4.8 Magnitude Earthquake IRAN-IRAQ BORDER REGION - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 4.8 earthquake has struck the Iran-Iraq Border Region at a depth of 9.9 km (6.2 miles), the quake hit at 23:00:35 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 87 km (54 miles) East from Al-Kut, Iraq
No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

5.6 Magnitude Earthquake KURIL ISLANDS - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake has struck the Kuril Islands at a depth of 29.4 km (18.3 miles), the quake hit at 22:40:22 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 272 km (169 miles) SSW of Severo-Kuril'sk, Kuril Islands, Russia
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

4.7 Magnitude Earthquake CRETE, GREECE - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake has struck Crete, Greece at a depth of 47.2 km (29.3 miles), the quake hit at 22:15:40 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 54 km (33 miles) SSE of Iraklion, Crete, Greece
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

5.7 Magnitude Earthquake MOLUCCA SEA, INDONESIA - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 5.7 earthquake has struck the Molucca Sea, Indonesia at a depth of 42.6 km (26.5 miles), the quake hit at 21:21:44 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 145 km (90 miles) SSE of Manado, Sulawesi, Indonesia
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

4.5 Magnitude Earthquake SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake has struck South of the Fiji Islands at a depth of 511.4 km (317.8 miles), the quake hit at 21:02:55 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 452 km (280 miles) SSW of Ndoi Island, Fiji
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

4.9 Magnitude Earthquake KURIL ISLANDS - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 4.9 earthquake has struck the Kuril Islands at a depth of 100 km (62 miles), the quake hit at 20:53:46 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 82 km (50.8 miles) East of Otradnoye, Kuril Islands, Russia
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

Iran Prepares Its Submarine Fleet For Blockade Of The Strait Of Hormuz

We reported a couple weeks ago that Iran was demanding all U.S. ships entering the Strait of Hormuz stop and check in with the Revolutionary Guard. Now, they're saying that move has blockaded the Strait of Hormuz.

FARS News Agency, Tehran's state run media outlet, announced Tehran is continuing a full blockade on all ships entering the Strait, with each undergoing inspection.

From FARS:

"The alien vessels which enter the Persian Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz always provide the needed answers and information to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) units," Lieutenant Commander of the IRGC Naval Force Alireza Tangsiri said on Wednesday.

He further noted the deployment of a US aircraft carrier in the region, and said, "This vessel, similar to the other warships, answered all the questions asked by the IRGC Navy without any problem or making any particular move and then continued the path to its specified destination."

The UPI reports that Iran's fleet of 20 submarines are much on the mind of U.S. military officials as Tehran increases it's bluster and stance in the Strait.

The submarines are seen as a danger to international tanker traffic, which ships one-fifth of the world's oil supplies through the narrow strait every day, and to Western warships if Iran carries out its threat to close Hormuz if its oil exports are blocked. more

Taiwan Bird Flu: Poultry workers test positive for H5N2

AVIAN FLU: It is the first time the Centers for Disease Control has found the antibodies carried by humans, but officials said there was no risk of transmission between humans.

Three poultry farm workers have tested positive for H5N2 antibodies, but are all healthy and have not developed flu-like symptoms, the Council of Agriculture said yesterday.

The council reminded the public that the H5N2 avian influenza does not infect humans and that last month’s outbreak appeared to be winding down.

After the outbreak, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine (BAPHIQ) began collecting blood samples from 141 workers at poultry farms where the H5N2 virus was found. Read More

Note: So H5N2 Does NOT Infect humans but 3 workers tested POSITIVE for H5N2?

Smoke rises from the Popocatepetl in Puebla

Smoke rises from the Popocatepetl in Puebla April 22, 2012. Authorities have confirmed that the 5,450 m (17,900 ft) Popocatepetl volcano is relatively calm, but will maintain the yellow alert level.

Experts have noted increased activity in Popocateptl in 2012. It has spewed smoke and ash sporadically over the last few years and a major eruption in 2000 forced the evacuation of nearly 50,000 residents in three states surrounding the peak. REUTERS/Imelda Medina (MEXICO - Tags: ENVIRONMENT)
CREDIT: REUTERS Source

Tungurahua Erupts Launching Gravel to Nearby Town, Ecuador

Over the weekend, the Tungurahua’s volcanic eruption had a strong explosion that caused gravel to fall down in the nearby town of Pillate, Ecuador.

The explosion, characterized by its loud “cannon ball shot”, was immediately detected by locals and scientists observing the volcano’s progress. The explosion was later followed by a slight tremor and a constant pulsation of “high energy” said reports.

The constant cloud coverage surrounding the volcano has caused scientists, from the Geophysical Institute branch of the National Polytechnic School to have trouble determining its current state. Most of the direct observations are conducted in the Guadalupe Observatory, the closest in the vicinity.

Tungurahua, located in the Andes Mountains in Ecuador, is 5,016 meters high and its eruptions began in 1999. Since then, the volcano has transitioned from times of high activity and those of calm. Read More

Albino Orca May Be First White Killer Whale Spotted in Wild

Russia says arctic oil spill controlled

MOSCOW, April 23 (UPI) -- Russian authorities said they were able to control an oil spill from the Trebs oil field in the arctic two days after a leak was reported.

"An accident occurred at the oilfield at 5:30 p.m. Moscow time on Friday, oil began rushing," a spokesman for the regional Emergencies Ministry was quoted by Russia's state-run news agency RIA Novosti as saying. "Rescuers arrived on Saturday and the rush of oil was terminated on Sunday."

Trebs and the nearby Titov deposits are among the most lucrative in a region just south of the Pechora Sea. Moscow estimates the region contains as much as 1 billion barrels of oil.

Russian energy company Lukoil has invested about $1 billion to develop the region. It signed an agreement last year with Russian oil company Bashneft to develop the fields. Read More

Flood waters kill 7 members of a Kenyan church youth group visiting a park

NAIROBI, Kenya — The Kenya wildlife Service says seven members of a church youth group visiting one of its parks have died after they were swept away in a gorge by water from flash floods.

Kenya Wildlife Service spokesman Paul Udoto said Monday the seven were part of a group walking in the gorge at Hells Gate National Park in Naivasha, about 50 miles (75 kilometers) northwest of Kenya’s capital Nairobi.

Udoto says 53 members from the Mukara Presbyterian Church of East Africa youth group in Nairobi were visiting the park on Sunday when the incident happened. He says guides managed take the other members of the group to safety.

Udoto says rains resulting in the unexpected flash floods had fallen in neighboring areas of Longonot, Kedong and Suswa and not in Hells Gate itself. Source

Obama announces crackdown on Iran and Syria's cyber oppressors...So No more Posting Anything Negative about the "Rebels"

President Barack Obama has signed an executive order targeting people and entities who use technology (Technology is the New term for Social Media) to help authoritarian regimes in Iran and Syria suppress their people.

"Technologies should be in place to empower citizens, not to oppress them," Obama said on Monday at a speech at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington.

Obama was introduced at the museum by Holocaust survivor Eli Wiesel. Obama told Wiesel: "You show us the way. If you cannot give up, if you can believe, then we can believe."

The president said the White House's new "atrocities prevention board" will meet for the first time Monday. He said the board's aim was to better prevent and respond to mass atrocities and war crimes. Obama said the "seeds of hate" had too often been allowed to flourish. "Too often the world has failed to stop the massacre of innocents on a massive scale," said the president.

Obama's speech came as the US faces calls to orchestrate an international solution to the deadly crackdown on dissidents in Syria. "National sovereignty is never a license to slaughter your people," Obama said. Read More

David Cameron 'lied' over Abu Qatada

Labour accused David Cameron of lying about the Abu Qatada case and the role of the European Court of Human Rights.

The Prime Minister said that the Court “told” the Home Office repeatedly that the deadline for an appeal against the radical Islamic preacher’s deportation was last Monday night.

A dispute over the deadline caused farcical scenes last week when Theresa May told MPs that Qatada would be arrested and deported on Tuesday, only for the European court to accept an appeal against the decision from his lawyers.

The court has since signalled it believed the deadline for an appeal was midnight last Tuesday, not on Monday as Mrs May had insisted.

Mrs May has repeatedly refused to say if her officials were aware before she made her announcement that the Court might take a different view of the deadline. Read More

Official: Sudan bombs 3 areas in South Sudan

RUBKONA, South Sudan (AP) — Sudanese warplanes bombed a market and an oil field in South Sudan on Monday, killing at least two people after Sudanese ground forces had reportedly crossed into South Sudan with tanks and artillery, elevating the risk of all-out war between the two old enemies.

The international community urged Sudan and South Sudan to talk out their disputes, which include arguments over where the border lies and over ownership of oil resources.

But Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir vowed Monday to press ahead with his military campaign until all southern troops or affiliated forces are chased out of the north.

The bombs fell from two MiG 29 jets onto Rubkona's market with a whistling sound, turning stalls where food and other household items are sold into fiery heaps of twisted metal. The burned body of the boy lay flat on his back near the center of the blast site, his hand clutching at the sky. Read More

Dutch populist Geert Wilders bets on anti-euro vote

(Reuters) - Dutch populist Geert Wilders, who gained prominence denouncing Islam and railing against immigrants, is betting his political future on the anti-euro vote.

Wilders pulled out of critical budget austerity talks with the government on Saturday, saying the Netherlands should not bow to Brussels' directives.

Wilders, 48, was kingmaker when the last government was formed in 2010; his Freedom Party is the third-largest in parliament and provided the coalition with a majority.

In withdrawing his support, he relinquished his position as the most influential politician outside the government and is set on going for real power in the next elections, which could be held as early as June.

The move threw a core euro zone member already struggling to deal with recession and EU demands for budget cuts into a political crisis, and is a huge gamble for Wilders given that his party has slipped in opinion polls.

The most recent polls suggest that Wilders, who stands out in any political line-up thanks to his peroxide blonde bouffant hair, would probably not be able to join the cabinet. Read More

3.9 Magnitude Earthquake GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 3.9 earthquake has struck the Greater Los Angeles Area, California at a depth of 3.7 km (2.3 miles), the quake hit at 17:37:02 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 2 km (1.2 miles) West from San Juan Capistrano, California
No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

5.8 Magnitude Earthquake KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake has struck the Kermadec Islands Region at a depth of 116.7 km (72.5 miles), the quake hit at 17:36:21 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 99 km (61 miles) NNE from Raoul Island, Kermadec Islands
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

4.4 Magnitude Earthquake JUJUY, ARGENTINA - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 4.4 earthquake has struck Jujuy, Argentina at a depth of 211.2 km (131.2 miles), the quake hit at 16:22:32 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 53 km (32 miles) Southwest of Abra Pampa, Jujuy, Argentina
No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

Dutch government quits after austerity talks fail

THE HAGUE, Netherlands—The Dutch government, one of the most vocal critics of European countries failing to rein in their budgets, quit Monday after failing to agree on a plan to bring its own deficit in line with EU rules.

The government information service announced Queen Beatrix had accepted the resignation of Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his Cabinet after a meeting in which Rutte told her talks on a new austerity package had failed over the weekend.

Rutte is to address parliament Tuesday to discuss interim measures to keep public finances in order and schedule new elections. No date for elections was immediately announced, but opposition lawmakers called for a vote as soon as possible.

The Dutch government collapse came a day after the first round election victory of France's soft-on-austerity socialist candidate Francois Hollande. It calls into question whether austerity policies that are causing trauma in countries such as Greece, Spain and Portugal can be enforced even in "core" European countries such as France—or the Netherlands, one of the few along with Germany to maintain an AAA credit rating. Read More

Dairy Plant Gas Explosion in Norway, 1 Confirmed Dead 3 Injured

An explosion at a dairy plant in Norway has left several people dead, a news agency in the is reporting.

The blast happened in Fredrikstad, in the southeast of the country.

Rescue service spokesman Ola Vaage told the NTB news agency that several people are feared to have died or been seriously injured in the blast.

Rescue workers, ambulances and a helicopter have been dispatched to the scene. It was not immediately clear what caused the explosion.
More follows...

Note: Norwegian news have confirmed 1 dead and a further 3 people injured during a suspected gas explosion... Bomb experts have been called in and dogs are searching the debris, this is common during any explosion according to the reports coming from Norway

4.3 Magnitude Earthquake IRAN-IRAQ BORDER REGION - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 4.3 earthquake has struck the Iran-Iraq Border Region at a depth of 48 km (29.8 miles), the quake hit at 16:43:08 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 12 km (7.4 miles) Northwest of Dehloran, Iran
No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

4.3 Magnitude Earthquake WESTERN TURKEY - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 4.3 earthquake has struck Western Turkey at a depth of 2 km (1.2 miles), the quake hit at 16:14:37 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 13 km (8 miles) East of Simav, Turkey
No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

4.1 Magnitude Earthquake GEORGIA (SAK'ART'VELO) - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 4.1 earthquake has struck Georgia (Sak'art'velo) at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles), the quake hit at 15:50:20 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 75 km (46 miles) NNE from TBILISI, Georgia
No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

4.1 Magnitude Earthquake CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN SEA - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 4.1 earthquake has struck the Central Mediterranean Sea at a depth of 2 km (1.2 miles), the quake hit at 15:23:55 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 69 km (42.7 miles) Southwest of Neápoli, Greece
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

5.2 Magnitude Earthquake KEPULAUAN BABAR, INDONESIA - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 5.2 earthquake has struck Kepulauan Babar, Indonesia at a depth of 129.7 km (80.6 miles), the quake hit at 14:54:54 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 244 km (151 miles) WNW of Saumlaki, Kepulauan Tanimbar, Indonesia
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

4.0 Magnitude Earthquake HINDU KUSH REGION, AFGHANISTAN - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 4.0 earthquake has struck the Hindu Kush Region, Afghanistan at a depth of 39 km (24.2 miles), the quake hit at 14:00:32 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 12 km (7.4 miles) Northeast of H_wajeh gar, Afghanistan
No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

Shaqueta McDade charged with homicide after her four kids burn to death in her trailer home 'when she left them alone'

Four unattended children died in a mobile home fire and their mother was charged on Sunday for allegedly leaving them alone, authorities said.

The children who died were ages two, five, seven and eight, according to Captain Doug Cain, a spokesman for Louisiana Department of Public Safety.

Their mother, 26-year-old Shaqueta McDade, was arrested and charged with four counts of negligent homicide.
The fire began just before midnight on Saturday in the town of Rayne, about 70 miles west of Baton Rouge in southern Louisiana, according to authorities.

McDade was being held at the Acadia County Jail. Read More

Falcon HTV-2 drone tore itself apart as the hull heated to 3,500 degrees at 20 TIMES the speed of sound, Pentagon reveals

A $320 million hypersonic drone developed by the Pentagon tore itself apart after just three minutes after it blasted through the atmosphere at 20 times the speed of sound.

When the military launched of the Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 last summer, it was widely viewed as a failure because it was lost over the Pacific Ocean well before its flight, scheduled for 30 minutes, was supposed to end.

The craft was a prototype of a weapon the the Defense Department hopes could carry explosives to strike targets anywhere in the world within an hour.

Data released by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency this week shows that the flight in August was not the disappointment originally thought, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The craft was launched from a rocket fired from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Once in the air, it detached and flew on its own power. Read More

'Tuna scrape' used in sushi linked to salmonella outbreaks in 20 states

A ground fish product known as 'Tuna scrape' has been blamed for a salmonella outbreak that has caused 116 cases, US health authorities said.

The illness is being linked to a frozen product called Nakaochi Scrape which was sold to restaurants and supermarkets to make sushi, particularly spicy tuna rolls, according to NPR.

The new concern comes as the spotlight has increasingly turned on where supermarket and restaurant food ingredients come from.

Earlier this month a series of firms producing controversial ammonia-treated beef - or what critics dub ‘pink slime’ - dropped the product.

Pennsylvania-based company AFA Foods which processed more than 500 million pounds of ground beef products a year went into bankruptcy. Read More

Soaked East Coast hit with snow storms - and flooding - in APRIL... as Midwest sizzles in record highs

States across the U.S will experience bizarre weather over the next few days, but while the east coast is smacked with heavy snow, thunderstorms, and lashing rain, the Southwest is in the middle of a sweltering heat-wave.

Just when winter appeared to be over, Jack Frost made an unexpected appearance in the Northeast, as late-season snow fell - and parts of New England faced the threat of flooding.

The storm is atypical for April but not uncommon, said David Stark, a National Weather Service meteorologist in New York City, where 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches of rain are expected in the city with wind gusts of 25-30 mph.

After a milder-than-normal winter in most of the country, snow fell late Sunday from the mountains of West Virginia to the southern shores of Lake Erie in Pennsylvania and New York, with as much as one to two feet expected over the next 36 hours.

In Buffalo, New York, 3 to 6 inches of snow were expected over the period, said Bob Hamilton, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Buffalo.

He said there could be power outages from the wet, heavy snow on power lines. Read More

Huge fireball and explosion across California and Nevada as meteor breaks up over Sierra Nevada

Large parts of Nevada and California experienced a loud explosion on Sunday morning as a result of a meteor.

The sound of the explosion around 8am prompted a flood of calls to law enforcement agencies on both sides of the Sierra Nevada in the two states.

The explosion rattled windows and shook houses from Reno to Winnemucca in Nevada, and from the Sacramento to Bakersfield areas in California.

Some people in the two states reported seeing a fireball streak across the sky at the same time. Read More

Russian roulette: Heart-stopping pictures show daredevils risking their lives to hang hundreds of feet above the Moscow skyline

Is this the dumbest craze ever? These vertigo-inducing pictures were taken by a daredevil photographer who risks his life to scale public buildings in a bid to get incredible shots of people hanging in high up in the air.

Vadim Mahorov, from Novosibirsk, Russia, deliberately targets huge skyscrapers that he thinks will be difficult to get into - before scaling the object and dangling over the edge to get his danger-fuelled pictures.

Mr Mahorov, 22, said: 'I deliberately select objects to climb that are the tallest in the skyline. Read More

Obama was briefed immediately about death of British ex-pat Neil Heywood....Why?

US President Barack Obama was told of the alleged murder of British businessman Neil Heywood before foreign secretary William Hague.

The president was briefed about the 41-year-old's suspected poisoning within hours of Chinese police chief Wang Lijun walking into a US consulate to tell officials he was murdered.

The decision to inform the President so soon after the killing of a British citizen overseas so soon after it happened was described as 'almost unprecedented'.

John Tkacik, who worked for the US state department in China for 20 years told The Sunday Telegraph: 'This was a very high official with extraordinary intelligence.

'In all of my experience I can't recall its equal.'

Mr Heywood's former business partner and powerful lawyer Gu Kailai - wife of rising Communist leader Bo Xilai - is suspected of ordering his murder and is under arrest. Read More

Michael Brown the multi-millionaire Lib Dem donor who stole £60m will FINALLY face justice: But party is keeping fraud victims' £2.4m

A convicted fraudster who is believed to have stolen more than £60million in a number of frauds is finally facing justice after four years on the run.

Michael Brown - the Liberal Democrat's largest donor - is expected to be in a British jail within ten days.

He was deported to Spain from the Dominican Republic, where he had been living a lavish lifestyle with stolen millions.

But last night Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg continued to insist the Lib Dems will not repay £2.4million of ill-gotten gains Brown gave his party in 2005.

And mystery continues to surround a missing £18million which police are still trying to trace.

That decision sparked fury yesterday amid claims that even Brown thinks the Lib Dems failed to scrutinise his firm properly before accepting the cash. Read More

Adrian Fielding on the Run after receiving 4 Days Home Leave....From JAIL

A convicted armed robber who was filmed tying the knot behind bars for ITV1 reality show Strangeways is on the run today after escaping from an open prison.

More than five million viewers watched last May as Adrian Fielding married his fiancee Kelly Hansen in the fly-on-the-wall documentary.

A year later, the 25-year-old is back in the headlines after failing to return from a period of unescorted home leave.

Fielding was jailed for seven years in October 2010, after using a handgun to carry out two robberies on a post office and a Co-op in Greater Manchester.

After filming his stint in Strangeways, Fielding was transferred to the Category D Kirkham prison in Lancashire and on March 16 he was let out for four days home leave.

He was due to return on March 20, but didn't show up and he hasn't been seen since.

Lancashire Police have made a public appeal for him to turn himself in. Read More

Bernie laughs off Bahrain riots at Grand Prix: 'There's no such thing as bad publicity'....

Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone joked about the unrest in Bahrain that has left several dead and scores injured.

The Gulf state yesterday defied anti-government demonstrators to go ahead and stage its Grand Prix. Mr Ecclestone laughed off the clashes, saying: ‘You know what they say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity.’

The race track – 25 miles from the capital Manama – was heavily guarded by police with dogs and armoured vehicles after intensifying violence in recent days.

But the event took place without incident.

Afterwards, Mr Ecclestone added: ‘We will be back here next year, and for many years after, because they do a first class job.’

Outside the Bahrain Grand Prix groups of masked protestors chanting anti-government slogans set piles of tyres ablaze and hurled Molotov cocktails into the air. Read More

We only deport a third of illegal migrants we catch: New figures deliver another blow to UK Border Agency...What about the 500.000+ they don't Catch?

Fewer than one in three of the illegal immigrants caught last year have been deported, according to figures disclosed yesterday.

They showed that of 21,298 individuals discovered in Britain unlawfully, only 6,232 were returned to their countries in the same year.

The figures threatened to deepen the troubles at the UK Border Agency, the organisation responsible for policing immigration law.

The agency has already been heavily criticised this month after it was shown that more than one in five foreign criminals supposed to have been deported from the country after release from prison in 2010 were still here.

It was found that 60 per cent of another group of 1,000 foreign criminals mistakenly freed from jail six years ago have not been removed from Britain. Read More

That Was a Close Call

Pensioner Who Killed FOUR FOOT rodent with lump of wood (and now could be charged with animal cruelty)

A 'giant rat' measuring 4ft from nose to tail has been caught and killed by a pensioner with a lump of wood on his farm.

Brian Watson, 67, from Waskerley, Consett in County Durham, was made aware of the monster's presence after his granddaughter's boyfriend cried out while mowing the grass.

Mr Watson said: 'I heard him shouting there was a large rat. I came running round the corner. I managed to grab some wood on the way.' Read More

Real-life Hunger Games: Two young men held for setting up deadly spiked booby traps on popular Utah hiking trail 'for fun'

Two men have been arrested for placing potentially deadly booby traps on a popular Utah hiking trail.

Police say Benjamin Steven Rutkowski, 19, and Kai Matthew Christensen, 21, of Provo, confessed to setting trip wires that could send a 20lb ball of spiked branches into a person's head, or trip a passer-by into a bed of wooden stakes.

The traps were discovered along the Big Springs trail in Provo Canyon last Saturday by a military-trained officer on foot patrol - before anyone was hurt.

Local Fox News 13 reports U.S. Forest Service officer James Schoeffler was doing a routine foot patrol of the South Fork Canyon when he spotted the traps outside a building used by families and young hikers, called The Fort.

The crude traps were designed to activate when a person entered the shelter.

When tripped, one of the traps released a ball of wooden spikes tied to a rock with rope swinging from a tree. Read More

Pakistani students raped woman, 20, after she fell asleep on night bus on way home from night out, Central London

'Despicable': Rizwan Ahmad, 24, (left) and Hassan Siddique, 19, have been jailed for a total of 18-and-a-half years and could face deportation

Two ‘despicable’ sex predators who raped a woman after she fell asleep on a night bus have been jailed for a total of 18-and-a-half years.

Pakistani students Rizwan Ahmad, 24, and Hassan Siddique, 19, targeted the 20-year-old as she made her way home from a night out in central London.

Snaresbrook Crown Court heard how Siddique got off the number 55 bus while Ahmad began chatting to the woman when she realised she had missed her stop.

Ahmad persuaded her to get off at the next stop and said he would call her a taxi. He then phoned Siddique, a student at the London College of Business Management and Information Technology, to summon him to the scene.

The two men lured their victim down a secluded alleyway off Leabridge Road in Leyton, east London, and took turns to rape her in the early hours of June 4 last year. Read More

Note: Yes and this is the Same College which was last year Accused of VISA Scam.

* The college also lists the UK Border Agency as a "strategic partner".

5.0 Magnitude Earthquake TONGA REGION - 23rd Apr 2012

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake has struck the Tonga Region at a depth of 15.3 km (9.5 miles), the quake hit at 10:57:19 UTC Monday 23rd April 2012
The epicenter was 316 km (196 miles) SSW of NUKU`ALOFA, Tonga
No Tsunami Warning Issued - No Reports of Damage or Injuries at this time

Projections released for radiation hot spots in Fukushima through 2032

FUKUSHIMA -- The government on April 22 released six hot spot charts to show projected annual dose rates of radioactive materials spewing from the crippled Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant from the end of March this year through 2032.

The charts, based on airborne monitoring of radioactive contamination in November last year, compare annual dose rates in March this year with projections for 2013, 2014, 2017, 2022 and 2032.

Tatsuo Hirano, state minister in charge of post-March 11 reconstruction and disaster prevention, says, "They are prognostic charts based on theoretical values but decontamination factors were not taken into account." It is the first time that the government has made public such forecasts.

The government produced the charts which focus on areas with high levels of radiation contamination extending in the northwestern direction in Fukushima Prefecture. Government officials say the charts will help local governments affected by the nuclear disaster to draw up a plan to assist evacuees in returning home. Read More

Japan: No evacuation plans for 4.42 million residents near nuclear plants

Even after the disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant, almost all local governments in Hokkaido and 20 other prefectures are without comprehensive evacuation measures for a total of about 4.42 million residents within 30 kilometers of nuclear power plants, according to a tally by the Mainichi Shimbun.

Some of the municipalities are beset with potential traffic congestion and other problems and question if such evacuation programs are feasible in the first place. The Mainichi tally comes as the central government is trying to restart idled nuclear reactors despite the absence of sufficient evacuation measures across the densely populated country.

In the aftermath of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, in March this year an expert panel of the Nuclear Safety Commission of Japan drew up a midterm report in which the government had decided to expand emergency planning zones (EPZs) within a radius of 8 to 10 kilometers of nuclear power plants to the 30-kilometer radius urgent protection action planning zone (UPZ). Read More

European fears grow, sending shares lower

(Reuters) - The euro and shares extended losses on Monday as the outlook for Europe's economy unexpectedly worsened in April, adding to fears that leading governments in the region may soften their resolve in tackling a debt crisis.

Flash Purchasing Manager's Indexes (PMIs) for Germany, France and the euro zone signaled a much faster rate of economic contraction than had been expected, dampening hopes the region will secure the growth needed to overcome the impact of planned government austerity measures.

"Business confidence slumped lower and companies cut head counts at the fastest rate since early 2010 in order to reduce capacity to meet lower workloads," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at data compiler Markit. Read More