Hong Kong police clear protesters, barricades in surprise raid in Mong Kok

Hong Kong police clear protesters, barricades in surprise raid in Mong Kok Thu, Oct 16 21:49 PM EDT image 1 of 8 By Clare Baldwin and James Pomfret HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hundreds of Hong Kong police staged a dawn raid on Friday on one of the key sites occupied by pro-democracy protesters, removing barricades from roads and clearing out most of the demonstrators in an another setback for their movement. The operation in the gritty working class area of Mong Kok, across the harbor from the main demonstration zone near the office of Hong Kong's leader, came while many protesters were asleep in their tents. It further reduces the number of protest sites that have paralyzed parts of the Asian financial hub over the past three weeks. Police encountered little resistance, unlike recent days when there has been violent clashes during operations to clear other major roads. The mainly student protesters have been demanding full democracy for the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997, and calling on its leader, Leung Chun-ying, to step down. In August, Beijing offered Hong Kong people the chance to vote for their own leader in 2017, but only among candidates selected by a screening committee filled with pro-Beijing figures. Leung on Thursday sought to defuse tensions with demonstrators, saying he hoped the two sides could talk next week. But he also said police would clear protesters at a suitable time. "I am so furious. The government said it would talk to the students about these issues, then it came and cleared our base," said Cony Cheung, 21, a skin care products saleswoman. No arrests were made, said Barry Smith, a police chief superintendent on the scene, describing the operation as "fairly peaceful". About 800 officers were involved, he added. "They've been occupying this whole area now for almost three weeks and so we decided it's time to give the public the right of way, to get the roads back and get access to pedestrians," Smith said. LITTLE WARNING Some protesters were using small trolleys to cart water, sleeping mats and medical supplies to waiting vehicles to be taken to other protest sites while authorities loaded metal barricades and belongings left behind on to small trucks. Outspoken radio talk show host and activist Wong Yeung-tat was among those cleared away. He said police gave a short warning on loud hailers before moving in with batons and shields, although no direct force was used. "The Hong Kong government's despicable clearance here will cause another wave of citizen protests ... We have urged protesters to maintain a kind of floating protest strategy to guard the streets so we don't feel we have to guard our positions to the end," Wong told Reuters. The raid came just days after hundreds of police used sledgehammers and chainsaws to tear down barricades erected by protesters to reopen a major road leading in the Central business district. A sea of colorful tents remains on a separate thoroughfare in the area, close to Leung's office. Leung has said there is "zero chance" Beijing will give in to protesters' demands, a view shared by most political analysts and many Hong Kong citizens. He has also refused demands that he step down. Chief Secretary Carrie Lam canceled planned talks with student leaders earlier this month, saying it was impossible to have constructive dialogue, and it was hard to see how that could change with the two sides remain poles apart. At its peak, 100,000 protesters had been on the streets, presenting Beijing with one of its biggest political challenges since it crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in and around Tiananmen Square in the Chinese capital in 1989. Those numbers have dwindled significantly. China's Communist Party leaders rule Hong Kong under a "one country, two systems" formula that gives the city wide-ranging autonomy and freedoms not enjoyed in mainland China, with universal suffrage an eventual goal. They are concerned calls for democracy in Hong Kong, and in the neighboring former Portuguese-run colony of Macau, could spread to the mainland, threatening their grip on power. (Additional reporting by Bobby Yip; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree and Dean Yates; Editing by Nick Macfie)

'Blood moon' to awe sky watchers in Americas, Asia

'Blood moon' to awe sky watchers in Americas, Asia 08 Oct 2014 0 Stargazers in the Americas and Asia will be treated to a lunar eclipse Wednesday, a celestial show that will bathe the moon in red to create a "blood moon." During the total lunar eclipse, which will last several hours, the Earth will pass between the sun and the moon. As it happens, the moon will reflect sunlight scattered in the Earth's atmosphere, taking on a red hue. The early phase of the eclipse began at 0800 GMT, or 4:00 am, on the east coast of the United States, and will continue until sunrise. In Hong Kong, the eclipse will begin shortly after moonrise at 1000 GMT or 6:00 pm local time, with the total eclipse phase emerging half an hour later and lasting for around an hour before moving to a partial eclipse. Free viewing locations have been set up on a harbourside promenade by the Hong Kong Space Museum for the public to observe the various phases on astronomy telescopes. In Tokyo's Roppongi fashion and entertainment district, enthusiasts were planning to perform yoga exercises under the blood moon. Many others had climbed atop the city's skyscrapers to view the sky. On Australia's east coast, a live video feed set up by the Sydney Observatory was pointing to cloud cover less than an hour ahead of the moon's move into Earth's shadow. In New Zealand, the moon will be close to its highest point in the sky, according to Auckland's Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, holding out hope of a view of the spectacle unobstructed by buildings. Sky watchers will also be able to see the phenomenon live via NASA's robotic telescope service, Slooh. NASA's lunar experts are answering questions ahead of the celestial event via live web chat from 0700 GMT. "NASA moon experts will be up all night on October 8 to answer your questions," the space agency said. The eclipse is the second of four total lunar eclipses, starting with a first "blood moon" on April 15, in a series astronomers call a tetrad. The next two total lunar eclipses will be on April 4 and September 28 of next year. The last time a tetrad took place was in 2003-2004, with the next predicted for 2032-2033. In total, the 21st century will see eight tetrads. Amateur astronomists in Africa or Europe are out of luck, NASA said, as the event will not be visible in those regions. ======================== 'Blood moon' eclipse to grace pre-dawn skies on Wednesday Wed, Oct 08 12:32 PM EDT image By Irene Klotz (Reuters) - Early risers across much of the world are in for a treat on Wednesday morning - a total lunar eclipse, also known as a "blood moon" due to the coppery, reddish color the moon takes as it passes into Earth's shadow. The total eclipse is the second of four over a two-year period that began April 15 and concludes on Sept. 28, 2015. The so-called tetrad is unusual because the full eclipses are visible in all or parts of the United States, according to retired NASA astrophysicist Fred Espenak. Weather permitting, Wednesday's eclipse should be visible to skywatchers in North America, Australia, western South America and parts of East Asia. The eclipse should reach totality just before sunrise, at 6:25 a.m. EDT (1025 GMT). If cloudy skies are a problem, both NASA.gov and Slooh.com will be hosting live webcasts. NASA's begins at 3 a.m. EDT and Slooh's at 5 a.m. EDT. An eclipse occurs when the moon passes through Earth's shadow, called the umbra. As for the reddish hue, Tony Phillips, an astronomer with SpaceWeather.com, says to imagine yourself on the moon: "Overhead hangs Earth, nightside down, completely hiding the sun behind it. The eclipse is under way. You might expect Earth to be utterly dark, but ... the rim of the planet is on fire." "You're seeing every sunrise and every sunset in the world, all at once," Phillips wrote in an article on NASA's science website. The light beams into Earth's shadow, filling it with a coppery glow that colors the moon red, he said. The entire eclipse will be visible from the Pacific Ocean, regions immediately bordering it and the northwestern section of North America. Farther east, the later phases of the eclipse occur after moonset. The eclipse will not be visible from Europe, Africa and the Middle East, NASA said. (Reporting by Irene Klotz in Portland, Maine; editing by G Crosse) ======================= Blood Moon Prophecy From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search The Blood Moon Prophecy is a theory studied and taught by Christian pastors John Hagee and Mark Biltz, which states that an ongoing tetrad (a series of four consecutive total lunar eclipses, with six full moons in between, and no intervening partial lunar eclipses) which began with the April 2014 lunar eclipse is a sign of the end times. Contents [hide] 1 Overview 2 Media attention and critics 3 Tetrads 4 References 5 External Links Overview[edit] Pastor John Hagee, 2007 On April 15, 2014, there was a total lunar eclipse. It was the first of four consecutive total eclipses in a series, known as a tetrad; a second one took place on October 8, 2014, (the remaining two eclipses will take place on April 4, 2015 and September 28, 2015). It is one of eight tetrads during the 21st century AD.[1] As with most eclipses, the moon appeared red during the April 15 eclipse.[2][3] The red color is caused by Rayleigh scattering of sunlight through the Earth's atmosphere, the same effect that causes sunsets to appear red.[2] Hagee also connects the solar eclipse of March 20, 2015 in the middle of the sequence. The idea of a "blood moon" serving as an omen of the coming of the end times comes from the Book of Joel, where it is written "the sun will turn into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes."[4] This phrase is again mentioned by Saint Peter during Pentecost, as recorded in Acts.[5] Around 2008, Biltz began predicting that the Second Coming of Jesus would occur in the fall of 2015 with the seven years of the great tribulation beginning in the fall of 2008. He said he had "discovered" an astronomical pattern that predicted the next tetrad would coincide with the end times. When the prediction failed, he pulled the article from his website, but continued to teach on the "significance" of the tetrad. Hagee would seize on Biltz' prediction to write Four Blood Moons, which would become a best seller, spending more than 150 days in Amazon.com's top 150 by April 2014.[3] For the week ending March 30, 2014, it was the ninth best selling paperback, according to Publishers Weekly.[6] By mid-April, Hagee's book had hit No. 4 on the The New York Times best-seller list in the advice category.[3] Hagee's book (and subsequent sermon series at his home congregation, Cornerstone Church) did not proclaim that any specific "end times" event would occur (as did Biltz in his original prophecy), but claimed that every prior tetrad of the last 500 years coincided with events in Jewish and Israeli history that were originally tragic, yet followed by triumph.[7] Media attention and critics[edit] Hagee and Biltz's speculations gained mainstream media attention in publications such as USA Today and the Washington Post.[2][3] Earth & Sky reported receiving "a number of inquiries about Blood Moon", prompting a response.[1] Despite the attention, it is not clear if many people actually believe the ideas. According to Christian Today, only a "small group of Christians" saw the eclipse as significant.[8] Writing for Earth & Sky Bruce McClure and Deborah Byrd point out that the referenced verse also says the "sun will be turned into darkness", an apparent reference to a solar eclipse. They note that since the Jewish Calendar is lunar, one sixth of all eclipses will occur during Passover or Sukkot. Furthermore, there have been 62 tetrads since the first century AD and eight of them have coincided with both the feasts. Thus, the event is not as unusual as Hagee and Biltz imply. Additionally, three of the four eclipses in the tetrad will not even be visible in the biblical homeland of Israel, casting further doubt on Hagee and Biltz's interpretation.[1] Writing for Space.com, Geoff Gaherty said he was saddened that "'prophets of doom' ... view these life-enriching events as portents of disaster" and said the eclipse was "hardly something to be concerned about".[9] In January 2014, Mike Moore, the then General Secretary of Christian Witness to Israel, wrote a lengthy article dismissing the claims of Biltz and Hagee. Moore's view was that no significance can be drawn from the eclipses.[10] Tetrads[edit] Lunar eclipse tetrad 2014–2015 Ascending node Descending node Saros Date Type Saros Date Type 122 Lunar eclipse April 15 2014 California Alfredo Garcia Jr1.jpg 2014 Apr 15 Lunar eclipse from moon-2014Apr15.png Total Lunar eclipse chart close-2014Apr15.png 127 Lunar eclipse October 8 2014 California Alfredo Garcia Jr mideclipse.JPG 2014 Oct 08 Lunar eclipse from moon-2014Oct08.png Total Lunar eclipse chart close-2014Oct08.png 132 2015 Apr 04 Lunar eclipse from moon-2015Apr04.png Total Lunar eclipse chart close-2015Apr04.png 137 2015 Sep 28 Lunar eclipse from moon-2015Sep28.png Total Lunar eclipse chart close-2015Sep28.png References[edit] 1.^ Jump up to: a b c Bruce McClure; Deborah Byrd (March 30, 2014). "What is a Blood Moon?". Earth & Sky. Retrieved April 4, 2014. 2.^ Jump up to: a b c Elizabeth Weise (April 3, 2014). "Blood moon eclipse on April 15 is a special event". USA Today. Retrieved April 3, 2014. 3.^ Jump up to: a b c d Sarah Pulliam Bailey (April 15, 2014). "'Blood moon' sets off apocalyptic debate among some Christians". Washington Post. Religion News Service. Retrieved April 15, 2014. 4.Jump up ^ Joel 2:31 5.Jump up ^ Acts 2:20 6.Jump up ^ "Bestsellers for week ending March 30". Newsday. April 3, 2014. Retrieved April 6, 2014. 7.Jump up ^ http://christiannews.net/2014/04/14/upcoming-blood-moon-lunar-eclipses-spark-woes-discussion-about-end-times-bible-prophecy/ 8.Jump up ^ Samantha Blake (April 5, 2014). "Lunar Eclipse April 15, 2014: Four Blood Moons a sign of End Times?". Christian Today. Retrieved April 6, 2014. 9.Jump up ^ "Four Blood Moons: Total Lunar Eclipse Series Not a Sign of Apocalypse". Space.com. April 9, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2014. 10.Jump up ^ Mike Moore (20 January 2014). "Blood Moon Rising". Retrieved 31 October 2014. ================