I've been glued to various live streams covering the riots in Egypt all day. The whole day the front lines between the anti-Mubarak protesters and the pro-Mubarak supporters have moved up and down the main street. The thugs supporting Mubarak seem to have started the violence, at one point charging into the crowds with horses and camels, later they started throwing molotov cokctails, they also drove a bus into the crowds. At night the anti-Mubarak protesters fought back hard moving up, shielded with steel barriers, in a phalanx formation.
But much more was going on today. The NASA Kepler time announced the biggest find of exoplanets yet:
"We went from zero to 68 Earth-sized planet candidates and zero to 54 candidates in the habitable zone - a region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface. Some candidates could even have moons with liquid water," said William Borucki of NASA’s Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., and the Kepler Mission’s science principal investigator. "Five of the planetary candidates are both near Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their parent stars."Also a colossal winter storm in America covering two thirds of the country. It consists of snowstorms, blizzards, ice storms, and thundersnow.
Planet candidates require follow-up observations to verify they are actual planets. "We have found over twelve hundred candidate planets - that’s more than all the people have found so far in history," said Borucki. "Now, these are candidates, but most of them, I’m convinced, will be confirmed as planets in the coming months and years."
Among the stars with planetary candidates, 170 show evidence of multiple planetary candidates, including one, Kepler-11, that scientists have been able to confirm that has no fewer than six planets.
More extreme weather as Cyclone Yasi becomes one of the biggest cyclones to ever hit Australia.
Finally the volcano Shinmoedake has been erupting in Japan, resulting in a massive explosion and pretty night lightning.
More pictures of the volcano and lightning.
Hard to keep up with, but a good excuse not to be working on my thesis.
15 comments:
Epic sog day!
Yes!
Only brave and stupid men ride into a crowd who scared the police off the streets, on a camel.
Indeed, very WTF, especially as the protesters stood up to police vans earlier.
Apparently the fights heated up again and continued well into the morning until the army intervened (I went to sleep around 2:00 I think)
Rather heavy gunfire started around 3:00 and lasted for hours, apparently the army firing into the air.
I went to sleep just after sunrise when there were still stones and molotoves being exchanged, although nothing "serious" compared to earlier.
yes epic it was.
I'm amazed by the how long these protests/battles last.
Almost all cameras are gone. Only a few from rooftops kilometres away remain. Not good!
Reports of camera crews being forced to shut down. Bad signs indeed.
Yes. BBC, Jazeera, Washington Post and others all report arrests, equipment taken, hotel problems etc. Much more aggressive than previous days.
Motherfuckers:
"I think I know why. Last night and today, Egyptian state TV had been broadcasting of Israeli spies disguised as western journalists roaming the country.
It’s a wicked rumour to spread because it puts any westerner – or any Egyptian working with westerners – at risk of a beating or worse. It’s cynical to say the least." Source
That's sick!
So any of you staying up late to see whether they are going to shoot again tonight?
And with this crackdown on foreigners, I'm glad I'm not in Egypt now.
There is not much to see anymore, but I'll be up anyways.
Tahrir square is probably the safest place in Cairo for journalists and foreigners :S
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