Magnitude-5.4 quake strikes Southern California

LOS ANGELES – A moderate earthquake jolted Southern California on Wednesday, rattling buildings in downtown Los Angeles, toppling wine bottles at desert resorts and briefly halting rides at Disneyland.

There were no reports of immediate injuries or major damage, although residents across a wide swath of Southern California were spooked by the force of the magnitude-5.4 quake.

It struck at 4:53 p.m. and was centered 28 miles south of Palm Springs, or about 130 miles east of Los Angeles, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Laura Anderson, a manager at The Palms at Indian Head Hotel, said she ran outside when the shaking started and was surprised to learn the temblor's magnitude wasn't higher.

"It was quite a shaker, this one was a little scarier," she said. "We were heading for the door. We're kind of waiting out here for a big one to hit. It was enough to knock over some wine bottles and some pictures fell off the wall."

The quake was initially reported as a magnitude-5.9 but later downgraded to 5.4. Sheriff's departments in Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange and San Diego counties have no immediate reports of major damage or injuries.

Holy Christian pilgrimage site could become a shopping mall

The Ein Karem spring on the outskirts of Jerusalem is considered one of the four most important Christian pilgrimage sites in Israel. It is believed that Mary, mother of Jesus, drank from this spring during her pregnancy, on her way to Bethlehem. About a million Christian pilgrims visit the site every year, making it one of the holiest and most frequented sites in Israel.
The new and unplanned concrete structure that has been built in Ein Karem

The new and unplanned concrete structure that has been built in Ein Karem.
Photo by: Daniel Bar-On

For nearly two decades, the Jerusalem municipality and the Tourism Ministry have been planning to renovate the open space in front of the spring, transforming it into a square for the pilgrims. Work at the site finally began two years ago. According to the plans - along with the sign posted at the site - a large square is set to be paved there, along with a small building for public restrooms.

White House Backs Kenyan Constitution Allowing Abortion

The Obama administration is offering incentives to Kenya to approve a controversial new constitution that would legalize abortion for the first time, promising that passage will "allow money to flow" into the nation's coffers, including U.S. aid.

But there's a hitch to that pledge. A federal law known as the Siljander Amendment passed in 2006 makes it illegal for the U.S. government to lobby on abortion in other countries -- and three U.S. lawmakers say they want a federal investigation into the promises made by the administration.

Millions of Australian food plants poisoned in sabotage attack

Townsville - Australia’s growers are in shock after a deliberate herbicide attack destroyed millions of tomato seedlings in northern Queensland. This criminal attack has been reported to police, and apparently it’s not the first time.
The attack will cause a massive spike in prices. Four million tomato seedlings, capsicums, and egg plants, were destroyed. Motives for the attack aren’t clear.

Theories range from a “grudge” to competition based or hoons.
Growers in Australia, who’ve been dealing with drought, locust and mouse plagues in various areas, could have done without this. So could consumers. These conditions haven’t exactly helped shelf prices, and this attack is expected to cause a major spike in vegetable prices in two months, when the new crop was expected to be available.

Satellite network meant to save the planet could cost the earth

A large asteroid hitting the Earth could mean the worst natural disaster in millions of years – and threaten most forms of life.

“A giant tsunami wave will rise, submerging coastal cities. If a meteor hits land, a massive dust cloud will rise, and cause severe climate change,” Director of the Space Systems Research Centre, Valery Menshikov explains.

As a leading space engineer, Menshikov believes we have to do anything it takes to make sure this never happens.

His team has developed IGMASS, a groundbreaking network of satellites and telescopes on different continents. The system would give advance warning of anything from space on course for a collision, meaning that action could be taken to save the Earth.

Locust Plague Ravages China's Pastures, Farm Areas

Huge swarms of locusts are ravaging grasslands and farmlands in many parts of China amid the lingering summer heat, and local authorities have resorted to aerial spraying of pesticides to kill the insects.

Authorities in northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have monitored locusts which have infested 3.9 million hectares, or 4.5 percent of the region's total area of grasslands, according to the latest figure released by the Department of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry (DAAH) of Inner Mongolia.

The hot and dry weather were believed to have triggered the ravaging by the insects, which are harmful to crops and grassland, said Zhang Zhuoran, chief of the vegetation conservation section of the DAAH.

Adding to the problems, the temperature in the region has been three to five degrees Celsius higher than the average during the same period since June, and the precipitation during this period has been 50-90 percent lower than usual in most of the region, Zhang said.

The DAAH has mobilized more than 6,000 people and five planes for locust control, completing nearly 130,000 hectares of pesticide spraying.

Nasa must try to make Muslims 'feel good'

Charles Bolden, a retired United States Marines Corps major-general and former astronaut, said in an interview with al-Jazeera that Nasa was not only a space exploration agency but also an "Earth improvement agency".
Mr Bolden said: "When I became the Nasa administrator, he [Mr Obama] charged me with three things.

"One, he wanted me to help reinspire children to want to get into science and math; he wanted me to expand our international relationships; and third, and perhaps foremost, he wanted me to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science, math, and engineering."

He added: "It is a matter of trying to reach out and get the best of all worlds, if you will, and there is much to be gained by drawing in the contributions that are possible from the Muslim [nations]."

Airline Loses Luggage of Israeli Security Detail; 4 Guns Missing

American Airlines workers at John F. Kennedy airport apparently lost luggage belonging to security officials for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Getty Images

American Airlines workers at John F. Kennedy Airport apparently lost luggage belonging to security officials for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, officials said Tuesday.

The lost suitcase -- with weapons inside -- was eventually discovered in Los Angeles. Four Glock 9 mm handguns that were in the bag are now missing and police officials say they believe they were stolen.

The bag was supposed to have been on the flight from JFK to Washington DC where additional Israeli security officers were being assigned to help with the Israeli leader's visit with President Obama at the White House.

Port Authority police at JFK are now investigating whether the guns were stolen in New York or after the errant bag arrived in Los Angeles, a PA spokesman said.

Officials said security protocols require travelers with handguns to pack the weapons and send them via checked luggage.

One source said the bag was inspected by Transportation Security Administration screeners who put a seal over the bag at Kennedy Airport, clearing the weapons for shipment to Washington.

A spokesman for the Israeli Consulate referred all calls about the lost bag and the missing handguns to American Airlines.

"When you have a situation related to security, we allow the appropriate law enforcement agencies to handle the situation and we refrain from commenting publicly, so that we don't hamper an investigation," said Tim Wagner, a spokesman for American Airlines.

Palestine ready to fight Israel, if you are?

The official Palestinian Authority daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida reports that PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas supports negotiations with Israel today because it is the only option. However, the newspaper quotes Abbas about the military option: "If you [Arab states] want war, and if all of you will fight Israel, we are in favor. But the Palestinians will not fight alone because they don't have the ability to do it."

Federal Government Helped Pay Home Air-Conditioning Bills for Federal Employees, Prisoners and More Than 11,000 Dead People

According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the federal government helped pay the home air conditioning bills for more than 11,000 dead people, 1,100 federal employees, and 725 convicts in fiscal year 2009.

The payments were made by a $5 billion program known as the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). LIHEAP is designed to provide federal assistance, administered by the states, to help people pay the energy bills to heat their homes in the winter and cool them in the summer. The funds are disbursed by the Department of Health and Human Services and are distributed based on a formula that takes into account a state’s weather and the size of its low-income population.

The GAO examined the LIHEAP programs in seven states: Virginia, Maryland, Ohio, New York, Illinois, Michigan, and New Jersey. The agency found evidence of fraud in each state.

“Our analysis of LIHEAP data revealed that the program is at risk of fraud and providing improper benefits in all seven of our selected states,” reported the GAO. “About 260,000 applications--9 percent of households receiving benefits in the selected states--contained invalid identity information, such as Social Security numbers, names, or dates of birth.”

Gulf awash in 27,000 abandoned wells

More than 27,000 abandoned oil and gas wells lurk in the hard rock beneath the Gulf of Mexico, an environmental minefield that has been ignored for decades. No one — not industry, not government — is checking to see if they are leaking, an Associated Press investigation shows.

The oldest of these wells were abandoned in the late 1940s, raising the prospect that many deteriorating sealing jobs are already failing.

The AP investigation uncovered particular concern with 3,500 of the neglected wells — those characterized in federal government records as "temporarily abandoned."

This time it's oil trouble for Lake Pontchartrain

NEW ORLEANS – Oil from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico is seeping into Lake Pontchartrain north of New Orleans, threatening another environmental disaster for the huge body of water that was rescued from pollution in the 1990s

Scorching temperatures returning to wilted East

Scattered power outages have affected customers up and down the coast and usage approached record levels. In the Washington, D.C., area, nearly 1,000 customers were without power Wednesday, while New Jersey's largest utility, Public Service Electric & Gas, reported about 6,500 customers without electricity. Consolidated Edison in New York said it was working to restore power to about 6,300 customers, down from outages to 18,700 customers Tuesday.

The heat also hampered train travel and forced nursing homes with power problems to evacuate. On New York's Long Island, the Red Cross said local merchants would help to distribute free bottled water to day laborers.

'UFOs' spotted in Reading

The video was captured by Lizzie Zuowen Tang and Jo Mingjiao Xue who claim to have seen 21 flying objects between 4.45 and 5.53 in the morning.

Ms Tang said: "Their shapes were like rods which pointed in the direction they were flying, but they were rotating at the same time when flying forward.

"They flew very slowly without the noise which planes generate when flying, so at first we thought they were meteors, but then we immediately realised that they were definitely not meteors because their speed was much slower.

"We think that they were flying at a very high altitude and we saw two of them generate a very strong light flash for a few seconds when they were flying."

This is not the first time UFO's have been spotted in the UK, many people were left puzzled by a mysterious cylinder that hovered over a busy campsite in Brean, Somerset, last year.

Magnitude 4.4 Quake Shakes Eastern San Diego

SAN DIEGO -- A magnitude 4.4 earthquake struck the Imperial Valley and eastern San Diego County Monday, according to seismologists at the U.S. Geological Survey.

Monday's quake was centered further south than most other aftershocks from the magnitude 7.2 Easter Sunday earthquake which killed two people in Mexicali and caused about $100 million damage north of the border, according to USGS data.

Monday's temblor was centered about 60 miles south-southeast of Mexicali, and 50 miles north of the resort town of San Felipe, on the Sea of Cortez coast. It hit at 2:30 a.m.

Presbyterians to consider redefining marriage

MINNEAPOLIS- This week's General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) will consider redefining marriage to include same-sex couples and allowing ministers to perform same-sex weddings.

Carmen Fowler, president of the Presbyterian Lay Committee, believes those sorts of initiatives are to blame for the denomination's declining membership.

Her group supports upholding the church's traditional definition of marriage.

The PCUSA's newly-elected moderator, Cynthia Bolbach, supports gay marriage but told the assembly on Saturday that the denomination has become paralyzed.

Authorities Investigate Origin of Tar Balls Found Along Texas Coast

Residents along the Texas coast are holding out hope that the tar balls washing up on their shores are not a sign of what's to come.

A bucket's worth of tar balls was discovered over the weekend along the shores of Gavelston, Texas -- more than two months after oil gushing from a blown-out well on the ocean floor first reached Louisiana.

Authorities, however, said Tuesday that they do not know whether the tar balls found in Texas were dropped from a contaminated ship passing through the waters.

Guess who's covering sensational claim on Obama's birth

BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Hawaiian elections official who claims that the White House is lying about Barack Obama being born in Hawaii and that no long-form, hospital-generated birth certificate even exists for the president in the state is now featured in a cover story in Globe magazine, repeating the allegations originally revealed by WND.
Tim Adams, the Hawaiian elections official who maintains the White House is involved in a coverup of President Obama's true birthplace, is now featured in the Globe.

Tim Adams, 45, who was senior elections clerk for the city and county of Honolulu during the 2008 presidential campaign, is the basis of the report, with a banner headline reading: "Bombshell new evidence. Obama was not born in U.S."

The Globe begins its account by stating, "A former Hawaii records official is sending shock waves through Washington, D.C., by revealing there is absolutely no birth certificate for Barack Obama! The bombshell revelation backs up long-standing claims that Obama – who insists he was born in a Honolulu hospital – really took his first breath in Kenya, and, as a result, violates the U.S. Constitution's requirements for thepresident to be a 'natural born' American."

U.S. Chicken McNuggets 'contain Silly Putty chemical and more calories and fat' than in Britain

Chicken nuggets sold in U.S. branches of McDonald's contain a chemical used in Silly Putty.

'McNuggets' sold to American fast food lovers contain dimethylpolysiloxane, an anti-foaming agent used in Silly Putty.

They also have more calories and fat than those sold in the chain's British restaurants, according to a CNN study.

Virtual reality food could be used in therapy for eating disorders

Sufferers of anorexia and bulimia could reduce their fear and anxieties around food by visiting a computer generated restaurant and pretending to dine, a study shows.
Researchers believe that the technique could reverse their unhealthy relationship with food to the point where they can eventually be reintroduced to the real thing.

The novel approach could be developed after scientists found that food presented in a virtual reality environment causes the same emotional responses as real food.


The sight of food causes major anxiety among sufferers of eating disorders and they develop unhealthy eating habits.

Therapies using real food are not always successful as they can ascorbate the problem and create even more anxiety.

By using virtual reality you can slowly build up their confidence around food before eventually reintroducing them to real thing.

The virtual reality experience was shown to be much stronger than just showing the patients photographs.

The 10 anorexic, 10 bulimic and 10 healthy participants, all women, were initially shown a series of six real, high-calorie foods placed on a table in front of them.

Their heart rate, perspiration and psychological stress were measured during the exposure.

This process was then repeated with a slide show of the same foods, and a virtual reality trip into a computer-generated diner where they could interact with the virtual version of the same six items.

The participants’ level of stress was statistically identical whether in virtual reality or real exposure.

Surveillance system monitors conversations

The technology, called Sigard, monitors movements and speech to detect signs of threatening behaviour.
Its designers claim the system can anticipate anti-social behaviour and violence by analysing the information picked up its sensors.

They say alerts are then sent to police, nightclub bouncers or shop security staff, which allow them to nip trouble in the bud before arguments spiral into violence.

The devices are designed to distinguish between distress calls, threatening behaviour and general shouting.

The system, produced by Sound Intelligence, is being used in Dutch prisons, city centres and Amsterdam's Central Rail Station.

Coventry City Council is funding a pilot project which has for six months and has installed seven devices in the nightlife area on the High Street.

Dylan Sharpe, from Big Brother Watch, said: "There can be no justification for giving councils or the police the capability to listen in on private conversations.

"There is enormous potential for abuse, or a misheard word, causing unnecessary harm with this sort of intrusive and overbearing surveillance."

USDA Reports Food Shortages:

Several recent headlines indicate that food prices will continue their swift climb upward. These troubling new reports show that agriculture production and stored grains are critically low and experts are now predicting food shortages on a grand scale.

Look at a few mainstream headlines: Drought threatens global rice supply in the India Times; VA farmers say heat taking toll on crops, Associated Press; Severe food shortage follows lack of rainfall in Syria; and, finally, Corn prices bolt as USDA downsizes crop estimates, which states that, "Commodity professionals were caught off guard Wednesday by a U.S. Department of Agriculture report showing 1 million fewer acres of corn planted this year than earlier projected, and almost 300 million fewer bushels of corn in storage." And these articles don't begin to address crops being damaged by the toxic rain from the Gulf oil disaster.

We are back to recession economics and rapidly heading toward a deeper, longer “Third Depression.” With all recent economic indicators setting new record lows and deficits at record highs, this ship is only going one way folks, down, down to Chinatown. This WTC-Building 7-style-controlled-demolition of the U.S. economy has long been engineered by the borderless banksters and has been set in the same way to collapse at a free-fall rate. With all of the manufactured confusion it may be difficult to know where best to invest your limited assets, but it seems to be clear that Food is on the march.

There were several trend forecasters and financial firms predicting upwards of $200/barrel of oil before the Gulf oil gusher. The “analysts” said this would occur because of the perception of scarcity and a weakening dollar. The oil disaster and the subsequent outrage at Big Oil will surely take care of selling the perception of scarcity, while the Federal Reserve and Congress will surely take care of weakening the dollar.

'Saudi king says Israel, Iran don't deserve to exist'

Saudi Arabia on Friday denied a report in French daily Le Figaro, according to which Kind Abdullah told the French Defense minister that "two states in the region do not deserve to exist: Israel and Iran".

A Saudi official told the government-controlled Saudi Press, "This is untrue altogether", and expressed bewilderment at the French paper's willingness to make such charges without verifying the details.

The official added that Saudi Arabia's position was "clear".

According to the Le Figaro report, King Abdullah made the comment during a June 5 meeting with French Defense Minister Herve Morin, just days after Israel's deadly takeover of a Gaza-bound flotilla.
The report emphasized that "military and diplomatic elements" confirmed that king did in fact make the comment.

Last month Saudi Arabia denied a report in the London Times that Riyadh was planning to allow Israel to use its airspace in order to strike Iran's nuclear facilities.
King Abdullah met this week with US President Obama in an attempt to present a united front on Iran's nuclear program and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. At the end of their meeting, the two declared the "importance of moving forward in a swift and bold way in securing a Palestinian homeland."

If a depression is on your mind, here's what to do

Depressions are, technically, extremely severe business contractions. Before the Great Depression, all business downturns were called depressions. Economists started using the term "recession" after the Great Depression, because they didn't want to terrify the public, already scarred from the Big One.

The hallmarks of a depression are abnormally high unemployment, numerous bank failures and massive bankruptcies.

The term "depression" also carries the connotation of deflation — that is, a sharp decline in prices. Certainly, housing and stock prices have been marked down sharply in the past two years.

The bond market, too, is signaling lower prices ahead. When bond traders expect inflation, they push interest rates higher to offset their lost buying power. But the two-year Treasury note currently yields 0.62%, close to its all-time low. And the bellwether 10-year T-note yields just 2.95%. If inflation is about to rear its ugly head, the bond market isn't worried about it.

If you're concerned about deflation, then, the first thing to do is to pay down your debts. This is a good idea in any event, but it's a particularly good idea in a deflationary period.

With the US trapped in depression, this really is starting to feel like 1932

The US workforce shrank by 652,000 in June, one of the sharpest contractions ever. The rate of hourly earnings fell 0.1pc. Wages are flirting with deflation.

"The economy is still in the gravitational pull of the Great Recession," said Robert Reich, former US labour secretary. "All the booster rockets for getting us beyond it are failing."

"Home sales are down. Retail sales are down. Factory orders in May suffered their biggest tumble since March of last year. So what are we doing about it? Less than nothing," he said.

California is tightening faster than Greece. State workers have seen a 14pc fall in earnings this year due to forced furloughs. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is cutting pay for 200,000 state workers to the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour to cover his $19bn (£15bn) deficit.

Can Illinois be far behind? The state has a deficit of $12bn and is $5bn in arrears to schools, nursing homes, child care centres, and prisons. "It is getting worse every single day," said state comptroller Daniel Hynes. "We are not paying bills for absolutely essential services. That is obscene."

Roughly a million Americans have dropped out of the jobs market altogether over the past two months. That is the only reason why the headline unemployment rate is not exploding to a post-war high.

Let us be honest. The US is still trapped in depression a full 18 months into zero interest rates, quantitative easing (QE), and fiscal stimulus that has pushed the budget deficit above 10pc of GDP.

Church files claim against BP for spill revenue loss

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala. - God only knows what will happen to churches and other nonprofit organizations who say they are struggling for survival because of the Gulf oil spill crisis.

Months after the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and its well started gushing oil, the British petroleum giant says it has yet to decide how to handle claims filed by religious groups and other charitable organizations that are endangered because people can no longer afford to contribute.

Pastor Dan Brown prays BP PLC comes up with a solution quickly: He said he filed a $50,000 claim last month over lost revenues at Anchor Assembly of God. His small, storefront church outlived Hurricane Katrina and is now struggling because of the oil crisis.

Shrimpers and oystermen left jobless by the oil spill in this seafood town can barely afford to feed their families and pay their boat loans, much less give money to their church, Brown said. Giving and tithing is down by $12,000 over the last few weeks, he said, and the oil spill will cost another $38,000 in lost revenues over the next year, making up the total of the church's claim.

Dangerous Eastern Heat Wave Could be a Record-Breaker

A dangerous and record-challenging heat wave will affect much of the East this week as a once-delightful air mass turns ugly.

In some locations this heat wave will rival many that have occurred in the past 20 years with the potential for up to a several-day stretch of temperatures in the upper 90s to low 100s from southern New England to the Carolinas.

Cities from Hartford, New York and Philadelphia to Washington, D.C., Raleigh and Columbia will swelter.

Temperatures over the Independence Day weekend were just a warm up compared to how nasty the weather will get, especially for those who do not have air conditioning or must do manual labor outdoors.

The highest temperatures will occur Tuesday and Wednesday in northern areas, while the Carolinas will feel the inferno later in the week as the core of the heat wave shifts to the south.

Rockets Fired at U.S. Embassy as Biden Visits Iraq

Rockets were fired at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad while Vice President Biden visits Iraq.

The rockets were fired at the embassy, located inside the International Zone.

Vice President Biden is currently in the country to meet with U.S. troops and talk to Iraqi political leaders.

Two soldiers inside the compound reported there was an impact from the incoming fire.

An all clear was given after the attack.

Mexican musicians wary after latest murder

Mexico's unrelenting wave of violence struck the music business again June 26, when Mexican star Sergio "El Shaka" Vega was gunned down as he drove to a concert in the western state of Sinaloa. Vega's murder was followed by the June 28 assassination of Rodolfo Torre Cantu, the leading candidate for governor in the border state of Tamaulipas, which sent shockwaves through the Mexican political establishment.

Vega's death marked the highest-profile killing of a professional musician in Mexico since 2007, when K-Paz de la Sierra leader Sergio Gomez was kidnapped and strangled after a performance in Michoacan state.

Of the dozen-plus Mexican artists who have been killed since the 2006 murder of banda icon Valentin Elizalde, most haven't enjoyed the international success of Vega, who had scored five top 10 singles on Billboard's regional Mexican airplay chart. His next album, "Millonario de Amor," is due July 20 on Disa Records, an imprint of Universal Music Latin Entertainment.

Industry sources say artists have learned to steer clear of regions in Mexico that have been particularly plagued by violence. Still, sources say, some artists have become ensnared in one way or another with organized crime. There are persistent rumors, for example, of artists being "sponsored" by drug lords who may commission a song in their honor, ask an artist to play at a private party or go as far as bankrolling entire marketing campaigns. Segura says he isn't letting his clients play private parties for the time being because "you don't know who can show up and start shooting."

Horses take off, injure 24 people at Iowa parade

BELLEVUE, Iowa – Two runaway horses raced along a Fourth of July parade route in a small Mississippi River town in eastern Iowa on Sunday, trampling children who were in the street picking up candy and injuring 24 people, police said.

The horses became out of control after one rubbed its head against the other, removing that horse's bridle. The horses and the wagon attached to them ran for six blocks, running into children and adults seated and standing along the streets watching the parade in Bellevue, a town of about 2,300 people 25 miles south of Dubuque on the Iowa-Illinois border.

The victims were as young as 2 years old and suffered injuries ranging from multiple fractures to collapsed lungs and bruises and abrasions. Five were in critical condition, and five had severe injuries, according to a statement from the city's police and fire departments.

"The mood is shock and disbelief," Bellevue Mayor Virgil Murray said. "We've had this parade forever. We've had horses in the parade forever."

6.3 Quake

Quake with a magnitude of 6.3 rattles northern Japan, no danger of tsunami.

NY man blows off arm with party fireworks

ISLIP TERRACE, N.Y. – Police say a man lighting fireworks has blown off his arm at a party on New York's Long Island.

Suffolk County police say 36-year-old Eric Smith was using a 3-foot long metal tube to shoot mortars from the street near his Islip (EYE'-slip) Terrace home around 5:45 p.m. Saturday.

Police believe he leaned over the device to ignite it and didn't get out of the way before an explosive shot out of the launcher. His left arm was severed at the shoulder.

Smith was taken to Southside Hospital in serious condition while friends packed the lost limb in ice to try to save it. Police believe doctors will try to reattach his arm.

Rough weather curtails some Gulf cleanup work

NEW ORLEANS – Cleanup crews across the Gulf of Mexico surveyed damage done by last week's hurricane while contending Sunday with choppy seas that idled many of the boats dedicated to keeping oil from hitting vulnerable beaches and marshes.

Offshore skimming vessels were able to operate in Louisiana waters, but not off the coasts of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida, officials said.

"We've got our guys out there and they're docked and ready, but safety is a huge concern for us, especially with the smaller vessels," said Courtnee Ferguson, a spokeswoman for the Joint Information Command in Mobile, Ala.

The offshore skimming in those states has essentially been curtailed for nearly a week, thanks to weather generated earlier by Hurricane Alex, even though it was never closer than 500 miles or so to the spill.

On Sunday, huge barges used to collect oil from skimming vessels were parked at the mouth of Mobile Bay, waiting for conditions to subside as waves rose to about 5 feet high miles offshore.

The current spate of bad weather is likely to last well into next week, according to the National Weather Service.

ACLU Presses Gov't to Ensure Faith-Based Hospitals Provide Emergency Abortions

The American Civil Liberties Union is pressing a federal health agency to ensure that religiously-affiliated hospitals provide emergency reproductive care as required by federal law.

"The lives and health of pregnant women seeking medical care should be of paramount importance," expressed Brigitte Amiri, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project, in a statement Thursday. "No woman should have to worry that she will not receive the care she needs based on the affiliation of the nearest hospital."

In a letter dated Thursday, the ACLU asked the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) to investigate situations in which the lives and health of patients were jeopardized as a result of hospitals' adherence to religious doctrine, rather than medical ethics.

UN says at least 220 dead, scores wounded oil tanker truck explosion

SANGE, Congo (AP) — A tanker truck hauling fuel on a rural eastern Congo highway overturned, gushing oil and exploding in a massive fireball that killed about 220 bystanders, including many who had been watching the World Cup in flimsy roadside shacks, officials and witnesses said Saturday.

The Red Cross said at least 61 children and 36 women were among the dead. Witnesses said dozens of people had descended on the truck to siphon fuel illegally from the wreckage with jerry-cans and plastic buckets, apparently unaware of the danger.

U.N. peacekeepers rushed to evacuate more than 200 wounded from the scene by helicopter and ambulance, while Red Cross teams carried the charred bodies from the scene in body bags and buried them in two mass graves a few miles (kilometers) away.

The truck overturned as it was trying to pass a minibus late Friday near the village of Sange, around 20 miles (30 kilometers) north of Uvira, a town on the northern tip of Lake Tanganyika near the Burundi border, said Mana Lungwe, manager of the Congolese oil company that owns the truck. The vehicle began gushing oil, then burst into flames an hour later.

Seismic Swarm Shakes And Rolls Costa Rica

more than 30 tremors shook Costa Rica, the majority due to a seismic swarm* in the Irazú volcano.

The first registered tremor was at 1:45pm registering 4.0 on the Richter scale, with an epicentre some 25 kilometres northwest of Quepos, with a depth of 58 kilometres.

The tremors were felt in many areas.

At the end of the seismic swarm a total of 32 tremors were registered, but only 2 of the shakes were felt.

*The seismic phenomenon known as a "seismic swarm" is an episode of high earthquake activity in which the largest earthquake does not occur at the beginning of the episode and in which the largest earthquake is not substantially larger than other earthquakes of the episode.

Whiter Clouds Could Mean Wetter Land

One proposed emergency fix to halt global warming is to seed clouds over the ocean to make them more reflective, reducing the solar radiation absorbed by the Earth. But the scheme could also change global rainfall patterns, raising concerns of water shortages on land.

A new study by the Carnegie Institution, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science, suggests that altered atmospheric circulation under the scheme in fact could increase monsoonal rains and cause the continents to become wetter, not drier, on average.

Whitening clouds over the ocean to reflect sunlight is one of several geoengineering schemes proposed to counter global warming. The whitening would be accomplished by reducing the size of the water droplets making up the clouds.

"Rain clouds, which have big droplets, tend to be grey and absorb sunlight, whereas clouds with smaller droplets tend to be white and fluffy and reflect more sunlight to space," says co-author Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution'

BBC News - South Korea professor charged over 'holy water' fraud

A South Korean professor who claimed he could make tap water into holy water will face fraud charges, police say.

The man, named as Prof Kim, claimed he could digitally capture the elements of holy water from Lourdes, France, that believers say has healing powers.

He had sold devices to more than 5,000 people, making almost 1.7bn won ($1.3m, £870,000).

Eight people, including Prof Kim's wife and brother-in-law, will also be charged.

The famous shrine to the Virgin Mary at Lourdes offers water which some believe has healing powers.

Mr Kim had claimed his ceramic and paper filters, and plastic cards used in water purifiers, had captured those powers for onward transmission.

Liberal rabbi who caught Helen Thomas on tape: 'I have to kind of reevaluate...'

Rabbi David Nesenoff is a self-described liberal Democrat who used to think Obama should be given a chance to change U.S. foreign policy for the better.
Now he worries about the existence of the state of Israel.

Nesenoff says he is increasingly troubled by the failure of Obama to speak forcefully about the right of Israel to exist, at a time when some of the country’s neighbors are more determined than ever to destroy it.

Top forecasters see 105,000 U.S. job loss in June

BANGALORE -- Forecasters who have given the most accurate predictions for U.S. non-farm payrolls over the past year are giving no clear directional steer on where the risk lies for the June report due for release on Friday.

Financial markets are bracing for a weak report after digesting several other reports on the U.S. economy since the forecasts were provided, including a much weaker than expected ADP employment report on Wednesday.

According to an analysis carried out by Reuters, the median prediction of 18 of the top 20 most accurate forecasters for U.S. payrolls shows a loss of 105,000 jobs compared with a net loss of 110,000 from a wider survey of 73 economists.

Pelosi: Unemployment Checks Fastest Way to Create Jobs

Unemployment benefits are creating jobs faster than practically any other program, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday.

Talking to reporters, the House speaker was defending a jobless benefits extension against those who say it gives recipients little incentive to work. By her reasoning, those checks are helping give somebody a job.

"It injects demand into the economy," Pelosi said, arguing that when families have money to spend it keeps the economy churning. "It creates jobs faster than almost any other initiative you can name."

What she really is saying is that The American people are 2nd, first the economy...Because frankly..we mess up!(we the democrats). We keep going round and round until the money runs out and we get elected again!!.

This summer look out.

Years of fraud and abuse … this government-backed bubble is about to burst.
They've run out of credit, lies and excuses. And this summer, the evidence is bubbling to the surface:
• Colorado Springs has let 1/3rd of its streetlights go dark … sold police helicopters on eBay … and halted all street paving.
• Arizona plans to sell – then lease back – its State House and Senate buildings … a desperate one-time move to raise cash.
• Illinois' liquid assets have dipped below $1 million … as they scramble to limit fallout from a giant $39 billion deficit.
• States from Kansas to Hawaii have considered bills to cut the five-day school week down to four … or cancel entire grade-years altogether.
• Los Angeles has called for all city agencies (save Fire and Police) to cut back to a 3-day workweek.
• The capital of Pennsylvania has already skipped its 2010 debt payments … and has been downgraded to high risk junk by Moody's.
• And Toledo, Ohio, admits it may have to lay off every government employee.

Florida school district bans Bibles on Religious Freedom Day

Maitland-based Liberty Counsel filed a lawsuit Thursday to overturn a ban on Bible distribution on public school campuses in Collier County. According to the Liberty Counsel, the Collier County School Board allowed World Changers to distribute free Bibles to students during off-school hours on Religious Freedom Day, but now the school officials claim that Bibles do not provide any educational benefit to the students and the distribution should stop.

The Collier County School District policy specifically allows the distribution of literature by nonprofit organizations, but only with the approval of the superintendent and the Community Request Committee, whose members are appointed by the superintendent. Approval was denied to World Changers, despite the fact that its distribution included a disclaimer of any school endorsement or sponsorship and that receiving a Bible was purely voluntary. “How sad that on the eve of Independence Day, when we celebrate the religious and political freedom our forefathers won for us at the cost of much blood and great sacrifice, we are compelled to sue to protect the right simply to make free Bibles available to students in public schools,” said Mathew D. Staver, Liberty Counsel founder.

U.N. report: Scrap dollar as sole reserve currency

-- A new United Nations report released on Tuesday calls for abandoning the U.S. dollar as the main global reserve currency, saying it has been unable to safeguard value. But several European officials attending a high-level meeting of the U.N. Economic and Social Council countered by saying that the market, not politicians, would determine what currencies countries would keep on hand for reserves.

"The dollar has proved not to be a stable store of value, which is a requisite for a stable reserve currency," the U.N. World Economic and Social Survey 2010 said. The report says that developing countries have been hit by the U.S. dollar's loss of value in recent years . . . The report supports replacing the dollar with the International Monetary Fund's special drawing rights (SDRs), an international reserve asset that is used as a unit of payment on IMF loans and is made up of a basket of currencies.

U.S. Borders Cannot Be Secured With Fences and Border Patrols

President Barack Obama said today that U.S. borders cannot be secured with fences and border patrols. “It won’t work,” he said. Obama made the statement in a speech at American University in Washington, D.C. in which he called on Congress to enact a “comprehensive immigration reform” law that would include a “pathway for legal status” for illegal immigrants - or what critics call amnesty.

“Even as we are committed to doing what’s necessary to secure our borders, even without passage of the new law, there are those who argue that we should not move forward with any other elements of reform until we have fully sealed our borders,” said Obama. “But our borders are just too vast for us to be able to solve the problem only with fences and border patrols. It won’t work. Our borders will not be secure as long as our limited resources are devoted to not only stopping gangs and potential terrorists, but also the hundreds of thousands who attempt to cross each year simply to find work.”

21 killed in shootout between drug, migrant trafficking gangs near Arizona border

HERMOSILLO, Mexico (AP) — A massive gun battle between rival drug and migrant trafficking gangs near the U.S. border Thursday left 21 people dead and at least six others wounded, prosecutors said.

The fire fight occurred in a sparsely populated area about 12 miles (20 kilometers) from the Arizona border, near the city of Nogales, that is considered a prime corridor for immigrant and drug smuggling.

California's Gov. Schwarzenegger orders minimum wage for 200,000 state workers, citing lack of state budget.

KTLA gets reaction to Governor Schwarzenegger's executive order to cut 10000 state jobs and reduce 200000 state worker's pay to $6.55/hr, the federal minimum wage. (The executive order was rejected.)

Sinkhole Opens Up

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
A man's SUV suffered minor damage after a sinkhole opened up at the Giant Eagle in the Parkway Center Mall Sunday afternoon.

A trip to the grocery store turned into a major ordeal for one man Sunday afternoon.

A sinkhole opened up in front of the Giant Eagle at the Parkway Center Mall.

A man's car partially sank into the hole, but crews were able to get it out with minimal damage.

"I was just about to pull out of the parking lot when the left front wheel sank down into the sinkhole," Gabriel Akec said.

GEORGE TOWN: A 20m stretch of Kelawai Lane, adjacent to the multi-storey underground carpark of a super-condominium project, has been partly cordoned off after it sank by about a metre, raising fears among residents at nearby high-rise buildings.

According to residents at the seven-storey Desa Mas apartment nearby, cracks started appearing on the road at about 11.30am.

Sinkhole Opens Up Outside LP Field

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It is unclear how much it will cost or who will repair a sinkhole that was found a few days after the May flood outside of LP Field.

Video: LP Field Sinkhole Causes Foundation Questions

The sinkhole, which is about 4 to 6 feet deep and 30 feet in diameter, was discovered about six weeks ago.

The stadium’s general manager, Walter Overton, said he's concerned about the hole.

"We found materials that were probably used to fill any other hole, not sure if it's representative of what should be there,” said Overton.

The material found deep inside this sinkhole included gravel, dirt and wood.

Overton brought up the issue Monday at a Metro Sports Authority meeting. He's now wondering if this could pose problems for other parts of the field, he said.

Jobless claims climb 13,000 to 472,000 Economic Report

The number of people filing first-time claims for unemployment benefits climbed 13,000 in the latest week to 472,000, indicating continued weakness in the labor market.

Although claims have fallen 22% from one year ago, they are up 4% since the start of 2010, according to data from the Labor Department. Weekly claims typically would have to fall below 400,000 to signify improved hiring trends.

Vandals Hit Pro-Life Advocates in Iowa, New Mexico With Graffiti, Egg Attacks

Pro-abortion vandals have hit pro-life advocates in two states -- Iowa and New Mexico. In the former, a member of Dubuque County Right to Life was victimized by having his property spray-painted with pro-abortion graffiti; in the latter, a pro-life group's truck and the home of its driver were pelted with eggs.

In Iowa, Allen Troupe reported last week that his home was spray-painted with the phrases “support abortion” and “baby killer" -- causing about $100 worth of damages.

He told the local newspaper he believes he was targeted because he has a sign in his window reading: “Planned Parenthood: Bad for Dubuque."

“I don't care what side you're on, there are some things that are just never right,” he told the Telegraph Herald.

"This is outrageous and I think there should be a little more attention. I realize some jerk out there will get their 15 minutes of fame, but I believe it speaks again to the disparity of violence against pro-lifers versus the other way around," Steven Brody, the local Right to Life president, said about the incident.

Meanwhile, in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a truck belonging to Operation Rescue and its driver's home were vandalized after an unknown assailant egged them.

Perhaps not coincidentally, on June 11, 2010, a 17-year old pro-abortion blogger named "Clay" complained about the truck, which bears graphic abortion images, and discussed possible responses.

"What should we do? Chain someone to their door? Egg their vehicles?" he wrote.

"What we are seeing is a violent reaction born out of the increasing frustration of a failing abortion movement. Support for the pro-life position is increasing, while support for abortion is on the decline. Abortion clinics are closing and more abortionists are under investigation or facing criminal charges than ever before," said Operation Rescue president Troy Newman.

"For those who commit violence against pro-lifers, we want them to know that our response is to pray for our enemies, but at the same time, we will not be intimidated into silence," he added.

Lives destroyed by happy pills: As our use of antidepressants DOUBLES in a decade, experts say thousands are being given dangerous drugs they don't need | Mail Online

Clare Morgan was going through a rocky patch: her long-standing relationship had hit difficulties and she was struggling financially. But the self-described 'optimist' felt she was managing to cope.

Then the 35-year-old biologist started experiencing unusual symptoms. 'Out of the blue, I felt really agitated - I couldn't concentrate, I couldn't sleep, and I felt very shaky,' she recalls. 'I'd been under some stress. But my symptoms seemed too odd for that to be the whole explanation.'

After about six weeks she went to see her doctor, who diagnosed depression and anxiety. 'I asked him if he was sure, because there were other symptoms such as diarrhoea, weight-loss and vomiting. But he confirmed his diagnosis and prescribed an antidepressant.'

Unfortunately this only made her feel worse; she developed the shakes as well as suicidal thoughts. In an attempt to remedy this, her GP changed the medication three weeks later. But nothing changed.

And after mentioning her suicidal thoughts to her doctor, she was put under the supervision of a mental health team.

Six weeks later, Clare was put on yet another antidepressant, along with a tranquilliser and an anti-psychotic drug. She was now sleeping 14 hours a day; unable to work, she had to rely on her boyfriend for support.

'I was zombified, but still felt the anxiety and the terror, and that didn't seem right. However, my doctor simply increased my dose.'

After six miserable months, Clare's doctor admitted the drug treatment wasn't working and suggested electric shock treatment. 'I said "no way" and decided to come off the antidepressants,' she says. This proved 'fantastically hard - worse, actually, than being on them'.

'The only good part was a brilliant nurse, who took me seriously when I said I'd always felt that something physical had caused my symptoms and put me in touch with a sympathetic private doctor,' she says.

All she needed was Jesus..Best cure for the world

VA hospital may have infected 1,800 veterans with HIV

A Missouri VA hospital is under fire because it may have exposed more than 1,800 veterans to life-threatening diseases such as hepatitis and HIV.

John Cochran VA Medical Center in St. Louis has recently mailed letters to 1,812 veterans telling them they could contract hepatitis B, hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) after visiting the medical center for dental work, said Rep. Russ Carnahan.

Carnahan said Tuesday he is calling for a investigation into the issue and has sent a letter to President Obama about it.

"This is absolutely unacceptable," said Carnahan, a Democrat from Missouri. "No veteran who has served and risked their life for this great nation should have to worry about their personal safety when receiving much needed healthcare services from a Veterans Administration hospital."

Hurricane Alex drenches northern Mexico, Texas

SAN FERNANDO, Mexico – Hurricane Alex ripped off roofs, caused severe flooding and forced thousands of people to flee coastal fishing villages before weakening to a tropical storm over northern Mexico.

The Atlantic season's first hurricane largely spared nearby Texas, which had prepared for a possible direct hit. While it brought rain, spawned two tornadoes and caused 1,000 people to evacuate low-lying areas there, state officials reported no injuries or major damage.

Earlier, Alex whipped up high waves that frustrated oil-spill cleanup efforts on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico and delivered tar balls and globs of crude onto already soiled beaches.

The storm made landfall Wednesday night on a sparsely populated stretch of coast in Mexico's Tamaulipas state, about 110 miles (180 kilometers) south of Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros.

Much of Matamoros was flooded Thursday morning, said Saul Hernandez Bautista, the city's director of the Civil Protection. He said at least 400 neighborhoods were flooded, some with 12 inches (30 centimeters) of water and at least 2,500 people were in shelters, mostly people evacuated from lowing lying regions outside the city.

Trees were uprooted and electrical posts were down. Hernandez said there were no known injuries or deaths in the Matamoros area but he did not know about the area farther south where the eye of the storm hit.