4.8 Magnitude Earthquake SOUTHWESTERN SIBERIA, RUSSIA - 27th Dec 2011

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake has struck Southwestern Siberia, Russia at a depth of 16.7 km (10.4 miles), the quake hit at 20:19:11 UTC Tuesday 27th December 2011.
The epicenter was 119 km (73 miles) East of Kyzyl, Russia
No Reports of Injuries or Damage at this time

4.5 Magnitude Earthquake EASTERN TURKEY - 27th Dec 2011

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake has struck Eastern Turkey at a depth of just 1 km (0 miles poorly constrained), the quake hit at 19:18:53 UTC Tuesday 27th December 2011.
The epicenter was 26 km (16.1 miles) East of Ercis, Turkey
No Reports of Injuries or Damage at this time

Giant Shrimp Invading Gulf Of Mexico - 27th Dec 2011

This black tiger shrimp was caught in 210 feet of water off the coast of Louisiana on a shrimp boat under the direction of Captain Tony Pena of Brownsville.

US - An exotic, large species of shrimp is being found once again in the Gulf of Mexico and posing a potential threat to the $700 million Gulf shrimping industry, according to Tony Reisinger, a Texas AgriLife Extension Service agent for coastal and marine resources in South Texas.
“They’re known as black tiger shrimp because of their bright yellow stripes,” Mr Reisinger said. “They are the biggest saltwater shrimp in the world. They are predatory, aggressive and could carry diseases that can harm native species of shrimp.”

Female shrimp are slightly larger than males and can grow to an average of about a foot in length and can weigh almost one pound, he said. They are native to the Indo-Pacific region of the world.

“Black tiger shrimp eat the same type of food as our three, much smaller native species, but as they grow they can also eat the native species, which are the brown, white and pink shrimp. And they prey on small oysters, threatening that industry as well,” Mr Reisinger said.

The fear is that black tiger shrimp will out-compete and possibly displace native species, Reisinger said. So far, there have been 200 official reports of black tiger shrimp in the Gulf. The southernmost find was at Aransas Bay in the Corpus Christi area, some 115 miles north of the jetties at South Padre Island.

“There are lots of unanswered questions about black tiger shrimp,” he said. “We know there was an accidental release of black tigers from a research facility in South Carolina in 1988. Some were caught as far away as St. Augustine, Florida. But most were thought to have been caught by local fishermen, because in 1991 they suddenly disappeared. Then in 2006 they started showing up again. Read More

Plymouth: Nuclear plant forced to shut down after leak from safety relief valve, Massachusetts - 27th Dec 2011

A nuclear plant in Plymouth has been shut down after a suspected leak from the one of the plants safety relief valves.

“An Nuclear Regulator Commission Resident Inspector was at the the Pilgrim nuclear power plant Monday to monitor the shutdown, which took place without any complications,” said Nuclear Regulator Commission spokesman Neil Sheehan.

The Nuclear Regulator Commission says the Pilgrim nuclear power plant was shut down due to leakage from a valve which provides overpressure protection for the plant’s reactor coolant system.

The NRC, in a statement said the valve opens when required, “to discharge reactor steam into the suppression pool, a large, donut-shaped reservoir of water located at the bottom of the reactor building.”

NRC inspectors will also monitor the repairs to the valve and then also monitor the service restoration when the plans are completed. Source

Turkish freighter sinking in Aegean Sea, crew safe - 27th Dec 2011

Greek authorities say a Turkish freighter is sinking in the eastern Aegean Sea and the crew has safely evacuated to another ship.

A defense ministry statement said the Turkish-flagged Dogu Haslaman issued a distress signal on Tuesday, in international waters between the Greek islands of Samos and Chios.

It said the 12-strong crew were picked up by another Turkish cargo ship in the area, and refused assistance from Greek authorities, saying they would wait for Turkish rescuers.

The Greek coastguard said the Dogu Haslaman was half-sunk some 18 miles off Samos. The causes of the accident were unclear. The ship was carrying a cargo of nitrates from the Ukraine to Israel.

Greece and neighboring Turkey are at odds over Aegean Sea boundaries — including who has jurisdiction in search and rescue operations. Source

Gamalama Eruption Leaves Bitter Taste, Dead Crops in Spice Islands, Indonesia - 27th Dec 2011

Mount Gamalama spews thick ashes and gas as seen from Ternate, Indonesia, on Dec. 5. The mud and ash left from the explosion have decimated local farmers' crops, leaving many with little hope of making ends meet.

Muhammad Kasim, a 35-year-old clove farmer, has had to delay his plan to go on the Hajj pilgrimage next year because of damage to his crops on the slopes of Mount Gamalama following an eruption earlier this month.

The clove fields surrounding Moya subdistrict in Ternate, North Maluku, have been blanketed in volcanic ash since the Dec. 5 eruption.

“The crops are damaged and the harvest this year will not bring in anything significant,” Kasim said.

He said he had been counting on receiving Rp 70 million ($7,705) for his crops, Rp 32 million of which he would have set aside to fund his pilgrimage.

Kasim, however, can count himself more fortunate than many of his neighbors, as he also runs a small store close to his home that brings him Rp 2 million a month.

Kirman, a nutmeg farmer, said he had initially planned on using the proceeds from the harvest to build a house, but the eruption has put an end to such prospects.

The volcanic ash has destroyed most of his mangosteen and durian crops as well.

“I don’t know how I’ll make ends meet,” he said. “I don’t have any other source of income.” Read More

Security forces fire on protesters in Homs, Hama - 27th Dec 2011

Security forces assaulted demonstrators in the volatile Syrian cities of Homs and Hama on Tuesday as Arab League monitors visited, witnesses told CNN.

Loubna, a Homs resident who asked that her full name not be used for security reasons, said she saw security forces shoot tear gas and bullets at protesters at Clock Square in downtown Homs, where thousands gathered. She saw seven injured people, said dozens were arrested, and she and others ran for safety to nearby houses.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition activist group with contacts across the country, said more than 70,000 protesters tried to enter Clock Square but security forces used tear gas to disperse them.

Danielle Moussa saw a similar sight in the city's northeast neighborhood of Khalidiah, where thousands of people gathered. "I saw several get shot and I ran," he said. Moussa is an opposition activist whose group was working to retrieve bodies.

Around 35,000 protesters turned up in the neighborhood of Khalidiah, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition activist network, reported. The observatory estimated around 20,000 protesters in Khalidiah. Read More

Contradictions keep coming...... US Consumer confidence shoots higher again...Sears, Kmart to shut 100-120 stores

Note: Reports are being pushed forward to show the public that there is nothing to worry about in the Economy. With headlines screaming bumper Boxing Day sales, Consumer confidence shoots higher etc. But who are they trying to convince? Here is a perfect example, we have two separate articles BOTH written by Chris Isidore for CNN MONEY, and BOTH Published on the 27th Dec 2011.

1. Consumer Confidence Shoots Higher Again.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Consumer confidence shot higher for the second month in a row in December, according to a survey from The Conference Board.

The research firm's overall confidence index, released Tuesday, jumped 9.3 points to 64.5. The increase follows a 14.3-point rise in November. Read More

2. Sears and Kmart to Shut 100-120 Stores

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Sears Holdings on Tuesday reported a sharp drop in holiday sales compared to a year ago, and said the results will force it to close 100 to 120 Sears and Kmart stores.

The stores to be closed have yet to be identified. The company is one of the nation's largest retailers with more than 4,000 stores in the United States and Canada. Read More

Note how the first article published today by Chris Isidore mentions a JUMP in Holiday Sales, while the 2nd article written by the same person mentions a SHARP DROP in holiday Sales..... So which is it?

It is easy to publish positive news however it is not so easy burying negative news

Italian tanker hijacked off Oman coast - 27th Dec 2011

An Italian tanker with 18 people on board was hijacked off the coast of Oman, officials said Tuesday.

The chemical product tanker, Enrico Ievoli, was on its way from the United Arab Emirates to the Mediterranean Sea when it was seized, according to the company that owns the ship. It was carrying caustic soda.

Of the 18 people on board, six are Italian nationals, five are Ukrainian and seven are Indian, the company -- Marnavi -- said. Source

China eyes North Korea's minerals; what's next? - 27th Dec 2011

Editor’s Note: The following piece, exclusive to GPS, comes from Wikistrat, the world's first massively multiplayer online consultancy. It leverages a global network of subject-matter experts via a patent pending crowd-sourcing methodology to provide unique insights.

Reuters reported that North Korea’s government will shift – for now – to rule by committee instead of by an all-powerful leader. Most likely, a factional truce was worked out in advance of Kim Jong-il’s death.

This deal splits power among successor-son Kim Jong-un, a couple of regents from Kim Jong-il’s elderly generation and the North Korean military. It’s a generational split with the military as the fulcrum. This makes it inherently unstable. Young Kim’s coterie of supporters will want to expand their control over time, and Old Kim’s aged cohort won’t give up without a fight.

Kim Jong-il so mortgaged himself to the generals in his “military first” policy that they already hold most levers of power, including the all-important relationship with China regarding North Korea’s nearly $7 trillion’s worth of mineral wealth.

North Korea’s bankrupt regime, lorded over by the military, is letting Beijing strip the place clean of everything left worth buying - at bargain-basement prices. If Kim Jong-un goes along with this, China will most likely continue to support his spot on the ruling committee - or help him consolidate power unto himself.

Beijing will support whatever ruling package keeps the minerals flowing and North Korea’s half-starved population south of its border. Sure, China would like if somebody in authority eventually pulled off a Deng Xiaoping-like economic transformation in North Korea, liberalizing the economy, but on Beijing’s wish list, that places a distant third. Read More

Syria unrest: Homs residents confront Arab League team - 27th Dec 2011

Angry protesters have confronted visiting Arab League monitors in Syria's restive city of Homs, demanding international protection.

The observers are verifying compliance with an Arab League plan to end the government's violent crackdown.

Tens of thousands protested in Homs as the monitors arrived. The Arab League said the first day was "very good".

Tanks reportedly withdrew before the monitors arrived but activists say some were simply deployed out of sight.

The UN says more than 5,000 people have been killed in protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule since March.

'Where is the world?'

The BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says it was a baptism of fire for the monitors who, after visiting the governor of Homs, travelled to the flashpoint district of Baba Amr.

There, our correspondent says, the monitors were besieged by angry residents eager to show the damage to the city and the pools of blood, as gunfire rang out in the background. Read More

'World Unprepared For Future Disasters' - 27th Dec 2011

Rich countries are failing to contribute to an international emergency fund leaving the world "dangerously unprepared" for future disasters, the International Development Secretary has warned.

Andrew Mitchell said the United Nations' disaster response funding system is expected to be left severely underfunded.

Mr Mitchell's warning comes after a wave of large-scale disasters over the last year, including famine in the Horn of Africa, the Japan tsunami, the New Zealand earthquake and floods in Pakistan and the Philippines.

Growing numbers of people living in vulnerable areas means the number of those affected by major tragedies is expected to increase in future, he added.

The Government is giving £20m to the Central Emergency Response Fund (Cerf) next year, in addition to £40m already pledged, and has called on the international community to "wake up" to the challenge ahead.

It said many rich countries wait until a disaster strikes before responding, which means critical emergency first response work could be put at risk.

The fund - set up following the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami to provide a coordinated international response - is expected to have a shortfall of £45m next year.

Mr Mitchell said: "This year the world has been rocked by devastating disasters and the evidence suggests this trend is likely to continue. Read More

Sea Shepherd Activists using drones against Japanese whalers - 27th Dec 2011

Activists trying to combat Japanese whaling have gone high-tech.

The longstanding battle against whaling has mostly been a game of wait, watch, chase and hope for the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. But activists are now hoping they'll be able to chase down whaling vessels before they ever make their first kill – with the help of drone aircraft.

Two of Sea Shepherd's ships are outfitted with long-range drones fitted with cameras and detection equipment, which help the ships scan hundreds more miles of ocean for whaling vessels, thanks to a donation from Bayshore Recycling Corp. of Woodbridge, New Jersey.

“We can cover hundreds of miles with these drones and they have proven to be valuable assets,” Capt. Paul Watson said on board the ship Steve Irwin.

And the technology has already proved successful for the group, which said it located the Japanese ship Nisshin Maru near the west coast of Australia on Saturday thanks to a drone.

"The Sea Shepherd crew have found the Japanese whaling fleet before a single whale has been killed," the group reported. Read More

Backpage Killer Murders TWO more Woman who were discovered in a Burning Car on Christmas Day

The burned bodies of two dead women were found in the boot of a flaming car just a week after two other dead bodies were found in another vehicle.

Three of the four black victims found in Detroit, Michigan, were linked to escort services on classified adverts website Backpage, police said.

Demesha Hunt, 24, and Renisha Landers, 23, were found last Monday before two more women aged 28 and 29 were discovered on Sunday.

Ms Hunt and Ms Landers were found at 3pm on December 19 in the boot of a 2009 Chrysler 300C, reported the Detroit Free Press.

The other two women, who have not been identified, were burned beyond recognition and found at 1am on Christmas Day in a 1997 Buick LeSabre.

Police told the Detroit Free Press a tie that the killer might be targeting escorts is ‘disconcerting’ but they are not calling it a ‘serial pattern’. Read More

3.3 Magnitude Earthquake NORTHERN CALIFORNIA - 27th Dec 2011

A magnitude 3.3 earthquake has struck Northern California at a depth of 27.1 km (16.8 miles), the quake hit at 17:33:57 UTC Tuesday 27th December 2011.
The epicenter was 5 km (3 miles) Northeast of Petrolia, California
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Injuries or Damage at this time

Aliahna Lemmon Was Dismembered by her Babysitter Mike Plumadore - 27th Dec 2011

The search for a missing 9-year-old ended Monday with a grizzly discovery when they found her dismembered body in a dumpster and her head, hands and feet in her babysitter's freezer.

Mike Plumadore, 39, bashed Aliahna Lemmon in the head with a brick then cut her to pieces with a hack saw while he was baby sitting her and her two sisters, police say.

He has not admitted to the crime or indicated why he did it, but police say he told them where he could find the little girl's body.

He is charged with murder.

Plumadore, who had been watching Aliahna and her sisters before she was reported missing late Friday, is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday.

Earlier Monday, FBI agents descended on the rundown mobile home park in Fort Wayne where Aliahna lived.

The park is a known haven for registered sex offenders, though Plumadore isn't on Indiana's registered sex offenders list. Read More

Golden Eagle vs Roe Deer

4.8 Magnitude Earthquake SOLOMON ISLANDS - 27th Dec 2011

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake has struck the Solomon Islands at a depth of 103.4 km (64.3 miles), the quake hit at 16:30:35 UTC Tuesday 27th December 2011.
The epicenter was 91 km (56 miles) SSE of Arawa, Bougainville, Papua New Guinea
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Injuries or Damage at this time

Incredible shot shows what our sun will look like as it tears itself apart - 27th Dec 2011

Astrophotographer Bill Snyder captured the Dumbbell Nebula - a cloud of star debris which offers a vision of the death throes of our own solar system.

'All the expanding gas and dust in this image was inside that star,' says Snyder. When sun-like stars die they 'puff' out their outer layers of gas, which form a huge cloud lit up by core of the dead star.

Our own sun will blossom into a similar nebula when it dies in about five billion years.

'The Dumbbell Nebula is approximately 1360 light years from Earth,' says Snyder. 'This is a easily visible target in binoculars and amateur telescopes.'

The Dumbbell Nebula was discovered by accident in 1764. Astronomer Charles Messier was compiling a list of diffuse objects not to be confused with comets.

The 27th object on Messier's list, now known as M27 or the Dumbbell Nebula - for its dumbbell-like shape in visible light - is a planetary nebula, the type of nebula our Sun will produce when nuclear fusion stops in its core. Read More

Bumper crop of Christmas apples as 'two springs and no summer' leaves British plants in confusion - 27th Dec 2011

One on the warmest autumns on record has left Britain with a huge stock of apples this year.

And with the mild weather continuing long into the winter, apple trees across the country are still heavy with fruit.

But it is not only apples that have flourished in during 2011's unseasonal weather, insects and flowers have also been enjoying a bountiful year, according to the National Trust.

The hot early spring was a boon for insects, while the autumn's warm temperatures and sunshine saw something of a "second spring" with shrubs and plants such as dandelions and white dead nettle flowering again. Read More

Seydou Diarrassouba Stabbed to Death over a pair of Trainers?

The biggest sales rush in British history was marked by bloodshed yesterday as a teenager was murdered in a suspected row over a pair of trainers.

Bargain hunters looked on in horror as the 18-year-old was stabbed in a branch of Foot Locker on Oxford Street in central London.

Witnesses said the teenager was amongst a group of black youths, thought to be rival gangs, fighting over the trainers.

The teen, named as Seydou Diarrassouba, managed to stagger outside bleeding heavily before collapsing on the street.

Videos posted on the internet showed that as paramedics treated him other youths pushed and shoved police in scenes reminiscent of the summer riots. Read More

4.0 Magnitude Earthquake NORTHERN ALASKA - 27th Dec 2011

A magnitude 4.0 earthquake has struck Northern Alaska at a depth of just 1 km (0 miles Poorly Constrained), the quake hit at 15:52:54 UTC Tuesday 27th December 2011.
The epicenter was 39 km (24 miles) NNE of Venetie, Alaska
No Reports of Injuries or Damage at this time

4.7 Magnitude Earthquake FIJI REGION - 27th Dec 2011

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake has struck the Fiji Region at a depth of 651.2 km (404.7 miles), the quake hit at 15:49:13 UTC Tuesday 27th December 2011.
The epicenter was 545 km (338 miles) WNW from Nuku'Alofa, Tonga
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Injuries or Damage at this time