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NEWS ... ... GLOBAL NEWS ... BIZARRE LIGHTNING STRIKE potent charge over a larger area. By analysing the minute changes in trav- TO BE STUDIED But Ron Holle, a meteorologist who _ elling times and wave shapes for each dou- potent charge over a larger area. But Ron Holle, a meteorologist who studies lightning for Global Atmospherics Inc. in Tucson, isn't convinced yet that the strike was positive. "It could have been a lightning flash with multiple return strokes," he said. "Between the strokes, there is a continuing current, and it doesn't stop. We have no idea why it happens." (Source: Arizona Republic, Aug 11, 2005) By analysing the minute changes in trav- elling times and wave shapes for each dou- blet, the researchers concluded that the Earth's inner core is rotating faster than its surface by about 0.3-0.5 degrees per year. The difference in rotation of the inner core could, in turn, affect the Earth's rota- tion and have implications for satellites, rockets and spaceships. (Source: Science, August 26, 2005) National Weather Service expert in Phoenix, Arizona, will investigate a powerful lightning strike that "sounded like dynamite exploding", damaging 13 homes in Central Mesa recently. "This is beyond the norm," meteorologist David Runyan said. "It's bizarre. It intrigues us. We will seek some means to understand it a little more." The lightning bolt drawing all the atten- tion caused extensive damage to a home in East Seventh Avenue as its charge sped to other structures through underground wiring and wet soil. Local firefighters, who have seen the aftermath of other lightning strikes over the years, said they have never witnessed any- thing like the effects of the East Seventh Avenue strike. The force's intense heat exploded under- ground wires including television cable near the home, erupted through the soil and spewed dirt and debris like volcanic ash against homes, trees and parked vehicles. Areas around brass doorknobs and locks were scorched. Randall Cerveny, an assistant professor of meteorology at Arizona State University, indicated the area could have been hit by a "positive" strike, which is extremely rare and powerful. Scientists say positive strikes deliver much more voltage than the negative bolts that occur 90 to 95 per cent of the time in storms across the country. Positive strikes also tend to spread their EARTH'S CORE ROTATES FASTER THAN ITS SURFACE he core of the Earth is spinning faster than the planet's surface, according to a new study. The finding is based on analy- ses of earthquake pairs that occur at rough- ly the same spot on Earth but at different times. On seismic recording instruments, the earthquake signatures from waveform doublets, as they are called, look nearly identical. When earthquakes strike, their seismic waves can travel through the planet and surface all over the globe. The researchers analysed 18 sets of waveform doublets—some separated in time by up to 35 years—from earthquakes occurring off the coast of South America but which were recorded at seismic stations near Alaska. They speculated that if the Earth's inner core is rotating faster than the rest of the planet, then shock waves from waveform doublets will enter and exit through differ- ent parts of the core, despite originating from roughly the same spot on the planet's surface. KEY LOCKERBIE BOMBING EVIDENCE WAS FAKED former Scottish police chief has given lawyers a signed statement claiming that key evidence in the Lockerbie bomb- ing trial was fabricated. The retired officer, of assistant chief con- stable rank or higher, has testified that the CIA planted the tiny fragment of circuit board crucial in convicting a Libyan for the 1989 mass murder of 270 people. The police chief, whose identity has not yet been revealed, gave the statement to lawyers representing Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al-Megrahi, currently serving a life sentence in Greenock Prison. The evi- dence will form a crucial part of Al- Megrahi's attempt to have a retrial ordered by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC). The claims pose a potentially devastating threat to the reputa- tion of the entire Scottish legal system. The officer, who was a member of the Association of Chief Police Officers Scotland, is supporting earlier claims by a former CIA agent that his bosses "wrote the script" to incriminate Libya. The decision of a former Scottish police chief to back this claim could add enor- mous weight to what has previously been dismissed as a wild conspiracy theory. It has long been rumoured that the fragment was planted to implicate Libya for political reasons. Following the trial, legal observers from around the world, including senior United Nations officials, expressed disquiet about the verdict and the conduct of the proceed- ings at Camp Zeist, Holland. A source close to Al-Megrahi's defence team said: "Britain and the US were telling the world it was Libya, but in their private communications they acknowledged that they knew it was the Syrian-led Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine— General Command (PFLP-GC). (Source: The Scotsman, August 28, 2005, http:/ews.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1 855852005) a) 8 = NEXUS "Their schedule for infiltrating society seems to be moving along briskly." www.nexusmagazine.com OCTOBER —- NOVEMBER 2005