Threats to bumblebees fly under radar
[Entomologist Robbin Thorp] fears that the species — Franklin's bumblebee — has gone extinct before anyone could even propose it for the endangered species list. To make matters worse, two other bumblebee species — one on the East coast, one on the West — have gone from common to rare…If bumblebees were to disappear, farmers and entomologists warn, the consequences would be huge, especially coming on top of the problems with honeybees, which are active at different times and on different crop species. Bumblebees are responsible for pollinating an estimated 15 percent of all the crops grown in the U.S., worth $3 billion, particularly those raised in greenhouses. Those include tomatoes, peppers and strawberries. Demand is growing as honeybees decline. In the wild, birds and bears depend on bumblebees for berries and fruits…
Associated Press story at Yahoo News (dated October 8, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends October 18, 2007 (US/ND)
Scientists: Bird Flu Mutation Sets Stage for Flu Pandemic
The deadly bird flu virus has mutated and may infect people more easily if it begins spreading from human to human, according to a new study…
From Fox News (dated October 5, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends October 18, 2007 (ND)
Death Toll in Peru Surpasses 500
The death toll rose to 510 on Thursday in the magnitude-8 earthquake that devastated cities of adobe and brick in Peru's southern desert. Survivors wearing blankets walked like ghosts through the ruins…
Associated Press story at RedOrbit (dated August 17, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends October 18, 2007 (LA/ND)
Hundreds dead, missing after NKorea rain
Heavy rains spawned flooding that left "hundreds" dead or missing in North Korea and destroyed more than 30,000 homes, the country's state media reported…
Associated Press story at Boston.com (dated August 13, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends October 18, 2007 (AP/ND)
Death toll rises in South Asia floods
Vital to farmers, the annual rains are a blessing and a curse for the subcontinent -- a fact highlighted by official tallies: At least 186 people have been killed and 19 million driven from their homes in recent days…
Associated Press story at Boston.com (dated August 3, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends October 18, 2007 (AP/ND)
China summer storm deaths approach 700
Deaths from floods, lightning and landslides across China this summer have reached nearly 700, state media said on Monday, with experts warning that global warming is likely to fuel more violent weather…
From Reuters (dated July 30, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends October 18, 2007 (AP/ND)
Britons begin repairing flood damage
Gasoline-powered pumps roared into action Tuesday as stunned Britons tried to dry out their houses after the worst flooding in more than half a century…
Associated Press story at Yahoo News (dated July 24, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends July 25, 2007 (BR/ND)
Heatwave claims 500 in Hungary
Hungary said Tuesday as many as 500 people may have died last week in a heatwave which was continuing to stifle much of southern and eastern Europe and spark deadly brush fires…
Agence France-Presse at TerraDaily (dated July 24, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends July 25, 2007 (EU/ND)
More than 150 killed in China floods
Another 74 people have died in floods across China bringing the death toll for the week to at least 156 in one of the deadliest rainy seasons in years…
Agence-France Presse story at Breitbart.com (dated July 22, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends July 25, 2007 (AP/ND)
Asian Parasite Killing Western Bees - Scientist
A parasite common in Asian bees has spread to Europe and the Americas and is behind the mass disappearance of honeybees in many countries, says a Spanish scientist who has been studying the phenomenon for years.... Treatment for nosema ceranae is effective and cheap -- 1 euro (US$1.4) a hive twice a year -- but beekeepers first have to be convinced the parasite is the problem…
Reuters story at Planet Ark (dated July 19, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends July 25, 2007 (US/EU/ND)
UN offers Pakistan aid as 600 die in South Asia rains
More than 600 have been killed across South Asia as the annual summer monsoon brings downpours and extreme weather, with at least 117 deaths in southwestern Pakistan during the past week…
Agence France-Presse story at Yahoo News (dated July 2, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends July 25, 2007 (AP/ND)
The Threat of Bioweapons
Biological weapons are among the most dangerous in the world today and can be engineered and disseminated to achieve a more deadly result than a nuclear attack. Whereas the explosion of a nuclear bomb would cause massive death in a specific location, a biological attack with smallpox could infect multitudes of people across the globe. With incubation periods of up to 17 days, human disseminators could unwittingly cause widespread exposure before diagnosable symptoms indicate an infection and appropriate quarantine procedures are in place. Unlike any other type of weapon, bioweapons such as smallpox can replicate and infect a chain of people over an indeterminate amount of time from a single undetectable point of release. According to science writer and author of The Hot Zone, Richard Preston, "If you took a gram of smallpox, which is highly contagious and lethal, and for which there's no vaccine available globally now, and released it in the air and created about a hundred cases, the chances are excellent that the virus would go global in six weeks as people moved from city to city......the death toll could easily hit the hundreds of millions.....in scale, that's like a nuclear war"…
From Janet Ellen Levy at American Thinker (dated July 8, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends July 25, 2007 (GI/WT/ND)
LA residents told to cut showers as drought deepens
Los Angeles residents were urged on Wednesday to take shorter showers, reduce lawn sprinklers and stop throwing trash in toilets in a bid to cut water usage by 10 percent in the driest year on record… It is the driest year since rainfall records began 130 years ago…
From Reuters (dated June 6, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends June 8, 2007 (US/ND)
Australian water crisis could be worse than thought
Water shortages facing Australia's drought-hit prime agricultural area might be worse than expected, the government was told on Wednesday, as river towns braced for unprecedented restrictions on water use…. Prime Minister John Howard in April urged Australians to pray for rain…
From Reuters (dated May 16, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends June 8, 2007 (BR/ND)
£20m railway line under the cloud of Vesuvius and mafia war
There is a "one-in-two" chance of the volcano erupting in the next few years. A survey of the volcano last month warned that 300,000 people could die in an eruption…
From The Telegraph (London) (dated May 16, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends June 8, 2007 (EU/ND)
Case of TB traveler reveals holes in global disease control
The U.S. health authorities failed to notify their Italian counterparts that an American tourist with an extremely dangerous form of tuberculosis was staying in a Rome hotel this month until he was leaving the country, Italian officials said Thursday. That time lapse allowed him to leave Rome and fly to Prague and Montreal, potentially exposing dozens of people to an often lethal germ…The episode revealed holes in international cooperation systems for detecting and isolating people with infectious diseases, experts said. Such deficiencies could be disastrous if the victim were more contagious, as would be likely in an influenza pandemic…
From the International Herald Tribune (dated May 31, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends June 8, 2007 (GI/US/ND)
Water As The Source Of Life And Strife
The next major Middle East war could well be fought not over land, oil or religion -- the traditional causes of conflict to date -- but over water, a precious commodity becoming rarer by the day. Addressing top leaders in industry, business, banking and the media in his speech at the opening session of the World Economic Forum held on the shores of the Dead Sea last week, King Abdullah II of Jordan raised the alarm over the scarcity of water in the region and warned of the dire consequences for not only the developing nations, but the havoc water scarcity would have on the developed world as a whole…
United Press International story at TerraDaily (dated May 21, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends June 8, 2007 (ME/ND/WT)
Indonesia Confirms 75th Fatality From Bird Flu
Indonesian health officials say a woman has died from bird flu, raising the country's death toll from the virus to 75…The WHO says bird flu has killed 172 people worldwide since it reemerged in Asia in 2003…
From VOA News (dated May 7, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends May 9, 2007 (AP/ND)
Tsunami Swamped England 400 Years Ago, Study Says
A tsunami struck coastal England 400 years ago, causing the deadliest natural disaster in the history of the United Kingdom, new research suggests. The massive wave was responsible for a flood on January 30, 1607, that swamped the Bristol Channel in southwestern England, submerging more than 190 square miles (500 square kilometers) of land and killing some 2,000 people, the study says.…The U.K. remains at risk of another such disaster, which could be much more deadly, the researchers added…
From National Geographic News (dated May 7, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends May 9, 2007 (BR/ND)
Honeybee die-off threatens food supply
Unless someone or something stops it soon, the mysterious killer that is wiping out many of the nation's honeybees could have a devastating effect on America's dinner plate, perhaps even reducing us to a glorified bread-and-water diet. Honeybees don't just make honey; they pollinate more than 90 of the tastiest flowering crops we have. Among them: apples, nuts, avocados, soybeans, asparagus, broccoli, celery, squash and cucumbers. And lots of the really sweet and tart stuff, too, including citrus fruit, peaches, kiwi, cherries, blueberries, cranberries, strawberries, cantaloupe and other melons. In fact, about one-third of the human diet comes from insect-pollinated plants, and the honeybee is responsible for 80 percent of that pollination, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Even cattle, which feed on alfalfa, depend on bees. So if the collapse worsens, we could end up being "stuck with grains and water," said Kevin Hackett, the national program leader for USDA's bee and pollination program. "This is the biggest general threat to our food supply," Hackett said. While not all scientists foresee a food crisis, noting that large-scale bee die-offs have happened before, this one seems particularly baffling and alarming…
Associated Press story at Yahoo News (dated May 2, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends May 9, 2007 (US/ND)
Australian cities facing 'Big Dry' water shortages
Drought-stricken Australia faces the world's most extreme climate change challenge as millions of city dwellers try to cope with water shortages, according to the country's most recognised scientist. The government has already made the unprecedented declaration that farmers will receive no irrigation water from July in Australia's most fertile region if the country's worst drought in a century continues. Water restrictions have been imposed across the vast island continent and scientist Tim Flannery, named the 2007 Australian of the year for his pioneering environmental work, says the problem will only get worse. Flannery said the drought meant two of Australia's largest cities, Brisbane and Adelaide -- home to a combined total of almost three million people -- would run out of water by the year's end unless the so-called "Big Dry" ended…
Agence France-Presse story at Yahoo News (dated April 29, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends May 9, 2007 (BR/ND)
Ebola-like virus killing fish in Great Lakes
A deadly Ebola-like virus is killing fish of all types in the Great Lakes, a development some scientists fear could trigger disaster for the USA's freshwater fish…"VHS is the most important and dangerous fish virus known worldwide," [chief of fish health at the U.S. Geological Survey Jim] Winton says. "Its discovery in our fresh water is disturbing and potentially catastrophic"…
From USA Today (dated April 29, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends May 9, 2007 (US/ND)
Millions face famine as crop disease rages
Scientists say wheat blight that ravaged Africa is set on a course for Asia…
From The Guardian’s Observer (Manchester, England) (dated April 22, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends May 9, 2007 (AF/AP/ND)
Gonorrhea ‘Superbug’ Spreads Across Country, Treatment Ineffective
In less than five years, gonorrhea cases jumped from below one-percent to more than 13-percent of the population. American’s affinity for taking antibiotics, whatever the reason, allows STDs like gonorrhea to develop resistance quickly. And that is just what’s happened…If the last remaining class of drugs doesn’t work, [Christian Medical Association Dr. David] Stevens says the problem may reach epidemic proportions…
From Focus on the Family (dated April 16, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends May 9, 2007 (US/MO/ND)
Los Angeles suffers longest dry spell in 130 years
Los Angeles is going through its longest dry spell in at least 130 years, the National Weather Service said Sunday, fueling fears of rampant wildfires which have plagued the US west coast in recent years… The worst earth-scorching year on record in the United States was in 2006, when fires burned nearly 15.5 thousand square miles (39,957 square kilometers) -- an area close to the size of Switzerland…
Agence France-Presse story at Breitbart.com (dated April 1, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends April 2, 2007 (US/ND)
Honey Bee Disappearances Continue: Could Pesticides Play A Role?
Bees are still disappearing in massive numbers…Over the past six months, massive disappearances of honey bees have been reported in at least 24 states; internationally in Poland and Spain; and it’s still unknown how many more honey bees will be gone as more northern hives are opened this spring in North America and Europe. Right now, dozens of scientists are trying to find out what is causing what they call “colony collapse disorder,” or CCD. I talked with Penn State entomologist Diana Cox-Foster, Ph.D., who has analyzed some bees found in deserted hives. Dr. Cox-Foster has seen as many as five different viruses and unidentified fungi in the bees. She says that is two times more pathogens than she’s ever seen before in honey bees. The implication is that something has seriously damaged their immune systems, leaving the honey bees more vulnerable to disease than before. But what could that be? So far, there are still no answers, but there is a long list of possibilities, which include pesticides and genetically modified crops, also known as GMOs or GMs. Scientists say there is no direct evidence that genetically modified crops are linked to honey bee die-offs. But I have been learning that not much is known about the accumulating impact of pesticides on insects, animals and even people when you consider in this modern world how many combinations of pesticides are used. One pesticide by itself might not destroy honey bees. But what happens when farmers spray herbicides, fungicides, insecticides and rodenticides on land that also has genetically modified crops with pesticides built-in?...
From Linda Moulton Howe at Earthfiles.com (dated March 16, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends April 2, 2007 (US/EU/ND)
Honeybees Vanish, Leaving Keepers in Peril
David Bradshaw has endured countless stings during his life as a beekeeper, but he got the shock of his career when he opened his boxes last month and found half of his 100 million bees missing. In 24 states throughout the country, beekeepers have gone through similar shocks as their bees have been disappearing inexplicably at an alarming rate, threatening not only their livelihoods but also the production of numerous crops, including California almonds, one of the nation’s most profitable…The sudden mysterious losses are highlighting the critical link that honeybees play in the long chain that gets fruit and vegetables to supermarkets and dinner tables across the country. Beekeepers have fought regional bee crises before, but this is the first national affliction… A Cornell University study has estimated that honeybees annually pollinate more than $14 billion worth of seeds and crops in the United States, mostly fruits, vegetables and nuts. “Every third bite we consume in our diet is dependent on a honeybee to pollinate that food”…
From The New York Times (dated February 27, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends March 1, 2007 (US/ND)
Asteroid threat demands response, experts warn
Kamchatkans and Venezuelans beware. A 20-million-tonne asteroid could be heading your way. Californians have even more reason to worry - the asteroid is more likely to hit the Pacific Ocean, triggering a tsunami that could devastate the west coast of North America. These are among the scenarios projected for asteroid Apophis, which researchers now say has a 1 in 45,000 chance of hitting Earth on 13 April 2036. Calculations show it would strike somewhere along a narrow track that stretches eastward from Siberia to the west coast of Africa. Compared to earlier estimates, the new figure represents a further reduction in the threat posed by Apophis…But the threat is real enough, experts argue, to merit a United Nations protocol for dealing with the problem…
From NewScientist.com news service (dated February 17, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends March 1, 2007 (GI/ND)
Parasitic infection plagues states along Mexico border
Federal researchers say neurocysticercosis, a brain infection caused by a pork tapeworm, is a "growing public health problem in the United States," especially in states bordering Mexico, where the disease is endemic…
From The Washington Times (dated February 8, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends March 1, 2007 (US/ND)
Indonesian rescuers battle to reach flood victims
Indonesian rescuers, police and troops in inflatable boats on Monday helped evacuate Jakarta residents stranded in severe floods that have killed 29, as the number left homeless approached 350,000…
Agence-France Presse story at TerraDaily (dated February 5, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends February 5, 2007 (AP/ND)
Pandemic flu may be only two mutations away
The difference between a flu virus that kills millions, and one that kills only a few comes down to just two amino acid changes, researchers say…
From NewScientist.com news service (dated January 1, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends February 5, 2007 (ST/ND)
Confusing Sun: Will Solar Cycle 24 Be Most Intense On Record?
David Hathaway, Ph. D., Solar Physics Team Leader, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama [said]... Geomagnetic disturbances in the last two or three years tell us that the next cycle [of sunspots and solar flares—2007 to 2012—] ought to be a big cycle - one of the largest on record…[He stated that] this could be the strongest solar maximum in 400 years of record keeping…
From Linda Howe at Earthfiles (dated January 13, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends January 18, 2007 (GI/ND/ST)
Superbug outbreak imminent, MDs say
A superbug that causes infections resulting in lesions, bleeding pneumonia and, in rare cases, flesh-eating disease is poised to "emerge in force" across Canada, infectious disease experts warn. An epidemic of community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or CA-MRSA, is established in the U.S. and beginning to entrench itself here…
From The Toronto Star (dated January 3, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends January 10, 2007 (BR/ND)
Only four big U.S. cities ready for crisis: report
More than five years after the September 11 attacks, only four big U.S. cities have emergency communications allowing police, fire and medical officials to coordinate fully during a crisis, a federal report said. The Department of Homeland Security report, due to be released officially on Wednesday, listed Washington, D.C.; San Diego, California; the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area of Minnesota; and Columbus, Ohio, as the major urban areas that achieved "most advanced" status….New York City, which was hardest hit by the 2001 attacks that killed 3,000 people, did not appear among those with the most advanced systems. Neither did Chicago, another city seen as a potential target…
Reuters story at Yahoo News (dated January 2, 2007)
Posted to Current World News & Trends January 10, 2007 (US/WT/ND)
Malaysia floods force thousands to flee
Malaysia's worst floods in 37 years have displaced nearly 100,000 people amid food shortages, looting and criticism on Saturday of the government's handling of the crisis…
Reuters story at Yahoo News (dated December 23, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends January 10, 2007 (AP/ND)
Kenya Flood Toll Surges To 114
Massive flooding in Kenya has killed at least 114 people and affected more than 700,000 others over the past six weeks, the Kenyan Red Cross said Monday…
Agence France-Presse story at TerraDaily (dated December 11, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends December 12, 2006 (AF/ND)
Malaria Kills 21 People In Flood-Hit Somalia, Toll Climbs To 141
At least 21 people have died in southern and central Somalia after an outbreak of malaria, sparked by heavy flooding, bringing the death toll to 141, officials said Monday…
Agence France-Presse story at TerraDaily (dated December 11, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends December 12, 2006 (AF/ND)
Study says malaria helps spread HIV
Malaria is fueling the spread of AIDS in Africa by boosting the HIV in people's bodies for weeks at a time, says a study that pins down the deadly interplay between the dual scourges. It's a vicious cycle as people weakened by HIV are, in turn, more vulnerable to malaria…
Associated Press story at Yahoo News (dated December 7, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends December 12, 2006 (AF/ST/ND)
Bodies Wash Up On Philippine Shores A Week After Killer Typhoon
Supertyphoon Durian, which hit the country last week, triggered deadly volcanic mudflows that cascaded down Mayon volcano, inundating dozens of villages near this eastern provincial capital. The civil defense office on Thursday said it had confirmed 1,316 dead or missing from the storm, even as rescue teams found more bodies in the mud…
Agence France-Presse story at TerraDaily (dated December 7, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends December 12, 2006 (AP/ND)
Study Warns of 'Grave and Growing' Threat of Biological Weapons
A prominent research center has published a survey showing the threat of bioweapons is serious and growing…
From Voice of America News (dated November 29, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends December 12, 2006 (GI/WT/ND)
AIDS to be 3rd leading cause of death
Within the next 25 years, AIDS is set to join heart disease and stroke as the top three causes of death worldwide, according to a study…
Associated Press story at Yahoo News (dated November 27, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends December 12, 2006 (GI/ST/ND)
Wave of Suicides Follows Drought Down Under
Farmers in Australia are suffering their fifth year of continuous drought -- and the summer hasn't even started yet. Now, farms along the Murray River have been cut off, and the government is sending in therapists to help suicidal farmers…
From Der Spiegel (Germany) (dated November 21, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends December 12, 2006 (BR/ND)
Wanted: man to land on killer asteroid and gently nudge it from path to Earth
It is the stuff of nightmares and, until now, Hollywood thrillers. A huge asteroid is on a catastrophic collision course with Earth and mankind is poised to go the way of the dinosaurs. To save the day, Nasa now plans to go where only Bruce Willis has gone before. The US space agency is drawing up plans to land an astronaut on an asteroid hurtling through space at more than 30,000 mph. It wants to know whether humans could master techniques needed to deflect such a doomsday object when it is eventually identified. The proposals are at an early stage, and a spacecraft needed just to send an astronaut that far into space exists only on the drawing board, but they are deadly serious. A smallish asteroid called Apophis has already been identified as a possible threat to Earth in 2036…
From The Guardian (Manchester, England) (dated November 17, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 17, 2006 (GI/ND)
On Brink Of War, Somalia Faces Worst Floods In 50 Years
Unusually heavy seasonal rains are threatening Somalia with its worst floods in 50 years while the impoverished Horn of Africa country teeters on the brink of all-out war, the United Nations said Thursday. As forces loyal to the weak government and powerful Islamist movement gird for full-scale conflict that many fear could engulf the wider region, some 50,000 Somalis have been displaced by devastating and deadly floods, it said…
Agence France-Presse story at TerraDaily (dated November 16, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 17, 2006 (AF/ND/WT)
Panel: Israel not ready for major earthquake
Geological experts said on Tuesday that a significant earthquake in the region could cause "catastrophic damage," leaving hundreds of thousands homeless and as many as 16,000 Israelis dead, Army Radio reported…
From The Jerusalem Post (dated November (dated November (dated November, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 17, 2006 (ME/ND)
Preparing for the Wrath of Vesuvius
Vesuvius has been quiet for the last 62 years -- and that's cause for concern. Italian authorities are preparing for the next eruption of the most dangerous volcano in the world…
From Der Spiegel (Germany) (dated November 6, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 17, 2006 (EU/ND)
Australian drought 'worst in 1,000 years': expert
The world's driest inhabited continent was in the grip of the worst drought in 1,000 years, a river management expert told Australia's political leaders Tuesday…
Agence France-Presse story at TerraDaily (dated November 7, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends November 8, 2006 (BR/ND)
'Virtually untreatable' TB found
A "virtually untreatable" form of TB has emerged, according to the World Health Organization (WHO)… TB presently causes about 1.7 million deaths a year worldwide, but researchers are worried about the emergence of strains that are resistant to drugs…
From BBC News (dated September 6, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends September 22, 2006 (GI/ND)
Diarrhoea epidemic spreading in Ethiopia
A diarrhoea outbreak in Ethiopia has infected at least 15,000 people and killed 148 so far, the United Nations announced on Tuesday. Heavy flooding in the region is partly responsible for the epidemic, and the outbreak of acute watery diarrhoea could spread even further, aid agencies fear…
From NewScientist.com news service (dated September 6, 2006)
Posted to Current World News & Trends September 6, 2006 (AF/ST/ND)
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