36 hours of snow chaos on the way in UK

HEAVY snow is expected over the next 36 hours as Britain shivers on the coldest March weekend for 50 years.

Up to 16ins will fall over high ground with several inches likely across much of the UK, the Met Office said last night.

Over 1,000 schools were shut and transport was disrupted as any hopes of spring were dashed by yet another onslaught of snow and flooding today as temperatures fell as low as -12C (10F).

Emergency services saw an early surge in weather-related call-outs as some parts of the country were hit by blizzard conditions. Government agencies issued a string of warnings urging the public to take care on the roads.

The South-west, which will escape the worst of the winter blast, faces flooding with up to 100mm of rain – almost two months’ worth – over the next 24 hours as yesterday's heavy rain continues.

In total The Environment Agency issued 12 flood warnings tonight across the country and 81 less serious flood alerts.

In east Cornwall emergency services were searching for a missing woman her partially property collapsed during heavy rainfall overnight.

It is believed the severe weather triggered a landslide, and while a dozen residents were evacuated Susan Norman has not been accounted for.

Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said they believed the woman in her 60s is still in the building.

Further north, snow blanketed many parts with up to eight inches expected to hit the worst affected areas of north west England, north Wales and south west Scotland.

Higher areas could even see up to 16 inches, while bitterly cold gale-force winds create blizzard-like conditions and plunge temperatures down to well below freezing.

Over 1,500 homes in Cumbria had to cope without power and road closure was preveting access to some communites to carry out repair work.

Energy firm Electricity North West said they were considering using helicopters to transport engineers to conduct repairs around Cumbria.

Elsewhere, more than 28,000 homes and businesses in Northern Ireland were left freezing and without power today after snow, sleet and storm force winds hit the province.

Thousands of gritters were on standby last night as councils ­prepared for the “worst winter onslaught” of the year.

A spring lamb follows its mother through a snow covered field in Wales


It is looking absolutely atrocious and people should be prepared for disruption with very heavy snow on the way

Helen Chivers, forecaster

Officials advised people to avoid all but essential travel and the Met Office issued a level-3 cold weather health alert.

Darron Burness, the AA's head of special operations, said: "It's going to be a real witch's brew of driving wind, rain and snow, which will inevitably cause disruption on the roads.

"Drivers should be well prepared as even short journeys can quickly turn bad."

Forecaster Helen Chivers said: “It is looking absolutely atrocious and people should be prepared for disruption with very heavy snow on the way. It is going to be central and northern regions which will be worst hit to start with, and appalling conditions are likely.

“Very heavy snow will be accompanied by strong winds and virtually everywhere should be prepared for very severe weather.

“The South-west, which may escape the snow, will see heavy rain, with up to 100mm likely.”

Jonathan Powell, forecaster for Vantage Weather Services, said despite the official start of spring Britain faces the worst winter weather of the year.

Blizzards driven by 60mph gales will sweep across central and northern regions, bringing chaos to road, rail and air travel.

“Britain is on alert for what is undoubtedly going to be the worst onslaught of the winter,” he said.

“From Friday morning virtually the entire country is going to see extreme and severe weather with inches of snow on the way and strong gales driving devastating blizzards.

“This is going to last until Sunday, with the North and parts of central and western England in for an absolute deluge.”

The threat of extreme weather last night triggered reports of panic buying with winter essentials flying off supermarket shelves.

A spokesman for Sainsbury’s in Matlock, Derbyshire, said: “We’re extremely busy. Customers are stocking up and talking about buying more due to the snow.”

 Britain will face the coldest March weekend since 1962

A Morrisons spokesman said: “It’s safe to say we’re busier than usual with people buying essentials.”

The Local Government Association said gritters and snowplough teams were out in force to keep roads as passable as possible.

Peter Box, chairman of the association’s Economy and Transport Board, said: “Council websites will be updated with information on weather, gritting routes, road conditions, school closures and bin collections.

“Leaflets have been sent to homes advising people about council services, driving in the snow, where grit bins are and how to clear their pavements.

“Council staff will be out and about over the next few days checking on the people they know to be vulnerable and delivering hot meals and portable heaters, collecting prescriptions, defrosting pipes, fixing frozen boilers and making sure they have what they need.”

 Blizzard conditions are experienced at the scene of an accident where a bus came off the road

While the snowstorm that has hit large parts of Northern Ireland has resulted in their World Cup qualifying match being postponed.

The fixture against Russia was due to take place at Belfast's Windsor Park tonight, but has been pushed forward to tomorrow afternoon.

Stadium staff had been working throughout the day to clear the pitch, but the date of the match was shifted after continued heavy snowfall.

Overnight in Yorkshire, Leeds Bradford International Airport suspended all flights due to "adverse weather conditions".

Gatwick airport said it was as “prepared as we can be” with volunteers on standby to make sure disruption is kept to a minimum. Heathrow said it had a “wellrehearsed” contingency plan in place. Leon Brown, forecaster for The Weather Channel, said Britainfaces the coldest March weekend since 1962 as strong winds whip up snowdrifts in the worst-hit areas.

“Much of the UK can expect to see some snow by Saturday, even the South-east and southern England,” he said.

“Heaviest falls will be over Wales and the Pennines with 12ins possible, plus signifi cant drifting over the mountains.”

Jim Dale, forecaster for British Weather Services, said: “Be in no doubt, parts of the UK are in for a spell of very severe weather indeed.

People really need to sit up and take notice. This is a very serious situation.”

The Environment Agency last night urged people living in the South-west to prepare for flooding and stay away from rivers and areas likely to flood. 

 

Express

Snow chaos in Russia and Ukraine

Triple Bubble Implosion Coming

GREEN METEOR FIREBALL REPORTED STREAKING ACROSS EAST COAST SKIES FRIDAY NIGHT (MAR 23, 2013)

Netanyahu grant Iran another three months’ grace

President Barack Obama persuaded Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu in their talks in Jerusalem this week to give Tehran three more months to work through nuclear diplomacy with the P5+1 group of world powers (US, Russia, France, UK, China and Germany), DEBKAfile discloses. After June, this format for resolving the Iranian nuclear issue will be judged to have run its course.

When the US president said “There is still time for diplomacy,” he added, “But Iran must know this. Time is not unlimited. Whatever time is left, there’s not a lot of time.”

When Netanyahu pointed out that the US and Israel might have different timetables and called for “a clear and credible threat of military action,” because “the clock is ticking,” Obama replied that all options were on the table and “We will do whatever is necessary to prevent Iran from getting the world’s worst weapons” - a pledge he repeated in his speech to Israeli students Thursday, March 21.
Talking to reporters Wednesday, the US president allowed, “Each country has to make its own decisions… when it comes to engaging in military action. And Israel is differently situated than the United States.”

This public exchange of views undoubtedly sparked Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s bellicose televised rejoinder Thursday: “At times the officials of the Zionist regime threaten to launch a military invasion,” he said. “But they themselves know that if they make the slightest mistake, the Islamic Republic will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground.”

In private, DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources disclose, the American and Israeli leaders agreed to keep the diplomatic window open until after Iran’s presidential election on June 24. This does not necessarily mean that a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities - or a lone Israeli military strike - will go forward the next day; only that a timeline for bringing the military option forward ahead of the diplomatic track is now before Tehran.

Obama explained to Netanyahu that he owed Khamenei the freedom to conduct Iran’s presidential election campaign without a bludgeon hanging over his head, in return for the same courtesy the Iranian leader afforded him in the run-up to his own re-election last November. In the campaign for his candidate, said the president, Khamenei can’t afford to show weakness by making concessions on the national nuclear program. After that, Obama trusts he will be more flexible.
All in all, on one pretext or another, Tehran has been able to shake off any “credible threat of military action” to curb its nuclear program for a decade or more. And there is no guarantee that things will be different after June 24.



Debka file

FEMA Federalizing Police for Domestic War

It is a heavily documented fact the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has bought 1.6 billion rounds of ammunition (much of which is outlawed by the Geneva Convention and includes a startling amount specialized for snipers), fully automatic assault rifles, heavily armored assault vehicles with gun ports, and gads of riot gear.

As DHS is a domestic operation, it would almost seem the organization is prepping for a war against the American people, and it now has 30 years worth of ammunition with which to do so.

To further back up that hypothesis, on FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness site, a listing for Program J, known as “Field Force Operations,” details how DHS has been training state and local law enforcement “to prepare for and successfully mitigate threat incidents involving civil disorder” should “National Special Security Events” or NSSEs occur.

The site continues,

“Activities included in this course are mass arrest procedures, team tactics, demonstrator tactics, crowd dynamics and mob behavior, use of riot control agents and less lethal munitions, and the employment of personal protective equipment (PPE).”

Some of the training’s “critical skill sets” include how to:

“Understand how the First, Fourth, Eight and Fourteenth Amendments to the U.S. Constitution relate to civil action/disorder; express the considerations and processes for conducting mass arrests during civil action/disorder; act as a member of an arrest team and remove an arrestee using both two- and four-officer carry techniques; and select for use, based on the liabilities and limitations of each, the best riot control agents and less lethal munitions.”

The three-day course takes place at Homeland Security’s Center for Domestic Preparedness at Fort McClellan, Alabama.

The class is coupled with another, “Field Force Extrication Tactics,” which provides students with “knowledge and skills regarding the tools and information necessary to extricate an individual safely from a protester device.” This course is not limited only to law enforcement, but emergency management, health, fire, EMTs, and public safety communications personnel among others. One issue discussed is, “Distinguishing the roles and responsibilities of the extrication team from other law enforcement assets.” Teams here are also referred to as “civil disobedience teams” or CDTs.

A description on the Texas Department of Public Safety site claims one of the Field Force Extrication Tactics course objectives is “To identify and protect protester rights as guaranteed by the First Amendment while still conducting extrication procedures.” [emphasis added]

Registration for the initial Field Force Operations course is limited only to state and local law enforcement, and includes a four-step process with a medical screening form. Participants must, “have the ability to march 100 yards, lift 185 pounds with assistance, kneel on one knee, run 20 yards intermittently, stand for long periods of time (approximately 3 hours), shout commands, and don, properly seal, and doff an air purifying respirator.”

While these courses have been available for several years now, it puts all of these bulk weapons, ammo and riot gear purchases into much clearer perspective in regard to exactly what DHS is gearing up and training our law enforcement for: mass arrests of the American people.

In fact, many of the descriptions of these courses seem eerily similar to a leaked Army manual Infowars reported on last summer for “civil disturbance operations.” As Paul Joseph Watson wrote, the document “outlines how military assets are to be used domestically to quell riots, confiscate firearms and even kill Americans on U.S. soil during mass civil unrest.”

In the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, our Second Amendment rights are under constant, heavy attack. Homeland Security has led the charge for years,portraying American gun owners and political enemies of the state as terrorists.

Add that to the fact that DHS has paid $2 million for “training aids” to a supplier of “non-traditional” shooting targets — actual shooting targets of pregnant women in nurseries, elderly people, and little kids referred to as “no more hesitation” targets — and this situation has gotten way beyond out of hand.

DHS has also announced its idea of public safety includes unleashing spy drones on the public. Recently released government documents also show DHS has customized predator drones for domestic use to track cell phones and identify whether or not a citizen is carrying a gun.

While the documented pieces of this disturbing puzzle continue to paint a terrifying picture, the mainstream media would instead have us believe that it’s all just a conspiracy theory, that all these DHS purchase orders officially posted on the Federal Business Opportunities website are merely figments of our imaginations.

But Infowars has continuously covered Homeland Security’s neverending gear up against the American people. How much more evidence is needed for people to wake up to this blaring, in-our-face police state takeover?

If something looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it might just be a duck. If an organization releases reports on how ducks are terrorists, develops duck-related trainings to mass arrest ducks in the interest of national security, and makes purchase orders for billions of duck-subduing and duck hunting items, it is reasonably safe to conclude there is an objective here concerning the total subjugation of ducks.

Infowars

‘Frankenstein’s monster’ becoming a reality?

When people think of cloning, they think of science fiction books and movies. They may even think of “Dolly the sheep” and various other animals that have been created by cloning. In the darkest recesses of our minds, we associate cloning with the moral of “Frankenstein’s monster” — and what happens to humans who attempt to play God.

It’s difficult to believe that a scientist would attempt to step into the shoes of “The Creator.” But, don’t kid yourself, human cloning is possible, and will become a reality soon (if it hasn’t already). I’m thinking that society should not allow that to happen, provided it can be stopped.

Cloning involves extracting an ovum and stem cell from a healthy specimen, removing the nucleus and placing it into the ovum. The nucleus of the cell is removed and put into the ovum, and electrically stimulated to simulate fertilization. The results are implanted into the uterus of a living specimen, and if all goes well, you end up with a “mini me” specimen.

At the moment, human cloning is not legal anywhere. Ah, but beware of the loopholes that do allow the cloning of body parts. Before you know it, you end up with a hodgepodge of parts that morph into Frankenstein’s monster.

Human rights groups rally against cloning of any part of the human body, and with good reason. The idea of creating “body part farms” for the rich, who can afford to replace an ailing heart, opens the doors to all sorts of ethical nightmares.

Besides, a lot can go wrong. Foremost, it appears cloning increases the risks of certain congenital conditions and abnormalities. If the donor is prone to congenital heart disease, his clone will likely be twice as likely to develop the condition.

Even in clones that have been successful, such as Dolly the sheep, scientists have found the majority of clones to have severe abnormalities that do not show up, or the clone doesn’t live very long.

On the other hand, cloning would benefit infertile couples or someone dying of a genetic disease. And, imagine a clone of Albert Einstein or Ludwig Van Beethoven sharing their brilliance with the world, once again.

Ah, but if a clone of Albert Einstein can be manufactured, so could a clone of Adolf Hitler. And, using clones to find cures might lead to using human guinea pigs to test such cures. Or, what would stop certain governments from cloning armies of perfect soldiers or obedient wage slaves?

Both the religious and non-religious have issues with cloning. The major world religions believe it is God’s place to create. Even those with no moral objection to cloning find the idea of a “created human” a bit too creepy to contemplate.

Despite the many potential legal, moral and medical issues related to cloning, it’s just a matter of time before some “mad scientist” clones a human being. Here’s the question: Will it be a step forward — or a step backward — for the human race?


Herald News