Emergency regime announced in Tuva over forest fires
Tue, 04 Sep 2007 11:15 UTC
An emergency regime has been announced in four regions of Tuva, republic in south-central Siberia, over big forest fires, a duty officer of the republic's forest agency told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.
Over the past 24 hours the number of fire beds increased from 32 to 36 scorching big acreage of 1,900 hectares. Dry weather triggered Tuva's forest fires in late August.
Local weather forecasters say heat waves exceeding 30 degrees above zero will continue and no rains are expected.
Felix's Toll Rises, Henriette in Mexico
ARIEL LEON
Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:37 UTC
PUERTO CABEZAS, Nicaragua - Doctors threw together a makeshift clinic Wednesday to tend to the injured after powerful Hurricane Felix flooded their hospital and wrecked villages on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast. Remnants of the storm drenched Central America in rain and the death toll rose to at least 18 with dozens more missing.
Brilliant! Wrong Fish Used to Save Species
JUDITH KOHLER
©AP Photos/Colorado Division of Wildlife
These undated photos show the endangered greenback cutthroat trout, left, and the Colorado River cutthroat trout , right.
DENVER - A 20-year government effort to restore the population of an endangered native trout in Colorado has made little progress because biologists have been stocking some of the waterways with the wrong fish, a new study says.
Dog-walking 'can harm wildlife'
Dogs are the four legged foes of natural wildlife and not their friends, according to the first study to quantify the effects on local birds of taking them for a walk.
Experiments show that dog-walking causes more than 40 per cent reduction in bird abundance and more than 35 per cent reduction in bird diversity in woodlands, even if the pets are kept on a lead.
"These results support the ban on access for dog-walking to sensitive natural areas," said Dr Peter Banks, who did the study at the University of New South Wales with Jessica Bryant. "I can't see why it wouldn't be relevant to the UK and other places," he told The Daily Telegraph.
Dog-walking is among the world's most popular outdoor activities, with clear benefits to both human and canine health.
Earthquake Shakes Off Of San Diego Coast
10News.com
A magnitude-4.0 earthquake rattled off the San Diego coast Tuesday, but no injuries or structural damage was reported on the mainland, authorities said.
©News10.com
The quake, centered 11 miles west of San Diego at a depth of 6.8 miles, hit at 7:48 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Twin Storms Pack Dangerous Winds in Central America
PAUL KIERNAN
Felix walloped Central America's remote Miskito coastline and Henriette slammed into resorts on the tip of Baja California as a record-setting hurricane season got even wilder Tuesday with twin storms making landfall on the same day.
Atlantic and Pacific hurricanes making landfall on the same day is unprecedented, according to National Hurricane Center records dating back to 1949.
Livestock Breed Extinction Concerns U.N.
INTERLAKEN, Switzerland - The rate at which livestock breeds are disappearing is "alarming," a senior official at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization said Tuesday, warning that precious genes could be lost forever.
Sicily's Mount Etna erupts
Mount Etna, Europe's tallest and most active volcano spewed out lava late on Tuesday in its latest spectacular eruption.
Sparks lit the night sky and a small stream of lava was flowing down the volcano into an uninhabited valley but there was no danger to villages lower down on the slopes, officials said.
Hurricane Felix hits Central America, 2 reported dead
Jimmy Sanchez
Hurricane Felix ripped into Central America on Tuesday, trashing a port on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast and threatening dangerous mudslides in Honduras and Guatemala.
Two people were reported dead in Puerto Cabezas in northern Nicaragua, where howling winds tore the roofs off homes and shelters and badly damaged a church.
"My house felt like it was moving with the wind," said resident Julio Mena. Street lights and phone cables lay on the ground.
Uprooted trees flew through the air as thousands sheltered in two schools in the port, home to some 30,000 mostly Miskito Indians.
Tens of thousands displaced by Ethiopia floods
Jeremy Clarke
Widespread flooding across Ethiopia is affecting more than 100,000 people, with the number of those driven from their homes topping 36,000 and rising, the United Nations said on Tuesday.
Authorities fear further flooding is imminent and the outbreak of waterborne disease likely.