Δευτέρα 25 Μαΐου 2015
5/24/15 Lamar, CO Supercell Time-lapse
Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 25 Μαΐ 2015
Large HP supercell developed near Lamar, CO producing hail up to baseball size and several rain-wrapped tornadoes.
A storm system dropped record amounts of rainfall across the southern Plains Sunday, causing flash floods in normally dry riverbeds, spawning tornadoes, destroying homes, and forcing at least 2,000 people to flee.
Two people were confirmed dead in Oklahoma. where a firefighter was swept to his death while trying to rescue people from high water and a woman in Tulsa died in a traffic-related crash. In Texas, a man's body was recovered from a flooded area along the Blanco River, which rose 26 feet in just one hour and left piles of wreckage 20 feet high, authorities said.
In Wimberley, Texas, southwest of Austin, eight people were reported missing, including three children, according to KXAN.
"It looks pretty bad out there," said Hays County emergency management coordinator Kharley Smith, describing the destruction in Wimberley, part of a fast-growing corridor between Austin and San Antonio. "We do have whole streets with maybe one or two houses left on them and the rest are just slabs," she said.
Between 350 and 400 homes were destroyed in Wimberley, many of them washed away, Smith said. In nearby San Marcos, flooding had damaged about 300 homes, she said. Kenneth Bell, the emergency management coordinator in San Marcos, said the damage in Hays County alone amounts to "millions of dollars."
Authorities also warned people to honor a night-time curfew and stay away from damaged areas, since more rain was on the way, threatening more floods with the ground saturated and waterways overflowing.
Dozens wounded after Taliban truck bomb hits Afghan government offices
Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 25 Μαΐ 2015
Police in the town of Zabul say the attacker's truck was loaded with more than 1,000 kilograms of explosives. Among the wounded were 17 women and two children. Close to seventy people were
Iraqi troops advance on ISIL-held Beiji oil refinery
Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 25 Μαΐ 2015
ISIL fighters have reportedly set Iraq's biggest oil refinery in Beiji on fire. They captured it last year and it has switched hands several times.
Iraqi and Syrian armed forces prepared to launch two counterattacks against ISIS militants over the weekend after losing two key cities to the terror group last week.
Reuters reported that Iraqi forces launched a counterattack Saturday to retake the city of Ramadi in Anbar province. The reported offensive was backed by locally recruited Sunni tribal fighters and Shiite militiamen trained by Iran. A Sunni pro-government fighter told Reuters that his forces had retaken the town of Husaiba al-Sharqiya, about 6 miles east of Ramadi, though that had not been officially confirmed.
The U.S. has sought to reach out on its own to Sunni tribes and is training some Sunni fighters, but those efforts have been limited by the small number of American troops on the ground. On Sunday, the Pentagon announced that four airstrikes had been carried out near Ramadi by the U.S.-led coalition, destroying 19 armored vehicles.
Meanwhile, in Syria, a government official told the Associated Press Sunday that Damascus was deploying troops in areas near the ancient town of Palmyra in apparent preparation for a counterattack.
Gov. Talal Barazi of the central province of Homs, which includes Palmyra, said ISIS members have "committed mass massacres in the city of Palmyra" since they captured it on Wednesday. He said ISIS fighters had taken many civilians, including women, to unknown destinations.
Activists in the town have said that ISIS fighters have hunted down President Bashar Assad's loyalist since taking the town, killing some 280 people.
Syria's Prime Minister Wael al-Halqi condemned what he called "a massacre" in Palmyra blaming Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey for such killings because of their support for groups trying to remove Assad from power.
Al-Halqi called on the international community and all humanitarian organizations to pressure the governments that support "terrorism" to stop their support "as terrorism is posing a global danger." Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar are main backers of Syrian rebels and opposition groups.
Barazi, the governor, said troops are fighting with ISIS gunmen in the nearby Jizl area. "There are plans, but we don't know when the zero hour for a military act in Palmyra," Barazi said without elaborating.
Meanwhile state-run news agency, SANA, said ISIS members are still preventing people from leaving Palmyra. The U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, said that along with its partners they are preparing aid for some 11,000 people who fled Palmyra and surrounding villages.
A Facebook page used by ISIS to publish its statements posted a photo of 20 Syrian soldiers in uniform captured in Palmyra.
The capture of Palmyra has stoked fears that the militants might try to destroy one of the Middle East's most spectacular archaeological sites — a well-preserved, 2,000-year-old Roman-era city on the town's edge — as they have destroyed others in Syria and Iraq.
In Qatar, the European Union's foreign policy chief said the recent conquest of Palmyra and the Iraq city of Ramadi by ISIS only increases the need for greater political cooperation in the face of the militant threat.
"Only a political solution both in Syria and Iraq can provide a settlement for the crisis," Federica Mogherini said following a meeting between officials from the European Union and the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.
Qatari Foreign Minister Khalid bin Mohammed al-Attiyah defended the role of the U.S.-led coalition conducting airstrikes against ISIS. Qatar plays a supporting role in the coalition, allowing forces to use its vast al-Udeid air base.
"We cannot say that the coalition is failing. No, the coalition is not failing but we have always said that the air campaign is not enough," he said. "There are so many steps which we have to cooperate and coordinate together to make the campaign against terrorism effective."
Κυριακή 24 Μαΐου 2015
ترميم 86 جثة لضحايا بركان فيزوف قبل ألفي عام (صور)
Mick Tsikasجثث متفحمة لضحايا بركان فيزوف
يقوم الخبراء في الموقع الأثري في بومبي بايطاليا بترميم 86 جثة لضحايا بركان فيزوف ملفوفة بقوالب من الجبس الرمادي، تمهيدا لعرضها في المعرض المقبل تحت عنوان "بومبي وأوروبا".
وتجري أعمال الترميم بعناية للحفاظ على قوالب الجبس التي تضم رفات الذين حوصروا في بومبي عام 79 م، وانهالت عليهم حمم ورماد بركان فيزوف القاتل وحولت أجسادهم إلى قوالب جبسية.
كانت من بين الجثث الجبسية، جثة امرأة مذعورة تحتضن ابنها، تروي قصة مأساوية لعديد الجثث المدفونة تحت الرماد منذ أكثر من 1900 عام بسبب ثوران بركان فيزوف في بومبي الإيطالية.
fotonews/splash newsجثة امراة تحمل ابنها من بين ضحايا بركان فيزوف
وجثة أخرى لطفل يعتقد أنه كان في الرابعة من عمره، استنادا إلى حجمه، وكان محتميا بمكان يسمى "بيت السوار الذهبي" (House of the Golden Bracelet ) برفقة عائلته عندما ضربت الكارثة المكان.
وبدت ملابس الطفل ظاهرة من خلال الجبس إلى جانب تعابير وجهه التي تشير إلى أنه تجمد من شدة الذعر.
وتكشف الجثث عن كيفية موت بعض الأشخاص، فمنهم المحاصرون في المباني، وآخرون متجمعون سوية مع أفراد عائلاتهم.
fotonews/splash newsترميم جثث ضحايا بركان فيزيوف
ففي إحدى القوالب الجبسية رفات طفل صغير كان قد سجن في الرماد عندما ثار البركان، وقالب آخر لشخص بالغ يكشف أنه رفع يديه فوق رأسه في حركة لدرء تساقط الحمم على ما يبدو.
fotonews/splash newsترميم جثث ضحايا بركان فيزيوف
وكانت بومبي مدينة رومانية كبيرة في منطقة كامبانيا بايطاليا، لكن المدينة المنكوبة دمرت واختنق سكانها عندما أطلق جبل فيزوف العنان لبركانه الذي استمر في ثورانه وقذف ما في باطنه على ارتفاع مئات الأمتار في الهواء ولمدة 18 ساعة.
لكن الكارثة القاتلة حدثت عندما انهارت فوهة البركان مما تسبب في سيل من الحمم تجاوزت سرعتها 160 كيلومترا في الساعة، وأغرقت بومبي ودمرت كل شيء في طريقها وغطت المباني حتى دفنت المدينة، ودفن الناس أيضا تحت أطنان الرماد.
وتزعم التقارير أن ألفي شخص قضوا نحبهم هناك. ولم يكتشف مكان الكارثة إلا عام 1748. واصبحت آثار بومبي حاليا قبلة للسياح من مختلف أنحاء العالم.
المصدر: "دايلي ميل"
Σάββατο 23 Μαΐου 2015
Weekly Address: Honoring Our Fallen Heroes this Memorial Day
Today, as they have done since 1949, members of the AHEPA family from throughout the Washington DC metro-area will gather to memorialize those identified as Greek Americans or Greek Orthodox who are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
According to organizers, there are roughly 660 grave sites at which AHEPA and Daughters of Penelope members presented a laurel wreath and paused in remembrance of those who perished for our nation.
This ceremony has been performed annually since 1949.
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