Week of 9/22/13 through 9/28/13

September 27, 2013 – ITALY – It would seem a new volcanic vent has formed and is ejecting gas and sand about 100 meters off the coast of Fiumicino, west of Rome: the phenomenon has started less than 24 hours ago and the mayor Outside Montino, along with his staff and experts from the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology are headed to the scene to the foothills. At the moment in fact there is no news about the possible links that you have between this event and the past, showing the opening of many volcanoes in two Viale Coccia di Morto. On August 27, a volcanic vent opened up near Fiumicino, ejecting steam and gas- these two events could to be related and may suggest the geology under Italy is in the midst of massive changes. There are dozens of active, and very restless volcanoes sitting on the sea floor of the Tyrrhenian Sea. –CMI, TEP


September 28, 2013 – PAKISTAN - Several cities of Pakistan’s Sindh and Balochistan provinces were on Saturday hit by a massive aftershock measuring 6.8, three days after a 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck the region killed over 500 people. Pakistan’s Met office measured the earthquake at 7.2, while the US Geological Survey (USGS) recorded it at 6.8 on the Richter Scale. Tremors were felt in provincial capitals Karachi and Quetta.


September 27, 2013 – PAKISTAN – Pakistan has just got three brand new islands — thanks to a major earthquake. When the shock of the temblor subsided on Tuesday, people living in the coastal town of Gwadar were stunned to see a new island in the sea.  That’s not all. Two other islands have come up along the Balochistan coast. “The island near Gwadar is about 600 feet in diameter and has a height of about 30 feet,” Muhammad Moazzam Khan, technical advisor at WWF Pakistan, told IANS over telephone. He said “gas was coming out” of the island, which primarily consists of “stones and soft mud.” The two islands near Ormara town are small.  Khan said the islands had a diameter of about “30-40 feet and a height of about 2-3 feet. Gas is also coming out,” he said. He said that while some islands which form suddenly “stay on,” others gradually fade away. He explained that the islands were formed following the massive earthquake that rocked Balochistan province Tuesday.  The death toll in the 7.7-magnitude earthquake has reached 348, and a total of 20,000 houses were destroyed. This is not the first time islands have formed off the Pakistan coast. “In 1945, two big islands had formed near the coast. One was two kilometers long while the other was half kilometer long,” said Khan. –Times of India


September 26, 2013 – CHINA - Twenty-eight people have died and hundreds have been injured in a wave of attacks by giant hornets in central China, according to reports. Victims described being chased for hundreds of meters by the creatures and stung as many as 200 times. Most of the attacks in the past three months were in remote, rural, wooded areas in southern Shaanxi, the province’s China Business newspaper reported. In the city of Ankang alone, 18 people have died from the stings, health official Zhou Yuanhong told Associated Press. People in the cities of Hanzhong and Shangluo have also been injured. The insects’ highly toxic stings can lead to anaphylactic shock and renal failure. An official from Ankang’s disease control centre urged people to seek medical help if they received more than 10 stings, and warned that emergency treatment was required for those stung more than 30 times. One woman in her 50s said she had spent almost a month in hospital and was still incontinent after receiving more than 200 stings. A man from her village died of kidney failure.

September 26, 2013 – NICARAUGA - A volcano in Nicaragua has erupted with a mighty blast and a column of ash, then settled down again, the government said. No one was hurt but villagers near the Telica volcano in the northwest of the Central American nation were told to remain on alert. The mountain is about 1000 meters tall. The morning blast spewed ash 50 meters into the air, said Guillermo Gonzalez of the National System for Preventing and Mitigating Disasters. After the single blast, civil defense staff remained on site to gather information. Villagers were put on alert and told to protect their water and food sources. The volcano last erupted in 2011. – Sky News

September 25, 2013 – PERU - There is no tsunami threat to Hawaiʻi after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake reported at 6:43 a.m. HST on Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2013 off the coast of Central Peru, officials said. The magnitude of the quake was initially reported as a 6.8.  It was then downgraded shortly after to a 6.6, and finally upgraded to a 7.0 after further analysis, according to the USGS. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a statement saying there is no tsunami threat to Hawaiʻi based on all available data. Officials with the USGS say the quake occurred at at depth of 20.5 miles. The USGS reports that the quake was located 28 miles S of Acari, Peru; 56 miles SE of Minas de Marcona, Peru; 74 miles SSE of Nazca, Peru; 83 miles SSW of Puquio, Peru; and 308 miles SSE of Lima, Peru. This is the second 7.0+ magnitude earthquake to strike the planet in 24 hours. –Maui News

September 25, 2013 – BANGKOK - Floods triggered by heavy rains claimed at least nine lives in Thailand this month and affected up to 1.5mn people, officials said yesterday. Flooding was reported in 23 of the kingdom’s 77 provinces, the Disaster Prevention and Relief Department said. Nine people have drowned over the past week in the north-eastern provinces of Surin and Sisakhet, it said. The meteorological department has forecast heavy rains for the remainder of the month, especially in the northern provinces. “The overall picture in the north-east has improved,” said Deputy Prime Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi, who is in charge of water management. He warned people living on the banks of the Chao Phraya River to expect some flooding as authorities were pumping water into the main waterway to reduce flooding in the central plains. Authorities said the country is not in danger of being inundated by another massive flood, similar to the 2011 disaster.


September 25, 2013 – PAKISTAN – Mud houses in the mountains crumbled as a 7.7-magnitude earthquake shook western Pakistan early on Tuesday. Meanwhile, on the coast, residents of Gwadar saw a solitary island rise from the sea. Older residents of the coastal town said the land emergence was déjà vu — an earthquake in 1968 produced an island that stayed for one year and then vanished, Ali Mohammad, 60, and Azeem Baloch, 57, told NBC News. Seismologists suspect the island is a temporary formation resulting from a “mud volcano,” a jet of mud, sand and water that gushed to the surface as the temblor churned and pressurized that slurry under the ocean floor. “Sandy layers underground are shaken, and sand grains jiggle and become more compact,” John Armbruster, a seismologist at the Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University told NBC News. The shifting sand layers are compacted and pressurize the water, which gushed upwards, carrying mud and sand along with it. This “liquefaction” of sand and mud layers take place after any earthquake, but these sudden islands are usually spotted after strong earthquakes, at least 7- or 8-magnitude events. The distance of the island from the epicenter of the quake is a “little bit surprising,” Armbruster said, granted that “the sediments are quite soft and susceptible to this.” Back in the 1940s, a sizable island rose from the sea in the area, but it didn’t last long. After an earthquake near Karachi struck, the British Indian Geological survey recorded a new island “big enough that people could land a boat and walk on it,” Armbruster said. “Within days, weeks” — he wasn’t sure how long — “it washed away.”

September 24, 2013 – PAKISTAN - A massive, 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck south-central Pakistan on Tuesday afternoon local time. The USGS warns that there will high casualties and economic losses, requiring international response. Seismologists have also confirmed that the quake raised a new island, about 30-40 feet high, off the coast. The island is about half a mile off the coast of Gwadar, in the Arabian Sea. Already, reports the International Herald Tribune, crowds have gathered to see the mountainous, rocky island. Some are claiming it is 100 feet high. It’s not unusual for earthquakes of this magnitude to change the coastline, or even deform the shape of the planet. In 2010, an 8.8 magnitude quake in Chile created new coastlines in that country and changed the shape of the Earth enough to shorten our days by a fraction of a second. Today in Pakistan, estimates of damages are still coming in, and it may be days before we know the full extent of the losses because the quake struck in many regions that are remote. The nearest city to the epicenter is Arawan, where damage is said to be extensive, with houses collapsing and people trapped inside. So far, death tolls hover around 40, but that number is expected to rise as emergency services reach more of the affected areas. The populations near the epicenter may be sparse, but according to the USGS, the problem is that they are extremely vulnerable.

September 24, 2013 – PAKISTAN – A powerful 7.7 magnitude earthquake hit southwestern Pakistan today, the US Geological Survey said, with tremors felt as far away as the Indian capital New Delhi. The quake struck at 4:29 pm local time (1659 IST) around 100 kilometers southwest of the city of Khuzdar in Baluchistan province, at a depth of 15 kilometers. USGS originally measured the earthquake at magnitude 7.4 and 29 kilometers deep but later revised their figure. Pakistan’s meteorological office gave the magnitude as 7.7. The area of the epicenter is sparsely populated, but the USGS issued a red alert for the quake, warning that heavy casualties were likely, based on past data.

September 24, 2013 – PAKISTAN - Pakistan’s worst-ever attack on beleaguered Christians prompts warning by bishop for Christians to leave the country. With its Mughalesque features, gleaming white dome and minaret-like towers, the All Saints’ church in Peshawar has been a symbol of interfaith harmony ever since it was built in 1883. As in a mosque, worshippers remove their shoes before entering the historic building, where biblical quotations are emblazoned on the walls in English, Hebrew and Persian scripts. Some of the congregation was bare-footed, as they filed out of the Anglican church on Sunday morning straight into the blast zone of one of two suicide bombers from a Taliban faction that has vowed to kill non-Muslims until the U.S. cancels its lethal drone strikes in the country.

Week of 9/15/13 through 9/21/13

September 20, 2013 – TAIWAN - Super Typhoon Usagi, the equivalent of a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, intensified rapidly Thursday in the western Pacific Ocean and will threaten parts of Taiwan, the far northern Philippines and southern China through the next several days. A tropical cyclone is dubbed a “super typhoon” when maximum sustained winds reach at least 150 mph. Usagi underwent a period of rapid intensification from early Wednesday through midday Thursday (U.S. Eastern time), going from a 55-knot tropical storm to a 140-knot super typhoon in just 33 hours, or just under a 100 mph intensification, based on satellite estimates of intensity. Usagi is expected to maintain a west-northwest path through the weekend. –The Weather Channel


September 20, 2013 – INDONESIA - More than 15,000 residents have fled a volcano that rumbled to life less than a week ago in Indonesia and local airlines have been warned to avoid flying near the mountain as thick ash continues to spew from its crater, an official said. The aviation warning was issued for small planes serving short-haul flights in the region as small eruptions continue at Mount Sinabung, said Susanto, general manager for air navigation at Kuala Namu airport in North Sumatra’s capital Medan. Like many Indonesians, he uses only one name.


September 20, 2013 – Israel – The Dead Sea is drying up at an incredible rate leaving huge chasms of empty space in its wake. These chasms appear in the form of large, devastating sinkholes and are increasing in number throughout the region. Experts claim they are now forming at a rate of nearly one a day, but have no way of knowing when or how they will show up. Estimates by Moment magazine suggest that, on the Israeli side alone, there are now over 3,000 sinkholes around the Dead Sea. This compares to just 40 counted in 1990, with the first sinkhole appearing in the 1980s. The Dead Sea spans more than 60 miles through Israel, the West Bank, and Jordan. Its waters are 10 times saltier than the northern Atlantic Ocean because it has no outlet. This means that any minerals that flow there, stay there. The increase in sinkholes is directly related to the Dead Sea drying up at a rate of one meter per year. Sinkholes are basically bowl-shaped features that form when an empty space under the ground creates a depression. The depression is the result of a reaction between freshwater and salt buried in a subterranean level beneath the surface. When the freshwater dissolves the salt, it creates a void, causing the landscape around and above it to suddenly collapse. Over the last few decades, increasing numbers of people have been drawn to the Dead Sea causing its salt water to dry up. This leaves more fresh water in the area to dissolve the salt and create more cavities. –Daily Mail


September 20 - Alaska   An ancient forest has thawed from under a melting glacier in Alaska and is now exposed to the world for the first time in more than 1,000 years.  Stumps and logs have been popping out from under southern Alaska's Mendenhall Glacier — a 36.8-square-mile (95.3 square kilometers) river of ice flowing into a lake near Juneau — for nearly the past 50 years. However, just within the past year or so, researchers based at the University of Alaska Southeast in Juneau have noticed considerably more trees popping up, many in their original upright position and some still bearing roots and even a bit of bark, the Juneau Empire first reported last week.
"There are a lot of them, and being in a growth position is exciting because we can see the outermost part of the tree and count back to see how old the tree was," Cathy Connor, a geology professor at the University of Alaska Southeast who was involved in the investigation, told LiveScience's OurAmazingPlanet. "Mostly, people find chunks of wood helter-skelter, but to see these intact upright is kind of cool."
The team has tentatively identified the trees as either spruce or hemlock, based on the diameter of the trunks and because these are the types of trees growing in the region today, Connor said, but the researchers still need to further assess the samples to verify the tree type.
A protective tomb of gravel likely encased the trees more than 1,000 years ago, when the glacier was advancing, Connor said, basing the date on radiocarbon ages of the newly revealed wood. As glaciers advance, Connor explained, they often emit summer meltwater streams that spew aprons of gravel beyond the glacier's edge.

September 20, 2013 – TOKYO (Kyodo) – A magnitude 5.9 earthquake struck Fukushima in the northeast early Friday morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, but no abnormalities were observed at the region’s nuclear power plants including the crippled Fukushima Daiichi, according to their operators. The focus of the 2:25 a.m. quake was around 17 kilometers underground in Fukushima Prefecture’s southern coastal region, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.


September 17, 2013 – UKRAINE – Two people were killed after heavy rains hit southern Ukraine’s Odessa region over the weekend, a local official said Monday, APA reports quoting Xinhua. The ensuing floods drowned some 4,000 farm animals and poultry, and destroyed or severely damaged more than 450 houses, causing an estimated loss of 21 million U.S. dollars, an official of the press service of Odessa regional administration told Xinhua. Around 600 residents have been evacuated in central Odessa, the worst-hit region. -APA


September 17, 2013 – MEXICO – Authorities scrambled to rescue people stranded in flooded homes in Mexico’s resort of Acapulco Monday after twin storms slammed opposite coasts in a rare one-two punch that has killed 34 people. Hurricane Ingrid weakened to tropical storm strength as it made landfall on the northeastern coast in the morning while the Pacific coast reeled from the remnants of Tropical Storm Manuel, which dissipated after striking on Sunday. Thousands of people were evacuated as the two storms set off landslides and floods that damaged bridges, roads and homes.

September 16, 2013 – SCOTLAND - Scotland experienced all four seasons in one day yesterday, as the first storm of autumn swept across the country, bringing chaos to the country’s roads. Torrential rain, accompanied by gale-force winds, gave way to sunny periods, before the wet weather returned. The Cairngorms were hit by gusts of 100 mph, with snow anticipated last night, and the Forth Road Bridge was closed to high-sided vehicles after wind speeds of 69 mph were recorded. However, not everyone was bemoaning the gales. The weather was perfect for Scottish Windfest, at Barassie Beach in Troon, where windsurfers and kitesurfers were competing. Last night, the Met Office issued a blanket “yellow” warning, forecasting blustery winds continuing into today. They said high-altitude jetstream winds from the Atlantic pushing 200 mph – almost twice the usual – triggered the storm. It brought torrential rain yesterday morning, which flooded Nitshill Road and Thornliebank Road, in the south of Glasgow, with motorists in Dumfries suffering the worst driving conditions in the country with heavy spray on main roads.

The weather also caused severe disruption to Caledonian MacBrayne’s ferry timetable on the west coast, where dozens of sailings were either delayed or cancelled. Worst affected were the routes between Oban, Coll and Tiree, the new link between Ardrossan and Campbeltown, and the Tarbert to Portavadie crossing. A spokesman for Cal Mac said: “Ferry services across the network have been badly affected by high winds. “The bad weather is expected to continue into Monday and ferry travellers are advised to check our website (www.calmac.co.uk) for the latest information. Traffic Scotland warned motorists of high winds on the Skye, Friarton, Tay and Erskine bridges. And there was rail disruption on west coast northbound routes, after a tree fell on to overhead lines between Lockerbie and Carstairs. The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) issued flood warnings in Ayrshire and Arran, Dumfries and Galloway and west central Scotland. The CairnGorm funicular railway was closed all morning yesterday as 100mph winds blasted the area, but it was opened by midday. Paul Nixon, CairnGorm’s customer manager, said: “We’ve just been keeping a close eye on the weather today, making sure that visitors can come back down. “We’re expecting some snow tonight, but it’s unlikely to lie and will be restricted to the very top of the mountain. “This sort of weather usually does mark the start of winter for us really. In the past there has been skiing in October, and people are anticipating a very good season.” Tom Morgan, of the Met Office, said: “Scotland is only half-way there with the severe wind problems. –The Scotsman

September 16, 2013 – ATHENS - An earthquake shook buildings in the Greek capital on Monday but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. A magnitude 4.5 quake struck central Greece just before 1500 GMT and was followed by a stronger tremor, the Athens Geodynamics Institute said. Fire brigade officials said they had not received any calls for assistance. The EMSC registered the earthquake as a 5.0 magnitude event. Greece is often rattled by earthquakes, most causing no serious damage. A 5.9 magnitude quake in 1999 killed 143 people. –Reuters


September 16, 2013 – JAPAN - Workers at the Fukushima nuclear power plant have braced for a powerful incoming typhoon. Japan is struggling and failing to keep radiation leaks from the facility, crippled by the 2011 quake and tsunami, under control. Typhoon Man-Yi hit southern Japan on Monday morning, bringing heavy rains and strong winds and sparking fears that it might further deteriorate the situation at Fukushima. Workers at the site are using large weights to try and prevent cranes used to move debris from toppling over from the wind, reports Japanese broadcaster NHK.


September 16, 2013 – COLORADO – Forecasters in Colorado are warning residents near Denver to brace for torrential overnight rains, as raging flood waters roar through the region and cloud cover hampers helicopter rescue efforts. Days of heavy rains and flooding have turned the state’s Rocky Mountain foothills into high risk zones, with dozens of washed out roads and bridges turning entire communities into disaster areas short on supplies and services. At least four people were known dead by late Sunday, with two others officially missing and presumed dead.


September 16, 2013 – RUSSIA – A team of Russian scientists has found the remains of 10 gray whales washed ashore in Russia’s most northeasterly region Chukotka, the Marine Mammal Council said Friday.–RIA NOVOSTI


September 16, 2013 – INDONESIA – Mount Sinabung erupted violently before dawn, spewing rocks and red-hot ash onto surrounding villages. Asren Nasution, head of the North Sumatra disaster agency, said more than 3,000 people within a two-mile radius had been evacuated, with no casualties reported. They are being sheltered in five wooden halls used for religious ceremonies. Several flights at Kualanamu airport, some 30 miles away in Medan, have been delayed because of the ash. Indonesia has dozens of active volcanoes, more than any other country, and straddles major tectonic fault lines known as the “Ring of Fire” between the Pacific and Indian oceans. –Sky News

27 killed in mine collapse:  KABUL, AFGH. – A coal mine collapse has killed at least 27 miners in the north of Afghanistan, officials said Sunday, with rescue efforts under way to save about 12 workers trapped underground. Emergency teams rushed to the scene after the mine collapsed in a remote area of Samangan province on Saturday

Week of 9/8/13 through 9/14/13

September 14, 2013 – HEALTH – A rare fungus found in soil and trees has sickened hundreds of people in British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest in the last decade — and killed dozens — but scientists now say they’re seeing different strains of the potentially deadly bug in additional U.S. states. As of June, 171 cases of infection caused by Cryptococcus gatti, a fungus once confined to tropical climates, had been reported in the U.S. That includes at least 100 cases in Oregon and Washington, where officials have been tracking an outbreak since 2004. But at least 25 cases have been detected in eight states outside of the Northwest since 2009 — and six of those patients died, according to a new report in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases. No one’s calling it a public health crisis; officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say they just want to raise awareness. “It is really, really rare; very few people get infected by this,” said Dr. Julie Harris, a fungal disease expert with the CDC. “You can still go outside, you can still do your daily activities.”Of the six patients in the new tally who died, four succumbed to severe lung and brain infections before they were diagnosed. A previously healthy 18-year-old Georgia woman showed up at a community hospital with a headache and fever — and died within two weeks of getting sick. Of those who provided travel information, none had been to the Pacific Northwest recently, the study found. Thirteen of the newest U.S. cases were reported in California, with five more in Georgia, two in New Mexico and one each in Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Michigan and Montana. The original outbreak was caused by three specific strains of C. gattii, but the new cases, including those in nearby California, were caused by unrelated strains, Harris said.


September 14, 2013 – SOUTH DAKOTA – A whitetail deer die off is occurring again this year in Bennett County. At this point there have only been a few reports of dead deer, and all have been from the eastern part of the county. The most likely cause of the die off is epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD), which was the cause of the die off in 2012. At this point all of the deer reported dead in this area have been whitetails, but one mule deer was confirmed to have died of the disease in a different county. Other counties north of us are also reporting losing whitetails. There are several strains of EHD, with some of the strains affecting whitetail deer, mule deer, antelope and elk. The strain that was present last year did kill some mule deer and some elk, although the primary loss was whitetails. There were also some reports last year of cattle being infected in the area. Prior to last year, it was assumed that while cattle can carry the disease, they did not show any symptoms.


September 13, 2013 – PERU - The Peruvian government has declared a 60-day state of emergency in areas close to the Ubinas volcano, located about 70 kilometers outside of Arequipa. Authorities are concerned about the potential effects of volcanic ashes and gas on local villagers and their livestock. According to Andina news agency, the area covered by the state of emergency are the Moquegua districts of Ubinas, Matalaque, Chojata, Omate, Coalaque, Ichuña, Lloque, Yunga, and the Arequipa district of San Juan de Tarucani. Furthermore, Peru21 reports today that the village of Querapi will be permanently relocated within a year. Querapi, a small town populated by about 25 families, has been hit hard by the recent eruptions from Ubinas.


September 12, 2013 – LYONS, Colo. (AP) — Heavy rains and scarring from recent wildfires sent walls of water crashing down mountainsides early Thursday in Colorado, cutting off mountain towns, forcing the University of Colorado to cancel classes, and leaving at least three people dead. Boulder County was hit hardest, with up to 6 inches of rain falling over 12 hours. But flooding was reported all along the Front Range, from Colorado Springs to north of Fort Collins. Capt. John Burt of the Colorado State Patrol said a storm cell moved over the mountains during the night.


September 12, 2013 –  STANHOPE, NJ  — Four foxes have tested positive for rabies in Stanhope, an unusual occurrence that has prompted health officials to urge residents to get their pets vaccinated immediately. The rabies-infected animals were among five foxes destroyed by police and tested after they had charged two police officers and people walking their dogs in the vicinity of Lake Musconetcong. One woman was bitten on both ankles and her dog was also bitten by a fox today on Musconetcong Road. Her dog was one of two that bitten last week, police said. “This is unusual, four out of five is unusual. It’s an anomaly” Sussex County health administrator Herb Yardley said. “People need to have their animals vaccinated for rabies. Even pets that don’t go outdoors. If they get out just once, they could be exposed,” said Yardley, speculating that a single den of foxes could have been exposed in Stanhope after one of its members became rabid. Ralph D’Aries, chief of the rabies program at the county Department of Environmental and Public Health Services, said the woman who was bitten is undergoing treatment for her injuries and the dogs, who had been vaccinated, are being quarantined for 45 days as a precautionary measure.


September 12, 2013 – CANADA - The waters off British Columbia, Canada, are littered with dead starfish, and researchers have no idea what’s causing the deaths. At the end of August, marine biologist and scuba enthusiast Jonathan Martin was out on his usual Saturday dive with some friends when he noticed something unusual. “We just started noticing dead starfish that looked like they had their arms chopped off,” Martin said. They were sunflower starfish (Pycnopodia helianthoides), a major marine predator in the area that feeds mostly on sea urchins and snails. Like most starfish, the sunflower starfish can regenerate lost limbs—it can have up to 20—and can grow to be up to three feet (a meter) across. Since Martin was diving in an area frequented by crabbers, at first he thought the sunflower starfish had gotten caught in some of the crab traps and had lost limbs escaping. But Martin kept seeing large numbers of dead starfish as he and his friends swam to a marine park where such crab fishing is illegal. Martin knew then it wasn’t the traps that were causing the starfish deaths. After returning from the dive, he visited friends at a local dive shop who were active in marine conservation. Without any definitive answer, he shared photos on Flickr and videos on YouTube—taken at Lion’s Bay and Whytecliff Park in Vancouver—to try to get ideas from others about what was going on.


September 12, 2013 – NETHERLANDS - A newly discovered fungus that feasts on the skin of amphibians is threatening to decimate a species of salamander in the Netherlands, according to new research. Fire salamanders are one of the most recognizable salamander species in Europe, and are characterized by their distinct yellow- and black-patterned skin. Since 2010, fire salamanders have been mysteriously dying off in the forests of the Netherlands. Now, scientists have identified a deadly fungus, called Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans (the second part of the name translates to “salamander-eating”), that they say is jeopardizing biodiversity and bringing fire salamanders close to the brink of regional extinction. Previously, a fungus species related to the salamander-eating variety was the culprit behind mass amphibian casualties around the globe. That fungus, named Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, or Bd, is thought to have devastated more than 200 amphibian species worldwide, the researchers said. The fungus Bd also causes the disease chytridiomycosis, which has been labeled the most devastating infectious disease in vertebrate animals by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The detection of a new fungus that rapidly kills fire salamanders is an alarming development, said An Martel, a professor in the department of pathology, bacteriology and poultry diseases at the Ghent University in Belgium, and lead author of the new study. “In several regions, including northern Europe, amphibians appeared to be able to co-exist with Bd,” Martel said in a statement. “It is, therefore, extremely worrying that a new fungus has emerged that causes mass mortalities in regions where amphibian populations were previously healthy.”


September 12, 2013 – KAZAKHSTAN – Mortality of 3 thousand saiga antelopes has been registered in Akmola and Karaganda oblasts in central Kazakhstan, Tengrinews.kz reports citing the press-service of the Ministry of Environment Protection of Kazakhstan. About 1.5 thousand carcases of betpakdalinski saiga antelopes were found at southern, western and northern shores of Tengiz Lake. This type of saiga antelopes also inhabits lowlands and steppes. All the involved national and local authorities were informed about the animals’ die-off. The Ministry’s subordinate Committee of Forestry and Hunting in cooperation with the Research Institute for Biological Safety Problems and Veterinary Service of Karaganda Oblast are investigating the die-off site. Measures to find out the scale and causes of the mortality are being taken. The Ministry held an emergency briefing and arranged a group that will investigate the causes of the occasion. The group includes representatives of Ecology Departments of Akmola and Karaganda Oblasts, Veterinary Services, Emergency Situation Department, Internal Affairs Department and Sanitary and Epidemiological Control Service. Saiga antelopes mortality was registered in Kostanay Oblast in May 2012. The approximate number of dead antelopes exceeded 600 that time. –Tengrin News


September 12, 2013 – NEW MEXICO - Officials with the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish are puzzling over the mysterious deaths of more than 100 elk, apparently all within a 24-hour period, in rural New Mexico. The elk were found Aug. 27 on a 75,000-acre ranch north of the city of Las Vegas. Livestock deaths, by themselves, are not unusual — there are many things that can fell large animals, including predators, poachers, a natural or man-made toxin, disease, drought, heat, starvation, and even lightning. But so far wildlife officials have seemingly ruled out most of these possibilities: The elk weren’t shot (nor taken from the area), so it was not poachers. Tests have come back negative for anthrax, a bacteria that exists naturally in the region and can kill large animals. There seems to be no evidence of any heavy pesticide use in the area that might have played a role in the die-off. Though lightning strikes are not uncommon in the Southwest and in New Mexico specifically, killing over 100 animals at one time would be an incredibly rare event. It might be an as-yet unidentified disease, though killing so many at once — and so quickly — would be very unusual. Another possibility is some sort of contamination of the well or water tanks, but so far no toxins have been identified. Wildlife officials are hopeful that they will be able to identify the cause of death — if for no other reason that it would give peace of mind to ranchers and hunters.

September 12, 2013 – OHIO – Veterinarians, health officials and dog owners are alarmed by the mysterious recent deaths of four dogs in Ohio. Some experts suspect the dogs may have died a few days after exposure to a virus that’s normally found in pigs. Three dogs in the Cincinnati area and a fourth dog near Akron died in August after exhibiting symptoms that included vomiting, bloody diarrhea, weight loss and lethargy, according to the Columbus Dispatch. “We feel obligated to make sure pet owners are aware this is happening,” Erica Hawkins, communications director for the Ohio Department of Agriculture, told the Dispatch. “Supportive therapies can be helpful if started early enough.” The three dogs from Cincinnati died last month after staying in the same kennel. The Akron dog that died was one of several in the Akron-Canton area that showed the same symptoms. A stool sample from the Akron dog tested positive for canine circovirus, a recently isolated virus. Circoviruses are spherical viruses (grouped within the family Circoviridae) that are commonly found in birds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) publication Emerging Infectious Diseases. Until recently, the only mammals known to carry circoviruses were pigs. But in 2012, a 1-year-old dog in California was brought to the University of California, Davis, Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital after being kenneled for three weeks. The dog had bloody diarrhea and was vomiting; because of the poor prognosis, the dog was euthanized and its tissue was sampled to determine the cause of death.

September 12, 2013 – COSTA RICA - For the last three days, locals in La Fortuna de San Carlos have reported that they believe the Arenal Volcano might be awaking from a period of low activity, saying they have heard rumblings and have taken photos of plumes of vapor emerging from the volcano. The possibility of an increase in volcanic activity at the volcano has brought a sense of optimism to some in the community, which depends highly on tourism but has seen a fall-off in tourists since the volcano went essentially dormant three years ago. However, experts are cautioning not to get too excited. The Volcanolgical and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica (OVSICORI) said that the plumes are steam containing mostly water, which may be the result of a recent increase in rainfall that subsequently makes its way into the fractures of the volcano, producing steam when it reaches het sources. OVSICORI noted that plumes of steam have appeared frequently in the last few years, especially when rainfall increases, and ruled out the possibility of magmatic gas emissions.



September 11, 2013 – ALABAMA – A baseball-sized meteor blasted over the southeastern United States on Monday night, creating a bright streak of light, a sonic boom and a ruckus on Twitter, officials said on Tuesday. The meteor appeared at 9:18 p.m. EDT over Alabama, traveling at about 76,000 mph. It exploded 25 miles above Woodstock, Alabama, located about 30 miles from Birmingham. “Objects of this size hit the Earth’s atmosphere on a daily basis, but this one happened near Birmingham, which is a fairly decently sized city and lot of people saw it,” Bill Cooke, head of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, told Reuters. Many of the more than 180 eyewitness reports came from people attending a Mumford & Sons concert in Birmingham.

September 11, 2013 – TEHRAN – Iran is ramping up its threats to the United States even as the American effort against Iranian client state Syria has ground to a crawl. President Obama made his case to the American people and the world community Tuesday night that Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad must not be allowed to escape the consequences of using chemical weapons on civilians as the two-year-long Syrian civil war drags on.

September 10, 2013 – AUSTRALIA - Scientists in Victoria are attempting to learn more about the increase in the number of earthquakes in the Gippsland region. Seismologists are describing the region as an earthquake hotspot. There were only 50 earthquakes recorded up until 2009, but since then there have been 700. The activity has been particularly high in the Strzelecki Ranges which lie between the Latrobe Valley and the Gippsland coastline. Locals have been intrigued by the tremors for years.

September 10, 2013 – INDONESIA - Mount Lokon in Tomohon, North Sulawesi, erupted again at 6:30 a.m. local time on Monday, spewing volcanic material from the Tompaluan Lokon crater up to 1,500 meters in the air. “The lava flow reached several northern area villages, namely Pineleng, Tanawangko and Tateli,” said National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho in Jakarta on Monday, as quoted by Antara news agency.

September 10, 2013 – SYRIA - A chemical attack may be launched on Israel by Syrian rebels from government-controlled territories as a “major provocation,” multiple sources told RT. The report comes as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov proposed that Syria puts its chemical weapons arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction in order to prevent a possible military strike against the war-torn country.

Israeli PM cancels trip to Italy: The ongoing Syrian crisis has compelled Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to cancel a planned trip to Italy this week, government sources confirmed Monday. A few weeks ago Netanyahu planned a trip to Rome where he was to meet Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and US Secretary of State John Kerry, who had planned to be there at the same time.

Billy Graham's Answer to a Question

   

Do you think people who've already entered heaven can look down and see what we're doing here on earth? Sometimes I think of my spouse in that way (she died four years ago). But, then, wouldn't she be unhappy looking down on all the misery here? I always thought heaven was a place of total happiness. — G.A.

Yes, heaven is a place of total happiness and peace, and we can be confident that our loved ones who have gone before us into heaven are not disturbed or upset over the evil things that happen here on earth.

The Bible doesn't clearly tell us if people in heaven are able to observe what happens on earth—although there are some hints that they do. In the book of Hebrews, for example, the writer recalls the great men and woman of faith who have gone before us and are now in heaven. Then he adds, "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses ... let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" (Hebrews 12:1). Like spectators in an arena, he seems to suggest, they are watching and cheering us on as we seek to follow Christ.

Never forget that heaven's main focus is Christ. Even if those in heaven see some of what happens here, they now see it from God's point of view. And they know that some day "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea" (Habakkuk 2:14).

Thank God for the hope we have in Christ—a hope that is based squarely on Jesus Christ and what He did for us through His death and resurrection. Is your hope and trust in Him?

Week of 9 /1/13 through 9/7/13

September 7, 2013 – GUATEMALA – A 6.6-magnitude earthquake has hit Guatemala’s Pacific coastline, US seismologists say. The US Geological Survey said the quake struck around three miles (6km) south of Pajapita, at a depth of 42 miles (68km). Guatemala’s fire department issued a statement saying a few poorly-built homes were destroyed in the town of Patzicia, located between the epicenter and the capital. The quake was felt strongly in Guatemala City, the capital, and caused blackouts in some areas, but authorities have not reported any immediate injuries or damage.


September 7, 2013 – Venezuela - Amazing Natural Phenomenon: The Mysterious Catatumbo Lightning Or Venezuela’s Everlasting Lightning Storm. The mysterious “Relámpago del Catatumbo” (‘Catatumbo lightning’) is a unique natural phenomenon in the world. Located on the mouth of the Catatumbo river at Lake Maracaibo (Venezuela), the phenomenon is a cloud-to-cloud lightning that forms a voltage arc more than five kilometre high during 140 to 160 nights a year, 10 hours a night, and as many as 280 times an hour. This almost permanent storm occurs over the marshlands where the Catatumbo River feeds into Lake Maracaibo and it is considered the greatest single generator of ozone in the planet, judging from the intensity of the cloud-to-cloud discharge and great frequency.

September 6, 2013 – JAPAN – A seamount in the northwestern Pacific Ocean may be the largest volcano on Earth, and could rival the largest in the solar system — the mighty Olympus Mons on Mars — according to oceanographers. Tamu Massif, a well-known seamount off Japan, turns out to be one continuous shield volcano, about the size of New Mexico or the British Isles, said geophysicist William W. Sager, lead author of a study published online Thursday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

September 6, 2013 – PHILIPPINES - A strong 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the northern Philippines late Friday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, officials said. The quake was recorded at 7:33 pm local time (1133 GMT) with an epicenter about 42 kilometers (26 miles) south of Uyugan town in the Batan Islands, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said.

September 5, 2013 – COSTA RICA – The United States Geological Service (USGS) recorded a magnitude 6.0 earthquake 44 km west of Sardinal, in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste province at 6:29 a.m. this morning.  The USGS reports that the quake struck at a depth of 41.7km. ICR has received reports of shaking in the popular tourist destination and beach community of Playas del Coco, described as three strong jolts over the course of about a minute. The Observatorio Vulcanológico y Sismológico de Costa Rica (OVSICORI) has yet to record the event, but reported a magnitude 3.8 temblor 39 km southwest of Manzanillo de Santa Cruz, also in the province of Guanacaste, a few minutes after the event reported by USGS.  OVSICORI reports that quake having struck at a depth of 5 km. There are no reports of injuries or damage at this time. Today marks one year to the day when a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the Nicoya Peninsula, also in the province of Guanacaste, on September 5th, 2012. That quake occurred at 8:42 a.m. local time. –Inside Costa Rica


September 5, 2013 – Indonesia - A new eruption could be underway at the volcano. VSI raised the alert to 3 (Siaga, alert) on a scale of 1-4, following the observation of incandescent lava at the summit and glowing rockfalls on the eastern side into the Batuawang ravine. Strong degassing generates a plume rising up to 500 m. Satellite images show a hotspot at the summit as well. These observations suggest that new magma has been arriving at the summit where mild strombolian activity is taking place. If this activity increases, the occurrence of dangerous pyroclastic flows is a likely scenario, similar to what happened at Fuego volcano in Guatemala a few days ago. All news about: Karangetang volcano. –Volcano Discovery


September 4, 2013 – JAPAN - A moderately large vulcanian explosion occurred this morning, producing significant fallout of lapilli and small bombs in several kilometers distance. Cars parked at the Arimura Lava observatory observation point to the south of the volcano were damages and windshields broken, at a distance of about 4 km. There are no reports of injuries to people. The ash plume from the eruption rose to approx. 12,000 ft (3.6 km) elevation, i.e. about 2.5 km height.

September 4, 2013 – SYRIA - Israel has carried out a joint missile test with the US in the Mediterranean, amid heightened tension over possible Western military strikes on Syria. The test came as the US Congress prepared for its first public hearing on a possible military response to alleged chemical weapons use by Syria. Earlier, the UN confirmed that more than two million Syrians were now refugees from the 30-month conflict. More Syrians were now displaced than any other nationality, it said. A senior Israeli defense official confirmed to the BBC that a missile had been fired on Tuesday to test its defense systems. The defense ministry said Israel’s Arrow missile defense system had successfully detected and tracked a Sparrow medium-range guided missile fired as part of the test.

September 4, 2013 – SYRIA – Palestinian Islamic Jihad has warned that it may respond if Israel enters any war in Syria, as expectations rise of a possible US strike on Syria. A high-ranking official from Islamic Jihad told Al-Monitor that — upon request from Iran and Syria — Islamic Jihad may lob rockets at Israel if the events develop toward an all-out war against the Syrian regime and if Israel enters the war. The source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, “Up until now, there has been no decision within Islamic Jihad to bomb Israel in response to an aggression on Syria.

September 4, 2013 – PERU – On the evening of Sept. 1, the Ubinas Volcano in Moquegua registered two small eruptions. A third eruption occurred the following day, and now the volcano has errupted twice more, bringing the total to five eruptions in less than 48 hours. A number of news outlets have reported that the volcano’s sudden burst of activity has caused alarm in the area, which has been intensified by the appearance of a column of volcanic gases and ash that has reached a height of two kilometers. Now scientists have begun an investigation at the site to determine the exact cause of the eruptions.

September 4, 2013 – ALASKA - A magnitude 6.5 earthquake was recorded Tuesday in waters off Alaska’s remote Aleutian Islands region, where a 7.0 quake hit just last week. The Alaska Tsunami Warning Center said there was no danger of a tsunami from the quake that hit Tuesday afternoon. The quake was centered about 50 miles south-southwest of the tiny community of Atka, Alaska, at a depth of about 24 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Earthquakes, even large ones, are very common in the area, scientists say. Dozens of aftershocks have been recorded since Friday’s big quake.

September 4, 2013 – JAPAN – A strong earthquake shook the Tokyo area and eastern Japan today, though no injuries or damage were immediately reported. The Japan Meteorological Agency said the quake registered a magnitude of 6.9 but was centered offshore near Torishima, part of the Izu Islands about 600km south of Tokyo. The USGS registered the earthquake as a 6.5 magnitude event. A quake of that magnitude is at the upper range of a “strong” earthquake capable of causing major damage to buildings in populated areas.

September 3, 2013 Reuters - Members of the Mashco-Piro tribe observe an expedition of the Spanish Geographical Society from across the Alto Madre de Dios river in the Amazon basin of southeastern Peru, as photographed through a telescope by Spanish explorer Diego Cortijo on November 16, 2011, and distributed by Survival International on January 31, 2012. Survival International has the Mashco-Piro tribe listed as one of around 100 uncontacted indigenous tribes in the world.In mid-August it was reported that the Mashco-Piro, an indigenous tribe in the Peruvian Amazon, has been trying to make contact with outsiders, possibly over anger at logging encroaching on their territory. In the past, the Mashco-Piro have resisted interaction with strangers, avoiding and sometimes killing any they encounter. The news raised questions about how such tribes still exist and how Western societies should respond to them.
How many uncontacted tribes are still left?
No one knows for sure. At a rough guess, there are probably more than 100 around the world, mostly in Amazonia and New Guinea, says Rebecca Spooner of Survival International, a London-based organization that advocates for the rights of indigenous peoples. Brazil’s count is likely to be the most accurate. The government there has identified 77 uncontacted tribes through aerial surveys and by talking to more Westernized indigenous groups about their neighbors.
There are thought to be around 15 uncontacted tribes in Peru, a handful in other Amazonian countries, a few dozen in the Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea and two tribes in the Andaman Islands off the coast of India. There may also be some in Malaysia and central Africa.

Have they really had no contact with the outside world?
Most have had a little, at least indirectly. “There’s always some contact with other isolated tribes, which have contact with other indigenous people, which in turn have contact with the outside world,” says Spooner.
Many of the Amazon tribes choose to avoid contact with outsiders because they have had unpleasant encounters in the past. The Mashco-Piro, for example, abandoned their settled gardens and fled into the forest. According to Glenn Shepard, an ethnologist at the Emilio Goeldi Museum in Belem, Brazil, this happened after rubber companies massacred tribes people at the turn of the 20th century.
Some researchers refer to such tribes as “voluntarily isolated,” rather than uncontacted.
Are there guidelines for how best to approach such tribes?
In Peru, laws prohibit outsiders from initiating contact with isolated groups in most cases. They also provide protected areas where tribes can live in peace — though loopholes allow oil and mining companies into those areas. Brazil has similar laws and policies that allow contact only in life-threatening situations.
Anthropologists have an ethical obligation to do no harm to their research subjects, according to the American Anthropological Association. However, they are rarely the first people to make contact with indigenous groups — missionaries and resource developers almost always get there first, says Kim Hill, an anthropologist at Arizona State University who has worked with several recently contacted tribes.

Why would tribes choose to end their isolation?
Often, they feel forced out by encroaching civilization, says Spooner. Survival International has documented cases where settlements have been bulldozed and tribes people harassed or killed. This leaves the survivors feeling like they have no option but to give up.
Others suggest that tribes may seek contact with outsiders because they begin to trust their intentions, Hill says. Modern medicine, metal tools and education can also exert a powerful pull.

What happens then?
Often, there is a lot of disease because the tribes people are exposed to novel pathogens. It is not uncommon for half the population to die of respiratory illness, unless outsiders bring sustained medical care, Hill says.

September 3, 2013 – GUATEMALA – A phase of increased lava flow activity occurred this morning from about 6 am local time, generating a series of pyroclastic flows that descended several ravines on different, but mostly the southwestern side of the volcano. The volcano has been in moderate effusive activity for at least the past two weeks, feeding relatively small lava flows on the upper steep slope. A sudden increase in effusion rate seems to have caused the destabilization of the lava flows, generating rockfalls that turned into pyroclastic flows.

September 3, 2013 – ITALY - The National Institute of Health had recorded a positive diagnosis for H7N7 avian influenza A virus in a person suffering from conjunctivitis and occupationally exposed to sick birds belonging to the farms in the region of Emilia Romagna, where this viral infection is currently known to be circulating in poultry. According to The Global Dispatch, “with four confirmed outbreaks of H7N7 avian influenza reported in Italy since mid-August, thousands of birds have been culled to prevent the highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) from further spreading.”

September 3, 2013 Mexico battles two new outbreaks: Two new outbreaks of H7N3 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) have been reported – the first in a village flock of quails and the second in a flock of commercial layers. The Mexican veterinary authority has sent Follow Up report no. 10 dated 31 August to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). The report covers two new outbreaks of HPAI, later identified as the H7N3 sub-type.

September 02, 2013 –PERU – The Peruvian government has extended to nine more regions a state of emergency called to cope with unusually cold weather and heavy snowfall. At least two people have died and 33,000 others have been affected by the cold spell, local officials say. Tens of thousands of animals have frozen to death over the past week.

September 02, 2013 – RUSSIA – Throughout history, large volcanic eruptions have been known to influence climate. This summer, the Midwest experienced a cold wave referred to as  “Julytober” following the June eruption of Mount Sheveluch in Russia. Experts continue to compare this eruption to others from history and debate whether it could have induced the cooler Midwestern weather. “Large Russian volcano eruptions tend to cool the Midwest,” Historical Climatologist Evelyn Browning-Garriss said. When a volcano erupts, if it is large enough, it can send debris miles into the stratosphere. The stratosphere is the atmosphere above where weather takes place, approximately 6-8 miles off the ground. “Sulfur dioxide combines with water in the atmosphere to provide sulfuric acid aerosol droplets that reflect incoming solar radiation,” PhD Research Geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Volcano Observatory David Schneider said.Although the eruption of Mount Sheveluch in June was minor compared to previous eruptions like Mount Pinatubo, two years before in 2011 there were two big eruptions in Russia and Iceland.

September 02, 2013 – ENVIRONMENT – Climate change is helping pests and diseases that attack crops to spread around the world, a study suggests. Researchers from the universities of Exeter and Oxford have found crop pests are moving at an average of 3km (two miles) a year. The team said they were heading towards the north and south poles, and were establishing in areas that were once to cold for them to live in. The research is published in the journal Nature Climate Change. Currently, it is estimated that between 10% and 16% of the world’s crops are lost to disease outbreaks. The researchers warn that rising global temperatures could make the problem worse.

September 1, 2013 – INDONESIA – A powerful 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia on Sunday, the United States Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued. The quake struck in waters near the Barat Daya islands in Maluku province, 411 kilometres (254 miles) east of Atambua and 425 kilometres south of Ambon, the USGS said. It was at a depth of 132 kilometers. It is understood the quake hit at a depth of 114km in the Banda Sea just before 10pm AEST. –Times of India