All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Mid-Summer Auroras : Image of the Day

For the past two weeks, sunspot AR12371 has been crackling with flares, radio bursts, and solar storms as it has moved across the Earth-facing side of the Sun. Overnight on June 20-21, that active region launched a CME toward Earth that caused a severe geomagnetic storm on June 22-23. Skywatchers as far south as Texas reported aurora borealis on the horizon. Another flare burst from the region early on June 23 and may be connected with the activity shown at the top of this page. Still another Earth-directed CME exploded from the Sun on June 25, and space weather forecasters were anticipating more atmospheric light shows on June 27.

Auroras occur when solar flares and coronal mass ejections—or even strong solar wind streams—disturb and distort the magnetosphere, the space protected by Earth’s magnetic field. The collision of pressure waves and solar particles into the magnetosphere accelerates particles trapped in the space around Earth (such as in the radiation belts). Those particles flow down into Earth’s upper atmosphere (about 100 to 400 kilometers in altitude) where they excite oxygen and nitrogen molecules and release photons of light. The results are rays, sheets, and curtains of light in the sky centered around both of Earth’s magnetic poles.

via Mid-Summer Auroras : Image of the Day.

Brazil: Gunmen Set Fire to Indian Community

Smoke rises in the distance as Kurusu Mba community burns. © Reprodução/TV Morena,

Smoke rises in the distance as Kurusu Mba community burns.
© Reprodução/TV Morena

GUARANI, BRAZIL-Gunmen have attacked and set ablaze a Guarani Indian community in southwest Brazil.

Initial reports indicated that a one year old baby had burned to death when the gunmen torched the Indians’ houses on June 24, but this has not subsequently been confirmed.

The Guarani fled the area, and two girls and one boy are reported to be missing.

The Indians of Kurusu Mba community peacefully re-occupied part of their ancestral land on June 22, having waited many years for it to be returned to them.

They were soon surrounded by gunmen who, according to one Guarani man, “fired shots above our heads.” The ranchers and farmers who now occupy almost all Guarani land frequently employ armed men to terrorize the Indians.

Guarani of Pyelito Kue community shows the remains of his relative's house after it was burned down by gunmen. © Survival International, 2015

Guarani of Pyelito Kue community shows the remains of his relative’s house after it was burned down by gunmen.
© Survival International, 2015

A Guarani spokesman said they occupied their land because
“We can no longer bear living with pesticides, hunger and waiting for the government [to act].”

Kurusu Mba has suffered many violent attacks in the past. Kurete Lopes, a 70 year old religious leader, was murdered by gunmen in 2007, as was another leader, Ortiz Lopes. Another man, Osvaldo Lopes, was murdered in 2009.Many Guarani are being subjected to brutal and intolerable attacks as they wait in vain for the authorities to recognize their land rights. In a video just sent by Guarani to Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights, Tupã Guarani of Pyelito Kue community shows the remains of his house after it was burned down by gunmen. He says his family have lost all their belongings.

The community is hemmed in by soya plantations. Intensive pesticide spraying pollutes the streams the Indians use for drinking water

 

The post Brazil: Gunmen Set Fire to Indian Community appeared first on Native News Online.

Brazil: Gunmen Set Fire to Indian Community

Smoke rises in the distance as Kurusu Mba community burns. © Reprodução/TV Morena,

Smoke rises in the distance as Kurusu Mba community burns.
© Reprodução/TV Morena

GUARANI, BRAZIL-Gunmen have attacked and set ablaze a Guarani Indian community in southwest Brazil.

Initial reports indicated that a one year old baby had burned to death when the gunmen torched the Indians’ houses on June 24, but this has not subsequently been confirmed.

The Guarani fled the area, and two girls and one boy are reported to be missing.

The Indians of Kurusu Mba community peacefully re-occupied part of their ancestral land on June 22, having waited many years for it to be returned to them.

They were soon surrounded by gunmen who, according to one Guarani man, “fired shots above our heads.” The ranchers and farmers who now occupy almost all Guarani land frequently employ armed men to terrorize the Indians.

Guarani of Pyelito Kue community shows the remains of his relative's house after it was burned down by gunmen. © Survival International, 2015

Guarani of Pyelito Kue community shows the remains of his relative’s house after it was burned down by gunmen.
© Survival International, 2015

A Guarani spokesman said they occupied their land because
“We can no longer bear living with pesticides, hunger and waiting for the government [to act].”

Kurusu Mba has suffered many violent attacks in the past. Kurete Lopes, a 70 year old religious leader, was murdered by gunmen in 2007, as was another leader, Ortiz Lopes. Another man, Osvaldo Lopes, was murdered in 2009.Many Guarani are being subjected to brutal and intolerable attacks as they wait in vain for the authorities to recognize their land rights. In a video just sent by Guarani to Survival International, the global movement for tribal peoples’ rights, Tupã Guarani of Pyelito Kue community shows the remains of his house after it was burned down by gunmen. He says his family have lost all their belongings.

The community is hemmed in by soya plantations. Intensive pesticide spraying pollutes the streams the Indians use for drinking water

 

The post Brazil: Gunmen Set Fire to Indian Community appeared first on Native News Online.

Stone thieves are dismantling Yorkshire’s heritage, warn police

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Thieves are taking prized items such as roof tiles, topping stones on dry stone walls and York stone paving slabs

Some of Yorkshire’s most beautiful rural areas are reporting a plague of stone thefts, with homes, schools, farms, churches and chapels all being targeted by thieves. The situation has become so dire that police have launched a PR drive to raise awareness of the threat to their region’s heritage.

Jason McCartney, Tory MP for Colne Valley, has warned that his constituency’s heritage is being “systematically dismantled”. During a debate on the problem in parliament, he said he was receiving weekly reports of stone thefts from West Yorkshire police. Many robberies take place in daylight with thieves posing as workmen in high-visibility jackets.

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