Britain is facing its worst harvest for at least 40 years as 30 per cent of the country's grain lies in waterlogged or sodden ground. Hilary Benn, the Rural Affairs Secretary, is expected to give the go-ahead today for farmers to salvage what is left of their crops by using heavy machinery on wet fields.
European Union rules ban farmers from using combine harvesters on wet land to protect soil quality. Those who flout the ban can be prosecuted. The exemption is expected to last for about three weeks.
The poor harvest is unlikely to lead to a rise in the price of bread, cakes, biscuits and flour, however. Gordon Polson, director of the Federation of Bakers, said that although much of the milling wheat was of a poor quality it could still be used for bread and flour.
He said: "The poorer wheat means it has less protein, but manufacturers can add gluten to ensure the proper quality for making bread. We are not happy and we may still have to import some milling wheat, but no one is talking about price rises for bread."
Earth Changes
Earthquake Details
Magnitude 6.9
Date-Time
* Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 00:20:52 UTC
* Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 09:20:52 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 41.979°N, 143.625°E
Depth 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program
Region HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
Distances 125 km (80 miles) SSW of Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan
225 km (140 miles) SSE of Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
225 km (140 miles) ESE of Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
775 km (485 miles) NNE of TOKYO, Japan
Magnitude 6.9
Date-Time
* Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 00:20:52 UTC
* Thursday, September 11, 2008 at 09:20:52 AM at epicenter
* Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 41.979°N, 143.625°E
Depth 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program
Region HOKKAIDO, JAPAN REGION
Distances 125 km (80 miles) SSW of Kushiro, Hokkaido, Japan
225 km (140 miles) SSE of Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan
225 km (140 miles) ESE of Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
775 km (485 miles) NNE of TOKYO, Japan
HOUSTON - The frail and elderly were put aboard buses Wednesday and authorities warned 1 million others to flee inland as Hurricane Ike steamed toward a swath of the Texas coast that includes the nation's largest concentration of refineries and chemical plants.
Sender Name: U.S. Geological Survey
Headline: EQ 5.2 Jumla, Nepal - PRELIMINARY REPORT
Description: An earthquake with magnitude 5.2 occurred near Jumla, Nepal at 01:28:07.10 UTC on Sep 10, 2008. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)
Web
Headline: EQ 5.2 Jumla, Nepal - PRELIMINARY REPORT
Description: An earthquake with magnitude 5.2 occurred near Jumla, Nepal at 01:28:07.10 UTC on Sep 10, 2008. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)
Web
Santiago - A 5.8-magnitude earthquake struck northern Chile on Wednesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, shaking the ground in an area home to copper mines but there were no immediate reports of any damage.
The quake hit 63 miles east of Iquique, Chile, the agency said, near the country's large copper mining areas.
Anglo American's Collahuasi mine is located near Iquique. Officials at the mine were not immediately available for comment, and an Anglo American official said he was unaware of any quake. Chile is the world's top copper producer.
"Things are calm now after a quake which was felt intensely by the local population," Miriam Escobar, provincial governor of Iquique, told Reuters.
The quake hit 63 miles east of Iquique, Chile, the agency said, near the country's large copper mining areas.
Anglo American's Collahuasi mine is located near Iquique. Officials at the mine were not immediately available for comment, and an Anglo American official said he was unaware of any quake. Chile is the world's top copper producer.
"Things are calm now after a quake which was felt intensely by the local population," Miriam Escobar, provincial governor of Iquique, told Reuters.
Hosuton - Hurricane Ike churned through the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters on Wednesday on a track that will likely skirt the heart of the U.S. offshore oilpatch before it slams into the Texas coast on Saturday.
Ike, a Category 1 storm with 85 mile-per-hour (140 kph) winds, has left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean after toppling decrepit buildings in Cuba's capital and ripping the communist-run island from end to end.
Forecasters said Ike would likely regain power in the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters and become a major storm again, revving up to a Category 3 on the five-step hurricane intensity scale with a minimum of 115 mph (178 kph) winds.
But latest projections pointed Ike toward the middle of the Texas coast, skirting to the west of the main region for offshore production in the gulf, which provides a quarter of U.S. oil and 15 percent of its natural gas.
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| ©REUTERS/Claudia Daut |
| Palm trees are swayed by outer bands of Hurricane Ike in Pinar del Rio, Cuba, September 9, 2008. |
Ike, a Category 1 storm with 85 mile-per-hour (140 kph) winds, has left a trail of destruction across the Caribbean after toppling decrepit buildings in Cuba's capital and ripping the communist-run island from end to end.
Forecasters said Ike would likely regain power in the Gulf of Mexico's warm waters and become a major storm again, revving up to a Category 3 on the five-step hurricane intensity scale with a minimum of 115 mph (178 kph) winds.
But latest projections pointed Ike toward the middle of the Texas coast, skirting to the west of the main region for offshore production in the gulf, which provides a quarter of U.S. oil and 15 percent of its natural gas.
New studies of the Southern Ocean are revealing previously unknown features of giant spinning eddies that have a profound influence on marine life and on the world's climate.
These massive swirling structures - the largest are known as gyres - can be thousands of kilometres across and can extend down as deep as 500 metres or more, a research team led by a UNSW mathematician, Dr Gary Froyland, has shown in the latest study published in Physical Review Letters.
"The water in the gyres does not mix well with the rest of the ocean, so for long periods these gyres can trap pollutants, nutrients, drifting plants and animals, and become physical barriers that divert even major ocean currents," Dr Froyland says.
"In effect, they provide a kind of skeleton for global ocean flows. We're only just beginning to get a grip on understanding their size, scale and functions, but we are sure that they have a major effect on marine biology and on the way that heat and carbon are distributed around the planet by the oceans."
One of the best known large-scale gyres in the world's oceans is that associated with the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, notes fellow researcher Professor Matthew England, co-director of the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre.
These massive swirling structures - the largest are known as gyres - can be thousands of kilometres across and can extend down as deep as 500 metres or more, a research team led by a UNSW mathematician, Dr Gary Froyland, has shown in the latest study published in Physical Review Letters.
"The water in the gyres does not mix well with the rest of the ocean, so for long periods these gyres can trap pollutants, nutrients, drifting plants and animals, and become physical barriers that divert even major ocean currents," Dr Froyland says.
"In effect, they provide a kind of skeleton for global ocean flows. We're only just beginning to get a grip on understanding their size, scale and functions, but we are sure that they have a major effect on marine biology and on the way that heat and carbon are distributed around the planet by the oceans."
One of the best known large-scale gyres in the world's oceans is that associated with the Gulf Stream in the North Atlantic, notes fellow researcher Professor Matthew England, co-director of the UNSW Climate Change Research Centre.
Captive breeding colonies of a critically endangered vulture, whose numbers in the wild have dwindled from tens of millions to a few thousand, are too small to protect the species from extinction, a University of Michigan analysis shows.
Adding wild birds to the captive colonies, located in Pakistan and India, is crucial, but political and logistical barriers are hampering efforts, says lead author Jeff A. Johnson.
The study was published online August 15 in the journal Biological Conservation.
With a seven-foot wingspan, the oriental white-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis) was an awesome presence in south Asia until the mid-1990s, when populations began to collapse. At first the cause was unclear, but researchers eventually zeroed in on an anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac, that is used to alleviate arthritis-like symptoms in livestock but is toxic to vultures. Vultures that feed on carcasses of animals treated with the drug die of kidney failure within a day or two after eating the tainted meat. And although India, Nepal and Pakistan outlawed its manufacture in 2006, diclofenac is still available, and birds are still dying.
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| ©Munir Virani |
| Captive breeding colonies of a critically endangered vulture are too small to protect the species from extinction. |
Adding wild birds to the captive colonies, located in Pakistan and India, is crucial, but political and logistical barriers are hampering efforts, says lead author Jeff A. Johnson.
The study was published online August 15 in the journal Biological Conservation.
With a seven-foot wingspan, the oriental white-backed vulture (Gyps bengalensis) was an awesome presence in south Asia until the mid-1990s, when populations began to collapse. At first the cause was unclear, but researchers eventually zeroed in on an anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac, that is used to alleviate arthritis-like symptoms in livestock but is toxic to vultures. Vultures that feed on carcasses of animals treated with the drug die of kidney failure within a day or two after eating the tainted meat. And although India, Nepal and Pakistan outlawed its manufacture in 2006, diclofenac is still available, and birds are still dying.
Tehran, Iran - A strong earthquake rocked southern Iran on Wednesday, killing three people and sending tremors across the Persian Gulf to the skyscrapers of Dubai.
The country's seismological center said the magnitude 6 quake struck at 3:30 p.m., with the epicenter about 850 miles south of the capital Tehran in the province of Hormozgan. The region's main city, Bandar Abbas, is one of Iran's key ports and home to a large oil refinery that primarily serves the domestic market.
The country's seismological center said the magnitude 6 quake struck at 3:30 p.m., with the epicenter about 850 miles south of the capital Tehran in the province of Hormozgan. The region's main city, Bandar Abbas, is one of Iran's key ports and home to a large oil refinery that primarily serves the domestic market.
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| ©Unknown |
| Shops near the Chantry area were worst affected |
The streets of Morpeth are buzzing with activity as clearing up continues after the worst flooding in Northumberland for 50 years.
Rescue and damage stories can be heard on every corner, while many shops and homes still bear the scars of the weekend's downpour.
More than 1,000 properties were affected, and about 400 people were moved to safety when the River Wansbeck burst its banks on Saturday.
