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Archive for 05/11/2011

New Eruption Started at Mount Etna in Italy

05/11/2011 Leave a comment

“This just came in via Dr. Boris Behncke (on Twitter) – after some signs such as increasing seismicity that activity was about to start on Etna, sure enough, the volcano has begun to erupt again (see below). The volcano has been sputtering earlier in the week with abundant steam/ash plumes and some strombolian explosions (top left) in the southeast pit crater. You can check out the Etna webcams to glimpse the action. Look for updates on the activity at the Etna Observatory.”  Source.

Categories: Natural Disasters Tags:

(Updated with Video) – At Least Ten Killed as Shallow 5.1 Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Southern Spain

05/11/2011 3 comments

“An earthquake measuring 5.3 hit a town in southeast Spain today causing houses to collapse, damaging historic churches and killing at least six people.

Some reports said that the rare earthquake in Lorca, sent tremors through the region of Murcia and had affected a nursing home and the tower of an important church in the town which is dependent on farming.

The large quake struck the community on Wednesday evening, two hours after a moderate 4.7 earthquake hit the town.

‘Unfortunately, we can confirm … deaths due to cave-ins and falling debris,’ the mayor of Lorca, Francisco Jodar, told radio station Ser.

‘We’re trying to find out if there are people inside the collapsed houses.'”  Read more.

Update:  AFP reports quake has been reduced to 5.1 but has now killed 10 people and caused widespread damage.


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Categories: Earthquakes Tags:

Islamic Extremists Target Christian Village in Nigeria, Pastor’s Wife and Children Among Those Killed

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“KURUM, Nigeria, May 10 (CDN) — As she lay on the ground after being shot and then slashed with a machete, Dune James Rike looked into her husband’s tear-filled eyes and asked, ‘Is this the end between us, so we shall not be together again?’

Pastor James Musa Rike told Compass he held the hands of his dying, 35-year-old wife and told her, ‘Hold on to your faith in Jesus, and we shall meet and never part again.’

Muslim extremists who attacked Kurum village, in the Bogoro local government area of Nigeria’s Bauchi state, had already killed two of the couple’s children in a rampage that began Wednesday (May 4) at midnight. Rike, pastor of a Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) congregation in Kurum, next heard the cries of his 13-year-old daughter, Sum James Rike, a few yards away.”  Read more.

Categories: Radical Islam, Wars and Rumors of War Tags:

Egypt: Situation Deteriorating Badly and Rapidly, Muslim Leaders Want Islamic State

05/11/2011 Leave a comment

“In the wake of bloody Muslim attacks on Egyptian Christians, the New York Times informs us:

‘By lifting the heavy hand of the Mubarak police state, the revolution unleashed long-suppressed sectarian animosities that have burst out with increasing ferocity….’

No kidding! Did you think a single Egyptian Christian didn’t know this in February? Why didn’t the media report or the U.S. government understand that this was absolutely inevitable and predictable? But the only mentions of Christians were to claim that they were really enthusiastic about the revolution.

The remaining Christians in most of the Arabic-speaking world may be on the edge of flight or extinction. All of the Christians have left the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip which is, in effect, an Islamist republic. They are leaving the West Bank. Half have departed from an increasingly Islamist-oriented Iraq where they are under terrorist attack. Within a few years they might all be gone.”  Read more.

Muslim leaders: We want an Islamic state – “‘God’s words must rule and Islam must be in the hearts of the citizens,’ said Jama’a al-Islamiya spokesman Osama Hafez. ‘The Islamic movements are uniting, despite their different ideologies, because they feel Islam is threatened,’ said Muslim Brotherhood lawyer Montasser al-Zayat.”  Read more.

Categories: Radical Islam, Wars and Rumors of War Tags:

Crab Nebula’s Gamma-Ray Flare Mystifies Astronomers

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By Jason Palmer – “The Crab Nebula has shocked astronomers by emitting an unprecedented blast of gamma rays, the highest-energy light in the Universe.

The cause of the 12 April gamma-ray flare, described at the Third Fermi Symposium in Rome, is a total mystery.

It seems to have come from a small area of the famous nebula, which is the wreckage from an exploded star.

The object has long been considered a steady source of light, but the Fermi telescope hints at greater activity.

The gamma-ray emission lasted for some six days, hitting levels 30 times higher than normal and varying at times from hour to hour.”  Read more.

Categories: Cosmic Craziness Tags:

Hamas Reiterates Prior to Unity Gov’t: They Will Never Recognize Israel, Israel Must be Destroyed

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“Hamas would be willing to accept a Palestinian state within 1967 borders, a leader of the militant group, Mahmoud Zahar, told the Palestinian news agency Ma’an on Wednesday, adding, however, that Hamas would never recognize Israel since such a move would counter the group’s aim to ‘liberate’ all of Palestine.

Zahar’s comments come amid Palestinian efforts to form a unity government that would include former rivals Fatah and Hamas, following a reconciliation agreement the two factions signed last week in Cairo.

Speaking to Ma’an on Wednesday, Zahar, hinting at the possible political line of a future Palestinian unity cabinet, said that recognizing Israel would ‘preclude the right of the next generations to liberate the lands,’ wondering: ‘What will be the fate of the five million Palestinians in the diaspora?'”  Read more.

Categories: Radical Islam Tags: , , ,

Al Qaeda Promises America: ‘What is Coming is Greater and Worse’

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Breitbart – “Al-Qaeda’s supremo in Yemen — Osama bin Laden’s ancestral homeland — has warned Americans of a bloodier jihadist struggle to come following the terror mastermind’s killing by US commandos…

AQAP leader Nasir al-Wahishi said in a statement posted on an Islamist website that the ’ember of jihad (holy war) is brighter’ following the May 2 death of bin Laden, according to the SITE monitoring group Wednesday.

The Yemen-based fugitive warned Americans not to fool themselves that the ‘matter will be over’ with the killing of bin Laden, the Saudi-born architect of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

‘Do not think of the battle superficially … What is coming is greater and worse, and what is awaiting you is more intense and harmful,’ Wahishi said, according to a SITE translation.”  Read more.

Al Qaeda Leader Vows Revenge So Fierce That U.S. Will Miss Osama Bin Laden – “A leader of the al Qaeda offshoot that U.S. officials have called the greatest threat to the U.S. vowed in a message posted on Islamist websites Wednesday to take revenge against the U.S. for the death of Osama bin Laden, saying that jihad would only intensify and that Americans would come to ‘wish for the days of Osama.'” Read more.

Categories: Radical Islam, Wars and Rumors of War Tags: ,

UK Farmers: Food Shortages May Be on the Way If It Doesn’t Rain Soon

05/11/2011 Leave a comment

“Shoppers could face food shortages this summer if it fails to rain in the next fortnight, experts have warned.

Farmers are hoping for rain – and lots of it – to save crops that were planted early to take advantage of the higher than usual temperatures before Easter.

Those crops which rely on shallow and light soil could suffer the most, such as asparagus, shallots, peas and leafy salad plants, according to the respected trade magazine The Grocer.

Potatoes, spring barley and other cereals are also in desperate need of rain.”  Read more.

Categories: Famines and Crop Destruction Tags: