Ρωσικά υποβρύχια εκτόξευσαν πυραύλους κατά Ι. Κράτους

Το ρωσικό Πολεμικό Ναυτικό εκτόξευσε σήμερα επτά πυραύλους κρουζ εναντίον στόχων του Ισλαμικού Κράτους στα προάστια της συριακής πόλης Ντέιρ αλ-Ζορ, αναφέρεται σε ανακοίνωση που εξέδωσε το ρωσικό υπουργείο Άμυνας.

Οι Τούρκοι ισχυρίζονται ότι κυνήγησαν σκάφος της Ελληνικής Ακτοφυλακής από τα Ίμια

Η Άγκυρα συνεχίζει τον πόλεμο προπαγάνδας μέσω βίντεο που φέρουν σκάφη της ελληνικής ακτοφυλακής να καταδιώκονται από την τουρκική ανοιχτά των Ιμίων.

Aεροσκάφος της Turkish Airlines συνετρίβη στο Κιργιστάν - Στους 32 οι νεκροί

Τουλάχιστον 32 είναι οι νεκροί από τη συντριβή αεροσκάφους μεταφοράς εμπορευμάτων Boeing 747, κοντά στο αεροδρόμιο Μανάς.

Επιτυχής η εκτόξευση του πυραύλου Falcon 9 της εταιρίας SpaceX

Η αμερικανική εταιρία SpaceX εκτόξευσε με επιτυχία σήμερα στην Καλιφόρνια τον πύραυλό της Falcon 9 μαζί με δέκα μικρούς τηλεπικοινωνιακούς δορυφόρους της εταιρίας Iridium,

Υποστηρικτής του ISIS ο δράστης στην Ιερουσαλήμ: Benjamin Netanyahu

Oλες οι ενδείξεις υποδηλώνουν ότι ο οδηγός του φορτηγού που σκότωσε σήμερα το πρωί τέσσερις Ισραηλινούς στρατιώτες σε πεζόδρομο της δυτικής Ιερουσαλήμ ήταν υποστηρικτής του Ισλαμικού Κράτους, δήλωσε ο Ισραηλινός πρωθυπουργός Μπενιαμίν Νετανιάχου, όπως μετέδωσε το Reuters.

Erdogan: H υπό τις HΠΑ συμμαχία βοηθά ISIS - Kούρδους στη Συρία

Αποδείξεις ότι η υπό τις ΗΠΑ διεθνής συμμαχία ενάντια στο ISIS ενισχύει τρομοκράτες στη Συρία, μεταξύ άλλων το ίδιο το ISIS, αλλά και τις κουρδικές δυνάμεις των PYD - YPG διαθέτει η Άγκυρα, σύμφωνα με τον πρόεδρο της Τουρκίας Ρετζέπ Ταγίπ Ερντογάν.

Πέθανε ο Φιντέλ Κάστρο

Απεβίωσε, σε ηλικία 90 ετών, ο Φιντέλ Κάστρο, ηγέτης της κουβανικής επανάστασης.

Τουρκία: Μετανάστες έβαλαν φωτιά για να αποδράσουν

Περίπου 50 μετανάστες δραπέτευσαν από ένα κέντρο απέλασης στο Κουμκαπί της Κωνσταντινούπολης, αφού προηγουμένως έβαλαν φωτιά στο κτίριο, μετέδωσαν τα τοπικά μέσα ενημέρωσης.

Βομβαρδιστικά σηκώθηκαν από τη Ρωσία χτυπώντας τη Συρία με πυραύλους cruise (video RT)

Για πρώτη φορά στον ενάμισι χρόνο που μετρά η στρατιωτική εμπλοκή της στο μέτωπο του συριακού εμφυλίου, η Ρωσία σήκωσε στρατηγικά βομβαρδιστικά Tu-95MS από το έδαφός της.

ΗΠΑ: «Τα αεροσκάφη που χτύπησαν το κομβόι με την ανθρωπιστική βοήθεια ήταν ρωσικά»

Δύο ρωσικά πολεμικά αεροσκάφη Sukhoi SU-24 πετούσαν πάνω από την αυτοκινητοπομπή που μετέφερε ανθρωπιστική βοήθεια στην Συρία την ίδια ακριβώς ώρα που αυτή δέχθηκε επίθεση την Δευτέρα, ανέφεραν δύο Αμερικανοί αξιωματούχοι στο πρακτορείο ειδήσεων Ρόιτερς, επικαλούμενοι πληροφορίες από τις μυστικές υπηρεσίες των ΗΠΑ, που τους οδήγησαν στο συμπέρασμα ότι η Ρωσία ευθύνεται για το περιστατικό.

H Ρωσία έδωσε στη δημοσιότητα βίντεο που δείχνει φορτηγό με βαρύ οπλισμό να ακολουθεί την αυτοκινητοπομπή ανθρωπιστικής βοήθειας

Δεν είναι ξεκάθαρο ποιος καλύπτει ποιον: είτε το φορτηγό που έφερε τον οπλισμό καλύπτει το κομβόι με τους "εθελοντές" της ομάδας Λευκά Κράνη, είτε το ανάποδο...

Πυρκαγιά καίει σπίτια στο κέντρο της Λευκάδας

Φωτιά εκδηλώθηκε το μεσημέρι στο κέντρο της Λευκάδας και ήδη έχει καταστρέψει τέσσερα παραδοσιακά, ξύλινα σπίτια.

Απειλές για πυρηνικό πόλεμο από τη Β. Κορέα

Ένα νέο προπαγανδιστικό βίντεο που παρουσιάζει μια πυρηνική επίθεση στην Ουάσινγκτον δημοσίευσε το Σάββατο η Βόρεια Κορέα, απειλώντας ταυτόχρονα τη Σεούλ ότι θα δεχτεί «ανηλεή επίθεση» επειδή «συκοφαντεί» τον Βορειοκορεάτη ηγέτη Κιμ Γιονγκ Ουν.

Thousands evacuated after fire engulfs Dubai tower. No casualties caused by blaze...(video YT)

A huge fire engulfed one of the world's tallest residential towers in Dubai's Marina district, sending bright yellow flames several stories high, but there were no reports of casualties, civil defence officials said.
The fire broke out at about 2am on Saturday in the 86-storey Torch tower on the northeast end of the densely populated district, which is packed with multi-storey skyscrapers.
High winds whipped through the area and debris from the fire cluttered nearby streets after the blaze appeared to be extinguished.

The civil defence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there were no reports of deaths or injuries.
The cause of the fire was not immediately clear.
The Marina area is home to dozens of towering apartment blocks and hotels, many of them built over the past decade. The apartments are popular with Dubai's large number of expatriate professionals.
Police blocked off areas around the 336 metre-high Torch tower, which still had power. Lights were on in many of the apartments inside and multiple fire trucks and police vehicles were on the scene.
Residents of at least one neighbouring tower were told to evacuate as a precaution because of strong winds, but they were later allowed back inside.
One witness said the fire started in the middle of the tower before spreading down, describing it as like "the Titanic going down". Flaming material falling from the initial fire then set a lower part of the building ablaze, witnesses said.
Rescue efforts
Torch tower resident Steve Short, 53, of Liverpool, England, praised the work of firefighters who arrived quickly. He said fire alarms alerted residents to the blaze and building management sent workers knocking on doors to ensure residents got out.
Resident RJ Morlock, 33, of Houston, shot video on his phone that showed bright yellow flames reaching what appeared to be several stories on two separate parts of the building. He said residents were nervous coming out but fire crews were able to bring the situation under control.
"I was really surprised they got it under control pretty quickly," he said. "It looked like it was going to go up."
As daylight broke, residents waiting across the street to be allowed back home were able to see the extent of the blaze: External cladding on the corner of more than two dozen stories from roughly the 50th floor to the top were mangled and charred black.
Cleanup crews dressed in orange uniforms swept up pieces of shattered glass and other debris covering the street outside the building.
 http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/02/thousands-evacuated-fire-engulfs-dubai-tower-150221012315584.html
21/2/15
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Floods paralyze Indonesia's capital (the rain will continue for another seven days)

 Parts of Indonesia's capital have been paralysed by floods after torrential downpours swamped the city overnight.

Heavy rain disrupted transportation throughout the city. Thousands of train passengers were left stranded when two of Jakarta’s main stations flooded, some areas left 2-1/2 feet deep in water.


The head of the country's Regional Disaster Management Agency, Bambang Surya Putra, told reporters at city hall Monday that many houses had been flooded, but no one had been displaced.

 "2,698 families homes were flooded, but residents remained in their homes, usually moving all their possessions to the second floor of their houses," Putra said.

The Southeast Asian country is halfway through a months-long rainy season that typically peak in Jakarta in January.

• The agency for Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics has predicted that the rain will continue for another seven days.

Flooding has also hit other areas on the country, namely; Bandung, West Java, Central Java, South Kalimantan, West Nusa Tenggara, and Bali.
www.aa.com.tr/en
9/2/15
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First of four Fukushima reactors cleared of nuclear fuel (VIDEO aljazeera)

One of four heavily damaged reactor buildings at Japan's tsunami-battered Fukushima nuclear power plant has been cleared of radioactive fuel rods, the operator said on Saturday (Dec 20).
It was a significant step in the decommissioning efforts, but workers still have three heavily crippled reactors to clean up after they were sent into meltdown in the 2011 quake-tsunami disaster. The overall clean-up work of the Fukushima plant is expected to take decades.

A total of 1,535 fuel rod assemblies have been now taken out of the building after Tokyo Electric Power Co's (TEPCO's) year-long operation, a company spokesman said. "Completion of the removal work is a milestone, but the decommission work will continue," plant chief Akira Ono told reporters.

The nuclear fuel was removed from a pool used to store the rods - which were mostly spent - in the reactor number 4 building, which was offline for regular check-ups at the time of the March 2011 disaster. 

The tsunami battered the plant's cooling system and sent reactors number 1 to 3 into meltdown, setting off the worst atomic accident in a generation.

TEPCO will remove fuel rod assemblies from the pools of other damaged buildings before extracting the melted fuel from the reactors.

- AFP/al

 [channelnewsasia.com]

20/12/14

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Related:

• All spent fuel removed from reactor 4 pool at Fukushima No. 1, Tepco says ...

• Earthquake with an intensity of 4 on the Japanese scale of 7 rattled the Hamadori area of eastern Fukushima Prefecture at 6:31 p.m. Saturday, the Meteorological Agency said.....

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Related:

• Fukushima Water Treatment System Fails Again

• Effectiveness of Fukushima Ice Wall Unclear to Experts

• TEPCO finds water leak area in crippled Fukushima No.1 reactor

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Related:

• TEPCO moves 22 fuel rods from the 4th unit of NPP “Fukushima-1” to a special pool...

• Fukushima operator to start fuel-rod removal. -Japan's engineers prepare to move uranium and plutonium fuel rods as part of plant's decades-long decommissioning plan.

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Heavy snow kills 3, disrupts travel in Japan

TOKYO: At least three people have died in heavy snow that has blanketed swathes of Japan, reports said Thursday (Dec 18), with up to two metres lying in some places and more forecast.

Two elderly women were killed on the northernmost island of Hokkaido, Kyodo News reported, with one hit by a snow-plough and another buried when a warehouse collapsed under the weight of fallen snow. Police said a man died in a traffic accident on snow-bound roads in Hiroshima.

There was also widespread disruption to travel, with around 100 domestic flights cancelled, adding to the 450 that were grounded on Wednesday, including some international routes, officials and media said. Reports said the famous bullet train network was also struggling to stick to its timetables.

The mountain town of Tsunan, near the Sea of Japan (East Sea) coast, was smothered in 185cm of snow, with parts of Hokkaido getting as much as 70cm in 24 hours, the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) said.

The snow is accompanied by strong gusting winds of up to 140km/h, which is causing tidal surges and sparking warnings to stay away from the water's edge.

• Forecasters said a powerful low pressure system off the eastern coast of Hokkaido was bringing much of the misery, and warned there was more to come. Parts of northern Honshu could expect up to 80cm of snow by breakfast time on Friday, the JMA said.

- AFP/rw - channelnewsasia.com

18/12/14

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Related (February 2014):

• 5 die, over 600 injured as heavy snow hits eastern Japan. -Issued the first heavy snowfall warning for central Tokyo in 13 years(video)

• Second Japan snow storm leaves thousands stranded as toll rises to 23....

South-north canal starts flowing to ease water woes. (video: South to North Water Diversion Project)

The 1,432-kilometer long artificial waterway diverting water from China's south to solve the water shortage crisis in the north, particularly Beijing, started operation on Friday.

About 9.5 billion cubic meters of water will pass through the newly-built canal each year from Danjiangkou reservoir in Central China's Hubei Province to cities like Beijing and Tianjin, as well as more than 100 cities in Henan and Hebei provinces, according to a report by China Central Television.

The water will arrive in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan in three days, and reach Beijing in 15 days. More than 60 million people along the water channel will be able to drink the high-quality water from Danjiangkou, which is part of the Hanjiang river that flows into China's largest river, the Yangtze.

The project is expected to largely alleviate the pressure of water shortages in the northern regions, where annual precipitation is much lower than the southern areas and years of excessive use have caused underground water to dwindle to a dangerous level.

According to the plan, more than 1.2 billion cubic meters of water will go to Beijing each year. 

The water, after being mixed with local above-ground and underground water at treatment plants, will cover more than 50 percent of Beijing people's daily needs and part of industrial usage.

But experts warned that the situation is still far from optimistic considering the population and the huge gap between the supply of water and North China's needs. 

In Beijing, some 2.1 billion cubic meters of natural water is formed each year, but last year more than 3.6 billion were used. Beijing pumps about 500 million cubic meters of underground water more than is sustainable each year, China National Radio (CNR) Friday quoted the Beijing Water Authority as saying.

It will be impossible for Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei to fix the water crisis "unless they make the best use of every drop of water," Li Yuanyuan, vice director of the Water Resources and Hydropower Planning and Design General Institute, told the CNR.

Sun Guosheng, chief of Beijing's Office of the South-to-North Water Diversion Project, hinted there might be a slight price rise soon to encourage people to save water, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
Source: Global Times
12/12/14
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Related:

• Beijing closes 6,900 wells to protect underground water (video: South-to-North Water Diversion Project) 

• Κίνα: Σχέδιο «Αντιστροφής» των Ποταμών για Ύδρευση των Ξηρών Περιοχών του Βορρά 

• VIDEO: China, Sending Water North

The Chinese government has embarked on a massive engineering project to transfer water from the wet south to the dry north.

 

Beijing closes 6,900 wells to protect underground water (video:South-to-North Water Diversion Project)

Beijing will gradually shut down 6,900 urban wells in the next five years to protect groundwater and improve drinking water quality.

The wells provide 240 million cubic meters of water annually, one fourth of the Beijing's urban supply, said Zhang Ping, deputy head of the Beijing water authority.

Aging of facilities and poor management mean that the quality of water from wells cannot be guaranteed in some areas, resulting in a steady stream of complaints from citizens, said Zhang.

The middle route of the gigantic south-to-north water diversion project will soon come on-stream, bringing 1 billion cubic meters to Beijing each year from a reservoir on the Hanjiang River, making possible closure of the wells.

Since 1999, Beijing has used too much groundwater: about 6.5 billion cubic meters too much. Long-term overexploitation has led to environmental problems like subsidence. The water table in parts of Beijing has dropped 12.8 meters since 1998 and more than 1,300 sq km of land has subsided over 50 centimeters.
Sources: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
22/11/14
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Related:

• Κίνα: Σχέδιο «Αντιστροφής» των Ποταμών για Ύδρευση των Ξηρών Περιοχών του Βορρά 

• VIDEO: China, Sending Water North

The Chinese government has embarked on a massive engineering project to transfer water from the wet south to the dry north.

 

Philae may not have energy to send results to Earth, says ESA

Europe's robot lab Philae may not have enough power to send to Earth the results of today's drill into the surface of its host comet, mission scientists have said.

"We are not sure there is enough energy so that we can transmit" the data, lander manager Stephan Ulamec said at a press conference webcast from European Space Agency (ESA) ground control in Germany.
Scientists are to decide whether to try a risky drilling procedure to enable an exploration probe to examine samples from the surface of a comet before its batteries run out.

The probe on Wednesday floated away from its planned landing site after harpoons designed to hold it down on the comet failed to deploy.
It is now resting precariously on two out of three legs in the shadow of a cliff on the comet.

• The lack of light means the probe, dubbed Philae, would not draw sufficient energy to operate on its solar panels as hoped once its batteries run out.

• The ESA team are also uncertain of its exact position, making it difficult to "hop" the probe into a better position using its landing gear.

The probe was supposed to drill into the surface of the celestial body after landing, but its unstable position and the comet's weak gravitational pull means there is a risk it could bounce off if the drill is deployed.
Despite the landing setbacks, the mission has achieved many breakthroughs, including the first time a spacecraft has followed a comet rather than just whizzing past and the first time a probe has landed on a comet.
Comets are of interest to scientists because they are remnants from the formation of our solar system, over 4.6 billion years ago.
These masses of ice and rock have preserved ancient organic molecules like a time capsule and may provide insight into how planets and life evolved.
Even if Philae is unable to drill into the surface to analyse samples, the Rosetta spacecraft will follow the comet until at least the end of 2015, even as it passes closest to the sun on its orbit.
[http://www.rte.ie]
14/11/1
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Related:

• Scientists working on Philae comet lander say it is time to take more risks with the probe, amid fears its battery might die in hours....

• Rosetta-Mission: "Philae" hat schon fast keinen Strom mehr ...

Related:

• The Rosetta comet landing has made history (Space probe, Philae, reaches comet’s surface first time in history)

• Σήμερα η ιστορική απόπειρα προσεδάφισης ρομπότ σε κομήτη ...

• Europe's mission to land the first-ever probe on a comet was on track Wednesday with one final "go" pending for the robot lab to eject from its mothership and start a nail-biting seven-hour descent...

• Διαστημική αποστολή «Ροζέτα»... εξετελέσθη

• Rosetta space probe makes historic rendezvous with comet

• Rosetta spacecraft to be woken after nearly three years, ESA awaits signs of life(20/1/13)

• Rosetta: Raumsonde erfolgreich aus dem Tiefschlaf erwacht ....

• Après 31 mois de sommeil, la sonde spatiale Rosetta se réveille...