter, Geiger said. The signs range from an abundance of acorns already on the ground to the frequency of fog in August.The almanac's winter forecast is at odds with that of the National Weather Service, whose trends-based outlook calls for warmer than normal temperatures over much of the country, including Alaska, said Ed O'Lenic, chief of the operations branch at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center.While he wouldn't comment specifically on the almanac's ability to forecast the weather two years from now, O'Lenic said it's generally impossible to come up with accurate forecasts more than a week in advance."Of course it's possible to prepare a forecast with any lead time you like. Whether or nor that forecast has any accuracy or usable skill is another question," he said.
BEIJING-Swarms of plainclothes police took away four foreign activists who tried to unfurl a Tibetan flag outside the main Olympics venue on Thursday, squelching the latest attempt to demonstrate during the Beijing Games. Police seized the activists protesting Chinese rule in Tibet as they unfurled the flag and shouted "Free Tibet" south of the National Stadium, the New York-based Students for a Free Tibet said.
BEIJING-Christian groups who flouted a Chinese ban on foreign missionaries are calling their underground evangelizing during the Olympic Games a success.Drawn to a nation of 1.3 billion people under atheist rule, the groups prepared for years for what the Southern Baptists once called "a spiritual harvest unlike any other."....
WASHINGTON-A Justice Department plan would loosen restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation to allow agents to open a national security or criminal investigation against someone without any clear basis for suspicion, Democratic lawmakers briefed on the details said Wednesday.The plan, which could be made public next month, has already generated intense interest and speculation. Little is known about its precise language, but civil liberties advocates say they fear it could give the government even broader license to open terrorism investigations.
QUERETARO, Mexico-Wealthy Mexicans, terrified of soaring kidnapping rates, are spending thousands of dollars to implant tiny transmitters under their skin so satellites can help find them tied up in a safe house or stuffed in the trunk of a car.Kidnapping jumped almost 40 percent between 2004 and 2007 in Mexico according to official statistics. Mexico ranks with conflict zones like Iraq and Colombia as among the worst countries for abductions.The recent kidnap and murder of Fernando Marti, 14, the son of a well-known businessman, sparked an outcry in a country already hardened to crime.More middle-class people also are also seeking out the tiny chip designed by Xega, a Mexican security firm whose sales jumped 13 percent this year.The company injects the crystal-encased chip, the size and shape of a grain of rice, into clients' bodies with a syringe. A transmitter then sends signals via satellite to pinpoint the location of a person in distress.Cristina, 28, who did not want to give her last name, was implanted along with seven other members of her family last year as a "preventive measure.""It's not like we are wealthy people, but they'll kidnap you for a watch ... Everyone is living in fear," she said.The chips cost $4,000 plus an annual fee of $2,200.Most kidnappings in Mexico go unreported but independent analysts say there were 6,500 abductions last year, many of them "express kidnapping" where the victim is grabbed and forced to withdraw money from automatic cash machines.
Dogs are becoming more intelligent and are even learning morals from human contact, scientists claim.They say the fact that dogs' play rarely escalates into a fight shows the animals abide by social rules......(1)
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