Earth ChangesS


Evil Rays

Quakes in Lebanon shake Israel

Roi Mandel
Ynet
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 13:52 UTC
Country's residents shaken by four moderate earthquakes measuring from 3.9 to 4.2 on Richter scale; no injuries or damage reported.

Four separate earthquakes shook Israel on Thursday. Ynet received calls from residents living in the northern and central areas of the country who said they felt the quakes. No injuries or damage have been reported, however.

The Geophysical Institute of Israel (GII) stated that the first quake, which occurred at about 4 pm, measured 3.9 on the Richter scale, and that it originated in southern Lebanon. GII Director Rami Hopshteter told Ynet that "this was a moderate earthquake, with enough power to be felt by the northern settlements near the border."

Three other quakes took place between 6:40 and 6:43 pm, ranging from 3.8 to 4.2 on the Richter scale. A Nahariya resident told Ynet, "I felt the earthquake. It wasn't like the one that happened two hours ago, but much stronger. Our apartment is on the fourth floor and the entire house shook. The computer and TV screens shook, the couch shook, I have never felt such a thing before. My daughter who lives in Nahariya also called in a fright." Another resident said the quake lasted 10 to 15 seconds.
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Red Flag

Potentially devastating wheat rust spreads

David Bennett
Farm Press
Tue, 10 Jun 2008 10:27 UTC
Since the 1950s, resistance genes bred into wheat varieties have held truly devastating stem rust epidemics in check. However, a new race of the rust, Ug99, has overcome many of those resistance genes and is marching east through southern Asia.

Ug99 first appeared in Uganda wheat in 1999 and spread to Kenya and Ethiopia during the next few years.

"At that point, many international scientists said, 'This is something we need to check because this new race can overcome many of the effective resistances,'" said David Marshall, research leader with the USDA-ARS in North Carolina last spring.

"And that included the resistances that are in the international germ plasm out of the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center near Mexico City. That's alarming and this rust has become a front-burner issue."
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Bizarro Earth

Crazytalk: Scientist says dolphin deaths look like a mass suicide

Steven Morris
guardian.co.uk
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 05:33 UTC
The dolphins that died after becoming beached in Cornwall had ingested debris and mud, leading one of the scientists who examined some of the corpses to compare their deaths to a "mass suicide".

Vic Simpson, who has been involved in the postmortem examinations of some of the 26 dolphins that died, said yesterday: "On the face of it, it looks like some sort of mass suicide - but the question is why?

"The dolphins had swallowed and inhaled big chunks of mud from the estuary. Their lungs and stomachs were full of it. That is very bizarre indeed."

Simpson, who founded the Wildlife Veterinary Investigation Centre in Truro and is examining the dolphins on behalf of the Zoological Society of London, added: "We have seen strandings on beaches, sometimes with five to seven dolphins, but never on a scale like this."

Comment: See: What terrified the dolphins? Cause of mass dolphin deaths in U.K. may have been fear
and UK Dolphin update: Royal Navy exercises and an "unexplained explosion"

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Ambulance

Update: 4 dead, 40 injured as tornado hits Boy Scout camp


Associated Press
Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:12 UTC
BLENCOE, Iowa - A tornado slammed a Boy Scout camp in the remote hills of western Iowa late Wednesday, killing at least four people, injuring 40 and setting off a frantic search for others who could be trapped in the piles of debris and downed trees.
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Bell

Water Scarcity: The Real Food Crisis

Fred Pearce
Yale Environment 360
Tue, 03 Jun 2008 22:31 UTC
After decades in the doldrums, food prices have been soaring this year, causing more misery for the world's poor than any credit crunch. The geopolitical shockwaves have spread round the world, with food riots in Haiti, strikes over rice shortages in Bangladesh, tortilla wars in Mexico, and protests over bread prices in Egypt.

The immediate cause is declining grain stocks, which have encouraged speculators, hoarders, and panic-buyers. But what are the underlying trends that have sown the seeds for this perfect food storm?
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Ambulance

Iowa: Reports of injuries as tornado strikes Boy Scout camp


Associated Press
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 22:10 UTC
DES MOINES - The National Weather Service has received reports of injuries and possibly fatalities from an apparent tornado that struck a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa.
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Stop

What terrified the dolphins? Cause of mass dolphin deaths in U.K. may have been fear


RIA Novosti
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:34 UTC
Post mortems on dolphins found beached along the Cornish coast in southwest England, failed to establish a concrete reason for their deaths, but environmentalists said Wednesday they may have been "scared ashore."

At least 26 dolphins died or had to be put down after becoming stranded in shallow water in the Percuil River near Falmouth on Monday, the largest number for 25 years in the U.K.

A spokesman for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) said the animals had no food in their stomachs, indicating that they could have panicked and headed for shore. He said that there was no "evidence" they were feeding prior to death.

The Royal Navy has confirmed it was conducting a live firing exercise with submarines and warships several hours before the stranding. The exercise also included shooting practice.

Comment: As the following article indicates,
"Investigators are exploring several possible causes, including the theory that the dolphins had become distressed by naval sonar equipment or were frightened by an unexplained explosion several residents reported hearing late on Sunday.
Naval exercises became an unfortunate reality for the marine life. Many suffer the consequences as loss of orientation, but there are no known cases of dolphins being "scared ashore." So is it possible that this unexplained explosion is the reason for dolphins panic? And if it is so, is it possible that the explosion was caused by a meteorite?

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Phoenix

Dozens of homes burn in N. California wildfires

Don Thompson
Associated Press
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 14:03 UTC
Fires fed by raging winds raced across parts of Northern California on Tuesday, destroying dozens of homes, threatening hundreds of others and leaving a firefighter severely burned.

The fires were concentrated in areas north and south of the state capital, while separate blazes burned near the coast.

A 2.5-square mile wildfire destroyed 21 homes and about 30 other structures in Palermo, a town of about 5,000 residents, said Joshpae White, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman. It was about 50 percent contained Tuesday night.

The community about 60 miles north of Sacramento was evacuated temporarily while at least 350 firefighters fought to protect homes. About 50 residents planned to spend the night at an evacuation center.

Image
©AP Photo/Steve Yeater
A Stockton firefighter pulls a hose around the back of a home destroyed by a fast wind driven fire in Stockton calif., on Tuesday, June 10, 2008. The fire ignited in a corridor along Interstate 5 and destroyed at least 30 homes and slightly injured two firefighters on Tuesday, a city spokeswoman said.
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Cloud Lightning

Rain threatens reservoirs in quake-hit China

Nick Macfie
News Daily
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:43 UTC
BEIJING - Heavy rain hit south and east China on Wednesday, threatening reservoirs a day after a dangerous "quake lake" drained to safety in the southwest, state media said.

Water levels in at least five reservoirs in eastern Zhejiang province had risen above warning levels, Xinhua news agency said, after days of rain devastated southern Guangdong province and hit record levels in neighboring Hong Kong.

Image
©REUTERS/Stringer
Soldiers build a temporary dam against possible flooding at Quhe River in Suining, Sichuan province, June 11, 2008.

About 1,880 structures collapsed in Zhejiang and the southern Guangxi autonomous region.
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Fish

Mercury Contamination Found In Stranded Victorian Dolphins


Science Daily
Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:39 UTC
Monash University research into heavy metal contaminant levels in dolphins from Port Phillip Bay and the Gippsland Lakes has revealed high mercury levels may be a contributing factor to dolphin deaths.

Researchers from the School of Biological Sciences have confirmed levels of mercury found in the dolphins were within a range considered to cause negative health and mental effects and were higher than mercury levels found in populations around the world.
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