Mystery crack on the ground at Kuchchuveli None would have known if not for two boys

Dr. Fernando said that the substance hadn’t solidified even after 48 hours earlier.

Dr. Vijayananda said that it was a normal happening and there was absolutely nothing to worry about. Responding to a query by The Island, Dr. Wijayananda said that once a team dispatched to investigate the ‘cracks’ returned, a report would be submitted to the government. He dismissed the perception that this could be sign of an earthquake.

Senior Geologist Dr. Starin Fernando, a member of the GSMB team, which investigated the Kuchchuveli phenomenon said that a similar ‘ground condition’ had been observed at Madampe in the Chilaw area some time back, though nothing oozed out of the ground like at Kuchchuveli.

Responding to a query, Dr. Fernando asserted that oozing of a clay, sand and water out of the ground couldn’t have been caused by recent heavy rains, though rains could have created the conditions for the still

unexplained phenomenon. Dr. Fernando’s team included scientist Mahinda Seneviratne, Wasantha Wimalaratne of GSMB Trincomalee office and Technical Officer M. Padmasiri.

Expert teams from the Moratuwa and Peradeniya Universities and the Board, too, conducted studies.

Dr. Fernando said that more tests would have to be conducted and the area monitored for some time in addition to their ongoing inquiry.

Chief of the Geological Survey and Mines Bureau (GSMB) Dr. N. P. Wijayananda says that had it not been for two boys from a tsunami village, the country wouldn’t have even heard about the recent earth cracks in Kuchchuveli. One of the boys had stepped on a crack, from which an unidentified sticky substance oozed, Dr. Wijayananda said. Source..

Egypt's 'Internet Kill Switch': An Attempt to Suppress the People

Here's what happened last night in Egypt (late last night in U.S.): (See chart above)

Meanwhile, back in these United States, folks like Sen. Joe Lieberman are pushing a bill, the "Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset" act, to make provisions for a U.S. government "Internet Kill Switch" to allow them to do the same. Now why would folks like Lieberman want that?

The latest revision of this bill, according to FastCompany, "bans judicial review over executive decrees" to take down all, or portions of, the Internet.

On a very related note... Thanks to the Internet, you can watch the uprising in Egypt going on as we speak, via Al Jazeera English's streaming live coverage here, just in case you find that CNN and the others are still offering wall-to-wall coverage of Charlie Sheen.

And on another very related note... The recent uprising, revolution and new government in Tunisia was triggered, in no small part, thanks to a U.S. diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks detailing the corruption of the ruling family. That revolution helped spark the one going on right now in Egypt, where the people have taken to the streets to challenge the thirty-year, iron-fisted rule of Hosni Mubarik, a long-time U.S. ally.

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Ten dead, three missing in Jeddah floods

Jan 28th 2011 AFP - Ten people have been killed and three others gone missing in three days of flooding due to heavy rains in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's civil defence chief said on Friday.

Since the floods began on Wednesday, "the death toll has risen to 10 and three people are still missing," said Saad al-Tuwaijri, quoted by the state news agency SPA.

Emergency services mounted a major rescue operation in Jeddah on Wednesday as water levels rose rapidly in Saudi Arabia's commercial capital where flooding killed 123 people in 2009.

After the November 2009 floods in Jeddah, the king sought legal action against officials and contractors for alleged corruption, mismanagement of real estate and land planning that exacerbated the floods.

The inability of Jeddah's infrastructure to drain the waters and uncontrolled construction in and around the city were blamed for the high number of victims.

Thousands of families lost their homes as 10,785 buildings were destroyed, a survey found.

Source - Note: Jeddah in Saudi Arabia received heavy rainfall with thunderstorms measuring about 111mm in three hours bringing life to a near standstill.

Egypt Explodes in Protest - Internet Shut Down - Revolt Spreading to Cities - Elbaradei Arrested

Thousands of angry anti-government demonstrators took to the streets Friday in several Egyptian cities and clashed with police who fired tear gas to quell the crowds.

In Cairo, the capital, vans packed with riot police circled neighborhoods before the start of weekly prayers Friday afternoon. But protesters, fed up with economic woes and a lack of freedoms, defied security warnings to demand an end to President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian 30-year-rule.

Protesters hurled rocks and chanted that the dictator must go. "Down, Down, Mubarak," they shouted.

A plume of smoke billowed over the Nile River as chaos reigned in the bustling metropolis. A truck drove over the 6 October Bridge firing tear gas at point blank range.

The Muslim Brotherhood -- Egypt's largest opposition bloc -- urged its followers to protest after prayers, the first time in the latest wave of unrest that the group has made such a call.

Opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei returned home to Cairo on Thursday and said he planned to take part in the protests. Police warned the Nobel Peace Prize winner Friday not to leave a mosque near downtown Cairo where he was attending prayers, a security source told CNN.

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Study finds probable carcinogen in tap water of 31 U.S. cities

A new analysis showing the presence of a probable carcinogen in the tap water of 31 cities across the country has raised questions about possible risks posed to consumers in those communities and how they can reduce their exposure.

The chemical, hexavalent chromium, got public attention in the 2000 film "Erin Brockovich" and has been found to cause cancer in laboratory animals by the National Toxicology Program, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Although basic water filters such as those made by Brita and PUR do not remove hexavalent chromium, several reverse-osmosis systems designed for home use can take the chemical out of water. Such systems are available for purchase online and at hardware stores.

Bottled water is not necessarily an alternative because it is often drawn from municipal water systems and can still contain hexavalent chromium or other contaminants. Read More...

Residents in a Colombian town Blame UFO for mass fish kill

This event was reported in Colombia and has been reported in Spanish ( see original article here )

Residents of a town in northeastern Colombia are reporting that approx 2000 fish have been found dead since last week after a strange flying object with flashing lights was witnessed for a few seconds in the region.

The event occured in the village of El Llanito, Barrancabermeja, where many villagers observed the strange object in the sky according to local media.

Shortly after dead fish floated in the swamp, but unlike simular cases from the past where the cause was lack of oxygen, this time the residents of El Llanito where astonished to find all the fish had noticable burns on their scales.

According to Magaly Gutierrez, leader of the community, the unexplained phenomenon laste about 20 seconds and was witnessed by many people.

RCN Radio Network said that the residents of the nearby village of Bridge Sogamoso, Puerto Wilches also reported seeing a round flying object on the same day the fish died in El Llanito.

The president of the fish and fishermen Association of El Llanito, Juan Tercero, The scorched dead fish floated from the "strange lights in the swamp" according to the statment given to the "Vanguardia Liberal" newspaper in Bucaramanga.

Barrancabermeja Environmental Authorities have taken samples from the swamp and fish to investigate the cause of the mass fish kill, according to RCN.

Chaos after 19 inches of snow paralyses roads and airports on U.S. East Coast (and it's not getting better any time soon)

Up to 19 inches of snow fell on parts of East Coast-State of emergency called in New York City
-650,000 homes and business left without power at height of storm
-Thousands of airline passengers stranded as airports remain closed
-Schools across the region shut for a second day
-Obama's motorcade stranded for an hour in Washington

More than a foot of snow brought New York to a standstill today as it was revealed that the city has endured the snowiest January in its history.

A state of emergency was called across the city after a vast blanket of snow fell, while Washington D.C. and Boston were also brought to a standstill as most of the east coast was paralysed.

Thousands of airline passengers were left stranded and more than 650,000 homes and businesses were cut off by power cuts.

Even President Obama was caught up in the snow chaos after his motorcade was stranded for an hour in Washington. Read more...

Japan's Debt Downgraded: "Beginning of the End of World Economy"?

The timing of the downgrade of Japan's sovereign bonds by Standard & Poor's on Thursday came as a bit of a surprise to some. After all, Japanese government bond yields have been relatively stable recently, the yen fairly strong, and, as Citigroup points out, the government has vowed to address its sky-high debt load this year.

But S&P isn't convinced that's going to happen. "The downgrade reflects our appraisal that Japan's government debt ratios--already among the highest for rated sovereigns--will continue to rise further than we envisaged before the global economic recession hit the country and will peak only in the mid-2020s."

The agency has been concerned about Japan for months, issuing reports last October and November that said the country's debt, the highest in the developed world, threatened to destroy its credit worthiness. As it did then, S&P says today that the country has no "coherent strategy" to tackle problems that have been decades in the making.

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Chinese Fleeceflower Root Taking Human Form

Stunned farmer Zheng Dexun dug up a crop of fleeceflower, or Chinese knotweed, and found one shaped like a person, in Langzhong, China. The eerie-looking plant, measuring 62 centimetres tall, has clearly defined arms, legs, and head. Zheng said: "I don't know whether it is good or bad to dig out a Chinese knotweed that looks like a human. I'd better put it back in the earth!"

Telegraph Source

But in case you think this is a one-off event and just a freak coincidence, think again; more pictures are included below of other instances of fleeceflower roots taking on human form. What's going on? If you have any information regarding this, please let us know!

The Arab People's Revolution Continues: Protesters march in attempt to force Yemen's president out

Thousands of people demonstrated against Yemen's longtime president Thursday, demanding the kind of change that forced Tunisia's president from office earlier this month.

There were at least four demonstrations Thursday in the capital Sanaa, local journalists told CNN. Security was out in force, but there were no reports of violence.

A much smaller number of people turned out to demonstrate in favor of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the sources said.

Egypt is also wracked by protests in the wake of the demonstrations that unexpectedly forced Tunisia's longtime President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to leave the country.

Yemen has become a key al Qaeda battleground, with Yemeni security forces carrying out offensives against suspected militants.

The United States has sent top officials to Yemen and vowed support for the government's fight against al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, as the local branch calls itself.

A Yemeni rights activist, whose arrest sparked an international outcry and domestic protests, was released from prison Monday and said there is a revolution taking place in her country.

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