Chemical blaze sparks Dutch alert

Dutch firefighters tackle blaze at chemical plant
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - Local authorities warned residents to stay indoors and keep doors and windows shut Wednesday as a major blaze and Explosions ripped through a chemical storage and packing company. Television images show a towering plume of thick smoke churning out of the fire and several powerful blasts, apparently as storage tanks exploded. The fire started in the early afternoon at Chemie-Pack Nederland BV in an industrial estate in the southern town of Moerdijk. Moerdijk mayor W...

Dutch firefighters tackle blaze at chemical plant
The Hague,Netherlands - Local authorities are warning residents to stay indoors and keep doors and windows shut as dozens of Dutch Firefighters tackle a major blaze at a chemical storage and packing company. Television images show a towering plume of thick smoke churning out of the fire at Chemie-Pack Nederland BV in an industrial estate in the southern town of Moerdijk. Moerdijk municipality said in a statement Wednesday it is not clear if the fire is releasing toxic fumes. Police say none ...

Dutch chemical plant ablaze
MOERDIJK, Netherlands, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- A huge fire erupted at a Chemical Plant in the Netherlands Wednesday, officials said. The blaze at the Chemie-Pack plant near Rotterdam prompted authorities to put the southern part of South Holland province on alert because of a large cloud of toxic black smoke that had reached the town of Dordrecht, Radio Netherlands reported. People in the area were being told to stay indoors and to keep their doors and windows shut. There were no reports of serious inj...

Dutch firefighters tackle blaze at chemical plant
A plume of smoke billows from a burning Chemical Plant as Firefighters are seen outside the plant in the southern Dutch town of Moerdijk, Netherlands, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011. Local authorities warned residents to stay indoors and keep doors and windows shut Wednesday as a major blaze and Explosions ripped through a chemical storage and packing company. Local authorities warned residents to stay indoors and keep doors and windows shut Wednesday as a major blaze and Explosions ripped through a c...

Dutch firefighters tackle blaze at chemical plant
Local authorities told residents to stay indoors last night as some 150 Firefighters attempted to smother a huge blaze that had been raging for hours at a chemical storage and packing company. The fire started in the early afternoon at Chemie-Pack Nederland BV in an industrial estate in the southern town of Moerdijk, sending a towering plume of thick smoke into the air and causing several powerful blasts, apparently as storage tanks exploded. Police spokesman Willem van Hooijdonk told national...

Holland: Park blaze casts toxic cloud over Rotterdam
A HUGE fire broke out at an industrial park near Rotterdam yesterday, setting off chemical Explosions, releasing toxic smoke and disrupting shipping between the Netherlands' second-biggest city and Antwerp in Belgium. The fire started at a Chemie-Pack Chemical Plant in the Moerdijk industrial zone, about 30 miles south of Rotterdam. The cause of the blaze was unknown and police said there were no reports of any casualties. However, shipping traffic at the Holla ADVERTISEMENT nds Diep river, cl...

A Protection Racket
Our regular reader and commenter Sagunto sends this interesting update on the Coptic Church Hit List situation in Holland. We reported in last night’s news feed that Al-Qaeda is threatening Coptic churches in the Netherlands, but Sagunto has even more from one of today’s Newspapers. He says: Just this morning I read about a remarkable initiative by three major Muslim organizations, to “protect” these churches. I’d liken this protection to the kind of “protecti...

Southern Sudan's shaky future
At a roundabout in Juba, southern Sudan's capital, stands a digital clock. It has four faces, each titled "Countdown to Southern Sudan Referendum — Period Remaining." The referendum on Jan. 9 is part of the peace agreement signed in 2005 ending the Civil War between northern and southern Sudan, and its outcome will determine if Sudan remains one country or becomes two. Each side of the clock has a drawing of a pair of hands wearing broken handcuffs, chain still dangling — a not-so-su...

As vote looms, S.Sudan, renegade general reconcile
JUBA, Sudan - Southern Sudan signed a cease-fire Wednesday with a renegade general four days before the oil-rich region votes in an independence Referendum likely to create the world's newest country. Fears of internal fighting have plagued the run-up to the Referendum despite excitement among southerners that independence could bring peace to a region that has borne the brunt of conflict for most of the past 50 years. Lt. Gen. George Athor defected from his position in the southern army e...

1 killed in explosion at French chemical plant
Authorities say an Explosion at a chlorine plant in southern France has killed one person and injured another. The regional administration for the Bouches-du-Rhone region says a leak of water containing sodium prompted the explosion. The blast occurred Thursday at a plant run by Gazechim in the Mediterranean port of Lavera. The administration says in a statement that no gases have leaked outside the site. Traffic around the site has been restricted, and specialists in chemical accidents are ther...

"Explosive" Debates Expected on House Homeland Security Committee
     Terrorist Threats targeting chemical facilities in densely populated urban areas remain a serious threat to U.S. security.      If newly appointed Chair to the House Committee on Homeland Security, Representative Peter King, (R-N.Y.), has his way, Legislation regarding this grave threat will move in the opposite direction from the last congressional session.      The last session of Congress saw the House Democratic majority advoca...

The Last Train to Auschwitz
On September 3, 1944, the last train carrying Dutch Jews to Nazi extermination camps left the transit camp Westerbork, the Netherlands, destination Auschwitz. Aboard the train, along with a thousand other Dutch Jews, was Louis de Wind, the father of a cousin of mine, Loekie de Wind. Recently, Loekie shared with me the letter her father wrote to her and her mother as the train was speeding across the Dutch lowlands and which he managed to throw out of the sealed freight car just before the trai...

Aron Winter to become Toronto technical director
Former Netherlands National Team midfielder Aron Winter says he has agreed to become technical director and coach of FC Toronto. Winter, a former player with Ajax and Inter Milan, says in an interview with Dutch daily De Telegraaf that he planned to fly to Canada on Monday to sign with the Major League Soccer club. He told the newspaper that he "had a good feeling" after visiting the club last week. It had appeared Paul Mariner, the former Plymouth Arygle manager, would become Toronto's coach. T...

Incoming House GOP chairmen have a long list of issues to investigate
By Philip Rucker Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, January 4, 2011 House Republican leaders announced plans Monday for congressional investigations into a wide range of issues, from Corruption in Afghanistan to Washington's Regulation of private industries, using the power of their new majority to launch Probes that could embarrass the Obama Administration. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who will become chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee when the 112th Congress ...

Matt LeBlanc pokes fun at himself in TV comeback
Los Angeles (Reuters) - What did it take to get "Friends" star Matt LeBlanc back on television after a four years absence? The price of a lunch with "Friends" co-creator David Crane, and the chance to make fun -- of himself. Riffing on the beloved but dimwitted, skirt-chasing character Joey Tribbiani he played for 12 years on "Friends" and its spin-off "Joey", a gray-haired LeBlanc stars as an outrageous version of himself in the new TV industry satire "Episodes," which debuts this Sunday, Janu...

Archers Nigel 'grieving' over exit
Graham Seed's 30 year stint playing Nigel Pargetter in the Archers came to an end on Sunday night when Nigel fell off a roof. The former Archers actor speaks about happy times on the Radio 4 series. Get in touch with Today via email , Twitter or Facebook or text us on 84844. What are these? Will this ship revolutionise the skies? What's wrong with Matt LeBlanc? ...

Jackie K. Cooper: Episodes: Matt LeBlanc Plays Matt LeBlanc -- No, Really!
Matt LeBlanc has found the perfect role in a new TV show, and no it is not another spin-off as Joey from Friends. In the new Showtime series Episodes he plays Matt LeBlanc, or at least a character with his same name. Whether or not the character of Matt LeBlanc is supposed to have any connection to the real Matt LeBlanc is up to the viewers to decide. Regardless of this fact, "Episodes" brings Le Blanc back to TV in a winning way. The comedic plot has two British writers, Sean Lincoln (Stephen...

Matt LeBlanc spoofs himself on new Showtime comedy 'Episodes'
NEW YORK -- "Episodes," the new Showtime series, is about high hopes and crushed dreams. Moral and artistic compromises. Relationships pushed to the breaking point. In short, it's about the television industry. And it's a comedy. It's also a return to the TV screen, after several years' absence, by Matt LeBlanc, who, for 11 smash seasons, played would-be actor Joey Tribbiani on "Friends," then put in two more seasons on its misfired spinoff, "Joey," which ended in 2006. Now, on "Episodes" (whic...

Matt LeBlanc spoofs himself on comedy 'Episodes'
In this publicity image released by Showtime, Matt LeBlanc starring as himself, left, Stephen Mangan and Tamsin Greig are shown in a scene from the Showtime original series, "Episodes." "Episodes," the new Showtime series, is about high hopes and crushed dreams. Moral and artistic compromises. Relationships pushed to the breaking point. In short, it's about the television industry. And it's a comedy. It's also a return to the TV screen, after several years' absence, by Matt LeBlanc, who, for 11...

Risky Business: Sudans Referendum for Independence
In the months leading up to the Referendum in southern Sudan, scheduled for January 9, the United States and its international partners have been scrambling to prepare for the challenges a divided Sudan might bring. The referendum, born from the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), presents an opportunity for the south to achieve independence following years of brutal repression and violence perpetrated by the government in Khartoum headlined by a decades-long Civil War. The Obama Adminis...

Need to Know, January 7, 2011
A profile of Salva Dut, a Sudanese “Lost Boy” who returned to Sudan to help bring Clean Water to the people of his birthplace. Need to Know traveled to Sudan to see him at work, and received a better understanding of the hopes and dreams of the people who will be voting, beginning next week, on whether to form an independent nation in the South. Foster Children are some of the most heavily medicated Children in the nation. Need to Know investigates the use and potential overuse of po...

Vote tally Count for Speaker of the House of Representatives
House Bill - Healthcare - Oct. 29, 2009 Tina Tchen new Staff Chief for Michelle. Part of corrupt Chicago. Met with Soros and finance bundler for Obama https://tinyurl.com/2ew8k6b 3 hours ago ACLU has roots in Stalinist regime. Documents discovered in Russia. Devoted to overthrow the USA https://tinyurl.com/34bwyue #TCOT #TLOT 3 hours ago Piven Cloward-Piven calls for violent revolution.Calls for American Welfare State to implement revolution. https://tinyurl.com/399e...

U.S. to help south Sudan if it chooses independence
By Andrew Quinn WASHINGTON | Wed Jan 5, 2011 1:10pm EST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States will help south Sudan set up as an independent country if voters opt to secede in Sunday's Referendum and is pleased by cooperation from Khartoum, once seen as spoiling for war over the oil-rich region, U.S. officials said on Wednesday. Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson, the Obama Administration's top diplomat for Africa, said Washington was encouraged the Referendum starting on January ...

Chollet to be asset for Obama administration
Politico is reporting that Derek Chollet, presently Deputy Director of policy planning at the State Department, is moving over to the White House to head up the National Security Council's strategic planning shop (my old post). He replaces Ambassador Mary Yates, who has held that job since early in President Obama's tenure. Chollet is a strong choice. By virtue of his State gig, he has good experience inside, and as co-author of an important study of post-Cold War American Grand Strategy he has...

Sudan secession: factfile
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