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ARCHIVES NEWS Water News History Archives Water Archives 2004 Water News Archive 2003 Water News Archive 2002 Water News Archive Water News |
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Ocean
- 
Animals
- "Oregon
Surfer Punches Shark in the Nose." ... "A surfer
says he reacted on instinct when he punched a great white shark that grabbed
his leg near the northern Oregon coast." ... "He said he learned from television
shows including the Discovery Channel's "Shark Week" that a shark's nose
is its most sensitive area." -AP
via -WashingtonPost
Iran
- 
Germany
- 
France
- Tourist
- Waters
- "Iran
detains German and French tourists." ... "Iran said
Sunday it is holding a German man and a Frenchman whose boat strayed into
its territorial waters while they were on a sailing vacation last month."
... "The Rheinpfalz newspaper reported that the 52-year-old German had
been on vacation with his wife and a French friend in the United Arab Emirates.
The two men were arrested on Nov. 29 during a fishing trip in the Straits
of Hormuz, apparently after straying into Iranian waters, it said."
-AP via -SeattlePI.NWsource
Russia
- 
China
- 
Environment
- 
Health
- "Toxic
leak reaches Russian city: A slick of chemicals from
a toxic river spill in China has reached the Russian city of Khabarovsk
after weeks of anxious waiting for residents." ... "Officials say the levels
of the deadly benzene toxins were at acceptable levels and water supplies,
which are being filtered, will not be cut." ... "The benzene spill into
the Amur river was caused by an explosion at a Chinese chemical factory
last month." ... "The explosion occurred higher up the Songhua river, in
Jilin. The Songhua flows into the Amur river on the Russian border."-BBC
/News
Florida
- 
Business
- Disaster
- Water
- Divers
- "Chalk's
grounds fleet for inspection after fatal crash off Miami Beach."
... "An airline voluntarily grounded its fleet Wednesday for inspection
after investigators said cracks in the support beam of a wing apparently
caused it to fall off a seaplane that then crashed, killing all 20 people
aboard." ... "Chalk's Ocean Airways operates four other seaplanes, all
the same model that crashed. The grounding came the same day federal investigators
said they were trying to determine why the airline had apparently not discovered
the cracks." ... "Salvage crews and divers worked for a second day Wednesday
to haul up the plane's wreckage from about 35 feet of water in a channel
off the southern tip of Miami Beach [Florida], where it went down Monday."
-By Curt Anderson -Sun-Sentinel
via -Newsday.com
Water- 
US
- 
Turkey
- 
Police
- 
Connecticut
- "Congress
turns attention to cruise safety." ... "George Allen
Smith IV vanished from a Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ship in the Mediterranean
10 days after his wedding last summer. His family says he was a victim
of foul play covered up by the cruise ship line to avoid bad publicity."
... "Smith's wife, Jennifer Hagel Smith, says ship officials forced her
from the vessel after her husband's disappearance and abandoned her in
Turkey, where she ended up at a police station and later a hospital with
no food, money, clothing or ticket home." -AP
via -USATODAY
Washington
- Animals
- Water
- 
Science
- "Efforts
to protect orcas may have wide impact: Public urged
to comment on the conservation plan." ... "Early next year comes the first
step in determining how much punch the "endangered" label will carry for
the oft-ogled orcas [in Washington state's Puget Sound]. Federal officials
are asking the public to speak up in the next few weeks." ... "But the
agency isn't likely to do anything soon about an expanding whale-watching
fleet, and what orca advocates call a growing underwater cacophony of boat
noise hobbling the whales' ability to find prey and communicate." ... "Orca
advocates want all that dealt with under the new endangered designation,
but that's unlikely, according to Fisheries Service spokesman Brian Gorman."
... "Environmentalists, who had to sue the Fisheries Services to force
the endangered species listing, say that's exactly what they're afraid
of." -By Robert McClure
-SeattlePI.NWsource
Animals
- Water
- Science
- "Study:
Arctic Killer Whales High in Toxins." ... "Killer
whales have the highest concentration of man-made toxins of all Arctic
mammals tested in Europe because of the oceangoing predators' taste for
fatty fish, according to a study released Monday." ... "Man-made toxins,
such as PCBs, build up in animal fat and become more concentrated in moving
up the food chain. Most toxins, often from household products, are carried
to Arctic waters by ocean currents, winds, or in migratory fish and animals."
-AP via -Forbes
UK
- 
Oil
- Disaster
- Water
- Environment
- "UK
oil depot fire 'largest of kind'." ... "Firefighters
are battling blazes at three tanks still burning after Sunday's massive
explosions at a fuel depot north of London while investigators search for
clues as to what caused powerful explosions that started the blaze." ...
"Using fire suppressant foam and water, the firefighters successfully put
down fires in 10 other tanks at Buncefield Oil Depot near Hemel Hempstead
and kept the flames away from seven more after the blasts, which injured
43 people and were felt 40 kilometers (25 miles) away in London." ... "The
fire department said they were "making good progress" against the fire."
... "Fire and environmental officials spent much of the night discussing
how to tackle the blaze without polluting local water supplies."
-AP -CNN
China
- Water
- Environment
- "Chinese
toxic spill official found dead." ... "A vice mayor
in charge of evacuating a Chinese city after a chemical plant exploded
has been found dead at home, a city official said on Wednesday, as a toxic
river flow resulting from the accident continued to spread." ... "Wang
Wei, vice mayor in the northeastern city of Jilin, had been in charge of
dealing with the aftermath of the November 13 blast, state media reports
said at the time." ... "Wang was quoted as saying that the accident would
not cause widespread pollution. In fact 100 tons of cancer-causing benzene
compounds spilled into the Songhua river which provides drinking water
for the 9 million people of the city of Harbin. Tap water supplies had
to be shut off for nearly a week." (1, 2)
-By Ben Blanchard and Vivi Lin
-Reuters
GOV
- 
Air
- Water
- Health
- 
Politics
- Business
- 
Kentucky
- "A
fight over easing rules for reporting toxic emissions:
The EPA plan would help small businesses reduce paperwork." ... "Gracie
Lewis is on a crusade to save the Toxics Release Inventory, a trove of
federal pollution data vital to helping her - and activists nationwide
- win community battles for cleaner air and water." ... "Until a couple
of years ago, Mrs. Lewis was at her wits' end over the stew of chemical
odors wafting into her home from nearby factories in the industrial heart
of Louisville, Ky. [Kentucky], a neighborhood known as "Rubbertown."" ...
"Though she still smells them today, the city now has a plan for beating
back toxic emissions, in part because of TRI data gathered annually by
the Environmental Protection Agency, she says. With those crucial numbers
in hand, she and other activists can ferret out companies releasing harmful
chemicals. "Once we smell it, we call the odor hot line," she says." ...
"But that ability to check the numbers may be changing as the EPA mulls
over whether to lower the TRI reporting requirements. Small businesses
have welcomed the proposal because it eliminates extra paperwork. But Lewis,
environmentalists, and first responders have become part of a vocal national
backlash since the changes were first proposed in September. These groups
argue they would lose vital data and would not be able to hold polluters
accountable." -By Mark Clayton -CSMonitor
China
- Russia
- Environment
- Health
- "Update
2: China City Rushes Water Plant Into Action." ...
"A city of 480,000 people in China's northeast rushed a new water plant
into operation as a toxic spill on a nearby river arrived Tuesday and the
city was forced to shut down other water facilities for fear of contamination,
the local government said." ... "The spill of cancer-causing benzene and
related compounds into the Songhua River has disrupted drinking water supplies
to millions of people in China, and a Russian city downstream is bracing
for the arrival of the chemicals early next week." ... "There has been
no indication that local Communist Party leaders, who are accused of initially
trying to conceal the spill, might face punishment." -Contributed
to by Helen Luk -AP
via -Forbes
World
- 
Climate
- Air
- Ice
- Science
- 
History
- "Greenhouse-gas
levels highest for 650,000 years: Climate record
highlights extent of man-made change." ... "Current levels of greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere are higher than at any time in the past 650,000
years, say researchers who have finished cataloguing air bubbles trapped
for millennia inside Antarctic ice. The record, which extends back over
the past eight ice ages, shows that today's concentrations of carbon dioxide
and methane far outstrip those in the past." ... "The researchers studied
air bubbles preserved in ice drilled from the Antarctic ice sheet as part
of the European Project for Ice Coring in Antarctica (EPICA). The ice core
represents a logbook of the state of the world's climate [...] and goes
back 210,000 years further than previous records." -By
Michael Hopkin -Nature
China
- Health
- Environment
- "Chemical
blast in northeast China contaminates major river."
... "An explosion at a chemical plant in northeastern China 10 days ago
caused contamination in a major river more than 100 times above national
safety levels, environmental authorities said." ... "'After the blast at
the chemical plant the monitoring station in Jilin found that benzene went
into the river and polluted the water,' the Environmental Protection Administration
(EPA) said in a statement on its website."
-AFXNews via -Forbes
Global
- 
Earth
- Weather
- Environment
- Science
- 
People
- "A
cautionary picture of water supplies as Earth warms:
New studies forecast declines for rivers in the US and elsewhere." ...
"Mountain snows and alpine glaciers represent key reservoirs of fresh water
for some 1.6 billion people worldwide. In 50 years, however, a warming
planet is likely to disrupt many of these sources, leaving millions of
people scrambling for additional supplies." ... "While conservation, additional
reservoirs, and repairs to leaky water mains can help blunt the effects
of these changes, efforts to adapt to shrinking snowpacks and vanishing
glaciers are expected to require other changes in farming techniques, industrial
practices, and lifestyles." ... "That's the warning a team of US scientists
is issuing after reviewing field measurements and modeling studies that
deal with the impact of global warming on alpine environments. Combined
with a second, independent look at stream flows in key parts of the world,
the studies are helping scientists fill in a picture of future freshwater
supplies as the planet warms. (Both studies appear Thursday in the journal
Nature.)" -By Peter N. Spotts -CSMonitor
Hawaii
- Scuba
- Water- Animals
- Business
- "The
Dangers of Hawaii's Fish Industry." ... "Every year.
more than half a million of the state's most beautiful fish are taken our
reefs and sent to aquarium tanks around the world. It's a multi-million
dollar industry that's been mostly unregulated. Now, some say it's time
for a radical change." ... "For decades now, the aquarium fishing industry
in Hawai'i has been basically a free-for-all. Get a boat, some dive gear
and a $50 permit and you're in business." ... "In the past 20 years, the
state's total catch of aquarium fish has quintupled. Last year, the industry
reported catching nearly 750,000 fish, grossing more than $3 million in
sales." ... "Aquatic biologist Bill Walsh of the Department of Land and
Natural Resources says that's not counting renegade fish collectors who
don't report their catches." ... "Walsh is recommending banning aquarium
fish collecting on at least 20 percent of all island coastlines. He's also
recommending statewide bans on a few specific fish and a possible limit
to the number of fish collectors." -By Keahi Tucker
-KGMB9
Water
- "Cruise
ship attack highlights threat from Somalia." ...
"A pirate attack on a ship full of Western holidaymakers has jolted East
Africa's bomb-scarred tourist industry and reminded the world of the threat
posed by Somalia, an anarchic state awash with weapons." ... "Woken by
machinegun fire and a rocket-propelled grenade crashing into their cruise
ship at dawn on Saturday, the tourists gazed in disbelief as attackers
in two small boats tried, but eventually failed, to seize their vessel."
-By Daniel Wallis -Reuters
via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
Samuel
Alito
- 
Pennsylvania
- 
Worker
- Water
- Environment
- Politics
- "Many
of Alito's rulings have been at odds with Supreme Court."
... "Samuel Alito once wrote that employees who allege sex discrimination
ought to have a tougher time proving their claims. The Supreme Court disagreed."
... "Alito once argued that Congress hadn't granted state workers the family-leave
benefits that are mandated for other employees. The high court rejected
his thinking again." ... "And Alito, now President Bush's choice to replace
Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor, once embraced a standard that would make it harder
to punish water polluters. But the Supreme Court didn't go along." ...
"In Alito's 15 years of rulings on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in
Philadelphia [Pennsylvania], many of his interpretations of federal law
and the Constitution are at odds with established thinking and practice,
and ultimately they've been rejected by large majorities on the high court
he hopes to join." -By Stephen Henderson
-Knight Ridder via
-MercuryNews
Water
- Environment
- "Justices
to Measure Clean Water Act's Reach: The high court
will hear cases that could limit the power of the U.S. to protect wetlands."
... "The Supreme Court, in a potentially far-reaching clash between the
environment and the rights of property owners, agreed Tuesday to consider
limiting the federal government's power to protect hundreds of millions
of acres of wetlands." ... "After its first private conference led by Chief
Justice John G. Roberts Jr., the court said it would hear three cases that
asked the justices to cut back on the reach of the Clean Water Act of 1972,
the antipollution measure that led to the cleanup of streams, rivers and
bays around the nation." ... "A defeat for the federal government could
signal the beginning of a retreat from broad federal protection for the
environment. Some conservatives and property-rights activists have urged
the high court to be more aggressive in protecting landowners from environmental
regulators." -By David G. Savage
-LAtimes
New
York
- Michigan
- Travel
- Water
- Transportation
- 
Seniors
- "21
Dead After Tour Boat Sinks." ... "A seemingly ideal
day of sailing along a calm but busy mountain lake turned abruptly tragic
Sunday when a tour boat carrying a group of senior citizens overturned,
killing 21 people and injuring dozens more." ... "The 40-foot boat was
carrying a tour group from the Trenton, Mich., area, and was sailing just
north of the village of Lake George, a popular tourist destination about
50 miles north of Albany [New York] in the Adirondack Mountains. With calm
waters, clear skies and temperatures in the 70s, it seemed perfect boating
weather." (1, 2)-AP
via -CBSNews
Global
- Weather
- Water
- Science
- "Melting
Arctic ice cap sounds alarm bells." ... "An alarming
study released yesterday shows that the rapid decline of the floating ice
cap covering the Arctic Ocean is showing no signs of reversing." ... "The
U.S.-based National Snow and Ice Data Center presented data showing that
the dramatic decay has continued for the fourth consecutive year, with
2005 being a record year for sea-ice shrinkage." ... "The researchers,
who used satellite images and were assisted by NASA and the University
of Washington, also predicted that if the current rates of decline in sea
ice continue, the summertime Arctic could be ice-free before the end of
this century." ... "The centre's study concluded that human-induced global
warming is at least partly to blame." -By Katherine
Harding with contributions by Jeff Sallot -GlobeAndMail
Hurricane
Katrina - Flood
- 
Cars
- Business
- "Damaged
cars could end up being resold." ... "One of the
enduring images from Hurricane Katrina is of cars, trucks, even school
buses submerged up to their roofs in slimy, oily floodwaters." ... "Consumers
are being warned to watch out for flood-damaged cars ending up on the used
car market, but insurance experts working in the area say the cars are
so far gone that it will be hard for scam artists to hide the flood damage."
-By Sharon Silke Carty
-USATODAY
Hurricane
Rita - 
Texas
- Louisiana
- Flood
- "Rita
rakes Texas-Louisiana border: 'Hundreds' saved in
coastal Louisiana; Lake Charles under curfew." ... "As Tropical Storm Rita
limped up the Texas-Louisiana border Saturday, communities in its wake
were still feeling Rita's hurricane punch from hours earlier." ... "Much
of Lake Charles, Louisiana, is flooded with choppy, wind-whipped water.
The mayor is asking evacuees to stay out and for those who rode out the
hurricane to adhere to a dusk-to-dawn curfew." ... "Rita's center slammed
into the extreme southwest coast of Louisiana near Sabine Pass, Texas,
with winds of 120 mph at 3:30 a.m. ET." -Contributed
to by Rick Sanchez, Miles O'Brien, Randi Kaye and John King
-CNN
New
Orleans - Louisiana
-
-
- -
"Mayor
Suspends Reopening City." ... "Under pressure from
President Bush and other top federal officials, the New Orleans mayor [Ray
Nagin] Monday suspended the reopening of large portions of the city over
the next few days because of the threat of a new round of flooding from
a tropical storm." ... "In Washington, Mr. Bush on Monday questioned the
plan to let people back in, saying there is "deep concern" about the possibility
that Tropical Storm Rita, which was headed toward the Florida Keys, could
head into the Gulf of Mexico and drop more rain on New Orleans. He said
he has been warned that the city's levees would be breached again if that
happened." ... "In addition, Mr. Bush said there are significant environmental
concerns. New Orleans still lacks drinkable water, and there are fears
about the contamination in the remaining floodwaters and the muck left
behind in drained areas of the city." (1, 2)
-AP -CBSNews
Netherlands
- US
- New
Orleans - LA
-
-
- "Dutch
Can Relate to New Orleans Disaster: Netherlands Toughened
Dams, Levees After Deadly 1953 Storm." ... "Half of the Netherlands sits
below sea level, so the tragedy in New Orleans hits home with the Dutch."
... "They have been through it themselves: In 1953, a huge flood in the
Netherlands killed nearly 2,000 people and left 70,000 homeless." ... "The
flood led to dramatic changes. The Netherlands spent $8 billion over 30
years fortifying the coastline with a sophisticated system of dikes, dams
and levees." ... "Ted Sluiter, a spokesman for Waterland Neeltje Jans,
a recreational park and information center set up at the base of a major
dam, said the hydraulic sea wall that is considered the crown jewel of
the system would protect the country against all but a biblical flood.
The dam is constructed in a way that protects the region's wetlands, environmentally-sensitive
areas that serve as natural storm buffers." (1, 2)
-Originally reported by David Wright for "World News
Tonight" on Sept. 11, 2005 -ABCNEWS.com
- -
- "Aceh
rebels begin giving up guns: Separatist rebels in
the Indonesian region of Aceh have begun handing over their weapons in
a crucial stage of a peace process with the government." ... "The Free
Aceh Movement (Gam) fighters are due to give up a quarter of their weaponry
at four undisclosed locations across the province this week." ... "In return,
Indonesia will withdraw about 6,000 combat troops." ... "Aceh bore the
brunt of the Indian Ocean tsunami and the disaster prompted the two sides
to return to talks." ... "In the wake of the tsunami, which killed 130,000
people locally, the rebels and the government both made compromises which
would have been unthinkable before."-BBC/News
North
Carolina -
-
- "Ophelia
lashes North Carolina coast: 15 inches of rain expected
in some places; storm surges could reach 11 feet." ... "CAROLINA BEACH,
N.C. - Hurricane Ophelia lashed the North Carolina coast with high winds
and heavy rains Wednesday, beginning an anticipated two-day assault that
threatened serious flooding and an 11-foot storm surge." ... ""If you have
not heeded the warning before, let me be clear right now: Ophelia is a
dangerous storm," Gov. Mike Easley said from Raleigh, appealing especially
to those in flood-prone areas to evacuate." ... "More than 120,000 homes
and business were without power in eastern North Carolina, electric utilities
said." -AP
via -MSNBC
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- GOV
- 
MIL
- Transportation
- Politics
- Tennessee
- "FEMA
Convoy Gets Ice to Cities Not in Need." ... "About
200 tractor-trailer trucks with ice and water for victims of Hurricane
Katrina took a convoluted, weeklong trip to a storage depot in Memphis
[Tennessee], partly because of what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers called
``miscommunication.''" ... "The drivers were sent to cities that didn't
end up needing water or ice and were final directed to Memphis, said Corps
spokesman Bob Anderson." -By Woody Baird
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- New
Orleans -
-
-
- "Some
follow, others hide from evacuation order: New Orleans
still dealing with holdouts; state has 25,000 body bags ready." ... "[New
Orleans, Louisiana] Police Chief Eddie Compass told NBC's "Today" show
that police would forcibly remove holdouts once the "thousands" still seeking
to evacuate voluntarily have done so." ... "A New Orleans water sample
taken by "Today" show producers and tested by Rice University found E.
coli levels a million times higher than what the Environmental Protection
Agency allows for recreational waters. That's as much E. coli as one would
find in raw sewage." (1, 2)
-MSNBC
TX
- New
Orleans -
-
- "Water
pollution a concern in New Orleans." ... "The reports
underscore advice issued by federal health officials Tuesday: Rescue workers
and anyone left in hurricane-ravaged areas should try to limit direct skin
contact with flood waters; seek immediate medical attention if they have
cuts or other wounds exposed to the dirty water; and wash their hands frequently."
... "Officials in Houston's Astrodome handed out alcohol-based hand sanitizers
Tuesday to help prevent spread of norovirus, an easily spread cause of
diarrhea and vomiting. Officials isolated some refugees with the illness,
made infamous by recent cruise-ship outbreaks, although they couldn't provide
an exact count. There is no treatment except to keep sufferers hydrated;
it normally lasts a few days." -By Lauran Neergaard
-MercuryNews
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- New
Orleans -
-
- "Flood
waters found contaminated: CDC: Evacuees, rescue
workers should take precautions." ... "Federal health and environment officials
renewed the call to avoid ingesting or being in New Orleans [Louisiana]
flood waters Wednesday after preliminary tests confirmed they contain hazardous
levels of bacteria and lead." ... "The amounts exceed 10 times the safe
levels, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Stephen L.
Johnson said during a conference call with reporters." ... ""Human contact
with the flood water should be avoided as much as possible," he said. "Our
initial samplings indicate counts for E. coli and coliform in these areas
greatly exceed EPA's recommended level for contact."" ... "It may sound
obvious, he said, but "no one should drink the flood water, especially
children."" -By Kristen Gerencher
-MarketWatch
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- New
Orleans -
-
- "Officials:
Chemicals bigger concern than cholera: Polluted New
Orleans [Louisiana] water could be major health hazard." ... "Despite reporting
five deaths from a bacteria-caused illness, public health officials said
Tuesday they are more concerned about the possibility of toxic chemicals
in the water covering New Orleans than they are about a cholera outbreak."
... "Dr. Julie Gerberding, the director of the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, said that more than a week after Hurricane Katrina hit
the region health officials still don't know if the water contains toxic
chemicals." ... "Gerberding downplayed the risk of cholera, saying it has
not been found in the region for years, and is not likely to emerge now
as a threat." ... "Instead, public health officials are preparing for possible
outbreaks of infectious disease. They are focusing on E. coli and other
diseases that can cause diarrhea, including Norwalk viruses, which have
caused outbreaks on cruise ships." -CNN
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- New
Orleans - Mississippi
- TX-
-
- "Infections
kill 3 after Katrina; others at risk." ... "Three
people have died from bacterial infections in Gulf states after Hurricane
Katrina, and tests confirm that the water flooding New Orleans [Louisiana]
is a stew of sewage-borne bacteria, federal officials said on Wednesday."
... "A fourth person in the Gulf region is suspected to be infected with
Vibrio vulnificus, a common marine bacteria, Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention Director Dr. Julie Gerberding told reporters, citing reports
from state health officials in Mississippi and Texas." ... ""This does
not represent an outbreak," Gerberding told a news conference. "It does
not spread from person to person," she said." -By
Maggie Fox -Reuters.co.uk
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- New
Orleans - Louisiana
-
-
-
-
- 
- "Katrina
Takes Environmental Toll: Warning Issued On Water;
Federal Probes Of Relief Loom." ... "The dank and putrid floodwaters choking
this once-gracious city [New Orleans, Louisiana] are so poisoned with gasoline,
industrial chemicals, feces and other contaminants that even casual contact
is hazardous and safe drinking water may not be available for the entire
population for years to come, state and federal officials warned Tuesday."
... "As hundreds of police officers, emergency workers and volunteers waded
through flooded neighborhoods trying to coax remaining residents from their
ruined homes, health officials offered the first tentative assessments
of the environmental damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina and its resulting
floods: They ranged from contaminated water to the destruction of coastline
that acts as a buffer against hurricanes and other severe weather." ...
"State officials also released new tallies of Katrina's destruction, with
up to 160,000 homes in Louisiana destroyed and nearly 190,000 public school
students displaced by the storm and its aftermath." (1, 2,
3)
-By Timothy Dwyer, Jacqueline L. Salmon, and Dan Eggen
with contributions by David Brown, Juliet Eilperin, Michael A. Fletcher,
Spencer S. Hsu, Shankar Vedantam and Lucy Shackelford -WashingtonPost
Hurricane
Katrina - New
Orleans - Louisiana
- Animals
- Pets
- TX
-
- "Pets
Homeless, Too, After Katrina." ... "Tales of survival
coming out of New Orleans include the rescue of dogs, cats and other family
pets that had to be abandoned by families fleeing the rising water." ...
"Evacuees transported from Louisiana to Texas were not allowed to take
their pets with them. Some were forced to leave their pets on the side
of the road while they boarded buses. Others were lucky enough to hide
small pets in their shirts, pants and bags." ... "Nearly 400 animals arrived
this way. Once passengers arrived at the Astrodome, however, they were
not allowed inside with pets. The Houston SPCA sent volunteers to meet
the buses and take the pets back to its shelter until the owners could
care for them again."
-CBSNews
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
-
-
-
- "Thousands
assess damage; 10,000 urged to leave city: Search
for survivors, bodies continues; toll still unknown." ... "As thousands
streamed back into the city's suburbs to assess the damage to their homes,
authorities pleaded with the estimated 10,000 remaining in flooded areas
of New Orleans [Louisiana] to get out of a city that was, in the words
of the deputy police chief, destroyed by ''the greatest catastrophe on
American soil."" ... "As police in boats conducted a building-to-building
search for survivors and bodies, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin said he
thought the death toll could rise as high as 10,000. [Louisiana] Governor
Kathleen Blanco said ''several thousand" could be dead. But with the official
body count at 71, authorities said it would be weeks before an accurate
death toll could be established." -By Kevin Cullen
and Keith O'Brien -Boston/Globe
- 
-
-
-
- "Thousands
flee from typhoon Nabi: Floods, landslides paralyze
southern Japan." ... "A powerful typhoon pummelled southwestern Japan with
torrential rain and high winds on Tuesday, causing floods and landslides,
paralysing transport and prompting officials to tell more than 100,000
people to flee their homes." ... "The typhoon, named Nabi, meaning "butterfly"
in Korean, was moving north at 30 km an hour (19 mph) but was forecast
to swing east and beat a path up the Japan Sea coast, bringing rain and
strong winds to western Japan and parts of South Korea before hitting the
northernmost main Japanese island of Hokkaido." ... "More than 1,300 mm
(51 inches) of rain had fallen in some parts of Kyushu in 24 hours, public
broadcaster NHK said." -Reuters
via -CNN
-
-
- "Typhoon
death toll in China at least 95." ... "The toll from
last week's Typhoon Talim has risen to at least 95 dead on the Chinese
mainland, with an additional 30 people missing, the government said Monday."
... "At least 59 deaths occurred in Anhui, a poor inland province where
thousands of houses were destroyed by flooding and landslides, the official
Xinhua News Agency and state television reported."
-AP via -MercuryNews
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
-
- Louisiana
- TX
-
- 
- "4,000
evacuees in Houston to be relocated to cruise ships."
... "The transfer of about 4,000 Katrina evacuees from Houston [Texas]
to cruise ships in Galveston is expected to begin later today, officials
announced late Monday." ... "Under criteria set by Louisiana Gov. Kathleen
Blanco, evacuees age 60 and over will have the top priority for the transfer
to the ships, said Tom Costello of the Federal Emergency Management Agency."
... "Next in line are single guardians with children ages 4 and younger,
followed by single guardians of children ages 8 and younger, and ages 12
and younger." ... "The ships will not sail but will remain docked in Galveston,
officials said." -By Carol Christian
-HoustonChronicle.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- New
Orleans -
- Animals
- Pets
-
- "Pet
rescue in New Orleans is gathering steam." ... "With
progress made in evacuating people from New Orleans [Louisiana], some are
turning their attention to other living creatures affected by the flooding
-- pets." ... "People left thousands of dogs, cats and other family pets
behind in the rush to escape either Hurricane Katrina or the flooding that
followed." ... "Many of those animals sit forlornly on the rooftops of
flooded homes, slowly starving to death as rescue boats ignore them, looking
for people instead. Some have even tried swimming to boats, only to be
rebuffed by the rescuers." ... "One fear is that after seven days in the
hot sun, with no food and drinking nothing but polluted water, the dogs
might be dangerous." ... "On dry land, stray dogs have formed packs to
scavenge the city for food." -With contributions by
Jed Kahane and Paul Bliss -CTV.ca
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- Disasters
-
- "Gulf
Coast Grimly Counts Its Losses: Officials fear thousands
killed by Katrina. Surviviors: Rescuers in boats search reeking city [New
Orleans, Louisiana]." ... "James Christesson, the boat captain, has been
steering it through waters laced with raw sewage and spilled fuel. Bottles,
garbage cans, sunken cars and wooden chairs have scraped against the boat's
flat bottom. The city smells foul. The reek of low tide clashes with the
stench of decomposing flesh." ... "The thousands of refugees who filled
the Convention Center and the Superdome are gone. The only people left
in the city are those who chose to stay, those who have been unable to
get out of their homes and those who died trying. Thousands may be dead."
-By Anna Badkhen with contributions by Michael Macor
-SFGate.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- Disaster
- "Pumps
sucking water from flooded city: Deputy chief says
New Orleans 'completely destroyed'." ... "Even as the Army Corps of Engineers
made progress removing water from New Orleans [Louisiana], the city's deputy
police chief urged remaining residents Monday to get out because there
was no power, drinkable water or food supply." ... "Many New Orleans streets
are still filled with stagnant, fetid waters streaked with iridescent oil
and smelling of garbage, human waste and death." ... "The failures of the
levee system left about 80 percent of the city flooded with water up to
20 feet deep." ... "The Army Corps of Engineers said Monday that repair
crews had patched the ruptured levee along the 17th Street Canal and have
begun pumping out water." -CNN
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
-
- "Carnival
Sending Three Ships for Refugees." ... "Three Carnival
Cruise Lines ships have been pressed into service by the government to
provide shelter for as many as 7,000 hurricane victims." ... "The Ecstasy,
the Sensation and the Holiday will be pulled from regular use starting
Monday at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The cost
of the charters was not disclosed." -By Travis Reed
-AP via-WashingtonPost
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- Mississippi
-
-
- "New
Orleans Gets More Troops to Stop Katrina Looting (Update2)."
... "An additional 16,000 National Guard members were ordered to Louisiana
and Mississippi to combat looting and quell gunfire that disrupted the
rescue of survivors of Hurricane Katrina." ... "The troops will be added
to 22,000 already deployed in the two states, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff said today at a news conference. He said 1,400 will go
to New Orleans [Louisiana] daily for the next three days, expanding a force
of 3,000 that's trying to maintain order in a city flooded and left without
power by the storm three days ago." ... "``Looters are hitting food stores,
they're hitting department stores, they're in jewelry stores and gun stores
-- they're stealing guns wherever they can,'' Sergeant Frank Coates, a
spokesman for the Louisiana Police, said in a telephone interview from
Baton Rouge, the Louisiana state capital. ``It's not just to survive, they're
taking goods for personal gain.'' -By Heather Burke
-Bloomberg
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- Louisiana
-
-
-
- "New
Orleans shelters to be evacuated: Floodwaters rising,
devastation widespread in Katrina's wake." ... "New Orleans [Louisiana]
resembled a war zone more than a modern American metropolis Tuesday, as
Gulf Coast communities struggled to deal with the devastating aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina." ... "Deteriorating conditions in New Orleans will
force authorities to evacuate the thousands of people at city shelters,
including the Louisiana Superdome, where a policeman told CNN unrest was
escalating." ... "The officer expressed concern that the situation could
worsen overnight after three shootings, looting and a number of attempted
carjackings during the afternoon." ... "The U.S. Coast Guard said its crews
assisted in the rescue Monday of about 1,200 people stranded by high water
in the New Orleans area, and thousands more were rescued Tuesday morning."
-Contributions made by Anderson Cooper, Kathleen Koch,
David Mattingly, Jeanne Meserve, Miles O'Brien, Jim Spellman, Gary Tuchman
and John Zarrella -CNN
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- Disaster
- Sports
- TX
-
- 
- "New
Orleans Mayor Says `Thousands' Might Be Dead (Update1)."
... "New Orleans [Louisiana] Mayor Ray Nagin said Hurricane Katrina probably
killed hundreds and ``most likely, thousands'' of residents as officials
sought to evacuate 23,000 refugees to Houston." ... "The refugees, mostly
in the Superdome sports stadium, will be taken by 500 buses to the Astrodome
in Houston [Texas] 328 miles (508 kilometers) away, officials said. It
may be weeks before people are allowed to return, they said." ... "``There
is nothing in New Orleans that will sustain them,'' said Lieutenant Kevin
Cowan, a spokesman for the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency
Preparedness. ``There is no water, no electricity, no food, no sanitation.
People cannot live in New Orleans.''" -By Heather
Burke -Bloomberg
Hurricane
Katrina - Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Disaster
-
-
-
- "Hurricane
damage 'enormous'." ... "The Gulf Coast on Tuesday
began to confront the aftermath of one of the most devastating hurricanes
ever to hit the United States." ... "Officially, the regional death toll
was put at 55 Tuesday morning, but officials warned that it was certain
to rise; Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi said the toll in just one
county in his state could be as high as 80." ... "Some of the worst damage
reports came from east of New Orleans [Louisiana]. An estimated 40,000
homes were reported flooded in St. Bernard Parish. In Gulfport, the storm
left three of five hospitals without working emergency rooms, beachfront
homes wrecked and major stretches of the coastal highway flooded and impassable."
-By Joseph B. Treaster, Kate Zernike, and Ralph Blumenthal
with contributions by Abby Goodnough, Michael M. Luo, James Dao, Jeremy
Alford, Diane Allen, Terence Neilan, Christine Hauser and Shadi Rahimi
-NYTimes
Hurricane
Katrina -
-
- "Update
9: Katrina Drives Energy Prices to New Highs." ...
"The potential damage to oil platforms, refineries and pipelines that remain
closed along the Gulf Coast drove energy prices to new highs Tuesday, with
crude futures briefly topping $70 a barrel and wholesale gasoline costs
surging to levels that could lead to $3 a gallon at the pump in some markets."
... "Companies scrambled planes and helicopters to get an aerial view of
their assets and they began escorting some previously evacuated workers
back to offshore facilities to conduct detailed inspections of rigs and
underwater pipes. Some producers found that a rig or platform had disappeared,
drifted or listed, while others reported that damage appeared minimal."
... "Onshore, flooding from Hurricane Katrina is likely to have caused
enough damage to some refineries that it could take weeks, and possibly
a month or more, before operations return to normal, analysts said." -Contributions
by Steve Quinn, Allen Breed and George Jahn -AP
via -Forbes
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- Disaster
-
-
-
-
- "Crews
Pass Dead to Reach Storm Survivors." ... "Rescuers
along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast pushed aside the dead to reach the
living Tuesday in a race against time and rising waters, while New Orleans
sank deeper into crisis and Louisiana's governor ordered storm refugees
out of this drowning city." ... "Two levees broke and sent water coursing
into the streets of the Big Easy a full day after New Orleans appeared
to have escaped widespread destruction from Hurricane Katrina. An estimated
80 percent of the below-sea-level city was under water, up to 20 feet deep
in places, with miles and miles of homes swamped." ... "Federal Emergency
Management Agency director Mike Brown warned that structural damage to
homes, diseases from animal carcasses and chemicals in floodwaters made
it unsafe for residents to come home anytime soon. And a mass return also
was discouraged to keep from interfering with rescue and recovery efforts."
-By Brett Martel with contributions by Holbrook Mohr,
Mary Foster, Allen G. Breed, Brett Martel, Adam Nossiter and Jay Reeves
-AP via -SFGate.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Alabama
- Disaster
-
-
-
- "Katrina
Death Toll Climbs to 60 People; New Orleans Is Flooded."
... "Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama,
killing dozens of people, cutting off power to 2 million and leaving most
of New Orleans flooded by water as deep as 20 feet. U.S. and state officials
say it may be the nation's worst natural disaster." ... "The Federal Emergency
Management Agency is moving 23 disaster medical assistance teams into areas
hit by Katrina, the Homeland Security Department said in a statement. The
agency also has sent urban search and rescue task forces as well as water,
ice, generators and other supplies into the Gulf region." ... "The National
Guard has mobilized about 7,500, or 42 percent, of 31,500 available personnel
to distribute military meals and water, clean up debris and assist law
enforcement officials if needed, said spokesman Jack Harrison." ... "More
than 40 Coast Guard aircraft with more than 30 boats are conducting search,
rescue and humanitarian aid operations, the Homeland Security Department
said." -By Heather Burke -Bloomberg
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Alabama
- Disaster
-
- "Katrina
damage called 'catastrophic': New Orleans reported
to be 80% underwater, ports closed." ... "The head of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency said Tuesday that Hurricane Katrina had caused "catastrophic
damage" to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama." ... "Michael Brown, the
director of FEMA, also said it would be "quite a while" before displaced
residents could return to the affected areas, according to the Associated
Press." ... "New Orleans was reported to be 80% underwater, ports in the
region were closed until further notice, and at least one levee break cause
more flooding in the hard-city city." ... "New Orleans was pounded Monday,
and, although it escaped the eye of the storm, two flood levees broke,
and 80% of the city was reported to be underwater. New Orleans Mayor Ray
Nagin warned of the possibility of a "significant" death toll in the city
of almost half a million with a metropolitan population of 1.3 million."
(1, 2)
-MarketWatch
Florida
-
-
- "Florida
Prepares for Katrina as Storm Strengthens (Update2)."
... "Tropical Storm Katrina headed toward the southeastern Florida coast
today and may intensify into a hurricane before coming ashore tomorrow
morning." ... "Because Katrina is moving slowly, it will have time to dump
as much as 15 inches of rain on some parts of the state, National Hurricane
Center spokeswoman Jennifer Pralgo said." ... "``Our main concern is not
the usual wind, it's rain because of the amount of rain predicted to fall,''
Lynn Norman, spokeswoman for Miami-Dade County, said in a telephone interview."
-By Heather Burke -Bloomberg
Connecticut
-
-
- "U.S.
Panel Rejects Plan to Close Connecticut Sub Base (Update2)."
... "A U.S. commission rejected the Pentagon's recommendation to shut the
submarine base in Groton, Connecticut, calling the facility essential for
U.S. Navy operations and training." ... "The action by the Defense Base
Closure and Realignment Commission is a victory for Connecticut community
leaders and for General Dynamics Corp.'s Electric Boat unit, which builds
and repairs the vessels 2 miles from Naval Submarine Base New London. Eighteen
submarines whose mission is to defend carrier battle groups and assault
land and sea targets are kept at the base, where about 7,800 military personnel
are stationed and 2,400 civilians and contractors work." -By
Judy Mathewson -Bloomberg
- 
- 
-
- "Rocket
Fired at 2 U.S. Navy Ships at Port in Jordan." ...
"A rocket was fired early today at two American naval ships docked in southern
Jordan, killing a Jordanian soldier and marking the first attack on American
military ships in the region in five years, American and Jordanian officials
said." ... "A rocket was fired at the same time from apparently the same
area at an airport in a neighboring Israeli port, hitting a stretch of
road and wounding a taxi driver, news agencies reported, citing Israeli
officials and witnesses. A third projectile was fired at a Jordanian hospital
around the southern port of Aqaba but did no damage." -By
Edward Wong -NYTimes
Malaysia
-
- 
-
-
-
- Transport
- "Malaysia
Declares Emergency, Closes Port Amid Haze (Update1)."
... "Malaysia shut its biggest port after pollution from forest fires worsened
visibility in the Southeast Asian nation, which held crisis talks today
with Indonesia." ... "Haze is covering Malaysia's capital Kuala Lumpur
and much of the rest of the country, threatening shipping, air transport
and public health. Malaysian and Indonesian officials held talks on how
to reduce the spread of smoke and pollution from Borneo and Sumatra islands
and Peninsular Malaysia, where farmers use brushfires to clear land." ...
"Seasonal monsoon winds are spreading smoke from fires, set to clear forests
for use as farmland or sparked by the current dry season."" -By
Chan Sue Ling and Stephanie Phang -Bloomberg
-
-
-
- "British
navy frees stricken Russian submarine." ... "A Russian
submarine was freed from fishing nets entangling it and its seven crew
members were saved by an unmanned British rescue vehicle yesterday after
being trapped for three days in the Pacific Ocean with dwindling oxygen
supplies." ... "Vladimir Putin, president of Russia, kept a low profile
during the incident but yesterday charged his defence minister Sergei Ivanov
with investigating its causes. Earlier, Mr Ivanov flew to the scene of
the accident off the Kamchatka peninsula in the far east of Russia to oversee
the rescue operation, involving the British and US navies." -By
Arkady Ostrovsky -FT.com
- 
- Florida
-
-
- "Deadly
storm lashes Haiti." ... "A bridge collapsed into
a river swollen by Hurricane Dennis' fierce winds and rain Thursday, killing
at least four people in southwestern Haiti as the storm lashed Caribbean
coastlines." ... "The winds approached 135 miles per hour and it grew to
a Category 4 as the hurricane sideswiped Jamaica and headed straight for
Cuba." ... "The southern Florida peninsula was expecting severe conditions
within 36 hours, and Gov. Jeb Bush declared a state of emergency." -By
Stevenson Jacobs -AP
via -StarTribune.com
-
-
- "7.0
quake shakes up [California's] North Coast: Crescent
City residents flee after tsunami warning." ... "A 7.0 magnitude earthquake
rocked the ocean floor Tuesday night about 90 miles southwest of Crescent
City, sparking a short-lived tsunami warning across Northern California's
coast and prompting a partial evacuation of the coastal town." ... "It
had been 18 years since Crescent City had activated the municipal alarm.
They have one especially for tsunamis because 11 people were killed there
in 1964 when the Alaska tsunami hit. It was the only fatal tidal wave in
California's history." -By Stacy Finz, Leslie Fulbright,
and Jaxon Van Derbeken with contributions by Demian Bulwa
-SFGate.com
-
-
- Homes
- "Landslide
destroys 17 homes: 1,000 flee California neighborhood."
... "Houses cracked, telephone poles snapped and streets buckled as a landslide
sent homes sliding down a hill in Laguna Beach [California] before dawn
Wednesday, leaving large homes dangling in the air." ... "The landslide
destroyed 17 homes in a neighborhood of multimillion-dollar dwellings.
Another 11 were damaged, authorities said." ... "Streets had buckled onto
themselves, manholes had risen into the shape of volcanoes and telephone
poles were toppled." ... "Geologists say the Bluebird Canyon landslide
was made more likely by last winter's near-record rains that have taken
months to saturate deeper into the soil and bedrock." -By
Mai Tran, William Lobdell and Christine Hanley with contributions by John
Spano, Daryl Strickland and Don Kelsen
-LAtimes via
-ChicagoTribune
-
- "Indonesia
starts anti-polio blitz: Indonesia has begun a campaign
to vaccinate 6.4m children against polio in two days." ... "The country
is suffering its first outbreak of the disease for nearly a decade, with
16 cases reported so far." ... "The disease, spread by contaminated water,
is incurable and causes paralysis and sometimes death." ... "Indonesia
first detected a case in West Java province, 120km (75 miles) east of the
capital, Jakarta, last month."-BBC
/News
- Denmark
- Netherlands
- Transportation
-
- "A.P.
Moeller to Buy P&O Nedlloyd for EU2.3 Billion (Update8)."
... "A.P. Moeller-Maersk A/S, the world's biggest container-shipping company,
agreed to buy Royal P&O Nedlloyd NV for 2.3 billion euros ($3 billion)
after a four-year surge in freight rates led to record backlogs at shipyards,
delaying deliveries of new vessels." ... "Maersk Sealand, a unit of [Denmark]
Copenhagen-based A.P. Moeller, plans to bid 57 euros a share in cash for
[Netherlands] Rotterdam-based P&O Nedlloyd, the world's fourth-biggest
container line, the companies said today." ... "The combined company would
have 17 percent, according to London-based shipbroker Braemar Seascope
Group Plc." -By Petter Narvestad
-Bloomberg
- Denmark
- Netherlands
- Transportation
-
- "A
$3B shipping merger in the works: Dutch shipping
company Nedlloyd says it supports bid from Danish rival Maersk." ... "Danish
shipping company A.P. Moeller-Maersk will offer 2.3 billion ($3.0 billion)
in cash to acquire Dutch rival P&O Nedlloyd, adding ships to solidify
its leadership of the industry." ... "Maersk commands a market share of
over 12 percent of global container traffic with almost 400 ships, but
its share fell slightly last year as it did not have enough vessels. P&O
Nedlloyd has 156 ships." -Reuters
via -CNN
-
-
- 
-
- "Experts:
New Data Show Global Warming." ... "Climate scientists
armed with new data from deep in the ocean and far into space have found
that Earth is absorbing much more heat than it is giving off, a conclusion
they say validates projections of global warming." ... "Lead scientist
James Hansen, a prominent NASA climatologist, described the findings on
the planet's out-of-balance energy exchange as a "smoking gun" that should
dispel doubts about forecasts of climate change. A European climate expert
called it a valuable contribution to climate research." ... "Hansen's team,
reporting Thursday in the journal Science, said they also determined that
global temperatures will rise 1 degree Fahrenheit this century even if
greenhouse gases are capped tomorrow." -By Charles
J. Hanley -WashingtonPost
Animals
- "A
'Wholphin' Is Born." ... "A rare whale-dolphin mix
has given birth to a playful female calf, said officials at a Hawaii water
life park." ... "The calf was born on Dec. 23 to Kekaimalu, a mix of a
false killer whale and an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Officials at Sea
Life Park Hawaii said they waited to announce the birth on Thursday because
of recent changes in ownership and operations at the park."" (1, 2)
-APvia
-CBSNews
-
-
-
- "Japan
to allow drilling in disputed sea field." ... "The
growing tension between Japan and China intensified on Wednesday after
Japan's trade ministry announced it would allow Japanese companies to start
drilling for oil and gas in a disputed area of the East China Sea." ...
"The Ministry of the Economy, Trade and Industry said the companies will
be permitted to analyse energy deposits in the Xihu Trench, an area east
of Shanghai that spans a maritime economic zone partially claimed by both
China and Japan." -By David Ibison-FT.com
-
- 
- "La
Vida Robot: How four underdogs from the mean streets
of Phoenix took on the best from M.I.T. in the national underwater bot
championship." ... "The robot competition (sponsored in part by the Office
of Naval Research and NASA) required students to build a bot that could
survey a sunken mock-up of a submarine - not easy stuff. The teachers had
entered the club in the expert-level Explorer class instead of the beginner
Ranger class. They figured their students would lose anyway, and there
was more honor in losing to the college kids in the Explorer division than
to the high schoolers in Ranger. Their real goal was to show the students
that there were opportunities outside West Phoenix. The teachers wanted
to give their kids hope." (1, 2,
3,
4,
5)
-By Joshua Davis -Wired
Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- Animals
- Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment
- "Human
damage to Earth worsening fast-report." ... "Humans
are damaging the planet at an unprecedented rate and raising risks of abrupt
collapses in nature that could spur disease, deforestation or "dead zones"
in the seas, an international report said on Wednesday." ... "The study,
by 1,360 experts in 95 nations, said a rising human population had polluted
or over-exploited two thirds of the ecological systems on which life depends,
ranging from clean air to fresh water, in the past 50 years." ... "Ten
to 30 percent of mammal, bird and amphibian species were already threatened
with extinction, according to the assessment, the biggest review of the
planet's life support systems." -By Alister Doyle
-Reuters
via -AlertNet.org
/Newsdesk
-
-
-
-
-
-
- 
- Food
- Animals
- Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment
- "U.N.
Study: Earth's Health Deteriorating: U.N. Study Warns
Growing Populations, Economic Activity Have Strained the Earth's Ecosystems."
... "Unless nations adopt more eco-friendly policies, increased human demands
for food, clean water and fuels could speed the disappearance of forests,
fish and fresh water reserves and lead to more frequent disease outbreaks
over the next 50 years, it warned." (1, 2)
-By Catherine McAloon with contributions by Kenji
Hall -AP via
-ABCNEWS.com
- -
-
-
-
-
-
- Food
- Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment
- "Study
highlights global decline." ... "The most comprehensive
survey ever into the state of the planet concludes that human activities
threaten the Earth's ability to sustain future generations." ... "The report
says the way society obtains its resources has caused irreversible changes
that are degrading the natural processes that support life on Earth." ...
"This will compromise efforts to address hunger, poverty and improve healthcare."
... "The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment was drawn up by 1,300 researchers
from 95 nations over a period of four years." ... "It reports that humans
have changed most ecosystems beyond recognition in a dramatically short
space of time." ... "The way society has sourced its food, fresh water,
timber, fibre and fuel over the past 50 years has seriously degraded the
environment, the assessment (MA) concludes." -By Jonathan
Amos -BBC
/News
-
-
-
- Animals
- Food
- Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment
- "World
ecosystems in danger, UN warns." ... "The world's
sources of fish and fresh water are so rundown that they can no longer
sustain current or future demands, according to a first international report
card on the world's environment published today." -By
Lydia Adetunji -FT.com
-
-
-
-
- Animals
- Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment
- "Report
on Global Ecosystems Calls for Radical Changes: Earth's
Sustainability Is Not Guaranteed Unless Action Is Taken to Protect Resources,
Experts Say." ... "Many of the world's ecosystems are in danger and might
not support future generations unless radical measures are implemented
to protect and revive them, according to the most comprehensive analysis
ever conducted of how the world's oceans, dry lands, forests and species
interact and depend on one another." ... "The new report collates research
from many specific locales to create the first global snapshot of ecosystems.
More than 1,300 authors from 95 countries participated in the Millennium
Ecosystem Assessment, whose results are being made public today by the
United Nations and by several private and public organizations." -By
Shankar Vedantam-WashingtonPost
-
-
- "United
Nations Marks World Water Day: United Nations Marks
World Water Day, Saying Some 1.1 Billion Lack Clean Water Worldwide." ...
"The United Nations says more than 1.1 billion people around the world
lack safe water and 2.4 billion have no access to sanitation, leading to
over 3 million deaths every year." ... ""People who can turn on a tap and
have safe and clean water to drink, to cook with and to bathe in often
take it for granted, and yet more than 1 billion of our fellow human beings
have little choice but to use potentially harmful sources of water," said
Dr. Lee Jong-Wook, head of the World Health Organization."
-ABCNEWS.com
-
- Water
- "How
to prepare a planet for global warming: Convinced
the phenomenon is inevitable, some scientists now focus on coping with
it." ... "One group, led by Gerald Meehl at NCAR [National Center for Atmospheric
Research], used two state-of-the-art climate models to explore what could
happen if the world had held atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases
steady since 2000." ... "The results: Even if the world had slammed on
the brakes five years ago, global average temperatures would rise by about
1 degree Fahrenheit by the end of the 21st century. Sea levels would rise
by another 4 inches over 20th-century increases, just from expansion of
the warming water. Rising sea-levels would continue well beyond 2100, even
without adding water from melting glaciers and ice sheets. The rise highlights
the oceans' enormous capacity to absorb heat and its slow reaction to changes
in atmospheric conditions." -By Peter N. Spotts -CSMonitor
-
- Water
- "Climate
Models Reveal Inevitability of Global Warming." ...
"How to best curb greenhouse gas emissions is a hotly debated topic. But
new research suggests that putting the brakes on greenhouse gas levels
is not enough to slow down climate change because the ocean responds so
slowly to perturbations. The study results, published today in the journal
Science,
indicate that even if greenhouse gas levels had stabilized five years ago,
global temperatures would still increase by about half a degree by the
end of the century and sea level would rise some 11 centimeters." -By
Sarah Graham -ScientificAmerican
-
- Water
- Nevada
- "U.S.
probes nuclear dump documents." ... "Government employees
may have falsified documents related to the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste
project in Nevada, the Energy Department said Wednesday. The disclosure
could jeopardize the project's ability to get a federal permit to operate
the dump." ... "The department said the questionable data involved computer
modeling for water infiltration and climate at the Yucca site, which is
90 miles northwest of Las Vegas." ... "[Nevada state Nuclear Projects director
Bob] Loux said potential water transport -- the issue that some of the
questionable work apparently involved -- is critical for the proposed waste
repository." ... "Water is "the key mechanism at Yucca Mountain both in
terms of infiltrating into the site and in terms of letting radioactivity
release into the biosphere," Loux said." -AP
via -CNN
- Water
- "Sea
of Ice Found on Mars, Scientists Say." ... "Images
relayed by a European space probe reveal the existence of a sea of ice
close to the equator of Mars, scientists said Tuesday at a conference in
the Netherlands." ... "The scientists said the existence of water or ice
would significantly increase the chance that microscopic life may also
be found on Mars." -By Toby Sterling
-AP via -SFGate.com
