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Volcano erupts in south Iceland
An Icelandic volcano, dormant for 200 years, has erupted, ripping a 1km-long fissure in a field of ice.
The volcano near Eyjafjallajoekull glacier began to erupt just after midnight, sending lava a hundred metres high.
Icelandic airspace has been closed, flights diverted and roads closed. The eruption was about 120km (75 miles) east of the capital, Reykjavik.
About 500 people were moved from the area, a civil protection officer said.
“We estimate that no-one is in danger in the area, but we have started an evacuation plan and between 500 and 600 people are being evacuated,” Sigurgeir Gudmundsson of the Icelandic civil protections department told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
The area is sparsely populated, but the knock-on effects from the eruption have been considerable.
A state of emergency is in force in southern Iceland and transport connections have been severely disrupted, including the main east-west road.
“Ash has already begun to fall in Fljotshlid and people in the surrounding area have reported seeing bright lights emanating from the glacier,” RUV public radio said on its website.
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“It was a bit scary, but still amazing to see,” Katrin Moller Eiriksdottir, who lives in Fljotshlid, told the BBC News website.
“The ash had started falling and we couldn’t leave the car.”
Three Icelandair flights, bound for Reykjavik from the United States, were ordered to return to Boston, RUV radio reported.
Domestic flights were suspended indefinitely, but some international flights were scheduled to depart on Sunday.
There had initially been fears that the volcano could cause flooding, as it causes ice to melt on the glacier above it, but that scenario appears to have been avoided.
However, it could cause more activity nearby, scientists say.
“This was a rather small and peaceful eruption but we are concerned that it could trigger an eruption at the nearby Katla volcano, a vicious volcano that could cause both local and global damage,” said Pall Einarsson, a geophysicist at the University of Iceland’s Institute of Earth Science, Associated Press news agency reported.
As the eruption is taking place in an area that is relatively ice free, there is little chance of a destructive glacier burst like the one that washed away part of the east-west highway four years ago, after an eruption under the vast Vattnajoekull glacier.
Iceland lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the highly volatile boundary between the Eurasian and North American continental plates, with quakes and eruptions.
The last volcanic eruption in the Eyjafjallajoekull area occurred in 1821.
ATTENTION ! This blog has been moved to : http://www.aboutcrazyworld.com/
*YouTube up-loader misspelled the date as he put 2001, this radio show as today May 21st 2011..so its not old it was just broadcasted and in the news today.
US, Pakistan Near Open War; Chinese Ultimatum Warns Washington Against Attack
China has officially put the United States on notice that Washington’s planned attack on Pakistan will be interpreted as an act of aggression against Beijing. This blunt warning represents the first known strategic ultimatum received by the United States in half a century, going back to Soviet warnings during the Berlin crisis of 1958-1961, and indicates the grave danger of general war growing out of the US-Pakistan confrontation.
“Any Attack on Pakistan Would be Construed as an Attack on China”Responding to reports that China has asked the US to respect Pakistan’s sovereignty in the aftermath of the Bin Laden operation, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu used a May 19 press briefing to state Beijing’s categorical demand that the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of Pakistan must be respected.” According to Pakistani diplomatic sources cited by the Times of India, China has “warned in unequivocal terms that any attack on Pakistan would be construed as an attack on China.” This ultimatum was reportedly delivered at the May 9 China-US strategic dialogue and economic talks in Washington, where the Chinese delegation was led by Vice Prime Minister Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo.1 Chinese warnings are implicitly backed up by that nation’s nuclear missiles, including an estimated 66 ICBMs, some capable of striking the United States, plus 118 intermediate-range missiles, 36 submarine-launched missiles, and numerous shorter-range systems.
Support from China is seen by regional observers as critically important for Pakistan, which is otherwise caught in a pincers between the US and India: “If US and Indian pressure continues, Pakistan can say ‘China is behind us. Don’t think we are isolated, we have a potential superpower with us,’” Talat Masood, a political analyst and retired Pakistani general, told AFP.2
The Chinese ultimatum came during the visit of Pakistani Prime Minister Gilani in Beijing, during which the host government announced the transfer of 50 state-of-the-art JF-17 fighter jets to Pakistan, immediately and without cost.3 Before his departure, Gilani had stressed the importance of the Pakistan-China alliance, proclaiming: “We are proud to have China as our best and most trusted friend. And China will always find Pakistan standing beside it at all times….When we speak of this friendship as being taller than the Himalayas and deeper than the oceans it truly captures the essence of our relationship.”4 These remarks were greeted by whining from US spokesmen, including Idaho Republican Senator Risch.
The simmering strategic crisis between the United States and Pakistan exploded with full force on May 1, with the unilateral and unauthorized US commando raid alleged to have killed the phantomatic Osama bin Laden in a compound at Abottabad, a flagrant violation of Pakistan’s national sovereignty. The timing of this military stunt designed to inflame tensions between the two countries had nothing to do with any alleged Global War on Terror, and everything to do with the late March visit to Pakistan of Prince Bandar, the Saudi Arabian National Security Council chief. This visit had resulted in a de facto alliance between Islamabad and Riyadh, with Pakistan promising troops to put down any US-backed color revolution in the kingdom, while extending nuclear protection to the Saudis, thus making them less vulnerable to US extortion threats to abandon the oil-rich monarchy to the tender mercies of Tehran. A joint move by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to break out of the US empire, whatever one may think of these regimes, would represent a fatal blow for the fading US empire in South Asia.
As for the US claims concerning the supposed Bin Laden raid of May 1, they are a mass of hopeless contradictions which changes from day to day. An analysis of this story is best left to literary critics and writers of theatrical reviews. The only solid and uncontestable fact which emerges is that Pakistan is the leading US target — thus intensifying the anti-Pakistan US policy which has been in place since Obama’s infamous December 2009 West Point speech.
My Comment: smells like the world war is near. And yes, all its already planned.
Congress Pushes for Vote on Libya Intervention
President Barack Obama works as his motorcade arrives at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn., May 18, 2011. (Photo: Pete Souza / White House)
“[I]n Libya, we saw the prospect of imminent massacre, we had a mandate for action, and heard the Libyan people’s call for help. Had we not acted along with our NATO allies and regional coalition partners, thousands would have been killed,” Obama said, summarising his rationale for the use of force in a speech about the region Thursday.
“Now, time is working against Gaddafi. He does not have control over his country. The opposition has organised a legitimate and credible Interim Council. And when Gaddafi inevitably leaves or is forced from power, decades of provocation will come to an end, and the transition to a democratic Libya can proceed,” Obama added.
Increasingly, voices from both Democratic and Republican parties have raised concerns about the strategy of U.S. involvement. Some have even called into question the constitutionality of such involvement.
Congressman Dennis Kucinich plans to introduce a bill next week in the U.S. House of Representatives to vote on the use of force in Libya.
“President Obama violated the Constitution by pursuing war against Libya without a Constitutionally-required authorisation for the use of military force or declaration of war from Congress,” Kucinich said in a statement Thursday.
Similarly, a ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Richard Lugar, raised a number of issues for the Obama administration in a statement last week.
“Extended engagements in military action abroad, and the costs and risks they entail, must be undertaken only with the full support of the American people,” Sen. Lugar’s statement read. “If the Administration seeks to continue our military involvement in Libya, it is incumbent that they seek and secure Congressional authorization.”
According to the United Nations, two million civilians have been adversely affected by the ongoing conflict in Libya, and with as many as 800,000 refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries, U.N. officials asked for an additional 233 million dollars on Wednesday to cope with the growing humanitarian crisis there.
Having already surpassed the 750 million dollar mark – the projected total costs of U.S. involvement in Libya before the NATO operation began – officials at the U.S. Department of Defence now estimate that continued enforcement of the no-fly zone could drain upwards of 40 million dollars per month from U.S. government coffers.
But as Congressional debates over the president’s authority to conduct the war ensue, some experts have criticised the decision to intervene in Libya in a broader context: whether or not the policy decisions that have led to the no-fly zone were based on a thorough consideration of its strategic goals, and the nature of Western involvement in Libya if a ceasefire could be agreed on or if Gaddafi were to step down.”As with the invasion of Iraq, in short, the issue [in Libya] wasn’t whether the West could eventually accomplish ‘regime change’ if it tried. Rather, the key questions revolved around whether it was in our overall interest to do so and whether the benefits would be worth the costs,” Stephen Walt wrote on his foreignpolicy.com blog last week.
Some analysts argue that discussion of prolonging U.S. involvement in enforcement of the no-fly zone implies that the removal of Gaddafi is the primary goal.
“There was always from the beginning some confusion about what the goal was…but it clearly has become one of regime change,” Paul Pillar, former Central Intelligence Agency analyst, said during a Middle East Institute conference on Thursday.
James L. Jones, Obama’s former national security advisor, echoed Pillar’s assessment in a speech at the National Press Club on Monday.
“Strategically for the U.S., Libya is not on par with Egypt in terms of vital interests, but how this crisis is resolved and when it is resolved is of great importance to us, to NATO, whose success, despite a quite limited mandate, will ultimately be evaluated against the regime’s survival or its collapse,” Jones said.
While Libyan rebel groups continue to fight forces loyal to Gaddafi, renewed debate over the international community’s approach to mitigating the conflict – including whether to officially recognise Libya’s Transitional National Council, encourage defections to erode support for Gaddafi, and whether to arm the rebels or expand the NATO mandate to leverage a ceasefire – remain as central questions for those advocating prolonged U.S. and European involvement.
“Our main issue is the recognition of the [Transitional National] Council. We believe recognition is very important to give the council credibility in the international community,” Ambassador Ali Suleiman Aujali, the representative to the U.S. for the council, said at the Middle East Institute conference.
“I’m very confident now than ever before that the revolution in Libya will win… As far as Gaddafi is there, this is the main danger,” Aujali added.
On Monday, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Gaddafi, his son Saif al-Islam and the Libyan intelligence chief Abdullah Senoussi, in what some analysts believe will embolden Gaddafi’s determination to fight.
As the Obama administration weighs its policy options in Libya, the realties between policymaking for those holding the office of president and running as a candidate for president remain in stark contrast.
“The president does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorise a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation,” then- presidential candidate Barack Obama said in December 2007.
In a few hours May 21, 2011 6 p.m., the appointed time for Doomsday, will have passed, irrespective of whichever time zone we are in, thereby proving that the prediction made by Harold Camping is false. No wonder Camping has gone into hiding and it is improbable that he will be showing himself to the public anytime soon without a good excuse.
Camping, the president of a popular Christian broadcasting company Family Radio, made public announcements that on May 21, 2011, 200 million people will disappear into heaven and series of earthquakes that would make the Japan’s earthquake “look like a Sunday school picnic in comparison” would strike various parts of the world, signaling the beginning of the End. Those left behind are predicted to suffer the disasters until October 21, 2011 when the world would be totally destroyed.
Although Camping has been denounced countless times – both by Christian leaders and atheists – Camping continued his belief that “without any shadow of a doubt it is going to happen.”
Camping claimed to have based his calculations on Bible verses. Combining Genesis 7:4 (“Seven days from now I will send rain on the earth”) and 2 Peter 3:8 (“With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day”), he came to the conclusion that the Doomsday – May 21, 2011 – will take place 7000 years after the Great Flood (4990 B.C.).
4990 + 2011 – 1 = 7000 (the subtraction of “1” from the equation is due to the fact that there is no year 0 between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D.).
However, nothing that signifies Camping’s End Time prediction is taking place.
The world is expecting to hear something soon from Camping or he risks being branded as a false prophet. Especially Camping’s followers will be demanding an explanation as they had put all their faith in Camping’s prediction, quitting jobs, selling their possessions and donating all their money to support the Doomsday campaign. Others are probably going to simply shrug and dismiss him as a mad man, which probably many of them have already started doing.
Is Camping going to turn up and say he made a mathematical error again, just like when his earlier prediction on the End Time failed in 1994? (Camping made a prediction in 1994 that the world will end in September 1994, but he said he made a “mathematical mistake” and delayed the Doomsday to May 21, 2011)
But there is no way around of saying there is a “mathematical” mistake in “4990 + 2011 – 1 = 7000”
The popular broadcaster, who has been widely heard across the world, is now maintaining a stoic silence. Meanwhile, the Family Radio headquarter in Oakland, CA display a cryptic message in large letters: “This Office is Closed. Sorry we missed you!” pasted on its front door.
According to a Reuters report, Camping’s house in Alameda, CA is covered with shades and no one was available. Camping has previously said that he would be watching TV and listening to the radio in his home at the appointed time.
One wonders what he is doing right now?
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