US Patriot Act extended to 2015 and gives government direct access to 300 million mobiles

[Boris Karliss, US News Contributor]

RT.com:  A buoyant President Obama and the US Congress successfully collaborated to continue America’s controversial ‘war on terror‘ with the extension of the US Patriot Act until 2015.  This means that the police and secret service will have blanket authority to spy on all Americans, whether they are involved in terror activities or not, for four more years when the Act is likely to be extended again.

Compulsory Internal Digital Examinations for Travellers

This event coupled with rumours abounding of a move by the US government to authorise internal digital examination for all travellers through US airports, US human rights activists are saying that the wide range of spying methods authorised to be employed against law-abiding citizens are being used by the Obama administration as fear tools for political advantage.

US Governments Latest Spy Tool Against Americans

With the collaboration of the major US wireless operators, the US government now has achieved a direct link to each and every hand held device in the USA. This will enable it with an alert system whereby the president and government agencies can send direct messages to each American with a handheld device warning of terror threats, weather disasters, etc. As this is just the start of the scheme many are fearing that it will soon become far more intrusive.

The system is due to become operative by the end of the year and will be fully nationwide by the middle of 2012.

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Cruise on the Yangtze river and see China’s spectacular beauty

[Joyce Rosenberg, Travel Contributor]

Telegraph: Teresa Levonian Cole writes that China‘s Yangtze cruise is a journey towards a vision of the future.. read more of her commentary on her cruise to see more of China’s beauty….

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Update 7th May 2011 – killings in Syria, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Bin Laden’s plans to attack the USA

[Military Analyst Contributor, Sam Trowell]

Afghanistan

Kandahar, Afghanistan is a hotbed of fighting between militants and government supporters. They have attacked the governor’s office, the country’s spy agency (AIA) and a police station. Around 22 people have been killed in the attacks which have included at least six suicide blasts. The Taliban have claimed responsibility.

Nigeria

Attackers burn many houses in the village of Bauchi state, Nigeria killing at least 16 people who are believed to have been Christians. As Bauchi belongs to Nigeria’s region which separates the Muslim north and the Christian south, it is an area of much tension between the two sides involving power struggles.

Syria

Reports on the Syria people protests situation are claiming that troops and tanks are moving into the Syrian city of Baniyas which has been the hub of anti-government protests. More than 800 protestors have been executed by the Syrian government since the demonstrations started two months ago.

Bin Laden

US Officials studying material taken from Bin Laden’s apartment are confirming that after 10 years of no attacks upon the USA, he had been planning to put the American railway system under 911-type attacks imminently and it is feared that if he had not been killed in Abbottabad, the USA and the world would have been in the greatest danger.

After further study of the Bin Laden materials, the US Officials plan to debrief their administration and the world on the other attacks that had been planned by Bin Laden. In the meantime, various blogs purposting to be Jihadist, or from the leadership of Al’ Qaeda, are confirming Bin Laden’s death which, according to the US Officials are more or less conclusive that he was killed in the daring raid by unnamed Navy SEALs at his private quarters near the Pakistani military training college and the Pakistani security services headquarters in Abbottabad.

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• Bin Laden home videos expected to be released (abclocal.go.com)
• What Will Bin Laden Be Now That He’s Dead? (npr.org)
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Telegraph.co.uk’s winner’s gallery – Travel Photograper for 2010

[Travel & Photograper Contributor]

To see more pictures, click on this link, or the picture! Enjoy!

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Japan is heaving as nine M4 – M5 earthquakes strike over the easter holiday weekend

[John Goldman, Natural Disaster News Contributor]

By all accounts, it would seem that Japan is the unsafest place in the world for any nuclear facility as according to the United States Geological Survey, not less than 9 earthquakes at M4 to M5 struck it over the bank holiday weekend.

Earthquakes off the East coast of Honshu (116 km north east of Fukushima)

M4.6

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 18:03:28 UTC
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 04:03:28 AM at epicenterDepth: 37.50 km (23.30 mi)

M4.6

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 16:02:07 UTC
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 02:02:07 AM at epicenter
Depth: 35.00 km (21.75 mi)0

M4.6

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 15:58:57 UTC
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 01:58:57 AM at epicenter
Depth: 10.00 km (6.21 mi)

M4.6

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 12:26:54 UTC
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 09:26:54 PM at epicenter
Depth: 54.60 km (33.93 mi)

M5.0

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 12:12:00 UTC
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 09:12:00 PM at epicenter
Depth: 51.70 km (32.12 mi)

M4.9

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 10:03:04 UTC
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 08:03:04 PM at epicenter
Depth: 20.40 km (12.68 mi)

M4.9

Tuesday, April 26, 2011 04:01:52 UTC
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 01:01:52 PM at epicenter
Depth: 34.90 km (21.69 mi)

Earthquake in Hokkaido, (823 km from Fukushima)

M 4.8

Monday, April 25, 2011 23:26:34 UTC
Tuesday, April 26, 2011 08:26:34 AM at epicenter
Depth: 61.70 km (38.34 mi)[Japan News Contributor]

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British 73 year old woman dies after plunge in North Sea in rescue attempt gone horribly wrong

[Sara Johnston, Travel, Health and Safety Contributor]

Guardian.co.uk:  The British woman tourist, Janet Richardson, 73, who had been dropped into the North Sea in -3c conditions when she was being transported in a stretcher off a cruise ship to a rescue vessel, has died.

Janet who had become ill on the Ocean Countess cruise ship has spent over eight agonising minutes in the icy water before being rescued and taken to hospital in Norway.  She died on Thursday last week.

It is reported that her family are seeking compensation over the incident which it is felt was a certain cause of her death.

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British woman sets herself on fire in train toilet

[Kevin Richardson, UK Unusual Events Contributor]

MailOnline: Rachel James apparently committed suicide today in train toilet by igniting herself.  The blonde woman, 43, from Uxbridge, Middlesex was reported to have kissed an elderly lady on the train before putting herself on fire.

She had carried a canister of gas down the train aisle on the train going to London when it came up to the Leighton Buzzard station in Bedforshire and sat down in the toilet and ignited herself.

No one else was injured, but the trains had been disrupted.

Commenters on the story on MailOnline seem to be angry that the woman had chosen this method of suicide which had caused the trains to be delayed.

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Nature island of Dominica suffers ‘demonic’ invasion

[Helena Perez, Dominica News Contributor]

DominicaCentral.com: Following incidents at schools in the Caribbean island of Dominica where normally well-behaved children have erupted into violent and bizarre behaviour, Dominicans are fearing that a satanic attack has been launched on the island’s school system.

There was yet another strange happening during the middle of last week at a school in the north of the island when three students were reported to have displayed paranormal behaviour.  Fear and panic gripped the school in the town of Portsmouth when three girls began to scream without any apparent reason and commenced ransacking their classrooms. Teachers and students had run from the school in fear during the incident which had brought the entire school to a standstill.

In March this year at a school in the island’s capital, Roseau, more or less the same thing happened and the children involved had been submitted for psychiatric evaluation.  Past years have also witnessed similar events with some saying that the children has spoken in ‘tongues’ at the incidents.

Local doctors are describing the events as being due to ‘mass hysteria‘. However, residents are saying that the patterns of behaviour specifically show some form of demonic possession.

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‘Pleading the fifth’ gains a new concept as woman in parking error drives off fifth floor

[Tom Higgins, Australia Contributor]

MailOnline: A woman driver, in the mother of all parking mishaps, drove her car off the fifth floor of a Melbourne multi-storey car park.

The woman and car fell some 50ft from the side of the car park hitting the top of a nearby house on the way down and finally ended up in a side alley. The car did not survive the fall well, but the woman was fine with only a cut to her head.  It is not known whether she had a seat belt on, or whether the car’s airbags had helped her to escape serious injury.

The woman was rescued by firemen who had to cut her out from the car. She has now been released from hospital and no explanation has been presented for the cause of the accident. The woman remains unnamed.

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Ageing Boeing 737-300 cracks in mid-flight over Phoenix

[Jim Smith, Air Safety Contributor]

Huffpost Business: Southwest Airlines have grounded around 80 of its aircraft as a result of  an incident last Friday when its Boeing 737-300 aircraft emergency-landed after a hole erupted in the passenger cabin.

No one had been seriously injured, but many were frightened as the 118-passenger-strong aircraft lost pressure and came down from 34,500 feet to land in Yuma, Arizona.  Federal investigators were on the scene on Friday to find out how the hole had come about.

In March last year, at least eight instances of cracks had appeared in the aircraft’s chassis. They had all been repaired.

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