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Erdély
2017. IX. 6. A marosvásárhelyi Római Katolikus Gimnázium védelmében szervezett tüntetést a város prefektusi hivatala előtt 2017. szeptember 6-án a Római Katolikus Státus Alapítvány. A megszüntetés határára jutott gimnázium védelmére szervezett tüntetésre egész Erdélyből érkeztek a résztvevők. Berendelték a Külgazdasági és Külügyminisztériumba Románia magyarországi nagykövetét, Lazurca-t. A nagykövettel közölték: megdöbbenéssel állnak azelőtt, hogy Szijjártó miniszter bukaresti látogatása után egy nappal a román hatóságok egyértelművé tették, hogy a marosvásárhelyi magyar katolikus gimnázium működését felfüggesztik. A gimnázium működésével kapcsolatos döntés több száz magyar családot hoz lehetetlen helyzetbe néhány nappal a tanév kezdete előtt. Magyarország a döntést a katolikus egyház, a magyar kisebbségek, a gyermekek, az érintett családok és a romániai restitúciós folyamat elleni támadásnak értékeli. Rendkívül barátságtalan és súlyos lépésről van szó Románia részéről. A kormány úgy döntött, határozatlan ideig felfüggeszti Románia különböző nemzetközi szervezetekbe, például az OECD-be való jelentkezésének támogatását, holott korábban erre ígéretet tett. Románia OECD-tagságáról szeptember 8-án lesz szavazás, a tagsághoz minden tagállam szavazatára szükség van. (Forrás: MTI)
Great Britain
4 September 2017 More than half in UK are non-religious. Almost two in three 25 to 34 year olds said they were non-religious, while 75% of people aged 75 and over said they were religious. When the national centre's British Social Attitudes survey began in 1983, 31% of respondents said they had no religion. Some 15% of people in Britain considered themselves Anglican in 2016, half the proportion who said this in 2000, according to the survey. Those identifying as Catholic has remained stable - at around one in 10 - over the past 30 years, while one in 20 people identify with non-Christian religions. Saying 'no religion' is not the same as a considered atheism. How can the Church of England remain in any meaningful sense the national legally established church, when it caters for such a small portion of the population? (Source: BBC)
4th September 2017 Royal Navy tests its newest Mach 3 Sea Ceptor air defence missiles which can destroy enemy bombs at supersonic speeds from Japan-bound ship amid growing global tensions. Images show the Sea Ceptor missiles being fired from HMS Argyll off the coast of Scotland as preparations are made to dispatch the missiles to Japan next year. "It will launch from the Royal Navy's new Type 26 frigates as they keep British nuclear deterrent submarines and the UK's two new aircraft carriers safe on operations around the globe. Baldwin, minister for defence procurement, announced the successful firings during a visit to defence company MBDA in Filton, Bristol. (Source: TheSun): http://tinyurl.com/y98wlmul
Italy
Sepst 5, 2017 Malaria killed a 4-year-old girl in Italy, raising fears that the mosquito-borne disease has returned to the country after decades. Italy has been malaria-free since the 1950s. (Source: NBCNews)
Románia
2017. IX. 7., csütörtök. Tudose román kormányfő nyilvánosan bírálta a bukaresti Külügyminisztériumot, amiért szerinte elsietett és „túl kemény” választ adott Magyarországnak a marosvásárhelyi iskolaüggyel kapcsolatban. A román kormányfő szerint nem volt értelme növelni a feszültséget, főleg olyan körülmények között, amikor a bukaresti oktatási miniszter konkrét javaslatokat fogalmazott meg a megszűnés küszöbére került marosvásárhelyi Római Katolikus Gimnázium helyzetének rendezésére. Ez egy bürokratikus hiba, egy önkormányzati szintű félreértés nyomán éleződött ki a helyzet, vagy valaki mesterségesen próbál egymásnak ugrasztani bennünket, és ebbe nem kell belemennünk - mondta Tudose. Pop, román oktatási miniszter bejelentette, hogy a diákok számára nem változik semmi, hétfőtől ugyanúgy tanulhatnak tovább, mint eddig. Azt mondta, olyan utasítást bocsátott ki a Maros megyei Tanfelügyelőség számára, hogy írassák be a diákokat az osztályokba, és hétfőn a tanárok kezdjék el a tanítást. A diákokat nem fogják elköltöztetni a Római Katolikus Gimnázium jelenlegi épületéből, csupán annyi történik, hogy a tanításhoz a jogi keretet egy másik oktatási intézmény, valószínűleg a Bolyai Farkas Gimnázium biztosítja majd. (Forrás: Origo)
Spain
Sept 8, 2017 Catalonia independence bid pushes Spain toward crisis. Catalan lawmakers voted to go ahead with an Oct. 1 referendum on separating from Spain. Spain’s constitutional court declared the vote suspended. The 2014 vote was a nonbinding consultation. Just under 40 percent of voters turned out, and about 80 percent of those who did voted for independence. The dispute gathered steam during the financial crisis after Mr. Rajoy rejected a plea by Catalonia to reduce its contribution to a Spanish tax system that transfers money from wealthier to poorer areas. The move only fueled the sense in Catalonia - Spain’s most economically powerful region - that Madrid was unfairly sucking away its wealth. The separatist leitmotif that “Spain robs us” remains a powerful message. “We should at least be ready for a Catalan version of Maidan,” said Carreras, a constitutional lawyer who helped launch Ciudadanos, a party firmly opposed to independence. (Source: TheNewYorkTimes)
Sept 6, 2017 The government of Spain's Catalonia region has set a 'binding referendum' on independence from Spain for Oct. 1. (Source: AP)
Vatican
Sept 9, 2017 With “Magnum Principium” - a document issued under the pope’s own legal authority – Francis altered a key 2001 instruction by Pope John Paul II that empowered Vatican officials in Rome to ensure local translations adhered to the standard Latin. Conservative opponents favored the Latin Mass, or at least more faithful translations to it in the local language, and they wanted the church hierarchy in Rome to ensure global universality and unity by making all of those translations uniform. By amending the Code of Canon Law, Francis appears to have sided with the liberals in the debate and shifted the ownership of translations to the local bishops. The amendment is a significant development in a liturgical schism that has split Catholics across the world and was evident at the highest echelons of the church. In changing the law, which will go into effect on Oct. 1, the pope recalled that the Vatican Council entrusted bishops with the “weighty task of introducing the vernacular language into the liturgy.” The announcement came just weeks after the pope - not one to invoke his magisterial authority - did just that when he announced that the liturgical reform of the Second Vatican Council was “irreversible.” In 2001, the Vatican issued the Liturgiam Authenticam, instructing that translations from Latin needed to be “in the most exact manner, without omissions or additions in terms of their content.” Noting the unity instilled by the Roman Rite, Francis argued for the beauty and accessibility of local languages. He wrote on Saturday that “vernacular languages themselves, often only in a progressive manner, would be able to become liturgical languages, standing out in a not dissimilar way to liturgical Latin for their elegance of style and the profundity of their concepts with the aim of nourishing the faith.” (Source: TheNewYorkTimes): https://tinyurl.com/ybt3c9rk
European Union Európai Unió
Sepst 10, 2017 European Union grapples with defiance on its Eastern edge. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán barely mentions his political rivals as he campaigns for a fourth term. Instead, he’s targeting the European Union and its biggest members. “Our fiercest opponents are not in Hungarian opposition parties,” Mr. Orban said in a speech last week. “They are abroad… Berlin. Brussels.” In neighboring Poland, government rhetoric is even harsher. Politicians have one-upped each other in attacking France and Germany, arguing they are forcing multicultural, liberal democracy on more traditional Poles. Commentators on state-run TV compare the EU to the Soviet Union. Tensions between Western European capitals on one side and Warsaw and Budapest on the other have hit their highest levels since their countries stepped out from Soviet domination. Politicians in Hungary and Poland have resisted some decisions, targeted the bloc with harsh rhetoric. The fight is part of a larger argument about what the EU’s balance of power should look like after the U.K. leaves. London has long advocated for smaller, eastern countries, who now feel they will be dominated by France and Germany. “This fall the crisis will reach boiling point because these two countries are not backing down and the EU can’t afford this renegade behavior corrupting all the rest," said Grabbe, head of the Open Society European Policy Institute, a Brussels-based think tank. (Source: TheWallStreetJournal)
2017. IX. 6. Az Európai Bíróság elutasította a magyar-szlovák keresetet az ellen, hogy menedékkérőket helyezzenek át Olaszországból és Görögországból; Magyarországnak be kellene fogadnia 1294 menedékkérőt. Orbán Viktor korábban kijelentette, hogy semmiféleképp nem hajtjuk végre az áthelyezést. (Forrás: Index)
Israel
7 September 2017 The Israeli military is in the midst of its largest military exercise in nearly two decades, focusing on a potential war with Hezbollah. Held in the north of the country, the roughly two-week drill – dubbed “The Light of Grain” – comes amid rising tension along the Lebanese-Israeli border, where Hezbollah, the Lebanese political party and militia, has maintained a presence for decades. Tens of thousands of soldiers from multiple branches of the Israeli Defense Forces – including the air force, navy, ground units, intelligence, and cyber command – are set to participate. (Source: ForeignPolicy)
Kazahsztán
2017. IX. 3. Nem vagyunk egyedül – kazahsztáni kalandozások. Hála az ujgur testvérünknek, egyedül is élvezhettük az éneklő homokdűnék nyújtotta varázslatos életérzést; és végtelen nyugalomban elgondolkodhattunk azon, hogy Magyarországon milyen méltatlanul keveset foglalkozunk a keleti gyökereinkkel, rokonainkkal. Magyarként különösen felemelő érzés volt megtapasztalni, hogy ilyen messze a hazánktól valójában milyen sokan szimpatizálnak velünk. Közép-Ázsiában rajonganak értünk, tisztelnek minket és testvérként bánnak velünk, pusztán azért mert magyarok vagyunk. Nekünk Kazahsztánig kellett mennünk, hogy rájöjjünk: ugyan Nyugat-Európában nincsenek rokonaink, a nagyvilágban nem vagyunk egyedül. (Forrás: Mandiner)
North Korea
September 2, 2017 North Korea’s detonation of a sixth nuclear bomb prompted the Trump administration to warn that even the threat to use such a weapon against the United States and its allies “will be met with a massive military response.’’ The underground blast of the hydrogen bomb that could be fitted into the nose cone of the ICBMs tested last month was four to sixteen times more powerful than any the North had set off before, with far more destructive power than the bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II. The United States Geological Survey estimated that the tremor set off by the blast, detected at 12:36 p.m. at the Punggye-ri underground test site in northwestern North Korea, had a magnitude of 6.3, five to six times” as powerful as the North’s last nuclear test, a year ago. The first tremor was followed by a second, weaker one minutes later. The United States uses two different categories of missile defense to counter North Korea. Here’s how they work /video/ (Source: TheNewYorkTimes): http://tinyurl.com/ybo27bcc
Syria
1 September 2017 Syrian rebel defector says his US-trained unit sold arms to isis. Not only were the US-backed ‘moderate’ militants in southern Syria never meant to fight isis, but their commanders actually traded US-made weapons and ammunition to terrorists. Salem says he defected from the US-backed Maghawir al-Thawra group stationed at the At-Tanf base in southern Syria, and surrendered to Syrian government forces. He served as a chief security officer at the base. Their US and Norwegian instructors, stationed at the base, taught the militants to fire US-made weapons, trained mortar squads and conducted courses on accident-free driving on the battlefield. The reality, however, differed from the proclaimed goal of fighting terrorists, as the unit has never seen action against is and its commander actually traded the US-supplied weapons with the terrorists – all while the American instructors, deployed at the base, turned a blind eye, the former militant claimed. “When we learned that our unit’s leader was selling weapons to isis terrorists, we reported that to American base command, but following our report no action has been taken, the Americans only ramped up the support to the man who was appointed our commander and who was dealing with isis,” Salem said. “And he was selling all sorts of weapons our unit possessed, US-made small arms, M-16 and M-4 rifles, recoilless rifles, various machine guns and ammunition for them.” The areas controlled by the US-backed militants along the Syrian-Jordanian border were cut off from is-held regions by Syrian government forces and its allies in June. While the US-led coalition claimed the base was used to fight against islamic state – they have, on several occasions, opened fire on Syrian government forces approaching the area. The information obtained by the Rossia-24 correspondents should be thoroughly examined by international organizations. (Source: RT)
Australia
September 10, 2017 Temperatures across NSW plummeted yesterday with residents in the inland town of Goulburn shivering through the coldest September night in 45 years, with a chilly -5C recorded. (Source: NewsComAu)
Middle America
September 6, 2017 The Category 5 hurricane causes major damage and flattens 'most solid' buildings on Saint Martin island. Irma, a category five "major" hurricane according to US authorities, has wind speeds up to 185mph. The hurricane has become the most powerful ever recorded over the Atlantic Ocean, and the US National Hurricane Center has warned of “potentially catastrophic” effects. (Source: Independent)
Cuba
10 September 2017 It was the first time the eye of a Category 5 storm had made landfall in Cuba since 1932, state media said, and the island’s Communist government ordered the evacuation of more than a million people from its path. (Source: Reuters)
Mexico
9 September 2017 Mexico is hit by tropical storm Katia, less than 24 hours after devastating 8.1 magnitude earthquake which killed at least 61 people. Mexico's president said it was the biggest quake in the country in a century with a million left without power. The quake struck at 11.49pm last night, 76 miles southwest of the town of Pijijiapan, at a depth of 43 mile. The quake hit offshore in the Pacific. There have been 62 aftershocks. (Source: DailyMail): https://tinyurl.com/y9hg7soa
8 September 2017 An earthquake of magnitude 8.1 hit the Mexico's southern coast on the 8th September 2017 at 04:49 UTC (Thrusday 7 September at 23:49 in local time). The epicentre was 98 km southwest of the town of Pijijiapan. The last Mexico earthquake occurred in the context of a Subduction Zone. In this case the Cocos plate is subducted beneath North American plate producing large earthquakes on the region. The epicenter of this earthquake occurred offshore, reason why a tsunami alert was launched in the Pacific. Only moderate tsunami arrivals were reported. (Source: EMSC - CSEM)
8 september 2017 Mysterious green and blue flashes were seen by witnesses in Mexico City after it was rocked by a magnitude 8.2 earthquake. Some have suggested that the lights might be caused by electrical transformers or small explosions near the site of a quake. A scientific paper in Seismological Research Letters suggested that charged atoms near the surface of the Earth may be behind the phenomenon – ionising pockets of air which form light-emitting plasma. The paper suggested that the lights are sometimes seen weeks before an earthquake strikes. (Source: Yahoo)
8 September 2017 An earthquake of magnitude 8.1 struck off the southern coast of Mexico late today, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) said, killing at least six people and triggering small tsunami. waves but no major destruction. (Source: Reuters)
United States
September 10, 2017 For this company, a start-up called Babel Street online surveillance leads to profit. The Department of Homeland Security, county governments, Law enforcement agencies and the FBI use it to keep tabs on dangerous individuals, even when they are communicating in one of more than 200 languages, including emoji. The 100-person company is staffed by former government intelligence veterans. A U.S. subsidiary of the European software giant SAP is its largest institutional investor. The Pentagon was Babel Street’s first customer. (Source: TheWashingtonPost)
September 10, 2017 Irma puts a bull’s-eye on Tampa. Tampa has not been struck by a major hurricane since 1921, when its population was about 10,000, National Hurricane Center spokesman Feltgen said. Now the area has around 3 million people. The new course threatens everything from Tampa Bay’s bustling twin cities of Tampa and St. Petersburg to Naples’ mansion- and yacht-lined canals, Sun City Center’s retirement homes, and Sanibel Island’s shell-filled beaches. “For five days, we were told it was going to be on the east coast, and then 24 hours before it hits, we’re now told it’s coming up the west coast,” said Beerbohm, a 52-year-old entrepreneur in St. Petersburg. “As usual, the weatherman, I don’t know why they’re paid.” With the new forecast, Pinellas County, home to St. Petersburg, ordered 260,000 people to leave, while Georgia scaled back evacuation orders for some coastal residents. About 70,000 people crowded into 385 shelters across Florida. The governor activated all 7,000 members of the Florida National Guard, and 30,000 guardsmen from elsewhere were on standby. Hurricane Andrew razed Miami’s suburbs in 1992 with winds topping 265 kph, damaging or blowing apart over 125,000 homes. The damage in Florida totaled $26 billion, and at least 40 people died. (Source: AP)
10 September 2017 Officials in Florida have ordered a total of 6.3 million people, or about a third of the state’s population, to evacuate, creating massive traffic jams on highways and overcrowding shelters. The window for people to leave evacuation zones was rapidly closing on Saturday, officials said, warning that gas stations would soon be without fuel and bridges would be closed in some areas. (Source: Reuters)
September 10, 2017 Hurricane Irma to batter Florida with catastrophic storm surge, wind and rain. Irma had sustained 185-mph winds for 37 hours, the longest any cyclone in the world has maintained such intensity. Super Typhoon Haiyan previously set the record in 2013 when it maintained winds at that level for 24 hours. Any land within 185 miles of the Irma's center could see damage and any place within 50 to 60 miles of the center could experience catastrophic damage. (Source: AccuWeather): https://tinyurl.com/yac6cmhx
8 september 2017 Miami faces a direct hit. Mass exodus as Florida and Georgia residents hit the road to flee Irma's 175mph winds after storm surge warnings while eye of Category 4 hurricane heads for the US East Coast.
According to Credit Suisse the storm has the potential to do $125 billion worth of damage if it strikes Miami - and possibly much more. Category 4 storm has caused devastation in the Caribbean, killing at least 14 people and trashing buildings. Extensive damage has been reported on Barbuda and St Martin, with over 90 per cent of buildings wrecked. Irma was 585 miles from Florida late today and more than a half-million people were racing to
flee. The horizontal arms of the tall tower cranes will remain loose despite the potential danger of collapse. They cannot be tied down or moved. Miami officials say it would take two weeks to move the cranes. NASA has secured Kennedy Space Center and SpaceX launched an unmanned rocket for an experimental flight. Kennedy closed its doors to all nonessential staff and a crew of about 120 people will ride out the storm on site. Irma threats to leave millions of homes and businesses in the dark for weeks. People walk past empty shelves where bread is normally sold in a Walmart store. In 1992 Andrew's winds topped 165 mph, killing 65 people and inflicting $26 billion in damage. It was at the time the most expensive natural disaster in US history. (Source: DailyMail):
https://tinyurl.com/y83tgaxl
7 September 2017 Report taken to obtain additional information regarding the November 14, 2004 USS Nimitz incident and the possible encounter of an unidentified aerial system while US fighter pilots were on an official training mission off the coast of San Diego. The "Source" is a highly decorated and recognized expert in aviation and Navy combat flight operations with Top Secret clearance. There are also six "others knowledgable (OK)" that are referenced as being aware of the incident. OK-4 and OK-5, who were assigned to the follow-on cycle from the USS Nimitz on the same day, after the Source's encounter, reportedly saw the same object and were able to obtain brief FLIR footage. /video/ (Source: coiToTheStarsAcademy): https://tinyurl.com/y8evz6fb
September 7, 2017 Sevier filed a lawsuit in Alabama's Northern District last month in which claimed he "married an object in New Mexico with female like features". He asked Green to either recognize the union or issue him a new marriage license. "Defendant Green issues marriage licenses to individuals who self-identify as homosexual, but he refuses to issue marriage licenses to zoophiles, machinists, and polygamists license on a basis that can only be described as procedurally arbitrary," the complaint states. Sevier said his lawsuits regarding his marriage to a computer all stem from the belief that if gay marriages are legal, a person should be able to legally marry a machine--like his computer. "Sexual orientation is not civil rights.... we are absolutely defending the integrity of the civil rights movement," he said about his lawsuit. (Source: AL): https://tinyurl.com/yctjof57
September 7, 2017 Equifax Inc. said its systems were struck by a cyberattack that may have affected about 143 million U.S. customers of the credit reporting agency from mid-May through July of this year, shedding light on one of the largest and most intrusive breaches in history. Intruders accessed names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and driver’s license numbers. Credit card numbers for about 209,000 consumers were also accessed. This is the most high-profile cybersecurity breach since online portal Yahoo reported two separate incidents last year. Equifax’s historic hack may have exposed almost half of U.S. (Source: Breitbart)
September 06, 2017 Two South Florida nuclear power plants - Turkey Point and the St. Lucie plant - lie in Irma’s path. Turkey Point plant’s reactors are encased in six feet of steel-reinforced concrete and sit 20 feet above sea level. It has backup generators, extra fuel and, as a “backup to the backup,” replacement parts and materials can be flown in from Tennessee. The St. Lucie Nuclear Power Plant is equally protected. (Source: MiamiHerald)
September 05, 2017 Irma becomes strongest Atlantic hurricane outside Gulf and Caribbean ever recorded with sustained winds topping 180 mph. Gov. Scott has declared a state of emergency for all 67 counties. Unlike Harvey, Irma is not forecast to linger and deliver the kind of punishing rain. It is expected that the storm will dump between eight and 10 inches of rain. (Source: MiamiHerald)
4 September 2017 Clearest images yet have emerged of Area 51, the sinister army base that has been at the center of alien conspiracy theories for decades. Some believe that Area 51, located in the Nevada desert, is used to store UFOs and live alien captives. So YouTube channel UFO Seekers decided to get some video and photos of the area using high-tech cameras. (Source: Mail): http://tinyurl.com/ycluq3b8
02 09 2017 Trump intends to nominate former UN spokesman Grenell ambassador in Berlin. As the first openly-gay spokesman on a Republican presidential campaign he stepped down from his role in the Romney campaign in 2012. A major challenge from day one for the future ambassador will be representing a president in Germany who is so unpopular. Beyond the image challenge, trade is the big issue that has the most potential to sour the relationship. President Trump has accused Germany of unfairly running a trade surplus, thereby disadvantaging American industry and exports. If the White House ends up pursuing protectionist or retaliatory measures, such as increasing tariffs on imported goods, America's trade policy could become a revolving-door issue in Grenell's meetings with German officials and industry representatives. And it is an issue that Grenell has little expertise in. (Source: dw): https://tinyurl.com/ychmu4wq
Globalization
4 September 2017 Musk says AI could lead to third world war. “Once developed, lethal autonomous weapons will permit armed conflict to be fought at a scale greater than ever, and at timescales faster than humans can comprehend,” the letter read. “These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways. (Source: TheGuardian)
Space
8th September, 2017 UFO watchers have been left baffled by three massive "alien portals" which mysteriously appear below the International Space Station in bizarre footage. The video appears to show a trio of circular shapes flying across the Earth's atmosphere. They seem to be some sort of circle with a hole in the middle. (Source: TheSun): https://tinyurl.com/y7s8lya4
(A comment: The really scary people are not the aliens but the alien watchers.....)'
September 6, 2017 A decade-class flare. Today at 12:02 UT, sunspot AR2673 unleashed a major X9.3-class solar flare- - the strongest solar flare in more than a decade. The largest of AR2673's dark cores are as wide as our entire planet, and they are surrounded by dozens of smaller cores as big as continents. X-rays and UV radiation from the blast ionized the top of Earth's atmosphere, causing a strong shortwave radio blackout over Europe, Africa and the Atlantic Ocean. Blackout map. (Source: SpaceWeather): https://tinyurl.com/yc2z3rnq
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