Authorities in Chile have ordered the complete evacuation of two towns after a volcano erupting nearby increased its activity, spewing out lava and ash. Chaiten volcano in the southern Patagonia region began erupting on Friday for the first time in 450 years. Ash from the volcano has caused disruption in neighbouring Argentina. Sitting on the edge of the South American and Nazca tectonic plates, Chile is in one of the most volcanically-active regions on Earth. Experts say about 20 of its more than 100 active volcanoes are in danger of erupting at any time.
Authorities in Chile have ordered the complete evacuation of two towns after a volcano erupting nearby increased its activity, spewing out lava and ash.
Chaiten volcano in the southern Patagonia region began erupting on Friday for the first time in 450 years.
Ash from the volcano has caused disruption in neighbouring Argentina.
Sitting on the edge of the South American and Nazca tectonic plates, Chile is in one of the most
volcanically-active regions on Earth.
Experts say about 20 of its more than 100 active volcanoes are in danger of erupting at any time.
JERUSALEM: As Israel toasts its 60th anniversary in the coming weeks, rejoicing in Jewish national rebirth and democratic values, the Arabs who make up 20 percent of its citizens will not be celebrating. Better off and better integrated than ever in their history, freer than the vast majority of other Arabs, Israel's 1.3 million Arab citizens are still far less well off than Israeli Jews and feel increasingly unwanted. On Independence Day, this Thursday, thousands of Israeli Arabs will gather in their former villages to protest what they have come to call the nakba, or catastrophe, meaning Israel's birth. For most Israelis, Jewish identity is central to the state, the reason they are proud to live here, the link they feel with history. But Israeli Arabs, including the most successfully integrated ones, say a new identity must be found for the country's long-term survival. "I am not a Jew," protested Eman Kassem-Sleiman, a prominent Arab radio journalist with impeccable Hebrew whose children attend a predominantly Jewish school in Jerusalem. "How can I belong to a Jewish state? If they define this as a Jewish state, they deny that I am here."
JERUSALEM: As Israel toasts its 60th anniversary in the coming weeks, rejoicing in Jewish national rebirth and democratic values, the Arabs who make up 20 percent of its citizens will not be celebrating. Better off and better integrated than ever in their history, freer than the vast majority of other Arabs, Israel's 1.3 million Arab citizens are still far less well off than Israeli Jews and feel increasingly unwanted.
On Independence Day, this Thursday, thousands of Israeli Arabs will gather in their former villages to protest what they have come to call the nakba, or catastrophe, meaning Israel's birth. For most Israelis, Jewish identity is central to the state, the reason they are proud to live here, the link they feel with history. But Israeli Arabs, including the most successfully integrated ones, say a new identity must be found for the country's long-term survival.
"I am not a Jew," protested Eman Kassem-Sleiman, a prominent Arab radio journalist with impeccable Hebrew whose children attend a predominantly Jewish school in Jerusalem. "How can I belong to a Jewish state? If they define this as a Jewish state, they deny that I am here."
Flammable oil-like material carried on board by a passenger triggered Monday's bus fire in Shanghai that left three dead and 12 injuries, police said Tuesday. The police are not able to specify the nature of the oil, saying further investigation is underway.
The police are not able to specify the nature of the oil, saying further investigation is underway.
Not particularly newsworthy in and of itself. However, today during our break in listening comprehension class, our teacher casually asked us about the train crash near Qingdao, (northeast) China which killed 70 people and injured over 400. Then she told us that she did not believe the reason for the crash given in the news (i.e. excessive speed over part of a rail line being upgraded for the Olympics), and said she thinks that it was caused by people from Xinjiang, China's northwestern-most province that is inhabited predominantly by the native Muslim Uighur population. (At least, that's where I thought she said they were from. In our next class, however, two other students were certain she had said Xizang (Mandarin for Tibet), not Xinjiang.)
I told her, "You know, accidents like this happen in other countries, too," thinking of the derailment in Hyogo, Japan three years ago that killed 107 and injured 460 (the rookie conductor was speeding around a bend so as not to arrive late at the next station), among other accidents. But she firmly maintained that terrorism was involved.
When I asked her, "Do you think lots of other Chinese have the same suspicions as you do?" she answered, "Yes." Then she went on to say that the this bus fire over the weekend was probably also a terrorist act. She did not mention the news about two terrorist groups that allegedly were broken up in Xinjiang a few weeks ago, but I would not be surprised if that had influenced her thinking.
Searching online to determine just how widespread this conspiracy theory was, I found a partial translation of an article in the "sensationalistic" Hong Kong newspaper Apple Daily that also
has suggested a "suicide-style bombing" (自杀式炸巴士) by Xinjiang terrorist groups. ... Even more scary to the outside world is that the authorities could cover up the fact that the train in the Shandong collusion was the Olympic Games special promotion train. If they can seal off the truth about the Shanghai bus and they can seal off the situation about epidemics, what couldn't they not deceive the Chinese people and the rest of the world on?
Even more scary to the outside world is that the authorities could cover up the fact that the train in the Shandong collusion was the Olympic Games special promotion train. If they can seal off the truth about the Shanghai bus and they can seal off the situation about epidemics, what couldn't they not deceive the Chinese people and the rest of the world on?
This article and the news about the terrorist groups broken up in Xinjiang last month convince me that my teacher said Xinjiang, not Xizang (Tibet).
These accidents are tragic enough in and of themselves. But as one of my classmates pointed out, if, God forbid, more such incidents should happen before the Olympics, their tragedy will be magnified since it seems likely that suspicion against Uighur and even Tibetan "splittists" will only grow stronger. A language is a dialect with an army and navy.
Shanghai police seek handbag owner over bus fire -- china.org.cn
Shanghai police are looking for the person who allegedly brought a knitted handbag onto a No. 842 bus that may have started a fire that killed three people and injured another 12 on Monday, Beijing News reported today. The manually stitched bag, which was put two rows behind the driver's seat, suddenly "self-ignited," according to Liu Kai, a passenger on the bus now being treated for burns at Changhai Hospital. Other passengers have a similar recollection of what happened, but nobody remembered who carried the bag onboard, which was believed to contain flammable items, the report said.
Shanghai police are looking for the person who allegedly brought a knitted handbag onto a No. 842 bus that may have started a fire that killed three people and injured another 12 on Monday, Beijing News reported today.
The manually stitched bag, which was put two rows behind the driver's seat, suddenly "self-ignited," according to Liu Kai, a passenger on the bus now being treated for burns at Changhai Hospital.
Other passengers have a similar recollection of what happened, but nobody remembered who carried the bag onboard, which was believed to contain flammable items, the report said.
Chris Matthews & Tim Russert of MSNBC have said it's over and she's cancelling all of her morning meetings. Does this mean it's really over ? Or is she still gonna hang in there, hoping for a bus to hit Obama...or something ?
But it's intriguing cos the media narrative has changed. Nobody can take her candidacy seriously now, for Obama this is now procession time and re-orient towards McCain. keep to the Fen Causeway
I think the narrative changed for two reasons:
(1) People really expected IN to be taken by her with a fair bit to spare. If, after three straight weeks of Scary Black Preacha(TM), she couldn't win very white, very blue-collar Indiana with a half-decent margin, it tells you the Pastorgate is worn out or close to it, and that Obama held up just fine. It also tells you the "bitter" remarks and the "gas-tax holiday," at best for her, didn't mean a thing. And, given that he improved substantially in those core demographics of hers, I think it tells you he probably won the argument on them.
Had Wright's video appeared before Obama's 11-contest streak, it might've made a difference. But I think it's fair to say she lost this somewhere around Wisconsin. In fact, I remember her "concession" speech that night from Texas, when she first came out to greet the crowd. The look on her face struck me, and I thought, "She knows she lost it tonight, and she can't believe it."
(2) The math is now utterly crippling for her. Even throwing in Florida and the Joseph Stalin Primary in Michigan, she still comes up short on delegates and the popular vote. Unless he gets hit and killed by a bus, thus necessitating him dropping out, those metrics have now been decided. She'll win West Virginia and Kentucky for an obvious reason. He'll win Oregon, Montana and South Dakota. She'll win Puerto Rico by a decent amount (probably about seven or eight points). And we'll be right where we thought we'd be.
It's over. It's just a question of whether or not she can accept it and move on. I'd run out the rest of the primaries, or at least go to May 20th, if I were her. It'd be the Mike Huckabee program. No attacks, no big ad buys, etc. Give the remaining folks a chance to make their voices heard by running out her remaining wins. Have a little fun, and be done with it. Conservatives want live babies so they can raise them to be dead soldiers. - George Carlin
Click on the image for more background info on what you're seeing here:
On April 15 (top), rivers and lakes are sharply defined against a backdrop of vegetation and fallow agricultural land. The Irrawaddy River flows south through the left-hand side of the image, splitting into numerous distributaries known as the Mouths of the Irrawaddy. The wetlands near the shore are a deep blue green. Cyclone Nargis came ashore across the Mouths of the Irrawaddy and followed the coastline northeast. The entire coastal plain is flooded in the May 5 image (bottom). The fallow agricultural areas appear to have been especially hard hit. For example, Yangôn (population over 4 million) is almost completely surrounded by floods. Several large cities (population 100,000-500,000) are in the affected area. Muddy runoff colors the Gulf of Martaban turquoise.
The people are a mere administrative inconvenience to authoritarians. keep to the Fen Causeway
