Showing posts with label The Guardian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Guardian. Show all posts
Thursday, June 19, 2025
Wednesday, August 14, 2024
The Badlands Guardian geoglyph: ETs
Ancient Aliens: Cosmic communication system carved into Earth (S14, E2) | full episode
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| Who is she, this Guardian? |
See more in Season 14, Episode 2, "The Badlands Guardian."
Watch all new episodes of Ancient Aliens, Fridays at 9/8c, and stay up to date on all favorite shows on The HISTORY Channel website at history.com/schedule.
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| It's like the big Buddha of Bamiyan with shoulders |
Wednesday, December 20, 2023
Israeli colonial violence on kids in Palestine
Ashley Wells, Sheldon S., Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
How Israeli settler colonial violence forces Palestinians to flee in terror
This is despite the mounting difficulties posed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers there to ethnically cleanse them and steal their land for illegal Israeli settlers, on the one hand, and radical government-armed Israeli settlers on the other hand. Between a rock and a hard place, how do they survive? God must be laughing. Which god? Both.
But after weeks of intense Jewish settler colonial violence against Arab landowners in the aftermath of the Hamas retaliation against Israeli oppression on October 7th – and despite the decades-long struggle to remain in their homes – these communities are now being forced off their land.
IDF: Killing kids in Gaza? Don't blame us
Some have described it as “a new Nakba,” a new "Catastrophe" of displacement and dispossession as Israel steals neighboring land to grow itself into an unwelcome state in the region.
The Guardian’s Bethan McKernan travelled to Masafer Yatta to hear from Palestinian families on how armed Jewish settlers -- some in military reservist uniforms, others covering their faces like terrorists -- have begun breaking into their homes at night, beating up adults, destroying and stealing belongings, and terrifying children with their assault rifles, weapons, and violence committed with impunity backed by the IDF and an apartheid kangaroo court system built by Jews for Jews.
These West Bank Jewish settlements are illegal under international law, but Israel does not mind since the US and other Western military powers like England and France back this settler colonial project to take all of Palestine then Lebanon, Jordan, parts of Egypt, Yemen, Syria, and push up against Iran before deploying US-supplied nuclear weapons to threaten former-Persia and bombing them back a few centuries.
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"I had to carry a decapitated body": Gazan child after Israeli air strike on Jabalia
An Israeli air strike on a UN-run school sheltering displaced Palestinian (noncombatant) civilians at the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza slaughtered at least 15 people and injured dozens more, traumatizing countless here and elsewhere, according to a doctor at al-Shifa Hospital.
According to CNN, the Israeli Defense Forces allege their militant Central Jabalya Battalion took control of civilian buildings, adding collapsed tunnels were partly a reason for the destruction caused by the strike on Tuesday.
"I carried a body and another decapitated body with my own hands," a Gazan boy said at the site. At least 9,488 Palestinians including 3,900 children have been slaughtered by Israeli strikes on Gaza since Oct. 7, the health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza said on Saturday.
"There are 15 martyrs [murdered victims], and the number is expected to increase," Mohammad Abu Selmeyah, who is also an official in the health ministry in the Hamas-run enclave, said.
During the conflict, Israel has consistently claimed it's [not] targeting [children with heads, women, elderly, or civilians but just trying to murder or maim] Hamas militants [and anyone who looks like they might be one] following the Oct. 7 attack on the Israeli Be'eri kibbutz [civilian military outpost] next to their concentration camp called "Gaza," a massive open-air prison controlled by Israel.
Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Pretty Radical: extremists in Europe (video)
Pretty Radical: Independence Day March, Parts 1 & 2
Wednesday, August 10, 2022
Hacking enlightenment: Can ultrasound help?
The Guardian, 6/29/21; Shinzen Young; Dhr. Seven, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Hacking enlightenment: can ultrasound help us transcend [delusion to reach] reality?
Subscribe to The Guardian on YouTube ► bit.ly/subscribegdn. The Guardian publishes independent journalism, made possible by supporters. Contribute to The Guardian today ► bit.ly/3biVfwh.
Website ► theguardian.com.
Facebook ► facebook.com/theguardian.
Twitter ► twitter.com/guardian.
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#Enlightenment #Meditation #SiliconValley #Depression #MentalHealth
Tuesday, February 4, 2020
Lamas who give Buddhism a bad name
Mary Finnigan (The Guardian, 10/12); Ashley Wells, CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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Hey, these are just allegations! - But they're proven, your Holiness. - Well, so what? Mahayana says it is sin to talk anything that makes my
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Lamas who give Tibetan Buddhism a bad name
Don't be taken in by the "Shangri La factor." If seeking Buddhist guidance, choose your teacher and tradition with great care.
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| Tibetan Buddhist is like Roman Catholic |
[Tibet's Potala Palace was almost exactly like Rome's Vatican, a haven of sexual abuse at the center of a large former empire that continued its rule in religious guise, Imperial Tibetan Buddhism and Imperial Roman Catholicism, respectively. The Vatican in the Holy See is infamous for homosexuality and child molestation/pederasty, whereas Tibetan Buddhists in exile from their palace in Lhasa seem to prefer the heterosexual abuse of Western seekers. Here we see some of the recent scandals from the British newspaper The Guardian.]
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| The Dalai Lama is backed by the CIA and USA. |
In response to a surge of interest in Tibetan Buddhism among Western spiritual seekers, Kagyu Samye Ling was founded in Scotland in 1976 by the late Kalu Rinpoche, who re-died in 1989.
Within the last two years [2010-2012] his tulku, or "reincarnation," the present (reborn) Kalu Rinpoche, has assumed responsibility for the institutions set up by his predecessor (allegedly himself).
However, during the new Kalu's childhood the situation at Kagyu Samye Ling allegedly deteriorated to the point where it no longer functioned as a Buddhist center.
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| Good to have friends in high places, Pres. Bush |
The young Kalu fired Lama Tempa Dargye and five other resident Bhutanese lamas, replacing them with Westerners and a "collegiate" system of control and responsibility.
Controversy at Kagyu Samye Ling might have died down – except for the fact that a woman known as Sandrine decided to tell her story of rape and sexual violence to the gendarmerie [French military police].
At first she was a lone voice, but recently three more women decided to testify; Lama Tempa Dargye was arrested and the police investigation is ongoing.
The scandalous events at Kagyu Ling are currently making headlines in France, but Tibet-watchers worldwide are aware that many more scandals have surfaced since the Tibetan lamas fled their homeland in the late 1950s, following the violent Chinese invasion and takeover of Tibet.
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| My dad, Trungpa, had sex with women. Me, too. |
For examples, in the USA followers of the late sexually-abusive Trungpa Chogyam Rinpoche [founder of the cultish and scandal-ridden Shambhala organization taken over by his son, Sakyan Mipham Rinpoche, who stepped down after rape and sexual abuse allegations only to recently reinstate himself with tacit board approval] were horrified to learn that his appointed successor, the late Thomas Rich appeared to have infected several people with HIV.
In 1994 the high-profile Tibetan lama Sogyal Rinpoche was sued in California for sexual assault by a woman known as Janice Doe. The suit was settled out of court with substantial damages paid to the plaintiff.
Rumors about Sogyal's sexual exploits have circulated on the Internet ever since. In Canberra, Australia, a respected Tibetan guru called Lama Choedak was forced to make a public apology after multiple affairs with his female students came to light.
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| OK, maybe I shouldn't have got caught. |
In the UK Michael Lyons, aka Mohan Singh, is serving 10 years in prison after being convicted of rape. He posed as a Tibetan lama without authentic qualifications.
The followers of American Geshe Michael Roach, who was ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, attracted media attention when one of them died in bizarre circumstances after being ejected from a three-year retreat at a remote mountain center in Arizona.
"Michael Roach teaches an extremely exaggerated, and from a Buddhist perspective somewhat dubious, form of tantrism," says Lama Jampa Thaye, an Englishman from Manchester who has been teaching Tibetan Buddhism for more than 30 years.
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| I can explain. It was supposed to be a secret. |
The Shangri La factor is undoubtedly significant in the explosion of interest in Tibetan Buddhism (Vajrayana) around the world.
The Dalai Lama's Nobel Peace Prize and his saintly reputation is another. More
The Dalai Lama works/worked for the CIA?
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| I'm Tibet's god-king, its pope and emperor. |
- Dalai Lama group says it got money from CIA (NY Times, Oct. 2, 1998) Dalai Lama's administration admits it received $1.7 million a year in 1960s from CIA
- CIA gave "aid" to Tibetan exiles in '60s, files show (LA Times, Sep. 15, 1998) The money for the Tibetans and the Dalai Lama was part of the CIA's...education for Tibetan military operatives at Cornell University...
- THE DALAI LAMA: CIA FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) cia.gov/library/readingroom/document/cia-rdp79r00890a001100070008-0 Approved for release 2001/08/14...
- Mainstream media finally confirm Dalai Lama is a covert CIA Asset (Dec. 19, 2016) Is the mainstream confirmation of the Dalai Lama as a CIA asset now...
- Dalai Lama's links to CIA still stir debate (Feb. 19, 2004) Followers of the 14th Dalai Lama...described the Dalai Lama and [another] CIA operative...
- How CIA helped Dalai Lama to end up in exile (RT World News, March 18, 2009) It is widely believed that the Dalai Lama fled Tibet once Chinese troops gained control over the region. Actually, these two events have nine...
THE CIA'S SECRET WAR IN TIBET (Chicago Tribune, Jan. 26, 1997) Yet at a time when the Dalai Lama's non-violent campaign for...a retired CIA agent identified...
On second thought, it makes Tibetan Buddhism look bad. - "Freeing Tibet" (Real Clear Politics, July 15, 2009) Bane was the street man for the CIA on the Tibet operation at the time, under the leadership of legendary CIA agent Desmond FitzGerald... But the CIA's operation to protect the Dalai Lama and guide Tibet's fight...
- Secret Files: Untold Story of CIA Covert Operations in Tibet (Sputnik, Dec. 13, 2016) The publication of the US' secret intelligence documents on the CIA covert... The Dalai Lama...the White House... to accuse the Dalai Lama...
Saturday, August 17, 2019
Fascists vs. Antifa in Oregon (video)
The Guardian, August 2018; Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
Police and other right wing racists are coming to Oregon to fight. Antifa ("Anti-fascists") and others are there to fend them off. Portland, Oregon is too progressive to let red cap wearing thugs destroy the peace and fabric of a liberal society. Citizens say no to Trump and no to warring in the streets.
Thursday, April 18, 2019
Thursday, May 10, 2018
Think you're special? You're normal (video)
Oliver Burkeman (Guardian, May 4, 2018); Seth Auberon, Crystal Quintero, Wisdom Quarterly
(Far East Movement) I'm "The Illest" in this boring office, proving that I'm as special as Riff Raff!
(Far East Movement) I'm "The Illest" in this boring office, proving that I'm as special as Riff Raff!
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| I'm on meds b'cuz I'm the illest - Kanye West |
No wonder...Facebook uses the microphone in our phones to eavesdrop on our conversations. That’s almost certainly [true]: [but] apps and websites already vacuum up so much of your data, they’ve no need for such schemes; it just feels that they must be eavesdropping.
"Look At Me Now" Them rappers be the most uniquest of all peoples because they can do choreographed dance moves and sing: Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown...
"Look At Me Now" Them rappers be the most uniquest of all peoples because they can do choreographed dance moves and sing: Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne, Chris Brown...
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| Kanye thinks he is, but I AM. I'm special. |
Given a little information about me, both Facebook and my friend alight on the same recommendation because my constellation of interests is far less special, and thus more predictable, than I’d like to believe.
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| Headline anxiety? Delay reading |
“You’re not so special” is a message sometimes delivered as an insult (as in “special snowflake”) and sometimes as tough love.
This happens in the viral 2012 speech by the American high-school teacher David McCullough, urging students not to make themselves miserable by struggling to prove they’re the center of the universe.
It’s also frequently an accusation flung at the youth by the old.
This happens in the viral 2012 speech by the American high-school teacher David McCullough, urging students not to make themselves miserable by struggling to prove they’re the center of the universe.
It’s also frequently an accusation flung at the youth by the old.
But all that’s really just a distraction from the brute statistical fact: on any given dimension, all else being equal, of course you’re probably normal. Shorn of any value judgment, that’s all the word “normal” means. More
Most viewed in the US
Most viewed in the US
Sunday, November 26, 2017
Was Ananda the Buddha's son?
Dhr. Seven, Ananda Mides, Amber Larson, Pat Macpherson (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly Wikipedia entry edit; Buddhist Dictionary of Pali Proper Names; Hellmuth Hecker; Buddhanet.net
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| Family: Ven. Rahula, the Buddha, Ven. Ananda |
Ānanda was a relative -- maybe the son, maybe just a cousin -- of the historical Scythian Gautama Buddha (Shakyamuni) and one of the ten principal disciples (Ananda — The Man Whom Everybody Liked).
Among the Buddha's many disciples, Ananda stood out for having the best memory. Most of the sutras of the Sutra Collection are attributed to his being able to recall and recite the Buddha's teachings during the First Buddhist Council. For that reason, he came to be known as the "Guardian of the Dharma."
- The Buddha (Prince Siddhartha Gautama of the Shakya/Scythian Clan) was raised to be a royal with karma sufficient to be a "world monarch." (See legend of the chakravartin/cakkavatti rulers). Only two other people at that time were born with such karma, Ananda and Rahula.
- Rahula was his only son, according to the Pali canon, and Ananda his first cousin. This is strange because of Rahula's lackluster story (named "foremost in doing quiet good") compared to Ananda's many contributions. Both were Sakyian/Scythian princes and both ordained as Buddhist monastics, as did the Buddha's wife (Princess Bimba known to the world by her descriptive name Yasodharā, the famous nun Ven. Bhaddakaccānā who was also called Bhaddakaccā, Bimbādevī, Bimbāsundarī, Bhaddakaccānā, and Subhaddakā) and mother, Maha Pajapati, the world's first Buddhist nun.
- The Buddha was always accompanied by an attendant, whose job it was to run messages, make arrangements, and to attend to the Buddha's personal needs. For the first 20 years [possibly when Ananda was coming of age sufficient to become a fully ordained Buddhist monk, which is 20-years-old] of his dispensation, the Buddha had several monastic attendants: Nagasamala, Upavana, Nagita, Cunda, Radha, and others, but none of them proved to be suitable. One day the Buddha was read to pick a permanent attendant, so he called all the monks together and addressed them: "I am now getting old and wish to have someone as a permanent attendant who will follow my wishes in every way. Which of you would like to be my attendant?" All of the monks enthusiastically offered their services, except for Ananda, who modestly sat at the back in silence. The Buddha chose Ananda, who only accepted with conditions the Buddha gladly granted as they promoted the Dharma. More
Role in the Pali language canon
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| The royal Sakiyans (Scythians) of Scythia/Central Asia married their cousins. |
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| Shakyamuni the Scythian prince |
In the case of the Buddha (born the Scythian Prince Siddhartha Gautama), those pairs of disciples were the monks Sariputra and Maha Moggallana, the nuns Khemā and Uppalavannā, and the attendants were Nagasamala, Upavana, Nagita, Cunda, Radha, and so on then Ānanda.
The Sanskrit/Pali word ananda means "bliss" as well as other Indian languages. It is a popular name in India and Southeast Asia, particularly formerly Buddhist Indonesia.
In the Kannakatthala Sutra (MN 90), Ananda is identified with the meaning of his name:
- Then King Pasenadi of Kosala said to the Blessed One, "Venerable sir, what is the name of this monk?"
- "His name is 'Ananda,' great king."
- "What a joy he is! What a true joy!..."
The Mahavastu states that Ananda's mother's name was Mrigi ("little deer"), who is named in the Tibetan Kanjur and Sanghabedavastu as one of Prince Siddhartha's harem wives (prior to his renunciation to become a wandering ascetic), pointing to the possibility that Ananda was in fact the Buddha's son (Stars at Dawn: Forgotten Stories of Women in the Buddha's Life, by Wendy Garling, Shambhala Publications, 2016, pp. 94-106.).
In the 20th year of the Buddha's dispensation, Ananda became the Buddha's personal attendant, accompanying him on most of his wanderings and taking the part of interlocutor in many of the recorded ["Socratic" before the time of Socrates] dialogues.
He is the subject of a special panegyric delivered by the Buddha just before the Buddha's final nirvana (the Maha-pari-nibbana Sutta, DN 16); it is a panegyric for a man who is kindly, unselfish, popular, and thoughtful toward others ("Ānanda" in Encyclopædia Britannica, Rhys Davids, Thomas William, 1911, edited by Hugh Chisholm, 11th ed., Cambridge University Press, p. 913).
In the long list of the disciples given in the Numerical Discourses (i. xiv.), where each of them is declared to be prime in some quality, Ānanda is mentioned five times (more often than any other). He was named prime in:
- conduct
- service to others
- power of memory (Ibid.)
The Buddha sometimes asked Ānanda to substitute for him as teacher and then later stated that he himself would have presented the teachings (Dharma) in the same way.
The Buddhist canon attributes the inclusion of women in the early Sangha (monastic order) to Ānanda. The Buddha conceded and permitted his step-mother who raised him, Ven. Maha Pajapati, to be ordained as a Buddhist nun, it is said, only after Ananda prevailed upon the Buddha to publicly recognize females as equal to males in possessing the potential for enlightenment in this life.
Following the passing into final nirvana of the Buddha, Ananda was allegedly criticized by members of the Sangha at the First Buddhist Council for having enabled females to join the monastic order (The Social Dimensions of Early Buddhism, by Uma Chakravarti, Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi). More
Ananda as cousin and Sakiyan prince
Ānanda was one of the principal disciples of the Buddha. He was a first cousin of the Buddha and was deeply attached to him.
Like Prince Siddhartha, Ananda came to earth from Tusita (a world in space) and was reborn on the same day as the Bodhisatta, his father being Amitodana the Sākiyan, brother of King Suddhodana, the Buddha's father.
Mahānāma and Anuruddha were therefore his brothers (or probably step-brothers). According to the Mtu.iii.176, Ānanda was the son of Suklodana [Sukkodana* a name awfully similar to Suddhodana, the Buddha's father] and the brother of Devadatta [the brother of Bimba/Yasodhara, the Buddha's wife and cousin] and Upadhāna. His mother was Mrgī.
The one disciple of the Buddha most often mentioned in his sutras is Ananda. Among all those great nuns and monks around the Buddha, Ananda occupies a unique position... More
Ananda as cousin and Sakiyan prince
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| To be very learned is wonderful...so long as one practices. Practice is more important. |
Ānanda was one of the principal disciples of the Buddha. He was a first cousin of the Buddha and was deeply attached to him.
Like Prince Siddhartha, Ananda came to earth from Tusita (a world in space) and was reborn on the same day as the Bodhisatta, his father being Amitodana the Sākiyan, brother of King Suddhodana, the Buddha's father.
Mahānāma and Anuruddha were therefore his brothers (or probably step-brothers). According to the Mtu.iii.176, Ānanda was the son of Suklodana [Sukkodana* a name awfully similar to Suddhodana, the Buddha's father] and the brother of Devadatta [the brother of Bimba/Yasodhara, the Buddha's wife and cousin] and Upadhāna. His mother was Mrgī.
- *Sukkodana or Sukkhodana: a Sākiyan prince, son of Sihahanu and paternal uncle of Gautama Buddha (Mhv.ii.20; see SNA.i.357). Mahānāma and Anuruddha were his sons (MA.i.289).
82,000 teachings from the Buddha I received,
2,000 more from his disciples;
Now 84,000 are familiar to me [Note 1].
Who nothing has heard [2] and nothing understood,
He ages only oxen-like:
His stomach grows and grows,
But his insight deepens not.
Who has much heard and learned,
Yet despises one who is poor in learning,
Is like one blind who yet holds aloft a lamp.
So must I think of such a one.
Thou follow him who has heard much!
Then what is heard shall not decline.
This is the tap-root of the high life;
Hence a Dharma-guardian [3] thou should'st be!
Knowing what comes first and last,
Knowing well the meaning, too,
Skillful in many things [4],
The well-grasped meaning one examines.
Keen in patient application,
One strives to weigh the meaning well.
At the right time one makes effort,
And inwardly collects mind/heart.
— Venerable Ananda (Thag 17.3,vv. 1024-29)
The one disciple of the Buddha most often mentioned in his sutras is Ananda. Among all those great nuns and monks around the Buddha, Ananda occupies a unique position... More
- 1. Ananda's Personal Path
- 2. Ananda's Renown
- 3. Ananda as the Buddha's Attendant
- 4. Ananda as the Guardian of the Dhamma
- 5. Ananda's Attitude Toward Women
- 6. Ananda and His Fellow Monks
- 7. Ananda's Conversations with the Buddha
- 8. Ananda's Former Lives
- 9. The Last Days of Gotama the Buddha
- 10. After the Death of the Buddha
Monday, July 17, 2017
The Week in Patriarchy
Jessica Valenti (The Week in Patriarchy, TheGuardian.co.uk, June 13, 2017); Wisdom Quarterly
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| Protesting Trump at Trump Tower in NY after election (Erik McGregor/Pacific/Barcroft) |
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In the wake of Pres. Don Trump’s win [thanks in the main to Hillary Clinton's criminal take over of corrupted DNC, disastrous theft of Bernie Sanders and Jill Stein, and her humiliating national loss] -- a tremendous political and
cultural loss for women -- Jessica Valenti will keep us up to date on the worst news,
the best news, and everything in between to help cope with the next
four years. Check out the inaugural newsletter here. Sign up here for a weekly email to hear my thoughts about the week in patriarchy.
- Crossing the divide My journey from an Ohio mobile home to New York City
- My journey from Ohio mobile home to NYC
- The Trumps of Russia? How billionaire Agalarov family ended up in the spotlight
- How billionaire Agalarov family ended up in the spotlight
- Break-out stories The murderer who hopes writing fiction will set him free
- The murderer who hopes writing fiction will set him free
- I was pretending to be a boy for a variety of reasons’ - The strange case of Gayle Newland
The strange case of Gayle Newland - "Remarkably resilient" 70 years after nuclear tests, radioactive coral and fish live on Bikini Atoll
- 70 years after nuclear tests, coral and fish thrive on Bikini Atoll
- Under siege by liberals The town where everyone owns a gun
- The town where everyone owns a gun
- "He had power and a big ego" The man who may have secretly fathered 200 children
- Sales of nuclear shelters climb in Japan wary of North Korea tests
- Fears of devastating earthquakes and tsunamis are giving way to concerns over atomic attack following multiple missile tests conducted by Pyongyang
- Sales of nuclear shelters climb in Japan wary of North Korea tests
- New York Battle of Brooklyn ‘grave site’ at heart of new conflict over development plans
- Lithuania Secrets of the mummies at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius
- Family dead in Arizona flash flood at swimming hole
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