The Peruvian city of Arequipa has built up at the base and up the lower slopes of El Misti. In a paper appearing in the December 2001 issue of The Geological Society of America Bulletin, a group of scientists led by Jean-Claude Thouret is predicting a major eruption, the first since the 1400s. His prediction is based in part on layers of ash dated every 500-1500 years. the most recent reports of activity are from the 80s. There are no evacuation plans, according to the local civil defense. Some of the data behind their work is here.
Polls make it very clear Bush can do no wrong: "Much of the global village must await its turn, preparing to meet the inspectors, to prepare for attack, face the ultimate character examination for an American military court." [via Unknown News]
Germany also is having some trouble getting it's second anti-terror law passed. It seems the Social Democratic Party actually wants time to discuss late breaking amendments before voting on them. What a novel concept. [via Unknown News]
On the continuing contention over an anti-terrorism bill in the U.K. The current stumbling block is a clause that would criminalize incitement of racial hatred.
On the debate on whether or not to try Moussaoui in open court or a military tribunal.
Innocent are caught in the cross hairs of the hunt for suspected terrorists: a 26 year citizen has his credit card blocked without notice by Citibank because he has the same name as someone on a list of "specially designated global terrorist individuals".
Tasia Scolinos, spokeswoman for the US Treasury Department, said Citibank appears to have followed proper procedure. She said banks are supposed to block accounts first and then investigate to see whether the person is actually the terrorist. If the bank becomes satisfied that the targeted person is not the terrorist, the account can be unblocked.
[via Interesting People]
