Friday, August 29, 2014

Rumors of War - King of the North

My Way News - EU ministers call for new sanctions against Russia
My Way News reports: "Several European Union foreign ministers on Friday accused Russia of invading eastern Ukraine and said Moscow should be punished with additional economic sanctions. The meeting of the 28-nation bloc's top diplomats in Milan came one day after NATO said Moscow slipped at least 1,000 Russian soldiers and much heavy weaponry into Ukraine."

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Covenant With Many

My Way News - Europe seeks role in postwar Gaza
My Way News reports: "European nations are offering to help enforce the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, a scenario that could provide key international backing for maintaining the peace and step up the pressure on Hamas militants to relinquish power. The European plan remains vague, and it is unclear whether Israel or the Palestinians will agree. [...] Hollande's comments also reflected a European desire to take a bigger role in Mideast diplomacy, an area traditionally dominated by the U.S."

Pestilence

My Way News - UN: Ebola disease caseload could reach 20,000
My Way News reports: "The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is accelerating and could grow six times larger to infect as many as 20,000 people, the World Health Organization said Thursday. The U.N. health agency unveiled a new road map for containing the virus, and scientists are fast-tracking efforts to find a treatment or vaccine."

Roaring Waves

My Way News - Southern California gets more waves as storm eases
My Way News reports: "High surf generated by a former hurricane in the eastern Pacific rolled onto Southern California beaches again Thursday, showing signs of diminishing but still bringing warnings of possible property damage and dangerous rip currents. [...] Surging surf arrived on the Southern California coast late Tuesday and was wildest on Wednesday. Blocks of oceanfront homes flooded in low-lying Seal Beach south of Los Angeles, pilings were knocked off the Malibu Pier and a boatyard on Santa Catalina Island was battered."

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Pestilence Update

My Way News - US official warns Ebola outbreak will get worse
My Way News reports: "A third top doctor has died from Ebola in Sierra Leone, a government official said Wednesday, as a leading American health official warned that the outbreak sweeping West Africa would get worse. The disease has already killed more than 1,400 people in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone, and Doctors Without Borders warned that the tremendous influx of patients in Liberia, in particular, is overwhelming their treatment centers there."

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Rumors of War - Security of Jerusalem

My Way News - Gaza truce open-ended, but puts off tough issues
My Way News reports: "Israel and Gaza's ruling Hamas agreed Tuesday to an open-ended cease-fire after seven weeks of fighting — an uneasy deal that halts the deadliest war the sides have fought in years, with more than 2,200 killed, but puts off the most difficult issues."

Monday, August 25, 2014

Wars and Rumors of War

My Way News - Syria warns US: No unilateral strikes on militants
My Way News reports: "Syria said Monday it was ready to help confront the rising threat from the Islamic State group, but warned the United States against carrying out airstrikes without Damascus' consent, saying any such attack would be considered an aggression."

My Way News - Weapons convoys seen rolling in eastern Ukraine
My Way News reports: "NATO and Ukraine have accused Moscow of covertly shuttling heavy artillery and other weapons to the separatists — allegations that Russia routinely denies. NATO says since mid-August, those weapons have been fired from both inside Ukraine and from Russian territory."

Sunday, August 24, 2014

Earthquakes

My Way News - Airlines on alert as eruption begins in Iceland
My Way News reports: "Iceland's Bardarbunga volcano burst forth with a small eruption Saturday under the ice of Europe's largest glacier, scientists said, prompting the country to close airspace over the area. Thousands of small earthquakes have rattled the volcano, located deep beneath the Vatnajokull glacier, in the last week. "

Friday, August 22, 2014

Wars and Rumors of War

My Way News - US won't let borders hamper fight vs. extremists
My Way News reports: "A senior White House official raised the possibility Friday of a broader American military campaign that targets an Islamic extremist group's bases in Syria, saying the U.S would take whatever action is necessary to protect national security."

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Pestilence

My Way News - American Ebola doc: 'I am thrilled to be alive'
My Way News reports: "Calling it a "miraculous day," an American doctor infected with Ebola left his isolation unit and warmly hugged his doctors and nurses on Thursday, showing the world that he poses no public health threat one month after getting sick with the virus. [...] At least 2,473 people have been sickened in this outbreak — more than the caseloads of all the previous two-dozen Ebola outbreaks combined, according to the World Health Organization."

Wars and Rumors of Wars

My Way News - Hamas admits kidnapping Israeli teens
My Way News reports: "A senior Hamas leader has said the group carried out the kidnapping and killing of three Israeli teens in the West Bank in June — the first time anyone from the Islamic militant group has said it was behind an attack that helped spark the current war in the Gaza Strip."

My Way News - Israel kills 3 Hamas military commanders in Gaza:
My Way News reports: "Israel stepped up its campaign against Gaza's ruling Hamas on Thursday, killing three of the group's senior military commanders in an airstrike that pulverized a four-story home, the second such attack targeting top leaders in two days."

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Pestilence

My Way News - Liberian slums barricaded as Ebola sets new record
My Way News reports: "Riot police and soldiers acting on their president's orders used scrap wood and barbed wire to seal off 50,000 people inside their Liberian slum Wednesday, trying to contain the Ebola outbreak that has killed 1,350 people and counting across West Africa."

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Persecution

NYTimes.com - Who Will Stand Up for the Christians?
The New York Times opines: "WHY is the world silent while Christians are being slaughtered in the Middle East and Africa? In Europe and in the United States, we have witnessed demonstrations over the tragic deaths of Palestinians who have been used as human shields by Hamas, the terrorist organization that controls Gaza. The United Nations has held inquiries and focuses its anger on Israel for defending itself against that same terrorist organization. But the barbarous slaughter of thousands upon thousands of Christians is met with relative indifference."

Nations in Distress

My Way News - Tens of thousands march on Pakistani parliament
My Way News reports: "Tens of thousands of protesters armed with wire cutters and backed by cranes broke through barriers protecting Pakistan's parliament and other government buildings Tuesday night, demanding the country's prime minister resign."

Wars and Rumors of War

My Way News - US officials: Video shows American's beheading
My Way News reports: "A grisly video released Tuesday shows Islamic State militants beheading American journalist James Foley, U.S. officials said, in what the extremists called retribution for recent U.S. airstrikes in Iraq. The militants threatened to kill another captive they also identified as an American journalist."

Earthquakes

My Way News - Thousands of intense earthquakes rock Iceland:
My Way News reports: "Thousands of small intense earthquakes are rocking Iceland amid concerns that one of the country's volcanoes may be close to erupting. Iceland has raised its aviation alert level for the risk of a possible volcanic eruption to orange — the second-most severe level. [...] Some 3,000 earthquakes have taken place since Saturday in Bardarbunga — a subglacial stratovolcano located under Iceland's largest glacier."

Monday, August 18, 2014

Earthquakes

My Way News - Strong quake hits remote area in southwest Iran
My Way News reports: "A strong, magnitude 6.2 earthquake jolted a sparsely populated mountainous province near Iran's border with Iraq on Monday, Iranian state television reported. There were no reports of fatalities but a local official said some 60 people have been injured and that the temblor had caused widespread damage."

Pestilence

My Way News - Ebola health workers battle death, heat, rumors
My Way News reports: "Doctors and nurses fighting Ebola in West Africa are working 14-hour days, seven days a week, wearing head-to-toe gear in the heat of muddy clinics. Agonizing death is the norm. The hellish conditions aren't the only problem: Health workers struggle to convince patients they're trying to help them, not hurt them. Rumors are rife that Western aid workers are importing Ebola, stealing bodies or even deliberately infecting patients. "

Friday, August 15, 2014

Persecution

My Way News - Who stopped China Catholics going to South Korea?
My Way News reports: "Days after Chinese officials blocked Catholics from seeing the pope in South Korea, it's still unclear who was behind the action or why it was taken. [...] the central government in Beijing has offered no clarification on the matter, underscoring its discomfort about how to deal with the Vatican. The sides have no formal ties and are locked in a dispute over who has the right to appoint bishops and overall religious freedoms under the officially atheistic ruling party. Reports said about 50 Catholic clergy and laypeople were stopped at Chinese airports earlier this week. [...] Jensen and Lam said there appears to be a debate within President Xi Jinping's government over how to deal with growing religious belief in China. While some see religion as a force for social stability, they are opposed by communist hardliners wary of any challenge to the party's authority, they said."

Covenant With Many - Final Kingdom

My Way News - EU says status quo for Gaza 'not an option'
My Way News reports: "The European Union offered Friday to take charge of Gaza's border crossings and work to prevent illegal arms flows, insisting on a durable truce and saying a return to the status quo before the latest war 'is not an option.' [...] The EU is prepared 'to play a strong role' in managing the crossings while assuring that Israel's security is guaranteed, said the 28-nation bloc's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton."

Rumors of War

My Way News - Russia denies its vehicles destroyed in Ukraine
My Way News reports: "NATO on Friday said a Russian military column ventured overnight into Ukraine, and the Ukrainian president said his forces destroyed most of it. Russia denied all of this, but the reports spooked global markets and overshadowed optimism driven by agreement over a Russian aid convoy bound for eastern Ukraine. [...] The fighting in eastern Ukraine has claimed nearly 2,100 lives, half of those in the last few weeks as the Ukrainian troops regained more and more rebel-held territory. It began in April, a month after Russia annexed Ukraine's Black Sea peninsula of Crimea."

Fearsome Events - Rumors of War - Pestilence

My Way News - Why global turmoil hasn't sunk US markets. Yet.
My Way News reports: "Europe appears on the brink of another recession. Islamic militants have seized Iraqi territory. Russian troops have massed on the Ukraine border, and the resulting sanctions are disrupting trade. An Ebola outbreak in Africa and Israel's war in Gaza are contributing to the gloom. It's been a grim summer in much of the world. "

Pestilence

My Way News - Aid group: W. Africa Ebola outbreak like 'wartime'
My Way News reports: "The Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 1,100 people in West Africa could last another six months, the Doctors Without Borders charity group said Friday. One aid worker acknowledged that the true death toll is still unknown."

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Pestilence

My Way News - WHO: Ebola toll may 'vastly underestimate' crisis
My Way News reports: "There is evidence the numbers of dead and sickened by Ebola in West Africa may "vastly underestimate the magnitude of the outbreak," the World Health Organization said Thursday. The U.N. health agency said it was prepared for the crisis to continue for months. With more than 1,060 deaths and 1,975 sickened, the Ebola outbreak is already the deadliest ever."

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Pestilence

My Way News - Doctors: Ebola drug poses 'impossible dilemma'
My Way News reports: "Ebola has killed more than 1,000 people and sickened nearly 2,000 in the current West African outbreak that has also hit Guinea, Liberia and Nigeria. Many of the dead are health workers, who are often working with inadequate supplies and protection."

Persecution

My Way News - UN says Iraq humanitarian crisis at highest level
My Way News reports: "Since June, Iraq has been facing an onslaught by the Islamic State group and allied Sunni militants across much of the country's north and west. In recent weeks, the crisis has worsened as the militant fighters swept through new towns in the north, displacing members of the minority Christian and Yazidi religious communities, and threatening the neighboring Iraqi Kurdish autonomy zone."

War - Security of Jerusalem

My Way News - Egypt: Israel, Hamas to extend temporary truce
My Way News reports: "Israel and Hamas agreed to extend a temporary cease-fire for five days, Egyptian and Palestinian officials announced Wednesday, permitting the sides to continue to negotiate a substantive deal to end the war in Gaza. Yet even as the extension was announced just minutes before a previous truce was set to expire at midnight, violence spiked, with Palestinian militants firing five rockets at Israel and Israel targeting sites across the Gaza Strip in response. It was not clear if the fighting was isolated or might shatter the truce."

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Signs in the Heavens - Signs in the Moon

My Way News - Best-of-summer meteor shower eclipsed by supermoon
My Way News reports: "The annual best-of-summer meteor shower peaks late Tuesday and into the wee hours Wednesday morning. But don't expect to be too wowed. NASA meteor expert Bill Cooke said the bigger, brighter supermoon will interfere with viewing the Perseids (pur-SEE-uhds), but it should still be fun, weather permitting. It peaks after 2:30 a.m."

Monday, August 11, 2014

Signs in the Moon

My Way News - AP PHOTOS: Lunar show illuminates world's skies
My Way News reports: "A supermoon will happen three times this year, with Sunday night's sky show the second. The first one occurred on July 12 and the third will take place on Sept. 9."

Thursday, August 07, 2014

Persecution

CBS News - Iraqi Christians flee as ISIS surges across country
CBS News reports: "When CBS News visited the Christian town of Bartella in June, it was guarded by Captain Firaz Jacob and 600 local militiamen. Asked at the time what ISIS would do if the group came to the Christian town, Jacob said he didn't know, 'but maybe they'll kill us.' ISIS moved in and captured Bartella Thursday, sending thousands more Iraqi Christians fleeing for their lives."

Wednesday, August 06, 2014

Pestilence

My Way News - Nigeria rushes to get isolation tents for Ebola
My Way News reports: "Nigerian authorities rushed to obtain isolation tents Wednesday in anticipation of more Ebola infections as they disclosed five more cases of the virus and a death in Africa's most populous nation, where officials were racing to keep the gruesome disease confined to a small group of patients. The five new Nigerian cases were all in Lagos, a megacity of 21 million people in a country already beset with poor health care infrastructure and widespread corruption, and all five were reported to have had direct contact with one infected man."

Tuesday, August 05, 2014

Earthquakes

My Way News - Death toll in southern China quake rises to 589
My Way News reports: "The death toll in southern China's earthquake rose to 589 on Wednesday as search and rescue teams worked to clear debris from isolated mountain communities struck by the disaster. [...] Thousands of troops and hundreds of volunteers have rushed to the site to dig out possible survivors from the debris, but landslides and heavy rains have complicated rescue efforts."

My Way News - Quake hits South Africa, 1 killed
My Way News reports: "An earthquake shook buildings in Johannesburg and surrounding areas in South Africa's most populous province on Tuesday, killing one person and injuring at least 17 at mining operations near the epicenter. The magnitude-5.3 quake was centered in Orkney, 170 kilometers (105 miles) southwest of Johannesburg, the U.S. Geological Survey said."

Monday, August 04, 2014

Pestilence

My Way News - Death toll from Ebola in W. Africa hits 887: WHO
My Way News reports: "The doctor who treated a man who flew to Nigeria and died of Ebola now has contracted the disease, authorities said Monday, presenting a dire challenge to Africa's most populous nation as the regional toll for the outbreak grew to 887 dead."

Sunday, August 03, 2014

Earthquakes

My Way News - Strong quake kills 381 in southern China
My Way News reports: "Rescuers dug through shattered homes Monday looking for survivors of a strong earthquake in southern China's Yunnan province that killed at least 381 people and injured more than 1,800. [...] The magnitude-6.1 quake struck at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. Its epicenter was in Ludian county township of Longtoushan. China's earthquake monitoring agency put the magnitude at 6.5."

Saturday, August 02, 2014

Pestilence

My Way News - US doctor with Ebola in Atlanta for treatment
My Way News reports: "The first Ebola victim to be brought to the United States from Africa was safely escorted into a specialized isolation unit Saturday at one of the nation's best hospitals, where doctors said they are confident the deadly virus won't escape."

Friday, August 01, 2014

War - Security of Jerusalem

My Way News - Israel pounds Gaza as it searches for soldier
My Way News reports: "Israel launched dozens of airstrikes early Saturday in the southern Gaza Strip as part of a large-scale search for a soldier Israel suspects was captured by Hamas fighters. [...] The Israeli military has said it believes the soldier was grabbed in a Hamas ambush about an hour after an internationally brokered cease-fire took effect Friday morning."

Earthquakes

My Way News - 6 dead following earthquake in Algeria
My Way News reports: "Algerian officials say six people are dead and 420 injured following an earthquake that shook Algiers Friday morning. Algeria's health ministry says four of the victims died after jumping from windows in panic. Authorities say two more people died of heart attacks during the quake, which measured 5.6 on the Richter scale."

Pestilence

My Way News - Americans with Ebola returning to US for treatment
My Way News reports: "Two American aid workers seriously ill with Ebola will be brought from West Africa to Atlanta for treatment in one of the most tightly sealed isolation units in the country, officials said Friday. [...] It will be the first time anyone infected with the disease is brought into the country. U.S. officials are confident the patients can be treated without putting the public in any danger."