Volcanoes Erupting Worldwide Within Minutes of Each Other

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By Associated Press. Eruptions of ash at five volcanoes shrouded the skies over parts of the Indonesian archipelago Wednesday, forcing three airports to close.

Mount Raung on Java island blasted ash and debris up to 2,000 meters (6,560 feet) into the air after rumbling for several weeks, government volcanologist Surono said.

Ash erupted also from Gamalama and Dukono mountains on the Moluccas islands chain, Sinabung volcano on Sumatra island and Mount Karangetang on Siau island, darkening the skies, Surono said. (Read more from “Volcanoes Erupting Worldwide Within Minutes of Each Other” HERE)

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Volcanic Ash Forces Airport Closures in Colombia

By AFP. Colombia’s Nevado del Ruiz volcano erupted in an ash cloud on Sunday, prompting authorities to temporarily close two airports in the area.

The civil aeronautics agency said it closed airports at Manizales and Pereira as a precaution after the 8:30 am (1330 GMT) eruption.

This resulted in the cancellation of at least 16 flights on Sunday. (Read more from this story HERE)
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Japanese Volcano Erupts

By Anime News Network. Ōwaku Valley, a part of Mount Hakone with high volcanic activity, has been showing more signs of an impending eruption recently.

The smoke which regularly issues from its vents was mingled with ash, turning noticeably gray, for about ten seconds around noon on July 21. On June 30 and July 1, it had also erupted on a very small scale, ejecting material to a distance of over 100 meters (328 feet), which technically meets the qualifications for an “eruption.” (The distance material from the recent eruption was ejected has not yet been measured.) (Read more from this story about more volcanoes erupting worldwide HERE)

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Volcano Erupts in Chile

By Yahoo News. The Cabulco volcano in southern Chile has erupted twice in the last 24 hours after being dormant for decades. And there may be more action on the way. (Listen to the video about this Chilean volcano, part of those erupting worldwide along the Pacific Rim, HERE)

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Watch: Chinese Woman Trapped in Escalator Dies, but Heroically First Saves Toddler Son

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A Chinese woman died after being trapped in a shopping mall escalator, but not before pushing her 2-year-old son to safety.

Sunday’s horrific accident in the central city of Jingzhou was caught on surveillance camera footage that circulated heavily on the Internet in China . . .

Graphic video:

The woman — identified in media reports as 30-year-old Xiang Liujuan — is shown reaching the top of the escalator when the section of landing platform she had stepped onto suddenly collapses, trapping her inside the still-moving machinery. (Read more from “Chinese Woman Trapped in Escalator Dies, but Saves Toddler Son” HERE)

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Uganda President to Obama: ‘Respect African Values’ – What Gays ‘Do Is Terrible’ [+video]

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Like the way President Barack Obama was told by the president of Kenya this week that “gay rights is really a non-issue” and not accepted by Kenyans, Uganda’s president told Obama last year that, unlike in America, homosexual behavior is a “no-go” subject, “never supported by Ugandans,” and Obama should “respect African societies and their values.”

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni also explained that Ugandans – a country that is 84% Christian — reject the notion that unnatural behavior is a “human right,” and added that the behavior homosexuals engage in is “terrible.”

In Uganda it is against the law for a person to have “carnal knowledge against the order of nature,” i.e., homosexual behavior, and the guilty party can face a long prison term up to life imprisonment. After Uganda revised its anti-homosexual law in 2014, the U.S. State Department imposed sanctions against the country.

In a February 2014 interview, CNN’s Zain Verjee asked Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni about why the Ugandan state was acting against the “free choice” of some people.

President Museveni said, “I’m acting on behalf of the society. It’s not just the state, it is the society. And that’s why I would like to advise the Europeans and the Western groups that this is one area which should be a no-go area.” (Read more from “Uganda President to Obama: ‘Respect African Societies and Their Values’ – What Gays ‘Do Is Terrible'” HERE)

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Kenyan President Pushes Back Against Obama’s LGBT Agenda: ‘a Non-Issue’ for Kenyans [+video]

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Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta pushed back gently against President Obama’s promotion of homosexual and lesbian rights on Saturday, saying Kenyans had more pressing concerns to deal with, including health, education and “ensuring inclusivity of women.”

While Kenya and the U.S. shared many values, Kenyatta said during a joint press conference in Nairobi, “there are some things that we must admit we don’t share – our culture, our societies don’t accept. It is very difficult for us to be able to impose on people that which they themselves do not accept.”

“This is why I repeatedly say that, for Kenyans today, the issue of gay rights is really a non-issue,” he added. “We want to focus on other areas that are day-to-day living for our people.

Enhancing economic development for women, health, education, infrastructure, providing power and encouraging entrepreneurship “are our key focuses,” Kenyatta continued.

“Maybe once, like you have overcome some of these challenges, we can begin to look at new ones,” he said. “But as of now, the fact remains that this [homosexuality] issue is not really an issue that is on the foremost mind of Kenyans, and that is the fact.” (Read more from “Kenyan President Tells Obama: LGBT Rights ‘a Non-Issue’ for Kenyans Today” HERE)

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Famed Soviet Dissident Sharansky: US Jews Must Stand up to White House Over Iran Nuclear Deal

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By Shiryn Ghermezian. Jews in America should take a stand against the White House and oppose the nuclear deal recently agreed between world powers and Iran, famed Soviet dissident and now Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky said on Friday in an op-ed for The Washington Post.

“Those of us who believe that the nuclear agreement just signed between world powers and Iran is dangerously misguided are now compelled to criticize Israel’s best friend and ally, the government of the United States,” Sharansky said.

Sharansky acknowledged that standing up against the White House in support of “what we think is right” for both Jews and the world, puts American Jewry at odds with the “power best able to protect us and promote stability.” Nevertheless, he said Jews must even risk giving the impression “that we somehow prefer war” rather than join those who believe “peace is on the horizon.”

The human rights activist noted that the U.S. Jewish community similarly stood up to the White House 40 years ago in a historic move that helped secure freedom for Soviet Jews at the time.

In the early 1970s, Democratic Sen. Henry Jackson of Washington spearheaded an initiative to condition the removal of sanctions against the Soviet Union on the allowance of free emigration for its citizens, including Jews. By that time, tens of thousands of Soviet Jews had requested permission to leave for Israel, according to Sharansky. (Read more from “Sharansky Calls on US Jews to Stand up to White House Over Iran Nuclear Deal” HERE)


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As Jews Mourn Destruction of Temples, Palestinian Authority Denies They Ever Existed

By David Daoud. As Jews around the world mourned the destruction of the ancient Jewish temples on Sunday with the observance of Tisha B’Av, Palestinian Minister of Religious Affairs Mahmoud Al-Habbash told Israel’s NRG that an Israelite temple never stood atop the Temple Mount.

“The Al-Aqsa Mosque is located atop the Temple Mount, and not the Temple. Look for your Holy Temple in another place,” said Al-Habbash.

Al-Habbash also assailed Jewish visitors who visited the holy site on Sunday, saying that “there is no room for religious pluralism” on the Temple Mount.

Al-Habbash added that, “this is a holy site for Islam, and only for Islam. Al-Aqsa Mosque is a Muslim site, and we do not recognize [as legitimate] any of the stories about the Temple.”

In fact, the entire platform, known as the Temple Mount, atop which the Al-Aqsa Mosque now stands was built by Herod the Great and previously housed two Jewish Temples: the First Temple built by Solomon in 957 BCE, and the Second Temple built by the prophet Ezra in 538 BCE and improved by King Herod. (Read more from this story HERE)

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Denmark Will Take out Adverts in Foreign Newspapers Telling Refugees: ‘Don’t Come Here’

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The Danish government is to take out adverts in newspapers in targeted countries to tell would-be illegals to stay at home.

The move is going ahead despite rubbishing a similar plan only weeks ago by a rival political party.

Denmark’s ruling Venestre party called plans by the Danish People’s Party (Dansk Folkpartei, DF), the largest party in Danish politics, to create a video campaign targeted at potential illegal migrants abroad ‘un-Danish’. In the intervening days the case for taking more radical steps to limit migration to the nation has grown, and now the integration minister has announced the newspaper campaign.

Remarking that “There is something strange about the fact that a refugee would travel through several countries before ending up in Denmark”, fiery Inger Støjberg now seems to be making her job just as much about discouraging migration to Denmark as it is about integrating people after they have arrived. (Read more from “Denmark Will Take out Adverts in Foreign Newspapers Telling Refugees: ‘Don’t Come Here'” HERE)

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Why Are Russian Hackers Posing as ISIS Propagandists?

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The multi-front cyberspace information war in which we recently have found ourselves just got a little more complicated.

A group which calls itself Cyber Caliphate, assumed to have ties to the terrorist group ISIS, may in fact be a creation of Russian hackers taking advantage of the havoc wrecked on social media and the Internet by ISIS propagandists.

The complex picture this presents adds to the challenges faced by the U.S. government as it seeks to adjust its counterterrorism communication and cybersecurity measures to deal with rising threats from abroad.

According to a new report, “Who Is Cyber Caliphate? Re-examining the Online ISIL Threat,” produced by the State Department’s Office of Diplomatic Security (DS), a major cyber attack on French television TV5Monde last April by Cyber Caliphate hackers took the station off the air for 20 hours and exposed employee email accounts . . .

French and American investigators tracking the electronic footprints of the hackers found they led to a Russian hacker group known as APT28, which usually hack in favor of the Russian government and directs its efforts at NATO. (Read more from “Why Are Russian Hackers Posing as ISIS Propagandists?” HERE)

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Special Ops Chief: Russia Aims to Divide NATO, Poses ‘EXISTENTIAL’ Threat to US

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Russia seeks to test the United States at every opportunity and divide the NATO alliance, posing the most significant long term threat to US national security, the head of the U.S. Special Operations Command, General Joseph Votel, told the Aspen Security Forum.

“Russia is looking to challenge us wherever they can,” Votel told Fox News’ Catherine Herridge. “The intent is to create a situation where NATO can’t continue to thrive.”

Votel said he did not have “unique insights” into Russian President Vladimir Putin but he believes Putin sees the expansion of NATO “…as a threat to him and I think what they (Moscow) are attempting to do is create these frozen conflicts and create situations that are very, very difficult to resolve along their border.”

That “does, could pose an existential threat,” Votel added.

He also said Russia is using a “hybrid approach to warfare” where state and non-state actors are mixing military and non-military capabilities. The result is “a coercive effect…using information operations, using manipulation of media , using social media.” (Read more from “Special Ops Chief: Russia Aims to Divide NATO, Poses ‘Existential’ Threat to US” HERE)

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Commodities Collapsed Just Before the Last Stock Market Crash – so Guess What Is Happening Right Now?

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If we were going to see a stock market crash in the United States in the fall of 2015 (to use a hypothetical example), we would expect to see commodity prices begin to crash a few months ahead of time. This is precisely what happened just before the great financial crisis of 2008, and we are watching the exact same thing happen again right now. On Wednesday, commodities got absolutely pummeled, and at this point the Bloomberg Commodity Index is down a whopping 26 percent over the past twelve months. When global economic activity slows down, demand for raw materials sinks and prices drop. So important global commodities such as copper, iron ore, aluminum, zinc, nickel, lead, tin and lumber are all considered to be key “leading indicators” that can tell us a lot about where things are heading next. And what they are telling us right now is that we are rapidly approaching a global economic meltdown.

If the global economy was actually healthy and expanding, the demand for commodities would be increasing and that would tend to drive prices up. But instead, prices continue to go down.

The Bloomberg Commodity Index just hit a brand new 13-year low. That means that global commodity prices are already lower than they were during the worst moments of the last financial crisis . . .

The commodities rout that’s pushed prices to a 13-year low pulled some of the biggest mining and energy companies below levels seen during the financial crisis.

The FTSE 350 Mining Index plunged as much as 4.9 percent to the lowest since 2009 on Wednesday, with BHP Billiton Ltd. and Anglo American Plc leading declines. Gold and copper are near the lowest in at least five years, while crude oil retreated to $50 a barrel.

(Read more from “Commodities Collapsed Just Before the Last Stock Market Crash – so Guess What Is Happening Right Now?” HERE)

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Welcome Home: Kenya Ready for Obama

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Everyone thought Francis Oduor was dead. In fact the Kenyan international footballer had fled into the bush, walked four miles and gone into hiding after his house was torched. When he resurfaced, people were shocked and ashamed. “I was like the walking dead,” he said. “Everyone recoiled at the sight of me.”

Like many survivors of the post-election violence in 2007-8 that claimed at least 1,100 lives here, Oduor feels that justice has not been done because no senior politician has been held to account. He therefore refuses to join in the state-sponsored euphoria around Barack Obama’s “homecoming” to Kenya, which begins on Friday night when Air Force One lands in east Africa’s biggest economy.

It will be Obama’s first visit to the land of his father as US president and a far cry from a 1988 trip when his luggage got lost. He will be greeted by the stars and stripes flying all over the capital, Nairobi, and giant billboards and paintings bearing his face with slogans such as “Welcome home”. Last-minute beautification projects include the painting of street kerbs and planting of flowers and grass, while 10,000 police officers will protect the honoured guest.

Yet beneath the shiny surface lies a political minefield. Obama, ostensibly here to address the Global Entrepreneurship summit, will also meet some of Africa’s most divisive politicians in both Kenya and neighboring Ethiopia. Human rights organizations are lining up to demand that, along with championing security alliances and economic development, he should raise hard questions about democracy and civil liberties.

Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, was, at the time of his election in March 2013, facing trial at the international criminal court for his alleged role in the 2007-8 killings. The case has since been withdrawn owing to lack of evidence after prosecutors accused the Kenyan government of harassing and intimidating potential witnesses. Kenyatta’s deputy, William Ruto, is still awaiting trial at The Hague. (Read more from “Welcome Home: Kenya Ready for Obama” HERE)

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