World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[Equation]

They better have an explanation for this. I'm still waiting for further news.

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Washington (AFP) - Four American military personnel have been detained in Libya and are being held by the government there, the US State Department said Friday.

"We can confirm that four US military personnel are currently being held in Libyan government custody," said Jen Psaki, State Department spokesperson.

"We are seeking to further ascertain the facts and ensure their release. We are in touch with Libyan officials on this issue."

Neither the State Department nor the Pentagon gave any further information on the case.

The New York Times, citing unnamed US officials, said the detainees were attached to the security team at the US embassy in Tripoli and may have been scouting escape routes for possible future use by diplomats.

Americans in Libya have been targeted more than once since 2011, when the regime of strongman Moamer Kadhafi was overthrown by local rebel groups backed by US and NATO airpower.

 

[Equation]

Good news, just like that they were released.

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Four U.S. military personnel investigating potential evacuation routes in Libya were taken into custody at a checkpoint and then detained briefly by the Libyan government before being released, a U.S. official said Friday night.

No one was injured. The military personnel were taken to the U.S. Embassy after their release, a Defense Department official said. The official was not authorized to discuss the incident by name and requested anonymity.

The four were supporting U.S. Marine security forces protecting the American Embassy, the official said. They were likely U.S. special operations forces, which have been deployed to Libya.

An altercation apparently took place at a checkpoint near the town of Sabratha, the official said. Reports of gunfire could not be confirmed.

After they were detained at the checkpoint, the Americans were transferred to the Ministry of the Interior and held for a few hours, the official said.

The U.S. Embassy in Tripoli includes a security detail. The embassy's personnel are restricted in their movements in Libya.

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

Actually it hasn't fail yet, it's still on going, the ship just waiting for the wind to blow the ice over. Either way it was the first ice breaker to arrive.

okay how about Ironic! Ice breaker stuck in ice.

 

[Air Force Brat]

okay how about Ironic! Ice breaker stuck in ice.

What, icemaker plugged in ice, yeah mines always plugged up too, oh ICE BREAKER, get the grill out, its time for an Antartic Picnic, Iced Tea???? anyone??? oh and don't forget the crouqket mallets???


My Dad used to love that dumb song, "when its springtime in Alaska, its 40 below...." Antarctica is a "bad" place, colder than ??????

 

[Jeff Head]

fail!

What I think is kind of ironic (funny) is this:

The russian expedition ship is carrying scientists and passengers led by an australian climate change professor.

According to turney, the ship was surrounded by ice up to nearly 10 feet (3 meters) thick some 100 nautical miles east of the french base dumont d'urville, about 1,500 nautical miles south of hobart, tasmania.

The expedition is trying to update scientific measurements taken by an australian expedition led by douglas mawson that set out in 1911. The expedition to gauge the effects of climate change on the region.

"Global Climate Change," is the environmentalist new term for Global Warming.

Lately the Global warming mantra has not been working out too well. Too many places have been experiencing record breaking cold. So they now use this new term to allow them to keep the money coming in no matter what the conditions are.

So, this team led by a climate change professor that went to the antarctic, following the path of a 1911 explorer and wanting to show the impact of global warming, got stopped by 10 ft. thick ice! LOL!

Pretty ironic!...and perhaps a message to them, hehehe.

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

Jeff, come now. Even if mother nature herself showed up at there door and gave a written statement that all there so called data was bogus they would still parade around telling the doom and gloom 8 foot of ocean over your home massive drought end of mankind unless we go back to the stone age.

 

[Blitzo]

okay how about Ironic! Ice breaker stuck in ice.

From what I read I thought the ice breaker was forced to turn back, rather than being stuck.
Living in the country nearest to this event, and with a few NZ nationals, this has been some interesting reprieve from the usual dribble which counts as local current affairs.

I think the snow dragon got easily within eyesight before the captain determined it was too risky and left the ice. There is a helicopter onboard the ship, I think the plan is to ferry the crew out to the small formation of other ships coming to the rescue, if conditions don't clear.

 

[SampanViking]

What I think is kind of ironic (funny) is this:



"Global Climate Change," is the environmentalist new term for Global Warming.

Lately the Global warming mantra has not been working out too well. Too many places have been experiencing record breaking cold. So they now use this new term to allow them to keep the money coming in no matter what the conditions are.

So, this team led by a climate change professor that went to the antarctic, following the path of a 1911 explorer and wanting to show the impact of global warming, got stopped by 10 ft. thick ice! LOL!

Pretty ironic!...and perhaps a message to them, hehehe.

Ah but Jeff, have you not heard that Man Made Global Warming, warmed water, cools faster and sets harder, especially in Mid Summer?

 

[Kurt]

This incident of the Akademik Shokalskiy getting stuck in ice and the failed rescue attempt by the Chinese "Snow Dragon" is very positive news for China. It's a positive global story about China trying to help other nationals that is widely read during Christmas time.

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Overall global warming does cause extremer temperature gradients and also local cooling due to the altered water circulation via increased flows of cold water balancing the displacement by increased warm water flows.
Similar, the rising global sea levels do not mean that every the beach is going back by so many meters. Water is following the profile underneath and for this reason there are massive height difference in sea level that is sometimes above and sometimes below "official" sea level. The average rise will result in a rather complex global rise pattern that will not be recognizeable in many parts of the world, because the Indian Ocean will fill up first.
The problem with global warming are the changes in the circulatory system that lead to more extreme climate and weather differences. All the public communication distorted the message into something more simplistic than truth. Such very warm phases were experienced by earth before and it's not clear to what degree this warming is also due to the natural cycle of earth and sun in between the ice ages.

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(with a measureable increase in wars, famine and plagues)

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(it's not as warm today as during the Middle Ages, but climate is becoming more extreme in differences between regions)
As you can see, climate is always changing, it is connected to a number of sun cycles, but since industrialization there's also a human influence component to the changes. You can discuss to what degree these things are natural and man made. Man made local clima effects started earlier with deforestation since the neolithic. It turned the Middle East from a rich land of forest into a very arid region with little vegetation (Iraq was a dense forest before agriculture). Industrialization is bringing these effects on a measureable global level. From some calculations we should be expecting a new ice age that did not appear due to man made effects. The problem is not really the warmth, but the extremeness of the new global climate that is appearing. This makes arid regions receive less rain and humid regions much more rain and cause local famine, not global famine, but lots of people are fed from these arid places, as well as frequent local floods. Highlighted in the links, it has been warmer in many regions of the world a few hundred years ago.
A positive news for all clima sceptics, China is working hard on a counter by burning lots of sulfur to cool the climate and stomaching the resulting smog.

 

[bd popeye]

My condolences to the families of the victims of this accident.

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KOTHACHERUVU, India (AP) — A fire engulfed a coach of an express train in southern India on Saturday, killing at least 26 passengers, many of whom became trapped and suffocated after the doors failed to open, officials said.

As the inferno and thick black smoke raced through the car at about 3:45 a.m., panicked passengers broke the windows and many saved themselves by jumping from the train.

Sixty-seven passengers were in the carriage when the fire broke out about 2 kilometers (1 mile) from the small town of Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh state, said railways spokesman C.S. Gupta.

The train was brought to a halt and the burning coach was delinked from the rest of the cars to prevent the fire from spreading, Gupta said.

The fire spread to a second coach, but the blaze was put out before it caused much damage, Gupta said.

Firefighters put out the blaze in the burning coach and retrieved at least 26 bodies, including two children, said a railway official at the site of the fire. More than a dozen people were brought to hospitals with injuries sustained when they jumped from the train, the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Firefighters had to force the doors open and make their way through the smoke-filled coach to reach the dead, the official said.

Many bodies were found near the jammed doors, he said.

Medical teams carried out autopsies to identify the bodies, many of which were charred beyond recognition.

The train was traveling from Bangalore to Nanded in the western state of Maharashtra.

Railways Minister Mallikarjun Kharge said preliminary reports from the site indicated that the fire was caused by an electrical short circuit. An investigation was underway.

Accidents are common on India's railroad network, one of the world's largest, with some 18 million passengers daily. Most collisions and fires are blamed on poor maintenance and human error.

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