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الخميس، 27 أكتوبر 2011

Lincoln Tribune

NYC Subway
Diverse Voices Carry Occupy Movement’s Message
At least 17 dead in Syria as Arab League meets with Assad
UPDATE 1 — Evacuations ordered at Mount Hudson in southern Chile
More survivors found as Turkey quake death toll reaches 481

Posted: 27 Oct 2011 03:48 AM PDT

Profile America — Thursday, October 27th. One of the symbols of New York City began operation 107 years ago today — as the city’s famous subway system was inaugurated amid speeches, bands, and a ribbon-cutting. The original line was just over nine miles long and connected city hall to West 145th Street. Today, the system has 209 miles of routes, with 468 stations. Each weekday, more than 5 million people ride the subway. Among large cities of the world, the New York system is the only one to run 24 hours a day all year long. Across the U.S., 5 percent of workers use public transportation — including subways — to get to their jobs. More than three-quarters of us drive to work alone. About 11 percent ride in car pools. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.

Sources: Chase’s Calendar of Events 2011, p. 533
Kane’s Famous First Facts, 6411
www.history.com/this-day-in-history/new-york-city-subway-opens
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2011, t. 1099
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2011/2011edition.html

Diverse Voices Carry Occupy Movement’s Message

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 06:26 PM PDT

At a distance, the Occupy Wall Street protest in New York appears to be simply people milling around. A closer look reveals a dazzling array of individuals; the clean-cut and earnest, the disheveled and unconventional; the gyrating and the restless; the musicians and drummers, the bane of neighborhood residents; the cleaners and the cart-pushers; the loungers, the sleepers, the masked, the sign-carriers, and those who gather petitions.

News cameras beam the images around the globe. Joel Goldentyer of North Carolina says the media focuses on the cranks and ignores the protest message.

"I would rather hear more from ordinary people. If you listen to what they're saying, each one expresses their view in a slightly different way, which is a sign they're not just parroting an ideology. They're speaking from their heart," he said.

No single issue unites protesters.

Union members denounce alleged unfair labor practices by a large corporation. This man wants to arrest bankers in the name of Jesus. This one accuses politicians of selling out to corporations. Another wants people to fulfill their dreams. These women are protesting the death penalty and what one of them calls corporate control of education. This youngster displays wisdom by Confucius about misuse of wealth.

Focusing their ire on Wall Street, protesters raise the issue of wealth. They say too much of it is controlled, unfairly, by the richest one percent of Americans. Economist Laurence Brahm accuses corporations of using campaign contributions to buy favors from politicians at the expense of the remaining 99 percent.

"Our whole politics has been a shouting match between people who say, 'Oh, he's socialist, he's capitalist, he's Republican, he's Democrat.' I'm an American. I want to see my country doing better, and it doesn't matter if you're left or right, both have lost jobs. People here don't have jobs. That's why they're out here," he said.

The American flag, and one rendered with the symbols of multinational corporations fly alongside the black flag of anarchy, the flags of Puerto Rico, of China, and whatever. It lends meaning to this man's sign, "Why are you here?"

"What's common about it is, we all want a fairer society; less racism, less war, less of a disparity between the rich and the poor," he said.

Wall Street has so far ignored the protest and Washington has not acted directly to address the protesters' many grievances. The movement has no leaders and no program, so outsiders project their hopes or fears onto the gathering as they wish. For some, it represents anarchy; for others democracy.

At least 17 dead in Syria as Arab League meets with Assad

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 05:53 PM PDT

DAMASCUS (BNO NEWS) -- Clashes on Wednesday between Syrian security forces and anti-government protesters left at least 17 people killed, a leading activist group reported.

The reported deaths included two children in the city of Homs and another child in the Damascus suburb of Douma, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria said. The violence occurred as an Arab League team held talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in an attempt to mediate with the opposition, CNN reported.

The meeting "was honest and friendly" and the group "felt that the Syrian government wants to work ... to reach a solution," Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al-Thani said, according to Syrian state television.

Meanwhile, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency claimed a large pro-government rally was held in downtown Damascus. The agency said as many as two million people participated, but the claim could not be verified due to reporting restrictions on foreign journalists.

Clashes between government and opposition forces have become more frequent in past weeks. The latest political upheaval came one day after Amnesty International issued a report accusing the Syrian government of torturing wounded protesters at state-run hospitals.

On Monday, the U.S. government decided to pull Ambassador Robert Ford from Syria as a result of 'credible threats' made against him. Ford, who has served as U.S. Ambassador to Syria since last year, returned to Washington, D.C. over the weekend.

It was not immediately clear when Ford may return to Syria, which has seen pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the country since mid-March, resulting in a fierce government crackdown. According to the United Nations, more than 3,000 people have been killed as a result of the violent crackdown.

UPDATE 1 — Evacuations ordered at Mount Hudson in southern Chile

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 05:46 PM PDT

SANTIAGO (BNO NEWS) -- The Chilean government on late Wednesday afternoon declared a Red Alert for the country's Aysén region after a significant increase in seismic activity at Mount Hudson, forcing nearly 100 people to evacuate.

The National Office of Emergency of Chile's Interior Ministry (ONEMI) initially declared a Yellow Alert for the area, but later raised it to Red after seismic activity continued to increase. It ordered about 100 people in a radius of 40 kilometers (24.8 miles) to evacuate.

Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter said the decision was taken after regional authorities and scientists flew over the volcano, noting that a column of white gas and some ash with a height of about 1.5 kilometer (0.9 mile) was visible. No lava was visible, but authorities pointed out there was a subglacial eruption in 1973.

The Chilean government warned it could not rule out the possibility of a major eruption within hours or days. Hinzpeter added that a Committee for Regional Emergency Operations has been formed and will begin evacuating the 97 people, who are located in the sectors of Cajón Bravo, Las Malvas, El Salto and Cupquelán. He called on the population to remain calm and stressed that the evacuation is a precautionary measure.

Volcanic eruptions at Mount Hudson are characterized by eruptive columns several kilometers (miles) high, which could affect localities around the volcano. But unlike most volcanoes in other regions of Chile, Aysen population centers are situated downwind of volcanic centers and therefore are highly likely to receive pyroclastic material, ONEMI said.

The emergency office added that lahar could affect the valleys near the Huemules and Cupquelán rivers, located northwest of the volcano. In addition, pyroclastic flows could affect the areas located 15-20 kilometers (9.3-12.4 miles) away from the volcano, depending on the scale of the eruption.

Wednesday's measures follow a Preventive Early Warning issued on June 14. Mount Hudson experienced moderate eruptions in 1891 and 1971, followed by a 'colossal' eruption in 1991 which reached 5 on the 8-step Volcanic Explosivity Index. There were no casualties due to the remoteness of the area.

More survivors found as Turkey quake death toll reaches 481

Posted: 26 Oct 2011 03:34 PM PDT

VAN, TURKEY (BNO NEWS) -- Three teachers and a university student were rescued in eastern Turkey on Wednesday, three days after a powerful earthquake devastated the region. The death toll has since reached 481.

Turkish media reports said two teachers and an 18-year-old student were rescued from the rubble of a collapsed building in Ercis, where scores of buildings were destroyed. The rescue came a day after a 14-day-old baby, her mother and grandmother were also rescued alive.

But the chances of finding more survivors continued to decrease on Wednesday as rescue workers were no longer able to detect signs of life. Some officials said the operation was slowly starting to concentrate on recovering bodies, rather than finding survivors.

Eastern Turkey was struck by a 7.2-magnitude earthquake at around 1.41 p.m. local time (1041 GMT) on Sunday. The epicenter of earthquake was about 16 kilometers (9 miles) north-northeast of Van, the capital of the province which carries the same name. It struck about 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) deep.

Officials said that over 2,000 buildings in the city of Van and the surrounding region collapsed, trapping scores of people underneath the rubble. Officials at Turkey's Kandilli Observatory estimated on Sunday evening that the final death toll could be as high as 1,000.

More than 4,700 rescue workers, including some 900 medical personnel, have rushed to the region after the earthquake, which is the country's most powerful earthquake in over a decade. It remains unclear how many people are still missing, although the number is believed to be in the hundreds.

On late Wednesday evening, Turkey's Disaster and Emergency Administration (AFAD) confirmed the number of fatalities had risen to at least 481. The agency said 1,650 others were reported to have been injured, some of them critically.

The Turkish Red Crescent has so far distributed 23,137 tents, 10 collective sheltering tents, 108,486 blankets, 1,150 quilts, 37 portable kitchens, 3,051 kitchen sets, 6,359 catalytic stoves, 5,109 sleeping bags and one mobile oven. Rescue workers are also distributing three meals a day.

Sunday's earthquake is the deadliest in Turkey since a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Düzce province in November 1999, just months after a 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck northwestern Turkey, killing at least 17,118 people and injuring nearly 50,000 others.

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الخميس، 27 أكتوبر 2011

Lincoln Tribune

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