A strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of central Indonesia Monday, the US Geological Survey said, sending panicked people rushing into the streets but there was no tsunami alert. The quake struck at 0916 GMT more than 160 kilometers (99 miles) south-southeast of Gorontalo in central Indonesia's Sulawesi Island at a depth of 18 kilometers. The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics agency (BMKG) measured it at 6.0 at a depth of 10 kilometers. "The epicenter was in the sea but it doesn't have the potential to trigger a tsunami," BMKG official Agung Utomo told AFP. "We haven't received any report of damage so far."

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said the ground shook for several seconds. "The quake was quite strong and all the guests here - about 30 people - panicked and ran out into the street," said Rudi Gowarno, manager of Ramayana hotel in the town of Luwuk. Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where continental plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity. A deep 6.0 magnitude also earthquake struck the New Britain region of Papua New Guinea on December 15^th. - Times of India

USGS data

Up to 12 inches of further snowfall is forecast for parts of northern New England - and a second wintry storm is crossing the U.S. in its wake, according to Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth. The current snowfall in northern New York state and New England will continue through Tuesday night and into Wednesday, with as much as 15 inches possible in some areas. Meanwhile, another cross-country storm - Winter Storm Draco - was expected to bring heavy snow to the Northwest on Monday. The higher elevations of the Cascades will see as much as 2 to 3 feet of snow above 7000 ft, Weather.com reported, with significant accumulations below 3000 ft.
The National Weather Service said the probability of "large amounts of snow remains high across the majority of windward facing slopes of the Pacific Northwest and portions of the Northern Rockies." King5.com reported that the storm is expected to bring high winds to Western Washington and whiteout conditions to the west slopes of the Cascades and passes. The system is expected to move to the Southwest and Rockies Tuesday and Wednesday before bringing snow to the eastern half of the country later Wednesday through Friday. Roth added there would likely be a lake-effect snow threat behind the storm on Thursday and Friday. -NBC

A cold snap has finally walloped much of Iran, bringing heavy snow, and leading to the temporary closure of a large section of intercity roads and schools. The cold weather has dropped as much as one meter of snow in the mountains, and sizeable inches in big cities and towns, like Tehran, where the National Weather Service says the temperature is above freezing.

The Ministry of Education says many schools have been closed nationwide and probably will remain so if heavy snow continues to cause limited visibility and freezing temperatures.

There have been no major accidents until now, thanks largely to the early preparation of the transport police, and of course round the clock snow plows to keep roads open. But the police are still urging drivers to check road and vehicle conditions before heading out.

A barge with a leaking cargo tank spilled fuel oil into a New York City waterway on Saturday, officials said.

The barge was carrying 112,000 gallons of No. 6 fuel oil, but it was unclear how much oil spilled into the water, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement.

The spill came from a Boston Marine Transport Inc barge due to a leak from its cargo tank, it said.

The leak occurred at Mays Ship Repair near Mariner's Harbor in the city's Staten Island borough, the Coast Guard said. It was first reported shortly after 11 p.m. local time (2300 ET) on Friday, the Coast Guard said.

Fijian authorities scrambled to evacuate tourists and residents in low-lying areas Sunday as a monster cyclone threatened the Pacific nation with "catastrophic damage" after causing devastation in Samoa. At least four people were killed when Cyclone Evan slammed into Samoa and the toll was expected to rise with a search launched for eight men missing on three fishing boats. Only one survivor has been found, said the New Zealand Rescue Co-ordination Centre, which is overseeing the search.

After crossing Samoa, Evan intensified as it ploughed through the Pacific and forecasters said destructive winds could reach nearly 300 kilometres per hour (186 miles per hour) by the time it hits Fiji early Monday. Government officials fear it could be as devastating as Cyclone Kina, which killed 23 people and left thousands homeless in 1993.

For decades, beach lovers have reported bizarre mass strandings of squids.
Thousands of jumbo squid have beached themselves on central California shores this week, committing mass "suicide." But despite decades of study into the phenomenon in which the squid essentially fling themselves onto shore, the cause of these mass beachings have been a mystery.

But a few intriguing clues suggest poisonous algae that form so-called red tides may be intoxicating the Humboldt squid and causing the disoriented animals to swim ashore in Monterey Bay, said William Gilly, a marine biologist at Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station in Pacific Grove, Calif.

Each of the strandings has corresponded to a red tide, in which algae bloom and release an extremely potent brain toxin, Gilly said. This fall, the red tides have occurred every three weeks, around the same time as the squid beachings, he said. (The squid have been stranding in large numbers for years, with no known cause.)

"It's not exactly a smoking gun, but it's pretty circumstantial evidence that there is some link," Gilly told LiveScience.

The Rural Fire Service is monitoring a rare underground fire beneath a lake bed to the west of Wilcannia.

Crews put the fire out several weeks ago, but it has come back this week. RFS Superintendent Chris Favelle says he has considered digging the lake up to put out the blaze, but it is safer just to watch it and let it burn out. He says he has never seen anything like it.

"What it is is a build-up of organic matter under the surface that's built up over thousands of years," he said.

"I'd say someone's lit a campfire on top of it, and it's just ignited under the ground, so there's enough oxygen under there in the soil to keep it smouldering away under there for as long as it wants to.

"A very difficult one from a firefighting perspective, I've got to tell you!"

Supt Favelle says it is creating a fair bit of smoke, but no people or properties are in danger.

"We could probably use heavy machinery to dig up the lake bed but that's not really feasible, particularly when you consider the heritage issues around the lake and so on," he said.

"So at this point in time all we can really do is keep a watching brief on it and try to ensure that it doesn't get off the lake bed itself."

The peculiar 'red rain' is a novel phenomenon for Sri Lanka. The Medical Research Institute said it contained some kind of algae. And very recently, Industrial Technology Institute also announced that it contains heavy elements such as arsenic and silver. Is it possible these elements to enter the atmospheric clouds? What kind of algae is it?

What is the real reason for such an event?

The Nation had an opportunity to ask the said questions from the principal investigator, who studied the red rain occurred in Kerala some years ago, a Sri Lankan-born British astrophysicist and astrobiologist, currently the Director of the Buckingham University Centre for Astrobiology, Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe.

Q. How would you explain the red rain phenomenon recently occurred in Sri Lanka?

We haven't investigated red rain in Sri Lanka yet, but I have been very closely involved in the red rain studies in Kerala, southern province of India. This took place in 2001 and 2008. Samples of that red rain were sent to me for investigation. I had a big team of investigators working with me.Although we were in possession of the samples for several years we have still not identified what sort of organism it is. It's a living organism, we have been able to replicate it and we found that it multiplies in a temperature up to 120^0C at least, perhaps more than that. I think this is a very strong case that micro organism from space made their way down to the Earth with the red rain. These organisms had probably originated in a comet or a piece of a comet that exploded in the atmosphere. This is my conclusion for the red rain in Kerala.

Sri Lanka's red rain looks similar to that of Kerala. The Medical Research Institute (MRI) says that the organisms are similar to fungal, algal organisms of earth. But I believe that the shape is the only similarity. The conclusion had not been made based on any genetic or DNA studies. But the similarity of the organism to anything on the Earth does not mean that it came from the Earth. If life originally started from the Earth then to find living organism coming from space would be very strange. There is a long culture of belief that life started on the Earth. If that is true, we have to find some explanation, which is earth based. I am sure that if life did not start on the Earth it came from space.

Climate change is one of the defining issues in twenty-first century American politics.While a solid majority of researchers and scientists believe that global warming is a direct result of human action, there are dissenting voices. Steve Goreham is one. He has written two books on climate change. In both of these he seriously challenges popular perceptions. He also began a column here at TWT Communities not too long ago.

So, what does Goreham have to say about the modern environmentalist movement's increasingly ideological nature? Why does he believe that human activity is not really the cause of climate change? In this first part of our discussion, he answers all of these questions and more.

*****

Joseph F. Cotto:Climatism is not a concept with which most of us are familiar, yet tend to hear a great deal about. How would you define it?

Steve Goreham:Climatism is the belief that man-made greenhouse gases are destroying Earth's climate. Climatism has become an ideology for global societal change, based on the misguided notion that man is the cause of global warming. Climate alarmists advocate a broad spectrum of remedies, such as electric cars, wind turbines, biofuels, restricting air travel, vegetarian diets, population control, green businesses, carbon taxes, and global government. It's become an "ism" just like capitalism, socialism, and environmentalism.

Visitors to Oreti Beach near Invercargill in recent days will have noticed the bodies of thousands of bluebottle jellyfish washed up on the sand. Department of Conservation biodiversity programme manager Jessyca Bernard - who said she was "99.9 per cent certain" they were bluebottle jellyfish - warned they were dangerous even when dead.

People who saw them on the beach should not touch them and should keep their pets away from them, she said. "They may remain potent for hours or even days after the death of the creature or the detachment of the tentacles." If stung an allergic reaction could follow and those affected should seek medical assistance, she said.