June 02, 2014 - DARK MATTER PARADIGM -The five BRICS nations will likely agree to fund their $100 billion
development effort equally, giving them the same rights in a new
multilateral bank that could start lending in two years, a senior
Brazilian government official told Reuters Thursday.
Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa during the fifth BRICS summit in Durban, South Africa. Kremlin
Capitalization of the bank was one of the main sticking points in the sometimes tortuous negotiations among the emerging powers to create a joint lender to finance infrastructure projects in developing nations.
The new bank would symbolize the growing influence of emerging economies in the global financial architecture long dominated by the United States and Europe through the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Negotiations to create the lender have dragged on for two years, with some members growing weary of China's desire to have a bigger stake in the bank by putting in more capital. But this hurdle is being overcome.
"The majority wants an equal sharing of the capital and there is no other specific proposal on the table," said the official, who is directly involved in the negotiations. "This is not going to be a problem."
Leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are expected to sign a treaty to launch the bank officially when they meet at a BRICS summit in the northern Brazilian city of Fortaleza on July 15.
The bank, which will have start-up capital of $50 billion, will have to be ratified by the countries' legislatures and could begin lending in two years, said the official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Of that start-up capital, the countries will put in a total of $10 billion in cash and $40 billion in guarantees, which will be used to raise capital on international markets.
The new development bank would help cover growing demand for project financing that has not been fully met by global multilaterals, which for years have been heavily criticized for meddling in the domestic policies of sovereign borrowers.
"The bank will look into the finances of borrowers, but never intervene in their economic affairs," said the official. "Any country can join the bank with a $100,000 share. The idea is to provide them loans at a lower cost than what they would individually get in markets."
The BRICS will also decide if the bank will be based in New Delhi, Shanghai, Johannesburg or Moscow. Brazil will not offer headquarters because of upcoming presidential elections that could delay negotiations, the official said.
Later, the group will have to choose an executive "with experience in the financial sector" to lead the bank in a five-year presidency that will rotate among the founding members.
In five years the bank's capital should double to $100 billion through capitalization from funding members, debt emissions or contributions from new members. The BRICS will hold a minimum of 55 percent of the bank's shares. - The Moscow Times.
"There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man ... a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. This highway leads to the shadowy tip of reality: you're on a through route to the land of the different, the bizarre, the unexplainable. Its limits are only those of mind itself. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. Next stop The Twilight Zone." - Rod Serling, The Twilight Zone.
June 02, 2014 - SPACE - There is a bizarre region in space just above Brazil, in Earth's orbit, where computers on the International Space Station
routinely crash, telescopes and satellites malfunction, and astronauts
report seeing strange lights flash before their eyes. Although the
region is technically referred to as The South Atlantic Anomaly, some
have taken to calling it "The Bermuda Triangle of Space," reports New Scientist.
However, unlike the mythical Bermuda Triangle, which the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has officially debunked,
there's nothing mysterious or unreal about the Bermuda Triangle of
Space (BTS). Scientists acknowledge it exists, and have begun to map out
its boundaries.
The anomaly is part of the Van Allen Radiation Belts, a ring of trapped solar radiation
between about 1,000 and 6,000 kilometers above the planet's surface.
The reason it exists is because the Earth's magnetic field is not
uniform; there are weak points. One such weak point exists where the BTS
sits. Radiation from space is able to penetrate relatively close to
Earth's surface here.
The International Space Station’s orbit over Brazil can prove costly.
Source: Supplied
Recently a team of Italian scientists were able to better calculate
the boundaries of the BTS by re-analyzing data recorded by a decade-old
satellite, called BeppoSAX, which routinely passed through the region.
They found that radiation levels in the lower layer of the BTS were much
less than in the upper layers, and that the anomaly was slowly drifting
east. Each year it edges about 34 kilometers closer to Africa, which
means that by 2114 it should be centered somewhere closer to the coast
of Namibia.
Although these results were mostly congruent with previous
research, they did offer a more detailed picture of what's happening in
Earth's magnetosphere. By having a firmer understanding of the
boundaries of the BTS, space agencies can more effectively manage the
sensitive equipment that exists on the International Space Station and
on satellites which frequently pass through the region.
Photo: NASA
The good news is that beachgoers in Brazil have nothing to fear,
despite the fact that this space hazard sits just a few hundred
kilometers above their heads. While the band of radiation present in the
BTS comes abnormally close to Earth's surface, it doesn't actually
stretch all the way to terra firma. Radiation levels below 200
kilometers here are mostly the same as anywhere else on Earth. - MNN.
June 02, 2014 - MASSACHUSETTS, UNITED STATES - Philadelphia Inquirer co-owner Lewis Katz was killed along with six
other people in a fiery plane crash in Massachusetts, just days after
ending an ugly ownership dispute with a deal many hoped would end months
of turmoil at the newspaper and restore it to its former glory.
A Gulfstream IV aircraft
crashed and caught on fire at Hanscom Field in Massachusetts on Saturday
night. Here, a photo captured by Twitter user Kevin Johnson via Twitter @k590
His son, Drew, and a business partner confirmed Katz’s death in a crash of a Gulfstream IV private jet, which went down on takeoff from Hanscom Field outside Boston on its way to Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Saturday night. There were no survivors.
“My father was my best friend. He taught me everything. He never forgot where and how he grew up, and he worked tirelessly to support his community in countless ways that were seen and unseen," Drew Katz said in a statement. "He loved his native city of Camden and his adopted home of Philadelphia. He believed in strengthening education through his founding of charter schools, his support of the Boys & Girls Clubs and his generosity to his alma maters, Temple University and Dickinson Law School. But his greatest accomplishment by far was being the most amazing father to my sister and me, and grandparent to his four grandchildren.”
On Tuesday, Katz and Harold H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest struck a deal to gain full control of the Inquirer as well as the Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com by buying out their co-owners for $88 million — an agreement that ended a very public feud over the Inquirer’s business and journalism direction.
Katz, who had been an investor in the Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network, bought the Nets in 1998 and owned the team when they reached the NBA Finals in 2002 and 2003. He sold the team in 2004 to Bruce Ratner.
He also owned the Devils for a few years before also selling the team in 2003 to Jeff Vanderbeek.
The New York Yankees held a moment of silence in Katz’s honor before Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Twins.Hal Steinbrenner, the Yankees managing general partner issued a statement to express the organization’s deepest, heartfelt sympathies to his family.
“Lewis was a minority owner of the Yankees and a valued, long-time friend and colleague to so many of us within the organization,” the statement read. “We will cherish his sense of humor, intellect, and deep sense of philanthropy. Lewis had a huge heart and was always there when someone needed help. He will forever be remembered.”
NBA commissioner Adam Silver called Katz a trusted friend and valued member of the NBA family.
“He was a visionary businessman who touched the lives of so many with his tireless pursuit of innovation and enterprise, as well as his deep commitment to his family, friends and community,” Silver said in a statement. "Among his many accomplishments were having led his Nets teams in 2002 and 2003 to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history. I send my deepest condolences to the Katz family during this very difficult time."
James P. Leeds, town commissioner of Longport, New Jersey, said his 74-year-old wife, Anne, was also aboard the plane. He received a text from Anne just four minutes before the crash saying they were about to take off, he said.
Anne Leeds, a retired preschool teacher, had been invited by her neighbor Katz on Saturday to attend an education-related function, James Leeds said. They left Longport at about 2 p.m., attended the event and went to dinner in Boston, he said.
Susan Asbell of Cherry Hill, New Jersey - the wife of former Camden County Prosecutor Sam Asbell – was a third victim on board, reports NBC10 Philadelphia.
The Inquirer also reported Marcella Dalsey was also on the plane. Dalsey was executive director of the Drew A. Katz Foundation, which was named after Katz's son, and president of KATZ Academy Charter School - which she cofounded with Lewis Katz in 2012.
Officials gave no information on the cause of the crash. They said the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate.
When bidding on the company, Katz and Lenfest vowed to fund in-depth journalism to revive the Inquirer and to retain its editor, Bill Marimow.
State police stand at the
gate of Hanscom Field, where a private Gulfstream IV plane with seven
people aboard crashed and caught fire Saturday. Stuart Cahill/AP
A plane crashed Saturday night in in Bedford, Mass., killing all seven passengers.WBZ-TV/WFXT
“It’s going to be a lot of hard work. We’re not kidding ourselves. It’s going to be an enormous undertaking,” Katz said then, noting that advertising and circulation revenues had fallen for years. “Hopefully, (the Inquirer) will get fatter.”
Katz, who grew up in Camden, New Jersey, was a major donor to Temple University, his alma mater.
The fight over the future of the city’s two major newspapers was sparked last year by a decision to fire the Inquirer’s Pulitzer Prize-winning editor. Katz and Lenfest wanted a judge to block the firing. Katz sued a fellow owner, powerful Democratic powerbroker George Norcross, saying his ownership rights had been trampled. The dispute culminated last week when Katz and Lenfest, a former cable magnate-turned-philanthropist, bought out their partners.
Lenfest said Sunday that the deal to buy out the company will be delayed but will proceed.
Three previous owners of the company, including Norcross, said in a joint statement that they were deeply saddened to hear of Katz’s death.
“Lew’s long-standing commitment to the community and record of strong philanthropy across the region, particularly Camden where he was born and raised, will ensure that his legacy will live on,” they said.
When the crash occurred, nearby residents saw a fireball and felt the blast shake their homes.
Jeff Patterson told The Boston Globe he saw a fireball about 60 feet high and suspected the worst.
“I heard a big boom, and I thought at the time that someone was trying to break into my house because it shook it,” said Patterson’s son, 14-year-old Jared Patterson. “I thought someone was like banging on the door trying to get in.”
The air field, which serves the public, was closed after the crash. Responders were still on the scene Sunday morning.
Hanscom is about 20 miles northwest of Boston. The regional airport serves mostly corporate aviation, private pilots and commuter air services. - NY Daily News.
June 02, 2014 - FLORIDA, UNITED STATES - A massive 70-foot sinkhole has opened in the parking lot of a Florida supermarket - and the cavernous void is growing by the hour.
The sink hole is now believed to be 70 feet wide and 15 feet deep -
consuming a large park
of the parking lot of a Publix outside Tampa,
Florida.
When it first developed Thursday morning in front of a Publix in Winter Haven - outside Tampa, the hole was just 30 feet wide and less than five feet deep.
By the afternoon, geologists and engineers say the depression had spread to 70 feet wide and 15 feet deep and it has shown no signs of stopping.
The collapse of the earth beneath the parking lot has caused the pavement to buckle and warp dozens of yards away from the center of the hole.
The sinkhole has caused the pavement to ripple, creating a bizarre effect.
Spreading: The sinkhole continues to grow - though there is no risk to the surrounding buildings yet.
Sinkholes are somewhat common in Florida, where much of the ground is
supported by porous rocks that can
dissolve beneath the soil over time.
And the most common place for sinkholes to develop is
in the Tampa area,
which has been nicknamed 'Sinkhole Alley.'
Sinkholes are somewhat common in Florida, where much of the ground is supported by porous rocks that can dissolve beneath the soil over time.
And the most common place for sinkholes to develop is in the Tampa area, which has been nicknamed 'Sinkhole Alley.'
WATCH: Massive sinkhole in Publix Parking lot.
'The asphalt continues to ripple, but I've been told by geotechnical engineers that that can be just asphalt shifting because the ground near it has shifted,' Brian Swain, the property manager, told WFTS-TV.
None of the nearby businesses have been evacuated yet, but experts are keeping an eye on the sinkhole's growth.
There were no cars parked in the lot when the sinkhole developed and there have been no injuries.
The property manager cordoned off the area while geologists examined the bedrock with sonar to determine how much the sinkhole was likely to continue to grow. - Daily Mail.
June 02, 2014 - SUN - NASA’s revolutionary solar observatory has captured rare footage of
super-hot bubbles on the sun's surface, known as coronal mass ejections.
Still from NASA video
“The field of view seen here is about five Earths wide and about seven-and-a-half Earths tall,” NASA said in a description of the video, which shows the sun emitting flares into space.
While coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are not rare themselves (there can be up to two or three CMEs per week depending on the sunspot cycle), this time is different – because for the first time, the process was caught on camera by NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph, or IRIS.
The seven-foot ultraviolet telescope was launched into space in June 2013. It is able to peer into the lowest levels of the sun's atmosphere to observe how solar material moves, gathers energy, and heats up. It then documents the details using higher resolution imaging than ever before.
WATCH: Massive May 9th Solar Eruption Observed by NASA.
To capture the phenomenon, IRIS must be pointed at the sun one day ahead of time. It “involves some educated guesses and a degree of luck,” as it only covers a relatively small zone of the sun at any given time, according to NASA.
“We focus in on active regions to try to see a flare or a CME," said Bart De Pontieu, the IRIS science lead at Lockheed Martin Solar & Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, California. "And then we wait and hope that we'll catch something. This is the first clear CME for IRIS so the team is very excited."
The spectacular phenomenon was captured on May 9, but NASA only released the video on May 30.
CMEs are powerful eruptions on the sun’s surface that send waves of magnetized plasma through the solar system. They can strike the Earth’s atmosphere with bursts of particles and can cause electromagnetic fluctuations.
The first proof of CMEs was obtained with a coronagraph on the OSO 7 spacecraft between 1971 and 1973. - RT.
June 02, 2014 - IRAN - A heavy dust storm roared into Iran’s capital Monday, blacking out
the sun in a swirling cloud and tearing down trees in a squall that
reportedly killed at least four people and injured 30.
A view of Tehran, Iran, Monday, June 2, 2014,
while a flash dust storm hits the Iranian capital. Iran’s state TV is
reporting that at least two people have been killed and 30 others
injured after a heavy dust storm hit the capital Tehran with a speed of
110 kilometers per hour. (Ebrahim Noroozi/Associated Press)
The storm struck Tehran with winds of up to 110 kilometers per hour (68 mph), state television reported. Its report said the storm killed five people, while Iran’s official IRNA news agency said it killed four people as winds hit 130 kilometers per hour (80 mph). The discrepancy could not immediately be reconciled.
The storm broke trees and plunged the capital into darkness for several minutes. It also caused a chain-reaction crash involving 20 vehicles on a highway south of the capital and international flights were canceled, according to the TV report. Air traffic controllers diverted several domestic flights to central Iran.
WATCH: Freak sandstorm swallows Tehran.
Authorities asked children and the elderly, as well as those with heart problems, to remain indoors due to the dust.
The TV report said heavy winds also engulfed parts of central Iran, but no casualties were reported there. - Washington Post.
June 02, 2014 - UNITED STATES - For decades, scientists have tried to perfect methods and analyze data in a bid to predict earthquakes before they happen and potentially save hundreds of thousands of lives.
However, an author living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania claims the answers are in plain sight and David Nabhan has now written a book about his remarkable findings.
Mr Nabhan, a former science teacher from California, became interested in earthquakes.
He was in charge of the emergency preparedness plan at the school where he worked.
THE PERILS OF EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION
Scientists and folklorists have used a dizzying selection of methods and theories trying to make earthquake forecasts for years, with little success.
Animal behavior, changes in the weather, and seismograms have all fallen short.
Scientists first turned to seismology as a predictive tool, hoping to find patterns of foreshocks that might indicate that a fault is about to slip.
But nobody has been able to reliably distinguish between the waves of energy that herald a great earthquake and harmless rumblings.
He says he noticed every earthquake happened at dusk or dawn.
Cracking the code: Author David Nabhan believes he has found the key to accurately predicting when
an earthquake will strike and has suggested there is a pattern between them
Real science? Earthquake prediction has been almost a taboo field of study for the United States Geological Survey
(USGS), the very governmental agency in charge of making progress in this area, leaving their conservative
approach to draw criticism from prominent seismologists worldwide
'I realized this sort of conscience doesn’t happen in science. These dawn and dusk quakes during new and full moons are the paradigm on the west coast,' he said.
'All six great quakes that have struck in Los Angeles that have killed people since the 30s, all of them, dawn or dusk quakes', he told CBS Pittsburgh.
Mr Nabhan says that it is the 'conjoined lunar and solar gravitational tides,' that causes the quakes.
'Just imagine the muscle required to move our oceans around every day. Our fractured fault lines are not immune to this power,' he said.
The prevailing view has placed seismic forecasting in the realm of near impossibility, but Mr Nabhan insists that a number of facts infer quite the opposite.
WORLD'S DEADLIEST EARTHQUAKES
January 2010, Haiti More than 300,000 die and over a million are displaced following magnitude 7 quake
July 1976, China Officially 242,769 die in 7.5 strike but figure could be more than tripple that
December 2004, Sumatra 9.1 earthquake struck here and caused subsequent tsunami in 14 countries. Nearly 300,000 dead and 1.7m displaced
December 1920, China A magnitude 7 quake which killed 200,000
September 1923, Japan Extreme destruction and 142,800 dead in Kanto
His book presents a persuasive and open-minded inquiry into compelling clues and data that have been downplayed or ignored for almost two centuries, connecting hundreds of scientific studies with a stunning series of historic seismic events on the US West coast during the 20th century.
Remarkable evidence gives a thought-provoking overview of how this topic has remained in scientific limbo for so many centuries, culminating in a list of hours-long higher probability windows for seismicity into the future.
The Christchurch Catholic Cathedral is extensively damaged after an earthquake in
Christchurch, New Zealand in December 2011
Displaced Haitians walk the streets amid collapsed buildings and rubble in downtown
Port Au Prince, Haiti in January 2010
Mr Nabhan lists the plain spoken reasons how and why it should be realized that it is plausible, with some degree of accuracy, to forecast the next ground-shaking catastrophe.
Mr Nabhan says that there has never been a new idea in science that wasn’t accepted without a fight and claims the next earthquake will happen on July 12 and September 9, between 4:45 to 7:55 a.m. or p.m.
In his book, Mr Nabhan lists every tremor powerful enough to have caused fatalities within a 70 mile radius of Los Angeles' city center, struck Southern California between 1933 and 1994.
He states that every one of them occurred either within a tight 3 hour window at dawn or a corresponding time interval at dusk.
Pattern: Two thirds of recent earthquake events took place not only
either at dawn or dusk,
but within 36 hours of the new or full moon
phases
Two thirds of those events also took place not only either at dawn or dusk, but within 36 hours of the precise instant of new or full moon phases.
The great quakes on the U.S. West Coast north of Southern California also fit this historic pattern.
The Great San Francisco Earthquake (1906) clocked in at 5:12 AM; Loma Prieta (1989) struck almost precisely 12 hours later: 5:04 PM.
Anchorage was destroyed on Good Friday, 1964 at 5:36 PM--47 minutes away from the exact moment when the Moon entered the greatest extent of it's fullness.
The last Big One on the Southern San Andreas (1857) hit Fort Tejon in the early morning.
The May 2, 1996 magnitude 5.4 Seattle earthquake, the largest in that city’s history since 1965, rocked the Puget Sound area no more than 9 minutes outside the time and date forecasted in David Nabhan’s first book.
Findings: David Nabhan, who spent 20 years as a junior high instructor
in Southern California, believes the forces of gravity and where the sun
and moon are could determine large temblors
Mr Nabhan suggests there is fairly solid evidence to support the hypothesis that solar and lunar tides working in tandem might actually have a hand in at least helping to trigger tremors on the West Coast.
However, U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Lucy Jones is more wary about predicting such earthquakes.
'There’s a very slight correlation. Not enough to predict any earthquake out of it,' she told CBS Los Angeles said.
'People try to make patterns out of anything that scares them. We haven’t found anything that looks different before a big earthquake than other times.
We get enough people sending us predictions. The slug trail lady who used to go out in her driveway and map out the slug trails in the morning and use that to predict where the next earthquake was going to happen.'
Asked about earthquake weather, Jones said, 'The reality is earthquakes happen 5 to 10 miles deep in the earth and surface weather doesn’t affect anything at that depth.'
Asked what causes a quake to start and stop, she said, 'I don’t know. We have figured out that earthquakes are happening at much lower stresses, and now we’re trying to understand the mechanisms that let them happen.' - Daily Mail.
"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared... And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." - The Book of Revelation 16:12, The Bible, KJV.
June 02, 2014 - TURKEY - The Turkish government recently cut off the flow of the Euphrates
River, threatening primarily Syria but also Iraq with a major water
crisis. Al-Akhbar found out that the water level in Lake Assad
has dropped by about six meters, leaving millions of Syrians without
drinking water.
Top: "The decrease in water levels" Bottom: "Euphrates Dam" (Photo: Al-Akhbar)
Two weeks ago, the Turkish government once again intervened in the
Syrian crisis. This time was different from anything it had attempted
before and the repercussions of which may bring unprecedented
catastrophes onto both Iraq and Syria.
Violating international norms, the Turkish government recently cut
off the water supply of the Euphrates River completely. In fact, Ankara
began to gradually reduce pumping Euphrates water about a month and half
ago, then cut if off completely two weeks ago, according to information
received by Al-Akhbar.
A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity revealed that water
levels in the Lake Assad (a man-made water reservoir on the Euphrates)
recently dropped by six meters from its normal levels (which means
losing millions of cubic meters of water). The source warned that “a
further drop of one additional meter would put the dam out of service.”
“We should cut off or reduce the water output of the dam, until the
original problem regarding the blockage of the water supply is fixed,”
the source explained.
The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) controlling the region the
dam is located in did not suspend the water output. Employees of the
General Institution of the Euphrates Dam are running the lake under the
supervision of al-Qaeda linked ISIS, but they don’t have the authority
to take serious decisions, such as reducing the water output. In
addition, such a step is a mere attempt to ease the situation, and it
will lose its efficacy if the water supply isn’t restored to the dam by
Turkey.
The tragic repercussions of the new Turkish assault began to reveal
themselves when water levels dropped in al-Khafsa in Aleppo’s eastern
countryside (where a water pumping station from Lake Assad is located to
pump water through water channels to Aleppo and its countryside).
Meanwhile, water supplies in auxiliary reservoirs in al-Khafsa are close
to being depleted and the reservoirs are expected to run out of water
completely by tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest. This threatens
to leave seven million Syrians without access to water. Also, Tishrin
Dam stopped receiving any water which blocked its electricity generating
turbines, decreasing the power supply in Aleppo and its countryside,
further intensifying the already severe imbalance in the power supply.
In Raqqa, the northern side of Lake Assad is today completely out of
service. Two million Syrians living in the region covering the villages
of Little Swaydiya to the east until al-Jarniya to the west could lose
their drinking water supply. “Losing water supplies in the dam means
that the silt in the lake will dry off which would pressure its
structure, subjecting it to fissures and eventually total collapse,” Al-Akhbar sources warned, adding “it is crucial to shut down the dam to stop its collapse.”
However, shutting down the dam (if ISIS agrees) will only lead to a
human and ecological (zoological and agricultural) catastrophe in Syria
and in Iraq.
Top: "The decrease in water levels" Bottom: "Tishrin Dam" (Photo: Al-Akhbar)
According to information obtained by Al-Akhbar, Aleppo locals
(who had already launched many initiatives to reach solutions for a
number of local issues) began a race against time to recommend solutions
for the problem, including putting the thermal plant at al-Safira back
to work, which may convince ISIS to spare the Euphrates Dam turbines,
and in turn preserve current water levels in the lake.
In case it succeeds, such a step would only rescue whatever water and
structures are left, and would ward off further repercussions of the
crisis that has already started. A halt to the water supply is now
inevitable and can’t be resolved unless the Turkish government takes the
decision to resume pumping Euphrates water.
In any case, it is worth mentioning that the water in the lake would
take about a month, after resuming pumping, to return to its normal
levels.
A historical conflict
The Euphrates River has historically been at the center of a conflict
between Turkey on the one hand and both Syria and Iraq on the other.
Ankara insists on considering the Euphrates a “trans-boundary river” and
not an “international river,” hence it is “not subject to international
laws.” Also, Turkey is one of the only three countries in the world
(along with China and Burundi) that opposed the Convention on the Law of
the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses adopted by the
General Assembly of the United Nations in 1997.
In 1987, a temporary agreement between Syria and Turkey was signed to share the water supplies of the Euphrates during the period when the basin of the Ataturk Dam was being filled. In virtue of the agreement, Turkey pledged to provide an annual level of over 500 cubic meters of water a second on the Turkish-Syrian borders, until reaching a final agreement about sharing the water supplies of the river between the three countries. In 1994, Syria registered the agreement at the United Nations to guarantee the minimum amount of Iraq and Syria’s right to the water from the Euphrates River. - Al Akhbar.
June 02, 2014 - RUSSIA - Russian divers have recovered five bodies from the
wreckage of a helicopter that crashed into a Russian lake in the remote
north-western tundra with 18 people including top regional officials and
businessmen on board.
Mi-8.(RIA Novosti / Mikhail Voskresenskiy)
Two people were rushed to hospital with
broken legs after the Mi-8 helicopter smashed into Munozero Lake in a
remote area on the north-western Kola peninsula late on Saturday (local
time), regional officials said.
With five confirmed to have lost their lives, the remaining 11 are considered missing and feared dead.
A spokeswoman for the regional emergencies ministry said that divers had found several bodies in the lake but declined to provide further details.
"The bodies are being raised," Tatyana Zakharova told AFP.
Vladimir Markin, spokesman for the Moscow-based Investigative Committee, told Russian reporters separately that five bodies had so far been recovered.
Officials refused to declare the rest of the missing dead.
"We are adults. Probably there's no hope," Ms Zakharova told AFP. "But we will be hoping until the last minute."
The helicopter belongs to Apatit, maker of components for fertilisers, and company director Alexei Grigoryev and his deputy Konstantin Nikitin are believed to have been on board, Apatit spokeswoman Olga Kryuchek said.
"Until the bodies are found, they are considered alive," Ms Kryuchek said.
Top regional officials including the deputy Murmansk governor are believed to also have been on board the chopper.
Denis Pushin, spokesman for the Murmansk regional administration, refused to identify the passengers of the helicopter.
He initially said the passengers were most likely on a fishing trip but later retracted his statement, noting it was "a working visit".
"I am not ready to bury anyone," he said. "The passenger manifest is being verified."
He said the two survivors had been found floating on the water fastened to their chairs.
"Fishermen found them," Mr Pushin said. "They have concussion and are in shock."
A deputy regional governor, Sergei Skomorokhov, as well as several other top officials, are believed to have been among the passengers.
Investigators named a possible aircraft malfunction and bad weather as likely causes of the crash.
"The pilot found himself in difficult meteorological conditions, lost his sense of direction and hit the surface of the water," the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
Officials could not begin a rescue operation when they received the first reports of the crash on Saturday due to poor weather conditions.
Some 100 people were working on the scene of the crash on Sunday, the emergencies ministry said.
Aviation crashes are frequent in Russia and are often blamed on ageing aircraft and poor maintenance. - ABC.
June 02, 2014 - BENGHAZI, LIBYA - At least 18 people have been killed in intense fighting in eastern Libya, medics say.
Fighting has raged in Benghazi ever since the overthrow of Col Gaddafi in 2011
The fighting started when Ansar al-Sharia militants attacked forces loyal to renegade General Khalifa Haftar in Benghazi, who hit back with airstrikes.
Benghazi is at the centre of a two-week long campaign by Gen Haftar's forces against Islamist armed groups.
The government in the capital Tripoli has condemned the campaign, calling it an "attempted coup".
It is not known whether the casualties from Sunday night's fighting are military or civilian, but both sides have accused the other of firing indiscriminately in residential areas.
Dozens were also reported injured in the neighbouring city of Al-Marj.
Forces loyal to renegade General Khalifa Haftar carried out air strikes in Benghazi on Sunday
Armed men loyal to General Khalifa Haftar in
Benghazi have been involved in clashes on the ground following air
strikes launched by his forces on Sunday
While Libya and in particular Benghazi has been plagued with violence since the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, the latest fighting has been particularly ferocious.
Combat helicopters have reportedly been used to carry out strikes against rival armed groups in the west of Benghazi.
Eyewitnesses said one of the rockets fired on Sunday missed its target and instead hit a university engineering faculty.
The groups being targeted by Gen Haftar's forces are the Ansar al-Sharia Islamist militia and the February 17 brigade, which fought against Gaddafi in 2011.
The groups are accused of being behind much of the violence and assassinations in Benghazi in recent years, but they deny this.
Libya has no functioning national army and has had to rely on armed groups to provide security.
However, the groups have clashed on many occasions over political and ideological issues.
Unrest in Libya has worsened in recent weeks after Gen Haftar vowed to take on Islamist militants
Crisis government
Gen Haftar wants the judiciary to appoint a crisis government to oversee new elections after accusing Libya's leaders of "fostering terrorism".
Dozens of state bodies have already pledged their support to him.
But the government called his assaults an "attempted coup" and ordered the arrest of those taking part. - BBC.
June 02, 2014 - CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES - An earth tremor that took place in a densely populated area west of
Los Angeles on Sunday evening set on alert the seaside from Malibu down
to the Manhattan Beach. There have been no immediate reports about
damage or people injured.
USGS earthquake shakemap intensity.
Initially, the US Geological Survey (USGS) measured the quake’s
magnitude at 3.8, but later revised the magnitude to 4.2. The
earthquake that took place at 7:36am PDT originated from the
Santa Monica Mountains, some 4 miles (6.4km) northwest of
Westwood, was reported to be shallow, yet caused two aftershocks.
“It was felt by many people because it happened in a densely
populated area,” Dr. Lucy Jones of the USGS told KNX-AM.
“But seismically it’s not a big deal.”
Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters inspected the city's
infrastructure and found no significant damage,” LAFD spokesman
Erik Scott told the AP.
According to CBS Los Angeles the earthquake was felt particularly
strongly in Santa Monica, Studio Valley and Simi Valley.
Back in March three members of Los Angeles City Council
proposed state and federal groups to find out whether
fracking process that implies hydraulic fracturing stimulation of
a gas well was involved with a similar 4.4-magnitude earthquake
that rattled LA on March 17.
That quake was also centered in Santa Monica Mountains, an area
not seen as seismically active before.
Councilmen Paul Koretz, Mike Bonin and Bernard Parks, asked for
city departments to team up with the California Division of Oil,
Gas and Geothermal Resources, the US Geological Survey and the
South Coast Air Quality Management District to investigate and
bring report on the possibility of such a cause for a quake. - RT.
June 02, 2014 - NIGERIA - A bomb attack targeting fans at a soccer match in Nigeria's restive northeast killed at least 40 people on Sunday, a police officer told AFP.
Bomb attack targeting fans at a soccer match in Nigeria's restive northeast kills at least 40 people.
Car bomb (illustration) - Thinkstock
"There has been a bomb explosion at a football field this evening and so far more than 40 people have been killed," the officer told the news agency.
The policeman's account was confirmed by a nurse at the Mubi General Hospital.
Mubi is located in Adamawa state, one of three in the northeast which has been under a state of emergency for more than a year as the military has tried to crush the terrorist group Boko Haram's five-year extremist uprising.
The area has been hit by far fewer Boko Haram attacks than other parts of the northeast, but the town was the site of a gruesome October 2012 massacre at a post-secondary technical college.
Scores of students were killed in their dorms, including many whose throats were slit.
The policeman said the bomb exploded at roughly 6:30 p.m. local time and targeted fans who were trying to leave the field after watching a local club match.
It was not immediately clear if players were among the casualties, but the officer and the nurse said it appeared most of the victims were fans.
Boko Haram has carried out scores of attacks on targets it says are a product of Western influence, including sports venues and schools teaching a secular curriculum.
The conflict has received unprecedented global attention over the last six weeks following the Islamists' mass kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls.
The girls were seized on April 14 from Chibok in Borno state, which shares a border with Adamawa.
Concerns over the fate of the girls were heightened after Boko Haram's leader threatened to sell them as slaves. The Al-Qaeda-linked group has publicized a video showing some of the kidnapped girls, claiming they had converted to Islam.
Nigeria's highest ranking military officer said last week the country knew the girls’ location, but did not divulge further details. - INN.
June 02, 2014 - MIDDLE EAST - Israel is to deploy three submarines equipped with nuclear cruise
missiles in the Persian Gulf, the Sunday Times reported on Sunday.
A dolphin submarine.
Photo by Tomer Appelbaum
According to the Times report, one submarine had been sent over Israeli fears that ballistic missiles developed by Iran, and in the possession of Syria and Hezbollah, could be used to hit strategic sites within Israel, such as air bases and missile launchers.
Dolphin, Tekuma, and Leviathan, all German-made Dolphin class submarines of the 7th navy Flotilla, have been reported as frequenting the Gulf in the past, however, according to the Sunday Times report, this new deployment is meant to ensure a permanent naval presence near the Iranian coastline.
A flotilla officer told the Times that the deployed submarines were meant to act as a deterrent, gather intelligence and potentially to land Mossad agents.
"We're a solid base for collecting sensitive information, as we can stay for a long time in one place," the officer said.
The flotilla's commander, identified only as "Colonel O," was quoted by the Times as saying that the submarine force was "an underwater assault force. We’re operating deep and far, very far, from our borders."
The submarines could be used if Iran continues its program to produce a nuclear bomb. "The 1,500km range of the submarines’ cruise missiles can reach any target in Iran," a navy officer told the Times.
Apparently responding to the reported Israeli activity, an Iranian admiral told the Times: "Anyone who wishes to do an evil act in the Persian Gulf will receive a forceful response from us."
Last July, defense sources reported that an Israeli submarine had sailed the Suez Canal to the Red Sea last month, describing the unusual maneuver as a show of strategic reach in the face of Iran.
Israel has long kept its three Dolphin-class submarines, which are widely assumed to carry nuclear missiles, away from Suez so as not to expose them to the gaze of Egyptian harbormasters. - Haaretz.
June 02, 2014 - NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - The National Weather Service says it has confirmed that it was a tornado
that destroyed a home, knocked over tractor-trailers and snapped trees
in half in rural eastern New York.
Margaret Krylowicz looks over her home that was destroyed from a
fast-moving storm that swept across Route 20 on Thursday, May 22, 2014,
in Duanesburg, N.Y. Krylowicz had left her house to run an errand when
the storm hit. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)
Meteorologists who surveyed the storm damage damage
Friday in Schenectady County say the funnel cloud appeared to have
touched ground Thursday afternoon near Duanesburg, 20 miles west of
Albany.
The twister leveled a home, damaged other buildings, knocked down power lines and trees and flipped over at least two tractor-trailers on Interstate 88. No injuries were reported.
Volunteers Mikala Smith, left, and Hussan Abdulmagid remove debris from a
home that was destroyed by a storm on Friday, May 23, 2014, in
Duanesburg, N.Y. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
This home in Delanson was leveled by a tornado that swept through
Montgomery and Schenectady counties on Thursday, May 22, 2014. (Cindy
Schultz / Times Union)
Heavy winds blew over two Tractor tailers on I-88 Thursday afternoon,
May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg, N.Y. (Will Seibert via Twitter)
An upended tractor trailer, tipped during a fast-moving storm, blocks
traffic on I-88 iin Schenectady County. (Cindy Schultz/Times Union)
Storm damage seen from I-88 Thursday afternoon, May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg, N.Y. (Will Seibert via Twitter)
Piles of pea-sized hail cover the ground in Bethlehem after a storm
moved over the region Thursday, May 22, 2014, on Delaware Ave. in Delmr,
N.Y. (Will Waldron / Times Union) (Will Waldron/Times Union)
Margaret Krylowicz's home that was destroyed from a fast-moving storm
that swept across Route 20 on Thursday, May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg,
N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times Union)
Scott Gray, a neighbor of home owner Darlene Pettit, carries hay for her
horses past a tree that fell in the wake of a fast-moving storm on
Thursday, May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times
Union)
Home owner Darlene Pettit looks over a tree that fell in the wake of a
fast-moving storm on Thursday, May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg, N.Y. (Cindy
Schultz / Times Union)
A fast-moving storm blew down a wall on Thursday, May 22, 2014, at the
Duanesburg Volunteer Ambulace Corp. in Duanesburg, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz /
Times Union)
A man works to tarp a roof that was damaged in a fast-moving storm on
Thursday, May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg, N.Y. (Cindy Schultz / Times
Union)
Workers prepare to move a truck that was blown over from a fast-moving
storm on Interstate 88 on Thursday, May 22, 2014, in Duanesburg, N.Y.
(Cindy Schultz / Times Union)
The storm system weakened as it moved eastward across the Hudson Valley.
The weather service says the storm hit around 3:40 p.m. Thursday, around the time President Barack Obama was speaking at the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, 40 miles east of Duanesburg. - MYFOXNY.
June 02, 2014 - EARTH - The following stories constitutes some of the latest incidents of Earth changes across the globe.
State Of Emergency In Siberia As Heavy Deluge Floods 4,000 Homes And Destroys 12 Bridges
Photo: RIA Novosti
An emergency situation regime has been issued in the Republic of Altai
on Friday over floods caused by excessive precipitation in the past four
days, the republic's branch of the Emergencies Ministry told Itar-Tass. Nearly 4,000 residential houses are partially flooded in Siberia, with over 7,600 people evacuated from dangerous areas, said the head of the National Crisis Situation Management Center under Russia's Emergencies Ministry, Oleg Voronov.
Rescue teams of the Russian Emergencies Ministry (EMERCOM) and local
authorities have organised evacuation of the population from flooded
houses with 119 people taken to temporary shelters and 406 housed at
their relatives'.
"The floods have destroyed 12 bridges - seven for vehicles and
five for pedestrians, thus transport communication with eleven villages
has been disrupted," the EMERCOM said.
Two Ilyushin Il-76 planes were sent to Siberia
carrying rescue equipment, KAMAZ trucks and boats. Rescue operations
involve 693 people, 147 vehicles and a Mi-8 helicopter.
Russia's Hydrometeorological Centre said on Friday heavy rains were expected to dampen Siberia through the end of the week, with lower temperatures and more coming showers, thunderstorms and hail, which would cause floods in the region. Freezing temperatures of down to five degrees Celsius and high winds would only worsen the situation in some of the regions.
The forecast warning was issued for residents in the Krasnoyarsk, Altai,
Irkutsk and Transbaikalia Territories and in the republics of
Khakassia, Altai and Tuva.
Russian Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov has dispatched the
Tsentrospas national rescue team and the Leader Centre team for
high-risk rescue operations to the areas in danger, and promised that
the victims of the flooding in Siberia would receive from 10,000 roubles
to 100,000 roubles ($287 to $2,878) in compensations from the
government's fund.
"We are enlarging our rescue group in Siberia," the minister said at a
teleconference in Moscow on Friday. "We are tasked with protecting all
the townships and potentially hazardous areas. Meanwhile, a special
space system monitors the situation and the met office and all the
federal structures are engaged. - VOR.
US In Its Third Straight Year Of Record Low Tornado Activity
AAAS says that storms are getting worse, because they are concerned that
the ability of their members to steal taxpayer money may be reduced, if
people find out what is really going on. - Real Science.
Massive Dust Storm Kills 12 And Cuts Power In Delhi, India
A woman walks over branches of a tree that were uprooted following the storm.AP Photo/Altaf Qadri
A massive dust storm and thunder squall stopped the city in its tracks
on Friday evening, bringing relief from the severe heat but leaving a
trail of death, destruction and chaos. Nine people were killed in Delhi
and three in Ghaziabad as trees fell on cars and strong winds toppled
brick piles. A crashing luggage pile at the airport killed a loader.
More than 350 trees were uprooted, leading to traffic jams. Power supply
was snapped for up to five hours in several parts of the city and metro
services were disrupted just ahead of evening rush hour. the erratic
power supply is further expected to trigger water shortage in the city
on Saturday.
Until 4pm, Delhi was preparing for a heat wave, with the weather giving
away nothing but a hot, dry summer day. The Met office had reported the
presence of a light haze over Delhi during the first half of the day
because of which many thought that cloud formation would not be
possible. By 4.15 pm, the skies darkened and 15 minutes later, a storm
was raging, catching commuters unawares.
The Met office put down the massive thunder squall
to a 14km-tall cumulonimbus cloud that settled over the capital,
splitting it in half, causing south, southwest and west Delhi to face
its lashing tail.
The IGI Airport reported a windspeed of 114.8 kmph during the storm
which resulted in a massive disruption of air traffic. One person died
and five aircraft were damaged as stray step ladders rammed into them.
Dr RK Jenamani, director in-charge, IGI Met said that this was the most
severe dust storm recorded at the airport in terms of wind speed after
eight years. "The storm was strongest in the tail end area of a
cumulonimbus cloud. This included the southern, southwestern and parts
of west Delhi. The 14km high cloud cell had come from the Chandigarh
side and was moving at a speed of 10-15 kmph across Delhi. While this
brought extremely strong winds, it did not cause much rain," he said.
Nine deaths were reported from around the city. At least three persons
lost their lives after trees fell on their vehicles in southwest,
central and north Delhi. A few other deaths happened after unstable
walls collapsed on people during the storm.
The city lost several hundred trees to the storm though the official
figure was pegged at 350. The trees, many of them huge Neem ones, fell
indiscriminately over people, vehicles, walls and roads, bringing about
much greater destruction. The cityscape was dotted with smashed vehicles
barely visible through the thick foliage and people frantically hacking
through branches for wood before the trees were taken away by the
municipal agencies.
Traffic snarls were reported from all the major roads across the city.
Traffic officials said that the whole of central Delhi including India
Gate and Connaught Place came to a stand still after several trees were
uprooted and blocked roads like Tilak Marg, Shahjahan Road and Rajendra
Prasad Road.
Hail storm and strong winds alongwith erratic power from the Delhi
Metro's main power supplier, Delhi Transco Limited (DTL), led to the
entire metro network being disrupted for an hour. Delhi Metro's two
popular lines - the Dwarka and Gurgaon lines - was the most affected as
crowds of passengers were stranded inside trains and stations. Trains on
the other corridors in the network were also stuck.
At Safdarjung, which fell in the front of the cell, the wind speed was
92kmph and 0.6 mm rain was recorded. Temperature however, fell by 5-10
degrees across the city. From a maximum of 42.8 degrees Celsius, Delhi's
temperature came down to 35 degrees Celsius right after the storm and
to 30 degrees at 5.30 pm. In Palam, the maximum of 45.8 degrees Celsius
plummeted to 30.5 degrees Celsius. Another outcome of the storm is that
the improvement in weather expected over the weekend will not be very
sharp. "Whatever energy was built up because of the heat during the past
few days was expended in Friday's storm. A western disturbance induced
dust storm and slight rain is expected between Saturday and Sunday but
they will not be as strong as were expected," said a Met official. - Times of India.
Time-Lapse Masterpiece From Kansas Might Be The Best Video Of A Thunderstorm Ever Seen
Supercells are the rarest and most severe type of thunderstorm. They're
often the most mesmerizing, too, looming overhead with an ethereal,
UFO-like grace that belies their knack for wreaking havoc. We've
featured some impressive supercell videos on MNN before, but the
cinematic opus above overshadows them all. Filmed by photographer
Stephen Locke near Climax, Kansas, it's a nearly flawless portrait of a
supercell's birth. Locke found an ideal vantage point to frame the May
10 mesocyclone, then used time-lapse photography to capture a fluid,
vivid and high-definition video of his subject churning into existence.
Do it justice by watching in HD and full-screen modes.
WATCH: The Climax - Kansas Supercells by Stephen Locke.
The key ingredient for a supercell is rotation, spurred by wind shear
that slices air into layers and creates a spinning horizontal column.
This giant axle of air is then pushed upright by updrafts - which can
exceed 100 mph in major storms - to become an iconic vertical vortex.
Supercells are responsible for "nearly all the significant tornadoes
produced in the U.S.," according to the National Weather Service, but
even without twisters they can bring disastrous winds, hail and
flooding.
Not only does Locke reveal the storm's overall growth in eye-rubbing
detail, but he also absorbs an array of other atmospheric quirks, such
as cloud-to-cloud lightning, windswept downpours and the eerie,
blue-green glow that sometimes emanates from thunderstorms. For good
measure, he even catches a dramatic sunset behind the storm to help
backlight the video's final moments. Stop by Locke's website or Vimeo page to peruse his full portfolio of enlightening weather imagery.
- MNN.
Lightning And Heavy Rains Cause 8 Deaths And 28 Injuries In West Bengal, India
Eight persons were killed and 28 others injured when lightning struck
West Bengal, parts of which were lashed by heavy rains on Saturday
morning, police said.
Five persons were killed in lightning in Hariharpur and Raghunathganj areas of Murshidabad district.
Two persons were killed in Maheshpur village, one in nearby Daltonpur
village in Hariharpur area, while two others were killed in Rajanagar
village in Raghunathganj. Three others were injured in lightning in
Raghunathganj.
In Burdwan two persons, including a woman was killed and another woman injured in yet another lightning incident.
The two deaths occurred at Khandaghosh and Kumarpur in Raniganj, police said.
In Khandaghosh a 48-year-old man was killed when he was working in his
field this morning, while a 23-year-old woman was killed when lightning
struck the shed under which she had taken shelter to save herself from
the rains in Kumarpur.
Another woman who was accompanying her in collecting firewood was seriously injured and later admitted to hospital.
In Purulia a man who went out to plough his field in the rains was killed in Baghmundi, police said.
Another 24 people were injured, two of them critically, in another
incidence of lightning at Chandrakona area of West Midnapore district.
The injured were waiting to join work allotted to them under MNREGA at
Tolbostihala village, the police said adding they were rushed to
hospital.
The weatherman said in Kolkata that the state experienced widespread rains ranging from 30 mm to 50 mm this morning.
The pre-monsoon showers were due to fast cloud formation, the MeT office
said adding there will be spells of thundershowers both in south and
north Bengal for the next two to three days. The showers would be mainly
in south Bengal. - Indian Express.
The Coldest May 29th In The Netherlands On Record
Evelien Wolthuis/Twitter
Thursday was the coldest May 29th on record, with temperatures at the
country's meteorological headquarters in De Bilt, Utrecht never
surpassing 12.0 degrees Celsius. The mercury did not rise higher than
12.3 degrees in 1983, the previous record for lowest high temperature,
according to the Telegraaf newspaper.
Netherlanders and tourists were wise to spend Ascension Day in the far
south of the country, where the sun managed to pierce through cloud
cover, pushing temperatures up to 19 degrees.
Residents of Veluwe, Gelderland dealt with a frigid peak of 11.5
degrees, while other parts of the country saw daytime temperatures range
between 10 and 11 degrees, reports WeerOnline.nl.
Twitter user @Carmenrosjee said today, "It looks like winter outside ... let's go to work."
The first recorded temperatures for May 29 were noted in 1901. It was
not the coldest Ascension Day on record, which took place on May 12,
2010, with a high temperature of 9.2 degrees. - NL Times.
First Five Months Of 2014 Coldest On Record In The US
US temperatures through May were the coldest on record. 2012 brought
great joy to climate alarmists, and 2014 has turned most of them into
reality deniers. - Real Science.
Series Of Moderate Earthquakes And Aftershocks Hit The Philippines
USGS earthquake location map.
A series of moderate earthquakes and aftershocks hit the Philippines
early Sunday, with US geologists estimating the shallowest - a
magnitude-5.1 tremor - at just one kilometre deep, but there were no
initial reports of damage. The first quake struck off the southern
island of Mindanao at around 3:00 am local time (1900 GMT), some 30
kilometres (17 miles) east-northeast of the city of Cortes, according to
the USGS.
It was followed by at least six moderate aftershocks, the strongest a
magnitude-5.3 that was four kilometres deep, the USGS said. There were
no immediate reports of damage and no tsunami warning was issued.
Mudslide Leaves 6 Dead And 3 Missing In Northwest Guatemala
At least six people died, three went missing and seven were injured
Saturday in a mudslide in a northwestern region of Guatemala due to
torrential rains, a local official said.
The Conred emergency management service said the tragedy occurred in the
village of Joya Grande in the municipality of San Pedro Necta,
Huehuetenango province, near the Mexican border.
Rescue units have been dispatched to the area of the incident to join
the search for the three missing persons, the emergency management
service said.
Conred said that seven homes were buried under mud that collapsed down
the mountainside onto the village below due to downpours in the region.
Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina told reporters, after taking part
in an event outside the National Palace of Culture, that his government
has already sent aid for those left homeless.
"Unfortunately, it hasn't stopped raining since Thursday," the president
said, adding that Vice President Roxana Baldetti was unable to enter
Huehuetenango on Friday due to the bad weather.
"This morning I got the terrible news that some people have been killed
and 17 homes have been destroyed. It's terrible because these are the
first rains" of the season, the president said.
Perez Molina said that his government is following up on the situation to provide aid for the homeless families.
- LAHT.
