The Vatican has announced a commission to investigate claims that the Virgin Mary appears on a daily basis in a town in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Six children first reported the apparition in the town of Medjugorje in June 1981.

But, the sightings have not yet received official recognition from the Catholic Church.

The 20-strong commission will report to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the top doctrinal body.

For nearly 30 years, the Virgin Mary has been said to appear daily in Medjugorje, dressed sometimes in a grey dress and veil and sometimes in gold, crowned with stars and floating on a cloud.

It is said she speaks in Croatian, uttering the words: “I’ve come because there are many right believers here. I wish to be with you to convert and reconcile the whole world.”

It is also said that three flashes of light precede her apparitions, during which the voices of the visionaries can no longer be heard.

But the Catholic Church has long debated the credibility of the sightings.

There was a recent visit by a cardinal from Vienna, Christoph Schoenberg.

But the bishop of neighbouring Mostar has frequently criticised unquestioning belief in the claims.

Until the commission reports back to the Church’s top doctrinal body, believers are likely to continue to flock to this small Bosnian town.

Around 30 million are estimated to have visited since the first sighting of what they call “Our Lady”.

[via: news.bbc.co.uk]

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extracted from italktoyoudotcom (description) UFO has left scientists puzzled; it is NOT a comet streaking through space. It was first spotted early January 2010 so astronomers turned the Hubble telescope on it to get these close up images. The object

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The UK is still being invaded by foreign species. An eagle owl was recently spotted in Cardiff, and local residents were warned to lock up their pets. A group of skunks are reportedly living in the Forest of Dean: one was handed into a local wildlife centre in July and another was a killed by a car. Now another has turned up in a garden in Coleford, Gloucestershire, which is thought to be one of a pair sighted a few days earlier. In the same area, colonies of Lasius neglectus, the so-called Asian super ant, has been found at Hidcote Manor, near Chipping Camden. In Rutland a motorist believes she saw a South American Capybara ambling across the road near Exton. Kate Tudno-Jones recognised the enormous rodent from zoo trips and then confirmed her suspicions on the internet. Nigel Spencer of the Rutland and Leicestershire Pantherwatch said that more reports of a capybara have come in from Exton, and Buckminster. (Source: Wales Online, BBC News, Yahoo News, Rutland Press, Nigel Spencer http://www.bigcats.org.uk – August 2009).

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Danny Dyer goes on a quest to spot a UFO, spurred on by a meeting with his boyhood hero Sir Patrick Moore. Danny examines reported UFO landing sites and the sinister evidence that aliens may have been conducting scientific experiments here in Britain

Therealworldno.blogspot.com

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BBC News are reporting that a street in Windermere is causing motorists grief because for some unexplained reason car remote controls and similar devices will not work when they park there.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8505314.stm

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The chance of learning life on other worlds is greater than ever, according to Britain’s leading astronomer.

Lord Rees, the president of the Royal Society and Astronomer Royal, said such a discovery would be a moment which would change humanity.

It would change our view of ourselves and our place in the cosmos, he said.

His comments come as scientists gather in London for an international conference to discuss the prospect of learning extra-terrestrial life.

Scientists have been scanning the skies for radio broadcasts from intelligent life for 50 years, and so far they have only heard static.

But the chances of learning life now were better than ever, Lord Rees said.

He said: “Technology has advanced so that for the very first time we can really have the realistic hope of detecting planets no larger than the earth orbiting other stars.

“(We’ll be able to learn) whether they have continents and oceans, learning what type of atmosphere they have.

“Although it is a long shot to be able to learn more about any life of them, then it’s tremendous progress to be able to get some sort of image of another planet, rather like the earth orbiting another star.”

The recent deployment of space telescopes capable of detecting earth-like planets around distant stars now make it possible to focus the search.

“Were we to find life, even the simplest life, elsewhere that would clearly be one of the fantastic discoveries of the 21st Century.

“I suspect there could be life and intelligence out there in forms that we can’t conceive.

“And there could, of course, be forms of intelligence beyond human capacity, beyond as much as we are beyond a chimpanzee,” he added.

[via: news.bbc.co.uk]

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Friday, 22 January 2010

Five severely disabled turtles have arrived at a special sanctuary at Weymouth Sea Life Park in Dorset.

The Florida sea turtles, whose injuries range from paraplegia to shells hurt in collisions with boats, have all lost the ability to dive.

The BBC’s Phil Lavelle visited the park to see the turtles transferred to their new home.

He spoke to Richie Moretti from Florida Turtle Sanctuary who accompanied them on the 4,700-mile journey.

See video at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8473968.stm
(Submitted by Mark North)

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