Thousands of people in the Philippines fled their homes as a volcano erupted on Monday, sending a spectacular column of ash high into the sky, residents said.
The eruption of Bulusan, a 1,559-metre (5,115-foot) volcano, turned mid-morning into night for about 20 minutes across largely farming areas around its slopes, regional army spokesman Major Harold Cabunoc told AFP.
"There was a major ashfall. There was zero visibility," Cabunoc said.
State volcanologist Ramil Vaquilar told AFP that rumbling sounds accompanied the ash column that rose between two and 2.5 kilometres (1.2-1.6 miles) above the crater.
About 2,000 residents were evacuated from three farming villages in the area as the government banned people from within four kilometres of the crater, said Lieutenant-Colonel Santiago Enginco, the local army commander.
Thirty-eight high school students were treated for ashfall inhalation, Enginco said. So what does this mean? Is Allen Angry? Climate Change? Or is it just plain, ordinary Plate Tectonics?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/21/2011 15:39 ||
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#1
Yet another OLD DREAM/VISION of mine from years ago, but which years later I'm still not absolutely certain about its specific or per se correlation to FUTURE GUAM-WESTPAC, OTHER THAN THE ALREADY WELL-REPOR GLOBAL WARMING = CLIMATE CHANGE, ETC. PERT FORECASTS FOR 2020-2050/2100.
* OTOH FREEREPUBLIC > EARTHQUAKE SHAKES UP SUEZ CANAL AS IRAN WARSHIPS APPROACH.
This Suez Quakie/Shaker repor allegedly lasted for up to 27 MINUTES???
"We will stop oil exports to Western countries within 24 hours" if the violence is not stopped. Well, you can tell what they're worried about. Except Bambi may well fall to his knees if this happens.
"They have demonstrated total arrogant impunity and continued, and even intensified, their bloody crimes against humanity. They have thereby demonstrated total infidelity to the guidance of God and His beloved Prophet."
"This renders them undeserving of any obedience or support, and makes rebelling against them by all means possible a divinely ordained duty." Lucky for Iran the mullahs are in charge of the government or they'd be in a real dilemma as to what to do next.
Egypt has moved to freeze the vast fortunes amassed by overthrown president Hosni Mubarak.
The country's top prosecutor has told the foreign minister to ask other nations to freeze any assets abroad. The freeze applies to Mubarak, his wife, his two sons and two daughters-in-law.
The former president is believed to currently be dying living in his estate at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Egypt has so far asked for asset freezes for one top Egyptian businessman and former ruling party official, as well as four former cabinet ministers, and imposed travel bans on them.
The family's wealth - speculation has put it at anywhere from £616 million to 430 billion) - has come under growing scrutiny since Mubarak's removal from office on February 11. Watchdog groups say that under Mubarak, top officials and tycoons were given preferential treatment in land contracts, allowed to buy state industries at a fraction of their value during Egypt's privatisation process launched in the early 1990s, and got other perks that enabled them to increase their wealth. Zardari obviously isn't the only 'President Ten Percent' in the world...
The perks came at a price - and the Mubaraks were major beneficiaries. Because, of course, only the Mubaraks could possibly ever run things properly and in their country's best interests.
The most prominent symbol of their presumed fortune that has surfaced was a townhouse in London's Knightsbridge district, which is listed to Gamal Mubarak and where he was said to have lived while working as an investment banker in the early 1990s.
The house has become a focal point for many in Egypt as foreign governments begin to either enact, or consider imposing, freezes on their assets. And thinking about Venezuela, I suppose after nationalizing everything, Hugo will then turn to privatizing everything. As long as he and his cronies end up owning it.
Thousands of people have marched in Moroccan cities to demand that King Mohammed VI give up some of his powers. The protesters have not called for the removal of King Mohammed, but for a new constitution curbing his powers.
In the capital, Rabat, police allowed protesters to approach parliament, chanting slogans like "The people reject a constitution made for slaves!" A separate protest is under way in the country's biggest city, Casablanca, and another was planned in Marrakesh.
Sunday's rallies in Morocco are organised by groups including one calling itself the February 20 Movement for Change. More than 23,000 people have expressed their backing for its Facebook site.
"This is a peaceful protest to push for constitutional reform, restore dignity and end graft," said Mustapha Muchtati of the Baraka (Enough) group, one of the organisers behind the protest.
Analysts say that - unlike other countries that has seen protests - Morocco has a successful economy, an elected parliament and a reformist monarchy, making it less vulnerable to a major uprising than other countries.
And yet the people are unhappy...
"Most of what these people and organisations are calling for has been on the political scene for quite some time - political change, freedom, reform, change in the constitution," political analyst Abdelhay Moudden told the BBC.
Beneath the surface real problems are lurking, he adds - with a huge young population, many of them poor or unemployed; a gap between rich and poor described by one commentator as "obscene"; and parliamentary elections said by critics to be a fig leaf for an undemocratic system.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/21/2011 00:00 ||
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Tunisia is formally requesting the extradition of ex-President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali from Saudi Arabia, where he fled last month. As well as asking Riyadh to extradite Mr Ben Ali, Tunisia is seeking information on the former president's current health, including confirmation he is still alive.
Mr Ben Ali flew to Saudi Arabia on 14 January after 23 years in power, after being toppled by weeks of protests. The 74-year-old former leader is reportedly very ill in hospital after suffering a stroke.
Tunisia now has an interim government which is preparing the country for national elections. That government is now seeking to put Mr Ben Ali on trial on charges linked to the deaths of protesters during the uprising against his rule.
A statement from the foreign ministry in Tunis accused the former leader of involvement in "serious crimes" aimed at "sowing discord between the citizens of the same country by pushing them to kill one another", the AFP news agency reported.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/21/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
ION BHARAT RAKSHAK > {Jasmine regional protests] UNREST ENCIRCLES SAUDIS, STOKING A SENSE OF UNEASE.
Again, RISING-SHIA-IRAN-VS-SUNNI-EGYPT ala Suez Canal moves by Iranian Navy can prolly also be safely interpreted as IRAN-VS-EGYPT-N-SAUDIS???
[The Nation (Nairobi)] Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni cruised to a new five-year term Sunday, taking more than two thirds of the vote in elections the opposition said were marred by fraud.
Museveni, 66, was comfortably re-elected at the helm of the east African country, soon to become an oil-producing nation, with 68.38 percent of Friday's vote, according to full provisional results.
"The commission declares the candidate Yoweri Museveni elected president of the Republic of Uganda," commission chairman Badru Kiggundu said.
His main rival Kizza Besigye, who ran as the leader of the Inter-party Cooperation (IPC) opposition platform, lost to the veteran leader for the third time, after garnering only 26.01 percent of the vote.
The turnout stood at 59.9 percent, a weaker performance than the 69 percent achieved during the 2006 presidential election.
Reacting moments earlier to near-complete results by the poll panel, Besigye listed a litany of irregularities -- before, during and after the elections -- and squarely refused to concede.
"We categorically reject the outcome of the election," he told news hounds. "We reject the leadership of Mr Yoweri Museveni and any person he may purport to appoint."
"We haven't called anybody to the streets but certainly we haven't ruled it out," said Besigye, who heads the Inter-party Cooperation (IPC) opposition platform.
Besigye claimed before the polls that only rigging could deprive him of victory and had warned that Uganda was ripe for an Egypt-style revolt after a quarter of a century under the same ruler.
The electoral commission acknowledged some minor irregularities but insisted they had been dealt with.
Poll observers reported some flaws in the electoral process.
In an interim statement, Commonwealth observer group chair Billie Miller said that "the main concern regarding the campaign and indeed the overall character of the election was the lack of a level playing field."
"This statement reflects improvements which were welcome and encouraging. However there remain shortcomings which need to be addressed," she told news hounds.
Since polling stations closed on Friday, parallel counting has been conducted in a secret tallying centre by a small army of number-crunchers from Besigye's IPC coalition with the aim of challenging official results.
But with only a fraction of the returns from polling stations trickling into the shadow centre, Besigye's parallel tallying appeared to have backfired as even his partial results gave Museveni 62 percent of the vote.
Polls opened late in some parts of the capital Kampala, which voted against Museveni in the 2006 elections, prompting opposition claims that the president was trying to cheat his way to re-election.
Some 14 million voters, out of a total population of just under 33 million, were called to choose their next president and members of parliament on Friday.
If he serves another full mandate, Museveni will join Libya's Moamer Qadaffy and Zimbabwe's Bob Muggsy Mugabe ... who turned the former Breadbasket of Africa into the African Basket Case... , among others, in a club of African leaders who have ruled more than 30 years.
Museveni has dismissed any suggestion a wave of popular discontent akin to those sweeping the Arab world could rattle his firm grip on east Africa's second economy.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/21/2011 00:07 ||
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Thursday night, Feb. 17, the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise, escorted by missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf and the fast supply ship USNS Arctic, headed south through the canal. By Friday morning, they were through and taking up position opposite the Kharg cruiser and Alvand missile destroyer of the Iranian Navy's 12th Flotilla, which were waiting to enter the Suez Canal at the southern Red Sea entrance.
Furthermore, since the first week of February, the USS Kearsarge, another aircraft carrier, was posted in the Great Bitter Lake opposite Ismailia and the canal's main routes with a large contingent of marines aboard.
The USS George Washington carrier and the USS Carl Vinson were additionally deployed in the Gulf of Aden, the latter having been moved from the Pacific.
A battle of nerves is therefore underway.
The Iranian warships found themselves cheek to jowl with a major concentration of America naval might piling up in the Red Sea and Suez and were not sure what would happen if they went forward with their mission to transit the Suez Canal for the Mediterranean for the first time in 30 years on their way to Syria.
Sunday night, the Canal authorities announced another 48 hours delay shortly after Tehran state TV claimed the warships were already through to the Mediterranean.
And, finally, the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier was quietly transferred from Bahrain, headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet amid the anti-government uprising, to a point opposite the Iranian Gulf coast.
This pile-up of US naval, air and marine might at strategic points in the Middle East is a warning to meddlers to keep their hands off the revolutions, uprisings and protests sweeping Arab nations. It carries a special message for Tehran that the Obama administration will not permit the Islamic Republic's rulers to make military and political hay from the unrest - in Bahrain or anywhere else.
By positioning the Enterprise opposite Iran's 12th Flotilla at the Red Sea entrance to the Suez Canal on Feb. 17 Washington has confronted Tehran with a hard dilemma, which was practically spelled out by US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley a day earlier: "If the ships move through the canal, we will evaluate what they actually do," he said. "It's not really about the ships. It's about what the ships are carrying, what's their destination, what's the cargo on board, where's it going, to whom and for what benefit."
#2
Iff true, POTUS BAMMER = the USA has to protect both the SUEZ CANAL for US, INTERNATIONAL TRADE INTERESTS, as well as EGYPTIAN + ME DEMOCRACY.
Iff Radical Islam succeeds in achieving REGIONAL POLITICAL POWER via usurpation of the various Legitimate pro-Democracy "Jasmine" agendums, THE SUEZ WILL LIKELY BE CLOSED OFF AGAIN AS PER DECADES AGO TO US, WESTERN TRANSHIPMENT.
GLITCH = Radical Islam = Iran? will likely demand the closure of the Suez after IRAN FORMALLY DECLARES ITSELF TO BE A NUCWEAPONS STATE.
As per MSM-NET PERTS, the only real thingy keeping HEU-happy Iran from de facto dev NucWeaps is a DIRECT ORDER FROM GOVT. EL SUPREMO + "HIDDEN IMAM/MAHDI" REPRESENTATIVE-ON-EARTH AYATOLLAH KHAMEINI.
Iran doesn't have to invade its ME Muslim neighbors - it just has to turn them into PRO-IRAN NEW "LEBANONS".
#4
"DEBKAfile Exclusive Report " in the dateline of the report says all you need to know. I have never in my life seen a DEBKAfile "exclusive" turn out to be true, and I mean *never*. They make interested reading sometimes, but they are never real.
Apparently they are designed to attract eyeballs to the ads or something.
#5
A little research finds that the Kharg is not a cruiser, but a supply ship. Most sources classify the Alvand as a frigate/corvette.
Don't think that's worthy of the attentions of 4 Carrier Battlegroups and a Marine Amphibious group.
#6
I don't buy it. Obama won't interrupt eating his waffles for something as "minor" as this. Now, the governor of Wisconsin trying rein in the spending & unions - THAT'S a crisis.
#9
USS ENTERPRISE, Red Sea (NNS) -- Enterprise Carrier Strike Group (CSG) transited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and entered the Gulf of Aden, Feb. 18 in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility (AOR).
#10
They have the acoustic signatures now. A shallow water mine would work nicely, tuned specifically to them. Shallow water would fracture the ships completely. But we would not do such a thing. But I know one nation that would.
#12
My guess is they just have several tons of gold in the hold in case the people of Iran decide to get serious about running the mullah's out of Dodge. This is their "walking around money" for the rest of their lives.
Deputy labor federation secretary-general Karim Radhi: "We are calling for people to strike until all military forces are withdrawn and the peaceful protests are allowed to continue without any confrontation." This don't seem all that brotherly to me. Now who was it that was claiming recently that the US was stoking Shiite-Sunni tensions?
#1
a CIA worth its' cost would've organized, armed, and provided comms for the Iranian and Syrian opposition. Time to take the fight back to the source
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/21/2011 18:12 Comments ||
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DAILY TIMES>PK > BAHRAINI PROTESTERS [Youths] SEEK [call] TO OVERTHROW THE ROYAL FAMILY.
and
* FREEREPUBLIC > IS SAUDI ARABIA [covertly = quietly]INTERVENING IN BAHRAIN?
AFP: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday called on Muslims to "remove" the US from the Islamic world. Look over there! Pay no attention to the mullah behind the curtain!
"The main problem in the Muslim world is the presence of the United States. It is the biggest problem. We need to address that," he told a gathering of Shiite and Sunni scholars in Tehran for an international conference on Islam.
"It is necessary to remove the US from the Islamic world," the all-powerful cleric and Islamic republic's commander-in-chief said, adding that the country's arch-foe was currently weak. And will be for at least the next two years unless a miracle happens.
Khamenei urged Muslims worldwide to preserve the "people's movement in Egypt," saying it was the duty of both the people and dignitaries of Arab nations and the entire Islamic community.
He reiterated that the Arab revolts were "Islamic" and must be consolidated.
"The enemies try to say that the popular movements in Egypt, Tunisia and other nations are un-Islamic, but certainly these popular movements are Islamic and must be consolidated," he said.
Khamenei also urged that "the conspiracy of enemies to create differences between Sunnis and Shiites" be confronted. Uh, that's Islam's gift to itself, buttwipe.
On February 4, in his Friday prayer sermon, Khamenei called for an Islamic regime to be installed in Egypt, a week before that country's strongman Hosni Mubarak was ousted.
Iranian officials expressed support for the uprising in the Arab world's most populous nation. I can't wait for it to circle back and hit you guys in the butt again.
#2
IOW, RISING SHIA-N-NUCLEAR-IRAN = SAUDI ARABIA has competition as "Defender of the Islamic Faith/Prophet" + "Holy Places"; as does FORMER OTTOMAN TURKEY.
DITTO ALSO RISING CHINA [Russia?] as per "SOLE SUCCESSION" TO THE "WEAK/DECLINING" US GLOBAL SUPERPOWER [Post-US OWG-NWO].
#3
IIRC FOX NEWS this Guam AM > AYATOLLAH KHAMENI is demanding that the various "PEOPLE POWER" + "PROGRESSIVE" REVOLUTIONS OCCURRING IN EGYPT + MIDDLE EAST MUST, M-U-S-T, BE "ISLAMIC".
#4
DAILY TIMES.PK > EGYPTIAN REVOLUTION WILL DEEPLY IMPACT OTHER MIDDLE EAST NATIONS: JAMAAT-E-ISLAMI CHIEF [Syed Hasan]. 'Tis just the "First Drop of Rain" [Rainstorm]???
ARTIC > HASAN = argued that IHO A SUCCESSFUL REVOLUTION IN EGYPT WILL MEAN THE EXPULSION OF US + ISRAEL FROM THE MIDDLE EAST = ARAB-MUSLIM REGIONS. Hasan also believes that an "ISLAMIC REVOLUTION" OCCURRING IN PAKISTAN IS VERY NEAR.
Saudi Arabia, that is.
As experts and WikiLeaks previously detailed, the country's oil supply may be fast dwindling and that has made renewable energy options, such as solar, that much more appealing. Just this week the country announced that construction of its largest solar power plant will be completed by September.
"The solar market in the Gulf region is still in its infancy," said Klaus Friedl, general manager of Phoenix Solar, the firm contracted to build the new solar plant. "There is, however, a huge potential for solar power plants in Saudi Arabia." Lotsa sunshine. Transmission potential, not so sunny.
The concern over oil shortages is no longer limited to supplying foreign countries-the rate of domestic consumption in Saudi Arabia is set to triple in the next 20 years to 120 gigawatts, which means that Saudis could foreseeably consume all of their oil just for themselves. "It's really a preservation decision using solar for domestic consumption and keeping your oil for more lucrative export markets," said Vahid Fotuhi, Middle East director of BP Solar. "Right now, out of the 8 million barrels per day they produce, over 3 million barrels per day are consumed domestically, mainly for power generation. That figure is growing 8 percent per annum," said Fotuhi. Bring on the nukes. Power plants, silly!
But solar also has its challenges - sand that covers solar panels can get in the way of energy generation and the cost of infrastructure could be prohibitive.
Solar may cover part of the needs but not all of them depending on subsidies. The main factor will be cost," said Abdullah al-Shehri, governor of Saudi Arabia's Electricity and Co-generation Regulatory Authority. Fred - can your translator explain that one? Are they going solar or only negotiating with the contractor?
With the recent WikiLeaks revelation that oil quantities in Saudi Arabia have been grossly exaggerated and the earlier revelation by the International Energy Agency that peak oil had in fact already passed in 2006, it's no wonder that Saudi Arabia is feeling a pinch. Whether solar or another renewable source will win the future remains to be seen so far nuclear is in the lead.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/21/2011 09:38 ||
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#1
This is actually a good idea, but as always incompetance and corruption (and incompetant corruption) will interfere with implementation.
#4
Indeed, they ran their biggest freshwater aquifer dry growing wheat they could import for next to nothing.
You don't understand. Water doesn't come from aquifers. It comes from Allah. Allah will provide for the faithful. Or something like that.
This is a lot like the Chinese growing trees in the arid areas in hopes that this will make these areas less arid. Draining aquifers seems to be viewed as the solution to desertification among believers and atheists. Marx only knows why.
Police in China showed up in force in several major cities after an online call for a "jasmine revolution".
Calls for people to protest and shout "we want food, we want work, we want housing, we want fairness", were circulated on Chinese microblog sites. The message was first posted on a US-based Chinese-language website.
Several rights activists were detained beforehand and three people were arrested in Shanghai, but the call for mass protests was not well answered.
Reports from Shanghai and Beijing said there appeared to be many onlookers curious about the presence of so many police and journalists at the proposed protest sites, in busy city-centre shopping areas.
Police in the two cities dispersed small crowds who had gathered. There were no reports of protests in 11 other cities where people were urged to gather on Sunday.
The BBC's Chris Hogg in Shanghai says the men arrested there were roughly handled as they were dragged away shouting "why are you arresting me, I haven't done anything wrong".
Our correspondent says it was not clear what prompted the arrests and the men had not shouted any political slogans.
China's authorities blocked searches for the word jasmine on the internet.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/21/2011 00:00 ||
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See also BHARAT RAKSHAK > CHINA TRIES TO STAMP OUT "JASMINE REVOLUTION".
Turkey now is seeking to go for an ambitious national program to design, develop and produce fighter jets, a process in which the country still will need foreign help. With the program, Ankara aims to build an airpower partly independent from U.S. technology and control, analysts here have said.
Defense Minister Vecdi Gönül said in December that Turkey would develop and manufacture its own fighter aircraft, either by itself or in cooperation with another country. Gönül at the time said Turkey may cooperate with South Korea, but implied that this is not a strong possibility. Procurement officials later said the Korean option was not likely because Seoul at this point does not agree to an equal partnership.
If successful, the program will earn Turkey an airpower parallel to its present and future U.S.-led fleet. Turkey's present fleet mostly is based on the U.S. F-16. Turkey also is a partner in the U.S.-led multinational consortium Joint Strike Fighter, or JSF, that will build the F-25 Lightning II fighter.
Ankara plans to buy up to 116 F-35s, worth nearly $15 billion over the next 15 years. Many Turkish companies are members of the JSF consortium of nine Western nations, and are producing parts for the aircraft. Turkey also will receive 30 modern F-16 Block 50s from Lockheed Martin, also the F-35′s top maker, as a stop-gap solution until the F-35 deliveries begin around 2015. Maybe they can partner with Iran.
#2
All else being equal, the Turks would be wise to do this. Mostly because the US has become so fickle and unreliable about providing technology, invariably linking it with other policy agenda, as well as doing so at sky high prices.
Even if they can't produce an aircraft as good as the F-16 at first, it will put them on the track to do so in the future, it will cost far less, have no strings attached, and if it is reasonably good and has a low price, they could offer it for export as well.
Their GDP is somewhere between $750b and $1T, so they can afford to do this, and they have plenty of competent engineers.
#6
The Turks were very good allies and fierce fighters in the Korean War. We had air bases in Turkey for sometime. That has changed somewhere along the way.
#7
As the developed world moves toward UCAVs and UAVs why do they want to do fighter jets?
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/21/2011 19:14 Comments ||
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why do they want to do fighter jets?
All the great powers have modern air forces with capable fighters. If the Turks have one, they will be a great power too, right? It's a cargo cult sort of thing.
And you can't just buy planes from the infidels because it would point out the utter lameness of the Islamic aerospace industry.
#9
WM, the Turks, before they decided to break with Israel bought 10 Heron TPs from IAI and are trying to buy armed MQ-9 Reapers from the US. The Turkish government, through the Undersecretariat for Defence Industries (SSM), has been trying for years to make their own.
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: The Iraqi parliament on Sunday unanimously approved Iraqs federal state budget for the year 2011, ending its session to convene on Monday after voting over all items in the budget, an Iraqi legislator said.
Debates over all the items of the 2011 state budget were completed in todays session, Alaa Mikki, a lawmaker from al-Iraqiya bloc, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The Iraqi cabinet had approved in a session on Feb. 2 the final draft budget for the year 2011.
Ahmed al-Abbasi, a member of the National Alliance, said the parliament also decided to distribute the 20% surplus from the budget over citizens in the form of grants.
Surplus? They're wayyyyy ahead of the U.S. Congress.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/21/2011 00:00 ||
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Surplus?
Can we trade our President for their President?
Posted by: kelly ||
02/21/2011 13:20 Comments ||
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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.
"They have demonstrated total arrogant impunity and continued, and even intensified, their bloody crimes against humanity. They have thereby demonstrated total infidelity to the guidance of God and His beloved Prophet."
AFP: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday called on Muslims to "remove" the US from the Islamic world.
