Momotombo Volcano Erupts – First Time Since 1905
The 1,299-meter high Momotobo volcano, a famous Nicaraguan symbol, has erupted for the first time since 1905, spewing lava and ejecting plumes of smoke and ash into the air.
“The Momotombo Volcano took a permanent place in Nicaraguan history in 1609 when a violent eruption made the inhabitants of the old colonial city of León (León Viejo) decide to move their city away from the foot of the volcano. The city of León has been rebuilt some 30 kilometers westward, but Momotombo still continues to threaten smaller settlements located around its immediate perimeter.”
A large geothermal field is located on the southern flank of the volcano, featuring a Geothermic Plant.
“Massive application” to prospect for oil in the SW Pacific Ocean
ION Geophysical, a Texas-based company, has applied to prospect 1.6 million square kilometers offshore of New Zealand in what is said to be the biggest petroleum application made to the government.
[The target area, about six times the size of New Zealand landmass, includes regions that are tectonically hyperactive and seismologically super unstable. Editor]
“I’ve never seen anything of this scale before,” said Green Party’s energy and resources spokesperson. This is “massive application.”
German Intel warns of Saudi Arabia destabilizing role
The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) has warned of Saudi Arabia’s increasingly “destabilizing role” in the Arab world in an official memo, reported Spiegel Online.
“The previous conservative diplomatic stance held by the older members of the royal family has now been replaced by an impulsive interventionist policy,” according to BND
“The new defense minister Mohammed bin Salman, who is the son of King Salman, is playing a critical role.”
King Salman and his son are desperate to become “ruler of the Arab world.” They are trying to expand Saudi Arabia’s regional influence via a new foreign policy agenda with “a strong military component and new regional alliances,” write the BND analysts.
Fire Earth 