Russia's Rouble Collapsing as Oil Prices in Freefall

As the price of oil plummeted to below $60 a barrel on increased Saudi production, Russia's already sluggish economy took a significant hit when Russia's central bank announced they would increase the key interest rate from 10.5% to 17% in a drastic move announced earlier this week.

The move was done in part to halt the Russian Ruble's drastic slide against the Dollar and Euro- as of Wednesday afternoon, the Ruble was trading at just over 60 to the dollar [down from 68 prior to interest rate hikes- NANESB!] and just under 75 to the Euro.

Although Russia has been on the receiving end of lukewarm sanctions from the USA and European Union after Russia annexed the Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine, it's apparent that the recently plummeting energy prices have played a role in Russia's latest economic crisis.

This leaves Putin with the difficult choice of trying to prop up the mostly resource-based Russian economy or continue his costly military campaign against the Ukraine [I'm of two minds on this- while I'm glad Putin's finally reeling after attacking a neighboring country unprovoked, let's also keep in mind that no matter how dangerous and belligerent a Kremlin flush with petrodollars was the Eastern Europe, an unstable Russia that feels it has nothing left to lose may end up being more dangerous to the region. Also, who's to say the contagion would be confined exclusively to Russia?- NANESB!].

A financial joke devised to poke fun at Putin comes true http://t.co/WNRH5tkHFo pic.twitter.com/3DigQSw7Qt

— The Political Hat (@ThePoliticalHat) December 16, 2014

Over the last several weeks, the implied rationale behind Saudi Arabia's increase in production was that they were attempting to undermine the fracking boom in the US and Canada, temporarily saturating the global market with cheap oil and making the labor intensive practice unprofitable for North American companies. While this strategy would mean the Saudis would lose money in the short-term, they would (in theory) benefit in the long run from reduced competition from oil shale in west Texas and North Dakota.

However, others have theorized that Russia was the intended target of a clandestine Saudi economic attack all along. With President Obama ignoring his own self-declared 'Red Line' in Syria and seeking rapprochement with Iran- despite the Islamic Republic's stated desire to obtain nuclear weapons- the Arabian kingdom has decided to act unilaterally and go after Syria and Iran's benefactor in Russia economically. If that is the case, then undercutting Russia's state-run Gazprom by flooding the global marketplace with cheap oil has proven devastatingly effective so far- moreso than tepid the tepid sanctions levied on Russia after invading the eastern Ukraine.

Whether it's to undercut Russia or the fracking boom in the USA, the Saudi strategy is sure to cause problems among other OPEC members who are just as reliant on oil as Russia and may not be able to ride out low prices like the House of Saud. Even more problematic for some OPEC nations such as Iran and Venezuela is that Russia is their primary benefactor.

The move by Russia's Central Bank comes a little over a month after Russia and China agreed to a lucrative $300B energy deal which would give China's quasi-state run China National Petroleum Corp a partial stake in west Siberian oil and gas fields. In October, China and Russia had signed an agreement to swap nearly $100B of currency, so China may be on the hook as well if the Ruble continues its collapse.

The rate increase has also triggered bickering amid Putin's inner circle and prompted many Russians swarming markets to buy goods before the prices went up.

Scotland Votes to Remain With United Kingdom

Pro-independence supporter shown above

Scotland voted to maintain its 300 year union with Great Britain in a referendum last week that saw 55% of Scottish voters reject a 'Yes' vote to independence.

In an early sign that the nationalists were facing defeat, [pro-independence Scottish politician Alex] Salmond did not attend his local count in Aberdeenshire and instead flew back to Edinburgh by private jet alongside his wife.

Speaking at 6.30am, he accepted the verdict of the people as he conceded defeat in the referendum on Scottish independence.

However, he said that the people of Scotland had only rejected independence “at this stage”, suggesting he believes that another referendum is possible in the future.

With national turnout expected to reach around 85 per cent, Unionists celebrated overwhelming victories in their traditional strongholds such as Orkney, Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders.

Edinburgh voted against independence by 61 per cent to 39 per cent.

Better Together also had huge victories in East Lothian, where they had a 24 per cent lead, Stirling, where they won by 20 per cent, and Midlothian, where the margin of victory was 12 per cent.

A 'Yes' vote would've been devastating to Tory PM David Cameron's government, who had been actively lobbying for unity in the run-up to the vote- Cameron likely would've forever been known as the Prime Minister who oversaw the dissolution of Great Britain while in office.

The Pound Sterling, which had taken a beating ahead of the September 18th balloting, quickly bounced back to 2-year highs versus the Euro before the votes came in.

Once considered a longshot, polls showed that the pro Independence movement was gaining ground in the weeks leading up to the balloting. Pro-independence politicians such as Salmond had promised to use revenue from Scotland's offshore oil reserves in the North Sea to fund schools, healthcare, infrastructure and social programs [loosely modeled after Norway's sovereign wealth fund from their portion of the North Sea oilfields- NANESB] - even though its widely believed that supplies are dwindling. However, even with the declining oil reserves, Scotland has forestry, agriculture, whiskey production and tourism contributing to their economy would be the 14th wealthiest nation per-capita.

Multinational oil firm BP [NYSE- BP] was threatened with nationalization of their Scottish holdings by a Salmond ally should Scotland vote in favor of independence, leading the CEOs of BP and Shell to speak out against Scottish independence.

Report- Mainland China on Pace to Become World's Most Christian Nation in 15 Years

I had originally meant to post this on Easter, but got caught up with the remarkable Sunday that both the Red Sox and Bruins had.

Despite decades of crackdowns and persecution by China's Communist Party, a recent Daily Telegraph article claims that mainland China's Christian community is growing so steadily that communist China could be poised to have the highest number of churchgoers in the world by 2030.

Officially, the People's Republic of China is an atheist country but that is changing fast as many of its 1.3 billion citizens seek meaning and spiritual comfort that neither communism nor capitalism seem to have supplied.

Christian congregations in particular have skyrocketed since churches began reopening when Chairman Mao's death in 1976 signalled the end of the Cultural Revolution.

Less than four decades later, some believe China is now poised to become not just the world's number one economy but also its most numerous Christian nation.

"By my calculations China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon," said Fenggang Yang, a professor of sociology at Purdue University and author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule.

"It is going to be less than a generation. Not many people are prepared for this dramatic change."

China's Protestant community, which had just one million members in 1949, has already overtaken those of countries more commonly associated with an evangelical boom. In 2010 there were more than 58 million Protestants in China compared to 40 million in Brazil and 36 million in South Africa, according to the Pew Research Centre's Forum on Religion and Public Life.

Prof Yang, a leading expert on religion in China, believes that number will swell to around 160 million by 2025. That would likely put China ahead even of the United States, which had around 159 million Protestants in 2010 but whose congregations are in decline.

By 2030, China's total Christian population, including Catholics, would exceed 247 million, placing it above Mexico, Brazil and the United States as the largest Christian congregation in the world, he predicted.

Although the Chinese Communist Party remains wary of Christianity in general, the Maoist Cultural Revolution-era restrictions on religion were gradually rolled back by Mao's successor Deng Xiopeng in the late 1970s. However, the Communist Party Central Committee restricts both the Catholic and Protestant denominations to certain government-approved houses of worship where scripture that is considered subversive is avoided by clergy [typically under duress from the government- NANESB!]. However, instead of squelching the practice of Christianity within China's borders, the restrictions placed on officially-sanctioned churches have given rise to unsanctioned 'underground churches' throughout the nation since the 1990s [interestingly, Yang didn't specify if his projections included the unsanctioned underground churches in China- NANESB!]. Parishoners for these clandestine houses of worship range from elderly farmers in China's remote provinces to well-heeled cosmopolitan, iPhone toting, Audi-driving young women in Beijing. Venues for these masses and sermons can be anything from a remote farmhouse to a vacant office building in newly-constructed suburbs.

Although traders and missionaries erected houses of worship in the 17th and 18th centuries, Christianity was first introduced into China in the 8th Century, the Tang Dynasty decreed that Buddhism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism be banned and that their assets be forfeited to Emperor Wuzong in 845. As for the more recent resurgence of Christianity in mainland China, missionaries and travelers from South Korea have been in contact with Chinese nationals, using that opportunity to proselytize [despite the Chinese government's disapproval of such activities- NANESB!].

While Christianity hasn't endured a recent crackdown like the government unleashed against practitioners of Falun Gong in the late 1990s, the issue has come to the forefront lately after local officials attempted to condemn a church in Wenzhou for demolition earlier this month. In response, thousands of Christians from throughout the southern province of Zhejiang engaged in civil disobedience, forming a human chain around the church while setting up a makeshift kitchen and sleeping inside the church in shifts.

Unlike Falun Gong, there Chinese Communist Party may have to proceed cautiously in regards to the condemned church not only because of the increasing number of practicing Christians, but also the advent of Chinese-language social media platforms such as Weibo [NASDAQ- WB] and public opinion turning against the party due to a number of high profile corruption scandals involving senior Communist officials.

Health and Human Services Secretary Sebelius Announces Resignation

Kathleen Sebelius, the former Kansas Governor who was appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services by President Obama and in charge of the disastrous rollout of the healthcare.gov website, announced her resignation on Friday.

Sebelius entered the Cabinet in 2009, three months into Obama’s presidency, as a well-regarded former governor of conservative Kansas. She is leaving after months of intense criticism over the botched rollout last fall of the insurance marketplace.

During the firestorm, Obama made clear to his aides that he would not seek the resignation of his health secretary, and her departure is timed to brighter news for the White House as enrollment soared late last month.

Still, some White House allies said Thursday night that the troubled launch of HealthCare.gov had heightened tensions between Sebelius and the president’s staff members, who had become increasingly mistrustful of the department she led. Some Democrats, meanwhile, had argued privately that someone should be held accountable for the problems with the federal insurance exchange.

According to federal health officials, Sebelius approached Obama in early March and told him that, with the insurance enrollment period ending that month, the time had come for new leadership at HHS, the government’s largest domestic agency.

When the healthcare.gov website launched in late 2013, the White House said their enrollment goal was 7 million. After a problematic rollout of a website that only worked part of the time and was fraught with security problems, both the HHS and White House were mum about enrollment numbers for the last several months. According to some in the White House Press corps, the Administration became increasingly uncomfortable after Sebelius badly fumbled what was supposed to be a sympathetic interview on Comedy Central's The Daily Show in October.

This has also led to speculation that the White House was holding out for any semblance of good news to show Sebelius the door. That opportunity came earlier this month when after months of silence on the actual number of enrollees on the Obamacare website, President Obama held a press conference at the White House, claiming that exactly 7.1 million individuals enrolled through healthcare.gov- although they declined to break down how many of the enrollees had previously had insurance that was cancelled.

The top choice by the White House to replace Sebelius is reportedly OMB director Sylvia Mathews Burwell, who was reportedly responsible for directing the National Parks Service to shut down open-air war memorials during last year's government 'shutdown' (in which an estimated 17% of the federal government had actually shut down).

Antigovernment Protests Continue Throughout Venezuela Despite Carnival Holiday

Thousands of antigovernment demonstrators throughout Venezuela continued marches and rallies throughout the country over the weekend, many of them skipping the traditional Carnival and Holy Week holidays to take part.

The demonstrations, part of a wave of nearly month-old protests that have left 18 people dead and more than 260 injured, were called in outrage at insecurity, government repression and shortages of basic goods.

"This is the people's struggle against the inefficient government. Maduro, you have lost today the streets of Venezuela because the streets belong to the people," Central University of Venezuela student leader Juan Requesens told nearly 20,000 people gathered in Caracas.

The students called for a "genuine dialogue" with the president and for discussion on ending the standoff marred by violence.

Several hours later, a group of radical protesters armed with sticks and stones gathered in the capital's Plaza Altamira and faced off with members of the National Guard who responded with water cannons, tear gas and birdshot.

Officials said the clash left 17 wounded from birdshot or suffering from gas inhalation.

The official death toll from the clashes between the government and protestors is said to be 18- although opposition leaders claim the body count is much higher. Although the Andean college town of San Cristobal is considered the flashpoint for the most recent round of demonstrations, antigovernment rallies quickly spread to the capital city of Caracas. Since the, the protests have spread to the cities of Barquisimeto, Valencia and Puerto Ordaz.

Meanwhile, the military and supporters of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro were gathering for ceremonies to mark the one year anniversary of the death of president Hugo Chavez. An heir apparent to Chavez's socialist 'Bolivar Revolution', Maduro narrowly won a special presidential election last year. However, the food rationing, skyrocketing crime and shortages of basic consumer staples that had been endemic under Chavez continued to worsen. Just months into Maduro's rule, he declared all of Venezuela's problems were caused by external 'threats' [meaning the USA- NANESB!] and imposed strict price controls while limiting commercial profits.

During the monthlong protests, Maduro has ordered the expulsion of journalists from CNN and Colombia's NTN network as well as three US diplomats. On Tuesday, the Maduro regime announced that they were suspending all diplomatic ties with Panama after Panamianian president Ricardo Martinelli suggested the Organization of American States (OAS) monitor the ongoing situation in Venezuela and attempt to mediate between opposition and the Maduro regime.

Ukrainian President Yanukovych Flees Kiev as Demonstrators Overrun Presidential Compound, Topple Lenin Statues

As anti-government Maidan protestors gained increasing control over parts of the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, President Yanukovych fled his presidential compound to the majority-Russian Crimean port of Sevastopol on Friday.

While Russia denounced the ousters of Kremlin-allied Yanukovych as 'Kalashnikov-toting people in black masks', Ukraine's parliament voted to strip Yanukovych of office and issue a warrant for his arrest in the death of dozens of Maidan protestors in clashes with police last week.

Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Turchinov was named the interim president of the Ukraine while former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko was released from prison and flown to Kiev to address the victorious pro-Western Maidan demonstrators.

Tymoshenko, 53, was freed from prison Saturday after two-and-a-half years, most of them spent in a detention hospital.

Dressed in black, she later emerged at Kiev's Independence Square in a wheel chair. Cheers erupted.

Tearfully, she hailed the sea of protesters, who listened and occasionally waved.

"Today, Ukraine has finished with this terrible dictator," she said, referring to ousted President Viktor Yanukovych.

She then passed on a not-so-subtle message.

"There'll be no Ukraine but the Ukraine you want," she said. "And I'm the guarantor of that Ukraine."

The polarizing former Prime Minister has a complicated relationship with Yanukovych

Both have dominated the nation's politics for years. Both have a rivalry that dates years.

Her international popularity soared a decade ago as a result of her ardent speeches that helped overturn Yanukovych's presidential win in 2004. She's considered a hero of the country's 2004 Orange Revolution, a wave of peaceful protests that swept her and Viktor Yushchenko into power as Prime Minister and President, respectively.

The same revolution successfully overturned what many believed was a largely false presidential win by Yanukovych.

But the promise of the revolution soon turned sour. The two feuded publicly, prompting Yushchenko to fire her a few months into her term.

In 2007, Tymoshenko was back as Prime Minister. But she was dogged by accusations of irregularities and overlooking the nation's economic problems.

Her tense working relation with Yushchenko did not help their case. Analysts say it was one of the reasons she lost to Yanukovych in the 2010 presidential elections.

After Yanukovych won that election, Tymoshenko, was forced out of office and into the courtroom. In 2011, she was on trial over a costly natural gas agreement that she signed with Russia while she was Prime Minister.

In October of that year, a Ukrainian court found her guilty of abuse of authority for signing overpriced gas contracts with Russia and sentenced her to seven years in prison.

The prosecutor said the gas deals inflicted damage to the country amounting to more than 1.5 billion hryvnias (almost $190 million at the exchange rate at the time). In addition to the sentence, the court ruled she must repay the money.

Amnesty International slammed the verdict as "politically motivated" and called for the release of Tymoshenko, who was Prime Minister from January to September 2005, and December 2007 to March 2010.

The case against her was widely considered politically motivated, and the United States and other Western nations called her "a political prisoner."

Both Tymoshenko and Yankukovych have been accused of being oligarchs who have consolidated their power and used the presidential office for personal gain. On Saturday, Maidan demonstrators made their way to Yanukovych's hastily-abandoned presidential mansion. According to watchdog website opendemocracy.net, Yanukovych's presidential salary as the equivalent of US $25,000 per year- yet Yanukovych's mansion in Mezhyhirya is worth an estimated US $75 million and features a private zoo, antique car collection and life-size mock galleon and marina.



Meanwhile, the nationalist Svoboda Party used the collapse of the government to start tearing down statues built to honor Vladmir Lenin that date back to the Cold War- some statues in the eastern and central part of the Ukraine were never torn down with the collapse of the USSR either due to the high Russian population or lingering nostalgia for the old Soviet union by die-hard communists.

Meanwhile, Luxembourg-based steelmaker Arcelor-Mittal [NYSE- MT] announced that they would be removing a Lenin statue and temporarily relocating foreign workers on the grounds of their facility in the Ukraine.

The next round of presidential elections were scheduled to take place in February 2014, but with the ousting of Yanukovych the parliament has now moved election day up to May 25th, 2014.

Russia has said they do not recognize the interim government and there are concerns that the turmoil in the Ukraine will provide Russia with the pretext to change previously negotiated prices for natural gas imported from Russia. Although the Ukraine has sought to diversify its imports of natural gas- as well as exploit their own shale reserves- due to previous disputes with Russia- by early 2014 Energy and Coal minister Eduard Stavytsky said that the Ukraine was importing natural gas almost exclusively from Russia due to a clear price advantage.

Nobel Prize Winner and Former South African President Nelson Mandela Passes Away At Age 95

Nelson Mandela, a former prisoner of South Africa's apartheid regime who would go on to become the nation's first black president passed away from a lung infection last week.

The 95 year old Mandela served as president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, campaigning as a candidate for the previously banned African National Congress party less than three years after his release from prison.

After a trial on charges of sabotage in 1963, Mandela and several other ANC accomplices were found guilty and sentenced to prison. Mandela ended up serving time at three prisons- the most infamous of which was located on Robben Island off the coast of Cape Town. By 1982, Mandela had been transferred to another prison where he was allowed to correspond with international activists. At the time, South Africa was engaged in the Border Wars or Bush Wars which pitted South Africa against communist guerillas and Cuban forces in the newly-independent former Portuguese colony of Angola. With communist insurgencies in Angola, a full fledged civil war in neighboring Mozambique and white-ruled Rhodesia falling into Robert Mugabe's iron grip and rechristened as Zimbabwe, Mandela was reportedly offered early release by the apartheid government of PW Botha if he would publicly and unconditionally renounce violence. However, Mandela refused.

By 1990, South Africa, Cuba and the Soviet Union agreed to a treaty where South West Africa would gain independence and South African troops would withdraw from what's now known as Namibia in return for Soviet and Cuban forces leaving Angola. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the ANC's Soviet benefactors leaving Angola and Mozambique, ailing South African president PW Botha was replaced by FW DeKlerk. Feeling the apartheid system was unsustainable, DeKlerk ordered the release of Mandela and the legalization of all previously outlawed political parties in February 1990.

Mandela's most notable achievement as president of South Africa was overseeing the relatively peaceful transition from apartheid to a multi-party parliamentary system. In lieu of punishing officials from the previous regime, Mandela's government established what were called 'Truth & Reconciliation' committees where perpetrators of human rights violations would testify about their activities under apartheid in exchange for immunity from prosecution. This applied not only to white Afrikaners working for the apartheid government, but also senior members of Mandela's own ANC- including Mandela's ex-wife Winnie- for kidnapping and murdering blacks that they considered 'collaborators' with the Afrikaner apartheid regime [Winnie Mandela was on record for endorsing a particularly gruesome practice known as necklacing in which a tire filled with kerosene in placed around the victim and lit on fire- NANESB!].

In 1993, Mandela and his predecessor FW DeKlerk were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their respective roles in ending apartheid in South Africa. The peaceful transition of power in a historically violent continent such as Africa was a major accomplishment. However, many of South Africa's problems didn't simply vanish once Mandela was sworn into office.

While the institutionalized discrimination of apartheid ended with Mandela's election into the office of president, South Africa has been facing a sharp increase in violent crime, an AIDS epidemic and attacks against white farmers, immigrants and foreign workers. The situation is worsened by Mandella's ANC successors- President Thabo Mbeki has on occasion denied that AIDS or HIV is an issue in South Africa while current South African President Jacob Zuma sang a ballad called Shoot the Boer at an ANC Youth rally a few years ago, was accused of rape in 2005 and has openly praised Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe's expropriation of white farms in Zimbabwe as 'land reform'.

BREAKING- 48 Hour Deadline Passes, Egyptian Army Seizes Power as Morsi Goes Into Hiding

Shortly after a defiant Mohammed Morsi issued a statement that he would not be stepping down, the Egyptian military announced that the country's Muslim Brotherhood-backed president has been ousted and will be replaced with the chief justice of the constitutional court on an interim basis.

In appointing Adli Mansour the new interim leader, [Defense Minister] el-Sissi also said a government of technocrats would be formed with "full powers" to run the country. He did not specify how long the transition period would last or when new elections might be held.

Top military officials and opposition leaders met Wednesday and agreed on a political roadmap for the country's future, el-Sissi said. A new presidential cabinet will be formed as well as a national reconciliation committee, which will include youth movements that have been behind anti-Morsi demonstrations.

El-Sissi also warned said the military would deal "decisively" with any violence sparked by the announcements.

Before el-Sissi's address, Egyptian troops, including commandos in full combat gear, were deployed across much of Cairo, including at key facilities, on bridges over the Nile River and at major intersections.

Witnesses told Reuters that the army erected barbed wire and barriers around Morsi's work compound, and moved in vehicles and troops to prevent supporters from getting to his palace.

A travel ban was put on Morsi and the head of his Muslim Brotherhood, Mohammed Badie, as well as Badie's deputy Khairat el-Shater, officials told the Associated Press.

Minutes before the military’s deadline for Morsi to resolve the nation’s political crisis passed Wednesday afternoon, the embattled leader called for "national reconciliation," but vowed he would never step down.

Millions were in the main squares of major cities nationwide, demanding Morsi's removal, in the fourth day of the biggest anti-government rallies the country has seen, surpassing even those in the uprising that ousted against his autocratic predecessor Hosni Mubarak. Critics say Morsi set the nation on a path toward Islamic rule.

Khaled Daoud, spokesman of the main opposition National Salvation Front, which pro-reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei leads, said that ElBaradei, Sheik Ahmed el-Tayeb, grand imam of Al-Azharmosque, and Pope Tawadros II, patriarch of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority, were part of the Wednesday meetings with military leaders.

The state-run Al-Ahram newspaper -- which also seemed to be following a military line -- reported that the military had placed several leaders of Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood under surveillance.

Employees at Egypt's state TV station said military officers were present in the newsroom monitoring its output, but not interfering with their work.

In an emotional 46-minute speech late Tuesday, Morsi vowed not to step down and pledged to defend his constitutional legitimacy with his life in the face of three days of massive street demonstrations calling for his ouster.

The Islamist leader accused Mubarak loyalists of exploiting the wave of protests to topple his regime and thwart democracy.

"There is no substitute for legitimacy," said Morsi, at times angrily raising his voice, thrusting his fist in the air and pounding the podium. He warned that electoral and constitutional legitimacy "is the only guarantee against violence."

On Tuesday, clashes in Cairo and elsewhere in the country left at least 23 people dead, most in a single incident near the main Cairo University campus. The latest deaths take to 39 the number of people killed since Sunday in violence between opponents and supporters of Morsi, who took office in June last year as Egypt's first freely elected leader.

Millions of Egyptians who had been protesting nationwide in massive demonstrations since the weekend erupted into cheers as the Army made the announcement. In Cairo's Tahrir square- the focal point of the 2011 'Arab Spring' uprising that saw strongman Hosni Mubarak ousted- demonstrators cheered, whistled, blew into vuvuzelas and set off flares and fireworks.

Since being elected in what many hailed as Egypt's first legitimate elections, Morsi has sought to consolidate executive power and approved a constitution that would give his Muslim Brotherhood backed party nearly unchecked power as the economy worsened, food and fuel prices soared and attacks on religious minorities were carried out, seemingly with tacit state approval.

The military made the televised announcement at a press conference on Wednesday where military leaders were flanked by Cairo's Grand Mufti and the Coptic Orthodox Pope.

Prior to the announcement, soldiers and police shut down a number of Islamist-run TV stations in Cario and detained some of their personnel. Prior to that, security forces had arrested 15 of Muslim Brotherhood Deupty Chief's Khairat el-Shater's bodyguards on Monday.

Egyptian Army Gives President Morsi 48 Hour Deadline to Resolve Crisis or Military Will Intervene

Somewhere in an Egyptian prison infirmary, you gotta figure Hosni Mubarak is chuckling.

Protestors and the media began a countdown on Monday after Egyptian military commanders gave Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohammed Morsi a 48 hour ultimatum to resolve the current crisis as millions of demonstrators took to the streets for the second straight day.

The military's statement puts enormous pressure on Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood. So far, the president has vowed he will remain in his position, but the opposition and crowds in the street -- who numbered in the millions nationwide on Sunday -- have made clear they will accept nothing less than his departure and a transition to early presidential elections.

The military underlined it will "not be a party in politics or rule." But it said it has a responsibility to act because Egypt's national security is facing a "grave danger," according to the statement.

"The Armed Forces repeat its call for the people's demands to be met and give everyone 48 hours as a last chance to shoulder the burden of a historic moment for a nation that will not forgive or tolerate any party that is lax in shouldering its responsibility," it said.

It did not directly define "the people's demands," but said if they are not realized, the military is obliged to "announce a road-map for the future and the steps for overseeing its implementation, with participation of all patriotic and sincere parties and movements."

This is actually the second ultimatum by the military issued to Morsi- Defense minister Abdel Fatah el-Sisi had given the two sides a week to reach a power-sharing agreement that expired shortly before the demonstrations began on Sunday.



In a move that many anti-Morsi demonstrators view as tacit support from the army, military helicopters flying massive Egyptian flags circled low over Cairo's Tahrir Square on Monday. An odd spectacle took place the night before as a low-flying formation flew over hundreds of thousands of anti-Morsi demonstrators and dropped Egyptian flags into the crowd while their aircraft was illuminated by thousands of laser pointers from the crowd below [although lasers and aircraft pilots tend not to be a good combination- not sure if the laser show was an attempt to harm the pilots or those in the crowd thought it looked neat (which I gotta admit, it does)- NANESB!]

Unlike the ousting of Mubarak in 2011, involvement in the crisis by Egypt's military seems to be welcomed- to a degree- by the anti-government demonstrators. Since Morsi officially took office last year, there has been a sharp increase in attacks on the nation's Coptic Christian minority with authorities seen as complicit or actively participating in some attacks.

This week's demonstrations are also different from the 2011 uprising in that according to most estimates the number of people who turned out nationwide in Egypt this weekend to demand the departure of president Morsi dwarfed the crowds during the 2011 'Arab Spring' protests.

In the early morning hours on Monday, a crowd of protestors attacked the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in Cairo, setting fires, throwing furniture out of windows and taking armloads of documents away after the buildings defenders fired birdshot at them.

Thousands of Islamists also gathered in mosques throughout Egypt to express their support for Morsi and prepare for confrontations ahead of this weekend's massive demonstrations.

Pope Benedict Makes it Official- Resigns Papacy

Pope Benedict XVI made it official on Thursday and became the first Pope to resign the papcy in more than 600 years, leaving the Swiss Guards with the extremely rare dilemma of having no sitting Pope to guard.

The audience inside the Apostolic Palace was as unique as Benedict's decision to quit, with the 85-year-old pope, wearing his crimson velvet cape and using a cane, bidding farewell to his closest advisers and the cardinals themselves bowing to kiss his fisherman's ring for the last time.

Some seemed to choke up at that moment, and a few lingered on to chat with the pope for as long as they could. But the scene seemed otherwise almost normal, with cardinals chatting on the sidelines waiting their turn to say goodbye.

Benedict said he would pray for the cardinals in coming days as they discuss the issues facing the church, the qualities needed in a new pope, and prepare to enter into the secret conclave to elect him.

"Among you is also the future pope, whom I today promise my unconditional reverence and obedience," Benedict told the cardinals.

Benedict's decision to live at the Vatican in retirement, be called "emeritus pope" and "Your Holiness" and wear the white cassock associated with the papacy has deepened concerns about the shadow he might cast over the next papacy.

But Benedict has tried to address those worries over the past two weeks, saying that once retired he would be "hidden from the world" and living a life of prayer.

In his final speech in St. Peter's Square on Wednesday, he said he wasn't returning to private life exactly, but rather to a new form of service to the church through prayer.

And on Thursday he went even further with his own public pledge of obedience to the new pontiff.

The Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the pope's pledge was in keeping with this effort to "explain how he intends to live this unprecedented situation of an emeritus pope."

"He has no intention of interfering in the position or the decisions or the activity of his successor," Lombardi said. "But as every member of the church, he says fully that he recognizes the authority of the supreme pastor of the church who will be elected to succeed him."

The issue of papal obedience is important for Benedict. In his last legal document, he made new provisions for cardinals to make a formal, public pledge of obedience to the new pope at his installation Mass, in addition to the private one they traditionally make inside the Sistine Chapel immediately after he is elected.

After Benedict's Thursday Mass, he was whisked away by helicopter to the Castel Gandolfo, a summer residence for the Pope some 15km southeast of Rome. Benedict said he plans on living as a pilgrim and dedicating his life to prayer.

With Benedict out as Pope, the Vatican has begun the process whittling down the list of potential papal candidates. Also, with the benefit of hindsight, a number of news outlets calimed to have picked up on subtle hints that Benedict was considering retirement well before the Pope's surprise announcement last month.

More than 1100 Injured After Meteor Explodes Over Russian City of Chelyabinsk

If you're convinced the end times are upon us soon, what happened in Russia on Friday morning is unlikely to change your mind.

The Siberian industrial city of Chelyabinsk was rocked by the shockwave from a firey meteor that exploded more than 20 miles above the surface on Friday. The explosion was strong enough to shatter windows and set off car alarms throughout the Chelyabinsk, Tumen, Sverdlovsk and Kurgan regions of Russia.

Dashboard cameras are pretty big in Russia [the practice stems from Russian motorists wishing to protect themselves against insurance scams, road rage and corrput cops shaking them down- NANESB!] and a number of them caught dramatic footbage of the fiery meteor as it fell to earth. Amateur and CCTV video from throughout the Urals also recorded the loud explosion as glass shattered and car alarms were set off.



There were no reports of fatalities, but around 1100 people were treated for cuts from flying glass as many residents in and around Chelyabinsk went to their windows to get a closer look at the bright light streaking across the sky. Along with damage to windows throughout the region, a Zinc plant on the outskirts of Chelyabinsk sustained heavy damage, with the roof and one of the walls on their warehouses collapsing. Since the temperature in Siberia is still well below zero, residents are scrambling to find anything they can use to cover up the damaged windows.

The explosion came within hours of an asteroid known as 2012 DA14 having a record near-miss with earth- the 130 ton asteroid came closer to the earth's atmosphere than most geosynchronous sattelites, according to scientists. However, the Russian meteorite and 2012 DA14 are apparently unrelated- the exploding meteorite over Siberia reportedly caught astronomers off guard.

Siberia apparently has this tendency to get smacked around by meteorites and other space debris. This would be the third significant meteorite event in Siberia since 1908. In June of that year, a comet or meteorite exploded an estimated 3-6 miled above the remote Siberian wilderness, flattening trees in an 800 square mile area. In 1947, a meteorite weighing about 70 tons impacted in the Skihote-Alin mountain range west of the Russian pacific seaport of Vladivostok.

Pope Benedict Announces His Resignation

Pope Benedict XVI seen wearing a sombrero given to him during last year's Papal visit to Mexico. AFP: Ronaldo Schemidt photo

In a surprise announcement from the Vatican on Monday, Pope Benedict XVI announced his retirement effective the end of this month. Pope Benedict, who succeeded the late John Paul II in 2005. Born Josef Ratzinger in 1927, he was a former professor at the University of Bonn and served as Archbishop of Munich and Prefect of the Sacred Congregation of the Sacred Doctorine for the Congregation of the Faith for the Vatican. In April 2005, a Papal conclave elected Ratzinger as John Paul II's successor after two days of deliberations.
The 85-year old Pope was reportedly stepping down due to health reasons, according to the Vatican. The Pope's brother, George Ratzinger, told reporters that doctors had advised Benedict XVI from making any further trans-Atlantic journeys.

Benedict's statement reads in part:

After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me. For this reason, and well aware of the seriousness of this act, with full freedom I declare that I renounce the ministry of Bishop of Rome, Successor of Saint Peter, entrusted to me by the Cardinals on 19 April 2005, in such a way, that as from 28 February 2013, at 20:00 hours, the See of Rome, the See of Saint Peter, will be vacant and a Conclave to elect the new Supreme Pontiff will have to be convoked by those whose competence it is.

Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer.

The conclave's 2005 decision to select Ratzinger was not without controversy. During WWII, Ratzinger was conscripted into the Hitler Youth and then the German Army in 1943. Towards the end of the war, he deserted his post [running the risk of getting shot by the SS as a deserter- NANESB!] to return to his family's home in Traunstein just as the US Army was turning it into a command post. After three months in an Allied POW camp, Ratzinger was released and hitched a ride home on a milk truck.

Within the last year, Benedict XVI has travelled to Mexico, Lebanon and Cuba.

Benedict XVI's resignation is a rare example of a Pope stepping down instead of remaining as pontiff until his death [as somebody on twitter put it "The last time a Pope resigned, a handful of Vikings were the only Europeans who knew about North America"- NANESB!]. The last pope to step down was Pope Gregory XII in 1415 during what Vatican scholars call the Great Western Schism when three different Papal candidates were selected by rival factions of the church. Gregory XII resigned a decade into his rule to allow a council to select a candidate that would be recognized by all factions.

Protests Erupt as Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood-backed President Grants Himself Sweeping New Powers

Consider this a combination of 'Meet the new boss, same as the old boss' and a sarcastic 'Gee- didn't see that coming', Egypt's new president has granted himself broad new- what some are calling dictatorial- powers this week.

Clashes between police and protesters broke out in Cairo and Alexandria not even a full day after Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi issued a proclamation that granted himself sweeping new powers. The decree reportedly shields any decisions by him from any challenge by Egypt's judicial branch and has led to domestic and international observers dubbing the president 'Pharoah Morsi'.

Morsi today usurped all state powers & appointed himself Egypt's new pharaoh. A major blow to the revolution that cld have dire consequences
— Mohamed ElBaradei (@ElBaradei) November 22, 2012

Earlier in the week, Morsi had won international praise for attempting to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas after the IDF retaliated against a continuous barrage of rockets from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Not surprisingly, Egypt's judiciary slammed Morsi's proclamation- which seemed to be directed almost exclusively at the court system and the Egyptian Supreme Constitutional Court.

Egypt's liberal and secular forces -- long divided, weakened and uncertain amid the rise of Islamist parties to power -- are seeking to rally themselves in response to the decrees issued this week by President Mohammed Morsi. The president granted himself sweeping powers to "protect the revolution" and made himself immune to judicial oversight.

The judiciary, which was the main target of Morsi's edicts, pushed back Saturday. The country's highest body of judges, the Supreme Judical Council, called his decrees an "unprecedented assault." Courts in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria announced a work suspension until the decrees are lifted.

Outside the high court building in Cairo, several hundred demonstrators rallied against Morsi, chanting, "Leave! Leave!" echoing the slogan used against former leader Hosni Mubarak in last year's uprising that ousted him. Police fired tear gas to disperse a crowd of young men who were shooting flares outside the court.

The edicts issued Wednesday have galvanized anger brewing against Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, from which he hails, ever since he took office in June as Egypt's first freely elected president. Critics accuse the Brotherhood -- which has dominated elections the past year -- and other Islamists of monopolizing power and doing little to bring real reform or address Egypt's mounting economic and security woes.

Opposition groups have called for new nationwide rallies Tuesday -- and the Muslim Brotherhood has called for rallies supporting Morsi the same day, setting the stage for new violence.

Some observers believe that Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood allies in Egypt's Parliament are attempting to consolidate power while there is still some goodwill from the international community for brokering a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel and before more secular, pro-democracy factions in Egypt could galvanize and pose any significant opposition to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood-controlled government.

Although the Egyptian military has been conspicuous by their silence, there are reports in Arabic-language media that Egyptian officers tacitly approve of the anti-Morsi demonstrations taking place throughout the nation. This could lead to a tenuous alliance between Egypt's military and the nation's Supreme Constitutional Court- many of whom still have officers and officials appointed by the Mubarak regime- and the 'Arab Spring' protesters who ultimately ousted the former Egyptian strongman. Hosni Mubarak has been incarcerated and is reportedly in poor health since June.

Feds Arrest Members of Occupy Movement In Plot to Detonate IEDs Along Ohio Bridge

Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad Train Passing Under Route 82 Bridge in October 2008. The FBI arrested five anarchists affiliated with the Occupy movement for reportedly planning to detonate IEDs along the span. Photo- Dave Hyman

FBI agents arrested five men on Monday evening after they planted what they believed were explosives under a highway bridge in northeastern Ohio.

The five men were “self-proclaimed anarchists,” who intended to detonate two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) under the bridge in Sagamore Hills, but had purchased the inert devices from undercover FBI agents, officials said.
Members of the group actually "placed the devices at the base of concrete pillars ... and attempted to detonate them at a remote location" on Monday, but what they thought were bombs were actually "intert devices," the FBI said in a news conference this morning.

WJW-TV identified the five men as Brandon Baxter, 20; Anthony Hayne, 35; Joshua Stafford, 23; Connor Stevens, 20; and Douglas Wright, 26. Baxter was active with the Occupy Cleveland movement and both Baxter and the other suspects listed Occupy Cleveland as their employers on their respective Facebook accounts.

In the weeks leading up to Monday's arrests, the Occupy movement had been speaking of shutting down bridges in New York and San Francisco as well as sit-ins and a general strike to co-incide with May Day marches worldwide.

Closeup of Brecksville-Northfield High Bridge. Jonathan Maxwell photo via Bridgehunter.com

According to affidavits, the five were provided with inert materiel they were told was C-4 plastic expolisves. The FBI reportedly got wind of the plot from an informant on probation for drug posession and passing bad checks in Lorain and Cuyahoga Counties. The group had also reportedly discussed targetting courthouses and the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland, additional highway and railway bridges in Northeastern Ohio and cargo ships on the Cuyahoga River. Members also discussed setting off smoke bombs on the Veteran's Memorial Bridge in Cleveland to distract police while they knocked down bank signs from atop larger buildings in downtown Cleveland.

The five span bridge that carries Ohio Route 82 over the Cuyahoga River and Cuyhoaga Valley Scenic Railroad is 1,130 feet long and was completed in 1931 and links Cuyhoga county with Summit County. The bridge also spans the Cuyahoga Valley National Park while route 82 itself skirts the southern suburbs of Cleveland, starting in Lorain County in the west and ending near the Pennsylvania state line to the east.

[Hat tip 3rd Base Politics; Bridgehunter.com]

Text Messages Reveal That Police Officers in Denver Were Texting What everybody Else Was Thinking About #OccupyDenver & #OWS

CBS News Photo

A 30-page dossier of car-to-car text messages from police officers during the height of the #OccupyDenver protests earlier this fall was released by the Denver Police Department was released to the public this week.

The overwhelming majority of the messages contained routine and mundane observations of the protesters movements, but the Denver Post has thoughtfully compiled some of the messages in which certain police officers make clear their disdain or fatigue in dealing with the #Occupy demonstrators:

Oct. 1: ... did you see all those crazy youtube videos of the ny police and the protesters? crazy stuff!

Denver protesters are too pathetic for us to have anything like that.

Oct. 13: probably little problems from the "real" protesters, but the grungy hippies and the usual civic center yahoos will more than likely be a problem

Oct. 14: I bet if you guys dropped a box of skunks in the middle of them .. they would probably scatter real good

Oct. 21: If you think about it, large scale protests are a good way to waste city money and possibly cripple the system.

Oct. 30: It is nuts down here i have costume freaks yelling at protesters who are yelling at police who are yelling at transients.

Oct. 30: in the last two days no less than one hundred people, at protest and other places, have screamed obscenities and directed demeaning remarks at me, and I am not allowed to respond in any way. what a great system.

Oct. 30: I guess Heather dealt with a hippie on 1st and Broad that said You are making me feel Dehumanized by the way ur treating me. Probably a protesters.

Nov. 4: but they claim to be peacefully protesting. i say we just baton the people who start to incite everyone. the rest who are peaceful, let em stay.

Nov. 12: This occupy s--- has got out of hand because this liberal administration has allowed them to

Nov. 20: I like how almost all of the "demonstraors" that occupy the sidewalk at night are bums.

A spokesman for the Denver Police Department said the department "regrets the tone and tenor of some of these texts". The release came on Wednesday afternoon, the same day a federal judge denied #OccupyDenver a restraining order against the police department to prevent them from enforcing a handful of city ordinances.

In early November, #OccupyDenver attempted to crash a conference in Denver featuring conservative bloggers only to have that backfire when the bloggers in attendence were waiting for them and chanting "We Want the Dog!" - a reference to Shelby the Border Collie, who was appointed the de-facto leader of #OccupyDenver.

Islamist Parties Make Strong Showing in First Egyptian Balloting of Post-Mubarak Era

Free Elections Egypt by Tom Janssen of Holland

In what could be described as the least-surprising development since the fall of the Mubarak regime in Egypt, candidates affiliated with the formerly outlawed Muslim Brotherhood have fared well in the first round of balloting since 83 year old Hosni Mubarak stepped down after protracted protests and demonstrators clashing with riot police in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt earlier this year.

The exact margin of victory wasn't made clear because of a higher-than-expected turnout which some estimates put at 62%.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party was projected to have won at least 40% of the vote, according to unofficial results leaked by election judges. That number indicates that the group, whose religious rigor and social programs bolstered it for decades against a repressive police state, is emerging as Egypt's most potent political force.

The unofficial results were from nine of the nation's 27 governorates, including Cairo and Alexandria, the two most populous cities.

The strong showing by both the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Freedom and Justice party and the ultra-orthodox salafist Al Nour party are of concern to moderates, Coptic Christians and secularists who want Islam's role in the soon-to-be-revised Egyptian constitution limited.

Members of the secular and pro-democracy Egyptian Bloc had in fact urged the interim ruling military junta to postpone elections because their campaigns weren't as well organized as the Muslim Brotherhood's. Salafist figures such as parliamentary candidate Abdel Monem Shahat have made it clear that they think very little of civil liberties, saying that Democracy is not permitted in Islam.

Egypt's Coptic Christian community- about 10% of the Egyptian population- would have the most to lose under an Islamist government in Cairo. Even before Mubarak stepped down, there was a deadly bombing attack on a Coptic Church in Alexandria to start off the year 2011. Over the past several decades, Copts have been subjected to sparodic attacks by Islamists.

Although outlawed as a political party under Hosni Mubarak's 30 year reign, candidates from the Muslim Brotherhood often ran for office as independents, winning as much as 20% of the seats in parliment as recently as 2005.

73 Years Ago Tonight- Kristallnacht And Some Eerie Similarities to the #Occupy Movement

The overnight hours of November 9-10 1938 were marked by coordinated attacks against Jewish homes, businesses and synagogues throughout Germany and Austria in what was to be known as Kristallnacht- or 'Night of the Broken Glass'. The 1938 pogrom considerably ratcheted up persecution of Jews in Germany and Austria (which had been annexed earlier in 1938) by the ruling nazi party.

"It marked a dramatic escalation of the persecution of Jews in Germany," said retired professor Gerhard Weinberg.

The personal accounts gave a firsthand look at that night.

"They ripped up the belongings, the books, knocked over furniture, shouted obscenities," Harris said.

"Houses of worship burned down, vandalized, in every community in the country where people either participate or watch," Gerhard said.

They served a reminder of what happened and what was to come.

"People were coming in and destroying their family heirlooms, that kind of shock just shook their entire world and then the catastrophe of holocaust and its aftermath," said Thomas Louchheim, the co-chair of the Yom Ha Shoah Memorial Service.

And they served as a warning of what can happen in the future.

"Horrible things can happen when people don't care, or are silent," Harris said.

When Hitler assumed power in 1934, Jewish-owned shops were frequently attacked and vandalized by the paramilitary arm of the nazi party while they called for boycotts of Jewish run businesses. The following year, the Nuremberg laws were passed, which virtually eliminated the right of Jews in Germany to work, travel or vote.

Kristalnacht itself was reportedly sparked by the November 1938 shooting of a German diplomat in Paris by a Polish Jew who had been expelled from his Hannover home [although after the war it was apparent that the nazi regime was searching for any pretext to begin a widespread expulsion, imprisonment or extermination of Germany's Jewish population while destroying or seizing their property in the process- NANESB!]. Encouraged by the nazi SA stormtroopers, German civilians also took part in the lootings, assault and arson that fateful autumn night.

Now I guess this is the part where I heave a sigh of relief and say to myself 'I for one am glad that I don't live in a country that has roaming gangs of thugs indiscriminately attacking & intimidating people, vandalizing businesses and torching structures with tacit government approval'.

But hold the phones- what's this?

Keep in mind that that above image is not Bonn circa 1938, but rather Oakland, CA circa November 2011. The happy little hooded window-smashers depicted above are anarchists who have embedded themselves with the #OccupyOakland movement (although numerous #Occupy supporters insist that they're actually provocateurs sent by Homeland Security or the Oakland Police- y'know, because nothing is EVER their own fault). And while invoking Godwin's Law is the oldest trick on the internet, the whole #Occupy movement doesn't seem to be the least bit disturbed by their movement calling for a totalitarian ideology while their members blame a historic scapegoat for this nation's problems:

After skirmishes with police last week in which an ex-Marine was injured, #OccupyOakland called for a general strike and shut down the port while marchers and anarchists began smashing windows in storefronts, grocery stores and banks- even businesses that had expressed support for the #Occupy protests.

Meanwhile, in the nation's capital, Washington D.C. police chief Cathy Lanier said that the #OccupyDC protests were becoming increasingly aggressive and confrontational after demonstrators surrounded the Washington D.C. convention center during an Americans for Prosperity summit and started blocking public roads.

The apparent target of #OccupyDC's actions at the Convention Center (including using children as human shields) was the politically active billionaire Koch Brothers. That right there should be a dead giveaway that the entire #Occupy movement is nothing more than contrived leftist astroturf seeing as how they're remarkably quiet about President Obama's cozy relationship with wealthy bundlers like John Corzine or George Kaiser.

And lest you think I'm being too hyperbolic with the #Occupy/nazi comparison, the #Occupy movement has been endorsed by the American nazi party, complete with AR-15 toting neo-nazis showing up at #OccupyPhoenix.

For those of you who think the comparison to the nazi SA storm troopers is over-the-top and uncalled for, I give you the teachings of the Reverend Jim Jones and the People's Temple:

So tell me, how out of place would such a sermon be at one of the #Occupy demonstrations and sit-ins?

Oklahoma Jolted By Magnitude 5.6 Earthquake

Sue Ogrocki/ AP

The Sooner state isn't the first place that springs to mind when one think of seismic activity, but a magnitude 5.6 earthquake that was felt as far away as Wisconsin and Tennessee shook the region on Saturday night.

“The picture by the TV fell off the wall, and we jumped up because we thought somebody had hit the house,” Noeh Morales said.

“It was like a roaring noise. I’ve never one that bad over here,” he said.

Morales said he was asleep at his home near SW 69 and Pennsylvania Avenue in Oklahoma City.

“It woke me out of a dead sleep. I felt the whole house shaking. I jumped and ran outside to see what was going on,” he said.

The strongest earthquake previously reported was April 9, 1952, in El Reno, according to the geological survey. Its magnitude was 5.50.

Michelann Ooten, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management, said no injuries were reported to emergency management officials and she had no reports of major damages.

The Lincoln County sheriff’s office said late Saturday that damage has been reported across the county, but officials still were responding to calls and were not sure of the extent of damage.

"It was a pretty ornery little earthquake," said Joey Wakefield, Lincoln County's emergency manager.

The Oklahoma City Fire Department reported no injuries or serious damage as of 11:15 p.m.

The Saturday night tremors were part of a series of fore and aftershocks throughout the day. In addition to reports of scattered damages to various residential structures, the quake also toppled one of the spires of the Benedictine Hall at St Gregory's University in Shawnee (pictured above) and buckled portions of US Highway 62 in Lincoln County.

The epicenter of the quake was reportedly some 70 miles northeast of Oklahoma city in the town of Sparks in Lincoln County. Interestingly, ESPN indavertently caught the quake on camera when correspondent Kirk Herbstreit was doing a postgame show from the Oklahoma State/Kansas State football game in Stillwater, OK.

Millions Without Electricity as Northeast Socked by Early Snowstorm

Williamstown, MA looking more like a Christmas card thanHalloween this weekend. AP Photo

Much of the northeast and mid-Atlantic region was socked by an unusually early snowstorm this weekend, knocking down tree branches, shutting down schools, airports or highways and leaving millions without electricity. Some officials say that it could be up to a week before electricity is fully restored in some areas.

From West Virginia to Maine, residents were digging themselves out from as many as 32 inches of snow in some places. Governors throughout the region declared a state of emergency as utility crews and personell worked to restore power, open up roadways and remove falled tree limbs.

In Connecticut, Governor Malloy ordered 900 cots and food brought to Hartford's stranded travellers at Bradley International Airport. Travellers on a Jet Blue flight that was diverted from Newark to Bradley International were stranded on the tarmac for nearly 7 hours with no food, water or functioning bathrooms. Firefighters and paramedics came on board to treat a parapalegic who had trouble with the circulation in his legs before the remaining passengers were eventually bussed to the terminal.

In New York City, Central Park was closed after a woman was injured from being hit by a falling tree limb. Crews have been working to chip the fallen trees and reopen the park in time for the New York City marathon, despite as little as one inch falling on Manhattan. However, the snow was wet and heavy and many of the trees were thought to have been weakened from Tropical Storm Irene passing through in late August.

In Western Massachusetts, as many as 700,000 people were without power after the snowstom. The Berkshire county town of Peru had already received a record amount of snow, with 32 inches being dumped on the Western Massachusetts hilltown before Halloween.

Libya's Interim Prime Minister: Ghdaffi is Dead

The Prime minister for Libya's interim government announced today that Libyan strongman Mummar Ghdaffi has been killed by rebel fighters in his hometown of Sirte on Thursday.

Qaddafi died of wounds suffered during his capture near his hometown of Sirte on Thursday, according to a spokesman for Libya's National Transitional Council (NTC).

"Qaddafi is dead. He is absolutely dead ... he was shot in both legs and in the head. The body will be arriving in Misrata soon," media spokesman Abdullah Berrassali told Sky News.

Earlier, a man who claimed to have witnessed the attack told the Associated Press Television News that he struck Qaddafi with his shoes after he was shot.

Footage aired on Arabian TV showed a captured and wounded Ghdaffi bleeding as he was pinned against a truck's hood before being jostled and shoved by rebel fighters who were firing into the air and shouting "Allahu Akhbar! [God is Great]".

Now, before we get all warm and fuzzy [dare I say hopey-changey? NANESB!] lets not forget that an exiled Libyan Jew who was working to restore a Tripoli synagogue was threatened by masked men brandishing rifles earlier this month. There is also the matter of Libyan rebels arbitrarily rounding up and detaining black men and as many as 20,000 Russian-made shoulder-launched missiles in Ghdaffi's military arsenal that are now unaccounted for.

Still, the Libyan dictator's demise comes as not only good news to a number of Libyans, but also the family members of those killed in Lockerbie, Scotland when Libyan agents blew up Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988. Five Bulgarian nurses who were working in Libya before being detained by the Ghdaffy regime in 1999 and accused of deliberately infecting children with HIV in a show trial also welcomed the news of Ghdaffi's demise. In 2007 Mummar Ghdaffi's son admitted that the nurses were tortured in order to obtain a confession.


Exit question- what exactly is the status of Ghdaffi's all 'Grrrl' bodyguard squad? Were they captured or die with their leader in Sirte? I get the feeling the smarter of the Ghdaffi 'Grrl Power' squad are currently referred to as 'Rebel/Interim Government spokeswoman'.

UPDATE: This slideshow from Al-Bawaba offers some insight into the women of Ghdaffi's inner circle- both Arab and European- leading up to the civil war, including the bodyguard squad.