THE BURNING ROCKS

Magnitude-7.5 earthquake rattles Papua New Guinea

2018-02-27T07:40:00.000-08:00

Port Moresby, PAPUA NEW GUINEA — A large earthquake has struck the middle of Papua New Guinea.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the magnitude-7.5 quake hit about 55 miles southwest of Porgera early Monday in the Pacific island nation.

It wasn’t immediately clear if there was damage. The Geological Survey website had 19 reports of feeling the quake, including some saying the shaking was violent.

VIOLENCE RAGES IN SYRIA AS U.N. CALLS TO STOP ‘HELL ON EARTH’

2018-02-27T07:31:00.002-08:00

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian forces launched a ground offensive Monday on a rebel-held eastern Damascus suburb despite a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding a 30-day cease-fire across Syria. The U.N. chief denounced the violence in the embattled region, describing it as “hell on Earth.”

The offensive was accompanied by airstrikes that killed at least 14 people, according to opposition activists, and the new fighting in eastern Ghouta did not bode well for the resolution adopted over the weekend at the United Nations.

There was a relative calm in the besieged area in the immediate aftermath of the resolution, which was unanimously approved Saturday by the 15-member council. It demands a 30-day truce in all of Syria but excludes fighting with the Islamic State group and al Qaeda-linked fighters.

However, violence has since picked up with 28 people in the area killed in airstrikes and bombardments on Sunday and Monday, activists said.

Russian news agencies said Monday that President Vladimir Putin has ordered a daily “humanitarian pause” in eastern Ghouta between 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) and 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) to allow residents to leave if they want.

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a statement the pauses will start as of Tuesday. He said Russia will work to create a “humanitarian corridor” to help evacuate civilians but said the location has not been decided yet.

Shoigu also mentioned a refugee camp in Tanf, near the border with Iraq which is “under U.S. control” — where Russia is also suggesting calling for a humanitarian pause as well.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to the warring sides to abide by the cease-fire. Speaking at the start of a session of the U.N.-backed Human Rights Council, the comments were his first remarks to the U.N. body since the resolution was adopted.

“Eastern Ghouta cannot wait,” he said. “It is high time to stop this hell on Earth.”

Guterres said he welcomes the resolution but added that council resolutions “are only meaningful if they are effectively implemented.” He added that he expects the “resolution to be immediately implemented and sustained” and also called for safe, unimpeded and sustained delivery of humanitarian aid and services, as well as evacuations of the sick and wounded.

At the Geneva gathering, U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein echoed calls for a “full implementation” of the truce but said that “however, we have every reason to remain cautious” about the cease-fire as airstrikes continue on Damascus suburbs.

He also decried “seven years of failure to stop the violence, seven years of unremitting and frightful mass killing” in Syria.

In Syria, state TV broadcast live footage showing the town of Harasta, in the Damascus suburbs, being pounded by airstrikes and artillery. The TV said troops were targeting al-Qaida-linked fighter in the area in an apparent move to show that the army is not violating the cease-fire.

Monday’s fighting was mostly concentrated in an area known as Harasta Farms, on the edge of town.

The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense, also known as White Helmets, said 13 died in an airstrike on Douma and one person was killed in Harasta on Monday morning. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the death toll at 22 on Monday, including 21 in the eastern suburb of Douma.

Syrian state media said nearly 50 shells fired by rebels hit the capital wounding at least one person.

The 14 people killed in eastern Ghouta on Sunday included an infant who was allegedly killed in a poison gas attack on the town of Sheifouniyeh.

The opposition’s Syrian Civil Defense said the attack killed a child and that several people and paramedics had breathing difficulties. The Ghouta Media Center, an activist collective, also reported the incident saying chlorine gas was used. The Observatory said it could not confirm the reports.

In northern Syria, Turkish police and paramilitary special forces crossed the border into a Syrian Kurdish-held enclave, signaling preparations for a possible offensive to capture the enclave’s main city, Afrin, Turkish officials and media said.

The state-run Anadolu Agency reported the special forces crossed from the Turkish border provinces of Kilis and Hatay on Monday.

Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag said the deployment comes as the operation moves from rural regions of the enclave toward residential areas. He said it’s “in preparation of a new combat”.

Turkey launched an incursion into Afrin on Jan. 20 to drive out a U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish militia it considers to be a “terrorist” group, allied with its own Kurdish insurgents fighting within Turkey’s borders.

The U.N. resolution calls for a cease-fire across all of Syria but Turkey maintains that since fighting “terrorists.”

Syria’s state news agency SANA and the Observatory said a Turkish airstrike in the north has killed five people. SANA and the Observatory said the airstrike occurred early on Monday in the northern Kurdish enclave of Afrin.

The History of Zika

2016-02-23T02:28:00.003-08:00

Zika virus, which is spread through mosquito bites, tends to cause a low fever, skin rash and conjunctivitis (pink eye).

However, when contracted by pregnant women, the virus may be linked with microcephaly (underdeveloped skull and brain) in affected developing babies.

The virus was first identified in rhesus monkeys in Uganda in 1947, and in humans in 1952 in Uganda and Tanzania. In 2015, Zika outbreaks were confirmed in Brazil and Colombia.

The virus has also been reported in the U.S. In 2016, officials with the World Health Organization declared the virus and associated birth defects an international public health emergency.

An epidemiology team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) arrived in Brazil today (Feb. 22) to investigate the link between Zika virus and microcephaly (small head and brain size).

The 16-member group is training its Brazilian counterparts in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, according to National Public Radio (NPR). After that, all of the researchers will collect data on 400 to 500 Brazilian women who have had babies in the past few months.

Using this information, the researchers will set up a case-control study that will help them analyze the various risk factors, be it Zika virus, rubella, malnutrition or environmental toxins, that could account for birth disorders, such as microcephaly.

"Having the data at this point in time are very critically important for understanding the impact Zika might be having in the future and as it spreads in the region," J. Erin Staples, a CDC medical officer leading the CDC team in Brazil, told NPR.

In the meantime, Brazilian researchers sequenced the genome of the Zika virus, according to a report from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. The researchers also isolated the virus from the brains of fetuses who had microcephaly and died shortly after birth, according to the news outlet Agência Brasil, providing more evidence that the virus is linked to the disorder.

Zika Identified in North Carolina Resident19 February 2016, 11:08 AM EST

North Carolina has identified its first case of Zika virus, health officials reported today (Feb. 19).

The patient is an adult who got the virus while traveling in a country with ongoing transmission of Zika. However, the person's symptoms have since resolved, according to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

"As long as the outbreak continues in Central and South America and the Caribbean, we expect to see more travel-related Zika virus infections in our state," Dr. Randall Williams, the state health director, said in a statement. "While travel-related cases don’t present a public health threat to North Carolina, we always actively monitor emerging global situations and adjust resources to meet needs."

Sea level rise in 20th century was fastest in 3,000 years, study finds

2016-02-23T02:22:00.003-08:00

Global sea level rose faster in the 20th century than in any of the 27 previous centuries, according to a Rutgers University-led study published today.

Moreover, without global warming, global sea level would have risen by less than half the observed 20th century increase and might even have fallen.

Instead, global sea level rose by about 14 centimeters, or 5.5 inches, from 1900 to 2000. That's a substantial increase, especially for vulnerable, low-lying coastal areas.

"The 20th century rise was extraordinary in the context of the last three millennia - and the rise over the last two decades has been even faster," said Robert Kopp, the lead author and an associate professor in Rutgers' Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences.

The study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used a new statistical approach developed over the last two and a half years by Kopp, his postdoctoral associates Carling Hay and Eric Morrow, and Jerry Mitrovica, a professor at Harvard University.

"No local record measures global sea level," Kopp said. "Each measures sea level at a particular location, where it is buffeted by a variety of processes that cause it to differ from the global mean. The statistical challenge is to pull out the global signal. That's what our statistical approach allows us to do."

Notably, the study found that global sea level declined by about 8 centimeters [3 inches] from 1000 to 1400, a period when the planet cooled by about 0.2 degrees Celsius [0.4 degrees Fahrenheit].

"It is striking that we see this sea-level change associated with this slight global cooling," Kopp said. By comparison, global average temperature today is about 1 degrees Celsius [1.8 degrees Fahrenheit] higher than it was in the late 19th century.

A statistical analysis can only be as good as the data it's built upon. For this study, a team led by Andrew Kemp, an assistant professor of earth and ocean sciences at Tufts University, and Benjamin Horton, a professor in Rutgers' Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences, compiled a new database of geological sea-level indicators from marshes, coral atolls and archaeological sites that spanned the last 3,000 years.

The database included records from 24 locations around the world. Many of the records came from the field work of Kemp, Horton, or team members Roland Gehrels of the University of York in the United Kingdom and Jeffrey Donnelly of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The analysis also tapped 66 tide-gauge records from the last 300 years.

"Scenarios of future rise depend upon our understanding of the response of sea level to climate changes," Horton said. "Accurate estimates of sea-level variability during the past 3,000 years provide a context for such projections."

Kemp said, "As geologists, we can reconstruct how sea level changed at a particular site, and progress in the last 10 years has allowed us to do so with ever more detail and resolution. Gathering together and standardizing these reconstructions gave us a chance to look at what they had in common and where they differed, both of which can tell us about the causes of past, present and future sea-level change."

Kopp's collaborators Klaus Bittermann and Stefan Rahmstorf at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany used the study's global sea-level reconstruction to calculate how temperatures relate to the rate of sea-level change.

Based on this relationship, the study found that, without global warming, 20th century global sea-level change would very likely have been between a decrease of 3 centimeters [1.2 inches] and a rise of 7 centimeters [2.8 inches].

A companion report finds that, without the global warming-induced component of sea-level rise, more than half of the 8,000 coastal nuisance floods observed at studied U.S. tide gauge sites since 1950 would not have occurred. The Climate Central report, led by Benjamin Strauss and co-authored by Kopp, Bittermann, and William Sweet of NOAA, was also published today.

The Kopp-led study also found that it's very likely that global sea level will rise by 1.7 to 4.3 feet in the 21st century if the world continues to rely heavily upon fossil fuels. Phasing out fossil fuels will reduce the very likely rise to between 0.8 and 2.0 feet.

Scientists at the following institutions contributed to the study: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; Tufts University; Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany; Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; University of York in the United Kingdom; and Harvard University. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the New Jersey Sea Grant Consortium, the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Group, the U.K. National Environmental Research Council, the Royal Society, and Harvard University.

Gravitational Waves – Explained

2016-02-23T02:13:00.001-08:00

A century after Albert Einstein rewrote our understanding of space and time, physicists have confirmed one of the most elusive predictions of his general theory of relativity. In another galaxy, a billion or so light-years away, two black holes collided, shaking the fabric of spacetime. Here on Earth, two giant detectors on opposite sides of the United States quivered as gravitational waves washed over them. After decades trying to directly detect the waves, the recently upgraded Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, now known as Advanced LIGO, appears to have succeeded, ushering in a new era of astronomy.

What are gravitational waves?
Colossal cosmic collisions and stellar explosions can rattle spacetime itself. General relativity predicts that ripples in the fabric of spacetime radiate energy away from such catastrophes. The ripples are subtle; by the time they reach Earth, some compress spacetime by as little as one ten-thousandth the width of a proton.

How are they detected?
To spot a signal, LIGO uses a special mirror to split a beam of laser light and sends the beams down two 4-kilometer-long arms, at a 90 degree angle to each other. After ricocheting back and forth 400 times, turning each beam’s journey into a 1,600 kilometer round-trip, the light recombines near its source. But a gravitational wave stretches one tube while squeezing the other, altering the distance the two beams travel relative to each other. Because of this difference in distance, the recombining waves are no longer perfectly aligned and therefore don’t cancel out. The detector picks up a faint glow, signaling a passing wave.

What are other sources of gravitational waves?
By studying computer simulations of astrophysical phenomena, scientists can figure out what type of signals to expect from various gravitational wave sources.

Spinning neutron stars
A single spinning neutron star, the core left behind after a massive star explodes, can whip up spacetime at frequencies similar to those produced by colliding black holes.

Supernovas
Powerful explosions known as supernovas, triggered when a massive star dies, can shake up space and blast the cosmos with a burst of high-frequency gravitational waves.

Supermassive black hole pairs
Pairs of gargantuan black holes, more than a million times as massive as the sun and larger than the ones Advanced LIGO detected, radiate long, undulating waves. Though Advanced LIGO can’t detect waves at this frequency, scientists might spot them by looking for subtle variations in the steady beats of pulsars.

Big Bang
The Big Bang might have triggered universe-sized gravitational waves 13.8 billion years ago. These waves would have left an imprint on the first light released into the cosmos 380,000 years later, and could be seen today in the cosmic microwave background.

How else are we looking for gravitational waves?
LIGO isn’t the only game in town when it comes to hunting for gravitational waves. Here are a few other ongoing and future projects.

Ground-based interferometers
A couple of other detectors similar to LIGO are in Europe. The Virgo detector, near Pisa, Italy, is being upgraded and will team up with LIGO later this year. GEO600, near Hannover, Germany, has been the only interferometer running for the past several years while Virgo and LIGO underwent renovations. A third LIGO detector, this one in India, is scheduled to join the search in 2019.

Space-based interferometers
In space no one can you hear you scream. Neither do you have to deal with pesky Earth-based phenomena like seismic tremors. Researchers have been lobbying the European Space Agency to put a LIGO-like detector in space — the Evolved Laser Interferometer Space Antenna — sometime in the 2030s. In anticipation of eLISA, ESA recently launched the LISA Pathfinder, a mission to test technologies needed for the full-fledged space-based gravitational wave detector.

Pulsar timing arrays To pick up the relatively low-frequency hum of colliding supermassive black holes, researchers are turning to pulsars. These rapidly spinning neutron stars (the cores left behind after a massive star explodes) send out steady pulses of radio waves. As a gravitational wave squeezes and stretches the space between Earth and a pulsar, the beat appears to quicken and diminish. Three projects — the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array in Australia, NANOGrav in North America and the European Pulsar Timing Array in Europe — are monitoring dozens of pulsars for tempo changes that can reveal not only single collisions but the cacophony of gargantuan black holes smashing together throughout the universe.

Cosmic microwave background polarization Gravitational waves released in the wake of the Big Bang would have left a mark on the cosmic microwave background, or CMB. This radiation fills the universe and is a relic from the moment light could first travel freely through the cosmos, about 380,000 years after its birth. The CMB preserved how space stretched and squeezed following a phenomenal expansion a trillionth of a trillionth of a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. Many telescopes are searching for this signature by looking for specific patterns in how the CMB light waves align with one another. It’s not easy though; the BICEP2 project already mistook dust in the Milky Way for its cosmic quarry.

What can we learn from gravitational waves? LIGO’s success is akin to Galileo turning his telescope toward the sky. Before that moment we knew little about the stars and planets. We didn’t realize there are other galaxies and had no concept of the immensity of the universe. Gravitational waves are a new way of seeing the cosmos. They are a striking confirmation of general relativity and will reveal cataclysmic explosions and collisions throughout the universe. But as with Galileo’s telescope, much of what gravitational waves can teach us is probably yet to be imagined.

Have to Believe this .........About geomagnetic reversal and POLE SHIFT

2013-12-08T07:14:00.001-08:00

A growing number of scientists are starting to worry the magnetic pole shift, that seems to be underway, is the real culprit behind climate change. Not man made air pollution, not the Sun, not the underground volcanic activity heating up the oceans, but the slow beginning of a pole shift that has been thought to destroy entire civilizations in the past and be one major factor in mass extinctions. NASA recently discovered and released information about a major breach in the Earth's magnetic field.

This breach in the Earth's magnetic field allows solar winds to enter the Earth's atmosphere and is sufficient to really mess up the weather. Not only is this accelerating magnetic pole shift messing up the weather, it is also having major effects on geopolitics. These magnetic shifts are not only capable of causing massive global super storms, but can cause certain societies, cultures and whole countries to collapse, even go to war with one another.

All yet remains to be seen, but the magnetic reversal of the Earth's poles seems to be rapidly increasing and is affecting world weather patterns. The real question is how bad will things get before it all settles back down to a "new normal?" At one time in history it was thought the North Pole was in the area that is now known as Hudson Bay. If the Hudson Bay area was the last location of the North Pole, where will it go next? And how bad will global super storms and climate change get before it is over? And can we stop blaming each other for causing this and work together to survive it and keep civilization intact?

The NOAA National Geophysical Data Center maintains a data set of annual magnetic north pole coordinates going back to the year 1590, derived from early measurements from ships logs to modern day techniques. Noting that there has been lots of reporting of pole shift lately, to the point where the phenomenon is actually causing real-world issues such as temporary airport closures, a deeper investigation was in order. After transferring 420 years of north pole position data from the NOAA Geo Data Center, configuring it to fit in an Excel spreadsheet, adding a complicated formula to determine exact distance between 2 sets of latitude-longitude coordinates, applying the formula to each data point in the series, and then finally plotting it all in a visual graph, it is alarming to discover the amount of pole shift just over the past 10 to 20 years.

Since 1860, the magnetic pole shift has more than doubled every 50 years. That is pretty significant. During the past 150 years, the pole shift has been in the same direction. During the past 10 years, the magnetic north pole has shifted nearly half of the total distance of the past 50 years! In other words, the pole shift has apparently sped up substantially. It is not known if the shift will speed up or slow down in the years ahead. Some say that a pole reversal is overdue, and this phenomenon may be indicators of the beginnings of that process. (ModernSurvivalist)

The Pole shift hypothesis is not to be confused with geomagnetic reversal, the periodic reversal of the Earth's magnetic field (effectively switching the north and south magnetic poles). Geomagnetic reversal has more acceptance in the scientific community than pole shift hypotheses. The Pole shift hypothesis is almost always discussed in the context of Earth, but other bodies in the Solar System may have experienced axial reorientation during their existences. The theory says that the outer crust of the Earth has moved several times in the past and would move in the future.

A geomagnetic reversal is a change in the orientation of Earth's magnetic field such that the positions of magnetic north and magnetic south become interchanged. The Earth's magnetic north pole is drifting from northern Canada towards Siberia with a presently accelerating rate. It is also unknown if this drift will continue to accelerate. Present society with its reliance of electricity and electromagnetic effects (e.g. radio, satellite communications) may be vulnerable to technological disruptions in the event of a full field reversal.

The Earth's geomagnetic field is currently undergoing a reversal. It is not known when it will be completed, but it is already well underway, will continue into 2012 and beyond. The field is weakening with consequences of irradiation from the sun and deep space. But the reversal also means deep seated changes inside the Earth with consequences of earthquakes in places not familiar with them and new volcanoes. During the reversal, we can experience increased earthquake activity, even an earthquake storm. Three new volcanoes are being born in the various undersea locations of the Pacific Ocean at this time. The reversal is a product of the changes that go on inside the Earth. The core is spinning slightly faster than the crust that has been slowed by the effect of the moon by tidal dragging. The differential rotation is what generates the magnetic field. As the core rotates, the magnetic field lines behave like what happens on the surface of the Sun as the Sun has differential rotation from equator to pole. The differential rotation in both cases stretches the magnetic field lines so that they get wound round and round the Sun or Earth. At a certain moment in each case, the magnetic field lines snap and the field reverses and rebuilds. The differential flow of the Sun occurs much faster than in the Earth, so the magnetic cycle occurs in the sun cycles around 22 years on average. The Earth takes longer and is aperiodic due to the slower winding and the interaction of the Moon, Sun and planets. Typical field reversals can take hundreds of thousands or millions of years.

The current state of the geomagnetosphere is very chaotic with no definitive north-south orientation of poles. Instead, there is a patchwork of poles all over the place. It is analogous to the surface of the sun during a sunspot maximum period where there are many fields coupled by sunspot pairs. The remains of the main field still exist, but is weakening, with the south magnetic pole closer to the equator than the north magnetic pole. Satellite imaging shows that the overall field has broken into many local regions with plenty of neutral zones between them where solar and cosmic radiation can get to the earth's surface unimpeded except by the atmosphere. As of March 2010, NASA space weather tells us two things. The first is that the Earth's magnetic field is almost at zero strength overall, broken into hundreds of small coupled fields. The sun for the moment is relatively quiet according to what is observed by aural activity on Earth. These magnetic zones are shifting continually and presage change. It appears that the field will be globally neutral on or about 2012.

Right now, the Earth is open to penetration by ionizing radiation from all sources, but the local solar weather and cosmos is relatively quiet. It will not remain so and it is hard to know in advance when a radiation event will come from the cosmos at large. With the sun, we may have a day or two concerning a proton event, but not for gamma rays as it will hit us the moment we see signs like a coronal mass ejection. Where the chaotic fields are at their weakest, is exactly where auras will show and warn us of oncoming radiation. Ionizing radiation means an increase in radiation driven evolutionary change and radiation related illness.

A sign of the times is increase in earthquake activity, including in regions that are considered geologically stable and not subject to earthquakes. (Newsolio)

The Earth's magnetosphere is what generates the Earth's magnetic poles. It also protects us from harmful solar wind emanating from the Sun and radiation from outside our solar system. It sheathes the Earth and extends outside the atmosphere. This is why missions to the moon and other planets are plagued by radiation but orbiting missions less so.

Scientists know that reversals have occurred many times in the past. The direction of magnetic grains laid down successively in the Earth's crust, particularly the sea floor are a primary piece of evidence. When the rock is new and molten the grains are free to align themselves with the prevailing magnetic field. As the rock cools, the grains are frozen in time. As the sea floor expands outward (in the Atlantic), it is regularly striped with rock oriented in different directions. This indicates that the magnetic poles have reversed many times throughout the Earth's history.

The South Atlantic Anomaly (or SAA) is the region where Earth's inner van Allen radiation belt makes its closest approach to the planet's surface. Thus, for a given altitude, the radiation intensity is greater within this region than elsewhere. The van Allen radiation belts are symmetric with the Earth's magnetic axis, which is tilted with respect to the Earth's rotational axis by an angle of ~11 degrees. Additionally, the magnetic axis is offset from the rotational axis by ~450 kilometers (280 miles). Because of the tilt and offset, the inner van Allen belt is closest to the Earth's surface over the south Atlantic ocean, and furthest from the Earth's surface over the north Pacific ocean.

Some believe that the anomaly is a side effect of geomagnetic reversal. This may result from a misunderstanding of the extant literature, which mentions a slow weakening of the geomagnetic field as one of several causes for the changes in the borders of the SAA since its discovery. What is true is that as the geomagnetic field continues to weaken, the inner van Allen belt will get closer to the Earth, with a commensurate enlargement of the SAA at given altitudes. The highest intensity portion of the SAA drifts to the west at a speed of about 0.3 degrees per year, and is noticeable in the references listed below. The drift rate of the SAA is very close to the rotation differential between the Earth's core and its surface, estimated to be between 0.3 and 0.5 degrees per year. (MaritimeConnector)

The South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA) is known to be growing in extent and spreading westwards from South Africa, as the Earth’s internal magnetic field rapidly weakens in this region. This may be early evidence of a forthcoming reversal in the direction of the Earth’s internal magnetic field. We do not know in detail precisely what occurs during such reversals, including the changes observed in the magnetic field and the time a reversal takes to complete. However these factors are important in knowing where the radiation risk may be increased and how the atmosphere might respond. Earth’s magnetic field has had many highs, lows and reversals in its past. The last reversal was around 800,000 years ago. So the Earth is known to be able to re-generate its field and has done so during human pre-history. Understanding the development of the SAA may therefore be significant in understanding the reversal process and its impact on life and the natural environment.(BrittishGeologicalSurvey)

Polar Shift and Earthquakes

The increase in the number of strong earthquakes today may be related to the phenomenon of polar shift, and are both byproducts of Earth’s turbulent and boiling liquid Iron outer core, roiling around a solid Iron inner core as hot as the Sun and spinning faster than the rotation of the planet itself.

The Earth’s mantle and crust are floating on top of a stormy sea of electrically conducting molten Iron which produces the planet’s magnetic field by something called the Dynamo effect. The north magnetic pole was first located in 1831 and has been regularly tracked up until the most recent measurement taken some time ago in 2001. During that time the pole has moved an amazing 1,100 km. In fact, since 1970 the pole has been moving much faster, from 10 km to 40 km annually, an incredible four fold increase.

Polar shift is caused by substantial changes in movement of the molten Iron outer core.

Dr. Tony Phillips of Science News – NASA has stated the following details… About 400 polar shift reversals have occurred during the past 330 million years while the average interval between reversals during recent geological times has been about 200 thousand years. The Earth’s last field reversal occurred 780 thousand years ago and we are apparently way overdue. Most evidence gathered from analyzing certain types of rock indicates that a polar shift reversal process may take 1,000 or up to 8,000 years to complete. However there have also been reports of the process completing itself much, much faster than that, the most famous account being from measurements taken of lava rock at Steens Mountain, Oregon which indicate that the magnetic field had been shifting up to 6 degrees per day during one particular polar shift nearly 16 million years ago. Everything we are seeing here lately regarding magnetic polar shift and earthquakes today may all be related and may be reflections of changes that are occurring deep beneath our feet. (Modern Survivalist)

As massive earthquakes rip the Earth’s crust, destroy cities and kill many thousands, scientists that have warned of the relationship between the ongoing magnetic polar shift, the planet’s molten cores and tectonic plates are scrambling to recheck their calculations.

Japan's 9.1 superquake that destroyed much of northeastern land is a symptom of the growing devastation reverberating around the globe as the geomagnetic field continues to relentlessly warp, fluctuate and mutate. Both the superquake and super-tsunami were generated by a gigantic tear in the earth’s crust: the North American plate snapped upward. The mammoth fissure—150 miles long and 50 miles wide—gapes like a deadly wound in the seabed, plunging downwards into the depths of the crumbling, unstable mantle.

Most people are unaware that magnetic field fluctuations can precipitate earthquakes and initiate strange mass animal behavior—bizarre behavior like that reported since the final months of 2010. Yet it’s been demonstrated that changes in the geomagnetosphere affect the Earth’s plate tectonics. The reason why tectonics are affected has to do with how the Earth is built geologically. The planet’s primarily a core of superheated, dense viscous liquid with a relatively thin crust floating on the surface. That segmented crust—like a cracked pie crust—is what comprises the tectonic plates. They are in constant movement chiefly due to massive currents deep within the planet’s mantle and molten core.

The edges where two plates meet are called faults. Faults relieve the titanic internal pressure of the planet. The faults buckle and create mountains, rifts, and volcanic conduits. Some faults are structured different than others and exhibit different qualities.

The mighty currents of molten rock, under intense pressure, boil beneath the crust creating earthquakes, volcanoes and continental drift. It is also the geodynamo that creates the earth’s magnetic field and the interaction with the solar magnetosphere can initiate plate drift, tensions and the massive buckling and shearing between the plates called faults. The movement along the fault lines is called an earthquake.

Geomagnetic flux, often a precursor to mighty quakes, is sometimes accompanied by strange harmonics: people see colors dancing in the sky or hear what sounds like discordant music. The growing abberations of the magnetic field—and the increasing level activity of the sun—is symptomatic of the change in the earth’s core. A dangerous change. An uncontrollable change. A change that is leading to the possibility of greater and greater disasters. Volcanic activity will also increase. The evidence is there.

Japan’s superquake was followed by dozens of severe aftershocks and then an entirely new quake on a separate fault in central Japan measuring 6.6 magnitude. Hours later a volcano in Indonesia along the famous Pacific Rim ‘ring of fire” exploded into an intense eruption. The twisting field creates a perfect harmony of catastrophe, death and destruction.

As the flux in the Earth’s dynamic magnetic field becomes more erratic and the intensity of the field fluctuates to a greater degree, the formation of energetic torsion fields withing the electrical matrix can increase. A torsion field, as defined by A. Akimov, can manifest within an electrical field in a state of flux. They are distinct energy fields that can interact and affect both energy and matter. Some experimenters have found evidence that their emanations sometimes appear to exceed the speed of light. Torsion fields can change the light frequency of laser beams, affect electrical components, modify gravity waves, and impact biological processes.

Beyond that, torsion fields can go rogue, create escalating feedback by looping upon themselves and generate massive, uncontrollable forces upon the spinning molten core through permutations and episodes of erratic spin and pressure. It can be measured and deduced by the magnetic flux using supercomputers. But the data produced is always after the fact and is useless as a tool for prediction. It serves only as a means to determine exactly what it was that killed or displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

As the field effects intensify and the geomagnetic field becomes ever more erratic, more superstorms can erupt into global titans of fury; more superquakes can occur shifting coastlines, submerging islands, and destroying whole regions; and more volcanoes can reignite bringing superheated death and destruction to the surface from the very bowels of the earth. (Earth-Issues)

"What is so surprising is that rapid, almost sudden, changes take place in the Earth's magnetic field. This suggests that similar sudden changes take place in the movement of the liquid metal deep inside the Earth which is the reason for the Earth's magnetic field" said Nils Olsen, Senior Scientist with DTU Space.

The Earth's core consists of an inner solid core which is surrounded by an outer liquid core approx. 3,000 km below our feet. Both the liquid core and the solid core consist primarily of iron and nickel, and it is the movements in the outer liquid part of the Earth’s core which create the Earth's magnetic field. Changes in these movements are seen as changes in the magnetic field, and scientists can therefore use satellite measurements of the magnetic field to find out what is going on in the liquid core deep inside the Earth.

The magnetic field surrounds the planet in a cocoon of force that forms a barrier against the solar wind - the constant but fluctuating stream of charged particles emitted from the Sun. If the field weren’t there, the solar wind would strip away almost all of the atmosphere, the oceans would boil away into space and the planet would be left unable to support life. Mars, whose magnetic field faded away unknown aeons ago, suffered this fate. The magnetic fields of the core and the crust are fixed to the Earth, so they are in a rotating frame. The magnetic fields coming from the ionosphere are driven by the Sun, so they sit still with respect to the terrestrial fields.

But the field is complex, and although we’ve known about it since 1600 -an English doctor, William Gilbert, was the first to describe it - we don’t understand how it works. The field is made up from several components. There’s the contribution of the molten core, but how the movement of the liquid iron generates the field is a complete mystery. Another contribution comes from naturally magnetic minerals in the Earth’s crust, such as ores of iron and nickel, and certain magnetic volcanic rocks. The ionosphere - the layer of ionised gases in the atmosphere from about 60kmto 500km above the planet’s surface - also generates a magnetic field that contributes to the whole. Lastly, and rather surprisingly, the oceans, made from conductive salt water, generate a magnetic field as their currents move the water across the surface of the planet.

It’s becoming increasingly important that we understand more about the magnetic field; primarily, it’s responsible for our ongoing existence, but also because more and more of the technology we rely on depends upon it. The field protects communications, global positioning and Earth observation satellites from the solar wind. It may also be responsible for aspects of the climate.

Indian Hindu leader against inter-religious violence bill

2013-12-05T20:02:00.002-08:00

India's parliament opens its winter session today with the Communal Violence Bill on its agenda. Narendra Modi, prime ministerial candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), defines the bill as a "recipe for disaster" that must be stopped. He has been blamed for deadly violence between Hindus and Muslims in Gujarat in 2002, which led to the drafting of the bill currently before parliament. New Delhi (AsiaNews/Agencies) - India's parliament is set to vet the Communal Violence Bill - a proposed piece of legislation meant to curb inter-religious violence - during its winter session, between now and 20 December. Within the Hindu ultra-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the leading opposition party, the bill has come in for criticism. Narendra Modi, chief minister of Gujarat and the BJP's candidate for prime minister in the upcoming union election, has called it "a recipe for disaster." Commissioned by the National Advisory Council (NAC), which is chaired by Sonia Gandhi, the bill would give the central government the power to intervene directly in cases of inter-religious violence, even bypassing state authorities. The idea of such a law came after the Gujarat massacres of 2002, when more than 2,000 Muslims died at the hands of the Hindus. Narendra Modi himself was blamed for the massacre. The issue became an even greater public policy issue in the wake of the anti-Christian pogrom in Orissa (2008) and the failure of individual States to ensure justice. Speaking about the bill, Modi called it "ill-conceived, poorly drafted" and a way to get votes rather than the expression "of genuine concerns". According to the Hindu ultra-nationalist leader, the bill is an attempt to encroach on state rights.

Dozens killed in fresh attacks in central Nigeria

2013-12-05T19:59:00.000-08:00

Four Christian-dominated villages decimated; Muslim tribe suspected of attacks About 40 people were killed in coordinated attacks on Monday night in four Christian-dominated villages in the central Nigerian State of Plateau. Local sources contacted by World Watch Monitor report that the assailants, believed to be members of the Fulani tribe, came at around 2am on Tuesday morning, attacking the Berom communities in the villages of Katu Kapang, Daron, Tul and Rawuru. The incident was confirmed by local authorities, although they did not confirm the identity of the attackers. In a statement, Captain Salisu Mustapha, Media Officer of the government’s Special Task Force (STF) in Jos, said the “attackers killed 13 persons in Katu Kapang, eight in Daron, nine in Tul and seven others in Rawuru. About five others were also reported to have sustained injuries”. Those killed included a one-year-old boy shot at close range, a four-year old and several women and other children, villagers told local media. Jok Cholonm, head of Rawuru village, said that his brother and seven children had been killed in the “cruel” attack. The Chairman of the State chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Soja Bewarang, condemned in “strong terms” the “barbarous act” in which pregnant women and children were killed. “It is inhuman to kill innocent pregnant women and children while they were sleeping. Even in time of war, this category of people was not killed,” he told World Watch Monitor. “This is a religious war against Christians. All the victims are Christians and belong to either the Church of Christ in Nigeria (COCIN) or the Evangelical Church Winning All (ECWA).” These two are among the most numerous denominational groups in Nigeria, numbering millions of adherents. Rev. Bewarang, who presided over a mass burial of 15 victims on Tuesday, has called on security forces to ensure security in remote areas, which are more vulnerable. According to an army spokesman, on receiving the report, STF personnel moved “swiftly”, but the gunmen fled. “The situation was however brought under control by the men of the STF and the area secured,” he said. However, some villagers blamed security forces for not doing enough to protect the victims, saying STF troops had not been far from the villages when the attacks took place. Intercommunity clashes are frequent in this central State of Nigeria, between the mainly Christian indigenous Berom communities and the Muslim-dominated Hausa/Fulani tribe. The Berom community is comprised of mostly farmers, whereas the Hausa/Fulani minority comprises predominantly herdsmen. Their rivalry over access to natural resources has been exacerbated over time. Despite the deployment of a Special Task Force, the government has failed to restore security and peace in the area. Nigeria, the most populous African country, is divided along ethnic and religious lines. The central States of Plateau and Kaduna are located on the fault line between the mainly Muslim north and Christian and animist south. Hundreds of people have been killed in ethnic and religious clashes in both States in recent years. In 2012, the Islamist group Boko Haram – which has its headquarters in the north-eastern State of Borno – carried out several attacks against churches in Jos, the capital of Plateau State, fuelling sectarian tensions in the region. The STF (combining both Army and police) was created by the Nigerian government to deal with the widespread violence and unrest across the central belt, including attacks by Boko Haram.

Faisalabad, brutal murder of 14 year old Christian boy, his body dismembered and face disfigured

2013-12-05T19:58:00.000-08:00

Faisalabad (AsiaNews) - A brutal murder, of a shadowy nature, has shaken the Christian community in Pakistan already marked by the experience of a disabled girl imprisoned for blasphemy in Islamabad, 11-year-old Rimsha Masih (see AsiaNews 19/08/2012 An 11-year-old disabled Christian girl arrested for blasphemy, 300 families flee). On 21 August the police in Faisalabad found the horribly mutilated body of Suneel Masih in an isolated area of the city. They boy a Christian orphan from the city had disappeared two days earlier. Still shocked by the ferocity of the killers a police officer confided on the condition of anonymity to AsiaNews: "It's the first time - said the inspector - that I have ever seen such a murder ". The body was found with the ears, nose, tongue and limbs torn from the body, the belly ripped open and internal organs (including the liver and kidneys) taken, perhaps to be sold on the black market. The killers then poured acid on his face, perhaps to make him unrecognizable.

But investigators have yet to open an investigation into the terrible murder of the 14 year old orphan Christian, whose funeral took place yesterday in the presence of minority leader and local politicians. A protest march was held on the streets of Faisalabad, during which people repeatedly demanded "justice" for the 14 year old Suneel Masih (pictured). Tomorrow an autopsy will be held on the remains of the boy, to clarify whether there was also sexual violence before death. According to the story of some witnesses informed of the facts, on August 19 last Suneel - a 5th class student - went to a shop in Liberty Market to buy a shirt. That night, the boy did not return home and the family raised the alarm. A desperate search began, which proved to be useless and his disappearance was reported to police. Two days later, on 21, police found the horribly mutilated corpse of the boy in an isolated industrial area. The Christian community is in shock and demanding justice, perhaps in vain because so far the police have not even opened a formal investigation. Speaking to AsiaNews, Fr. Nisar Barkat, diocesan director of the National Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Church of Pakistan (NCJP), appealed to the government and law enforcement to bring the perpetrators to justice "as soon as possible." The Christian community, the priest adds, feels insecure and cannot stop thinking about this horrible case. Hindus and Christians "live in fear". The Christian MP of Punjab Joel Aamir Sohotra echoes this fear, saying that "this brutal murder poses a serious reflection on the freedoms enjoyed by minorities, because" we are not just in front of the murder of a Christian boy, but the freedom of all minorities. " The Christian lawyer Kamal Chughtai confirms that he has never seen "such a thing, with this level of cruelty in my entire life." He strongly condemns this "atrocity" and calls for the immediate arrest of the culprits. And if they are not brought to justice in two days, as promised by the police, all the Christians in the city should take to the streets to demand justice.

Did Israeli gov’t vandalize box that held the bones of Jesus’ brother?

2013-12-04T19:36:00.000-08:00

A limestone box said to have once held the bones of the brother of Jesus was at the center of the most controversial forgery case in decades — and it was allegedly vandalized by the Israeli government before being returned to its owner. Called the James ossuary, it is a small stone box with an inscription that reads, “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.”

That Jesus had a sibling at all is a controversial idea disputed by the Roman Catholic Church. If the box itself were authentic, it would be considered the first physical link to Jesus. A three-judge panel of Israeli Supreme Court justices ordered the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) to return the box and several other artifacts to antiquities collector Oded Golan last month, after the agency spent 10 years accusing Golan of forging the items. The box will soon go on display for the public to view for the first time since 2002. There’s just one problem: Reddish stains now appear over the inscription, remnants of a silicon substance applied by the Israel Police Forensics Laboratory to help determine the authenticity of the James ossuary. The contamination might make it impossible to ever fully determine if this ancient relic is forged or real. “The Israeli police, with permission of the IAA, made a red silicon mold of the inscription — destroying the ‘letter patina’ by pulling out this ‘soft’ patina … thus destroying evidence,” said the geologists who first studied the ossuary in 2002, according to Jerusalem-based journalist Matthew Kalman who has covered Golan’s trial extensively. “Consequently, the alleged small amount of masking letter patina is absent now and cannot be studied further.” A patina is a tarnish that forms on objects after a long period of time. It is one factor archaeologists use to determine the authenticity of artifacts. Judge Aharon Farkash who presided over the case agreed that the process of making the mold left damage to the box and left him with reasonable doubt regarding Golan’s guilty charge, Kalman reported. “There is no dispute that the casting of the silicon by the forensics people changed the physical condition of the inscription of the ossuary,” Judge Farkash said. There is also confusion over the decision to create a silicon mold. The police officer who led the investigation testified that he asked the forensics lab to only “examine” the ossuary and not to carry out invasive tests, according to Kalman’s report. An IAA member who was part of the team of experts that ruled the ossuary a fake testified for the defense in regards to the contamination. “I saw a picture of what happened to the ossuary,” Orna Cohen told the court, calling it “contaminated,” according to Kalman. “It will be hard to say anything about the ossuary itself.” Golan spoke out over his frustration that the ossuary was damaged when returned to him. “It’s not in the same condition as before the trial,” Golan told Kalman. “The inscription was defaced, contaminated. The government said the second half of the inscription was forged — the words ‘brother of Jesus’ — and that’s where the major damage has been done.” Fox News

Palestinian Preacher: Put the Jews to the Sword

2013-12-04T17:24:00.002-08:00

Unbelievably, Jerusalem's Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, is still used today, even under Israeli control, as a platform from which to incite jihad against the Jewish state. Last Friday, Palestinian Authority (PA) religious leader Sheikh Omar Abu Sara'a delivered a sermon at the Al Aqsa Mosque in which he lambasted the PA for being so weak as to actually negotiate with the Jews. Sara'a noted that Islam's Prophet Mohammed urged his followers to "fight" the Jews, not treat with them. "For Jews, we do not have but the sword and by extension we need to hold an all-out war against them and not talk with them," demanded the sheikh. Many Israeli officials fear that the conciliatory policies of their government concerning the Temple Mount mean that the Jewish state has already surrendered the holy site to its enemies. The fact that Sara'a and other Muslim clerics can use the Temple Mount to openly call for the destruction of Israel and the slaughter of Jews would seem to justify their concerns.

Christians among 80 executed in North Korea on 3rd November

2013-12-04T17:03:00.002-08:00

AS many as 80 people were publicly executed in North Korea earlier this month, some for offenses as minor as watching South Korean movies or possessing a Bible. South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo reported that the so-called criminals were put to death in seven cities across North Korea on Nov. 3, in the first known large-scale public executions by the Kim Jong-un regime. A source, who is familiar with internal affairs in the North and who recently visited the country, told the paper that about 10 people were killed in each city. Eight people — their heads covered with white bags — were tied to stakes at a local stadium in the city of Wonsan, before authorities shot them with a machine gun, according to the source. Wonsan authorities gathered a crowd of 10,000 people, including children, at Shinpoong Stadium and forced them to watch the killings. “I heard from the residents that they watched in terror as the corpses were (so) riddled by machine-gun fire that they were hard to identify afterward,” the JoongAng Ilbo source said. Most of the Wonsan victims were charged with watching or illegally trafficking South Korean videos, involvement in prostitution, or possessing a Bible. Relatives or accomplices of the execution victims implicated in their alleged crimes were sent to prison camps. There is no clear reason for the executions. One government official noted they occurred in cities that are centers of economic development. Wonsan is a port city that Kim is reportedly planning to make a tourist destination by building an airport, hotels and a ski resort on Mount Masik. Simultaneous executions in seven cities could suggest an extreme measure by the North Korean government to quell public unrest or any capitalistic inclinations that may accompany its development projects. The common theme of the persecution was crimes related to South Korea — like watching South Korean films — or corruption of public morals, especially sexual misconduct. North Korean law permits executions for conspiring to overthrow the government, treason and terrorism. But the country has also been known to order public executions for minor infractions such as religious activism, cellphone use and stealing food, in an effort to intimidate the public. Some experts questioned whether the executions were related to earlier executions of members of the Unhasu Orchestra, a state-run orchestra that First Lady Ri Sol-ju used to participate in, according to the report. “As the news that people were brutally killed in public executions spread in the countryside, the people have been spreading rumors that say that Kim Jong-un has started a terror campaign in response to the Ri Sol-ju’s pornography scandal,” the source told JoongAng Ilbo. There were no executions in the capital of Pyongyang, where Kim depends on the support of the country’s elite. The young leader continues to build luxury and recreational facilities in the capital, including a new water park.

Ex-Intel Chiefs: Obama Let Iran Go Nuclear

2013-12-04T06:09:00.002-08:00

Former Israeli and American intelligence chiefs this week said the deal US President Barack Obama and other Western leaders struck with Iran last week in Geneva had essentially allowed the Islamic Republic to become a “nuclear threshold state.” More accurately, former Israeli military intelligence chief Amos Yadlin said that the West had failed for decades to adequately confront the Iranian nuclear threat, and so had finally given up and signed a bad deal. “The fact that Iran is a nuclear threshold state does not derive from this agreement, but because the Iranians have developed capabilities for years, and no one can stop them,” Yadlin said at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. “Iran is on the verge of producing a bomb. It’s sad, but it’s a fact.” Attending the same conference, Israeli lawmaker MK Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud) lamented the nuclear deal: “If this is not moral defeat, what is moral defeat? If this is not surrender, what is surrender?” The Israelis were not alone in viewing the nuclear deal as what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week said was a “historic mistake.” Former CIA and NSA director Gen. Michael Hayden told Fox News that Obama had clearly “accepted Iranian uranium enrichment. There’s no question about that. That’s a different red line than we used to have.” Hayden noted that the deal agreed to in Geneva speaks of a mutual understanding regarding Iranian uranium enrichment, whereas previous UN resolutions insisted the Islamic Republic had no right to enrich at all. “At the end of the day, Iran’s going to be a nuclear threshold state,” he continued. “What we have to do is push that threshold back as far as possible. …Right now, the Iranians are far too close to a nuclear weapon.” Meanwhile, Iran’s nuclear chief, Ali Akbar Salehi, told his country’s state-run news agency IRNA that the time had come to build even more nuclear plants. Salehi spoke of the plants for use in producing electricity, but Israel and other critics have argued that as a major oil producer, Iran has no real need for civilian nuclear power.

"WAR ON CHRISTMAS" ENDS IN TEXAS AFTER NEW LAW IS PASSED

2013-12-04T05:58:00.002-08:00

"I love this. Thank you, Texas. Thank you for stopping the insanity." -Glenn Beck According to a Glenn Beck report, a new law, having bipartisan support, was passed in Texas that reiterates students'; teachers'; and parents' First Amendment rights to "acknowledge Christmas on school grounds without fear of censorship, persecution, or litigation." The FAQ page on the MerryChristmasTexas.com website posts the following information: Can my school acknowledge Christmas? Yes. HB 308 guarantees the freedom of acknowledging Christmas for teachers and students in our public schools without fear of censorship, persecution or litigation. Can teachers and students face punishment for talking about Christmas? No. HB 308 respects the first amendment rights of students and staff and tells school districts that they don't have to be "speech police" for Christmas expressions. Teachers and students in Texas no longer need fear political correctness run amok, that have led to Christmas Trees being replaced with "Holiday Trees" and simple greetings such as "Merry Christmas" landing a student or teacher in hot water. Does this new law force school districts to teach about Christmas and other holidays? No, HB 308 states that a school district "may educate" students about the history and cultural impact of Christmas, Hanukkah, and other holidays. Does this new law force school districts, staff or students to endorse a particular religion? No. HB 308 specifically states that displays "may not include a message that encourages adherence to a particular religious belief." Apparently the need for the law came about after many restrictions against using the word "Christmas" began arising in various situations. "I love this," remarked Beck regarding the passage of the law. "I love this. Thank you, Texas. Thank you for stopping the insanity," he added.

CHILE'S PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ACCEPTS JESUS CHRIST

2013-12-04T05:53:00.003-08:00

"I pledge to continue with the future of our government and God willing if I get there, nothing will be done that goes against what the Bible says." -Evelyn Matthei (Santiago, Chile)—Evelyn Matthei is running for the office of president in Chile. Recently, she met with a group of 3,000 Christians gathered together to celebrate the centennial of the Evangelical Church in Chile to discuss what she would do if elected on December 15. "I pledge to continue with the future of our government and God willing if I get there, nothing will be done that goes against what the Bible says. Marriage is between a man and a woman, and life is cared for them from the moment of conception until natural death. No to abortion; no to euthanasia. That is a commitment I make before you." She also reportedly met afterwards with a group of pastors to make her confession of faith and repeat the Sinner's Prayer. (See here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_zhBGT17kk) Naturally, some speculate whether the politician's verbal commitments are genuine. The candidate opposing her was Chile's first woman president and her childhood friend, socialist Michelle Bachelet, who plans to legalize abortion and open a debate on gay marriage. "That is not what we want," said Matthei. "Why take God out of our country? Is that what we want? That's not what I want." Time will tell if Matthei's profession of faith is real, but meantime Christians are praying it is so.

ISRAELI MK'S DEMAND JEWISH ACCESS TO TEMPLE MOUNT ON HANUKKAH

2013-12-04T05:40:00.001-08:00

Jews and Christians are only permitted to visit the Temple Mount under severe restrictions. Despite it being the holiest site on earth to Jews and many Christians, they are forbidden from carrying Bibles or praying while inside the compound for fear of "inciting" Muslim violence. (Jerusalem, Israel)—Jerusalem's Temple Mount is a focal point of the upcoming holiday of Hanukkah, as it is for many aspects of the Jewish faith. As such, Israeli lawmakers are insisting that Jews have freer access to the Temple Mount over the week-long festival. "Just because some Muslims throw stones when Jews go up to the Temple Mount is not a reason to prevent them from going, as happened over Succot," Knesset Members Miri Regev (Likud), chairwoman of the Knesset Interior Committee, told police officials during a committee session on Monday. Regev noted that "special arrangements are made for Muslim prayer [on the Temple Mount] during Ramadan and similar arrangements must be made for Jewish visits on Jewish holidays." Jews and Christians are only permitted to visit the Temple Mount under severe restrictions. Despite it being the holiest site on earth to Jews and many Christians, they are forbidden from carrying Bibles or praying while inside the compound for fear of "inciting" Muslim violence. Many times, the Temple Mount is simply closed to Jews and Christians all together if police feel there is even a chance that the Muslims could riot. Arab Knesset Member Masud Gnaim (UAL-Ta'al) countered that the Temple Mount is "occupied territory" and is "holy [only] to hundreds of millions of Muslims and not to Jews." Many Muslims have convinced themselves that the Jews have no historical connection to the Temple Mount and only try to visit the site today in order to complete their modern "conquest" of the Holy Land.

US REVIVAL WILL START WITH MEN SAYS SOUTH AFRICAN EVANGELIST, ANGUS BUCHAN

2013-12-04T05:23:00.001-08:00

He spoke to 10,000 men at the second Mighty Men Conference at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. (Port Elizabeth, South Africa)—"Faith Like Potatoes" South African evangelist Angus Buchan says he has a hope to see "total revival" in the United States "starting with the men and spreading to the family, communities, and nation as a whole." Buchan arrived back in South Africa this week after speaking to more than 10,000 men at the second Mighty Men Conference (MMC) USA at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee, on Sunday night, November 17. A few months before he addressed a similar-sized gathering of men at the first MMMC USA at the Murphy Centre at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. He said that God sent men from every corner of the USA to Bridgestone Arena for the latest MMC USA event. "We have already started receiving very encouraging reports of changed lives and we are so grateful to the Lord Jesus for what He is doing. As John Wesley said, the definition of revival is ‘a people saturated with God'. Having experienced the MMC phenomenon in South Africa, we know this is the same Spirit, excitement and Holiness, we felt here." After hearing God tell him to mentor men, Buchan launched the MMC on his farm, Shalom, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa in 2004. Forty men attended the first event but the numbers of men increased exponentially each year, and there were more than 400 000 men at the 7th and final MMC on his farm in 2010. An inspiring film, "Faith Like Potatoes," was made about Buchan's MMC journey in South Africa. US country music legend Charlie Daniels and singer Scotty McCreery, an "American Idol" winner, performed at the Nashville MMC USA, which was organized by Pastors G. Allen Jackson and Phillip Jackson from World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro. G. Allen Jackson, who also addressed the men, invited Buchan to speak at the first MMC USA after he and Buchan met as invited speakers at the Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem, Israel, in 2011 and realized they shared a vision of impacting men through the truth of Scripture. While the Mighty Men movement is for men only, South African women are generally big MMC fans because they see that it leads to positive change in their men. Echoing this sentiment, a US woman, Jayme Akins, posted this on the Mighty Men USA Facebook page: "I am not a mighty man but I love the mighty men organization. Because of the conference in Nashville Sunday night I have my husband back! I told him I had a feeling he'd get his breakthrough there and my intuition was right! I also told others there would be breakthrough and miracles there they smiled politely like I was crazy … My husband was the one going through the divorce or pondering it, waiting on Gods answer, well he got it. DON'T DO IT! "This organization is amazing and I'm thankful for it. It's natural to see women praise, we do it easier but to see men praise that's beautiful, it's more intimate if that makes sense. You get to see these big tough guys humble themselves to Someone greater. So from a woman I wanted to say thank you!" Buchan said that besides speaking at the MMC USA, other highlights of his latest ministry trip to the USA were speaking at the World Outreach Church in Murfreesboro on Saturday, November 27 and Sunday, November 28, and visiting the 80 000 capacity Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas, where he and G. Allen Jackson prayed over the stadium. "By faith, we are believing one day to book the stadium [Cowboys] for Jesus," said Buchan. Asked about his priorities for this season, Buchan said: "To spend more time with the Lord Jesus. To spend more time with my family. To go only where the Lord Jesus directs us, namely the USA and Israel at the moment."

EVANGELIST ANDREW PALAU JOINS WITH 500 CHURCHES IN ETHIOPIA

2013-12-04T05:19:00.003-08:00

"This festival brought everybody together. Everybody wanted to discuss the heart behind Love Ethiopia. It played a significant role in bringing unity at top leadership levels." (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia) In the heart of one of Africa's most influential cities, world evangelist Andrew Palau and 500 Ethiopian churches joined together in a significant effort to foster unity and love, and reach out with the Good News through Love Ethiopia, October 26 through November 17, 2013. The campaign visited the nation's seven largest cities with the clear message of Jesus Christ. It included more than 17 partner evangelists, 120 short-term missionaries, more than 70 para-church organizations, and thousands of local volunteers in 175 events. From outreach events in local prisons to a private meeting with the newly-appointed president of the nation, the campaign reached every level of society and touched more than 250,000 people, with many thousands responding to the clear Gospel message presented by Andrew Palau and dozens of others. Andrew's Biblical messages of hope rang out to tens of thousands of people on the closing weekend of the festival, forming a potent capstone to the three-week-long campaign involving many evangelistic opportunities. Many in the crowd on Saturday were clad in Ethiopian soccer jerseys, proudly sporting the nation's colors – all in hopeful anticipation of the World Cup qualifier match set to be held later that night. Yet none of them budged from the festival site as Palau shared an impassioned message about the reality of Heaven and Hell and the possibility of a lasting and eternal hope. He told stories of men and women who had died with the assurance of Heaven, offering the same assurance to the crowd. "Our brother Andrew is a real evangelist," said Reverend Alemu Shetta, General Secretary of the Ethiopian Evangelical Churches Fellowship. "He is preaching the Gospel to the fullest, in its simplicity. Everybody could understand it." The campaign in Ethiopia was the latest for Palau – part of a 10-year campaign to join with believers throughout Africa and share the Good News of Jesus Christ. And the impact has not gone unnoticed. "I want to thank you for all that Love Ethiopia with Andrew Palau is doing in the area of social services and in presenting a positive message to the young people of Ethiopia," said Ethiopia's President Mulatu Teshome. "You have my support." The festival in Addis Ababa opened with a program for children with evangelist Doug Horley from the UK, BMX demonstrations from Dirt Brothers, Vic Murphy and Jon Andrus, and music led by Chicago-based Salem Baptist Choir, Don Moen, and Dave Lubben, as well as local musical guests Dawit Getachew, Sami Tesfamichael, Tseat Choir, and Tesfaye Gabbiso. Throughout the festival, opportunities to pray and accept the Lord were given numerous times. "This plan and shared vision will meet the great need of this generation," shared Reverend Hiruy Tsige. "The youth are bewildered." Palau has a special love for Ethiopia as he and his wife adopted their daughter from Addis Ababa five years ago. It was their experience in the city that clarified the Lord's call for them and inspired Palau's vision to serve with the Church in 10 capital cities of Africa for 10 subsequent years. Yet, Palau's specific vision for Ethiopia was greater than just the festival in Addis Ababa. After an official invitation from leaders representing 76 denominations in Addis Ababa, Palau shared a proposal that would help unify the entire country and reach every level of society with the Good News of Jesus Christ. He shared his vision with several partner evangelists from the Luis Palau Association's Next Generation Alliance, many of whom were excited to join in the effort. In the weeks prior to the festival more than 17 evangelists led outreaches in seven of the largest cities in Ethiopia. They involved the leadership of Keith Cook, Alan Greene, Blair Carlson, Richard Hamlet, and Reid Saunders. "This festival brought everybody together," said Zelalem Abebe, Love Ethiopia's Festival Director and General Secretary of the Evangelical Students' and Graduates Union of Ethiopia. "Everybody wanted to discuss the heart behind Love Ethiopia. It played a significant role in bringing unity at top leadership levels." The effort in Addis Ababa also involved the participation of more than 200 short-term missionaries from the United States, the United Kingdom, and surrounding nations. They volunteered as mission team members in the week prior to the festival, working alongside local believers, doctors, and medical professionals to serve more than 11,000 people through clinics distributing free eyeglasses, leading outreaches through soccer clinics and BMX demonstrations, and visiting schools, orphanages, and prisons. Working with the Luis Palau Association, local churches and leaders have spent several months building a follow-up and discipleship strategy for every new believer, including the vital partnership and official launch of ALPHA Africa. At present, the Palau team is finalizing preparations for a Christmas outreach in China and evangelistic festivals in Alaska with both Luis and Andrew Palau as the evangelists.

SCIENTISTS FIND MELATONIN, AMONG OTHER THINGS, CONTROLS WEIGHT

2013-12-04T05:11:00.008-08:00

Among the health benefits of taking low doses of melatonin on a nightly basis have been improved sleep [and] better resistance to viral infections. It is clearly associated with the aging process." -Nutrition Review (Spain)—In the Journal of Pineal Research, scientists from the University of Granada Institute for Neuroscience, the Hospital Carlos III, Madrid, and the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio (USA) have revealed, for the first time, the previously unknown enigma of why melatonin has metabolic benefits in treating diabetes and hyperlipidemia. In earlier publications, the researchers analyzed the effects of melatonin on obesity, dyslipidemia, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes mellitus associated with obesity in young obese diabetic Zucker rats—an experimental model of metabolic syndrome. In view of their most recent results, it seems the key lies in the fact that chronic melatonin consumption not only induces the appearance of 'beige fat' in obese diabetic rats, but also increases its presence in thin animals used as a control group. 'Beige fat' cells are found in scattered lentil-sized deposits beneath the inguinal skin in obese diabetic Zucker rats. Melatonin is a natural hormone segregated by the human body itself and melatonin levels generally increase in the dark at night. It is also found in small quantities in fruit and vegetables like mustard, Goji berries, almonds, sunflower seeds, cardamom, fennel, coriander and cherries. These findings, together with the pharmacologically safe profile of melatonin, mean it is a potentially useful tool both in its own right and to complement the treatment of obesity. Sleeping in the dark and consuming these foodstuffs could help control weight gain and prevent cardiovascular diseases associated with obesity and dyslipidemia. The study—coordinated by University of Granada lecturer Ahmad Agil—showed that chronic administration of melatonin sensitizes the thermogenic effect of exposure to cold, heightens the thermogenic effect of exercise and, therefore, constitutes excellent therapy against obesity. The fact is that one of the key differences between 'beige fat', which appears when administering melatonin, and 'white fat', is that 'beige fat' cell mitochondria express levels of UCP1 protein, responsible for burning calories and generating heat. The study—authored by Aroa Jiménez-Aranda, Gumersindo Fernández-Vázquez, Daniel Campos, Mohamed Tassi, Lourdes Velasco-Perez, Tx Tan, Russel J. Reiter and Ahmad Agil—has been part-financed and supported by the Granada Research of Excellence Initiative on BioHealth (GREIB), the University of Granada Vice-Rectorate for Scientific Policy and Research, and the regional government of Andalusia research group CTS-109. Given the importance of this discovery, the researchers are confident they will obtain the funding needed to continue their work—says principle researcher Ahmad Agil—"and be able to achieve their final objective: to confirm these findings in humans, by administering melatonin to help combat obesity and diabetes."

Christians killed in attack on wedding in Egypt

2013-12-03T10:58:00.002-08:00

Four Christians have been killed in an attack on a church as a wedding was taking place in the city of Giza in Egypt. Christian Solidarity Worldwide reports that the dead were all guests at the wedding and include the mother of the groom, Camilia Attiya, 56, and two children, eight-year-old Mariam Ashraf and 12-year-old Miriam Nabil. The other victim was 45-year-old Samir Fahmy. They were killed when masked gunman opened fire as wedding guests were leaving the Coptic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary in Warraq al-Hadar, Giza, on Sunday. The gunman was riding a motorcycle at the time and fired indiscriminately before driving away from the scene. Sources confirmed to Christian Solidarity Worldwide that 18 people were injured in the attack. According to Father Thomas Daoud Ibrahim, priest of the Warraq church, three wedding services had been taking place at the time of the attack. Although no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, there has been a wave of violence against the Coptic community following the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi. Copts have been victims of attacks by Muslim Brotherhood supporters who accuse them of colluding in Morsi's removal. Senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood have also called for retribution against Copts. The Muslim Brotherhood, Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya and the Salafi Nour Party are among the Islamist groups that have condemned the attack and denied any involvement. Prime Minister Hazem el-Beblawi said the attack was a "cowardly criminal act", while Al-Azhar Grand Imam Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb called it "a criminal attack against religion and morals". Mervyn Thomas, Chief Executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide said: "While the expressions of condolences from all sectors of Egyptian society are encouraging, we continue to urge adequate and timely protection for the Coptic community and Coptic gatherings in order to prevent such tragedies from occurring. "Moreover, the culture of hate speech and impunity in which such attacks occur must also be addressed in order to ensure the emergence of a society in which all Egyptians can flourish, regardless of their religion or political affiliation."

Bajrang Dal pressure villagers in INDIA to leave Christianity

2013-12-03T10:54:00.002-08:00

For much of the year, Christians in the central India village of Taragaon have been enduring pressure to abandon their religion. In April, elements of Bajrang Dal demolished the church in Taragaon, a small town in the farming- and forestry-dominated region of southern Chhattisgarh state. Bajrang Dal is the militant youth wing of the Hindu nationalist Vishwa Hindu Parishad, or VHP. Bajrang Dal goals include preventing "fraudulent or forceful conversion" of Hindus to any other religion. Their church destroyed, the Christians of Taragaon moved their worship meetings into the homes of believers. The Bajrang Dal followed them. On September 22, Mitko Kashyap, 60, was confronted by her nephew for attending a house worship service. He hit her multiple times, she said, as she refused to deny her faith. Ultimately, he struck her on the head with a rock, causing injuries that required hospitalisation. "Kashyap's daughter-in-law was also attacked by the same man, but she managed to escape," said a staff member for Open Doors International, a ministry that provides support to Christians who are pressured because of their faith. Police initially declined to register a complaint against the attacker, calling the incident a family matter, according to Open Doors. They registered the complaint after hospital management summoned police to the hospital to see Kashyap's condition. No arrests have been made. Early this month, members of Bajrang Dal have been parading Hindu idols by the houses of Christian believers. Using loudspeakers, they ordered the Christians to come out of their homes to worship the idol, according to Open Doors. "They are threatening us that they will drag each one out of our homes, beat us and kill us if we did not come out of our homes ourselves," the ministry quoted a village resident as saying. "In this atmosphere of fear and pressure, we do not know whom to turn to for help," the resident said. "The police are biased and do nothing to protect the Christians."

Altar in Shiloh Found in Israel

2013-12-03T10:35:00.002-08:00

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL (Worthy News)– A stone altar dating from the Iron Age was accidentally discovered near the remains of an ancient wall during a dig in Judea, according to the Unity Coalition for Israel.

Apparently the altar was moved from its original location in Tel Shiloh; its discovery is the first physical evidence that Shiloh had served as a religious center prior to the First Temple period. Archaeologists had thought that after the Philistines had captured the Ark of the Covenant in battle that they went on to completely destroy Shiloh and its Jewish settlement. But the altar’s discovery now suggests that a Jewish presence there had still remained. According to the Book of Samuel, the Ark was pressed into service by Israel to help turn the tide of battle, but instead the Philistines prevailed, killing thousands of Israelites — including the sons of the high priest — and capturing the Ark as well. However, every enemy city the Ark was taken to experienced problems, so after seven months of plagues, the Philistines finally decided to return their troublesome trophy — along with a guilt offering — to the Israelites at Beth Shemesh. According to biblical commentator Hans Hertzberg, the return of the Ark revealed that the Jewish God whom the Philistines thought they had defeated was in fact the real victor: even when His people were beaten by the armies of their enemies, Yahweh still remained Lord of all.

Eritrean Government Imprisons 150 Christians for Praying Together

2013-12-03T10:29:00.001-08:00

ASMARA, ERITREA (Worthy News)– Eritrean security forces recently raided yet another prayer meeting, arresting about 150 Christians in a suburb of Asmara, the African nation's capital, according to Religion Today. The Christians — members of an underground fellowship known as "Living God" — reportedly met to pray about Eritrea's refugee crisis and other national concerns. "Living God" is part of a network of underground fellowships that sprang up in Eritrea after 2002 when the government banned all religious groups with the exception of three state-sanctioned denominations: the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Catholic Church and the Lutheran-affiliated Evangelical Church of Eritrea. All of the Pentecostal and independent evangelical groups that had established missions in Eritrea were excluded, according to The Christians.com. In August, Eritrean authorities also arrested 30 members of the Church of the Living God when they gathered for prayer in the Kushet suburb of Asmara.

Nigeria: Muslim Herdsmen Slaughter Christians

2013-12-03T10:24:00.000-08:00

ABUJA, NIGERIA (Worthy News)– Muslim herdsmen are suspected to have slaughtered Christians like cattle in coordinated attacks on four Plateau state villages in central Nigeria early Tuesday morning, according to Morning Star News. In their attacks on the predominantly Christian villages, ethnic Fulani herdsmen killed 37 and injured many more, according to a press release by Special Task Force spokesman Salisu Mustapha. Mustapha also confirmed the identity of the attackers by phone to Morning Star while his forces were still fighting them. Church leaders suspect that Islamic extremists are inciting Fulani Muslims to attack Christians in Plateau state as well as in Kaduna, Bauchi, Nasarawa and Benue states. The herdsmen are working together to take Christian lands for grazing their cattle and to expand Islamic influence into predominantly Christian regions. Felicia Anselem, spokesperson for the Plateau State Command of the Nigeria Police, confirmed that the attacks were coordinated. “The attacks were carried out at about 1 a.m. this morning (Nov. 26) in the villages of Rawuru, Tasu, Foron and Gurabok. The attackers attacked the villages at the same time, having gone there in groups.” The Rev. Soja Bewarang, president of the Church of Christ in Nigeria, said Christians are acutely aware that God has the final say on the persecution the church is now facing in Nigeria. “Even as we are looking at these issues, we need not forget that God has the final say on man and his security concerns,” he said. “Therefore, we must always surrender our security concerns to the Lord, because the Watchman watches in vain if the Lord does not watch alongside with him.”

Climate Change, Extreme Weather Link Becoming More Apparent

2012-07-31T03:25:00.001-07:00

OSLO (Reuters) - Scientists are finding evidence that man-made climate change has raised the risks of individual weather events, such as floods or heatwaves, marking a big step towards pinpointing local costs and ways to adapt to freak conditions.

"We're seeing a great deal of progress in attributing a human fingerprint to the probability of particular events or series of events," said Christopher Field, co-chairman of a U.N. report due in 2014 about the impacts of climate change.

Experts have long blamed a build-up of greenhouse gas emissions for raising worldwide temperatures and causing desertification, floods, droughts, heatwaves, more powerful storms and rising sea levels.

But until recently they have said that naturally very hot, wet, cold, dry or windy weather might explain any single extreme event, like the current drought in the United States or a rare melt of ice in Greenland in July.

But for some extremes, that is now changing.

A study this month, for instance, showed that greenhouse gas emissions had raised the chances of the severe heatwave in Texas in 2011 and unusual heat in Britain in late 2011. Other studies of extremes are under way.

Growing evidence that the dice are loaded towards ever more severe local weather may make it easier for experts to explain global warming to the public, pin down costs and guide investments in everything from roads to flood defenses.

"One of the ironies of climate change is that we have more papers published on the costs of climate change in 2100 than we have published on the costs today. I think that is ridiculous," said Myles Allen, head of climate research at Oxford University's Environmental Change Institute.

"We can't (work out current costs) without being able to make the link to extreme weather," he said. "And once you've worked out how much it costs that raises the question of who is going to pay."

Industrialized nations agree they should take the lead in cutting emissions since they have burnt fossil fuels, which release greenhouse gases, since the Industrial Revolution. But they oppose the idea of liability for damage.

Almost 200 nations have agreed to work out a new deal by the end of 2015 to combat climate change, after repeated setbacks. China, the United States and India are now the top national emitters of greenhouse gases.

Field, Professor of Biology and Environmental Earth System Science at the University of Stanford, said that the goal was to carry out studies of extreme weather events almost immediately after they happen, helping expose the risks.

"Everybody who needs to make decisions about the future - things like building codes, infrastructure planning, insurance - can take advantage of the fact that the risks are changing but we have a lot of influence over what those risks are."

FLOODS

Another report last year indicated that floods 12 years ago in Britain - among the countries most easily studied because of it has long records - were made more likely by warming. And climate shifts also reduced the risks of flooding in 2001.

Previously, the European heatwave of 2003 that killed perhaps 70,000 people was the only extreme where scientists had discerned a human fingerprint. In 2004, they said that global warming had at least doubled the risks of such unusual heat.

The new statistical reviews are difficult because they have to tease out the impact of greenhouse gases from natural variations, such as periodic El Nino warmings of the Pacific, sun-dimming volcanic dust or shifts in the sun's output.

So far, extreme heat is the easiest to link to global warming after a research initiative led by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the British Meteorological Office.

"Heatwaves are easier to attribute than heavy rainfall, and drought is very difficult given evidence for large droughts in the past," said Gabriele Hegerl of the University of Edinburgh.

Scientists often liken climate change to loading dice to get more sixes, or a baseball player on steroids who hits more home runs. That is now going to the local from the global scale.

Field said climate science would always include doubt since weather is chaotic. It is not as certain as physics, where scientists could this month express 99.999 percent certainty they had detected the Higgs boson elementary particle.

"This new attribution science is showing the power of our understanding, but it also illustrates where the limits are," he said.

A report by Field's U.N. group last year showed that more weather extremes that can be linked to greenhouse warming, such as the number of high temperature extremes and the fact that the rising fraction of rainfall falls in downpours.

But scientists warn against going too far in blaming climate change for extreme events.

Unprecedented floods in Thailand last year, for instance, that caused $45 billion in damage according to a World Bank estimate, were caused by people hemming in rivers and raising water levels rather than by climate change, a study showed.

"We have to be a bit cautious about blaming it all on climate change," Peter Stott, head of climate monitoring and attribution at the Met Office's Hadley Centre, said of extremes in 2012.

Taken together, many extremes are a sign of overall change.

"If you look all over the world, we have a great disastrous drought in North America ... you have the same situation in the Mediterranean... If you look at all the extremes together you can say that these are indicators of global warming," said Friedrich-Wilhelm Gerstengabe, a professor at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.