The Collapse Countdown Continues…
Powerful Typhoon USAGI Slams into N. Philippines
Packing sustained winds of 185km/h gusting up to 230 km/h, USAGI made landfall on Itbayat, the Philippine island closest to Taiwan on Batanes island group.
The typhoon has triggered severe flooding and landslides destroying homes, uprooting trees and power lines, and inundating croplands.
“A flash flood occurred and trees were uprooted from the mountain and swept by roiling waters to the town. Many houses lost their roofs or were destroyed. Damage to crops is heavy and landslides were reported all around.” A senior official and a former congressman for Batanes told Reuters
USAGI has already affected thousands of people, and portends more damage and destruction along its path.
The typhoon is moving slowly WNW at about 17 km/h toward southern China, according to several models.
Typhoon USAGI as it passed through the Luzon Strait. Image recorded at 07:30UTC on September 20, 2013. Credit: NOAA
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Flooding in Mexico Become the Country’s Costliest Disasters
Devastation caused by flooding and mudslides triggered by twin storms INGRID and MANUEL have affected hundreds of towns and villages in Mexico, leaving at least 100 people dead and many dozens missing.
Tens of thousands of people have been displaced, including at least 50,000 residents in the resort town of Acapulco.
All the dams in the country are practically at 100 percent. This is very serious,” according to Evaluacion de Riesgos Naturales, a Mexican natural disaster risk assessment company.
Scores of highways, bridges and other public infrastructure have been completely destroyed by the flooding and mudslides.
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US Air Force nearly detonated hydrogen bomb over North Carolina
The US Air Force nearly detonated an atom bomb over North Carolina that would have been 260 times more powerful than the Hiroshima atom bomb, said a report.
Two Mark 39 hydrogen bombs, each with a payload of 4 megatons, were accidentally dropped over Goldsboro, North Carolina on 23 January 1961, after a B-52 bomber broke up in mid-air.
“The MK Mod 2 bomb did not possess adequate safety for the airborne alert role in the B-52,” wrote Parker F. Jones, supervisor of the nuclear weapons safety department at Sandia National Laboratories in his 1969 assessment.
One of the two bombs that fell to earth, “behaved precisely as a nuclear weapon was designed to behave in warfare: its parachute opened, its trigger mechanisms engaged, and only one low-voltage switch prevented untold carnage.”
“One simple, dynamo-technology, low voltage switch stood between the United States and a major catastrophe…It would have been bad news – in spades.” Jones said.
Nuclear fallout from a 4-megaton detonation would have put millions of lives at risk in large portion of eastern United States encompassing major cities like Washington DC, New York City, Philadelphia and Baltimore.
The document detailing the incident was obtained by the investigative journalist Eric Schlosser under the Freedom of Information Act.
The US government had previously denied that any such incident ever took place.
“The US government has consistently tried to withhold information from the American people in order to prevent questions being asked about our nuclear weapons policy,” Schlosser told the UK Guardian. “We were told there was no possibility of these weapons accidentally detonating, yet here’s one that very nearly did.”
Schlosser says he discovered at least 700 “significant” incidents involving nuclear weapons between 1950 and 1968 at the height of nuclear arms race between the US and the Soviet Union.
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IAEA Members Vote Down Resolution on Israeli Nukes
A resolution sponsored by Arab countries calling on Israel to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty has been voted down by 51 countries including the U.S., Japan and dozens of Israel-first European countries.
Some 43 other nations voted in favor of the resolution, which was put to vote in Vienna on Friday.
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Two dozen killed, 55 wounded in Nairobi shopping mall shooting
A group of 5 to 10 gunmen, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and grenades, attacked the Westgate shopping mall in the Kenyan capital Nairobi midday Saturday, killing at least two dozen people and leaving 55 others wounded.
“We are treating this as a terrorist attack,” said police chief Benson Kibue, adding that there are likely no more than 10 attackers involved.
The Westgate Mall is situated in Nairobi’s affluent Westlands area and is frequented by wealthy Kenyans and expatriates, reports said.
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Fire Earth 