Terror Attack in Thailand

Two bombs exploded in the seaside resort town in Thailand on Thursday, killing one and injuring more than 20 others, authorities said. One Thai woman was killed during the blasts at Hua Hin, about 125 miles south-west of Bangkok, local police chief Sittichai Srisopacharoenrat told NBC News. Another 23 people - including 11 foreigners - were injured in the dual blasts at Hua Hin, hospital officials told NBC News, adding that no Americans were among the dead or wounded. Among the foreigners were three Dutch nationals, according to the hospital officials. The bombs went off in bar and pub areas of the resort within a half hour of each other, Police Lieutenant Chaiyot Thisawong told NBC News. The bombs were improvised explosive devices (IEDs), he said, adding that cell phones had been used to detonate the bombs. The second bomb was hidden inside a plant pot, he added. That bomb exploded near a bar around 10:20 p.m. local time, killing the woman, local deputy police chief Samer Yousamran told Reuters. Police are investigating and as yet do not know the motive or the identity of the bombers, he said. The explosions happened ahead of a public holiday on Friday to mark the birthday of Queen Sirikit, according to Reuters. Hua Hin is a popular upscale Thai resort south of Bangkok and many people will have gone there for the holiday weekend.

Wild Fire in Portugal on August 09 2016(VIDEO)

Flames spread close to homes around Madeira's capital Funchal and 372 people were hospitalised, with two seriously injured. An elderly woman and at least two others have been killed in forest fires sweeping across Portugal. A thousand people have been evacuated from their homes and 372 hospitalised as fires hit the holiday hotspot of Funchal in Madeira. At least two are seriously hurt and 80 people remain in hospital. Local reports confirm the woman, who has not been named, died when her home caught fire near the centre of the city. A major blaze on the popular holiday island has destroyed at least six homes, a luxury five-star hotel and forced the evacuation of a thousand people. Flames spread close to homes around Funchal, which has a population of 111,000, encroaching on the suburbs and casting a smoke plume over the city centre. Eight firefighters in Madeira required medical treatment after inhaling smoke as high winds fuelled the blaze on the island off north-west Africa. Around 3,000 firefighters are trying to extinguish more than 500 forest fires across Portugal, using 23 water-dumping aircraft. The mainland's northern area has been worst hit, where the region's pine and eucalyptus forests are tinder-dry after a long spell without rain. Seven fires in the north have been classified as major blazes that are out of control. In the area around Viseu, which is 180 miles north of Lisbon, a wildfire forced the closure of a major motorway. Dramatic footage has emerged of the disaster, showing the sky still completely engulfed in thick, grey smoke and orange remnants of the forest blaze. A local woman caught up in the fire is seen being helped by emergency services as firefighters try desperately to put out the flames and hundreds flee their homes. Homeowners are seen desperately trying to quench fires with hosepipes as burning embers were swept along by strong winds. One holidaymaker, who shared a video on Facebook, said: "The worst [is] over now. On vacation but hoping for rain to stop this." British visitors to the island have also spoken out about the carnage on social media. Jackie Galbraith, vice principal at Ayrshire College in Scotalnd, was stranded at Funchal Airport for 32 hours. The airport was inundated with holidaymakers desperate to get home as scores of flights were delayed and tourists were forced to sleep on the floor. A University of Manchester student tweeted about being unable to leave Funchal Airport because of the forest fires, 30 hours after leaving Manchester Airport. Amy Knowles wrote: "Still can't get over the fact that I'm in Spain and we have to fly to Madeira again today in the hope that it's safe to land.

King Arthur's Home? Archaeologists Investigate Legendary Birthplace

The researchers hope to confirm if Tintagel was home to a thriving political or mercantile settlement between the 5th to the 7th centuries, after the end of Roman rule in Britain.Credit: Emily Whitfield-Wicks/English Heritage


Archaeologists are investigating a mysterious coastal settlement that they think may have been home to post-Roman British royalty, at Tintagel in Cornwall, England, the reputed birthplace of the legendary King Arthur.

Hundreds of pieces of "high-status" pottery and glass were found at the site, located on England's southwest coast.

The researchers said the headland was likely occupied from the 5th to the 7th centuries, possibly by the kings of Dumnonia — a native British kingdom in the west of England during the Early Medieval period, after the end of Roman rule early in the 5th century. [See Photos of the Archaeological Excavations at Tintagel]

"It's the period that we used to call the Dark Ages, but we now avoid that term," project director Win Scutt told Live Science. "But if we did call it theDark Ages, it would be the darkest part."

Scutt, the regional curator for English Heritage, the government trust directing the excavations, said more than 200 pieces of imported Mediterranean pottery and fine glass had been found during the latest excavations at the site, which spanned more than three weeks in July and August. The recent discoveries suggest the site was once a high-status settlement that was linked through trade to the eastern Mediterranean region — at that time, the seat of the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire.

The finds include shards of a fine, red-glazed pottery in a style identified as "Phocaean red-slip ware" from what is now western Turkey. The archaeologists also found large storage jars from the Mediterranean region, called amphorae, that once held imported olive oil or wine, Scutt said.

The team from the Cornwall Archaeology Unit at the dig site on the tumbledown Tintagel headland.Credit: Emily Whitfield-Wicks/English Heritage

Although a few shards of Mediterranean amphoraeand glass had been found at other early medieval sites in the United Kingdom, those artifacts do not compare to the abundance of finds at Tintagel during the latest excavations, and in previous excavations in the 1990s and 1930s, Scutt said. This suggests the residents of the site were not just importing expensive foreign goods, but also consuming them there, he added.

At a time when Roman rule had collapsed across most of Western Europe, "weirdly, this one place in Britain seems to have had close contact with the Eastern Mediterranean and Byzantine world," Scutt said.
"Arthur's birthplace"

In English legends, Tintagel is the birthplace of Arthur, the legendary British king who is said to have fought the invading Saxons sometime in the centuries after the end of Roman rule.

According to the story recorded by the 12th-century writer Geoffrey of Monmouth, Arthur's father, Uther Pendragon, seduced Arthur's mother, Igraine, while magically disguised as her husband, the Duke of Tintagel. A later tradition arose that the future King Arthur also lived at Tintagel as a child.

Geoffrey of Monmouth also mentioned Tintagel as the later home of Arthur's cousin through Igraine's family, the wicked King Mark of Cornwall. King Mark was the husband of the beautiful Irish princess Iseult, and the vengeful uncle of her lover, Tristan, a Cornish knight of King Arthur's Round Table.

While no historical evidence has been found to prove the existence of King Arthur, some historians speculate the character of King Mark of Cornwall may derive from Conomor, one of the kings of Dumnonia in the 6th century, or to a later Cornish king named in Welsh records as March ap Meirchion.

In 1998, a stone inscribed with the post-Roman British name "Artognou" was discovered by archaeologists at Tintagel, and the discovery sparked a flurry of speculation that it might refer to the legendary Arthur.

But Scutt said the prevailing consensus among archaeologists is that the inscription on the "Artognou stone" refers to a different person, despite the partial similarity in the names. [Image Gallery: Medieval Art Tells a Tale]
Digging through time

The recent excavations at Tintagel were the first stage of a five-year investigation of the site by English Heritage and the Cornwall Archaeological Unit, which is under contract to carry out the excavations and research.

Scutt said the main goal of the project is to firmly establish the dating of the site and to determine the function of some of the 100 buried structures that have been built all over the Tintagel headland.

"These are the first really good scientific excavations of undisturbed ground. ... We've really gone for areas that have deep stratigraphy where we can see good separation," Scutt said.

Scientists agree that the buried structures at Tintagel are likely the remains of a royal center associated with the Kingdom of Dumnonia, Scutt said, but until now, there had been no accurate dating done at the site.

There is still an "outside possibility" that some of the buried buildings may be the remains of a later medieval monastery, or even huts for the builders of the 13th-century castle that now stands on the Tintagel headland, he said.

And while the researchers were confident that most of the buildings at the site dated from the 5th to the 7th centuries, a direct link with British royalty of that time remained unproven, he added.

"There are lots of other possibilities — it could be a mercantile site, based perhaps on the export of Cornish minerals, such as tin, lead and silver," Scutt said. "We can say it is high-status and that rich people live there, but that doesn't necessarily equate to political power — it could be purely a mercantile center."

Tropical Storm in Mexico killed 38 people

Mudslides triggered by intense rainfall in eastern Mexico killed 38 people during the weekend as saturated hillsides collapsed onto modest homes in the wake of now-dissipated Tropical Storm Earl. Luis Felipe Puente, head of national emergency services, said on Sunday that 28 people were killed in Puebla state and another 10 died in neighboring Veracruz state. He said the death toll could still rise. Images of the damage from Earl, broadcast on local television, showed massive mudslides burying entire hillsides, trees felled and buildings creaking under collapsed walls and roofs. Twenty-five of the 28 deaths in Puebla state were confirmed on Sunday near the town of Huauchinango, located in the rugged Sierra Norte de Puebla mountains, site of the worst destruction so far. Three other deaths were reported in the nearby town of Tlaola. Ten people have died in Veracruz state, buried in landslides after intense rainfall and flooding struck the Gulf coast state after Earl crossed the Yucatan peninsula. "We continue to monitor rivers that are above critical levels," Governor Javier Duarte said in a post on Twitter on Sunday. Before striking Mexico, Earl battered Belize last Thursday, smashing car windows and punching holes in the roofs of Belize City's wooden houses. It also flooded parts of the coast.

Terror Attack in Pakistan on August 08 2016

At least 53 people were killed and 56 injured when a loud explosion occurred on Monday in Quetta's Civil Hospital. The explosion occurred when Balochistan Bar Association President Bilal Kasi's body was being brought to the emergency department. He was gunned down at Mano Jan Road earlier today. Former Balochistan Bar President Baz Muhammad Kakar was injured in the attack. He later succumbed to his wounds at the hospital. Police said that unknown men opened fire after the blast. Panic tore through the hospital after the incident. The blast occurred near the emergency department of the hospital. Most of the injured are lawyers and journalists who had arrived at the hospital when they heard news of the attack on the two senior lawyers, eye witnesses said. An Aaj News cameraman was killed in the attack while a Dawn News cameraman was severely injured in the attack. Security forces have cordoned off the area. Mobile phone jammer have been installed in the surrounding areas of Civil Hospital. Emergency has been declared at hospitals in Quetta. No group has claimed responsibility of the attack. The provincial capital has been at the receiving end of several such acts of terror. In May this year two people were killed and five injured when an explosion occurred at the main entrance of Baluchistan University. Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri claimed that the attack was carried out by Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). He added that it was a suicide attack. Zehri said that the terrorists were attacking soft targets. "Even in times of war no one attacks a hospital," he said, adding that they will root out terrorists. The chief minister could not provide a death toll for the attack, but said that over 40 have been injured. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the loss of precious life and ordered the provincial government to arrest the culprits. "No one will be allowed to disrupt the peace of the province," the prime minister said. He added that security forces had laid down their lives to establish peace in the province. He instructed the provincial government to give the best medical treatment to the injured. The Supreme Court Bar Association announced a week-long mourning over the attack. Lawyers in the Lahore High Court announced a protest demonstration today condemning the attack.

ΗΦΑΙΣΤΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ ΚΙΝΗΣΙΣ ΙΝ ΣΑΝΤΟΡΙΝΗ

ΗΦΑΙΣΤΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ ΚΙΝΗΣΙΣ ΙΝ ΣΑΝΤΟΡΙΝΗ

Νέα κίνηση ηφαίστειο Καμένη συλλαμβάνονται από Envisat

Αρχείο δεδομένα από το δορυφόρο Envisat δείχνουν ότι το ηφαιστειογενές νησί της Σαντορίνης έχει εμφανιστεί πρόσφατα σημάδια αναταραχής. Ακόμα και μετά το πέρας της αποστολής της, Envisat πληροφορίες εξακολουθεί να αξιοποιηθούν για τη μακροπρόθεσμη παρακολούθηση των ηφαιστείων. Η Σαντορίνη είναι ένα γραφικό ελληνικό νησί στο νότιο Αιγαίο και την πιο ενεργό ηφαιστειακό κέντρο στο Νότιο Αιγαίο ηφαιστειακού τόξου. 
 

Το νησί είναι ο τόπος μιας από τις μεγαλύτερες ηφαιστειακές εκρήξεις της ιστορίας, περίπου 3600 χρόνια πριν. Το γεωλογικό αρχείο κατά τα τελευταία εκατομμύρια χρόνια αποκαλύπτει μια εκτενή ιστορία των εκρήξεων, με την πιο πρόσφατη τριετία σε 1950.  

	José Achache (GEO)

Όμως, παρά το γεγονός ότι σε αδράνεια για περισσότερο από μισό αιώνα, οι δορυφόροι έχουν ανιχνευθεί μικρές κινήσεις.

Αυτά και άλλα ευρήματα παρουσιάστηκαν στοΔιεθνές Φόρουμ για την Παρατήρηση της Γης Δορυφορική γεωλογικών κινδύνων για τη διαχείριση των κινδύνων , που βρίσκονται σε εξέλιξη στη Σαντορίνη το ίδιο.

Διοργανώνεται από τον ΕΟΔ σε συνεργασία με την Ομάδα Παρατήρησης της Γης (GEO), το φόρουμ επικεντρώνεται στην επιστήμη και τις εφαρμογές της δορυφορικής παρατήρησης της γης να υποστηρίζει τη διαχείριση των κινδύνων που συνδέονται με γεωφυσικών κινδύνων.

Σεισμική δραστηριότητα στη Σαντορίνη, όπως το underground κίνημα του μάγματος, από τον Ιανουάριο του 2011 έως σήμερα έχει προκαλέσει παραμόρφωση του εδάφους, που εντοπίστηκε από το ραντάρ του Envisat.
 

Παραμορφώσεων του εδάφους

Ακόμα και από μια τροχιά περίπου 800 χλμ. πάνω από το έδαφος, παραμορφώσεις των λίγων εκατοστών μπορεί να ανιχνευθεί μέσω δορυφόρου ραντάρ.

Όταν συνδυάζονται δύο ή περισσότερες εικόνες ραντάρ από την ίδια περιοχή, οι αλλαγές στο αντανακλάσεις των σημάτων μεταξύ τους μπορεί να μετρηθεί. Αυτή η τεχνική ονομάζεται διαφορική Interferometric Ραντάρ Συνθετικού Παραθύρου - ή DInSAR - έχει γίνει ένα χρήσιμο εργαλείο για τον εντοπισμό παραμορφώσεων του εδάφους.

Envisat δείχνει ότι το βορειοανατολικό τμήμα της Νέας Καμένης ηφαίστειο της Σαντορίνης παρουσίασαν ανύψωση περίπου 5 εκ. το 2011, ενώ άλλες περιοχές του ηφαιστείου αυξήθηκαν περίπου 3-4 εκατοστά.

"Η παρακολούθηση για την ανίχνευση κάθε αλλαγή του καθεστώτος του ηφαιστείου παρουσιάζει ένα περαιτέρω βήμα προς την κατανόηση των φυσικών διεργασιών που σχετίζονται με ηφαιστειακές εκρήξεις που μπορούν να οδηγήσουν σε φυσικές καταστροφές", δήλωσε ο καθηγητής Issaak Παρχαρίδης από το Τμήμα Γεωγραφίας του Χαροκοπείου Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών .

Κατά τη διάρκεια των πρώτων μηνών του τρέχοντος έτους, Σαντορίνη είδε μια πτώση στην ταχύτητα της παραμόρφωσης, η οποία συνοδεύεται από μείωση της σεισμικής δραστηριότητας.
 

	Νέα Καμένη

"Μετά την αξιολόγηση της τοπικής σεισμικής δραστηριότητας, παραμόρφωση και φυσικοχημικές μεταβολές, [εμείς] κατέληξε στο συμπέρασμα ότι κατά τους τελευταίους μήνες το ηφαίστειο παρουσιάζει μια πολύ περιορισμένη δραστηριότητα, πολύ χαμηλότερο από εκείνο του 2011," δήλωσε ο κ. Κοσμάς Στυλιανίδης, επικεφαλής της Ειδικής Επιστημονικής Επιτροπής για την παρακολούθηση του ηφαιστείου της Σαντορίνης.

"Η Επιτροπή, σε μηνιαία έκθεσή της του Απριλίου στην κυβέρνηση, συμβουλεύει την εφαρμογή του περιοριστικού μέτρου δεν αφορά την κινητικότητα του πληθυσμού."

Επικοινωνήστε με Envisat χάθηκε στις 8 Απριλίου, αλλά δέκα χρόνια αρχειοθετημένα δεδομένα από την αποστολή θα συνεχίσει να χρησιμοποιείται από τους επιστήμονες για την παρακολούθηση ηφαίστεια και πολλές άλλες μελέτες.

Η συνέχιση της παρακολούθησης από τον ερχομό δορυφορικές αποστολές, όπως η οικογένεια των φρουροί κάτω Παγκόσμια Παρακολούθηση της Ευρώπης για το Περιβάλλον και την Ασφάλεια του προγράμματος, είναι ζωτικής σημασίας για την εξασφάλιση της ροής δεδομένων για τους επιστήμονες και λειτουργική τους χρήστες που ασχολούνται με την επικινδυνότητα και την αξιολόγηση του κινδύνου. 

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Nea_Kameni_volcano_movement_captured_by_Envisat#subhead1

Επεισόδια στο Ρίο:Κάτοικοι πετούσαν νερό και σκουπίδια στην ολυμπιακή φλόγα (Video)

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Λίγες μόνο ώρες πριν την έναρξη των Ολυμπιακών Αγώνων του Ρίο και η λαμπαδηδρομία της ολυμπιακής φλόγας φτάνει στο τέλος της.

Ωστόσο, τα πράγματα  στους δρόμους του Ριο δεν είναι τόσο ομαλά όσο θα τα περίμενε κανείς καθότι οι πολίτες διαμαρτύρονται για το υψηλό κόστος των Αγώνων καθώς και για τις καθυστερήσεις στους μισθούς των δημόσιων υπαλλήλων.

Αυτή τη φορά η κατάσταση ξέφυγε από τον έλεγχο στη γειτονιά του Μπέλφορντ Ρόξο, που πολίτες προσπάθησαν να σβήσουν την φλόγα πετώντας νερό αλλά και…σκουπίδια.

ΕΙΣΒΟΛΗ ΑΡΚΟΥΔΩΝ ΓΙΑ ΜΠΑΝΙΟ ΛΟΓΩ ΚΑΥΣΩΝΑ (VIDEO)

Σε μια λίμνη στην Καλιφόρνια οι λουόμενοι έχουν εκπλαγεί από μια οικογένεια αρκούδα. Η μητέρα αρκούδα και τα δύο αγόρια της ενώθηκαν μαζί τους, αλλά και πιτσιλιστεί μια βουτιά στο δροσερό νερό.