"Locust-Cam"
Posted on 11/17/2004 11:15:38 AM PST by oldleft
Pink Locusts from North Africa Swarm Through Cairo
2 hours, 38 minutes ago World - Reuters
By Amil Khan and Tom Perry
CAIRO (Reuters) - Swarms of pink locusts swept through the Egyptian capital on Wednesday, evoking the biblical description of the plagues which struck in the time of Moses.
The swarms of millions flew high above tall towers or swooped down onto treelined streets, where scared pedestrians stamped on them or ran for cover.
The flying insects arrived from neighboring Libya after devouring the countryside in central and western Africa in past months. But locust experts said they were unlikely to wreak similar havoc in Egypt, where agriculture is a cornerstone of the economy.
"This is really horrible," said one man as he ran past a building where locusts, some of them more than 3 inches (7.6 cm) long, smacked into office windows or landed on cars.
Some of the locusts, which arrived and disappeared in waves, settled on shrubs and trees. Authorities battled swarms at Cairo international airport, but flights were unaffected.
"They are driven by strong winds ... Under current climatic conditions they will not likely cause damage," Christian Pantenius, a locust expert with the United Nations (news - web sites) Food and Agriculture Organization (news - web sites) (FAO), told Reuters.
Pantenius said the locusts would not feed voraciously when the temperature was under 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). Forecasts put Cairo's temperature for the coming days at below 25 degrees Celsius.
Pantenius said the locusts were arriving in medium-sized swarms. "They will very likely either die or migrate further to the south," he said, adding that the Saudi and Sudanese authorities had been alerted.
The locusts appeared to be passing through Egypt and did not pose a threat to agriculture, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency quoting Agriculture and Land Reclamation Minister Ahmed el-Laithi as telling a news conference.
Agriculture is a key sector of the Egyptian economy, employing millions of people in the North African country, which has a population of about 70 million.
The locust swarms have already traveled on the wind from North Africa to Cyprus. They can form swarms of tens of millions, occupying hundreds of square kilometers (miles).
In the Old Testament, locusts were the eighth of 10 plagues which God brought on the Egyptians before Pharaoh, their ruler, relented and let the enslaved children of Israel go. (Additional reporting by Esmat Salaheddin)
I was starting to believe what the Bible referred to as the locust, are actually all the terrorist out there coming to us. ugh!
"LOCUSTS!!! Other plagues to follow..."
As Mel Brooks would say, "No, too Jewish".
*Note to self*
Confess my sins and get my life in order!!
To prevent duplication, do not alter the heading. Thanks.
"Locust-Cam"
Clearly, the War on Terror needs to be expanded to include a good locust exterminator.
They arrived late for the Arafat funeral....
"...some of them more than 3 inches"
That gave me goosebumps!
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Swarms of locusts obscure the Giza pyramids near Cairo, November 17, 2004. The pink locusts that swept through Cairo recalled the plague of biblical Egypt, flying high above tall towers and scaring pedestrians who stamped on them or ran for cover. Photo by Aladin Abdel Naby/Reuters |
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I was thinking about this the other night. And since there are so many terrorists and they just keep coming, I was wondering if the Bible meant the killers. Meaning the locust are the terrorists. Just a thought.
But these are real live locust?
Yuuummmmm...deep fried with a spriggin' of garlic and cummin!
Boils and a nice shower of fire coming up!
They are thicker then flies. What a mess.
(Yes, the pic is a joke)
Oh Professor Quademas, the London underground has nothing on these!
Let's see...A plague of locusts in Cairo, and Yasser Arafag was born there and given a state funeral there less than a week ago...hmmm, I wonder if there's a connection.
I wonder if they'll get hail that catches fire?
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