36,000 bees found dead in Niestetal (Germany) - HNA

Fipronil is held responsible for the mass death of honeybees.

Mysterious Carp dead in Holter Reservoir (Montana) - KRTV

Hundreds of dead carp are floating in the popular reservoir on the Missouri River between Helena and Great Falls. Bruce Rich, the fisheries bureau chief for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said they're investigating the reason behind the dead carp, but at this point he can only speculate on the cause of their demise.

Sargodha (INP): Mysterious disease continues to killing cattle heads in different areas of Sargodha district. Highly perturbed over the death of their precious animals which are main source of their earnings, farmers have protested against the livestock department negligence.

According to details, three buffaloes worth more than seven lac rupees died of mysterious disease in Chak 32 of Southern Sargodha on Saturday. It should be mentioned that the disease which could not be detected by cattle owners and veterinary experts also has so far left dozens of cattle dead in various areas of the district. The cattle rearing people have started moving to other villages due to fear of the disease affecting their animals.

The farmers have expressed grave concern over the criminal negligence of the livestock department officials in taking steps to control the spread of disease and treatment of affected animals.

They demanded the authorities concerned for taking notice and financial assistance of the farmers who suffered losses due to deaths of cattle.

Two powerful earthquakes have struck China's north-west Gansu province, killing at least 75 people and leaving more than 400 others injured. The first earthquake near Dingxi city had a magnitude of5.9 and was shallow, with a depth of just 9.8 km (6 miles), the US Geological Survey said. Just over an hour later, a magnitude 5.6 quake hit the same area, it added. In 2008, an earthquake in Sichuan province left up to 90,000 people dead and millions homeless. A factory worker in Minxian county told AFP that he felt "violent shaking" and "ran to the yard of the [factory] plant immediately. Our factory is only one floor. When I came to the yard, I saw an 18-storey building, the tallest in our county, shaking ferociously, especially the 18th floor," he said. The area has been hit by 371 aftershocks, according to the Earthquake Administration of Gansu province. Tremors were felt in the provincial capital, Lanzhou, and as far away as Xian, 400km (250 miles) to the east.

At least 5,600 houses in the province's Zhangxian County are seriously damaged and 380 have collapsed, while some areas suffered from power cuts or mobile communications being disrupted, the earthquake administration added. "Many have been injured by collapsed houses," a doctor based in Minxian County was quoted by Reuters news agency as saying. "Many villagers have gone to local hospitals along the roads." The earthquake has caused a direct economic loss of 198 million Yuan ($32m; £21m), the Dingxi government said on its micro-blog. The closer to the surface an earthquake strikes, the more damage it can cause, our correspondent adds. The earthquake reportedly triggered a series of mudslides and landslides, making it difficult for rescuers to access some areas hit by the quake. The Gansu military police have deployed 500 soldiers, including 120 specialist rescuers, while 500 emergency tents and 2,000 quilts are also being transported to affected areas, Xinhua added. Officials from the civil affairs, transportation and earthquake departments were also visiting local towns to assess the damage, a statement on the Dingxi party website said. - BBC

A powerful earthquake has hit China's north-west Gansu province, killing at least 11 people and seriously injuring at least 81 more, officials say.

The earthquake near Dingxi city had a magnitude of 5.98 and was shallow with a depth of just 9.8 km (6 miles), according to the US Geological Survey.

Dingxi local authorities say several houses have collapsed in the quake. In 2008, an earthquake in Sichuan province left up to 90,000 people dead and millions homeless.

Officials from the civil affairs, transportation and earthquake departments are visiting local towns to assess the damage, a statement on the Dingxi party website said.

Crews of fire fighters and rescue dogs have already arrived at the scene, the BBC's Celia Hatton in Beijing reports. The closer to the surface an earthquake strikes, the more damage it can cause, our correspondent adds.

"You could see the chandeliers wobble and the windows vibrating and making noise, but there aren't any cracks in the walls," AFP quoted a clerk at Wuyang Hotel, about 40 km (25 miles) from the epicentre, as saying.

"Shop assistants all poured out onto the streets when the shaking began," the clerk said.

Event Time
2013-07-21 05:09:31 UTC
2013-07-21 17:09:31 UTC+12:00 at epicenter

Location
41.713°S 174.443°E depth=14.0km (8.7mi)

Nearby Cities
46km (29mi) ESE of Blenheim, New Zealand
53km (33mi) SSW of Karori, New Zealand
54km (34mi) SSW of Wellington, New Zealand
67km (42mi) SW of Lower Hutt, New Zealand
72km (45mi) SSW of Porirua, New Zealand

'Senator Boxer's own experts contradict Obama on Climate Change' -- warmists asked: 'Can any witnesses say they agree with Obama's statement that warming has accelerated during the past 10 years?' For several seconds, nobody said a word. Sitting just a few rows behind the expert witnesses, I thought I might have heard a few crickets chirping...

Climate Depot Round Up of July 18, 2013 Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Global Warming Hearing:

Analysis: 'Senate global warming hearing backfires on Democrats' - 'Skeptics & Roger Pielke Jr. totally dismantled warmism (scientifically, economically, rhetorically) at today's Senate hearing' (via JunkScience.com)

'Sen. Boxer's own experts contradict Obama on climate change' - During yesterday's Environment and Public Works hearings, Sen. David Vitter asked a panel of experts, including experts selected by Boxer,

"Can any witnesses say they agree with Obama's statement that warming has accelerated during the past 10 years?"

For several seconds, nobody said a word. Sitting just a few rows behind the expert witnesses, I thought I might have heard a few crickets chirping, but I couldn't tell for sure. We'll give Obama the benefit of the doubt and count the crickets in the "maybe" camp. After several seconds of deafening silence, global warming activist Heidi Cullen, who formerly served as a meteorologist for the Weather Channel, attempted to change the subject. Cullen said our focus should be on longer time periods rather than the 10-year period mentioned by Obama. When pressed, however, she contradicted Obama's central assertion and said warming has slowed, not accelerated. Several minutes later, Sen. Jeff Sessions returned to the topic and sought additional clarity. Sessions recited Obama's quote claiming accelerating global warming during the past 10 years and asked,

"Do any of you support that quote?"

Again, a prolonged and deafening silence ensued. Neither Cullen nor any of the other experts on the panel spoke a word, not even in an attempt to change the subject.

There was significant damage in the wake of a storm that blew through Lethbridge in southern Alberta on Wednesday night.

A large 6.5 earthquake has hit central New Zealand, sending people diving for cover in the capital of Wellington. The quake was felt widely across the country.

Geonet said it was centred in the Cook Strait, 20 kilometres east of Seddon at a depth of 17 kilometres. It struck at 5.09 pm (3.09pm AEST).

It is the latest in a sequence of major earthquakes that have been hitting Wellington and wider areas around central New Zealand since Thursday.

"Our team had never seen so incisive cold weather to our region, nor the cold waves more intense in recent years."

NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmosphere) describes the cold wave that will reach the Southern Cone of America and Rio Grande do Sul as "extraordinary."

MetSul Meteorology analysis says that the wave will bring polar temperature to atypical locations as far north as northern Bolivia and southern Peru as well as the Midwest of Brazil, Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais.

According to NOAA, the flow of moisture from the sea will bring snow to coastal areas of Patagonia to southern Brazil, including the province of Buenos Aires and also in Uruguay.

The report adds that heavy snow will hit much of Patagonia, reaching Viedma and Bahia Blanca with accumulated 10-15 centimeters. Should snowing, says NOAA, mostly in the province of Buenos Aires. In the area of ​​the River Plate and the southeastern Uruguay can be expected bumps of snow and snow mixed with rain (water nieve).

The cool weather that struck northeast British Columbia last week likely didn't please most Peace Region residents who saw July snow around Wonowon and Pink Mountain on Thursday, but fire crews managing wildfires in the northeast corner of the province were certainly happy with the low temperatures and precipitation.

An information bulletin issued by the Prince George Fire Centre on Friday, July 12 stated the inclement weather had allowed the Wildfire Management Branch of the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations (FLNRO) to wrap up their response to several of the wildfires in the region, reducing the number of active fires in the Prince George Fire Centre to just four.

Last week saw 16 new, small wildfires in the region, but the Fire Centre noted they didn't pose any risk to structures.

Just one of those fires was the result of human activities.

"We have had 123 fires and burned 2,136 hectares so far this year," said Dustin Eno, a fire information officer with the Prince George Fire Centre.

The majority of that activity has been in the Fort Nelson Zone.

"Last year at this time we had had 137 fires and burned 7,467 hectares," he added.