A dramatic slowdown in deep ocean currents matches a major reset in Earth's ice ages about 1 million years ago, new evidence from the South Atlantic seafloor suggests.

The discovery doesn't mean the ocean current stall-out is the only culprit behind the change in Earth's incessant ice ages, the study authors said. However, the findings provide new evidence that Earth's oceans can significantly alter its climate.

"We cannot tell for sure what broke the cycle," said lead study author Leopoldo Pena of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York. "Our evidence shows the oceans played a major role."

For unknown reasons, about 950,000 years ago, Earth's ice age cycles suddenly lengthened, from 41,000 years to 100,000 years. The planet's thermostat was tweaked at the same time, with ice ages growing colder than before.

The cougar wandered through the centre, in Salt Lake City, before settling down in the doorway of a steak restaurant

This isn't something you expect to see on a normal shopping trip - a mountain lion having a browse.

Shoppers were stunned when they spotted the wild animal, also known as a cougar, puma or panther, relaxing outside a doorway before taking a stroll through the mall.

The big cat was caught on camera wandering through the Jordan Commons Centre, in Sandy, Salt Lake City, in Utah, at about 8am yesterday.

Leesha Francis, who works in an office in the mall, said she was scared when she saw the animal sitting in the doorway of a steakhouse in the mall.

* Witnesses described seeing a funnel of cloud over the English Channel

* Coastguards launched a lifeboat, but there was no distress signal

* Seaside town of Selsey hit by tornadoes before, in 1998 and 1986

Dramatic pictures emerged today of a tornado-like cloud formation whirling in the skies off the coast of West Sussex.

Stunned witnesses described seeing the giant funnel of cloud over the English Channel near the seaside town of Selsey around 7.15pm.

Coastguards launched a lifeboat as a precaution, but there was no distress signal.

A sick humpback whale that touched the hearts of people along the Sunshine Coast has finally died.

The 6.5m mammal was first seen off the Gold Coast a week ago and slowly swam north, reaching the Mudjimba area by Thursday.

On Friday it returned south and attracted a large crowd as it rubbed against the rock wall at the mouth of the Mooloolah River.

But as darkness fell on Friday night, the young whale swam quietly into the river and passed away overnight.

A spokesman for the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection said the whale stranded itself within the Mooloolaba marina, where it died under a pontoon.

Conservationists are puzzled at a freaky phenomenon blamed on this winter's monster storms.

A bird rescue centre is caring for six giant petrels after concerned members of the public found the birds in distress.

New Zealand Bird Rescue's Lyn MacDonald said in 27 years working at the shelter, she'd never had more than one giant petrel at a time. In fact, she rarely saw more than one a year. Each of the six birds now at the shelter arrived separately over the past few weeks.

The latest, found near Muriwai, arrived yesterday.

MacDonald believed the most rational explanation lay with wild storms of the last few weeks causing the birds to be blown off course. Yet there were plenty of similar storms over the last quarter-century, and no subsequent increase in wounded petrel sightings.

In Connecticut, we're used to seeing Beluga whales at Mystic Aquarium, but residents in Fall River, Massachusetts are getting an unusual sight in an unusual place. A Beluga whale was spotted in the Taunton River over the past several days.

"It's very rare to see a Beluga by itself this far south," Dr. Tracy Romano of Mystic Aquarium told WNPR. "It was last sighted here a week ago, on the 18th."

Romano, Mystic Aquarium's Executive Vice President of Research and Zoological Operations, is leading the team while it looks for the whale in the Taunton River. She said Belugas prefer Arctic and sub-arctic waters, and travel in pods. "This unusual sighting in our own back yard is anomalous behavior for a Beluga," she said, "and we would like to find out why."

There's new activity at Puu Oo crater. On Friday morning, lava broke out at four locations on the crater's northeast flank, producing a channel flow that had traveled nearly a mile as of 11 a.m. that day. The northeast flow remained active Saturday morning, geologists at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported.

The event began when the crater floor subsided, causing a collapse of spatter cones, which revealed small lava ponds inside. Geologists attributed the event to magma accumulating in a mostly horizontal layer about 1,640 feet below the crater, located along Kilauea's east rift zone.

The new flow may have had an impact on the Kahaualea 2 flow, which extends 4.4 miles northeast of the crater, according to HVO.

"From this morning's webcam views, it's clear that the flow is still hot but is far less active than prior to the June 27 collapse," the observatory reported Saturday. "We should know with more certainty over the next few days whether the Kahaualea 2 flow has stalled."

Residents of several Midwest states would be just fine not seeing any more rainfall for a couple of weeks, but they might have to wait a few more days to get the fair weather they've craved.

River levels have soared over the past few weeks in South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin, flooding towns, killing crops and even setting off a mudslide in Minneapolis. The Mississippi River has been pushed into major flood stage in the Twin Cities, as have 50-year-old levees, according to TwinCities.com.

St. Paul, Minnesota, was placed under a state of emergency for the first time since 2011, according to a Chicago Tribune report. The declaration allows the state to move necessary resources into the area to aid in the recovery.

Every county in Utah will be covered by a disaster declaration because of the ongoing drought after the Agriculture Department on Tuesday added two new counties and their adjacent areas. The designation will allow farmers in the state to seek low-interest emergency loans.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a letter to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert that the department would add Duchesne and Uintah counties to the disaster declaration as well as nine counties that abut the area, including three in Colorado.

All but two of Utah counties were previously included in the disaster area and the latest move covers the rest of the state. Some counties are covered as primary disasters while others are included because they are contiguous to the initial areas.

Stromboli (Eolian Islands, Italy): Activity remains elevated. A high level of magma causes continuous spattering and many strombolian eruptions from several vents on the crater terrace:


Frequent rockfalls are occurring on the Sciara del Fuoco, but (so far at least) no new lava overflows.

Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan):
A stronger phase of activity is occurring at the volcano. During the past 24 hours, 4 vulcanian-type explosions were registered, ejecting ash plumes to up to 13,000 ft (4.2 km) altitude. In addition, the volcano has continuous phases of ash emissions following the explosions. Ash plumes, some of them relatively thick have been drifting S, SE and E. Compared to last year, the volcano has been less active, however. So far, there have been approx. 240 recorded eruptions (explosions), while this number last year at the same time was already almost double (435).

Kilauea (Hawai'i): (29 Jun) A new lava breakout occurred Friday early morning (local time) from a new vent on the outer northern flank of Pu'u 'O'o crater. It feeds a new lava flow with several branches headed to the north and northeast. The most advanced of the them traveled to the NW and had quickly reached a length of approx 1 km yesterday, but has not advanced much since.
The event was marked by a sudden deflation of the cone, indicating that magma drained from underneath the Pu'u 'O'o crater terrace and moved to the new vent. This rapid drop in magma level under the crater terrace resulted in the collapse of several of the spatter cones. Until yesterday, these had been the site of frequent overflows and were feeding the Kahaual'a2 flow field.

Overall, activity at the volcano has been relatively stable over the past months, with good magma supply to both the summit lava lake in Halema'uma'u and the Pu'u 'O'o vents on the eastern rift zone in 10 km distance. The new vent at Pu'u 'O'o is simply a change in the surface configuration of vents for Kilauea's continued magma supply.