[An Nahar] An elderly woman in Argentina was left fighting for her life Saturday after a cat thrown out of a fourth-floor apartment during a heated argument landed on her head, local media reported.
The incident occurred in the Belgrano neighborhood of Buenos Aires when, during the dispute, a man grabbed the family cat and threw it at his wife. She managed to dodge the feline, which then sailed through an open window plunging toward the ground and striking the woman, an 85-year-old neighbor.
Police told Argentine media that the victim suffered a fractured skull and was rushed to hospital, where she had to be connected to a ventilator.
The report was silent on the fate of the cat.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/16/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
What kind of sub-human loser throws a cat at his wife? Sheesh! I hope the cat is ok, and the old lady recovers.
A USCG icebreaker cut a path through hundreds of miles of ice to allow a Russian oil tanker to moor off Nome's harbor in preparation for laying a temporary pipeline. The intention was to deliver 1.3 million gallons of fuel to the icebound city. An early winter storm had prevented the usual late fall delivery of fuel, and the next regular fuel delivery would not have been done until late May or early June. For the year 2011 each eligible Alaska resident received $1,174 as a dividend from Alaskan oil production. Completely uncovered by the MSM was how a city, in Alaska of all places, manages to sponsor such a predicament and continues to prove itself incapable of building and maintaining a reserve of oil adequate for nature's vagaries. Perhaps Nome is a poster child for the US's energy slavery.
Opinion appeared to be divided in Nome, where some welcomed the arrival of the tanker and others thought it was a manufactured and unnecessary crisis.
Cari Miller was among the residents unconvinced a real crisis was at hand. The 43-year-old mother, who has lived in Nome for eight years, said she believed that another fuel provider in town had plenty of fuel for the community.
We do not have a fuel crisis, she said. It wasnt necessary.
So, was an inventory made? Were plans in place for rationing? I'm sure the same MSM that dumpster dived on Sara Palin would check, right? /sarc off
If it bleeds it leads. Quick Johnson, get me a crisis we have columns to fill.
#2
The belief that the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend comes from oil revenue or taxes is a misconception.
In 1976 the State of Alaska invested $734,000 in the stock market on behalf of the people of Alaska. Excellent management of the fund, by an independant agency, mostly outside government control, has enabled the to fund grow to more than 39 billion dollars today.
Although the origianal $734,000 came from oil revenue the Alaska Permanent Fund profits today do not come from oil production.
The fund profits are generated almost entirely by investments in the stock market and other income producing entities.
Currently the fund itself earns about 2 billion dollars per year. Each year about 5% of the profit is divided equally between all legal residents of Alaska, regardless of age.
This annual infusion of money from sources outside the state, just before Christmas, gives a tremendous boost to the Alaska economy.
The predicament in Nome can be blamed almost entirely on the Environmental Protection Agencey's refusal to permit more than 6 months of fuel storage in such an environmentally sensitive area.
This forces the fuel distributors to barge in their fuel in late November in order for the suppply to last until the ice goes out in the spring.
Severe storms during the month of November prevented normal fuel transportation. Hence the predicament.
Fuel can be flown in during the Winter months but that is very hazardous and raises the price beyond what most of the indigenous population can afford.
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia signed an agreement with China in Riyadh Sunday for cooperation in the development and use of atomic energy for peaceful purposes, which will help to meet the Kingdom's rising demand for energy and cut its growing dependence on depleting resources.
The signing ceremony was witnessed by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao together with a large number of high-ranking Saudi and Chinese officials.
The nuclear energy cooperation agreement seeks to establish a legal framework that strengthens scientific, technological and economic cooperation between Riyadh and Beijing, while the two sides reaffirm their desire to place the highest priority on nuclear safety and environmental protection, said an official source.
Saudi Arabia is China's biggest source of imported oil, and securing energy security was high on Wen's agenda in Riyadh, said the official. China and Saudi Arabia should keep deepening cooperation as China is already Saudi Arabia's biggest customer and the Kingdom is keen to diversify its economic ties, he noted. On Saturday, the state-run Saudi oil giant Aramco and Chinese companies finalized an initial agreement signed last year to develop a 400,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in Yanbu, on the Kingdom's Red Sea coast.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/16/2012 00:00 ||
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For a map, click here For a map of Chihuahua state, click here.
By Chris Covert
The latest news from the western side of Chihuahua, especially around San Juanito, was grim last Thursday when news came four indigent Tarahumara Indians were found dead from starvation.
Even more grim was the news published by La Polaka news daily on Sunday that as many as 50 Tarahumara may have committed suicide last December 10th because they were unable to find food for their families.
The claim came in an interview on Channel 28 in Cuauhtemoc city from Ramon Gardea, a local indigenous peasant organization leader.
The suicide claim was vehemently denied by a Chihuahua state government official. The unidentified official was quoted in Milenio news daily as saying, "Only he who does not know the idiosyncrasies of the Tarahumara race could believe such a version ..."
"Them peasants is all liars, ya know."
No bodies have yet been found which would support the claim.
The news has revved up social networks which has in turn aided the gathering of food aid for the region with collection points in Mexico City and other cities across Mexico. A Mexican Catholic Church organization has been formed and bank accounts set up to deal with the influx of monetary aid.
Last week, Proceso, the Mexican leftist weekly characterized the food situation as a famine, and so now as numbers are beginning to come in, and with spring several months away, the characterization is becoming realized.
To use an overwrought phrase -- albeit accurate in this case -- indigent Indian tribes such as the Tarahumara are going to be the hardest hit in this apparent coming calamity.
According to Mexican national sources, the drought at the crux of the problem started back in the summer of 2010, and it started as a problem hardly anyone in the press and in government noticed. Record numbers of Mexican citizens were being killed overwhelmingly by drug cartels that summer and into the following spring.
Who pays attention to crop reports, which do not sell advertising for newspapers and electronic media anyway?
So it wasn't until the summer of 2011 with the drought tightening its hold over northern Mexico that institutions began to notice. The record cold in the mountains only compounded the problems. The numbers from the last harvests tell the story.
Affected by the record cold, 250 million serrano peppers have been destroyed.
In 2010, 180,000 metric tons of maize were harvested. In 2011 less than 500 metric tons were harvested.
In 2010, 123,000 tons of beans were harvested. In 2011, less than 20,000 tons went to market.
The drought in the summer of 2011 has killed 200,000 head of various livestock in western Chihuahua, and the cost to feed and water them has skyrocketed to four times normal.
Crop and livestock insurance exists for those who have it, but according to Martin Solis of El Barzon, only MP $115 million is available for losses amounting to a little more than MP $600 million.
The leader of Mexico's Confederacion Nacional Campesina, a leading peasant farmer organization, Gerardo Sanchez Garcia, has told Milenio that the scope of the problem requires a much larger relief effort, totalling MP $10 billion.
The drought, characterized as the worst in almost 90 years, has already affected 989 000 hectares of agricultural land and 1.75 million head of cattle, according to Sanchez Garcia.
Only three days ago, the Mexican secretary of agriculture, Francisco Mayorga, announced that MP $11 billion would be made available in relief efforts.
The future human cost, save for the dead already known, could also add to the catastrophe. At the moment in western Chihuahua reported thefts are on the rise and concentrated around food supplies. In normal times thefts are for items to be sold, but now food is the number one target.
A flip side of the calamity is that heads of households leave their land to find work to buy food. At this point in the growing season and in a few months those individuals will not be on the land ready for the next crop.
According to an article in El Heraldo de Chihuahua news daily, quoting Chihuahua state Tarahumara state coordinator, Jesus Velazquez, some farmers in the area are resorting to renting out their lands to drug cartels which are known to operate in the area, including the Sinaloa and Los Zetas. The ratio quoted by Jesus Velazquez is one in five farmers whose lands are dedicated to growing drugs such as marijuana and poppies.
In the same article the Chihuahua state Rural Development Secretary, Octavio Legarreta, said that problems on some farms have developed because pot plants tend to act as weeds choking the agave and avocado trees. The marijuana plants keep the trees from growing more than two meters high, effectively killing production.
But the impact on indigent farmers is the worst. Tarahumara Indians are subsistence farmers. Heads of household cannot file insurance claims to ride out the drought and famine because they have no insurance. Everything they grow is for their own consumption.
My money was on loose mine, but a hit directly in the center of the hull like that looks like a homing torpedo. Or was it one of those mines that isn't a floating bomb, but releases a torpedo instead?
#1
Who's got dibs on the rising methane bubble theory?
I remember a bottom anchored mine that would release itself into the path of an oncoming vessel but this is too perfect of a hit, directly in the path, detonating at midpoint.
#2
I don't see any evidence of an explosion of any kind. Perhaps there was something that exploded in the waters underneath the ship, but then how did it get where it is? How much do high and low tide change there? Something odd happened, I just cant tell what that might have been.
#4
Sure, something could have exploded under the ship. But why is it sitting up high in the water instead of sunk. There isn't a lot of water under that ship. Not enough evidence here to know what happened.
Look at the charring on the structure amidships. Could have been a fire that heated the deck, then caused a vapor explosion in an empty chemical tank, especially if the previous contents of the tank were volatile and they didn't flush it out.
Also consider that this is not a large naval vessel, its a rather small coastal freighter. Not reinforced structure, no extra keel or hull strength. Compared to a warship, this thing is a pop can. I would speculate that a real naval warfare weapon like a mine or a torpedo would not just damage the ship, it would have shattered it and sunk it.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/16/2012 21:47 Comments ||
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Had it pointed out to me that the construction of a multi-hold tanker may have had more water-tight integrity for large areas of the ship than a military vessel (if said vessel is not at an alert/battle standing with all hatches closed etc). Plus riding higher in the water due to less displacement may help it survive catastrophic damage better than a loaded ship. So there's no ruling out weapons but there are also no good reasons to rule one in given the ship. I wish I had more location on the depth and distance from shore - depth would be a big clue to help rule out mines, and distance from shore would make midget subs less likely, if either of those numbers is large enough.
OTTAWA Prime Minister Stephen Harper is heading to China next month for his second official visit, as his government looks to boost bilateral trade and ship more energy products to the Asian powerhouse.
Business leaders and political observers say the China trip is important for future trade deals, demonstrates a warming in Sino-Canadian relations and could allow Harper to meet with the new, incoming Chinese leadership.
The prime minister is slated to meet with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao during his visit, which initially was being planned for last fall.
"Our government is committed to moving our relationship with China forward by focusing on deepening economic ties, including opening new markets, and setting the foundation for long-term growth," Harper said in a statement.
Ambassador Zhang noted it will be Harper's second trip to China, and another signal that bilateral relations are improving.
China is Canada's second-largest trading partner, behind only the United States, and a key customer for Canadian natural resources and agricultural products. State-owned Chinese oil and gas companies already have invested billions of dollars in Alberta's oilsands to help feed the country's insatiable energy appetite.
The Harper government is looking to increase petroleum exports to China, but those hopes are very much pinned on the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline project currently under review by the National Energy Board. Public hearings began this week on the pipeline, which would ship oilsands bitumen from northern Alberta to a marine facility in Kitimat, B.C., where oil would be loaded onto tankers for export to Asia.
On the whole, bilateral trade with China has tripled since 2001, totalling nearly $58 billion in 2010. Canada also has been negotiating a foreign investment and protection agreement with China, which the government expects will increase two-way trade.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/16/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
obama is such a wreck for the us...anything to create jobs here -- especially tied to oil --- must be denied
we cannot afford another 4 years
Posted by: dan ||
01/16/2012 7:35 Comments ||
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Native Canadian opposition to the Pacific offloading port location stands to be a significant obstacle to the Chinese alternative.
Could shift the US line routing off the aquifer/wetlands area that has been the focus of the US objections, but that would add costs, years of new studies and delays, and no doubt some new excuses as to why it mustn't be done.
It's all excuses. "Energy prices must necessarily skyrocket." Among other reasons, because otherwise the Green boondoggles are way too expensive to compete.
#4
The oilsands can easily support pipelines to the west coast (and to China) as well as to Texas. Its not a case of either or, or in anyway a pressure tactic on the US. Its good business sense to create transportation systems to expand markets. Thats all. What is interesting is that Keystone will create jobs in the US, not so much in Canada (as the lines are already built)and will help Texas refineries which are currently operating well under their capacities. Now if we thought like some other nations, we wouldnt bother,and would just build more refineries in Canada and then sell the final products. Hmmmmm. Perhaps having Canada as a neighbour is a good thing. No matter what party in the States you vote for.
#5
We like and respect our norther cousins, Northern Cousin. And while we are annoyed with our president for, among other things, jerking y'all around with this pipeline thing, there is no reason your prosperity should be held hostage to his malignancy along with our own. After all, your majority voted in Harper, while ours chose Obama. Hopefully this next election we'll catch up.
#6
TOPIX > HARPER SAYS CANADA WON'T BE THE UNITED STATES' NORTHERN "GIANT NATIONAL PARK".
Uh oh, the Mackenzies are on to us.
At the rate Russia is going as per its Far East [RFE], Canada prolly has a better chance of becom future "Chinese Siberia/Yakutia in North America" than "Russia in North America".
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.
An elderly woman in Argentina was left fighting for her life Saturday after a cat thrown out of a fourth-floor apartment during a heated argument landed on her head, local media reported.
