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First responders on scene. Just happened.

Fox Baltimore reports that medical units have been called to the scene and Baltimore County firefighters have been called to help. “Several houses exploded. At least 5 people trapped, some children.

40 seconds of explosion porn that we have all seen. But I have finally found an analysis of the timing of the blast wave, and it seems to confirm that it was a pressure wave, not a shock wave. In short, it looks like a fast moving wavefront, but it is not a true shock wave that one would get from military type explosions.

Dozens of protesters broke into the foreign ministry where they burnt a portrait of President Michel Aoun, representative for many of a political class that has ruled Lebanon for decades and that they say is to blame for its current mess.

...The Rhosus left for its last journey from Batumi, Georgia, in September 2013. Its cargo was destined for Mozambique, but the captain was ordered to make an unscheduled stop in Beirut to take on additional freight. Captain Prokoshev said they needed to make extra cash to pay for their passage through the Suez Canal. Lawyers for the ship’s creditors said the additional cargo was supposed to be transported to Jordan. ...The Rhosus was left abandoned, and Lebanese authorities transferred its cargo to a warehouse in the port. In 2015, the ship was moved 1,000 feet up the pier where it...

A second source has confirmed the fireworks’ presence, which was also the subject of media reports in Lebanon on Friday. The claim that fireworks were being stored in the same warehouse as the ammonium nitrate appears to be confirmed by phone footage, apparently filmed by a port worker from the roof of the grain silos that overlooked the seat of the biggest blast – now a 150-metre-wide crater of seawater. In the brief section of footage posted on social media, a long warehouse – running parallel to the grain silo and separated by a road – is visible, with smoke...

Baroudi & Associates, who represented the Russian vessel's crew, published a statement on Wednesday saying they sent letters in July 2014 to officials at Beirut Port and the Ministry of Transportation "warning of the dangers of the materials carried on the ship." Customs authorities issued repeated notices to a judge about the dangerous cargo, according to documents seen by CNN. But the judge, who cannot be named for legal reasons, responded multiple times saying that the ship and its cargo might not be within the court's jurisdiction, the documents show. In four handwritten responses written in 2016 and 2017, the...

Lebanese President Michel Aoun says there are two possibilities behind Tuesday’s blast — either negligence or “external intervention” by a missile or a bomb. Aoun said Friday that he asked France for satellite images to see if there were warplanes or missiles in the air at the time of the blast. The blast is believed to have been caused when a fire touched off 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been stored at the port since it was taken from an impounded ship in 2013. The cause of the initial fire is not known. Aoun told journalists that he...

Sat images of the blast in Beirut.

Hezbollah’s comments in 2016 and 2017 suggest it consulted experts about how to cause mass death using other means than just missiles and how to strike at strategic or other infrastructure. That it considered using missiles to target a boat or destroying a ship by other mean suggests the level of terror threats that it has come to. 2016 was the height of the Iran deal era and it also illustrates that despite the US seeking to work with Iran and cases against Hezbollah’s drug trafficking even being slowed down in the US, the organization did not moderate but was...

Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Authorities in Beirut have increased the death count from the devastating explosions on Tuesday to at least 135, while one official said Wednesday it could cost Lebanon's capital as much as $5 billion to recover. Lebanese President Michel Aoun called for an emergency Cabinet meeting and asked for a two-week state of emergency. Beirut Gov. Marwan Abboud said about 300,000 were homeless after the blasts and estimated repair costs in the billions. Lebanese Red Cross workers searched abandoned neighborhoods on Wednesday, reporting more than 5,000 injured. Abboud told local media that damages could range from $3...

Ammonium nitrate is frequently added to increase a fertilizer's nitrogen content. It's relatively stable under most conditions and is inexpensive to manufacture, making the chemical a popular alternative to other, more expensive nitrogen sources. But ammonium nitrate has a potentially lethal downside: The compound is considered an oxidizer, meaning at an atomic level, it removes electrons from other substances in a chemical reaction. What that means in a more practical sense is that it increases the burning of fuels by increasing the oxygen that's available to those fuels. To start the reaction, ammonium nitrate must come into contact with an...

Shortly before 6 PM Beirut time reports began flooding Twitter of a fire and a series of explosions in Beirut. It rapidly became evident that event was far more than a small industrial fire. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx8WQqUGk1M-----snip------ Conclusion From the available information it is clear that shortly before 6 PM in Beirut a fire and series of explosions at the docks in Beirut set off a gigantic explosion, the effects of which were felt as far away as Cyprus. Damage is widespread around the city and thousands are reported to have been wounded. The epicenter of the blast appears to have been...

PM, defense and foreign ministers reach out to hostile neighbor through UN and international mediators after massive blast at port; president, opposition leader send condolencesIsrael on Tuesday night offered humanitarian aid to Lebanon, after explosions at a Beirut port killed dozens and injured thousands, in a rare show of support for the enemy country.“Israel approached Lebanon through international defense and diplomatic channels to offer the Lebanese government medical humanitarian aid,” Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi said in a joint statement.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he instructed his National Security Adviser, Meir Ben Shabbat, to discuss with...

2,750 Tonnes Of Ammonium Nitrate Exploded: Lebanon PM On Beirut Blasts"It is unacceptable that a shipment of 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate has been present for six years in a warehouse, without taking preventive measures," he said at a defence council meeting, a spokesman told a press conference.

Watch video below.....

Massive explosion, mushroom cloud. Footage at the link.

Not sure about links from AP. clink on link to see.

A huge explosion has occurred in Beirut - click for video

An explosion at occurred at a power plant in Iran's central Isfahan province, according to reports in Iran. No casualties were reported, Reuters said. Last week, seven ships went up in flames at the Bushehr port, and an explosion occurred at a chemical plant in the Razavi Khorasan Province in eastern Iran. These incidents were the latest in a string of mysterious events, which began on June 30. A gas explosion shook a residential building in Tehran, Iran, on Saturday, injuring one person, Iran's semi-official ISNA reported. On Friday, IRIB reported that an explosion was heard in Western Tehran, and...