Troops Deployed Ahead of Economic Collapse & Gun Confiscation

There are about 31 marriages in the U.S. for every 1,000 unmarried women

The marriage rate in the United States is continuing its decades-long downward slide, with fewer American women than ever getting married and others waiting longer to wed, LiveScience reports. The marriage rate has fluctuated in the past, with dips in the 1930s and 1960s, but it has been in steady decline since the 1970s. Now, researchers report that the marriage rate has dropped to a new low of 31.1, meaning there are about 31 marriages in the U.S. for every 1,000 unmarried women, researchers found. 

In 1950, that number was 90.2. In 1920, it was 92.3. "Marriage is no longer compulsory," said study researcher Susan Brown, co-director of the National Center for Family and Marriage Research at Bowling Green State University. "It's just one of an array of options. Increasingly, many couples choose to cohabit and still others prefer to remain single." 

To calculate the marriage rate, researchers look at the percentage of women older than age 15 who get married each year, so the plummeting numbers could also be explained, in part, by Americans delaying marriage longer than they have in the past. A woman's average age at first marriage in the United States is now nearly 27, the highest in more than a century, according to the report. Still, among all American women over 15, less than half (47 percent) are married today, the lowest since the turn of the 20th century, and down from a peak of 65 percent in 1950, the report found. On the other hand, the proportion of women who are separated or divorced is on the rise, at 15 percent today, compared with less than 1 percent in 1920, the researchers say. "The divorce rate remains high in the U.S., and individuals today are less likely to remarry than they were in the past," Brown said.

Religion Today

Small bomb found at Brazil shrine Pope Francis was due to visit

The device was found in a lavatory at the sanctuary of Aparecida, between Rio de Janeiro, where Francis arrived on Monday, and Sao Paolo.

It was discovered on Sunday by personnel from the Brazilian air force as they carried out security checks of the area ahead of the Pope's visit on Wednesday.

The bomb was detonated safely by military police.

"It was a homemade device with little potential to cause fatalities," the military said in a statement.

"Such episodes formed part of our security forces' training in Aparecida and at no point were civilians' lives in danger." Police said the lavatory was located in an area that would not be used during the papal visit.

The Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida is Brazil's most revered Catholic pilgrimage site.

It protects a famous 18th-century clay statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which is regarded by Brazilians as the country's main patroness.

Pope Francis is in Brazil to attend World Youth Day, an international Catholic festival expected to attract more than a million young pilgrims.

The Telegraph

Goldman Sachs creating artificial shortage of metals

US military intervention in Syria would create 'unintended consequences'

The top US military officer warned senators on Monday that taking military action to stop the bloodshed in Syria was likely to escalate quickly and result in "unintended consequences", representing the most explicit uniformed opposition to deeper involvement in another war in the Middle East.

Alluding to the costly, bloody occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said that once the US got involved militarily in the Syrian civil war, which the UN estimates to have killed about 93,000 people, "deeper involvement is hard to avoid".

"We have learned from the past 10 years, however, that it is not enough to simply alter the balance of military power without careful consideration of what is necessary in order to preserve a functioning state," Dempsey wrote to senators John McCain and Carl Levin on Monday. "We must anticipate and be prepared for the unintended consequences of our action."

Dempsey's letter came after McCain announced he would block the general's reappointment to chair the joint chiefs of staff, the most senior position in the US military, until Dempsey provided the Senate with his assessment of the merits of US military action in Syria.

McCain is the leading congressional advocate of using direct US military force to tip the balance of power against Assad, an Iranian ally.Dempsey's public comments about Syria over two years have been skeptical of the wisdom of greater US military involvement.

Last month, President Barack Obama announced he would provide light weaponry and ammunition to the beleaguered Syrian opposition for the first time, after concluding that Assad used chemical weapons against civilians, a violation of Obama's stated "red line".

In a move to end the legislative standoff over his renomination, Dempsey wrote that each option under consideration would be costly and uncertain.

Arming and training the rebels, the least-riskiest option, would cost "$500m per year initially", require "several hundred to several thousand troops" and risk arming al-Qaida-aligned extremist forces amongst the rebels or "inadvertent association with war crimes due to vetting difficulties".

Limited air strikes would require "hundreds of aircraft, ships, submarines, and other enablers", with costs running "in the billions", to achieve little more than a "significant degradation of regime capabilities and an increase in regime desertions". Dempsey warned that Assad's regime could withstand the strikes.

A no-fly zone, McCain's preferred option, would require "require hundreds of ground and sea-based aircraft, intelligence and electronic warfare support, and enablers for refueling and communications", Dempsey wrote, costing up to $1bn per month. He added: "It may also fail to reduce the violence or shift the momentum because the regime relies overwhelmingly on surface fires – mortars, artillery, and missiles."



The Guardian

Violent protests break out as Pope visits Brazil

Clashes between police and approximately 300 protesters broke out infront of the Guanabara Government Palace less than an hour after Pope Francis left the building.

Fire bombs were hurled and riot police responded by firing rubber bullets at protesters, two people were arrested and four injured in the demonstrations.

Speaking about the security situation during the Pope's seven-day stay in Brazil, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said:

"We are not worried about security, the worry is that the enthusiasm is so big that honestly it is hard to respond to so much enthusiasm, from the Pope and from the organisation,

"but we have no fear or worry."

The Telegraph

China's Gansu province hit by powerful earthquakes

Two powerful earthquakes have struck China's north-west Gansu province, killing at least 75 people and leaving more than 400 others injured.

The first earthquake near Dingxi city had a magnitude of 5.98 and was shallow, with a depth of just 9.8 km (6 miles), the US Geological Survey said.

Just over an hour later, a magnitude 5.6 quake hit the same area, it added.

In 2008, an earthquake in Sichuan province left up to 90,000 people dead and millions homeless.

A factory worker in Minxian county told AFP that he felt "violent shaking" and "ran to the yard of the [factory] plant immediately".

"Our factory is only one floor. When I came to the yard, I saw an 18-storey building, the tallest in our county, shaking ferociously, especially the 18th floor," he said.

 

A rescue operation is under way after a magnitude 5.98 quake hit China's Gansu province.

The area has been hit by 371 aftershocks, according to the Earthquake Administration of Gansu province.

Tremors were felt in the provincial capital, Lanzhou, and as far away as Xian, 400km (250 miles) to the east.

At least 5,600 houses in the province's Zhangxian county are seriously damaged and 380 have collapsed, while some areas suffered from power cuts or mobile communications being disrupted, the earthquake administration added.

"Many have been injured by collapsed houses," a doctor based in Minxian county was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying. "Many villagers have gone to local hospitals along the roads."

The earthquake has caused a direct economic loss of 198 million yuan ($32m; £21m), the Dingxi government said on its microblog.'Vibrating'

Both the Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang had called Gansu province to express their concern for the victims and stress the importance of the rescue operations being conducted well, the Dingxi government added.

BBC

U.S. Guarantees Israel’s Pre-1967 Borders Will Be Basis for Renewed Talks with Palestine

JERUSALEM (TheBlaze/AP) -- Israel's pre-1967 borders will be the basis of renewed peace talks between Palestine and Israel, according to a letter U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gave to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas which guaranteed the stipulation.

After Abbas received the Kerry letter, he agreed to resume peace talks with Israel, two senior Palestinian officials said Saturday.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, left, meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday, July 19, 2013 in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Kerry stepped up his drive Friday to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table, facing Palestinian reluctance over his formula for resuming peace talks after nearly five years. (Credit: AP)

The officials, both of whom are close to the Palestinian leader and privy to internal discussions, said the U.S. letter also stipulated that both sides are to refrain from taking any steps that would jeopardize the outcome of the talks.

Israel is not to issue new tenders for Jewish settlements in the West Bank, while the Palestinians are not to pursue diplomatic action against Israel at any international organizations, the officials said on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to brief the media.

"The talks with Kerry were about to collapse, and the letter came as a lifeline in the last minute bargaining," one of the Palestinian officials said.

There was no immediate comment from the State Department, but U.S. officials have said in the past that Kerry would reiterate standing American positions on the goals for renewed talks, including that a Palestinian state should be negotiated on the basis of Israel's borders before the 1967 Mideast war, when Israel captured the Gaza Strip, West Bank and east Jerusalem.

After a round of intense shuttle diplomacy, Kerry announced on Friday that Israel and the Palestinians had agreed on a basis for returning to the peace process, which broke down five years ago. The two sides are to meet - likely in the coming week - to work out final details on actually resuming their negotiations on the toughest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Kerry would not give details on the agreement on the negotiations' framework. "The best way to give these negotiations a chance is to keep them private." he said. "We know that the challenges require some very tough choices in the days ahead. Today, however, I am hopeful."

The Palestinians long refused to return to the negotiating table unless Israel agreed to several preconditions, including that the talks be based on Israel's pre-1967 borders. Israel frequently called for talks to resume without preconditions, insisting that all core issues should be resolved through dialogue.

Speculation has been rife for weeks that the sides would find a way to sidestep Israel's reluctance to offer assurances of the 1967 lines as the framework for talks by having the guarantee provided by the United States.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces sharp opposition from within his majority coalition to such a move. One key ally, Economics Minister Naftali Bennett, has threatened to pull his Jewish Home Party out of the government altogether if the prime minister agrees to the border conditions.

Yahoo News

Sakurajima and Tungurahua volcanos shaken by large explosive eruption

A strong vulcanian explosion occurred last night at 11:02 GMT (20:02 local time), following several hours of near complete calm at the volcano. A loud cannon-shot bang accompanied the explosion, which generated a large mushroom cloud that reached 12,000 ft (3.7 km) altitude and engulfed the NE half of the Sakurajima peninsula and was followed by several smaller ones within about half an hour. The volcano and much of the surrounding areas remained under the ash plume for several hours until it started to clear up again. In the hours after the explosion, the Showa crater continued to emit ash plumes in often near-continuous pulses, sometimes reaching several 100 m height, but with no visible incandescence or audible sounds.

 

Large explosions at Ecuador volcano: An increase of activity occurred yesterday. IGPEN recorded 3 strong pulses of volcanic tremor since midnight 20-21 July (local time), which were accompanied by strombolian activity and strong explosions that produced loud roars, heavy gunfire sounds, and vibrations that rattled floors, windows and doors of houses in areas nearby. Some were heard even in the Tungurahua Volcano Observatory (OVT), located 14 km north of the volcano. The largest explosion yesterday at 14h18 (local time) generated an eruption column of 5 km height moving east. Although so far there have been no new pyroclastic flows, this could likely happen in the near future. Ash fall occurred in the area of ​​Manzano, Choglontus, Tisaleo, Cevallos and Mapayacu. In between the explosions, constant strombolian activity with the ejection of incandescent bombs, some of which rolled down the slopes could be seen at night. The explosions caused considerable damage to some of the monitoring instruments (solar panels, cameras etc.). –Volcano Discovery