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Flashback Mexican Corn Contamination From GM Crop Confirmed


ABC Science Online
Tue, 24 Feb 2009 18:59 UTC
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© iStockphotoThe findings highlight the failure of efforts to shield Mexico from unauthorized GM corn, says on researcher
Genes from genetically-engineered corn have been found in traditional crop strains in Mexico, according to a new study likely to reignite a bitter controversy over biotech maize.

The study by scientists from Mexico, the United States and the Netherlands, appears in the latest issue of Molecular Ecology, and backs a 2001 study that sparked a row over the safety of genetically modified (GM) crops.

Green activists say GM crops are a potential hazard, arguing that their genes could spread to related plants through cross-pollination.
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Cloud Lightning

Tropical Storm Neki in Central Pacific threatens Johnston Island


Star-Bulletin
Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:15 UTC
The Central Pacific Hurricane Center is monitoring Tropical Storm Neki, which has formed far south of the Hawaiian islands and is expected to move safely away from the state.

At 11 a.m. today, Neki was 740 miles south of Honolulu, moving northwest near 15 mph, forecasters said, noting that this general motion is expected to continue over the next 36 hours.

Maximum sustained winds are near 40 mph with higher gusts and Neki is forecast to become a hurricane tomorrow.
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Cloud Lightning

Hurricane Rick weakens to Category 3 storm off Mexico's Pacific coast, hurricane watch issued


Taragona.com
Mon, 19 Oct 2009 19:29 UTC
Miami - Hurricane Rick has decreased to a Category 3 storm as it swirls off Mexico's Pacific coast but is still a dangerous storm that forecasters say could veer into resorts at the tip of the Baja California peninsula.

A hurricane watch has been issued for southern Baja California.
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Snowman

Early snow records set to be broken

Lisa Chapman
Austria Times
Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:25 UTC
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© europics.atAustria’s provincial capitals are expected to see their earliest snowfalls in history today (Mon) as Arctic air sweeps the country.
Austria's provincial capitals are expected to see their earliest snowfalls in history today (Mon) as Arctic air sweeps the country.

Josef Haselhofer from Vienna's Central Agency for Meteorology and Geodynamics (ZAMG) said today (Mon) Arctic air would probably result in the first snow cover in provincial capitals before 20 October in history and said Innsbruck, Salzburg and St. Pölten were likely to see snow.

He said as much as 30 to 40 centimetres of snow was likely down to 1,200 metres and snow could fall as low as 400 metres later this week, adding it had already begun to fall in Vorarlberg. He also predicted low temperatures would be minus five degrees at higher elevations and zero degrees in the lowlands by Thursday morning.

Haselhofer warned of possible impassable snow drifts in some places and the danger of avalanches in low-lying areas.
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Bizarro Earth

Water demand puts Canadian rivers at risk


CBC News
Thu, 15 Oct 2009 01:25 UTC
Mackenzie River
© Rick Bowmer/Associated PressThe Mackenzie River in the Northwest Territories is under threat, according to a WWF-Canada study released Thursday.
Increasing demands on Canada's fresh water is putting rivers at risk, according to a new report.

Growing more food, generating more electricity, expanding cities and industry are all taking a toll on Canada's rivers, according to the World Wildlife Fund Canada.

The report released Thursday, Canada's Rivers at Risk: Environmental Flows and Canada's Freshwater Future, examines the health of 10 major rivers from the perspective of water flow.

"As temperatures rise, and industrial water withdrawals and interest in hydropower increase, we must start planning now to protect river flows to ensure water security for the communities and economies that depend on them," said Tony Maas, director of fresh water with WWF-Canada.
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Cloud Lightning

El Nino's predicted winter footprints: Warm for US West and North; opposite for Southeast

Seth Borenstein
The Associated Press
Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:53 UTC
The Midwest and Northern United States are likely to get a warmer winter, while the Southeast can expect just the opposite: cooler and wetter conditions.

In Thursday's winter outlook, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says an El Nino weather event - warming in parts of the Pacific that affects weather worldwide - will be a major player in America's winter temperatures.

Forecasters predict warmer than usual temperatures would reach a swath from Washington to Michigan, dipping south to central New Mexico. Alaska also has a higher chance of warmer temperatures.

They also say cooler temperatures are expected from southern Texas to the Mid-Atlantic and in Hawaii.

Other places, such as the Northeast and California, can go any which way on temperatures.
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Cloud Lightning

Hurricane Rick builds to Category 5 off Mexico


Associated Press
Sun, 18 Oct 2009 00:59 UTC
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© AP Photo/NOAAThis image provided by NOAA shows Hurricane Rick taken at 11 p.m. EDT Saturday Oct. 17, 2009.
Hurricane Rick grew Saturday into the strongest storm in the eastern North Pacific Ocean in more than a decade.

The 'extremely dangerous' Category 5 hurricane had sustained winds of 180 mph (285 kph), the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami reported, though it said Rick was likely to lose some of that punch before hitting land.

The hurricane was projected to stay well off the Mexican coast for several days before bending east over cooler waters and hitting the Baja California Peninsula as a Category 1 or Category 2 hurricane sometime Wednesday.

Authorities in the resort city of Acapulco closed the port to small craft after Rick kicked up heavy waves and gusts of wind.

Acapulco's Civil Protection Department had warned that rains from the outer bands of the storm could cause landslides and flooding in the resort city, but no such effects were reported.
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Cloud Lightning

Pacific storm Rick strengthens to hurricane


Agence France-Presse
Fri, 16 Oct 2009 23:39 UTC
Washington - Pacific storm Rick reached hurricane strength on Friday and was forecast to become a powerful category four storm by early next week, the US national weather service said.

The hurricane was churning off Mexico's southern coast Friday, with maximum sustained winds nearing 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour.

At 8:00am Pacific time (1500 GMT) Rick's center was about 290 miles (470 kilometers) south of Acapulco, Mexico.
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Cloud Lightning

Looming Storm Prompts Philippines Evacuation Call

Teresa Cerojano
The Associated Press
Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:29 UTC
Flood
© AP Photo/Pat RoqueResidents use an elevated footbridge built on a road intersection as others ride on a makeshift outrigger passing below the bridge on a flooded street Friday, Oct. 16, 2009 in Pasig City, east of Manila, Philippines.
Manila - Officials told residents still reeling from mudslides that recently buried hundreds in the northern Philippine mountains to be ready to abandon their homes again if a storm approaching Friday becomes the third typhoon in a month to hit the country.

The warning came after back-to-back storms since Sept. 26 caused the worst flooding in 40 years in and around the capital Manila and unleashed landslides in the Cordillera mountains in the north of the country, killing 773 people and affecting more than 7 million.

Tropical Storm Lupit may intensify into a super typhoon by the time it makes landfall next week with winds up to 143 miles (230 kilometers) per hour, forecasters said. It was expected to enter Philippine waters late Friday.
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Evil Rays

Java earthquake causes minor damage


RNW
Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:05 UTC
Indonesia was hit by its second earthquake in just over two weeks earlier today when a quake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale struck in the Sunda Strait off the coast of Java, around 200 kilometres to the west of the capital Jakarta.

Buildings in the capital swayed for several minutes, but there appears to be little damage and so far there are no reports of casualties. The earthquake on 30 September which measured 7.6 on the Richter scale killed at least 1,115 people on the island of Sumatra.
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