Thousands of fishes, turtles die in Etawah pond - India

Kanpur: Thousands of fishes and about a dozen turtles were found dead during the past few days in Pakka Talab in Etawah. The fishes and turtles have been dying since last week and the number is increasing gradually.

NGOs suspect poisoning as the reason while residents blame the local body for poor upkeep of the water body over the years which has led to the death.

On January 20, residents at Pakka Talab gathered near the water body after they came across thousands of dead fishes and about a dozen turtles floating on the water surface. "Again on Friday morning, we found thousands of fish lying motionless on the surface. But, we had no idea that so many fish would die," said Animesh, a local. Read More......

Hundreds of dead fish found in north Fort Collins

More than 250 dead fish were found on a 150 feet stretch of of shoreline near an irrigation ditch just north of Willox Street in Fort Collins Saturday.

The fish, which were mostly sucker fish with some brown trout, were discovered by Fort Collins resident Bob Jackson. Jackson immediately informed local authorities, who sent out representatives from the department of wildlife.

“I walked the shoreline on the north side of Willox and took some samples that I turned into the health lab,” said Shane Craig, district wildlife manager and game warden for Fort Collins.

Craig said the fish most likely swam into the irrigation ditch as the temperatures turned mild and became trapped in the canal after being released from the Horsetooth Reservoir. When the water levels in the canal dropped, so presumably did the oxygen levels, Craig said.

“We’re pretty confident (the cause) is just low oxygen levels,” Craig said. Source...

The curious phenomenon of the new Northern Lights: Optical illusion caused by ice crystals in the Yorkshire night sky

To the left are the lights of Holmfirth, to the right a TV transmitter glows. But between these man-made creations, Mother Nature has put on a show which outshines them both.

Dwarfing the Emley Moor transmitter – at 1,083 feet, the UK’s tallest free-standing structure – are these pillars of light piercing the winter’s night sky like bolts of fire.

They were formed when ice crystals in low cloud trapped light from Holmfirth and, like millions of tiny mirrors, reflected it back to earth.

The stunning phenomenon is usually formed from the light of the setting sun, but can also be created by artificial light as in this case near Holmfirth, the West Yorkshire town where TV’s Last of the Summer Wine was filmed.

The pillars could be seen by the naked eye, but their appearance for around 30 minutes was more dramatic when captured at long exposure in this image by photographer Steve Doherty in temperatures of around -3c (27f) on Thursday night.

Mr Doherty caught a fleeting glimpse of the pillars when temperatures to around -3c (27f) at 10pm on Thursday night. Read More...

"God is Great!": Protests Spread to Saudi Arabia

While the biggest threat to the Middle East region is the possibility that the population of Saudi Arabia may try to imitate what has been happening in the area, thereby bringing total chaos to the established regional geopolitical and more importantly, energy, structure, the first protests in the Saudi Arabia city of Jeddah are already in the books. The clip below shows the peaceful demonstrations that have taken place recently, which as Fedupmontrealer explains are "taking place in front of the Municipality in protest of the severe lack of infrastructure, and corruption, that led the city to be inundated this week causing billions of dollars of damages for the second time in two years."

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Billions in Fake US Bonds Confiscated in Italy (Yet Again)

Italian authorities have confiscated $20 billion in counterfeit U.S. government bonds.

Authorities say the bonds were of a quality that theoretically could have defrauded financial institutions.

But a stop at a highway rest area where a group of Carabinieri military police were taking a break proved to be the undoing of the group.

A Carabinieri statement said officers did a routine search of the vehicles after the "suspicious" behaviour of the men and found "to their surprise" a briefcase with 40 bonds 0each valued at $500 million. Source

Of course, what they would like to remain buried is the fact that this is the second time in two years that his has happened. Here's an excerpt from the first incident back in 2009 when some Japanese were caught with 100+ billion dollars worth of bonds in Italy:

Italy’s financial police (Guardia italiana di Finanza) has seized US bonds worth US 134.5 billion from two Japanese nationals at Chiasso (40 km from Milan) on the border between Italy and Switzerland. They include 249 US Federal Reserve bonds worth US$ 500 million each, plus ten Kennedy bonds and other US government securities worth a billion dollar each.

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Oh wait, this has actually happened before? Let's not forget the 2001 incident in the Philippines, involving $2 trillion - yes, trillion - in bonds:

United States and Philippine officials have seized more than $2,000bn (two trillion) in fake US Federal Reserve bonds in the southern Philippines.

They said the large-denomination counterfeit bonds may have been intended to be sold as part of ''lost treasure'' scam where buyers are told the documents have recently been found.

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Dodging UFO Spotted over Innsbruck, Austria

Playing UFOs Spotted over Chepstow, Wales

Incredible UFO Sighting Over Jerusalem (Old City) - Fake or Fantastic?

China Blocking Internet Activity Regarding Egypt - Is Revolution Viral?

China has blocked the word "Egypt'' from the country's wildly popular Twitter-like service, while coverage of the political turmoil has been tightly restricted in state media.

China's ruling Communist Party is sensitive to any potential source of social unrest.

A search for "Egypt'' on the Sina microblogging service brings up a message saying, "According to relevant laws, regulations and policies, the search results are not shown".

Read more

Japan: No Hope for Young Graduates

Kenichi Horie was a promising auto engineer, exactly the sort of youthful talent Japan needs to maintain its edge over hungry Korean and Chinese rivals. As a worker in his early 30s at a major carmaker, Mr. Horie won praise for his design work on advanced biofuel systems.

But like many young Japanese, he was a so-called irregular worker, kept on a temporary staff contract with little of the job security and half the salary of the “regular” employees, most of them workers in their late 40s or older. After more than a decade of trying to gain regular status, Mr. Horie finally quit — not just the temporary jobs, but Japan altogether.

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UFO sightings spawn COMETA report, fear of world crisis

EUGENE, Ore. – Confirmed UFO sightings over Cairo and the port city of Suez in Egypt early Saturday morning comes at a time when the United Nations is reviewing the French government produced COMETA Report that states “about five percent of UFO sightings defy conventional explanation” and often occur at a time of world crisis; while, also stating that UFOs “constitute a real phenomenon warranting immediate international attention.”

Foreign exchange students at Eugene’s Lane Community College told local media today that while there’s a news blackout in Egypt. But, there’s also reports of UFOs. Moreover, there have been BBC and other international media confirmations; news of lights and UFO sightings in skies over this ancient land.

Information about the COMETA Report and the photo that accompanies this story was researched in part by a review of National Archives and the Division of Special Collections and University Archives, at the University of Oregon here in Eugene. Read More...

Egyptian looters destroy 2,000-year-old mummies in bid to steal King Tut's treasures

- Heavy army presence at Pyramids as Priceless treasures become target.
- 30.000 Stranded British tourists warned to stay in Hotels after 4 pm.

The army was on guard at Egypt’s most popular tourist sites last night after two 2,000-year-old mummies in the country’s national museum were destroyed by looters attempting to steal the treasures of King Tutankhamun.

Soldiers were positioned at the Pyramids and Cairo’s Egyptian Museum – the holding place for Tutankhamun’s priceless golden mask and other artifacts – on the fifth day of anti-government demonstrations in the country’s capital.

The military deployment came amid an almost complete collapse of law and order, with the violence escalating outside the capital. Residents in Alexandria, north-west of Cairo, were forced to stand guard outside their homes armed with sticks as gangs rampaged through the city. Read more...

Vigilantes Emerge As Egyptian Elites 'Flee'

Thousands of Egyptians have joined local vigilante groups to protect their neighbourhoods as claims emerge of rich elites fleeing to Dubai.

Report of gangs looting and robbing has resulted in people coming together to protect their families and neighbourhoods.

It's unclear who is behind the crime, but the result is the same - the choice between protesting and protecting has emptied the streets.

"Our jobs are done and over. There are thugs everywhere, ransacking our shops," shop owner Saleh Salem said.

Islamic leaders called on people to join the vigilante groups to protect their homes themselves and scenes of looting appeared to spread from upscale parts of Cairo to downtown and poorer areas as well.

Egyptians armed with guns, sticks, and blades have formed vigilante groups to defend their homes from looters after police disappeared from the streets following days of violent protests.

"Since the government is not doing it, we are sending down our boys to create human shields to fight the criminals." Read More..

Non-stop rains affect 394,065 families - Philippines

MANILA, Philippines — Non-stop rains that started before New Year’s Day continue to wreak havoc on several parts of the country, adversely affecting 394,065 families or 1,972,433 people in 2,188 villages in 189 towns and 18 cities throughout the country, while the death toll increased to 75 and 22 remain missing, the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) reported on Saturday.

The NDRRMC also said that Bohol province and the cities of Cebu and Mandaue were placed under state of calamity due to floods.

Latest NDRRMC bulletin also showed 225 families of 1,089 persons from Mainit town and Surigao City, both in Surigao del Norte, were evacuated due to massive flooding that have so far affected 65 barangays in nine municipalities in the province and one municipality of Dinagat Islands.

One person, identified as Amado Basadre, from Barangay Honrado in the same town was reported missing when he was caught by strong current while attempting to cross a river. A bridge in Libjo, Dinagat Islands was damaged.

Reports reaching the NDRRMC operations center in Camp Aguinaldo showed that massive flooding was experienced in Metro Cebu as a result of a heavy downpour on January 25 that lasted almost two hours, affecting 12 barangays in Cebu City. Read More ...

Train Collision In Germany Kills 10

A head-on train crash in eastern Germany has killed 10 people and injured at least 33 others, eight of them severely.

A passenger and a cargo train crashed near Hordorf village, close to Saxony-Anhalt's state capital Magdeburg.

Several train cars derailed and overturned, a spokesman for the district's firefighters said.

Rescue operations were still under way early on Sunday, and police had no immediate information as to what could have caused the accident late Saturday evening, regional police spokesman Frank Kuessner said.

Eight bodies have been retrieved from the passenger train so far and some 35 suffered injuries, he said.

Mr Kuessner had no immediate explanation for the differing casualty figures as the rescue operations continue.

"The death toll may well rise further," Mr Kuessner said.

Saxony-Anhalt's Deputy Interior Minister Ruediger Erben, who rushed to the scene last night, said the trains must have crashed head-on at high speed.

The accident happened about 125 miles southwest of Berlin. Source...

Deadly 'War On Cops' Sparks US Tactic Review

US government officials are set to review a spate of deadly attacks on police officers that has been dubbed a 'war on cops'.

A series of shootings has left 15 officers dead in January alone - with 11 gunned down in one 24-hour period alone.

The Department of Justice says it will study whether the behaviour of officers, deficits in training or financial cut-backs could have contributed to the number of fatalities.

The crisis has been highlighted by extraordinary CCTV footage from a police station in Detroit showing a man opening fire on officers, injuring four.

The gunman struck because he was angry at a search of his home.

The shootings have taken place across the US and follow a dramatic rise in the number of officers killed in the line of duty last year. Read More...