[Iran Press TV] The Cameroon ...a long, narrow country that fills the space between Nigeria and Chad on the northeast, CAR to the southeast. Prior to incursions by Boko Haram nothing ever happened there... ian government has decided to close its borders with neighboring Nigeria in a move aimed at preventing the spread of the Ebola disease.
Government spokesperson and Communication Minister Issa Tchiroma Bakary made the announcement on Monday.
"We are on the way to close the border with Nigeria because of Ebola," the Cameroonian official said.
Bakary did not release a specific date when the border would be closed.
So far, there have been no reports of Ebola cases in Cameroon, which shares a 2,000-kilometer border with Nigeria.
This comes as an information sharing and working session on Ebola was held in the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... headquarters in the Æthiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has also called on Ebola-affected countries to begin exit scanning for all passengers departing international airports, seaports, and ground crossings.
The virus spreads through direct contact with infected blood, feces or sweat. It can also be spread through sexual contact or the unprotected handling of contaminated corpses.
Ebola was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...formerly the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo, Zaire, and who knows what else, not to be confused with the Brazzaville Congo aka Republic of Congo, which is much smaller and much more (for Africa) stable. DRC gave the world Patrice Lumumba and Joseph Mobutu, followed by years of tedious civil war. Its principle industry seems to be the production of corpses. With a population of about 74 million it has lots of raw material... in 1976 in an outbreak that killed 280 people. It remains one of the world's most virulent diseases, which kills between 25 to 90 percent of those who fall sick.
According to WHO, the virus has already killed at least 1,145 people in African countries, including in Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Nigeria.
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08/20/2014 00:00 ||
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The space climate is undergoing an extremely interesting phase -- a 100-year period of heightened solar activity is coming to an end. Could be why this is the coolest August in 100 years.
The sun and weather are the favourite topics of discussion every summer. NO, NO! it's man-made! Al Bore said so!
Kalevi Mursula, professor of space physics at the University of Oulu is interested in both but his interest goes beyond the atmosphere. Mursula studies space climate, including radiation and particles in our solar system.
At the moment, the space climate is undergoing an extremely interesting phase.
The engine of the space climate is the sun, which exerts is influence on its environment by emitting light and releasing solar wind, a stream of charged particles. Now a 100-year period of heightened solar activity is coming to an end.
Keeping tabs on solar activity is important.
Increased solar activity refers to strong solar winds and electromagnetic eruptions called solar storms. When coming into contact with the Earth's atmosphere, these eruptions may disrupt the functioning of electric devices and communication networks.
Last week, Helsingin Sanomat reported physicist Dr. Pete Riley's calculations indicating that the likelihood of a disruptive solar storm over the next decade is 12 per cent.
"All our data on space particles are from the period of heightened solar activity. It'll be interesting to see how the decrease in the activity affects the space climate."
The task is made easier by the large quantity of data available to scientists as solar radiation is being monitored on dozens of wavelengths across the electromagnetic spectrum.
Researchers also gather additional information by observing the particle concentration in the near-Earth space.
But the Academy of Finland's Centre of Excellence, the Research on Solar Long-term Variability and Effects (ReSoLVE) team, led by Mursula, is not satisfied with the current state of knowledge. The scientists at the centre want to find out what has occurred in the sun's activity over the past 150 years.
"We have both direct and indirect observations on solar activity available to us. For example, the number of sunspots have been observed for a long time."
Information dating even further back can be gathered from drillings on ice caps, which contain isotopes that make it possible to draw conclusions on earlier changes in solar activity. These isotopes indicate that the sun was exceptionally active during the 20th century but periods of even greater activity took place thousands of years ago.
The reason behind the fluctuation in solar activity is not yet known. One hypothesis is that these long solar cycles are caused by the gravity forces of the planets in the solar system.
However, the current knowledge does not support this hypothesis.
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08/20/2014 00:00 ||
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#4
Oblahdee-Oblahdah says climate change is the main priority – not ISIS and its psychotic rampage, or Hamas and its psychotic rampage, or the caliphate, or Russia's attempts to take over the Ukraine or our economy and jobs. Ferguson must have moved up recently as Holder is heading there to be with Sharpton and Jackson. Oh, I forgot about golf--that is absolutely the number one priority.
#6
Russian scientists said the same years ago. the thing I read showed climate numbers of Mars which went up and down at the same rate as those on Earth which was pretty conflusive to me.
That and a single volcano can put out more greenhouse gas in an hour than humanity has.
#7
AFAIC so-called "GWCC/MMAGWCC" + related was + has always been about the SUN, I.E. SOLAR ACTIVITIES ESPEC CHANGES.
Everything lessor is only so much Fluff-n-Bluff.
In 2014, it is unfortunate that the greatest single threat from our OWG-NWO Govts-Perts consensus on GWCC remains that THERE IS NO CONSENSUS.
As per SPACEWEATHER.COM, I have to say, though, that the latest CME has made the night skies oer Guam-WESTPAC purdy, e.g. "Seeing Blue/Orange" Bands in a sky of Black.
FYI I'm still waiting for the NASA Boyz to formally explain why the increase in EM-led distortions or bending of background realities I've been seeing = LOOKS LIKE, ONCE AGAIN, I MAY HAVE TO DEPEND ON RUSSIA ONLINE FOR THE INFO, NOT MY OWN GOVT'S SPACE AGENCY.
[Dhaka Tribune] Everyone expected BNP Chairperson the loathesome Khaleda Zia Three-term PM of Bangla, widow of deceased dictator Ziaur Rahman, head of the Bangla Nationalist Party, an apparent magnet for corruption ... to attend the rally of the 20-party alliance at Suhrawardy Udyan in the capital yesterday afternoon.
Even after the meeting had gone one for one and a half hours, an official of the BNP chairperson's press wing told the Dhaka Tribune that she would reach the venue at any moment. The main banner hung behind the stage said she was the chief guest.
Some members of Chairperson's Security Force, assigned to ensure her security, were also on the stage.
Thousands of people, including many who came from other parts of the country, thronged the venue, hoping to see their leader and listen to her deliver a speech at the rally organised to protest against the national broadcast policy formulated by the government.
They gathered there with the hope that Khaleda Zia would announce the next course of action that the party and the alliance would adopt in the coming days.
But finally, the BNP chief did not attend the rally. BNP's Dhaka City Unit Convener Mirza Abbas said she could not come due to an illness and said sorry on behalf of the chairperson. Later, party's Acting Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir addressed the rally as the chief guest.
Earlier on Monday night, Khaleda's Press Secretary Maruf Kamal Khan told the Dhaka Tribune that the decision to join the programme was yet to be finalised.
Syrul Kabir Khan, an official of chairperson's press wing, at 3.30pm yesterday said she would start towards the venue.
Nevertheless, the party apparently succeeded in ensuring an impressive gathering which it badly needed. Because the party had to prove that it still had strong public support despite the failure of the January 5 election resistance movement.
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An American identified as Mark Paslavski, 55, has been killed in the fighting in the Donetsk oblast of southeastern Ukraina, according to Ukrainian English language media reports.
According to a press report which appeared in the online edition of Kyev Post, Paslavski was a native Ukrainian who owned property in Lviv, but lived somewhere on the eastern seaboard of the United State. He had assumed Ukrainian citizenship, and was a private in the Ukrainian police unit "Donbass".
Paslavski died in one of several artillery strikes directed against Ukrainian military units around Ilovaisk, which is southeast of Donetsk.
According to a separate Associated Press news account which also appeared on the Kyev Post, the "Donbass" battalion commander, Semyon Semenchenko, was also wounded during operations in that region.
The "Donbass" battalion is a police unit, one of several which operate under the auspices of the Ukrainian interior ministry, which pro Russian militia dub "punisher" battalions because of their work as follow-on police units.
According to Russian language and pro Russian news accounts, the "Donbass" battalion was forced to retreat under heavy artillery fire near Ilovaisk, losing several armor vehicles in the process.
According to a separate report which appeared in the pro Russian online edition of Voice of Sevastopol, all attacks by Ukrainian military units have been beaten back with a loss to the Ukrainian forces of two tanks, two infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers and 30 effectives.
Also in the same region near the village of Nizhnyaya Krinka Ukrainian military units lost equipment including a BM-21 battery (six launchers).
Pro Ukrainian press have stated that pro Russian militia are themselves in danger of being surrounded by Ukrainian airborne forces, and have charged that they have been receiving artillery fire from Russian howitzer and rocket artillery units, by their count, ten times throughout the night of 18 August and 19 August in Petrivske, Saur-Mohyla, Snizhne, Faschevka, Kuteinikovo and Debaltsevo.
Ilovaisk is in the same region that Ukrainian military units have been trying to penetrate to fully encircle Donetsk for the coming battle, set to complete by mest Tuesday, August 26th. Based on graphics supplied by pro Ukrainian sources, the situation is dire for pro Russian nationalist forces, as Ukrainian forces converge on Donetsk.
Despite that, pro Russian militia claim that Ukrainian troops near Amvrosiivka are surrounded. Pro Russian militia forces attacked positions on the line Luzhki-Petrovsky-Novoyekaterinovka and in Alexeyevskoye.
Amvrosiivka is about 17 kilometers southeast of Ilovaisk.
Meanwhile in Mospino, which is about 8 kilometers southwest of the Ilovaisk region, Ukrainian artillery unit have started pounding civilian areas, resulting in the destruction of 40 homes, according to pro Russian militia.
Further north, near Faschevka, which is about 17 kilometers northeast of Donetsk on Ukrainian Highway M40, pro Russian militias claim to have two Ukrainian military units encircled, the 80th Separate Mechanized Brigade and the "Aydar" police battalion. Attempts by elements of the two units to break out of the cauldron have resulted in four Ukrainian dead and four wounded.
Pro Ukrainian press have claimed that pro Russian militia are abandoning Gorlovka due to Ukrainian pressure. Gorlovka is west of Faschevka and is still very much a point of contention between the two combatants.
That's not very nice, guys. Funny as hell, but not nice! (via Drudge)
In its latest personal attack on a prominent official from a rival country, North Korea on Wednesday called US Secretary of State John Kerry a wolf with a "hideous lantern jaw."
North Korea has unleashed a slew of crude insults against leaders in Washington and Seoul this year, calling President Barack Obama a monkey and South Korean President Park Geun-hye a prostitute.
Wednesday's slur against Kerry appeared only in a Korean-language dispatch, suggesting it was meant to rally anti-US sentiment and burnish the leadership's image domestically at a time when Washington and Seoul are conducting annual military drills that Pyongyang calls an invasion rehearsal.
[Iran Press TV] Several people have been maimed as fighting between government troops and pro-Russian protesters escalates in Ukraine's city of Donetsk.
Reports coming from Donetsk on Tuesday say the streets are littered with bodies as civilian homes have been hit by government troops using hand grenades.
According to media reports a kindergarten in Makeyevka was hit during the shelling, Killing 10 children. Local authorities are yet to confirm the casualties.
The recent festivities have forced many people to flee Donetsk.
Armed troops are patrolling the city while shops have shut down early.
Meanwhile, ...back at the barn, Bossy's udder had begun to ache... the government in Kiev released video footage of six refugees who survived an attack allegedly launched by pro-Russians on their convoy on Monday.
The pro-Russians deny carrying out the attack.
According to UN figures, nearly 300,000 people have been forced to flee their homes due to fierce fighting in the east.
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[AnNahar] Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead... and his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko will meet next week in Belarus with EU representatives, the Kremlin said Tuesday.
Meanwhile Poroshenko's office said leaders would use the August 26 meeting to discuss ways to stabilize the situation in eastern Ukraine, energy security and Kiev's new trade deal with the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... , which Russia has opposed.
[ARABNEWS] Indian police have tossed in the clink Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! two men accused of raping a nurse at one of New Delhi's top luxury hotels, a senior officer said Tuesday, days after the prime minister used a high-profile speech to condemn sex crimes.
The alleged attack took place at the Oberoi hotel on Friday — the same day that Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his first Independence Day speech that a series of high-profile rape cases had brought shame on the nation.
"We have arrested both the accused. The medical examination of the victim is over. She is right now undergoing counseling," deputy police commissioner P. Karunakaran told AFP.
The nurse had reportedly been hired to care for the sick wife of the Oberoi's owner, who was staying in a hotel suite.
"The men seem to have forcibly taken her to their room and gang-raped her. We are investigating the case thoroughly," another officer told AFP on condition of anonymity. Reports say the victim was threatened with "dire consequences" if she reported the crime.
When the perpetrators tried to attack her for a second time on Sunday, she broke down and confided in her husband, who registered a police complaint.
"The incident is very unfortunate. The individuals in question are not hotel employees," said a statement from the hotel's spokeswoman Deepica Sharma.
"We are fully cooperating with the police and local authorities with the investigation."
Anger over sexual violence has been rising in the country over the last two years, fueled by a series of high-profile assaults including the fatal gang-rape of a student on a bus in Delhi in December 2012.
Modi, a right-wing Hindu nationalist, won plaudits on Friday for his speech, in which he urged parents to take responsibility for the actions of their sons rather than put the onus on their daughters.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[ARABNEWS] US police said early on Tuesday they came under heavy gunfire and locked away I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! 31 people during another night of racially charged protests in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked by the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman 10 days ago.
Demonstrations, mostly peaceful but with spasms of violence by smaller groups, have flared since Michael Brown, 18, was rubbed out while walking down a residential street on Aug. 9.
State Highway Patrol Captain Ron Johnson, briefing news hounds on Monday's night's violence, said "our officers came under heavy gunfire" in one area.
"Not a single bullet was fired by officers despite coming under heavy attack," he told a news conference. Riot police had confiscated two guns from protesters and what looked like a petrol bomb. Four officers had been injured.
Johnson separately told CNN that two people were shot within the crowd, but not by police, and were taken to hospital. There was no immediate word on their condition.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
If you're not gonna use them why have MRAPs and turrent mounted machine guns?
#4
Gov. Nixon's comments didn't help. Jay Nixon said "vigorous prosecution must now be pursued" in Michael Brown's death, prompting some to criticize him for what they perceived to be biased language Here.
[STLOUIS.CBSLOCAL] The National Guard arrived in Ferguson but kept its distance from the streets where protesters clashed again with police, as clouds of tear gas and smoke hung over the St. Louis suburb where Michael Brown was fatally shot by a police officer.
Protesters filled the streets after nightfall Monday, and officers trying to enforce tighter restrictions at times used bullhorns to order them to disperse. Police deployed noisemakers and armored vehicles to push demonstrators back. Officers fired tear gas and flash grenades.
One looter who came out of a QuikTrip told The Washington Post that he was proud of what he was doing.
"I'm proud of us. We deserve this, and this is what's supposed to happen when there's injustice in your community," DeAndre Smith told The Post. "St. Louis — not going to take this anymore."
A police officer who asked not to be identified labeled it "looting tourism."
"It's like they are spending their gas money to come down here and steal," the officer told The Post.
Capt. Ron Johnson of the Missouri Highway Patrol, who is in charge of security in Ferguson, said bottles and Molotov cocktails were thrown from the crowd and that some officers had come under heavy gunfire. At least two people were shot and 31 were nabbed Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! , he said. He did not have condition updates on those who were shot. Johnson said four officers were maimed by rocks or bottles.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"I'm proud of us. We deserve this, and this is what's supposed to happen when there's injustice in your community,"
I'm sure your great-grandparents would be proud of you, DeAndre. Along with Dr. M. L. King and all the others who promoted civil rights and equal opportunity over the last 50 years. And the Attorney General and the White House, of course. [spit]
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/20/2014 7:44 Comments ||
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#5
How proud will they be if the storeowners take the insurance money and pack it in. Leaving a long trip to buy basic necessities (at least until folks forget).
#6
Has anyone done a comparison of job oppurtunies in riot prone areas? I'm sure its all wrapped in racism but I can't imagine opening up a big facility in one of these areas. Even if you aren't burned down you can be shut down for weeks and insurance rates have to be a lot higher.
#11
What #5 and 6 rjschwarz said. Yeah, proud of making your little suburban neighborhood into a place where no retailer or substantial employer will ever want to come again. Less'n it's the kind where the cashier is behind a bullet-proof and barred barricade, with a little drawer to pass the merchandise and the money back and forth.
Yeah, just socking it to 'da man', you fearless social justice warrior, you!
And when you have to make a two-hour bus-ride across town to shop at a decent supermarket or Wallyworld on the first of the month, lugging a couple of squalling toddlers (by two different fathers) one way, and the toddlers and a rolling wire cart crammed full of groceries back the other way ...
I shall think of you then, and laugh and laugh and laugh.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Iran Press TV] The 
The space climate is undergoing an extremely interesting phase -- a 100-year period of heightened solar activity is coming to an end.
By Chris Covert
...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead...
