Earth Changes
More than 50 people have been killed and hundreds may be missing in northern China after a reservoir of mining waste collapsed, burying cars and homes under a wall of sludge.
Tracking the projected path of Hurricane Ike - Hurricane Ike moved toward western Cuba and the Gulf of Mexico oil fields early on Tuesday.
Ike weakened on Monday as it bore down on Cuba, where it blew off roofs, toppled trees and flattened sugar cane fields like a giant lawn mower on a path toward the U.S. oil hub in the Gulf of Mexico.
Ike weakened on Monday as it bore down on Cuba, where it blew off roofs, toppled trees and flattened sugar cane fields like a giant lawn mower on a path toward the U.S. oil hub in the Gulf of Mexico.
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Wellington, New Zealand -- A gang of unruly teenage bush parrots have wrought havoc at a bird sanctuary in New Zealand by using their powerful beaks to destroy nesting boxes.
The native Kaka parrots - juvenile birds that haven't reached sexual maturity - have torn off nesting box doors and vandalized the bird homes, sanctuary conservation officer Matt Robertson said Friday.
Twenty-four of 44 new Kaka nest boxes built over the winter have been ripped apart, he said, adding that the birds then gouged out chunks of wood with their strong beaks.
"It may be that the challenge of taking doors off nest boxes is the Kaka equivalent to the Rubik's Cube," said Robertson. "As far as I'm aware, this extent of destruction has never been observed."
Kaka are acutely threatened by loss of habitat, competition from introduced species, and predators like stoats, ferrets and wild cats. They disappeared from the capital Wellington in the late 19th century when forests were cleared for settlement.
After an absence of more than a century, Kaka parrots were reintroduced to the Karori Sanctuary in Wellington in 2002 with six captive-raised birds. Since then, sanctuary staff have counted more than 100 juvenile parrots.
The birds are highly intelligent and extremely resourceful, Robertson said.
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| ©AP/Kakori Sanctuary |
| Teenage native Kaka parrot |
The native Kaka parrots - juvenile birds that haven't reached sexual maturity - have torn off nesting box doors and vandalized the bird homes, sanctuary conservation officer Matt Robertson said Friday.
Twenty-four of 44 new Kaka nest boxes built over the winter have been ripped apart, he said, adding that the birds then gouged out chunks of wood with their strong beaks.
"It may be that the challenge of taking doors off nest boxes is the Kaka equivalent to the Rubik's Cube," said Robertson. "As far as I'm aware, this extent of destruction has never been observed."
Kaka are acutely threatened by loss of habitat, competition from introduced species, and predators like stoats, ferrets and wild cats. They disappeared from the capital Wellington in the late 19th century when forests were cleared for settlement.
After an absence of more than a century, Kaka parrots were reintroduced to the Karori Sanctuary in Wellington in 2002 with six captive-raised birds. Since then, sanctuary staff have counted more than 100 juvenile parrots.
The birds are highly intelligent and extremely resourceful, Robertson said.
One person died and dozens were injured after a moderate 5.6-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia's Sumatra island, a health ministry official says.
"One elderly person, 70 years old, died and 60 people were injured," Rustam Pakaya, chief of the health ministry's crisis centre, told AFP.
"One elderly person, 70 years old, died and 60 people were injured," Rustam Pakaya, chief of the health ministry's crisis centre, told AFP.
Beijing - A 6.1 magnitude earthquake shook the sea near Taiwan at 3:43 p.m. on Tuesday, said the Taiwanese weather bureau.
The quake's epicenter was 24.57 degrees north latitude and 122.71 degrees east longitude, the bureau said.
The quake's epicenter was 24.57 degrees north latitude and 122.71 degrees east longitude, the bureau said.
Council water authorities say chlorine treatment on a contaminated reservoir in the Port Douglas and Mossman region of far north Queensland has failed to kill the bacteria E. coli.
This is a review of "Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate" edited by Dr. S. Fred Singer.
This is an excellent summary for policy makers on many of the technical issues surrounding "global warming".
Those quotation marks are a reminder that the proponents of global warming have recently changed the term to "climate change". This change is largely driven by the fact that while CO2 is been increasing a few percent since 1998, global temperatures have not been increasing, and even declining since 2002.
This undermines their hypothesis that man-made CO2 "causes" global warming. It obviously doesn't. Such a vague term has the added advantage of being invoked during periods of warming, cooling, floods, droughts, hurricanes, calms, heat waves, blizzards, etc. For the users of the term it conveniently explains all of our climate tragedies in terms of abuses from capitalist nations.
This is an excellent summary for policy makers on many of the technical issues surrounding "global warming".
Those quotation marks are a reminder that the proponents of global warming have recently changed the term to "climate change". This change is largely driven by the fact that while CO2 is been increasing a few percent since 1998, global temperatures have not been increasing, and even declining since 2002.
This undermines their hypothesis that man-made CO2 "causes" global warming. It obviously doesn't. Such a vague term has the added advantage of being invoked during periods of warming, cooling, floods, droughts, hurricanes, calms, heat waves, blizzards, etc. For the users of the term it conveniently explains all of our climate tragedies in terms of abuses from capitalist nations.
The global warming theory is going into the freezer, some climate experts say.
The first half of this year was the coolest in at least five years, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). And the global warming that has taken place during the past 30 years is over, says geologist Don J. Easterbrook, a professor emeritus at Western Washington University.
Easterbrook, who has written eight books and 150 journal publications, predicts that temperatures will cool between 2065 and 2100 and that global temperatures at the end of the century will be less than 1 degree cooler than now. This is in contrast to other theories saying that temperatures will warm by as much as 10 degrees by 2100.
The first half of this year was the coolest in at least five years, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). And the global warming that has taken place during the past 30 years is over, says geologist Don J. Easterbrook, a professor emeritus at Western Washington University.
Easterbrook, who has written eight books and 150 journal publications, predicts that temperatures will cool between 2065 and 2100 and that global temperatures at the end of the century will be less than 1 degree cooler than now. This is in contrast to other theories saying that temperatures will warm by as much as 10 degrees by 2100.
WELLINGTON -- A strong earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale struck off the coast of the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu early Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
Beijing - A landslide triggered by heavy rain killed at least 26 people in northern China on Monday, while an unknown number of others remained trapped, a state news agency reported.
The flow of mud and rocks in Shanxi province collapsed a mine warehouse, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the provincial work safety bureau. It was not known how many of the victims were inside the warehouse when the landslide occurred at about 8 a.m. in Xiangfen county of Linfen city.
More than 300 police and villagers were searching for survivors, Xinhua said.
One person was injured, Xinhua reported. Twenty-two people were rescued, state broadcaster China Central Television said.
The flow of mud and rocks in Shanxi province collapsed a mine warehouse, Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the provincial work safety bureau. It was not known how many of the victims were inside the warehouse when the landslide occurred at about 8 a.m. in Xiangfen county of Linfen city.
More than 300 police and villagers were searching for survivors, Xinhua said.
One person was injured, Xinhua reported. Twenty-two people were rescued, state broadcaster China Central Television said.
