Breaking News Thread

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Goldeneye
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Breaking News Thread

Post by Goldeneye »

Co-opting BJ's discussion thread idea to create a similar general news thread. If there is news item you want discuss or if you just don't feel like starting a new thread you can place it here for a on going discussion.
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by Goldeneye »

This one is wild. I can't remember anything like this in my life time.
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Iceland volcano spews more ash, fuels traveler fury; hundreds still stranded in airports

Hundreds of exasperated tourists hunkered down Saturday at JFK Airport, sleeping on cots while waiting for word on the Icelandic ash cloud that kept them stranded in Queens.

Terminal 4 was filled with would-be passengers from Ireland, Germany, England and France as the volcanic cloud continued to wreak havoc on air traffic around the world.

Honeymooners Paul and Tracy Sheehan, of Kent, England, were among those trapped by the ashy atmosphere.

The couple arrived to catch a transfer flight on Friday night - only to hear the next available American Airlines flight home was one week away.

"It's been a nightmare," said Tracy, 30, after spending the night inside an airport Starbucks. "We both need to be back to work. ... One minute I feel it's all really bizarre, then I feel really stressed."

Ellen Gallagher, 58, of Dublin, spent her night on the terminal floor after missing out on one of the 250 cots with matching blue blankets.

She, her husband and their son had their Friday night connecting flight canceled. The earliest they can catch a flight to Ireland: Thursday, according to Delta Airlines officials.

"It's ridiculous," she said. "They're trying to cater to everyone, but it's hard. ... They didn't offer us anywhere to stay - they said the city's full.

"We don't know what we're going to do."

Scientists in Iceland said Saturday there was no imminent respite to the volcanic explosions responsible for the growing cloud.

"The activity has been quite vigorous overnight, causing the eruption column to grow," geologist Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson told The Associated Press.

"Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be an end in sight."

The enormous cloud of ash and grit - which poses a catastrophic threat to plane engines - still hovered over much of Western Europe and stranded travelers across the globe.
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by The Sweeney »

I'm still stuck in Las Vegas....supposed to fly back to the UK on Tuesday, then on to India the following Saturday.

God knows when I will get back! :cheers:
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by mcbride007 »

The Sweeney wrote:I'm still stuck in Las Vegas....supposed to fly back to the UK on Tuesday, then on to India the following Saturday.

God knows when I will get back! :cheers:
The casino owners will be pleased. :lol: :lol:
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by katied »

The allure of Vegas wears off REALLY fast. I was just there at the end of last month and it was crowded .Seemed like every U.S. college's spring break was that week and they all went to Las Vegas! :cuss:


On the plus side, we went to some of the hotels to check them out-I hadn't been there since 1991... most of the hotels that are there now weren't there. Mandalay Bay is nice, but seems awfully empty of people. We stayed at Excalibur(the castle) and it was nice-mostly families and single people so not so bad!
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by oscartheman »

'Muhammad' now a dirty word on 'South Park'

Now "South Park" can't even say the words "Prophet Muhammad."

After last week's episode of the Comedy Central series sparked a threat (and yes, it was certainly a threat) from a radical Islamic website, the network has cracked-down-for-their-own-good on creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone during last night's continuation of the show's storyline.

For those who missed the drama, the show's 200th episode last week mocked the one "celebrity" that the series has been largely unable to depict, the Prophet Muhammad, who was hidden from view in a bear costume. A U.S.-based website RevolutionMuslim.com then warned Parker and Stone they could end up like Theo Van Gogh (the Dutch filmmaker who was murdered by Muslim extremists after depicting Muhammad on his show) and even posted the address of the show's production office. The site has since been shut down.

Last night, "South Park" continued the controversial Muhammad storyline, but with a key difference: every instance of the words "Prophet Muhammad" was bleeped out, making the episode practically incomprehensible, especially to anybody who missed the previous week.

The character of Muhammad was once again also hidden from view, covered by a large block labeled "censored."

A Comedy Central spokesperson confirmed it was the network's decision to bleep the words.

The Muhammad content is also not available on the South Park Studios website.

A message on the site states: "We do not have network approval to stream our original version of the show. We will bring you a version of [episode] 201 as soon as we can."

Ironically, "South Park" apparently shows an image of the Prophet Muhammad briefly in its opening credits that has gone largely unnoticed.

UPDATE: Parker and Stone comment on "South Park" censorship:

In the 14 years we've been doing South Park we have never done a show that we couldn't stand behind. We delivered our version of the show to Comedy Central and they made a determination to alter the episode. It wasn't some meta-joke on our part. Comedy Central added the bleeps. In fact, Kyle's customary final speech was about intimidation and fear. It didn't mention Muhammad at all but it got bleeped too. We'll be back next week with a whole new show about something completely different and we'll see what happens to it.
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by katied »

This month's National Geographic has a big article about the 30th anniversary of the Mt. St. Helens eruption. I remember it very well- I was in grade school at the time and I remember that we had the prettiest sunsets for ages after Mt. St. Helens erupted. In light of the recent eruption, it might be worth reading. :idea:
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by carl stromberg »

Good job that New York car bomb did not go off.
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by Dr. No »

That was eye opening. I hope they give up this NY terrorists trial business. I thought I heard something about a bomb found on Pittsburgh Marathon :shock:
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by Goldeneye »

The Bomb was connected to South Park!
Times Square car bomb: police investigate South Park link
Police in New York are investigating whether a car bomb in Times Square was targeted at the makers of South Park over a controversial depiction of the Prophet Mohammed.


By Nick Allen and Gordon Rayner
Published: 2:03PM BST 02 May 2010
Link to this video

The device, which failed to detonate, was left near the offices of Viacom, which owns the irreverent cartoon series.

Last month postings on an Islamic website warned the creators of South Park - Matt Stone and Trey Parker - that they could face violent reprisals after an episode of the show featured Mohammed in a bear suit.

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A posting on the website of a US-based group called Revolution Muslim warned Stone and Parker that they would “probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh”, the Dutch film-maker who was murdered in 2004 by a Muslim angered by his film about Muslim women.

Images of the Prophet are strictly forbidden in Islam, and Comedy Central, which broadcasts South Park, has banned Stone and Parker from depicting Mohammed in the past. In 2006 the network stopped them from featuring Mohammed in an episode which followed worldwide protests over a caricature of the Prophet by a Danish cartoonist.

Detectives are also understood to be investigating striking similarities between the New York bomb and two car bombs planted by Islamic terrorists outside the Tiger Tiger nightclub in London in 2007.

In both cases, the devices comprised cylinders of propane gas and cans full of petrol intended to be ignited by electronic detonators.

David Paterson, the Governor of New York, described the Times Square incident as an "act of terrorism." He said: “Luckily, no one is hurt, and now the full attention of city, state and federal law enforcement will be turned to bringing the guilty party to justice in this act of terrorism.”

The bomb was left inside a dark green Nissan Pathfinder, left with its engine running and hazard lights flashing near the junction of 45th Street and Broadway.

A T-shirt vendor, who was a Vietnam veteran, alerted police when he noticed smoke coming out of it. Police hurriedly evacuated thousands of tourists and theatre-goers, including women in evening gowns, from the area on Broadway's busiest night of the week.

Heavily armed police and FBI agents were deployed on the empty streets as bomb disposal experts used a robot to break the windows on the vehicle and remove explosive material. The car contained three propane tanks, fireworks, two five gallon gasoline containers, two clocks with batteries, electrical wires and a 4ft by 2ft metal box.

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said: "I think the intent was to cause a significant ball of fire."

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg returned immediately to the city from a White House dinner. Speaking at the scene, he said: "We are very lucky. Thanks to alert New Yorkers and professional police officers, we avoided what could have been a very deadly event. The bomb squad confirmed that the suspicious vehicle did contain an explosive device. We have no idea who did this or why."

He added: "Terrorists who want to take our freedoms away from us focus on the symbol of those freedoms, and that's New York City."

Mr Bloomberg said the wiring of the bomb "looked amateurish" and it had used "consumer grade fireworks" that were easily obtainable.

The alarm was raised at 6.34pm (10.34pm GMT) and six minutes earlier a security camera had recorded the Nissan heading west on 45th Street. Police have also established that the car's plates, which were from Connecticut, were not the ones registered to it. They have already spoken to the owner of the plates who said he had taken them to a junkyard.

Mr Bloomberg said police had no reports of anyone being seen running away from the vehicle after abandoning it. Times Square is four miles north of the site where terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The area that was evacuated and shut down is one of the prime spots for Broadway shows, with seven theatres and shows including Billy Elliot.

Katy Neubauer, 46, who was shopping for souvenirs nearby, said there had been panic. She said: "It was a mass of people running away from the scene."Don Slovin, watching the police through the window of a shop a block away, said, "Of course it conjures up memories of 9/11."

President Barack Obama praised the quick response by the New York Police Department and said the federal government was prepared to provide support.

Bilal Abdulla, an NHS doctor from Iraq, was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2008 after being found guilty of plotting the failed Tiger Tiger bombings. His accomplice, Kafeel Ahmed, died after driving an explosive-packed Jeep into Glasgow Airport the day after the attempted bombings in London.
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by mcbride007 »

There have been a few failed terror attacks recently.
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by Dr. No »

Happy Mothers Day! If you've forgotten...... We'll there is almost no hope for you :wink: Just be sure to give her a call.
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Chief of Staff, 007's gone round the bend. Says someone's been trying to feed him a poisoned banana. Fellow's lost his nerve. Been in the hospital too long. Better call him home.
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by katied »

I have been making sure my mom is well taken care of today! :cheers:
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry »

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has resigned. Conservative leader David Cameron is just seeing the Queen now to take over.
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by Kristatos »

Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry wrote:Conservative leader David Cameron is just seeing the Queen now to take over.
So did they finally reach a deal with the Lib Dems? Last I read they were still in talks.
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by Dr. No »

how does all of this work in the UK? I saw last night Brown wanted to hold off until the fall so another PM of his party could be elected, which I thought was absurd since I thought they lost but I don't get much of what happens over there, except for the 2 sword length thing :wink:
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by James »

Brown is toast now anyway. Cameron is the PM. The youngest for 200 years I believe.
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry »

That was a nutty four or five days.
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by Kristatos »

Capt. Sir Dominic Flandry wrote:That was a nutty four or five days.
I don't think the outcome was ever really in doubt. The Lib Dems would not want to be seen propping up a discredited government. I think Clegg was just playing hardball in order to extract as many concessions as he could from the Tories before accepting their offer of a coalition.
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Re: Breaking News Thread

Post by 007 »

Anyone see Adam Boulton nearly come to blows with Alistair Campbell on Sky News the other day? That was classic television.
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