Volcano erupts in Japan

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Volcano erupts in Japan

Israel bombing Gaza

Per Al Jazeera, "Israel has bombed several targets in the Gaza Strip, witnesses say, hours after the Israeli government vowed a 'disproportionate response' to rocket fire from the Palestinian territory."

Tweets are streaming in from the region, including word of a fresh strike from Gaza into Israel.

@ahmednaguib (Cairo, Egypt): crap, news is going to get ugly, Israeli warplanes drop bombs on the Egypt-Gaza border area, that's not going to be good at all :(


@QassamCount (Sderot, Israel): 5:31pm: 5 mortars land in western Negev; 2 lightly hurt http://tinyurl.com/aug2gq #Qassam #Gaza


@Okbah, a Syrian national, is live tweeting on developments in Gaza. His bio says he is in Saudi Arabia and that he is relying on government reports for his info.

@Okbah (Saudi Arabi):
مصر تدعو الوفود العربية والأجنبية بغزة للمغادرة قبل 5 فبراير #Gaza (Egypt calls for Arab and foreign delegations to leave Gaza before the February 5 # Gaza)


@Okbah (Saudi Arabi): الأن صاروخ أخر : قصف للمرة الثانيه في منطقة الحدود المصريه (Now another missile: bombed for the second time in the border area # Gaza)


@Okbah (Saudi Arabi): دخول طيران مروحي الان فى اجواء الشمال #Gaza (Now enter the helicopter flying in the skies over the north # Gaza)

Israel bombing Gaza

Iceland gives world first openly gay leader

Per CNN, "Iceland's political parties have reached an agreement that will give the country its first female prime minister and the world its first openly gay leader." Johanna Sigurdardottir, 66, was officially sworn into the position Sunday.

It did not take long for Icelanders to react on Twitter.

@hrafnhildur_yr (Hvammstangi, Iceland): A new govenment! First Icelandic female prime minister and first gay prime minister of the world. A new beginning? Let's hope so :)

@gogogic (Reykjavík, Iceland): Why isn't Johanna Sigurdardottir - the new Icelandic PM - on Twitter?



@andrisig (Reykjavík, Iceland): SNL made fun of our new PM last night. At least she isn't a half-wit. Unlike a certain former President we know :)

Iceland gives world first openly gay leader

Nadal downs Federer in five sets

Per the Brisbane Times, Rafael Nadal of Spain is the "undisputed king of tennis" after he ousted Roger Federer of Switzerland in the Australian Open men's finals in five sets, 7-5, 3-6, 7-3 (7-3), 3-6, 6-2. The 22-year-old won his sixth major and became the first Spaniard to win the Aussie Open.

The epic match forced some to lose sleep.

@marragem (Brisbane): Want to/need to go to bed but how can I miss this great fight between Federer & Nadal


The event was number one in trending on Twitter for some time, as @kinshasha pointed out.

@kinshasha (Brisbane): Even with the SuperBowl countdown well underway, Aussies are leading twitter-trends w/ Federer, Nadal, Australian Open, #ausopen, Rafa, etc

The culmination of the tournament was emotional for some, such as @djmattyg007, who was live twittering the match.

@djmattyg007 (Melbourne): and there goes yet another year of tennis. really am gonna miss it, can't recall ever watching so much of it before, especially over cricket

Nadal downs Federer in five sets

Bomb discovered in Northern Ireland

Per the Irish Independent, a large car bomb was discovered by authorities in County Down, Northern Ireland on Saturday. It was destroyed through a series of controlled explosions. A "dissident nationalist organisation" claimed responsibility.

@BenLamothe of London was one of the first to tweet on the incident, and he's been retweeted several times in the last few hours.

@BenLamothe (Islington, London): Here we go again (?): 300lb Car bomb found near Northern Ireland school. http://bit.ly/J3sj #thetroubles #ireland #belfast #terrorism

The news traveled quickly, but at least one person was surprised it didn't make more noise.

@Rach_Jones (Madrid): wondering why the bomb in Northern Ireland isn't bigger news

Bomb discovered in Northern Ireland