The dead body of an 11m-long whale has been discovered in an open-air swimming pool in Australia.
Early morning swimmers discovered the humpback whale, which had been washed into the ocean pool in Sydney by heavy seas.
The 30-tonne young adult mammal was washed up at Newport beach, ending up in the man-made swimming baths which are filled with sea water.
"It does have some external injuries but there's no way of knowing whether they were ante-mortem or post-mortem," said Wendy McFarlane from the Organisation for the Rescue and Research of Cetaceans in Australia (ORRCA).
Ms McFarlane said one possible explanation for the otherwise seemingly healthy animal to die at sea could be that it had been struck by a ship.
It is thought the whale died several days ago.
The beach has now been closed due to the risk of sharks being attracted to the area by the rotting carcass.
The authorities are now deciding how best to remove the whale.
They may try to wash it back out to sea at high tide, or resort to the least preferred option of cutting it up and removing it in sections.
Earth Changes
Xinyuan, Xinjiang - The bodies of three additional victims have been pulled from an iron ore mine that was buried by a mudslide in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 21 thus far, local authorities said Wednesday.
Seven people remain missing in the mine, according to Xue Weichang, deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) committee of Xinyuan county.
The fatal mudslide, which occurred at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday in the township of Araltobe, Xinyuan county in the Kazak autonomous prefecture of Ili, trapping 28 workers in the mine.
More than 500 rescuers are working to carry out search and rescue operations.
A survey conducted by the local land resource authorities found that the disaster was a result of downpours that hit Xinyuan on Sunday.
The local meteorological department said heavy rains will continue to pound the region from Aug. 2 to 4.
Seven people remain missing in the mine, according to Xue Weichang, deputy secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) committee of Xinyuan county.
The fatal mudslide, which occurred at 12:30 a.m. Tuesday in the township of Araltobe, Xinyuan county in the Kazak autonomous prefecture of Ili, trapping 28 workers in the mine.
More than 500 rescuers are working to carry out search and rescue operations.
A survey conducted by the local land resource authorities found that the disaster was a result of downpours that hit Xinyuan on Sunday.
The local meteorological department said heavy rains will continue to pound the region from Aug. 2 to 4.
© Barry Lewis/Alamy
Another sign of impending food shortages
Another sign of impending food shortages
The devil is set to get into the blackberries later than ever before this century, according to early reports from the UK's annual survey of wild trees and shrubs' fruiting season.
The traditional phrase for the fruit over-ripening and losing its crisp taste is unlikely to be bandied around until mid or late August, if first reports from the mass exercise prove to be a consistent pattern.
Early indications from the army of amateur naturalists - or "citizen scientists" as they are now called by the project's organisers at the Woodland Trust - show a delay of eight days over all previous first sightings dating back to the year 2000. Similar setbacks, almost certainly due to the dismal weather since late March, are also affecting rowan and elderberry.
© USGS
Thursday, August 02, 2012 at 09:56:44 UTC
Thursday, August 02, 2012 at 07:56:44 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
4.706°S, 153.228°E
Depth
70.6 km (43.9 miles)
Region
NEW IRELAND REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Distances
34 km (21 miles) SE of Taron, PNG
114 km (70 miles) ESE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea
304 km (188 miles) WNW of Arawa, Papua New Guinea
354 km (219 miles) ENE of Kimbe, Papua New Guinea
The worst US drought in 50 years is having a significant effect on global food prices
Such is the gloomy worldview of Jeremy Grantham, chief investment strategist of Boston-based institutional money manager GMO LLC. He envisions a future of scarce resources, where food and the means to produce it is the coin of an unstable realm.
"We are five years into a severe global food crisis that is very unlikely to go away," Grantham wrote in a letter to GMO clients, published late Tuesday.
"It will threaten poor countries with increased malnutrition and starvation and even collapse," Grantham predicted. "Resource squabbles and waves of food-induced migration will threaten global stability and global growth. This threat is badly underestimated by almost everybody and all institutions with the possible exception of some military establishments."
Comment: Yes, you can rest assured that the Pentagon is at least aware enough of the reality of the situation to have preparations in place to cope with the social and political turmoil to follow.
© USGS
Thursday, August 02, 2012 at 09:38:31 UTC
Thursday, August 02, 2012 at 04:38:31 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location
8.379°S, 74.245°W
Depth
143.3 km (89.0 miles)
Region
CENTRAL PERU
Distances
34 km (21 miles) E of Pucallpa, Peru
143 km (88 miles) SE of Contamana, Peru
191 km (118 miles) WSW of Cruzeiro Do Sul, Brazil
219 km (136 miles) ENE of Tingo Maria, Peru
© moriab.blogspot.com
23 July 2012 - City of Neyshabour, Iran - A new round of protests begin, this time against food prices.
23 July 2012 - City of Neyshabour, Iran - A new round of protests begin, this time against food prices.
But the economic effects of the sharp rise in agricultural commodities have barely begun. A jump of 30-50 per cent in benchmark corn, wheat and soyabean prices has revived memories of the world's last food crisis in 2007-08, and large consumers from Egypt and Morocco to South Korea and Taiwan are bracing for a renewed bout of food inflation.
Marc Sadler, head of agriculture risk management at the World Bank, says: "For sure there is growing concern across the world from developing countries about what this may mean for them."
The biggest impact is likely to be on countries dependent on agricultural imports. How they react to the rise in prices will be crucial, analysts say: if, as in 2007, they respond by stockpiling or panic-buying, that could add fuel to the rally.
© @gazawia via Twitter
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn sinkhole: Does anyone out there still think the rate at which these things are appearing is 'normal'?
Bay Ridge, Brooklyn sinkhole: Does anyone out there still think the rate at which these things are appearing is 'normal'?
The 20-foot-deep by 20-foot-wide hole, which formed at around 6 p.m., is located between 4th and 5th avenues in Bay Ridge. Crews stabilized the situation Wednesday night, but they may be working to fill in the massive hole for days, officials said.
Maddie Flood said she and her mother, Annette, had just parked their car shortly before it was partially swallowed by the hole, leaving it leaning "like the Titanic."
"We're so blessed. If we were five minutes later or anything, we could have been in the hole," she told 1010 WINS' Aaron Gerberg.
© Unknown
The volcano, about 49 kilometres off the coast of Whakatane, is a popular tourist spot, but GNS volcanologist Michael Rosenberg says those visiting it should be cautious even though the alert level for the island had not changed.
"Eruptions can occur at any time with little or no warning. The recent changes in activity suggest that the hydrothermal system has become unstable, and as a result the risk has increased," Rosenberg said.
GNS Science has changed the volcano's code from a "normal, non eruptive state" to "experiencing signs of elevated unrest above known background levels".
The volcano's lake level quickly rose by about three to five metres sometime between Friday and Saturday last week, exposing a "vigorous" flow of gas and steam into the air, Rosenberg said.
It has risen in the past, but took much longer than the 24 hours it took to rise three to five metres on Friday and Saturday, he said.
During the past few weeks there had also been some minor volcanic tremor, including several hours on Saturday, Monday and Tuesday.
© Unknown
An additional 22 major earthquakes have impacted only the southern part of the so-called Cascadia fault that runs from the Oregon areas of Coos Bay to Newport, the study said. "The southern margin of Cascadia has a much higher recurrence level for major earthquakes than the northern end and, frankly, it is overdue for a rupture," the study's lead author Chris Goldfinger said in a statement.
