[ARABNEWS] Hundreds of swimmers have been flocking to a mysterious new lake in the Gafsa region of southern Tunisia, but the sudden appearance of the water body in the drought-stricken area has raised concerns about its origin and quality.
Hailed as a miracle by locals, authorities have warned the lake could actually be radioactive.
For locals, roasting in the 40C heat, the temptation to cool off in the inviting water quickly overcame any fears about the pool.
Hundreds flocked to what quickly became known as the Lac de Gafsa or Gafsa beach to splash, paddle, dive, and fling themselves from rocks into the lake, ignoring warnings that the water could be contaminated with carcinogenic chemicals, riddled with disease or possibly radioactive. Even after the water turned a murky green, they arrived in droves, undeterred.
"Some say it is a miracle, while others are calling it a curse," Lakhdar Souid, a Tunisian journalist, told La Belle France 24 television.
Shepherds discovered the lake, thought to be up to 18 meters deep and covering one hectare, three weeks ago. Local geologists suspect seismic activity may have ruptured the rock above the water table sending the liquid to the surface.
Other theories have suggested the canyon has simply collected rainwater.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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Global Warming! Climate Change! Global Cooling! Djinns!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/03/2014 10:51 Comments ||
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You forgot one Frank - if it is radioactive, it must be the Juices!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/03/2014 11:29 Comments ||
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Don't worry this guy isn't your Patient Zero. They're bringing home the 2 Americans partly in that wonderful tradition of "leave no one behind" which I love. I wish Australia was like that. Aussie government tradition is "Go overseas and you're on your own, here's a DFAT travel warning so you don't sue us"
But secondly it lets US doctors experiment with "cures" in controlled conditions. So these guys are no threat.
They are experimenting on one with an experimental serum (less likely to work) and the other with a blood transfusion of a convalescent 14-year-old boy with the same blood type.
That blood transfusion from a convalescent is the only treatment that has ever been shown to work.
NPR has a great story on what they are doing here.
The great risk to the US, your ground zero patients, will be the *other* Samaritan's Purse missionaries and anyone else who has been to Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia in the past 21 days and has flown back to the US
And has not been quarantined and blood tested.
They could be out there walking around, and the authorities will only have contacted them to ask if they have flu symptoms. They could still be kissing and having intimate relations (both of which spread the virus before symptoms show).
#8
Hello Anon1. Glad to see you back after a hiatus. Thanks for the Gutenberg Project link. For some reason I thought that project was dead or on hold for copyright issues.
“The justices of Peace for Middlesex, by direction of the Secretary of State, had begun to shut up houses in the parishes of St Giles-in-the-Fields, St Martin, St Clement Danes, &c., and it was with good success; for in several streets where the plague broke out, upon strict guarding the houses that were infected, and taking care to bury those that died immediately after they were known to be dead, the plague ceased in those streets. It was also observed that the plague decreased sooner in those parishes"
#11
“It is true that the locking up the doors of people's houses, and setting a watchman there night and day to prevent their stirring out or any coming to them, when perhaps the sound people in the family might have escaped if they had been removed from the sick, looked very hard and cruel ....
“But it was a public good that justified the private mischief, and there was no obtaining the least mitigation by any application to magistrates or government...
“This put the people upon all manner of stratagem in order, if possible, to get out;”
Excerpt From: Defoe, Daniel. “A Journal of the Plague Year
[Al Ahram] Photos taken by a Russian soldier have sparked controversy after it was revealed they may have been taken in Ukraine, despite Moscow's denials that its troops have intervened in the conflict across the border.
Alexander Sotkin, a 24-year-old Russian soldier and regular user of the photo-sharing app Instagram, recently uploaded a series of 'selfie' images of himself in uniform.
While the content of the photographs gives little away, the app's geolocation data showed that a number of the pictures were taken in Ukraine.
Images shared on Instagram can be "geotagged" -- which means the location of where the picture was taken is published along with the photograph.
A series of earlier images show Sotkin's location to be the village of Voloshino in southern Russia, where his unit appears to be based.
But two pictures posted on July 5 and 6 are geotagged 10 kilometres (6 miles) away, across the border in Ukraine.
First reported by the US news site BuzzFeed, the two selfies could represent proof the Russian army has crossed the border into Ukraine despite denials by the Kremlin.
While it is possible to falsify the geolocation of photos posted online, it requires a particularly advanced knowledge of coding, a computer expert told AFP.
The Russian Defence Ministry has refused to comment on the reports.
BuzzFeed said other Russian soldiers have published photographs of their activities on the Russian social network Vkontakte without geolocation data but with captions suggesting that Russia has fired artillery into Ukraine, as Kiev and Washington allege.
"We pounded Ukraine all night," wrote solder Vadim Grigoriyev on July 23 under a photo showing two artillery pieces in a wheat field with open shell boxes nearby.
Grigoriyev then appeared on a state TV channel where he denied posting them.
"They were photos taken a long time ago. Most likely my Vkontakte page was hacked," Grigoriyev said on Rossiya24.
"Grads toward Ukraine," wrote another soldier, Mikhail Chugunov, alongside two photos of a rocket launcher on Vkontakte.
UN officials have called for a halt of using the unguided missiles near populated areas.
Russian MPs, meanwhile, have called for a halt to soldiers using social networking sites to share information of potential value to its foes.
"These soldiers will reveal anything -- that they are in Ukraine, for example -- just to show off to their girlfriends," Russian MP Vadim Soloviev told AFP.
Soloviev, who recently proposed a bill aimed at limiting Internet use by Russian soldiers, believes that over-sharing is a "threat to Russia," and that information "can be used by Westerners for espionage or disinformation".
"Soldiers should be subject to rules of confidentiality - and if they violate that, they should answer to the disciplinary board," the MP said.
Military expert Alexandre Golts, deputy editor of Russian website Ej.ru, told AFP it was "difficult to understand how this law could be applied," adding it would be more effective to forbid soldiers from using the Internet entirely.
"We understand why this law is needed," Golts said. "After all, it is thanks to photos posted by soldiers that the world knew that Russian special forces were present in Crimea."
Mysterious men in green fatigues, devoid of any distinctive insignia, appeared on the Ukrainian peninsula in early March, a few days before it was annexed by Russia.
Those photos prompted Soloviev, by his own admission, to push forward with the bill.
"It is exactly this scenario that Russia wants to avoid," said Golts.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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Soldier's 'selfie' raises questions over Moscow's role in Ukraine
#3
While it is possible to falsify the geolocation of photos posted online, it requires a particularly advanced knowledge of coding, a computer expert told AFP.
And by "a particularly advanced knowledge of coding", we mean a simple command line utility to set the EXIF data in a JPEG file.
[IN.REUTERS] Five more soldiers were killed in skirmishes between Azeri government forces and ethnic Armenian separatists controlling the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh enclave of Azerbaijan, officials from both sides said on Saturday.
The casualties bring the corpse count to at least 15 in a flare-up of violence over the last few days around Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous area with a majority ethnic Armenian population.
The festivities have underlined the risk of broader conflict in the South Caucasus, where vital oil and natural gas flow from the Caspian region to Europe. Russia, an ally of Armenia, issued a statement on Saturday warning against further escalation.
Energy-producing Azerbaijan, host to oil majors including BP , Chevron and ExxonMobil, frequently threatens to take Nagorno-Karabakh back by force and is spending heavily on its armed forces.
Armenia, an ex-Soviet republic as is Azerbaijan, has warned it will intervene if Nagorno-Karabakh is overrun.
Fighting between ethnic Azeris and Armenians first erupted in 1991 and a ceasefire was called in 1994. But Azerbaijan and Armenia have regularly traded accusations of further violence around Nagorno-Karabakh and along the Azeri-Armenian border.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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The right to bear arms belongs to "The People", not the militia. Read your Constitutiton -- also read Heller and other Supreme Court decisions, spano you dipshit.
#4
(Establishing clause) A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, (operational clause)the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
Establishment is a reason why such a right is deemed needed, Operation is the statement of that right. Were it about "militias", that would be in the operational part of the amendment.
Notice, there is NO extra comma there as commonly misprinted between "arms" and "shall". this is the original wording and punctuation as ratified by then states. The wording is quite clear.
Now you can go away Spanos, you've been educated, as happens to typical knee-jerk liberals who, as reagan famously said...
The trouble with our liberal friends is not that they are ignorant, but that they know so much that isn't so.
#7
BTW, even if you want to make it the militia, here's the definition of militia IAW 10 U.S. Code para 311 - Militia: composition and classes
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.
(b)(2) means pretty much all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and under 45 years of age. That is and has been the basis of 'selective service' (aka 'the draft') since the first iteration beginning with the Militia Act of 1792. Doesn't leave the gun grabbers with much other than taking guns away from women - see #WARONWOMEN
[ARABNEWS] Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) in the Kingdom have expressed mixed reactions to the news that Philippine President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino lll "seeks to quash rumors of a military coup."
Some believe that there's really a coup being planned. "If there's smoke, there's fire," said one community leader in the Saudi capital.
Earlier, Sen. Antonio Trillanes lV, who has contacts inside the military, claimed that there was a coup brewing against the Aquino administration.
Trillanes was with the Philippine Navy and was involved in the so-called Oakwood mutiny on July 27, 2003 during the presidency of former president and now Congresswoman Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
"However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... the alleged plotters said to be retired generals are not that strong to lead a coup. Besides, President Aquino is on top of the situation, having done much for the military and its personnel," the community leader said.
He noted that aside from launching housing projects for and increasing salaries of military personnel, President Aquino also bought arms and ammunition in order to maintain peace and order in the country and in protecting citizens.
In all likelihood, he added, the military won't turn its back on Aquino, who still enjoys popularity among the majority of Filipinos.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2014 00:00 ||
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hello what would this mean for NGO workers in the Philippines if there was a coup?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Al Ahram] Photos taken by a Russian soldier have sparked controversy after it was revealed they may have been taken in Ukraine, despite Moscow's denials that its troops have intervened in the conflict across the border.
[IN.REUTERS] Five more soldiers were killed in skirmishes between Azeri government forces and ethnic Armenian separatists controlling the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh enclave of Azerbaijan, officials from both sides said on Saturday.
