Due to unforeseen personal circumstances, I will be unable to continue this blog for the next couple of weeks. I will resume a daily infusion of top news stories as soon as the personal interference is put back to rights, but until then I shall not be able to post daily as I have in the past.
Please keep an eye out for my return. This is not a permanent situation, and the longest it should last would be mid-June.
Thanks for reading; I will return as soon as I am able.
About Me
- Gutrend
- A big lover of all types of media, from Movies to Video Games, Books to Music, Television to Stage.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Flooding In Louisiana And Manitoba
Ten to twenty feet of water has begun to flood Cajun Country in Louisiana in an effort to relieve a greater disaster further south on the Mississippi. The spillway opened Saturday for the first time since 1973, and people and animals rushed to higher ground as the water shot through like a waterfall, bursting 6 feet into the air. US army officials are hoping that this release will save Baton Rouge and New Orleans from another disaster greater than that left behind by Hurricane Katrina.
In Manitoba, the swollen Assiniboine River was let through a dyke, for the same purpose of stemming a greater disaster down river. While the Manitoba government has pledged financial aid to the approximately 150 homes expected to be affected by the deliberate flooding, residents are still quite stressed regarding their immediate future. The majority of those likely to be affected by the flooding have not been notified how deep the water is expected to get, nor what to expect afterwards.
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Elsewhere, gunfire at a border crossing between Syria and Lebanon has left one woman and one soldier dead. Newer information puts the number of civilians killed at four.
India and Pakistan have exchanged gunfire in Kashmir, following the earlier shooting death of an Indian soldier.
Israeli gunfire injures 45 Palestinians protesting in the Gaza Strip when they got close to the border. Four pro-Palestinian protesters are dead following the shooting.
Japanese engineers have abandoned the latest attempt to cool the reactor one at the Fukushima plant. The attempt to cool the rods by pumping water into the reactor has been thwarted by a hole in the floor of the building which is allowing 3,000 tonnes of radioactive water to pool in the basement instead. Tepco, the company which runs the plant, says another plan will be thought up by Tuesday.
Sony has stated that partial service of its Playstation Network have once again become operational in the US and Europe. Service is expected to begin again in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East, with Asia following soon after. As of yet, the service will not allow purchase of games or services by credit card, as this aspect of the network is still being tested due to the new security measures.
More news as it happens.
In Manitoba, the swollen Assiniboine River was let through a dyke, for the same purpose of stemming a greater disaster down river. While the Manitoba government has pledged financial aid to the approximately 150 homes expected to be affected by the deliberate flooding, residents are still quite stressed regarding their immediate future. The majority of those likely to be affected by the flooding have not been notified how deep the water is expected to get, nor what to expect afterwards.
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Elsewhere, gunfire at a border crossing between Syria and Lebanon has left one woman and one soldier dead. Newer information puts the number of civilians killed at four.
India and Pakistan have exchanged gunfire in Kashmir, following the earlier shooting death of an Indian soldier.
Israeli gunfire injures 45 Palestinians protesting in the Gaza Strip when they got close to the border. Four pro-Palestinian protesters are dead following the shooting.
Japanese engineers have abandoned the latest attempt to cool the reactor one at the Fukushima plant. The attempt to cool the rods by pumping water into the reactor has been thwarted by a hole in the floor of the building which is allowing 3,000 tonnes of radioactive water to pool in the basement instead. Tepco, the company which runs the plant, says another plan will be thought up by Tuesday.
Sony has stated that partial service of its Playstation Network have once again become operational in the US and Europe. Service is expected to begin again in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Middle East, with Asia following soon after. As of yet, the service will not allow purchase of games or services by credit card, as this aspect of the network is still being tested due to the new security measures.
More news as it happens.
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Deliberate Flooding In Manitoba, Same Plan For Mississippi
In an effort to stem greater destruction of property further down the river, the dyke holding back the Assiniboine River has been breached southeast of Portage la Prairie in Manitoba. The flood is expected to cover 225 square kilometres and affect at least 150 homes. This is being done to ensure the flood is not worse downriver, where it would affect 500 square kilometres and 850 homes.
The same idea is being pushed forward by the US for the cresting Mississippi River, and the Army is prepared to open a spillway in Cajun Country in order to avoid greater destruction in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. 11,000 structures would be affected by the opening of the spillway, submerging 7,770 square kilometres under as much as 7.6 metres of water. If this is not done, New Orleans will be submerged under 6 metres of water in a disaster that would dwarf the damage done by Hurricane Katrina.
Both rivers have been swollen by heavy rains and large quantities of snowmelt, raising their levels to record proportions this year.
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Officials in Washington who were in their respective positions during the Bush administration are attempting to say that the information leading to the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden was gained as a direct result of using the 'waterboarding' torture technique, and trying to vindicate their position on its use in interrogation.
Pakistan lawmakers are riled by the US raid on Bin Laden's compound. They have closed ranks behind the military might of Pakistan, who's feathers were ruffled by the mission, and the leaders of the country still claim they had no knowledge of Bin Laden's whereabouts before the raid took place.
A worker has died at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. Cause of death is still undetermined, but officials are stating that no traces of radiation were found on his body. The plant is undergoing work to repair it after the earthquake and resulting tsunami caused major damage to the site.
Denmark, planning to institute border checks, may in fact be about to violate European Union law.
More news as it happens.
The same idea is being pushed forward by the US for the cresting Mississippi River, and the Army is prepared to open a spillway in Cajun Country in order to avoid greater destruction in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. 11,000 structures would be affected by the opening of the spillway, submerging 7,770 square kilometres under as much as 7.6 metres of water. If this is not done, New Orleans will be submerged under 6 metres of water in a disaster that would dwarf the damage done by Hurricane Katrina.
Both rivers have been swollen by heavy rains and large quantities of snowmelt, raising their levels to record proportions this year.
---------
Officials in Washington who were in their respective positions during the Bush administration are attempting to say that the information leading to the mission to kill Osama Bin Laden was gained as a direct result of using the 'waterboarding' torture technique, and trying to vindicate their position on its use in interrogation.
Pakistan lawmakers are riled by the US raid on Bin Laden's compound. They have closed ranks behind the military might of Pakistan, who's feathers were ruffled by the mission, and the leaders of the country still claim they had no knowledge of Bin Laden's whereabouts before the raid took place.
A worker has died at the stricken Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan. Cause of death is still undetermined, but officials are stating that no traces of radiation were found on his body. The plant is undergoing work to repair it after the earthquake and resulting tsunami caused major damage to the site.
Denmark, planning to institute border checks, may in fact be about to violate European Union law.
More news as it happens.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Very Late Post
I apologise to anyone regularly reading this blog, but the host site, Blogger, was down for the morning and, from what I've gleaned, most of the day. I will return tomorrow as scheduled.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Libyan Rebels Push Back Gadhafi Forces
Rebels in Misrata said today that they have pushed Gadhafi's forces away from the airport after capturing it, and moved them outside of the besieged city. This comes on the heels of an appearance by Gadhafi which spurred NATO to attack Gadhafi's Tripoli compound and three other locations Thursday. It was Gadhafi's first appearance since his son was killed almost two weeks ago.
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Elsewhere, a retried US auto worker has been convicted on thousands of counts of acting as an accessory to murder at a Nazi death camp. John Demjanjuk was found guilty of 28,060 counts, one for each person who died when he was a guard at the Sobibor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland from late March to mid-September 1943. He is 91 years old.
The shuttle Endeavour will finally launch at 8:56 a.m. EDT on Monday, May 16th.. This is the final flight of this space shuttle, and the second last launch of any space shuttle.
22 children have been rescued from a human trafficking gang in China. 200 police officers were involved in the bust Wednesday, saving the 22 children who had already been kidnapped. Since launching the crackdown on this type of activity in 2009, police have rescued more than 13,000 abducted children and 23,000 women.
Floods continue to be a major concern in Louisiana and Manitoba.
More news as it happens...
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Elsewhere, a retried US auto worker has been convicted on thousands of counts of acting as an accessory to murder at a Nazi death camp. John Demjanjuk was found guilty of 28,060 counts, one for each person who died when he was a guard at the Sobibor camp in Nazi-occupied Poland from late March to mid-September 1943. He is 91 years old.
The shuttle Endeavour will finally launch at 8:56 a.m. EDT on Monday, May 16th.. This is the final flight of this space shuttle, and the second last launch of any space shuttle.
22 children have been rescued from a human trafficking gang in China. 200 police officers were involved in the bust Wednesday, saving the 22 children who had already been kidnapped. Since launching the crackdown on this type of activity in 2009, police have rescued more than 13,000 abducted children and 23,000 women.
Floods continue to be a major concern in Louisiana and Manitoba.
More news as it happens...
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
UN Wants Libyan Ceasefire
The UN secretary general has requested that Gadhafi forces stop bombing civilians, and asks for an "immediate, verifiable ceasefire." Ban Ki-moon also stated that he wants humanitarian aid to be allowed into the area unimpeded to help those affected by the fighting. Meanwhile, NATO stated that while Gadhafi's compound may have been collapsed during the recent round of shelling, that it was not itself the specific target of any shots fired. Brigadier General Claudio Gabellini, the NATO chief operations officer in Libya, stated that NATO is only taking aim at military targets, and the buildings hit are all command and control bunkers.
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In other news, rumours that a deceased seismologist predicted that a major earthquake would hit Rome, Italy on May 11th this year has caused a minor exodus from the city. Raffaele Bendandi, the seismologist who predicted this event, died in 1979, but not before saying that May 2011 the city of Rome would be 'totally destroyed' and that this event would be followed by two more disasters in May 2012. Most Romans, however, are dismissing the rumours as an urban myth. Guess we'll see what tomorrow brings.
In Greece, police have fired tear gas at thousands of protesters in the centre of Athens today.
Apa Sherpa, 51, climbs Mount Everest for the 21st time, setting new Everest record by beating his own total.
The Commodore 64 is making a comeback, with an original-looking 'keyboard computer' housing current components. Commodore USA is selling them now, for delivery in June, for the same price as the original was sold for: $595 US. Mouse and monitor sold separately.
Gas prices in Toronto, Canada, have for the second day in a row set new records. Today's prices, after a second overnight bump, have reached $1.41 per litre, which works out to be $5.34 per US gallon.
More news as it happens...
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In other news, rumours that a deceased seismologist predicted that a major earthquake would hit Rome, Italy on May 11th this year has caused a minor exodus from the city. Raffaele Bendandi, the seismologist who predicted this event, died in 1979, but not before saying that May 2011 the city of Rome would be 'totally destroyed' and that this event would be followed by two more disasters in May 2012. Most Romans, however, are dismissing the rumours as an urban myth. Guess we'll see what tomorrow brings.
In Greece, police have fired tear gas at thousands of protesters in the centre of Athens today.
Apa Sherpa, 51, climbs Mount Everest for the 21st time, setting new Everest record by beating his own total.
The Commodore 64 is making a comeback, with an original-looking 'keyboard computer' housing current components. Commodore USA is selling them now, for delivery in June, for the same price as the original was sold for: $595 US. Mouse and monitor sold separately.
Gas prices in Toronto, Canada, have for the second day in a row set new records. Today's prices, after a second overnight bump, have reached $1.41 per litre, which works out to be $5.34 per US gallon.
More news as it happens...
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
NATO Targets Gadhafi
Witnesses say that recent airstrikes have been delibrately targeting Muammar Gadhafi's compound. Libyan officials say that as a result of breaking glass, four children have been injured after the latest NATO strikes overnight. This is all occurring during what appears to be a stalemate between Gadhafi's forces and the rebels attempting to oust him from power, in a struggle that has so far lasted two months. Western countries, the US included, are still uncertain whether to quietly support the rebels with weaponry in order to turn the tide of the conflict.
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Elsewhere, the Mississippi River is beginning to crest at Memphis, TN, prompting President Obama to sign a disaster declaration for the area on Monday. Flooding is of grave concern to residents in Louisiana, the crest's next target, as the area is still getting back on it's feet after the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina.
Microsoft says it is going to buy Skype for the price of $8.5 billion, in cash. This is in an attempt to become larger in the smartphone market, and will try and make Microsoft a bigger player on the internet.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver are separating after 25 years of marriage.
Japan's Prime Minister says that he will forego his paycheck until the country's nuclear crisis is resolved.
Sony Corporation hopes to get the Playstation Network back online by the end of May.
More news as it happens...
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Elsewhere, the Mississippi River is beginning to crest at Memphis, TN, prompting President Obama to sign a disaster declaration for the area on Monday. Flooding is of grave concern to residents in Louisiana, the crest's next target, as the area is still getting back on it's feet after the disaster that was Hurricane Katrina.
Microsoft says it is going to buy Skype for the price of $8.5 billion, in cash. This is in an attempt to become larger in the smartphone market, and will try and make Microsoft a bigger player on the internet.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver are separating after 25 years of marriage.
Japan's Prime Minister says that he will forego his paycheck until the country's nuclear crisis is resolved.
Sony Corporation hopes to get the Playstation Network back online by the end of May.
More news as it happens...
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