Earth ChangesS


Frog

90 per cent of pandas in jeopardy after China earthquake

Jane Macartney
The Times
Fri, 13 Jun 2008 23:45 UTC


panda
©N/A

Nearly all of China's endangered pandas are in jeopardy after the earthquake last month devastated the remote mountain corner that is their last remaining habitat.
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Attention

Powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake shakes Japan


Associated Press
Fri, 13 Jun 2008 21:24 UTC
TOKYO - A powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake rocked northern Japan early Saturday, swaying buildings and forcing authorities to close highways and stop high-speed trains. News reports said some people were cut by broken glass.

Authorities said two nuclear power plants in the area were not damaged and continued to operate normally, national broadcaster NHK reported. There was no danger of tsunami.

The 8:43 a.m. quake was centered in the northern prefecture of Iwate about 280 miles north of Tokyo.
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Magic Hat

Deer With Rare 'Unicorn' Horn Spotted in Italy


Associated Press
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 17:48 UTC
ROME - A deer with a single horn in the center of its head - much like the fabled, mythical unicorn - has been spotted in a nature preserve in Italy, park officials said Wednesday.

"This is fantasy becoming reality," Gilberto Tozzi, director of the Center of Natural Sciences in Prato, told The Associated Press. "The unicorn has always been a mythological animal."
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Cloud Lightning

Floods prompt evacuation call in Iowa

Kay Henderson and Andrew Stern
Reuters
Fri, 13 Jun 2008 14:27 UTC
DES MOINES - Officials in Iowa's capital city urged residents threatened by the rising Des Moines River to evacuate on Friday, calling the situation "extremely dangerous."

"We are commencing a voluntary evacuation," Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie said, predicting the evacuation would be complete by the evening. "We think that the levels are going to be at or very close to levee height."

Image
©REUTERS/Dave Kaup
A farm building is immersed in floodwaters near Thurman in southwest Iowa June 12, 2008.
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Cloud Lightning

Weather Channel Founder: The Global Warming Scam and the Price of a Gallon of Gas

John Coleman
kusi.com
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 11:38 UTC
John Coleman's Comments Before the San Diego Chamber of Commerce

You may want to give credit where credit is due to Al Gore and his global warming campaign the next time you fill your car with gasoline, because there is a direct connection between Global Warming and four dollar a gallon gas. It is shocking, but true, to learn that the entire Global Warming frenzy is based on the environmentalist's attack on fossil fuels, particularly gasoline. All this big time science, international meetings, thick research papers, dire threats for the future; all of it, comes down to their claim that the carbon dioxide in the exhaust from your car and in the smoke stacks from our power plants is destroying the climate of planet Earth. What an amazing fraud; what a scam.
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Cloud Lightning

Rising water forces evacuation of Iowa hospital


Associated Press
Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:13 UTC
CEDAR RAPIDS- Rising water from the Cedar River forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital Friday after residents of more than 3,000 homes fled for higher ground. A railroad bridge collapsed, and 100 city blocks were under water.

The hospital's 176 patients, including about 30 patients in a nursing home facility at the hospital, were being evacuated to other hospitals in the region. The evacuation started late Thursday night and continued Friday morning in the city of 124,000 residents.
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Bell

Iowa Floods: 'Beyond what anybody could even imagine'


NBC News and Agencies
Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:58 UTC
Officials evacuated patients from a Cedar Rapids hospital on Friday as the rising waters from the Cedar River confounded the city's best efforts to secure the downtown area.

Cedar Rapids Flood
©Steve Pope/AP
Downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was submerged Thursday by the rising Cedar River. Around 100 blocks were under water, forcing some 10,000 people to flee.
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Evil Rays

Mild earthquakes felt in northern Israel


Ynet
Fri, 13 Jun 2008 05:45 UTC
Northern resident awaken by 3.3 magnitude earthquake felt throughout area; No injuries or damage reported. Tremor follows four moderate earthquakes felt in Israel Thursday.

Three earthquakes originating in Lebanon were felt in northern Israel on Friday morning. Numerous citizens reported the first quake felt mostly in the Galilee.

The Geophysical Institute of Israel (GII) reported that the first quake felt at 8:30 am measured in at 3.8 on the Richter Scale; and the second and third quakes felt at around 9:15 am measured in at 3.5 and 3.4. No injuries or damage were reported.

Friday's tremors followed four separate earthquakes which were felt throughout Israel on Thursday.
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Cloud Lightning

There's rain on the grill and snow in the passes

Jeff Switzer
The Daily Herald
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 08:15 UTC
University of Washington professor says it's the coldest spring since 1917

There's further proof that this spring has been uncomfortably and depressingly cold -- the coldest in memory, the coldest since 1917.

Validation came Tuesday from the University of Washington, where Cliff Mass, an atmospheric sciences professor, published his new "barbecue index."

"I've gotten a lot of calls about how unusual this weather's been," said Mass. "In roughly 90 years, this is the most ­unpleasant year for being outside and having a barbecue."

Mass and meteorologist Mark Albright found proof of the pain after reviewing warm spring days since 1894. They tallied the number of spring days above 60 degrees.
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Cloud Lightning

Symbolic? Lightning Hits Chevron Oil Operations In Indonesia's Riau


Dow Jones
Thu, 05 Jun 2008 17:22 UTC
Three oil fields in the central Sumatran province of Riau with a combined output of 400,000 barrels a day have been halting oil production since late Thursday after lightning struck power transformers and obstructed the supply of power to the three fields, an official said Friday.

Two of the fields are the Duri and Minas fields, operated by Chevron, and have a combined output of 379,000 barrels a day. The other is a 21,000-barrel-a-day field operated by PT Bumi Siak Pusako, which is controlled by the Riau government. Bumi's field uses electricity generated by Chevron's power plant in Duri.
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