Earth Changes
The quake measured 4.2 on the Richter scale and is therefore the largest quake to have hit the famous volcano since it stopped erupting in February last year.
According to Bjarki Fries, a natural disasters specialist with the Icelandic met office, the earthquake emanated from 3.5 kilometers underground. Around 15 aftershocks have already been measured, the most powerful of which was a 3.5 quake at 01.00 this morning.
Met office earthquakes specialist Martin Hensch told RÚV that there is no evidence of lava movements or of any eruption activity connected to the earthquakes, but that the situation will be monitored carefully. There were two quakes in the same location on April 3, measuring 3.4 and 3 on the Richter scale.
The recent eruption at Bárðarbunga, often known as Holuhraun, lasted from late August 2014 to late February 2015, and despite not affecting aviation or physically threatening any human settlements, it caused dangerous levels of pollution around Iceland and produced more new lava than almost any other eruption in Iceland since the Vikings first arrived.
Argentina
Thousands have been affected by heavy rain and flooding in the provinces of Entre Ríos, Corrientes and Santa Fe.
Heavy rain has also affected parts of the province of Formosa where thousands are yet to return to their homes since the Paraguay River overflowed in December 2015.
The elephant floored the first mahout Nair before goring him to death. Following this the elephant ran out of the compound and the second mahout Kannan was killed while he tried to chain the elephant. Gopinathan succumbed to injuries while being taken to the hospital while Kannan succumbed to injuries at the Medical College Hospital.
The elephant which had turned violent ran nearly seven kilometres before tranquilised by veterinary surgeon Sabu C Issac of the elephant squad by around 4.30pm. The local residents went through tense moments for over an hour.

A helicopter makes a drop on a fire which broke out in Arizona and spread into California, sparking the evacuation of two recreational vehicle parks near the Havasu National Wildlife Refuge in California.
"It's hot and windy and we're expecting the fire to grow," said Jeff Allen, an engineer and paramedic with the San Bernardino County Fire Department in Southern California. Allen said the fire was 5 percent contained.
The fire broke out as agencies across the western United States gear up for what is expected to be another busy fire season in a region suffering the effects of a prolonged drought, including millions of trees dead from lack of water.
NWS Amarillo forecaster Nicholas Fenner said the storm threw dust about 610 meters (2,000 feet) into the air. The storm reached as far north as Oklahoma Panhandle and as far south as Lubbock, Texas before it dissipated.
There were no reports of any road closures or anyone hurt from the dust storm.
Locals said they found around 5,000 birds, including Doel, Shalik, Masranga, Bulbuli and Ghughu, lying dead at different places of the village after the storm on Thursday morning, according to a news agency report.
Later, they buried the dead birds at the village.
Dr. Saibur Rahman Mollah, dean of the Environmental Science Faculty of Jessore University of Science and Technology, said the death of such a large number of birds will certainly have a bad impact on the biodiversity of the area.
Source: SRS
With the number of animals steadily growing, the boar population has been devastating the crops of farms in the area. Since the nuclear disaster of 2011, damage to agriculture caused by boars in the Fukushima prefecture has doubled, amounting to some $15 million, according to a report from The Times. Boars also pose a threat to public safety, as reports of rampaging wild beast injuring local residents while roaming the streets have become more frequent over the past few years.
As boars do not have any natural predators to keep their population in check, local governments all over Japan have been organizing big hunting parties to decrease the population. In the three years prior to 2014, the number of boars killed increased more than four times, from 3,000 to 13,000. As reported by Yomiuri news outlet, the government in Fukushima has been offering rewards to hunters in order to "inspire" them to cull the boars. Despite the effort, however, the effect has been limited, as the animals reproduce quickly.

The chunk, believed to be a megacryometeor (ice-stone) or blue ice, came crashing down in a field on Monday, creating a three-foot-deep crater upon impact.
The chunk, believed to be a megacryometeor (ice-stone) or blue ice, came crashing down in a field on Monday, creating a three-foot-deep crater upon impact. This comes nearly three months after a similar incident in Sagar district in which a 60-year-old woman was injured.
The latest incident occurred at Nousar village in Timarini, 40km from Harda district headquarters. The field belonged to Raj Kumar Patil, whose younger brother Jitendra Patil was irrigating it at the time. On hearing the thundering sound, locals came running to the field to find the chunk had broken into three.
Jitendra said another chunk came crashing down in a field nearby. "I was very scared. Nearly 14 seconds after the first chunk of ice fell, another smaller chunk fell in a nearby field. We informed other villagers who came rushing," he said.

The epicentre of Thursday's 6.7 magnitude earthquake in Vanuatu's Torba province.
The United States Geological Service said the earthquake struck 109km west of Sola, in Torba province, at a depth of 33km.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said the quake posed no tsunami threat.
Thursday afternoon's quake came less than 24 hours after another 6.9 magnitude struck slightly to the west in Santo at a depth of 10km.
Another quake of the same magnitude struck the area on Sunday.













Comment: