The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) has just released video footage from a whale hunt that occurred late last month.
Baird's beaked whales are rare, but are exempt from whaling bans since they are still classified as small cetaceans. Around 60 Baird's a year are hunted commercially in northern Japan and sold in Japanese supermarkets. However, tests have revealed extremely high levels of mercury in the meat, which could pose a serious health risk.
Earth Changes
© Sam Yeh/AFP/Getty Images
Local residents trapped by flooding during typhoon Morakot wait for help from rescuers, in Chiatung, Pingtung county, Taiwan, Aug. 9, 2009.
Local residents trapped by flooding during typhoon Morakot wait for help from rescuers, in Chiatung, Pingtung county, Taiwan, Aug. 9, 2009.
Rescuers on rubber dinghies, wearing life jackets and crash helmets, helped stranded villagers in hard-hit areas of China, while officials elsewhere cycled through floodwaters to deliver food to residents trapped in their homes.
Only rooftops and the highest tree branches were visible above the murky brown water that engulfed part of China's southern Cangnan county. Homes were destroyed and at least one child died after a house collapsed on him in heavy rain in Zhejiang province.
In southern Taiwan, a six-story hotel toppled into a rain-swollen river whose rushing waters had knocked out its foundations.
© US Geological Survey
The 7.1 earthquake hit 200 miles (320 kilometers) south-southwest of Tokyo at 7:55 p.m. (6:55 a.m. ET), the United States Geological Survey reported.
Its epicenter was 188 miles (303 kilometers) deep, the USGS said.
The Japan Meteorological Agency reported its magnitude as 6.9, Kyodo said.
There were no immediate reports of damage, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a tsunami warning
At least 43 people were feared dead and several others injured in massive landslides caused by heavy rains in three hilly villages of Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand on Friday morning. The villages - Jhetalan, Laa, and Maati - situated at a height of 6000 feet and 65 km north of Pithoragarh, were washed away by the massive slides at around 2 am, district magistrate N S Negi said.
"The impact of the rains was so heavy that a whole mountain came sliding down on the three villages, instantly destroying several dwellings," Minister for Planning, Labour, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant told HT.
"The impact of the rains was so heavy that a whole mountain came sliding down on the three villages, instantly destroying several dwellings," Minister for Planning, Labour, and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Prakash Pant told HT.
A team of researchers says it has largely put to rest a long debate on the underlying mechanism that has caused periodic ice ages on Earth for the past 2.5 million years - they are ultimately linked to slight shifts in solar radiation caused by predictable changes in Earth's rotation and axis.
In a publication to be released Friday in the journal Science, researchers from Oregon State University and other institutions conclude that the known wobbles in Earth's rotation caused global ice levels to reach their peak about 26,000 years ago, stabilize for 7,000 years and then begin melting 19,000 years ago, eventually bringing to an end the last ice age.
The melting was first caused by more solar radiation, not changes in carbon dioxide levels or ocean temperatures, as some scientists have suggested in recent years.
In a publication to be released Friday in the journal Science, researchers from Oregon State University and other institutions conclude that the known wobbles in Earth's rotation caused global ice levels to reach their peak about 26,000 years ago, stabilize for 7,000 years and then begin melting 19,000 years ago, eventually bringing to an end the last ice age.
The melting was first caused by more solar radiation, not changes in carbon dioxide levels or ocean temperatures, as some scientists have suggested in recent years.
At least eight people were killed as Typhoon Morakot swamped the northern Philippines with flooding, the National Disaster Coordinating Council said Friday.
The casualties include several international tourists who had returned from a trip to Mt. Pinatubo, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.
The destructive path of Morakot, also called Typhoon Koko, included Taiwan and South China. The storm was expected to bring its strong winds and the threat of soaking the island when it makes its expected landfall late Friday or early Saturday, CNN reported.
The typhoon, with wind gusts clocked at 120 mph, could dump between 40 inches and 50 inches of rain, CNN meteorologists said.
The casualties include several international tourists who had returned from a trip to Mt. Pinatubo, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.
The destructive path of Morakot, also called Typhoon Koko, included Taiwan and South China. The storm was expected to bring its strong winds and the threat of soaking the island when it makes its expected landfall late Friday or early Saturday, CNN reported.
The typhoon, with wind gusts clocked at 120 mph, could dump between 40 inches and 50 inches of rain, CNN meteorologists said.
© USGS
Friday, August 07, 2009 at 10:49:34 UTC
Friday, August 07, 2009 at 03:49:34 AM at epicenter
Location:
40.316°N, 124.626°W
Depth:
16.4 km (10.2 miles)
Region:
Offshore Northern California
Distances:
29 km (18 miles) W (268°) from Petrolia, CA
42 km (26 miles) SW (227°) from Ferndale, CA
48 km (30 miles) WSW (245°) from Rio Dell, CA
66 km (41 miles) SW (217°) from Eureka, CA
334 km (208 miles) NW (307°) from Sacramento, CA
A small earthquake rattled the Los Angeles area early this morning.
The magnitude-3.3 quake struck around 1:53 a.m. Friday and was centered about 4 miles north-northwest of Fontana and 44 miles east of the Los Angeles Civic Center, according to a preliminary report by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The survey says the earthquake's epicenter was relatively shallow, just one-tenth of a mile below the surface.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injury.
The magnitude-3.3 quake struck around 1:53 a.m. Friday and was centered about 4 miles north-northwest of Fontana and 44 miles east of the Los Angeles Civic Center, according to a preliminary report by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The survey says the earthquake's epicenter was relatively shallow, just one-tenth of a mile below the surface.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injury.
Honeybees are in serious trouble. Last year nearly a third of the UK's 240,000 honeybee colonies were wiped out, putting at risk the pollination of fruits and vegetables. Early indications of losses this year suggest the bees are faring slightly better, but a survey of beekeepers to be released this month is expected to show that around one in five hives didn't make it through the winter. Beekeepers can usually expect to lose 10% of their hives due to poor weather or disease.
Anchorage - Yukon River smokehouses should be filled this summer with oil-rich strips of king salmon - long used by Alaska Natives as a high-energy food to get through the long Alaska winters. But they're mostly empty.
The kings failed to show up, and not just in the Yukon.
The kings failed to show up, and not just in the Yukon.
