Libya Civil War Update: Gaddafi Threatens To Turn Lybia Into "A Burning Hell"

Chavez: U.S. distorting situation in Libya 'to justify an invasion'

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez claims U.S. criticism of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi has a clear aim: military invasion.

"Let's not get carried away by the drums of war, because the United States, I am sure that they are exaggerating and distorting things to justify an invasion," Chavez said Monday, according to Venezuelan state media.

At a Monday meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States was exploring "all possible options," and that "nothing is off the table so long as the Libyan government continues to threaten and kill Libyan citizens." (read more)

Libya Civil War Update: Gadhafi Forces Bomb Rebel-Held Oil Town of Brega

Libyan warplanes Thursday struck the rebel-held oil port in the eastern town of Brega, as mutinous army units with machine guns and rocket launchers deployed around the town's strategic oil installations, securing the site after the opposition repelled an attempt by government loyalists to retake the port Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.

The rebels have called for foreign airstrikes as they try to maintain the offensive by forces loyal to Col. Moammar Gadhafi, but senior U.S. defense officials are lowering expectations of an international military intervention in the country.

Rebel forces had regained control of Brega after a fierce battle Wednesday, as rebels in neighboring towns launched their first united counteroffensive following a dawn attack by pro-Gadhafi forces. Witnesses couldn't identify the target of the Thursday airstrike, but it was likely an airstrip that belongs to the huge oil complex, the Associated Press reported. (read more)

System breaking down: Wisconsin budget stalemate could drag on for months

Wisconsin's budget stalemate over union bargaining rights shows no sign of resolution - and it could be a long wait.

The governor isn't budging. AWOL Democrats aren't planning to come back. And, despite talk of deadlines and threats of mass layoffs, the state doesn't really have to pass a budget to pay its bills until at least May. Even then, there may be other options that could extend the standoff for months.

"This is a battle to the death," said Mordecai Lee, a political scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. "Unless one party can come up with a compromise that the other party will buy, which I doubt, this really could go on indefinitely. I could see this going on until the summer." (read more)

1st call for impeachment by member of Congress

A Republican congressman has told a left-leaning blog that if there is collective support, he would favor the impeachment of Barack Obama over his decision to stop defending the federal Defense of Marriage Act.

Scott Keyes of ThinkProgress.org asked U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz.: "I know Newt Gingrich has came out (sic) and said if they don't reverse course here, we ought to be talking about possibly impeaching either Attorney General [Eric] Holder or even President Obama to try to get them to reverse course. Do you think that is something you would support?" Keyes asked.

Franks replied: "If it could gain the collective support, absolutely. I called for Eric Holder to repudiate the policy to try terrorists within our civil courts, or resign. So it just seems like that they have an uncanny ability to get it wrong on almost all fronts." (read more)

Air Force's X-37B Space Plane Launching on Secret Mission Friday

The U.S. Air Force's secretive X-37B space plane is poised to launch on its second mission Friday (March 4), though what exactly it will be doing once it leaves the ground remains a mystery.

The robotic X-37B mini-shuttle is slated to lift off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Friday atop an Atlas 5 rocket, weather permitting. Its launch window opens at 3:39 p.m. EST (2039 GMT), according to the launch provider United Launch Alliance, which is overseeing the flight.

This will mark the second space mission for the Air Force's X-37B space plane program — but the first for this particular plane. It is the second X-37B spacecraft built for the Air Force by Boeing and carries the name Orbital Test Vehicle 2, or OTV-2.

The first X-37B spacecraft launched in April 2010 and returned to Earth in December after an apparently successful test flight, though the details of that mission – like this upcoming flight – are classified. The first X-37B mission lasted 225 days. [Photos: First Flight of the X-37B Space Plane] (read more)

Is the Amelia Earhart mystery finally about to be solved? Diving team to explore plane wreckage at bottom of ocean - 3rd Mar 2011

Body of the downed plane was discovered in 2002 by fishermen, but they have been unable to get it because of a 20ft Poisonous Sea Snake.

A diving team is being put together in Papua New Guinea to swim down to the wreckage of a rust-and-coral-covered plane in the hope of solving one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries - the 74-year-old disappearance of Amelia Earhart.

The 40-year-old American and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared while attempting to fly around the world in 1937 in a Lockheed Model 10 Electra plane and most theories say they crashed near Howland Island in the central Pacific.

She and her navigator had completed 22,000 miles of the journey when they arrived at Lae in New Guinea, as the country was then known, and just 7,000 miles across the Pacific remained before they were due to land back in the U.S.

Read More

Sad end for giant of the seas: 45ft whale dies after being washed up on Kent beach - 3rd Mar 2011

A 45ft-long sperm whale has died today after being washed up on the Kent coast.

The huge animal was found stranded on the beach at Pegwell Bay between Ramsgate and Sandwich, in Kent, at 7.30am and animal rescue experts were called before it was confirmed the whale had died.

The public have shown great interest in the corpse but are advised to stay away from the beached whale due to health risks related to bacteria and its odour, a spokesman for the Maritime and Coastal Agency said. Read More

Update cause of death "Starvation": The juvenile male had not eaten for some time and had become dehydrated before coming ashore at Pegwell Bay, Kent, a preliminary post-mortem examination found. Source

Wildlife warning after dead fish removed from pond - 3rd Mar 2011

UP to 100 dead goldfish have been removed from a pond on a Fleet estate.

Now countryside rangers are appealing for people to stop dumping unwanted goldfish in the duck pond at Elvetham Heath.

Three years ago 200 goldfish and a carp were removed and taken to a more suitable freshwater site.

But now Hart’s countryside service is concerned that more fish have been introduced and have been breeding. Under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 it is an offence to introduce non-native species of fish into the wild without a government licence.

Tim Ackroyd from Hart’s countryside service warned the pond at Elvetham Heath is too small for fish and is primarily meant to be a duck pond.

He believes that as well as the odd introduction of goldfish since the last clear-out someone has recently emptied the contents of a garden pond into the duck pond.

“We have never put any fish into the pond,” he said. Read More

RUSSIA building 5000 more NUCLEAR Bomb Shelters in Moscow

These shelters are commissioned to be ready before 2012

Hundreds sign up for Doomsday Bunker - 27th Feb 2011

A US firm says thousands of people will book their place in post-Armageddon Britain HUNDREDS of people have signed up to book a place in Britain’s first underground nuclear bunker, as a growing number fear the world will end as early as next year.

Now a search is under way for a suitable location to build the secret shelter, which will have filtered air, its own water supply and a prison in case of unrest in post-Armageddon Britain.

The complex will also have tight security to stop desperate survivors getting in after a nuclear strike or natural catastrophe.

US doomsday company Vivos has almost completed its first underground shelter in Nebraska and has appointed the eccentric Lord Ivars, a former Hollywood bodyguard, as its director in the UK.

Ivars, who bought his title, is 42-year-old American Ivars Jaunakais, who gives his office address as the UK Centre for Homeland Security near Salisbury, Wiltshire. Read More

Vivos video:

Noah's new ark: Floating city that could make weather devastation a thing of the past - 3rd Mar 2011

It looks like something from a sci-fi film, but this bizarre floating metropolis may be the solution for cities devastated by extreme weather.

The incredible structure measures a staggering 1,200ft high, covers 30 million square feet and is designed to house up to 40,000 residents.

It comes with everything you would expect to find in a normal city - from hotels to shops, casinos and schools.

The Space Age design is even equipped with gardens, special express elevators for 'vertical commuting' and moving walkways for pedestrians.

The bizarre plans were inspired by the devastation caused when the American city of New Orleans was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Read More

Fact or Fiction - 500% increase in Bunker sales

During the past 2 to 3 years we have noticed a increase in articles and news reports regarding vaults, bunkers and some fancy, complicated looking architecture, and all for 1 purpose -- a impending global disaster. Are more and more people getting nervous or paranoid or could there be an underlying truth which isn’t being conveyed to the public?

In 2008, the Svalbard Global seed vault was completed and opened on the Norwegian Island of Spitsbergen, and was dubbed the "doomsday vault". It can conserve 4.5 million samples and copies of seeds and plants from around the world.

We have decided to start posting articles, reports and news pertaining to this timely subject; you will be able to find them in Fact or Fiction (if no proof is found relating to the article) or Natural Disasters. Feel free to add your views and comments on this subject.

Company discussed in this video: ARC American Reassurance Communities

Hardened Stuctures - Alternative company producing bunkers for the purpose of global disaster.

Fact or Fiction - Blood Rain and Star Jelly - National Geographic Channel

When the Sky Rains Blood and Goo

It’s known that 100 tons of comet debris enters the Earth’s atmosphere on a daily basis. What scientists discover in this debris could forever change our understanding of life in the universe.

• On September 28, 1969 a meteor shower rained over Murchison, Australia. Scientists later collected more than 200 pounds of meteoric material and discovered amino acids, the chemical building blocks of DNA, within it.


• NASA continued to study this meteoric material and found cyano bacteria, many of which can be identified to genus and species of cyano bacteria that we know on Earth.


• In August 1994 a strange, gelatinous rain pummeled the tiny town of Oakville, Washington, during the annual Perseid meteor shower.


• The mysterious goo contained pseudomonas fluorescens and enterobacter cloaque, bacteria capable of causing serious illness.


• Biologist Tim Davis analyzed the substance and found what he believed to be a eukaryiotic cell, a complex cell with a nucleus.


• In July 2001, blood red rain fell on India. Godfrey Louis, a physicist at the Mahatma Gandhi University, studied the red rain and found what appeared to be biological cells.


• On November 28, 2001 in Manchester, England, paranormal investigator Stephen Mara was called to investigate reports of lights falling from the sky. But what he found was completely unexpected: a gelatinous blob.


• Star jelly sightings after meteor showers occur around the world.


• Meteorite finds in the past prove that they can maintain a frozen core during entry into Earth’s atmosphere. Theoretically, anything frozen in this core could remain intact upon landing.


• People have documented the phenomena of red rain and gelatinous rain with surprising frequency. Some of the reports date back to medieval times. Source
  

On the brink: Sixth mass extinction 'that will eradicate 75% of life on Earth is drawing closer' - 3rd Mar 2011

Earth may be on the brink of a sixth mass extinction on the scale of the apocalyptic event that wiped out the dinosaurs, a study claims.

The researchers say that unless action is taken now to reverse the harmful effects of human activity on eco-systems, a full-blown mass extinction could occur within a few centuries.

Recovery from such an event, which could eradicate more than three-quarters of all life on Earth, may then take millions of years.

Only five previous mass extinctions have occurred in the last 540million years.

They are classified as the Ordovician event (443million years ago); the Devonian event (359million years ago); the Permian event (251million years ago); the Triassic event (200million years ago) and the Cretaceous event (65million years ago).

The last mass extinction, thought to have been triggered by a meteor impact in Mexico, was marked by the loss of 76 per cent of species including the dinosaurs. Read More

Cactus Walking On 20 Legs Found In China - 2nd Mar 2011

There was a wild period — roughly 520 million years ago — when life, for no obvious reason, burst into a crazy display of weird new fantastic forms — producing creatures in shapes never seen before or since. Consider this animal, the newest fossil discovery from Jianni Liu in China. She calls it "the walking cactus."

This is not a plant, not a sculpture. It was a live animal, with no eyes, what may or may not be a head, mostly a gaggle of limbs, armor-plated, covered in thorns, attached to a stomach. What is it? Taxonomically, Jianni Liu thinks it's a lobopodian, a group of animals described as "worms with legs." Lobopodians are about the craziest looking critters that ever lived. A whole zoo of them appear in the rocks around Chengjiang, China. Read More

Fact or Fiction -Expanding Earth Theory

One of the longest running and most controversial theories in geology is the Expanding Earth theory. From the earliest school geology classes to the most advanced university geology lectures, almost everyone is taught that the Earth is not expanding. So when people are first presented with evidence for an Expanding Earth virtually everyone is astonished.

Some people are so shocked by the evidence for an Expanding Earth they deny there is any evidence and call it a pseudo-science, while others try to convince their peers that it has been scientifically investigated and debunked by plate tectonics so this evidence need not even be considered. This argument about the significance of the geological evidence for an Expanding Earth can become very animated at times.

But a small number of geologists are so convinced by the geological evidence for an Expanding Earth that they have investigated the facts in detail. Many of the supporters for an Expanding Earth are professors and doctors of geology who continue to present the supporting evidence today by publishing various scientific papers and books advocating the theory. Read More

Video of Brutal Bahrain Violence Against Protestors, Hospital Staff (WARNING: GRAPHIC)

WARNING: THE VIDEO THIS POST LEADS TO IS GRAPHIC IN NATURE, AND DEPICTS INJURIES, HOSPITAL SETTINGS, SOCIAL PANDEMONIUM AND DEAD BODIES.

(Watch the video here...)

Protest Fallout: Saudi Arabia contagion triggers Gulf financial rout -- Tawadul stock index loss now at 11% and rising

Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul stock index has tumbled 11pc in wild trading over the past two days, led by banks and insurers. Dubai’s bourse has hit a 7-year low.

The latest sell-off was triggered by the arrest of a Shi’ite cleric in the Kingdom’s Eastern Province after he called for democratic reforms and a constitutional monarchy. The province is home to Saudi Arabia’s aggrieved Shi’ite minority and also holds the country’s vast Ghawar oilfield, placing it at the epicentre of global crude supply.

“Unrest in this region can have fatal consequences for the world,” said JBC Energy. “The plunge on the Saudi stock exchange can be interpreted as a sign of waning trust.”

In Bahrain, the island nation’s Sunni elite holds sway over a Shi’ite majority that is denied key jobs and has a token political voice, making it a trial run for Saudi Arabia’s near-identical tensions in the Eastern Province.

Bahraini dissidents have so far been much bolder, prompting a bloody crackdown last month when at least seven people were shot by the military. The ruling family – under intense pressure from Washington to stop the killings – has since held out an olive branch to protesters and let the radical Haq leader Hassan Mushaima return from exile, yet the crisis is far from contained. (read more)

Arab League may impose its own Libya no fly zone

The Arab League has said it may impose a "no fly" zone on Libya in co-ordination with the African Union if fighting continues in Libya.

Wednesday’s Arab League ministers' meeting in Cairo rejected any direct outside military intervention in Libya, where Muammar Gaddafi is trying to put down a revolt threatening his four decades in power. They reiterated their condemnation of his use of force.

The Arab resolution called on the Libyan government to respond to the "legitimate demands of the Libyan people" and to stop bloodshed. The Libyan authorities must lift restrictions on media and mobile networks and allow the delivery of aid.

The Arab League demanded "the preservation of the unity of Libyan lands and civil peace" -- similar to the language it used in the run-up to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. (read more)

Texas demographer: 'It's basically over for Anglos'

Looking at population projections for Texas, demographer Steve Murdock concludes: "It's basically over for Anglos."

Two of every three Texas children are now non-Anglo and the trend line will become even more pronounced in the future, said Murdock, former U.S. Census Bureau director and now director of the Hobby Center for the Study of Texas at Rice University.

Today's Texas population can be divided into two groups, he said. One is an old and aging Anglo and the other is young and minority. Between 2000 and 2040, the state's public school enrollment will see a 15 percent decline in Anglo children while Hispanic children will make up a 213 percent increase, he said. (read more)

The rise in sea level of the Mediterranean is accelerating

"The sea level in the Mediterranean has risen by between 1 and 1.5 millimetres each year since 1943, but this does not seem set to continue, because it now seems that the speed at which it rises is accelerating", Manuel Vargas Yáñez, main author of the book Cambio Climático en el Mediterráneo Español, and researcher in the Spanish Oceanography Institute (IEO), tells SINC.

The publication, which in its second edition includes, for the first time, climate figures from 1943 to 2008 using a marine observation system which is unique in Spain and pioneering in Europe, confirms that the Mediterranean is becoming warmer. Its salinity is also increasing, and the rise in sea level is accelerating. Since the start of the 21st century the level has already risen by 20 centimetres.

However, "during the last three years which were added to the study (from 2005 to 2008) the rise in temperatures has been slower than at the end of the 20th century, when the sea temperatures rose significantly", points out Vargas Yáñez, who insists on the necessity to study long series of figures to show the impact of climate change in the Mediterranean. (read more)

Scientist killed by Bubonic Plague - that was supposedly "harmlmess"

University of Chicago infectious disease specialist Ken Alexander still remembers the shock he felt almost 18 months ago when his pager shook with the message that a colleague had died from the plague.

A half-hour later, Alexander was sitting at a table in the dean’s office with researchers, lawyers, administrators and campus security officers, he recalled in an interview. The stricken colleague, Malcolm Casadaban, a 60-year-old genetics and cell biology professor, had checked into a hospital five days earlier and died within hours. Lab results were positive for the plague, and the university’s “biosafety fire alarm” had been triggered, Alexander said.

“The first question was: Do we think this is real,” Alexander, chief of infectious diseases at the university’s pediatrics department, said yesterday in a telephone interview. “The answer was yes. So the onus was upon us to do two things; to notify the health infrastructure and act as if this were a worst-case scenario.” (read more)

Report: 75% of coral reefs threatened

Human activity and climate change have left about 75% of the world's coral reefs threatened, putting the livelihoods of many countries that depend on the ocean ecosystems at risk, according to a report released this week.

Local threats such as overfishing, coastal development, and watershed- and marine-based pollution are responsible for the immediate and direct threat to more than 60% of the world's reefs. Add to that thermal stress from rising ocean temperatures and the number of threatened reefs jumps to 75%, the World Resources Institute found in the report, titled "Reefs at Risk," released Wednesday.

"This report serves as a wake-up call for policy-makers, business leaders, ocean managers, and others about the urgent need for greater protection for coral reefs," said Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "As the report makes clear, local and global threats, including climate change, are already having significant impacts on coral reefs, putting the future of these beautiful and valuable ecosystems at risk." (read more)

Warning shot for America and Europe as S&P downgrades Japan Debt

The move is a chilly reminder that sovereign debt woes continue to fester across much of the industrial world, and still pose a threat to the fragile global recovery.

The US rating agency cut Japan's $10.6 trillion (£6.6 trillion) debt one notch to AA-, warning that the mix of government paralysis, a shrinking workforce and a fast-rising interest burden have left the country's debt dynamics on an unsustainable footing.

Julian Jessop, from Capital Economics, said the unfolding drama in Tokyo has global implications since Japan is the world's top external creditor with $3 trillion of net assets abroad. "This is potentially a much bigger story than any default in Greece," he said.

The concern is that Japanese banks, pension funds and life insurers may forced to repatriate large sums to cover losses at home if the fiscal crisis triggers a jump in bond yields. This could set off a worldwide fall in asset prices. (read more)

Einstein was right - honey bee collapse threatens global food security

Almost a third of global farm output depends on animal pollination, largely by honey bees.

These foods provide 35pc of our calories, most of our minerals, vitamins, and anti-oxidants, and the foundations of gastronomy. Yet the bees are dying – or being killed – at a disturbing pace.

The story of "colony collapse disorder" (CCD) is already well-known to readers of The Daily Telegraph.

Some keep hives at home and have experienced this mystery plague, and doubtless have strong views on whether it is caused by parasites, or a virus, or use of pesticides that play havoc with the nervous system of young bees, or a synergy of destructive forces coming together.

The bee crisis has been treated as a niche concern until now, but as the UN's index of food prices hits an all time-high in real terms (not just nominal) and grain shortages trigger revolutions in the Middle East, it is becoming urgent to know whether the plight of the honey bee risks further exhausting our already thin margin of food global security. (read more)

Syria rejects UN nuke probe

Diplomats say Syria has formally rejected a request from the head of the U.N. atomic agency for access to a suspected nuclear site.

The diplomats said senior Syrian officials told the agency in a letter this month that Damascus would allow no new inspections.

Israeli warplanes destroyed what the U.S. says was a secretly built nuclear reactor in 2007. Syria allowed International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to visit the site once but has refused subsequent requests.

The refusal was a snub to IAEA chief Yukiya Amano, who had directly asked Syria's foreign minister in November to allow a new visit. (read more)

8th panther dead this Year in Florida - 3rd Mar 2011

Endangered panther found dead

NAPLES, Fla. -- A Florida panther has been found dead in southwest Florida.The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reports that a 4-year-old collared female was found Wednesday in the Picayune Strand State Forest in Collier County. It appeared she was killed by another panther, but necropsy would be required to confirm it.

This is the eight panther death of the year.

Biologists estimate the panther population in Florida to be between 100 and 120. Source

Hundreds of fish washing ashore every Day - Australia 3rd Mar 2011

A long hot spell in Western Australia is taking its toll on local fish stocks.

Along a 50-kilometre stretch of beach between Perth and Geraldton, hundreds of dead fish are washing ashore every day, victims of a three to four degree rise in water temperature.

Fisherman Shane Loftus says that, after a month of continuing hot weather, the water temperature is as high as he's seen ever seen it.

"The water's about 27.5, up to 28 degrees sometimes; I've never seen the water so warm ever in all the years I've been fishing, so I suppose fish that aren't used to it. Three or four degrees makes a big difference." Source