News for June 14, 2005

Related Topics:+

7.0 Magnitude Quake off Coast of Eureka, CA (June 14, 2005) - According to news reports, an earthquake registering between 7.0 to 7.4 rattled the northern coast of California Tuesday night.

7.9 Magnitude Quake Hits Chile; 8 Dead (June 14, 2005) - A powerful earthquake rattled Chile’s remote northern Andes near the Bolivian border Monday, killing at least eight people and causing widespread damage in several mountain villages. Interior Minister Jorge Correa said there could be more victims in some isolated communities, but added no details were immediately available because of poor communications. The quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.9, according to both the U.S. Geological Survey and Chilean officials, making it the world’s third strongest temblor since the quake that set off an Asian tsunami in December. more...

Amazing UFO Footage, Phoenix (June 14, 2005) - We taped quite possibly the clearest and most amazing sequence of strange lights in the skies above Arizona on Sunday night at 10pm. more...

Survey: Israelis want Palestinians booted (June 14, 2005) - A grass-roots organization that has set up survey stations across the country says it is finding a large majority of Israelis favor transferring the Palestinian population out of Israel instead of implementing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s plan to evacuate Jewish settlements from Gaza and parts of the West Bank this summer. Mishalot Yisrael a group formed to assess public opinion with regard to the Gaza withdrawal, has been sending teenage volunteers throughout the country to man survey stations in public areas. The teens stop pedestrians of all kinds who pass by their ballot booths, usually situated outside bus stations and shopping malls in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities. Participants are given a ballot card asking whether they “prefer the ‘Sharon/Peres Disengagement Plan,’ which includes transferring Gaza and parts of the West Bank to Palestinian control and expulsion of all Jews who live there. Or do you prefer the ‘Jewish Alternative Disengagement Plan,’ which includes annexing these territories and expulsion of the Arabs living there to an area outside Israel, deep beyond a safe security buffer zone?” What Mishalot is finding, it says, is staggering: Upwards of 90 percent of respondents are checking the box in favor of the mass transfer of Palestinians. more...

The debate’s over: Globe is warming (June 13, 2005) - Don’t look now, but the ground has shifted on global warming. After decades of debate over whether the planet is heating and, if so, whose fault it is, divergent groups are joining hands with little fanfare to deal with a problem they say people can no longer avoid. General Electric is the latest big corporate convert; politicians at the state and national level are looking for solutions; and religious groups are taking philosophical and financial stands to slow the progression of climate change. more...

Life from 2,000-year-old seed in Israel (June 13, 2005) - Israeli doctors and scientists have succeeded in germinating a date seed that is nearly 2,000 years old.The seed, nicknamed Methuselah, was taken from an excavation at Masada, the cliff fortress where, in A.D. 73, 960 Jewish zealots died by their own hand rather than surrender to a Roman assault.The point of growing the seed is to find out what was so exceptional about the original date palm of Judea, much praised in the Bible and the Koran for its shade, food, beauty and medicinal qualities, but long ago destroyed by the crusaders. “The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree,” says Psalm 92. “They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing.” Dr. Sarah Sallon, who runs a project on Middle Eastern medicinal plants, said the date-palm tree in ancient times symbolized the tree of life. But Dr. Elaine Solowey, who germinated the seed and is growing it in quarantine, says plants grown from ancient seeds “usually keel over and die soon,” having used most of their nutrients in remaining alive. Dr. Sarah Sallon, who runs a project on Middle Eastern medicinal plants, said the date-palm tree in ancient times symbolized the tree of life. But Dr. Elaine Solowey, who germinated the seed and is growing it in quarantine, says plants grown from ancient seeds “usually keel over and die soon,” having used most of their nutrients in remaining alive. The plant is now 11.8 inches, or 30 centimeters, tall and has produced seven leaves, one of which was removed for DNA testing. Radiocarbon dating in Switzerland on a snip of the seed showed it to be 1,990 years old, plus or minus 50 years. So the date seed dates from 35 BC to AD 65, just before the famed Roman siege. more...

5.5 earthquake rattles Southern California (June 12, 2005) - A moderate earthquake shook most of Southern California early Sunday, rattling nerves along with homes and businesses. There were no immediate reports of any injuries or damage, authorities said. more...

MORE GERMAN HOME SCHOOLING PARENTS FACE JAIL (June 12, 2005) - Local education authorities in Germany are continuing to pressure home schooling parents into sending their children to public schools. Once again, a local court of justice in Paderborn is threatening a Christian couple with ten days in jail. The Baptist parents refused to pay a fine of US-Dollars 650 for not sending their children to a state registered school. The ethnic German immigrants from Russia are discontent with sex education and religious instruction.

I wonder when this will begin happening here in the US?