A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck in the Straits of Florida off Cuba on Thursday, startling office workers in medium-rise buildings set swaying in Havana. There was no word of any damage or injuries.

The temblor occurred just before 4 p.m. about 106 miles (172 kilometers) east of Havana, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The closest city to the epicenter was Corralillo, 17 miles (28 kilometers) to the southwest.

In Old Havana, the quake was felt clearly by workers in two 6-floor buildings that were temporarily evacuated. It appeared to last around 30 seconds.

Sandor Polo, a 31-year-old waiter, said he was delivering food to a third-floor office when boxes suddenly began to move and workers started yelling.

"I got dizzy," Polo said, adding that he's never felt anything like it in his life.

"Everything was moving," said Nuria Oquendo, a 44-year-old office assistant who was on the sixth floor of a neighboring building when it began to move back and forth. "You could really feel it, very clear, very defined."

Like Polo, she had never been in an earthquake before. She called the experience unsettling, but said she wasn't scared.

"Not frightened, but a sensation that something strange is going on," Oquendo said.

The USGS initially reported a magnitude of 5.0, and later upgraded it to 5.1. The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers).

The U.S. National Weather Service said there was no tsunami danger.

Locally, the NWS reported that the quake had been felt in the Davis Islands area. Others reported feeling it in the Carillon area.

Cuba is not as known for seismic activity as other parts of Latin America, especially countries along the Pacific Rim of Fire.

But a number of significant quakes have hit the island over the years, including one in 1932 that killed eight people and damaged 80 percent of the buildings in the eastern city of Santiago, according to U.S. National Geophysical Data Center records.

Source: AP

Frigid temperatures across a large swath of the United States this week followed by warmer conditions could aid the spread of a fatal pig disease now in 22 states, affecting hundreds of thousands of pigs, a swine veterinarian said on Thursday.

"The virus likes cold, wet and cloudy days," said Rodney Baker, a swine veterinarian at Iowa State University at Ames, Iowa, the top pork producing state in the United States.

At this time of year the virus gets frozen on clothes and shoes, making it easy to track around and spread, Baker added.

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv), which causes diarrhea, vomiting and severe dehydration in hogs, has spread quickly across the U.S. hog belt since its discovery in the United States in April 2013.

California and Wyoming are the latest states to report confirmed cases of the deadly pig virus, bringing the number of states affected to 22, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Thursday.

The number of new cases increased by 134 for the week of December 29, bringing total reported cases to 2,084, according to the USDA's National Animal Health Laboratory Network (NAHLN)

Extermination of large predators such as wolves and bears has a cascading effect on delicate ecological balance

A plea to restore populations of some of the world's most dangerous animals has been made by scientists who claim the loss of large carnivores is damaging ecosystems.

More than three-quarters of the 31 species of large land predators, such as lions and wolves, are in decline, according to a new study. Of these, 17 species are now restricted to less than half the territory they once occupied.

Large carnivores have already been exterminated in many developed regions, including western Europe and eastern United States - and the same pattern of "carnivore cleansing" is being repeated throughout the world, said scientists.

Yet evidence suggests carnivores play a vital role in maintaining the delicate balance of ecosystems which cannot be replaced by humans hunting the animals they normally prey on.

The climate is changing, but it's not changing the way the climate change crowd predicted it would. Nature has made a mockery of global warming, so who are the real climate deniers?

Utah wildlife officials say the number of bald eagles that appear to have died from West Nile Virus has climbed to 40.

Leslie McFarlane, a wildlife disease coordinator with Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, reports say that besides the 40 dead birds, there are five others in rehabilitation centers.

McFarlane says the number of dead eagles should start to drop off as the spread of infection appears to have slowed.

Wildlife officials first started finding the birds on Dec. 1 with head tremors and signs of weakness and paralysis.

They were not sure what was killing the animals until last week, when they received test results.

They suspect the animals contracted West Nile by eating dead aquatic birds that were infected with the disease.

Source: AP

The deep freeze in the US causes an unusual sight on the shores of Lake Michigan as huge ice boulders wash onto beaches

The polar vortex which has gripped North America in sub-zero temperatures has brought with it a natural phenomenon on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Huge, basketball-sized balls of ice have been washing up by the lakeside town of Glen Arbor in Michigan.

Meteorologist Joe Charlevoix explains that they are formed when "the water temperature on the Lake Michigan is just a little bit below freezing, so you get a small piece of ice that forms in the water and as waves move back and forth it adds additional water and freezes in layers.

"It gets bigger and bigger, and eventually you get big balls of ice, that are pushed to the shore by the wind."

Locals call them "ice balls" or "ice boulders" and they are a regular feature of Winter in the Great Lakes.

New study paints dire picture and outlines conservation needs

Lions may soon disappear entirely from West Africa unless conservation efforts improve, a new study predicts.

The study, published January 8 in the peer-reviewed scientific journal PLOS ONE, presents "sobering results" of a survey that took six years and covered 11 countries.

Lions once ranged from Senegal to Nigeria, a distance of more than 1,500 miles. The new survey found an estimated total of only 250 adult lions occupying less than one percent of that historic range. The lions form four isolated populations: one in Senegal; two in Nigeria; and a fourth on the borders of Benin, Niger, and Burkina Faso. Only that last population has more than 50 lions.

Even as the nation is busy conducting the third synchronised national tiger census across the country, the death toll due to poaching tells a grim tale, with this year's figures showing highest number of tigers killed in the last seven years.

According to Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI), 39 tigers have fallen prey to poachers so far in 2013. The NGO, which works with government enforcement agencies throughout the country to fight poaching, states that this year's toll has surpassed last year's figure of 31, and also the previous high of 37 in 2006. However, the figure is strictly conservative as it does not take into account the confessions of poachers arrested by Maharashtra officials, which would take the toll to 51, crossing the highest ever recorded figure of 46 cases of poaching registered in 2005.

Additionally, WPSI also informs that the overall tiger deaths, including road accidents, natural deaths, electrocution, natural territorial conflicts besides poaching cases, is 76 so far in this year. However, the National Conservation Authority (NTCA), the apex tiger conservation authority in the country, puts the toll at a much lower figure of 64.

"Our data is based on field inputs and is correct," states Program Manager of WPSI, Tito Joseph.

Speaking about the discrepancy between the two figures, Inspector General with NTCA, H. S. Negi, said that the NTCA and WPSI data on tiger deaths generally do not differ. For example, both NTCA and WPSI had recorded 89 tiger deaths in 2012.

NTCA officials say that the difference in data could be due to the delay in communication of figures from states as they often learn about tiger deaths quite late. An example of this is the NTCA figures of five cases of confiscation of tiger parts in 2013. However, this figure skips the three poaching cases involving seizure of tiger parts that were registered in Maharashtra.

President announces measures to combat poor air quality and curb spread of diseases transmitted by rodents fleeing the fires

Smoke from dozens of nearby forest fires have blanketed the Chilean capital, leading authorities to issue a health alert.

The fast-spreading fires reached a peak over the weekend. They have caused more than $100m in property losses and forced the 7 million residents of Santiago to breathe the worst air in 15 years.

On Wednesday, strong winds carried a thick blanket of smoke over Santiago, where 40% of Chileans live. Firefighters have been struggling with the blazes as the wind has reignited several of them.

President Sebastian Piñera announced the health alert for four regions at a press conference late on Wednesday. Piñera said the more than 70 forest fires over the past weeks had affected more than 40,000 hectares (100,000 acres) of land.

Stuart Gillespie was investigating a strange noise coming from the vent when the baby reptile dropped through the roof onto the bathroom floor

A New Farm Loch man had a frightening start to the new year when a snake fell through his bathroom vent.

Stuart Gillespie was investigating a strange noise coming from the vent when the baby reptile - named Lou by the SSPCA - dropped through, falling six feet onto the bathroom floor.

Stuart's partner Jan Bryan said: "I was at the front door saying bye to my daughter on January 2, when I heard Stuart shouting that there was a snake in the bathroom.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Stuart was chalk white.

"I refused to go upstairs until it had been removed, but my daughter's partner managed to get a couple of pictures.

"It's not what we were expecting at new year, but it will be one we'll never forget."

The family, of Grant Place, were advised by the SSPCA to check with neighbours to see if anyone was missing a pet snake.