June 2, 2013 – SPACE – Earth is pushing the moon away faster now than it has for most of the past 50 million years, mostly a result of tides, a U.S. researcher says. Matthew Huber of Purdue University says his models of the influence of tides on the moon’s orbit help solve a longstanding mystery concerning the moon’s age, NewScientists.com reported Wednesday.
June 2, 2013 – ISRAEL - Iran could have enough launchers to send a salvo of medium range ballistic missiles that would overwhelm Israeli ballistic missile defense systems, according to a Wednesday report from IHS Jane’s.
June 2, 2013 – MOSCOW - Russia plans to resume nuclear submarine patrols in the southern seas after a hiatus of more than 20 years following the break-up of the Soviet Union, Itar-Tass news agency reported on Saturday, in another example of efforts to revive Moscow’s military.
June 2, 2013 – TAIWAN – A strong earthquake jolted Taiwan on Sunday, killing two people and injuring at least 18 others and causing panicked shoppers to rush out of a shaking multi-story department store, officials said. Another earthquake jolted the southern Philippines late Saturday, injuring at least 33 people and damaging more than 140 houses. The tremor that hit Taiwan on Sunday afternoon was felt all over the island, but most severely in the central and southern regions. The magnitude-6.3 quake’s epicenter was near Jenai township in Nantou County in central Taiwan, about 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Taipei.
June 3, 2013 – ONTARIO – Canadian Pacific says there is no indication that a freight train derailment east of Sudbury on Sunday poses a danger to the public or the environment. CP spokesman Ed Greenberg says one of the rail cars derailed and as a result struck a trestle bridge near the community of Wanup.
June 3, 2013 – CALIFORNIA – A trio of drought-fueled wildfires raged in New Mexico and California on Sunday, with the biggest blaze forcing the evacuation of more than 2,000 people from their homes north of Los Angeles. The Powerhouse wildfire in California’s Lake Hughes area, about 65 miles outside Los Angeles, destroyed six houses and was threatening more than 1,000 others.
June 3, 2013 – SIBERIA - A layer of snow on the second day of summer has put the citizens of the Russian city of Kemerovo completely out of humor. Meteorologists say the anomaly occurred because a cyclone brought cold Arctic air from Kara Sea region into Siberia dropping, temperature to lows typical for summer north of the Arctic Circle. Bloggers were at a loss when commenting the issue. “Snow in Kemerovo TODAY? That’s hardcore. The weather must’ve forgot it’s June.” “With a sense of terror has just learnt it’s been snowing in Kemerovo.
June 3, 2013 – NEW ZEALAND – MetService has issued severe weather watches for parts of the country. Westland, Buller, Nelson, Marlborough, Canterbury, Wellington, Wairarapa, Bay of Plenty and Rotorua are among the regions set to face heavy rain and wild weather over the next 24 hours.Pictures sent to ONE News show heavy snow has been causing disruptions for motorists on the last day of the long weekend.
June 3, 2013 – EUROPE – Authorities in parts of Europe issued disaster warnings and scrambled to reinforce flood defenses as rivers swelled by days of heavy rain threatened to burst their banks. Several people have died or are missing in the floods in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria, and Switzerland since the rains began on Thursday. The floods have killed at least one person and left several missing across the Czech Republic.
June 3, 2013 – DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The earthquakes experienced today in Carmen town, North Cotabato and the rest of Mindanao will possibly last for weeks or months.
June 3, 2013 - Volcano awakening? Meanwhile, De Ocampo belied claims of some residents that a new volcano was discovered in Kibudtungan village in Carmen town. Ayna Sison, a resident in the area, said Phivolcs personnel allegedly told her grandfather of a “newly found” volcano located near the site where he lives. The volcano was said to be “inverted.”
June 3, 2013 – CONFLICT - Three of the world’s nuclear powers — China, India and Pakistan — have increased their arsenals over the past year, while the other five have cut their strength or kept it stable, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said Monday. China now has 250 nuclear warheads against 240 in 2012, while Pakistan has increased its warheads by about 10 to between 100 and 120 and India has also added roughly 10 for a total of 90 to 110, SIPRI said in its annual report.
June 4, 2013 – SOUTH AFRICA – Bitter cold conditions, heavy rains and hail have wreaked havoc in Cape Town, South Africa, with a new cold front set to arrive on Monday. The mountains close by have seen heavy snowfall. Wilfred Solomons-Johannes of Cape Town Disaster Management told the media that 2,266 people have been affected by floods on the Cape Flats. Around 550 houses have been damaged in Bishop Lavis, Guguletu, Hout Bay, Khayelitsha, Philippi and Strand. in Athlone, Elsies River, Langa and Parow Valley, roofs were blown off houses.
June 4, 2013 - OKLAHOMA – The National Weather Service reported Tuesday that the killer tornado that struck near Oklahoma City last Friday was a ferocious EF5 twister, which had winds that neared 295 mph. An EF5 tornado, the highest number on the “Enhanced Fujita Scale of Tornado Intensity,” is any tornado that has wind speeds of 200 mph or higher.
June 4, 2013 – ISRAEL - Syria, defeated by Israel in three wars and afraid its arch enemy had gained a nuclear arsenal, began in earnest to build a covert chemical weapons program three decades ago, aided by its neighbors, allies and European chemical wholesalers.
June 4, 2013 – SYRIA - In another bizarre twist to Syria’s tragic civil war, opposition forces are now claiming that officers from the North Korean army are aiding the fight against the rebels in an effort to bolster Bashar al-Assad.
June 5, 2013 – HAWAII – A moderate earthquake struck in the deep ocean off Hawaii Island this afternoon but did not generate a tsunami, officials said. The quake, with a magnitude of 5.3, struck at about 2:12 p.m. and was centered 34 miles southeast of Pahala and 31 miles south of Kalapana, at a depth of about 25 miles, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The quake initially was listed as a magnitude 5.2, briefly upgraded to 5.6 before USGS scientists reassessed and downgraded it to a magnitude 5.3. No tsunami was generated.
June 5, 2013 – SOLOMON ISLANDS - A 6.1-magnitude earthquake has struck off the Solomon Islands, the US Geological Survey says, but no immediate tsunami warning has been issued. The tremor, at a depth of 64 kilometers, hit in the Santa Cruz Islands, some 89 kilometers south of the remote town of Lata, where a tsunami left at least 10 people dead in February.
June 5, 2013 –CONGO, AFRICA – Eleven years after an eruption of Mount Nyiragongo devastated the sprawling lakeside city of Goma, killing hundreds of people, eastern Congo’s armed conflict is preventing scientists from predicting the volcano’s next deadly explosion. With its plume of ash and steam reaching high into the sky, the brooding Nyiragongo is one of the world’s most active volcanoes and a constant menace to the city of 1 million people, whose streets are still scarred by solidified lava.
June 6, 2013 – TECHNOLOGY - The U.S. National Security Agency is collecting telephone records of millions of Verizon Communications customers, according to a secret court order obtained and published by the Guardian newspaper’s website. The order marked “Top Secret” and issued by the U.S. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court directs Verizon’s Business Network Services Inc and Verizon Business Services units to hand over electronic data including all calling records on an “ongoing, daily basis” until the order expires on July 19, 2013.
June 6, 2013 – HONOLULU — Part of what makes living in Hawaii so pleasant is the gentle breeze. Arriving from the northeast, it’s light enough that it is barely noticeable but strong enough to chase away the humidity. It’s a natural draw to the outdoors. It is not uncommon to show up at a house to find its residents relaxing out in the covered porch or in the car port, not their living room, and enjoying the cooling winds — and a cool drink. Nowadays, experts say, these breezes, called trade winds, are declining, a drop that’s slowly changing life across the islands. The effects can be seen from the relatively minor, such as residents unaccustomed to the humidity complaining about the weather and having to use their fans and air conditioning more often, to the more consequential, including winds being too weak to blow away volcanic smog. The winds also help bring the rains, and their decline means less water.
June 6, 2013 – INDONESIA – An small eruption occurred last Sunday (2 June) at 8:43 am (local time), preceded by a rise in seismic activity reported by the local volcano observatory. An ash explosion produced a small rising 300-600 m and light ash fall at Gunung Tujuh about 20 km away. According to local news, the sudden eruption caused panic among inhabitants of Sungai Rumpun village and several evacuated their homes. Some climbers, who were on the volcano at the time of the explosions, returned unharmed.
June 6, 2013 – FLORIDA – The first tropical storm of the Atlantic hurricane season, Andrea, formed Wednesday over the Gulf of Mexico and was expected to bring wet weather to parts of Florida’s Gulf coast over the next few days.
June 7, 2013 – WASHINGTON – The FBI and the National Security Agency are tapping directly into servers at Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Skype and other major Internet companies to keep track of the communications and interactions of known and suspected foreign terrorists, the Washington Post reported late Thursday. The report is based on an allegedly top-secret document that the Post obtained containing information on a classified data collection program code-named PRISM that was launched about six years ago. The two agencies allegedly accessed audio, video, email, photographs, documents and connection logs purportedly to help counterterrorism analysts track the movements and interactions of foreign nationals thought to pose a threat to the U.S.
June 8, 2013 – NICARAGUA – New eruptions occurred yesterday. The volcano produced a series of 7 small ash emissions between 06:45 to 11:43 am (local time). The explosions were very small and ash plumes only rose up to about 100 m above the crater. The new eruptions were followed by a rise in seismic activity in the form of tremor, which rose to about 3 times normal levels during the afternoon.
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