This takes "two places at once" to a whole new, lower level.
Iceland's Silfra fissure is a deep, watery crack between the North American and Eurasian continents. It's the place where the two massive tectonic plates meet and are slowly drifting apart, causing earthquakes about once a decade.
For many, Silfra is the dive of a lifetime. Not only can you touch two separate continents during a dive, but the frigid glacial water is remarkably blue and astoundingly pure: Visibility typically extends over 300 feet in most parts of the fissure, making it home to some of the clearest water in the world.
Armed with cameras, Wethorse Productions (video above) and underwater photographer Alex Mustard (images below) took dives at Silfra, determined to document the place where "the earth is ripping apart."
The results are a reminder that just when you think you've seen it all from planet Earth, you ain't seen nothing yet.
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WASHINGTON (AP) — As the United States and world powers gather again in an attempt to end Syria's civil war, Russia appears to be calling the shots.
Nations meeting Friday in New York and the U.N. will essentially be negotiating a Russian plan for a "political transition," based on the Syrian government's consent and with no clear reference to President Bashar Assad's departure.
And as they look for a way to secure and enforce a peace that has proved all too elusive since 2011, Russia's recent military intervention appears to be providing the key leverage. As President Barack Obama said earlier this month, rebels who join the process could enjoy "pockets of cease-fire" where they no longer face Syrian or Russian bombs. The implication was that those who refuse could still be targeted.
In any event, diplomats from East and West say the chances for ending the conflict between Assad's military and moderate rebel forces are better now than they've been for a long while. All speak of seizing the momentum of several groundbreaking meetings in recent months.
For the first time, the rise of the Islamic State group has the U.S., Russia and even sworn enemies such as Saudi Arabia and Iran committed to a blueprint for peace negotiations and a set of principles for Syria's future. These are expected to be endorsed by the U.N. Security Council on Friday, following meetings among foreign ministers in New York. The body has passed no such resolution previously.
There are other signs of progress. The opposition is finalizing the makeup of its delegation for talks with the government that are supposed to start next month. Jordan is close to completing a list of militant groups that could join a unity government, and which, like the Islamic State and al-Qaida, would be declared terrorists and enemies of all.
Still, "very real" gaps remain, Samantha Power, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters this week.
For one, the Russian division of "terrorist" vs. legitimate rebel forces differs significantly from that of U.S. and Arab governments, diplomats say. And no agreement can be reached if Russia isn't satisfied.
An even bigger divide concerns Assad himself, with Washington desperate to secure a guarantee that he will eventually leave office in a transition, having abandoned Obama's previous demand that the Syrian leader step down immediately. Russia has spent the last five years blocking any international strategy or U.N. resolution that would show Assad the door.
Matthew Rycroft, Britain's U.N. ambassador, said these issues and the mechanics of a cease-fire will all be on the table Friday. A Security Council resolution on the Syrian peace process, he said, would be a "very rare showing of unity" for world powers who've been bitterly divided even as death tolls have soared past 300,000 and migrant crises and violent attacks have engulfed Europe and beyond.
To this day, the U.S. and its European and Arab allies are supporting anti-Assad rebels with training, equipment and funds. Russia is providing not only diplomatic and financial cover to Syria's government, but targeting Assad's moderate opponents in airstrikes, according to Western governments. Meanwhile, Iranian soldiers and proxy Hezbollah forces are dying on the battlefield alongside Assad's troops.
Nevertheless, top diplomats such as Secretary of State John Kerry have found cause for optimism in declarations that all are now interested in securing a broad peace that would allow the world to concentrate on defeating Islamic State extremists. The group has exploited the war's chaos to seize large parts of Syria and Iraq for its self-proclaimed caliphate.
The shared commitment against IS has governments believing they can sidestep their disagreements on Assad and other matters to end the killing. For the U.S., that has meant increasingly vague statements on when Assad might have to relinquish authority and even declaring the opposition's demand for his immediate ouster — long America's own stance — a "non-starting position."
In many ways, the parameters of the international mediation were framed early on in Syria's war by disagreements between Washington and Moscow. Russia prevailed in many of these disputes.
When diplomats gathered in Geneva in June 2012 to hash out a strategy, U.N. peace envoy Kofi Annan wanted a transitional government that would exclude "those whose continued presence and participation would undermine the credibility of the transition and jeopardize stability and reconciliation."
"That was code for excluding Assad," former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who backed such language, noted in her book "Hard Choices."
But the Russians balked, and also prevented the inclusion of any penalties for noncompliance.
As a compromise, Clinton said she herself put forward the idea of a new Syrian government comprised of individuals chosen by "mutual consent," believing that an accord along such lines would leave "Assad and his cronies ... stripped of their authority." The Russians took it as providing the Syrian leader a veto over any proposal for a would-be replacement.
The plan never went anywhere. After Kerry replaced Clinton as secretary of state, the talk went from "changing Assad's calculus" to something closer to Russia's position: an acknowledgement that he wouldn't have to give up the presidency on "Day One" of a transition.
When direct talks between the Syrian parties finally occurred in 2014, they never even got to questions of leadership. Yet as the world community now tries again, the so-called "Geneva communique" is still accepted as the basis for diplomacy.
The United States has a lot riding on engineering a cease-fire and jumpstarting Syria's transition.
Obama, who has ruled out any significant deployment of U.S. ground forces, has failed to build an American-trained, local fighting force or cajole Arab partners into sending their forces into Syria to defeat the Islamic State. While Kurdish Peshmerga and Arab militants have fought effectively, no one sees their numbers or strength as sufficient to achieve the mission.
The U.S. may have greater luck if peace between Syria's government and mainstream rebel groups holds. American officials hope each would then cooperate and turn their guns on IS, with regional powers such as Saudi Arabia filling the remaining needs for a ground force.
It's unclear if everyone would be on board, or if Russia would view such developments in its interests.
___
Edith M. Lederer and Cara Anna at the United Nations contributed to this report.
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BEIJING (Reuters) -- China warned residents across a large part of its north on Friday to prepare for a wave of choking smog arriving over the weekend, the worst of which is expected over Beijing, prompting the capital to issue its second ever "red alert".
The National Meteorological Centre said the smog would stretch from Xian, home to the world-famous Terracotta Warriors, across part of central China, through Beijing and up into Shenyang and Harbin in the frigid northeast.
The air pollution would begin rolling in from about Saturday evening and last until Tuesday, with visibility in the worst affected areas such as Beijing likely to fall to less than 1 km (0.6 mile), it said.
The pollution index would probably exceed 500 in Beijing and parts of Hebei province, which surrounds the capital, it said. Residents are encouraged to remain indoors at levels higher than 300, according to government guidelines.
The Beijing city government issued its first "red alert" last week following criticism that previous bouts of smog had failed to trigger the highest warning level.
Beijing's second red alert comes after a landmark climate agreement was reached in Paris earlier this month, setting a course to move away from a fossil fuel-driven economy within decades in a bid to arrest global warming.
A red alert is triggered when the government believes air quality will surpass a level of 200 on an air quality index that measures various pollutants for at least three days. The U.S. government deems a level of more than 200 "very unhealthy".
In Beijing, a red alert means around half the vehicles are removed from the roads with an odd-even license plate system enforced. Schools are recommended to close and outdoor construction is banned.
"I'm very concerned about the pollution, I think the government needs to put more effort into solving this," said Cheng Xianke, a 34-year-old Beijing software developer.
The Beijing environment bureau said the red alert would last from 7 a.m. Saturday to midnight on Tuesday. The official Xinhua news agency said the smog would be worse than last week.
"Parts of north China will see the worst smog so far this year from Saturday," it said, citing the National Meteorological Centre.
Xinhua put blame for the smog on the over-reliance of much of northern China on coal for its energy needs and the heavy industries surrounding cities.
"From a long-term perspective, the improvement in air quality cannot just rely on temporary production suspensions or limitations for certain companies," it said.
"Fundamentally it needs to come from an adjustment in industry and energy structure, as cutting emissions from the source is the permanent solution."
NO OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
Beijing is not the only city to have a colored alert system, and the restrictions rolled out in the most severe cases are broadly similar.
Hebei's environment protection bureau said it was issuing an orange alert, the second-highest, starting from Friday. Schools will not close and there will be no vehicle restrictions but it recommends no outdoor activities and that people use public transport.
Hebei's Baoding city has already begun enforcing rules even stricter than a red alert, an official surnamed Liu at the city's environment protection bureau told Reuters, including a December-long enforcement of odd-even license plate restrictions and total ban on outdoor construction for the month.
After decades of unbridled economic growth, China's leadership has vowed to crack down on severe levels of air, water and soil pollution, including the heavy smog that often blankets major cities.
City residents have previously criticized authorities for being too slow to issue red alerts for heavy smog.
Shanghai schools banned outdoor activities and authorities limited work at construction sites and factories earlier this week.
Environmental Protection Minister Chen Jining vowed this month to punish agencies and officials for any failure to implement a pollution emergency response plan quickly.
City residents have previously criticized authorities for being too slow to issue red alerts for heavy smog.
Shanghai schools banned outdoor activities and authorities limited work at construction sites and factories earlier this week.
Environmental Protection Minister Chen Jining vowed this month to punish agencies and officials for any failure to implement a pollution emergency response plan quickly.
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SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemeni peace talks in Switzerland were halted on Friday after the country's Shiite Houthi rebel delegation suspended all meetings with the internationally recognized government in protest at its cease-fire violations, members of Yemen's two warring sides told The Associated Press.
The Houthis said they would not resume talks unless the U.N. condemned government breaches of the week-long truce, the delegates said. Houthi fighters have also ignored the cease-fire agreement.
The peace negotiations began Tuesday at the Swiss Olympic House in the village of Macolin, a training center for elite athletes. Police armed with automatic weapons patrolled outside the facility, which was cordoned off with metal barriers requiring journalists to keep about 50 meters (yards) away.
The U.N. mediator has sought to keep a lid on communications about the goings-on inside — with mixed results. Officials have never fully acknowledged the location of the talks, and Ahmad Fawzi, a U.N. spokesman in Geneva, has said participants signed a "non-disclosure" agreement pledging not to speak to the media until they were over.
Yemen has been torn by fighting pitting the Houthis and army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against pro-government forces, which are backed by a U.S.-supported, Saudi-led coalition, as well as southern separatists, religious extremists and other militants.
On the ground, fighters from both sides are refusing to respect the cease-fire, security officials neutral in the conflict said.
A member of the Houthi delegation said that the U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, had "promised to condemn the government and then he did not."
Speaking on Yemeni state TV, the Information Minister, Mohamed Abdel-Meguid, denied that the government violated the cease-fire and accused the Houthis of "making up excuses" to delay the peace process.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
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