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Bizarro Earth

Earthquake sways buildings in Chilean capital

A moderate earthquake shook the Chilean capital Santiago in the midmorning on Wednesday, causing tall buildings in the city centre to sway.

The magnitude 5.0 quake occurred at 10.14am (14H14 GMT) just off the Pacific coast of Chile, 75 kilometres from the port city of Valparaiso, according to the US Geological Survey.

Bizarro Earth

Los Angeles Area Hit by 4.5-Magnitude Earthquake

A magnitude-4.5 earthquake struck the Greater Los Angeles area, the U.S. Geological Survey said in an e-mailed statement.

The epicenter of the temblor, which hit today just before 1 a.m. local time, was 45 kilometers (28 miles) northwest of Los Angeles Civic Center and seven kilometers north-northwest of Chatsworth, said the USGS, which measures seismological events.

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Twelve killed by 'mini-tsunami' in Algeria

A giant wave described by local residents as a "mini-tsunami" claimed the lives of 12 Algerian bathers last week on a beach in the west of the Mediterranean-rim country, officials said Wednesday.

©MAGELLAN Geographix

Algeria's civil protection agency could give no official explanation for the giant wave that struck a beach near the town of Mostaganem on Friday.

Bizarro Earth

Massive Mount Steele slide covers entire glacier

A massive slide that hit Mount Steele could be the largest in the recorded history of the Yukon.

Mount Steele, which stands 5,067 metres tall and is the fifth-highest peak in Canada, recently had two slides take place in the same area, on the northern face of the mountain.

©Peter von Gaza/CP
A massive slide of ice and rock on Mount Steele in the Yukon Territory triggered seismic recorders around the world.

The second slide was by far the larger of the two and occurred on July 24, two days after the original slide.

It was the equivalent of a 3.5-magnitude earthquake and was big enough to generate a seismic signal that could be picked up around the world.

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Spain burns fields to kill voles

A plague of field voles in central Spain has led the authorities to resort to controlled burning of fields.

©n/a
Farmers say they have never seen a vole plague like this one

Cloud Lightning

Tornado Hits Brooklyn with 135 mph Winds

Most of the New York City subway system was back in service by this evening's rush hour after a fierce morning storm disrupted transit service throughout much of the region and unleashed a rare and destructive tornado that whipped southwestern Brooklyn with winds of up to 135 miles an hour.

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Habitat Loss Threatens Pygmy Elephants

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - Satellite tracking of pygmy elephants has found that the endangered animals _ unique to Borneo island _ are under threat due to logging and commercial plantations encroaching on their habitat, conservationists said Thursday.

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Rescue comes too late as Yangtze River dolphin declared extinct

A Freshwater dolphin species has been declared extinct after desperate efforts to rescue it came too late.

One British zoologist yesterday described the loss of the Yangtze River dolphin as a "shocking tragedy". It is the first extinction of a large vertebrate for more than 50 years.

Bizarro Earth

Dramatic tree death increase in California since 1983 linked to warming

Federal scientists have found that tree deaths in the Sierra Nevada increased over the past two decades, coinciding with rising temperatures and drought conditions.

If temperatures continue to rise, temperate forests that receive little rain and snowfall are poised for die-backs, according to findings released Monday by the U.S. Geological Survey's Western Ecological Research Center.

Cloud Lightning

Subway flooding causes chaos for New York commuters

Flooding in New York's subway lines ground the city's morning commute to a halt on Wednesday, angering New Yorkers who are facing rail and utility fee hikes to support an aging infrastructure.

Every subway line into Manhattan was affected by flooding after a severe predawn storm sent roofs flying, toppled trees, submerged cars and inundated subway stations.

©AP/Shahrzad Elghanayan
Residents look at flooding outside their building in the Queens borough of New York early Wednesday.