Greece Quake, Top News, Sunspot Collision? | S0 News May 24, 2014

Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 24 Μαΐ 2014

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Today's Featured Links:
Mobile Observatory Project: http://www.observatoryproject.com
Ceres JPL: http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr...
North Carolina Temps: http://www.nonlin-processes-geophys.n...
Antares Rocket Fail: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/0...

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http://www.suspicious0bservers.org/shop/ [Get NEMES1S Music!]

REPEAT LINKS:

WORLD WEATHER:
Earth WindMap: http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/...
Global Maps: http://www.atmos.albany.edu/student/k...
NDBC Buoys: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/
HurricaneZone Satellite Images:http://www.hurricanezone.net/westpaci...
NOAA Environmental Visualization Laboratory:http://www.nnvl.noaa.gov/Default.php
Satellite Maps: http://www.woweather.com/cgi-app/sate...
Forecast Maps: http://www.woweather.com/weather/maps...
TORCON: http://www.weather.com/news/tornado-t... [Tornado Forecast for the day]
HURRICANE TRACKER: http://www.weather.com/weather/hurric...
GOES Satellites: http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/goes/
THE US WINDMAP: http://hint.fm/wind/
Severe Weather Threats: http://www.weather.com/news/weather-s...
Canada Weather Office Satellite Composites:http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/satell...
Temperature Delta: http://www.intellicast.com/National/T...
Records/Extremes: http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/rec...

SPACEWEATHER:
Spaceweather: http://spaceweather.com
SOHO Solar Wind: http://umtof.umd.edu/pm/
Planetary Orbital Diagram - Ceres1 JPL:http://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/sbdb.cgi?sstr...
SDO: http://sdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/
Helioviewer: http://www.helioviewer.org/
SOHO: http://sohodata.nascom.nasa.gov/cgi-b...
Stereo: http://stereo.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/i...
SOLARIMG: http://solarimg.org/artis/
iSWA: http://iswa.gsfc.nasa.gov/iswa/iSWA.html
NASA ENLIL SPIRAL: http://iswa.gsfc.nasa.gov:8080/IswaSy...
NOAA ENLIL SPIRAL: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/wsa-enlil/
GOES Xray: http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/sxi/goes15/i...
Gamma Ray Bursts: http://grb.sonoma.edu/
BARTOL Cosmic Rays: http://neutronm.bartol.udel.edu//spac...
ISWA: http://iswa.ccmc.gsfc.nasa.gov:8080/I...
NOAA Sunspot Classifications:http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/ftpdir/lates...
GONG: http://gong2.nso.edu/dailyimages/
GONG Magnetic Maps: http://gong.nso.edu/data/magmap/ondem...


MISC Links:
JAPAN Radiation Map: http://jciv.iidj.net/map/
RADIATION Network: http://radiationnetwork.com/
LISS: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/monitoring...
QUAKES LIST FULL: http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/s...
RSOE: http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index2.php [That cool alert map I use]
Moon: http://www.fourmilab.ch/earthview/pac...

GoPro: Red Bull Stratos - The Full Story

Δημοσιεύτηκε στις 31 Ιαν 2014

October 14, 2012, Felix Baumgartner ascended more than 24 miles above Earth's surface to the edge of space in a stratospheric balloon. Millions across the globe watched as he opened the door of the capsule, stepped off the platform, and broke the speed of sound while free falling safely back to Earth. Felix set three world records that day—and inspired us all to reach beyond the limits of our own realities, and reimagine our potential to achieve the incredible.

GoPro was honored to be a part of this epic achievement, with seven HERO2 cameras documenting every moment. From the airless freeze of outer space, to the record-breaking free fall and momentous return to ground—see it all through Felix's eyes as captured by GoPro, and experience this incredible mission like never before. No one gets you closer than this.

Shot 100% on the HD HERO2® camera from http://GoPro.com.

Music
East of the River
"Wilderness is Their Home Now"
"Satellites"
http://eastoftheriveruk.bandcamp.com/...

Additional Music: Rhian Sheehan "Less Is Less"
(Courtesy of ExtremeMusic)
https://soundcloud.com/rsheehan/rhian...

Special Thanks
Red Bull
Ed Herlihy
The Internet Archive
http://archive.org

Van Gils. Ο ΜΟΝΟΣ ΑΝΘΡΩΠΟΣ ΠΟΥ ΠΑΙΖΗ ΠΟΔΟΣΦΑΙΡΟ ΜΕ ΛΙΟΝΤΑΡΙΑ

Van Gils. Proud tailor of KNVB and supporter of wild lions. Lion Whisperer Kevin Richardson, stylishly dressed in a Van Gils suit feels more confident than ever before. No Stitch, No Story. Official KNVB collection available at http://www.vangils.eu

Agency: http://ssss-orchestra.com
Production: http://www.brenninkmeijerenisaacs.nl
Music & Sound: http://ramontiernagan.nl

Mob kills man for 'stealing genitals' in Burkina Faso

Mob kills man for 'stealing genitals' in Burkina Faso

Burkina Faso
lynching


A man, circled in red, was killed by a mob who accused him of having "stolen" another man's penis. All photos were taken by Cyrille Zoma, a reporter for Observateur Paalga in Burkina Faso.

A man was killed by a mob Monday in Koudougou, a town in central Burkina Faso, after being accused of making another man’s penis “disappear”. It was not an isolated incident: there has been an increase in the number of these strange accusations being made in recent weeks.

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IMAGES MAY SHOCK SOME VIEWERS

This lynching took place in the 10th district of Koudougou, in the city’s west. It all started with a fight at a restaurant between two men: one accused the other of having cast a spell on him simply by touching him. The first man, a local mechanic, claimed that his penis had been "stolen” by the second man, who was not from the district. The first man called the police. But by then, a crowd had gathered around them. Incensed, the residents decided to lynch the man in the middle of the street.




Police and medical staff at the scene of the crime. Photos courtesy of Cyrille Zoma, a journalist for the Observateur Paalga newspaper in Koudougou.






Yameogo Baggio

"The police did all they could, but there were not enough of them to control the crowd’s anger"
Cyrille Zoma is a reporter for Observateur Paalga in Burkina Faso.




The first ‘genital disappearance’ case in Koudougou [during the last decade] was on May 2. Since then, I have counted a dozen similar cases in the city. It’s always the same story: someone complains about being approached and touched by a stranger, someone not from the neighbourhood. Immediately, the alleged victims complain of lower stomach pains, tremors, and say they can’t feel their genitals anymore. This only happens with men, and I have been told of it happening in several different parts of town.


After a fight at a restaurant, the alleged ‘penis thief’ was taken to the mechanic’s workshop before being apprehended by the angry crowd.
On Sunday, there was an incident in which the police had to save an accused man from being lynched. Upset residents went to Koudougou’s central police station, where the man they accused was being kept for protection. Over the next few days, many people said that these “penis thieves” should be killed in order to discourage other alleged thieves. And that’s what happened on Monday. The police did all they could, but there were not enough of them to control the crowd’s anger. Later, when medical staff examined the alleged victims of “penis thieves” [including the one from Monday], they couldn’t find anything wrong with them.


A lot of people at the scene on Monday told me the alleged penis snatcher was a foreigner: some say he was Congolese, others say he was Rwandan or Burundian. Without any explanation, people blame “a foreigner”. It turns out that this person was a Burundian marabout [Muslim holy man] from Koudougou’s 8th district.




Cyrille Zoma

“Con artists often say they’ve stolen someone’s genitals in order to sell them a miracle product”
Yameogo Baggio, who lives in Koudougou, knows the problem well. As a representative for a French NGO, he has been studying this phenomenon for several years.


Often, con artists take advantage of people’s gullibility and scam them. There are usually two or three accomplices who carry out this scam in three parts: first, someone who claims to have magical powers touches a victim and persuades him that they’ve stolen his genitals. Then, another accomplice approaches the victim and drives home the point by saying that if the victim doesn’t buy a specific product, he’ll lose his ability to reproduce. Finally, the victim pays a hefty sum [Editor’s note: around 30,000 CFA Francs, or 45 euros] for a Viagra-like medicine that is supposed to make his genitals work again.

It had been several years since I had heard of any such cases in Koudougou. There were a few isolated cases in nearby areas about 10 years ago, but they quickly stopped. This time, though, the first cases in the beginning of May were handled very badly: local authorities didn’t intervene immediately to calm the crowds, and a lot of people were caught up in the hysteria. I don’t think the lynching of this man has calmed tensions.

Koudougou’s deputy mayor, Gaston Kagambega, told FRANCE 24 he had gathered local leaders to call for calm. The mayor has also set up a crisis cell at Koudougou’s medical centre to meet with people who say they’ve been victims of “penis thieves”.

The accusations of penis snatching are nothing new, and they don’t just happen in Burkina Faso: several cases have been alleged over the past 15 years, from Abidjan to Accra. Experts who have studied the question say that such rumours have led to nearly 300 deaths and more than 3,000 injuries in West Africa alone.

Mali in crisis as rebels take control of northern towns

6

This file picture dated July 29, 2013 shows Malian soldiers patrolling in Kidal, northern Mali. Mali was in crisis Friday after losing two northern towns including the rebel bastion of Kidal to Tuareg separatists. AFP PHOTO / KENZO TRIBOUILLARD 

In Summary

• Around 20 Malian soldiers were killed and 30 wounded in fighting Thursday that saw insurgents led by Tuareg rebels recapture the key northern town of Kidal, the defence minister said.

By AFP
More by this Author

Mali was in crisis Friday after losing two northern towns including the rebel bastion of Kidal to Tuareg separatists, in a humiliating defeat that forced the government to call for an "immediate ceasefire".

Around 20 Malian soldiers were killed and 30 wounded in fighting Thursday that saw insurgents led by Tuareg rebels recapture the key northern town of Kidal, the defence minister said.

"There were dead and wounded on both sides," Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga told public television. "We counted around 30 wounded... and sadly around 20 dead."

A leader of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), said 40 Malian soldiers had been killed and 70 taken prisoner since hostilities began on Saturday, with dozens of vehicles seized along with several tonnes of weapons and ammunition.

And in the latest military setback for the beleaguered military, United Nations spokesman Stephane Dujarric said MNLA fighters had taken Menaka, a town of 20,000 in eastern Mali, shortly after the government admitted it had lost Kidal.

The distance between Kidal, capital of the region of the same name, and Menaka in the Gao region 350 kilometres (185 miles) to the south by road, underlines the extent of the offensive facing the army.

Dujarric said an estimated 3,400 residents of Kidal had fled the fighting.

Open to dialogue

The government admitted the failure of the army and called for an "immediate ceasefire".

It appealed to Malians to demonstrate "a high sense of responsibility, to avoid any confusion or any stigmatisation" which could damage unity or relations with international partners.

France called Thursday for the cessation of hostilities in the rebel-infested north of its former colony, pressing for an urgent resumption of talks between rebel groups and Bamako.

"It is essential that hostilities cease and inclusive talks start," said foreign ministry spokesman Romain Nadal.

The chairman of the African Union, Mauritania's President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, also called on the crisis to be resolved with dialogue after he cut short a visit to Rwanda to travel to Bamako.

"We must make every necessary effort to soothe tempers... We will continue to surmount problems with dialogue," he said Thursday after a press conference in the Malian capital.

Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita reiterated that the authorities were ready for discussion. "We have always been open to dialogue," he said.

The Malian army has been pinned back since Saturday by a coalition of several armed groups, including Tuareg separatists.

An African security source told AFP that the High Council for the Unity of Azawad (HCUC) was the main fighting force, and that the MNLA and another rebel militia, the Arab Movement of Azawad (MAA), were also taking part.

Hostility in Bamako

The government says the rebel assault is being backed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and "drug traffickers", a claim rejected by the Tuareg fighters.

The most violent clashes took place outside the regional governor's office in Kidal, 1,500 kilometres (900 miles) northeast of Bamako.

The town is the cradle of Mali's Tuareg separatist movement, which claims independence for a vast swathe of northern desert it calls "Azawad" and has launched several rebellions since the 1960s.

The MNLA has been in de facto control of the town since a French-led military intervention codenamed Operation Serval liberated northern Mali from the grasp of Islamists who had captured its towns and cities in a sweeping offensive in 2012.

Residents contacted by AFP and a source from the UN peacekeeping force MINUSMA described Kidal as "calm" on Thursday.

But the violence has been met with anger in Bamako and several regional towns, where critics have accused France and MINUSMA of apathy in the face of Tuareg aggression.

In an effort to contain growing resentment, the authorities have redoubled public appeals for calm and restraint, insisting that "dialogue" is their priority.

Militants exchanged fire with Malian soldiers over several hours on Wednesday, gaining a decisive upper hand.

http://www.nation.co.ke/news/africa/Mali-in-crisis-as-rebels-take-control-of-northern-towns-/-/1066/2324120/-/gop46az/-/index.html

Τι πραγματικά χτύπησε την Σερβία;

Τι πραγματικά χτύπησε την Σερβία;

Μετάφραση - Απόδοση Γ. Μοτσάκος 
Ειδικός σε Θέματα Άμυνας και Ασφάλειας Πληροφοριών 

Το ρωσικό υπουργείο Εκτάκτων Καταστάσεων (EMERCOM) έχει αναπτύξει δυνάμεις αντιμετώπισης καταστάσεων και εξοπλισμό στη Σερβία μετά από απόφαση της κυβέρνηση της Ρωσίας, που εγκρίθηκε, κατόπιν αιτήματος της κυβέρνησης της Σερβίας, μετά τις πρωτοφανείς και καταστροφικές πλημμύρες, αναφέρει ο ρωσικός τύπος. 

Σύμφωνα με την ρωσική υπηρεσία EMERCOM, διασώστες της ειδικής μονάδα «Centrospas», αλλά και στελέχη από την ομάδα «υψηλής ετοιμότητας», «Leader» έχουν αναπτυχθεί για να βοηθήσουν τον σερβικό λαό, που πασχίζει να αντιμετωπίσει τις συνέπειες των συνεχών πλημυρών, που έχουν καλύψει σχεδόν όλη την σερβική επικράτεια. 

Η EMERCOM αναφέρει ότι ένας απροσδιόριστος αριθμός βαρέων μεταγωγικών αεροσκαφών Ilyushin 76 (IL-76), της αεροπορικής δύναμης ταχείας αντίδρασης του ρωσικού υπουργείου εκτάκτων αναγκών, απογειώθηκαν από το αεροδρόμιο της πόλης Ramenskoye στην περιφέρεια της Μόσχας για την Σερβία. 

Σύμφωνα με την EMERCOM, περισσότεροι από 70 από τους καλύτερους εκπαιδευμένους διασώστες μαζί με τον εξοπλισμό διάσωσης υψηλής τεχνολογίας, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των στολών, βρίσκονται στην Σερβία και εκτελούν τιτάνιο έργο. 

Στελέχη της ρωσο-σερβικής ανθρωπιστικής οργάνωσης που εμπλέκεται άμεσα στις επιχειρήσεις διάσωσης, έχουν κινητοποιηθεί, μεταφέροντας εκατοντάδες αντλίες νερού και κινητούς σταθμούς ηλεκτρικής ενέργειας, προκειμένου να βοηθήσουν στον αγώνα κατά των πλημμυρών και του πληγέντος πληθυσμού. 

Η Ρωσική Ομοσπονδία υπήρξε η πρώτη χώρα που ανταποκρίθηκε κατά την τρομερή στιγμή της ανάγκης του σερβικού λαού, σε αντίθεση με την σχεδόν πλήρη απαξίωση από την πλευρά της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης αλλά και άλλων χωρών. Η EMERCOM συνεχίζει να αναπτύσσει εξοπλισμό και προσωπικό, για την αντιμετώπιση της τεράστιας καταστροφής στην χώρα αυτή, αναφέρει το ρωσικό πρακτορείο Voice of Russia. 

Μέχρι στιγμής οι διασώστες της Ρωσίας πιστώνονται, την διάσωση 400 ατόμων, συμπεριλαμβανομένων και 79 παιδιών. Σύμφωνα με το σερβικό πρακτορείο B92 News, οι Ρώσοι ειδικοί αναπτύχθηκαν στην περιοχή του Obrenovac,... όπου συναντήθηκαν με τον Σέρβο Πρωθυπουργό Alexandar Vučić, τους υπουργούς εσωτερικών και άμυνας, Nebojša Stefanović και Bratislav Gasic, και τον Πρεσβευτή της Ρωσίας Alexander Chepurin. 

Σύμφωνα με πληροφορίες κοντά στα 8.000 άτομα εκκενώθηκαν από διάφορες περιοχές, με τους αριθμούς αυτούς να συνεχίζουν να αυξάνονται, λόγω των συνεχών βροχοπτώσεων στις περιοχές αυτές.

Σύμφωνα με το σερβικό ειδησεογραφικό portal B92, η χώρα έχει κυρηχθεί σε κατάσταση έκτακτης ανάγκης από την Πέμπτη. Σύμφωνα με το B92 «... η κυβέρνηση απέστειλε επιστολή στη ρωσική κυβέρνηση, την Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή και την κυβέρνηση της Σλοβενίας ζητώντας ανθρωπιστική και τεχνική βοήθεια για να αντιμετωπίσει τις συνέπειες των πλημμυρών, δηλώθηκε μετά τη συνεδρία της σερβικής κυβέρνησης. 

Σύμφωνα με την Svetlana Maksovic από το περιοδικό Geopolitika, «... πολλοί Σέρβοι έχουν μείνει άναυδοι από την αντίδραση, ή καλύτερα την έλλειψη αντίδρασης, της Ευρωπαϊκής Ένωσης. Συγκεκριμένα η επικεφαλής της Εξωτερικής Πολιτικής της ΕΕ, Κάθριν Άστον δεν έκανε τίποτα περισσότερο από το να αποστείλει «τα συλλυπητήριά της».

Σύμφωνα με την ίδια δημοσιογράφο που βρίσκεται στο Βελιγράδι, οι Σέρβοι από όλη τη χώρα, από όλο το πολιτικό φάσμα, είναι ευγνώμονες προς τη Ρωσία για την τεράστια ανταπόκριση της.

Ο Milica Djurdjevic, ένας γνωστός πολιτικός ακτιβιστής και επικεφαλής των Δημοσίων Σχέσεων της οργάνωσης Sabor Zavetnici, έγραψε τα εξής σχετικά με την κατάσταση στη Σερβία στην Φωνή της Ρωσίας:

«Η κατάσταση στη Σερβία είναι εξαιρετικά δύσκολη. Οι υλικές ζημιές είναι ανυπολόγιστες, αλλά το κύριο μέλημα μας είναι πλέον ο αριθμός των θυμάτων που είναι ακόμα άγνωστος στο ευρύ κοινό. Οι πλημμύρες έχουν προκαλέσει ζημιές σε σειρά περιοχών στο Obrenovac, μία από τις πιο πυκνοκατοικημένες κοινότητες στο Βελιγράδι. Πολλοί κάτοικοι, κυρίως οι γυναίκες, παιδιά και ηλικιωμένοι, εξακολουθούν να βρίσκονται στα σπίτια τους, χωρίς τροφή και ηλεκτρικό. Η εκκένωση κατοίκων στο Obrenovac είναι ακόμη σε εξέλιξη. Περισσότεροι από 10 χιλιάδες άνθρωποι από όλη τη χώρα μετακινήθηκαν χθες από την πόλη Šabac για να αποτραπεί η υπερχείλιση του ποταμού Σάβα». 

«Η τραγωδία αυτή είναι μια ευκαιρία για τον σερβικό λαό να δει ποιοι είναι οι πραγματικοί φίλοι του και σύμμαχοι στην Ευρώπη και στον υπόλοιπο κόσμο. Η σερβική Κυβέρνηση ζήτησε βοήθεια από την Ευρωπαϊκή Επιτροπή, αλλά προς το παρόν το μόνο που έχουμε λάβει από αυτούς είναι απλά γυμνές λέξεις και κάποιες εγγυητικές επιστολές υποστήριξης. Από την άλλη πλευρά η μόνη υλική βοήθεια έρχεται από τους ιστορικά και παραδοσιακά φίλους και συμμάχους μας, την Ρωσική Ομοσπονδία. Επίσης λάβαμε υλική βοήθεια από τη Σλοβενία . Εν τω μεταξύ ήρθαν, πολλοί εθελοντές από την ΠΓΔΜ και το Μαυροβούνιο. θα ήθελα επίσης να αναφέρω και τους αδελφούς και τις αδελφές μας από το Κοσσυφοπέδιο και τα Μετόχια, που ήρθαν χθες το βράδυ στο Šabac να μας βοηθήσουν» κατέληξε ο Sabor Zavetnici. 

Φταίει το HAARP για τα ανώμαλα καιρικά φαινόμενα;

Σύμφωνα με Σέρβους επιστήμονες αλλά και δημοσιογράφους, υπήρξε μια θεωρία που αναφέρει ότι, για τις άνευ προηγουμένου πλημμύρες και τα ακραία καιρικά φαινόμενα το τελευταίο διάστημα ενοχοποιείται το «αμερικανικό σύστημα HAARP». .

Σύμφωνα με σερβική ιστοσελίδα, ένας δημοσιογράφος που επιθυμεί την ανωνυμία του, μίλησε για την εγκατάσταση συστήματος HAARP κοντά στο Βελιγράδι. Μετά από σειρά άρθρων σχετικά με το σύστημα HAARP, υπάρχει μία κεραία που υποστηρίζει το σύστημα στην περιοχή Barajevo (δήμος Βελιγραδίου) το οποίο εκπέμπει σήματα ELF. Στην Σερβία ο Σέρβος δημοσιογράφος της εφημερίδας Pravda που έγραφε άρθρα για αυτό ακριβώς το αντικείμενο, έλαβε ένα τηλεφώνημα την Δευτέρα το βράδυ γύρω στις 22:00 από άγνωστο αριθμό. Η φωνή από την άλλη άκρη της τηλεφωνικής γραμμής έδωσε στην δημοσιογράφο μια "φιλική συμβουλή" να σταματήσει να γράφει για το HAARP".

Το σύστημα HAARP διαθέτει την μοναδική ικανότητα να «χειραγωγεί» κατά κάποιον τρόπο τα καιρικά φαινόμενα, δηλαδή δύναται να χρησιμοποιηθεί ως όπλο αναφέρει το δημοσίευμα. 

Απαντώντας σε ερωτήσεις της γερουσιαστή Lisa Murkowski κατά τη διάρκεια της ακροαματική διαδικασία της Τετάρτης, ο David Walker, αναπληρωτής γραμματέας της Πολεμικής Αεροπορίας για την επιστήμη, την τεχνολογία και τη μηχανική, είπε ότι αυτό «δεν είναι μια περιοχή που έχει ανάγκη στο μέλλον» και δεν θα ήταν μια καλή χρήση της Πολεμικής Αεροπορίας στα ερευνητικά κονδύλια για να κρατήσει το HAARP. «Προχωράμε με άλλους τρόπους διαχείρισης της ιονόσφαιρας, για την οποία το HAARP είχε πραγματικά σχεδιαστεί για να κάνει», δήλωσε. «Για την έγχυση ενέργειας στην ιονόσφαιρα και για να είναι σε θέση να ελέγξει πραγματικά».

Το ρωσικό άρθρο καταλήγει, θα ήταν περίεργο αν οι ΗΠΑ, μετά την απελευθέρωση νεο-ναζί στην Ουκρανία, εξαπέλυαν και πλημμύρες στη Σερβία; Εκείνοι θα μπορούσαν πιθανότατα να πουν όχι, καταλήγει το ρωσικό δημοσίευμα. 

Υπενθυμίζεται ότι η Πολεμική Αεροπορία των ΗΠΑ έδωσε επίσημη ειδοποίηση προς το Κογκρέσο την Τετάρτη ότι σκοπεύει να διακόψει την εκτέλεση της δαπάνης τω 300 εκατομμύριων δολαρίων High Frequency Active (Πρόγραμμα Σέλας) στην Gakona αυτό το καλοκαίρι.

Malawi 2014. ΚΑΙ ΟΜΩΣ ΥΠΑΡΧΟΥΝ ΚΑΙ ΤΕΤΟΙΕΣ ΚΑΛΠΕΣ

22 May 2014 Last updated at 11:36 GMT

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Malawi poll marred by rigging, says President Joyce Banda

Preliminary results will only be announced after 30% of votes have been counted

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Malawi's elections have been marred by "some serious irregularities", including vote-rigging, President Joyce Banda has said.

She called for an immediate manual audit of the results.

Mrs Banda faced a strong challenge in Tuesday's election from three other presidential candidates, including ex-Foreign Minister Peter Mutharika.

Earlier, a minister killed himself at his home in the capital, Lilongwe, police say.

Deputy Local Government Minister Godfrey was found shot dead inside a locked bedroom.

His spokesman denied reports that his suicide was linked to him apparently losing his parliamentary seat.

The BBC's Raphael Tenthani in Blantyre says Mr Kamanya left a note asking Mrs Banda to take care of his daughter and provide for her education.

'Voting buckets'

Mrs Banda said in a statement that irregularities included:

• The arrest of presiding officers who were "caught in the act of rigging"
• Some people voting up to three times
• "Serious anomalies" where some candidates won more votes than the number of registered voters
• Discarded and tampered ballots
• Communication devices of some monitors being blocked.

The Malawi Election Commission (MEC) should address these concerns by doing a manual audit of the entire process, she said.

This was the fifth poll since one-party rule ended in 1994

Counting is being done manually because the electronic system has broken down

In some places, there was no electricity and lamps, causing delays

"I appeal to all Malawians to continue with their commitment to peaceful co-existence and to remain calm until the Malawi Electoral Commission determines the outcome of the poll results," the president said.

Eleven candidates ran against Mrs Banda, but her main challenger is seen as Mr Mutharika, the brother of former President Bingu wa Mutharika who died in office in April 2012.

The MEC will announce results when 30% of votes have been counted, its chairman Maxon Mbendera said on Wednesday.

The MEC was "not anywhere in the neighbourhood" of that figure, he added.

Counting was being done manually because the electronic system was "refusing to take the information from the ground where our data clerks are stationed to send the results", chief elections officer Willie Kalonga told the AFP news agency.

Voting spilled into a second day at 13 voting stations, and thousands queued to cast their ballot.

In some places, voting boxes or lids did not arrive so officials used buckets and plastic wrap, correspondents say.

Around 7.5 million people were eligible to vote in the fifth elections since the end of one-party rule 20 years ago.

Esa's Cryosat mission sees Antarctic ice losses double

Esa's Cryosat mission sees Antarctic ice losses double

By Jonathan AmosScience correspondent, BBC News





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Antarctica is now losing about 160 billion tonnes of ice a year to the ocean - twice as much as when the continent was last surveyed.


The new assessment comes from Europe's Cryosat spacecraft, which has a radar instrument specifically designed to measure the shape of the ice sheet.


The melt loss from the White Continent is sufficient to push up global sea levels by around 0.43mm per year.


Scientists report the data in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.


The new study incorporates three years of measurements from 2010 to 2013, and updates a synthesis of observations made by other satellites over the period 2005 to 2010.


Cryosat has been using its altimeter to trace changes in the height of the ice sheet - as it gains mass through snowfall, and loses mass through melting.

'Big deal'


The study authors divide the continent into three sectors - the West Antarctic, the East Antarctic, and the Antarctic Peninsula, which is the long finger of land reaching up to South America.


Overall, Cryosat finds all three regions to be losing ice, with the average elevation of the full ice sheet falling annually by almost 2cm.



The East had been gaining ice in the previous study period, boosted by some exceptional snowfall, but it is now seen as broadly static in the new survey.In the three sectors, this equates to losses of 134 billion tonnes, 3 billion tonnes, and 23 billion tonnes of ice per year, respectively.


As expected, it is the western ice sheet that dominates the reductions.


Scientists have long considered it to be the most vulnerable to melting.


It has an area, called the Amundsen Sea Embayment, where six huge glaciers are currently undergoing a rapid retreat - all of them being eroded by the influx of warm ocean waters that scientists say are being drawn towards the continent by stronger winds whipped up by a changing climate.


About 90% of the mass loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is going from just these few ice streams.


At one of them - Smith Glacier - Crysosat sees the surface lowering by 9m per year.


Some western ice streams such as Pine Island Glacier are retreating and thinning rapidly


"CryoSat has given us a new understanding of how Antarctica has changed over the last three years and allowed us to survey almost the entire continent," explained lead author Dr Malcolm McMillan from the NERC Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at Leeds University, UK.


"We find that ice losses continue to be most pronounced in West Antarctica, along the fast-flowing ice streams that drain into the Amundsen Sea. In East Antarctica, the ice sheet remained roughly in balance, with no net loss or gain over the three-year period," he told BBC News.


Cryosat was launched by the European Space Agency in 2010 on a dedicated quest to measure changes at the poles, and was given a novel radar system for the purpose.


It has two antennas slightly offset from each other. This enables the instrument to detect not just the height of the ice sheet but the shape of its slopes and ridges.


This makes Cryosat much more sensitive to details at the steep edges of the ice sheet - the locations where thinning is most pronounced.


It also allows the satellite to better detect what is going on in the peninsula region of the continent where the climate has warmed rapidly over the past 50 years.


"The peninsula is extremely rugged and previous satellite altimeters have always struggled to see its narrow glaciers. With Cryosat, we get remarkable coverage - better than anything that's been achieved before," said Prof Andy Shepherd, also of Leeds University.

Future change


The GRL paper follows hard on the heels of two studies that have made a specific assessment of the future prospects for the Amundsen Sea Embayment.


One of these reports concluded that the area's glaciers were now in an irreversible retreat.


The other paper, considering one of the glaciers in detail, suggested the reversal process could take several hundred years to be completed.


A loss of all the ice in the six glaciers would add about 1.2m to global sea level.


This is still a small fraction of the total sea-level potential of Antarctica, which holds something like 26.5 million cubic km ice (or 58m of sea-level rise equivalent). But the continent has been largely insulated from some of the warming influences taking place elsewhere in the world and it is important, say scientists, to keep a check on any changes that are occurring, and the speed with which they are happening.


Prof Duncan Wingham proposed the Cryosat mission and is its principal investigator. He told BBC News: "We lack the capability to predict accurately how the Amundsen ice streams will behave in future.


"Equally, a continuation or acceleration of their behaviour has serious implications for sea level rise. This makes essential their continued observation, by Cryosat and its successors."


Prof David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey, who was not involved in the Cryosat survey, commented: "The increasing contribution of Antarctica to sea-level rise is a global issue, and we need to use every technique available to understand where and how much ice is being lost.


"Through some very clever technical improvements, McMillan and his colleagues have produced the best maps of Antarctic ice loss we have ever had. Prediction of the rate of future global sea-level rise must begin with a thorough understanding of current changes in the ice sheets - this study puts us exactly where we need to be."


The Antarctic Peninsula's rugged terrain has made radar measurement very difficult in the past