When large reserves of oil were discovered under Yasuní national park, Ecuador offered the world a choice: give us money and we will not allow drilling. Now $60m must be found by December.Ecuador has earned $130bn from the oil found so far in its forests and it
Heavy rains have flooded 57 villages and triggered excessive high water levels in six reservoirs as of Friday in Haikou, the capital of south China’s island province of Hainan. Over 5,000 residents in the affected villages have been evacuated to schools and other
Unusually heavy monsoon rains inundated southern Pakistan in the summer of 2011, submerging fields and forcing residents from their homes. On September 29, 2011, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 5.44 million
The devastating earthquake that struck Japan this year may have rattled the highest layer of the atmosphere even before it shook the Earth, a discovery that one day could be used to provide warnings of giant quakes, scientists find.The magnitude 9.0 quake that struck
A long band of haze, roughly 100 kilometers wide, extends east-west southwest of Beijing. South of Beijing, the haze fans out, extending from the shores of Bo Hai to the shores of the Yellow Sea. Along the Yellow Sea shoreline, the haze is thick enough to obscure the
Intense swarms of tremors beneath one of the volcanic Canary Islands has placed residents of El Hierro on alert for a possible eruption. Spain’s Instituto Geografico Nacional (IGN) reported the nearly 9,000 seismic movements on the island since July 17 have caused
A waterspout appeared near the city of Dubrovnik threatening big cruisers and other ships and disappeared after 20 minutes. Severe thunderstorm claimed 4 lives after lightning struck the community house for older people in Bjelovar city.Area around Rijeka and Pula was h
Irwin became the eighth hurricane of the eastern pacific season early Friday morning, and could be quickly followed by Jova on Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center (NHC)….IRWIN MOVING SLOWLY WEST-NORTHWESTWARD…LITTLE CHANGE IN STRENGTH DURING
Philippe is the sixteenth named storm of the 2011 Atlantic hurricane season, following Hurricane Ophelia which brought strong winds to Ireland and Britain on Thursday. Hurricane Philippe is expected to weaken and become post-tropical during the weekend as it
New Zealand said it was preparing for an environmental disaster Friday as a container ship stranded off the North Island threatened to break up and spill oil into the pristine Bay of Plenty. The 47,000 tonne container vessel “Rena”, which hit a reef off the coast
