The Royal Navy was carrying out live-firing exercises just hours before 26 dolphins died in the biggest mass stranding of the species in Britain, it has been claimed.
Marine experts trying to find out why the pod of dolphins tried to beach themselves on the shores of Percuil river, near Portscatho, Cornwall, say they could have been panicked by an "underwater disturbance".
The dolphins were found dead early on Monday morning.
Earth Changes
A two-year-old mud volcano that is still spewing huge volumes of boiling mud, has displaced more than 30,000 people and caused millions of dollars in damage on the island of Java was triggered by the drilling of a gas exploration well, an international team of scientists has concluded.
The most detailed scientific analysis to date of the mud volcano disproves the theory that an earthquake that happened two days before it erupted in East Java, Indonesia, was to blame.
The most detailed scientific analysis to date of the mud volcano disproves the theory that an earthquake that happened two days before it erupted in East Java, Indonesia, was to blame.
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| ©Durham University |
| The main vent of the Lusi mud volcano taken within a few months of eruption. |
A line of powerful thunderstorms produced large hail and strong winds across central and eastern Kansas on Sunday night, damaging a correctional facility and dropping as much as 1 1-2 inches of rain in 30 minutes in Kansas City.
The storms popped up in central Kansas in the late afternoon and moved northeast toward Missouri, producing winds up to 80 mph and golf-ball sized hail in some areas, according to National Weather Service spotters.
The storms popped up in central Kansas in the late afternoon and moved northeast toward Missouri, producing winds up to 80 mph and golf-ball sized hail in some areas, according to National Weather Service spotters.
At least eight persons were killed and several others injured when they were struck by lightning during pre-monsoon thundershowers in three districts of West Bengal on Thursday.
Five persons, including two women, were killed in South 24 Parganas district on Thursday as showers accompanied by lightning lashed the district, official sources said.
A boy was killed and two others injured, one critically, as they were sleeping in their homes at Hakimpur in Joynagar area, the police said.
A middle-aged woman was killed and seven persons injured in lightning strikes at Gazipur and Ramsharanpur in Kulpi area of the district, the police said.
Five persons, including two women, were killed in South 24 Parganas district on Thursday as showers accompanied by lightning lashed the district, official sources said.
A boy was killed and two others injured, one critically, as they were sleeping in their homes at Hakimpur in Joynagar area, the police said.
A middle-aged woman was killed and seven persons injured in lightning strikes at Gazipur and Ramsharanpur in Kulpi area of the district, the police said.
In a year when global harvests need to be excellent to ease the threat of pervasive food shortages, evidence is mounting that they will be average at best. Some farmers are starting to fear disaster.
Engineers kept watch over this rain-deluged state's dams Tuesday after a major collapse nearly emptied Lake Delton in a torrent that washed away houses and a highway.
The Lake Delton breach was caused by violent, drenching weekend thunderstorms that threatened the survival of the tiny Wisconsin town of Gays Mills and displaced thousands of Indiana residents. The stormy weather was blamed for 15 deaths in the Midwest and elsewhere.
An engineering assessment team from the Wisconsin National Guard headed to Lake Delton to determine what was needed to repair the gaping hole that let water from the 267-acre lake carve a new channel to the Wisconsin River on Monday.
Other crews were going to dams throughout the southern and western part of the state to assess damage. They also were monitoring several dams that were seeping or in danger of failing, state Emergency Management spokeswoman Jessica Iverson said.
The Lake Delton breach was caused by violent, drenching weekend thunderstorms that threatened the survival of the tiny Wisconsin town of Gays Mills and displaced thousands of Indiana residents. The stormy weather was blamed for 15 deaths in the Midwest and elsewhere.
An engineering assessment team from the Wisconsin National Guard headed to Lake Delton to determine what was needed to repair the gaping hole that let water from the 267-acre lake carve a new channel to the Wisconsin River on Monday.
Other crews were going to dams throughout the southern and western part of the state to assess damage. They also were monitoring several dams that were seeping or in danger of failing, state Emergency Management spokeswoman Jessica Iverson said.
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| ©AP Photo/Andy Manis |
| People look at two houses that fell into an emptied Lake Delton Tuesday, June 10, 2008, in Lake Delton, Wis., after the 267-acre lake drained Monday. The Lake Delton breach was caused by violent, drenching weekend thunderstorms that also threatened the survival of the tiny Wisconsin town of Gays Mills and displaced thousands of Indiana residents. |
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| ©2008 WRAL.com/AP |
| A satellite shows the distribution of smoke from a fire in an eastern North Carolina wildlife refugee just before midnight on June 7, 2008. (Photo courtesy of Modis Today) |
COLUMBIA, N.C. - Fire crews on Monday continued building containment lines around a massive wildfire burning in a sparsely inhabited rural area of eastern North Carolina.
North Carolina Division of Forestry spokesman Bill Swartley said plans for firefighters also include pumping water onto smoldering peat fires burning in the ground.
BEIJING -- A huge volume of water Tuesday surged from a lake created by China's massive earthquake, safely plunging downstream through an area where hundreds of thousands had been braced for disaster, officials said.
The mammoth effort to drain Tangjiashan lake -- where floodwaters behind a landslide had threatened to burst through the wall of rubble to submerge low-lying towns -- was declared a success by officials who said the crisis was over.
But with the risk of man-made drainage channels collapsing under pressure from the water charging through them, there was still a danger of sudden tidal waves.
The official Xinhua news agency reported late Tuesday that a crest of flood water, carrying with it trees, TVs, refrigerators and the bodies of earthquake victims, had surged safely past the city of Mianyang in southwestern Sichuan province.
The mammoth effort to drain Tangjiashan lake -- where floodwaters behind a landslide had threatened to burst through the wall of rubble to submerge low-lying towns -- was declared a success by officials who said the crisis was over.
But with the risk of man-made drainage channels collapsing under pressure from the water charging through them, there was still a danger of sudden tidal waves.
The official Xinhua news agency reported late Tuesday that a crest of flood water, carrying with it trees, TVs, refrigerators and the bodies of earthquake victims, had surged safely past the city of Mianyang in southwestern Sichuan province.
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| ©AP |
| An engineer prepares to fire a missile to blast boulders in a man-made spillways in Tangjiashan, China. |
A group of animal experts and wildlife officials rushed to South Africa's Kruger National Park to find out what has suddenly killed at least 30 crocodiles in the refuge within a week's time.
The first carcasses were sighted on May 27, then helicopter searches found many more littering the Olifants River, the park's most polluted waterway.
While no dead fish or other animals were found, all of the dead crocodiles contained yellow-orange hardened fat in their tails - usually a sign of eating rotten fish.
"We are in unknown territory, and we certainly don't have the answers as to why these crocodiles seem to be dying, so we need to look at the problem closely and find a solution," Danie Pienaar, head of scientific services for the park, said in the statement.
The first carcasses were sighted on May 27, then helicopter searches found many more littering the Olifants River, the park's most polluted waterway.
While no dead fish or other animals were found, all of the dead crocodiles contained yellow-orange hardened fat in their tails - usually a sign of eating rotten fish.
"We are in unknown territory, and we certainly don't have the answers as to why these crocodiles seem to be dying, so we need to look at the problem closely and find a solution," Danie Pienaar, head of scientific services for the park, said in the statement.
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| ©Grant Shimmin |
| A healthy Nile crocodile lurking on the bank of the Olifants River, in South Africa's Kruger National Park. |
Midwest Floods, East Bakes, Washington Chilled
Some residents in Gays Mills, Wis., have to start from scratch again after a second devastating flood in 10 months washed away the progress they had been making.
The swollen Kickapoo River spilled over its banks and engulfed nearly the entire town Monday, just as it did last August.
On Tuesday, officials in Wisconsin and other parts of the Midwest were assessing the damage from storms that have now left at least 15 people dead.
A Wisconsin National Guard team was headed to Lake Delton to determine what equipment is needed to begin repairs at a man-made lake.
Some residents in Gays Mills, Wis., have to start from scratch again after a second devastating flood in 10 months washed away the progress they had been making.
The swollen Kickapoo River spilled over its banks and engulfed nearly the entire town Monday, just as it did last August.
On Tuesday, officials in Wisconsin and other parts of the Midwest were assessing the damage from storms that have now left at least 15 people dead.
A Wisconsin National Guard team was headed to Lake Delton to determine what equipment is needed to begin repairs at a man-made lake.
