Tropical Cyclone Glenda is now estimated to cross onto land Thursday afternoon or night (Australia WST), and has dipped in strength to a Category 4. Various forecasts at this stage suggest that the worst hit town will be Onslow.Further Information:
Ensure you are looking at the most current advice. Links can go stale.
BoM Radar (Learmonth)
Image Source: Joint Typhoon Warning Center
Tropical Cyclone Glenda has intensified to Catagory 5 off the West coast of Australia. A Cyclone Watch is now in effect for coastal areas between Wallal and Mardie, with a higher level Warning for areas between Mardie and Exmouth.
BoM Advice for TC Glenda
BoM tracking map for TC Glenda
Forecast Maps BoM, Joint Typhoon Warning Center, Tropical Storm Risk
Note: Some of these pages linked to above update as further information is available, but some will be a hard link to the information that is current at time of publishing. Be sure you’re looking at the most up to date information.
Various news media outlets are reporting that ETA is poised to declare a permanent ceasefire from the 24th of March. The claim is believed to have originated from Basque Radio and the Gara newspaper. ETA was founded in 1959, and aims to create a Basque state seperate from Spain and France, and has been declared a terrorist organisation by many nations.
Source: Wikipedia, CNN, BBC, Reuters, Gara(Google translation)
Image Source: Wikipedia
Coming only days after Tropical Cyclone Larry battered Australias tropical North-East coast causing millions of dollars in damage, a second tropical cyclone has formed in the Pacific Ocean. The new system has been named Tropical Cyclone Wati, and may be heading to and area slightly South of the recently affected area. It is a Catagory 2 Tropical Cyclone at time of writing.
BoM Threat Map (TC Wati)
BoM Forecast Map (TC Wati)
Christopher Allbritton, a freelance journalist in Iraq, has suggested in his blog that Operation Swarmer has been put on for media purposes.
“Operation Swarmer†is really a media show. It was designed to show off the new Iraqi Army — although there was no enemy for them to fight. Every American official I’ve heard has emphasized the role of the Iraqi forces just days before the third anniversary of the start of the war. That said, one Iraqi role the military will start highlighting in the next few days, I imagine, is that of Iraqi intelligence. It was intel from the Iraqi military intelligence and interior ministry that the U.S. says prompted this Potemkin operation. And it will be the Iraqi intel that provides the cover for American military commanders to throw up their hands and say, “well, we thought bad guys were there.
A Time magazine article also echos the sentiments.
Source: Back to Iraq, Time
Image Source: US Dept. of Defense
Reuters is reporting that a large scale offensive by US forces has commenced. 1500 US and Iraq troops, 50 aircraft, and 200 tactical vehicles are believed to be targeting suspected insurgents around the town of Samarra, the city of last months ‘Golden Mosque’ bombing.
The operation, believed to be the biggest air offensive since the beginning of the war, has been called ‘Operation Swarmer’ and is expected to last several days.
Source: Reuters
Update: Some Further details in Fox News article
Update: US Department of Defense Release
Former Yugoslav President Milosevic has been found dead in his Hague cell, where he was being tried for alleged war crimes. Initial reports suggest that the death was natural, and a full autopsy is planned.
Source: CNN, ABC Australia, Reuters
