Air pollution in Athens has surged in recent days because of people choosing wood over more expensive fuels to heat their homes in the grips of a continuing economic crisis, the environment ministry said Friday.
Particulate matter has been measured at 150 milligrammes per cubic metre, or three times the danger level, especially in the northern and western suburbs of the Greek capital, the ministry said.
The visible smog is reminiscent of that which cloaked the mountain-ringed city before it modernised its cars and buses.
“The smog, which appears especially in the evening, is made up of polluting and dangerous particles that can cause respiratory problems,” said Evangelos Gerassopoulos, director of the Environment Institute of the Athens Observatory.
“This polluting cloud is the result of the combination of a lack of wind and the burning of wood, which is more prevalent than usual because of the high price of domestic heating fuel,” Gerassopoulos told AFP.
The smog contains sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and other carcinogens, he said.
The economic crisis stalking Greece since 2010 initially caused pollution to dip because of a drop in automobile traffic.
Public records released under the 30-year rule reveal that Reagan showed a rare ray of insight by making a last-ditch appeal to Thatcher, who had sent a full-scale task force right round the globe to retake the islands following the Argentinian invasion.
In an 11.30pm telephone call to 10 Downing Street on Monday May 31 1982 the then US president urged Thatcher to abandon her campaign and to hand over the islands to international peacekeepers.
Official files released by the National Archives at Kew show that as British troops closed in on final victory Reagan begged Thatcher not to completely humiliate the Argentinians.
Reagan, whose country officially remained neutral, told the Tory leader: “The best chance for peace was before complete Argentine humiliation. As the UK now had the upper hand militarily, it should strike a deal now.”
Thatcher rejected his approach and ordered soldiers to fight until the occupying forces had been totally defeated.
Over the next two weeks more than 100 British troops died and around 150 mainly conscript Argentinian soldiers were killed.
Reagan, who had questioned whether the Falklands was really worth a war, faced a strategic dilemma during the conflict.
The newly released files also revealed criticism of then dean of St Paul’s Rev Alan Webster for introducing notes of concern for Argentinian, as well as British, casualties in a thanksgiving service on July 26 1982 following the war’s end.
Argentinian deaths during the 74-day conflict reached 649, while 255 were killed among the British forces.
The biggest single death toll came on May 2 1982 when a British nuclear-powered submarine sunk the light cruiser General Belgrano over 200 miles from the islands with the loss of 323 of its 1,090-strong crew.
An embarrassed Margaret Thatcher hurriedly repaid thousands of pounds of public cash used to save her playboy son from the Sahara desert, declassified files have revealed.
The penny-pinching former prime minister was busy wrecking the economy in January 1982 when her only son Mark disappeared while taking part in the Paris to Dakar rally.
Mr Thatcher and his French co-driver were found by the Algerian military after a six-day search.
The Algerian government footed the majority of the bill, but Britain was originally set to stump up £1,190.95 with Ms Thatcher contributing just £583.14.
But the “Iron Lady” scribbled a cheque to cover for her son’s racy lifestyle to head off a feared taxpayer rebellion.
Months later Ms Thatcher had to cough up for one final bill of £15.16 – for landing charges incurred by aircraft carrying her husband and son.
Wide divisions within the Conservative party over how the government should respond to Argentina’s invasion of the Falklands were revealed today as Margaret Thatcher’s 1982 private papers were made public: here.
Orphan cubs had been stealing chickens form villagers
December 2012. Two orphaned Royal Bengal tiger cubs have been ‘rescued’ from a dry water tank near the Dibang Wildlife Sanctuary in Arunachal Pradesh.
The cubs were wandering the area without their mother for more than a month, occasionally lifting poultry from local households for survival. Local residents reported the cubs to local wildlife authorities in November. A team from the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) – Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) led by Ipra Mekola, Arunachal Pradesh State Wildlife Advisory Member reached the site on December 6, to assist the Forest Department in tracking the cubs.
Originally 4 cubs!
“There were four cubs according to the information from the local people. They had been lifting mainly poultry, and had made unsuccessful attempts at larger livestock. One of the cubs was reportedly injured,” said Mekola.
On December 11, the team discovered that three of the cubs had been trapped in a dry water tank, reported IFAW-WTI biologist Soumya Das Gupta. The villagers had covered the tank with wooden planks and branches to prevent the cubs from escaping till the rescue team arrived.
Two healthy cubs
Two of the cubs were healthy and were successfully sedated and removed from the tank by WTI veterinarians Dr Jahan Ahmed and Dr Nupur Ranjan Buragohain. The third was severely ill when first sighted, and succumbed the following morning.
The rescued cubs were a male and a female; the deceased cub was also a female. Post-mortem revealed pneumonia, starvation and hypoglycaemic shock as the cause of death. The status of the fourth cub is unknown. The two rescued cubs will be kept under observation till they are stabilised.
“After discussing with experts and the Forest Department to select a suitable release site a soft release method will be followed. The cubs will be put in a big enclosure in the forest with provisional food which will give them opportunities to hone their hunting skills on live prey and get habituated to the wild before we finally release them,” said Dr Bhaskar Choudhury, Regional Head and Principal Veterinarian, WTI-Northeast.
“Dibang valley is a very good tiger habitat and very rich in wildlife. However, no studies have been done on this landscape – on the tiger or any other species. This area has the potential to even be declared a tiger reserve, which is going to benefit the wildlife as well as people here,” said Mekola.
He also thanked the locals who supported the team, particularly the village head Chipi Molo, who had filed the report on behalf of the village. Molo hosted the team at her home through the operation, and helped crowd control during the rescue.
“People here consider tigers equal to humans. We should use this traditional belief to save the tigers here before things change for the worse,” Mekola said.
Oh, Jean Mishra of MoonLightened Way blog, you are so kind, to grace Dear Kitty. Some blog with the “Blog of the Year 2012″ Award!
It is the eighteenth time. That would be the eighteenth star, for this award for this blog. However, the maximum number of stars for the “Blog of the Year 2012″ Award is six.
So, no eighteenth star and no new nominations. Well: just one nomination. I am giving this star back to Jean, to display on her blog. Jean’s blog has many interesting posts, on inspiration, poetry, and other subjects,
I really appreciate Jean thinking of my blog. If you have not met Jean yet, then please check out her interesting blog, MoonLightened Way.
The “Blog of the Year” award is a little different from some other awards, because you accumulate stars.
Here are the ‘rules’ for this award:
1 Select the blog(s) you think deserve the ‘Blog of the Year 2012’ Award
2 Write a blog post and tell us about the blog(s) you have chosen – there’s no minimum or maximum number of blogs required – and ‘present’ them with their award.
6 As a winner of the award – please add a link back to the blog that presented you with the award – and then proudly display the award on your blog and sidebar … and start collecting stars…
Yes – that’s right – there are stars to collect!
Unlike other awards which you can only add to your blog once – this award is different!
When you begin you will receive the ‘1 star’ award – and every time you are given the award by another blog – you can add another star!
There are a total of 6 stars to collect.
Which means that you can check out your favourite blogs, and even if they have already been given the award by someone else, then you can still bestow it on them again and help them to reach the maximum 6 stars!
Winners of “My Spring” Drawing competition in Africa announced
BirdLife International … is proud to announce the winners of the 2012 maiden edition of the Spring Alive drawing competition for children in Africa.
In all, nine (9) winners have been selected from a total of about 141 entries received after the close of a two and half months long competition on the 15th of November, 2012. The highly creative and impressive entries were received from school children aged 16 years and below in six African countries namely: Botswana, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe.
The jury for the competition … were very pleased and highly elated to receive such a high number of creative and beautiful artistic paintings from school children in Africa. According to Julie Rogers … “The pictures are absolutely beautiful, and we’re honoured to be able to judge this competition. It’s so difficult to choose just one from each category! The effort and time put into drawing these wonderful pictures was inspiring”.
Evidently, to create a more fair and balanced platform for all entrants and as well increase the chances of winning, the entries were categorized into three different age brackets (6-9 years, 10-12year & 13-16years) and subsequently three winners (First, Second & Third) selected from each category by the competent jury.
The final outcome as determined by the jury is presented below:
First: Kadison Augustine Mada Duwai, Conservation Society of Sierra Leone
Second: Chibueze Agube, Nigeria Conservation Foundation
Third : Abdul Rahman, Conservation Society of Sierra Leone
As announced earlier, the first place winners in each category will receive a high quality digital camera whilst the second and third place positions will receive some consolations prizes. However all participants in the 2012 Africa edition of the competition will also receive Spring Alive branded stickers and bracelets from the BirdLife International Secretariat.
The Spring Alive Team congratulates the winners and thanks warmly all participants for their beautiful paintings!
It is with deep regret that we received the very sad news that Georges Henry Oueda, Director of Conservation of NATURAMA (BirdLife in Burkina Faso) passed away.
Aged just 48, Georges was the single most knowledgeable expert in ornithology in his country. He was the Naturama IBA Coordinator and was known to many across the international bird conservation community. His contribution to nature conservation in Burkina Faso cannot be overestimated.
Throughout his tour of duty at Naturama, he was dedicated and committed to making a difference for both biodiversity and people. Georges was the driving force behind setting up and training local conservation groups at site like Oursi-Darkoye, Lake Higa and Sourou valley, now known as shining examples of community-based conservation. The recent designation of twelve wetlands in Burkina as Ramsar sites have largely been achieved by Georges’ coordination and monitoring training.
He had so many plans to continue and expand his work. His passing leaves a large gap, mostly of course in his family, and also in NATURAMA and the BirdLife Partnership as a whole.
George was an avid birder, a man of the people, an asset to Naturama and the Partnership. He fought a good fight and we will truly miss him. May His Dear Soul Rest in Peace
Those who wish to extend their condolences may use the general NATURAMA address: info@naturama.bf
The federal justice department is prosecuting the Church of Scientology of Belgium as a criminal organization. Newspapers De Tijd and L’Echo say so. The government prosecutes the Belgian branch of the well-known movement and two of its senior executives for fraud, illegal medicine, various breaches of privacy and extortion as well.
A previous inquest, which dragged on for years, is still unresolved at the Brussels court. That investigation, which began in 1997, was about older facts. Not so for this new case which the federal prosecutor is presenting to the Brussels court now.
The present investigation was a consequence of a complaint from the Brussels Regional Employment Office on dubious employment contracts of the Church of Scientology of Belgium. Investigating judge Michel Claise worked on the case; in April 2008 he had police raiding Scientology premises. The police is said to have found lots more of incriminating material there.
The federal prosecutor and the Church of Scientology of Belgium refused to comment yesterday to the newspapers.
Submitted by intelligence on Dec 26, 2012 – 03:52 PM
Health
Scientology drug rehabs appear to be collapsing like a line of fragile dominoes as government and health agency investigations press on.
Today, the state Department of Community Health in Georgia has notified Narconon of Georgia it intends to revoke the clinic’s license for misrepresenting itself as a residential drug treatment facility.
Facing another wrongful death lawsuit trial to begin February 11, 2013, Scientology’s drug rehab empire is under fire and facing scrutiny of epic proportions globally.
If the Georgia state Department of Community Health succeeds in the revoking of Narconon of Georgia’s state licence, this would be a staggering blow to Scientology. This would be the fourth Narconon closure in recent years, including, Narconon Canada Continental, Narconon United Kingdom, Narconon Trois-Rivieres in Quebec, and now Narconon of Georgia.
Over the past couple years protesters in North America have demonstrated their outrage for the unscrupulous and dangerous practices at Narconon – - the most recent in early November 2012 at Narconon of Georgia. During the protest, a passing Narconon staff vehicle showed their distaste by reaching their arm out the window and giving demonstrators the “bird-finger.”
Also in early November 2012, Judge Stacey Hydrick sanctioning Narconon of Georgia when Narconon executive Director Mary Rieser was caught lying under oath in as many as ten depositions.
News of Judge Stacey Hydrick sanctioning Narconon of Georgia Narconon Executive Director Mary Rieser was caught lying under oath in as many as ten depositions, created an outcry from many. Judge Hydrick concluded that, when she asked Riser on the stand about the omissions and false declarations, Narconon’s leader was simply not credible in her responses – - failing to tell the truth.
Attorney Jeff Harris, representing the family of Patrick Desmond who died in 2008 while enrolled at Narconon of Georgia, says the ruling for sanctions is so strong; lawyers often refer to it as the civil-case version of the death penalty.
In the Narconon of Georgia wrongful death lawsuit, plaintiffs’ lawyer, Jeff Harris who represents Desmond’s parents says “the amount of smoke has clearly indicated there is a fire,” Oklahoma Senator Tom Ivester insisted the same in a recent media interview “where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” And lawyer Gary Richardson stated to Fox News 25 “”the first time something happens it’s an ‘incident’, second time it happens, it’s a ‘coincidence’, the third time it happens, it’s a ‘trend’ – - how many deaths have we had there in the last 18 months?”
Following numerous complaints that Narconon of Georgia was operating or controlling a residential facility for clients, the state of Georgia has conducted at least 11 probes since 2002, but the department declined comment on its latest investigation, saying it is still processing Narconon of Georgia’s response.
