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Temperature
Extremes
  High
temperature extreme:
Abadari, Iran 118 degrees.
Low temperature extreme:
Vostok (Russia), Antarctica -103 degrees.
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Disappearing
Islands
 Global
warming is being blamed for the disappearance of two South Pacific
islands, and is wreaking havoc on two others, experts at the South Pacific
Regional Environment Program reported.
The small uninhabited islands of Tebua Tarawa and Abanuea recently disappeared
due to rising sea levels caused by the greenhouse effect, according
to the researchers. Officials are now concerned that the nearby islands
of Kiribati and Tuvalu could disappear beneath the rising waters. Tuvalu
is only one yard above sea level, and almost 80 percent of it is less
than two yards above normal waves. Disaster planners have begun to relocate
coastal residents to other higher and safer islands in the region. The
encroaching sea has also destroyed ancestral burial grounds and submerged
valuable cropland on both islands.
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Returning
Rhino
 The
once dwindling black rhino population in Kenya is now making
a comeback, with the number of endangered animals almost doubling during
the past 15 years.
The Kenya
Wildlife Society (KWS) reported that the rhinos had increased their
ranks from 280 in 1984 to 470 during the latest census. According to
the KWS, the black rhino had a population of 20,000 less than thirty
years ago before the animals were brought to near extinction by poaching.
They were primarily hunted for the material in their horns, which is
believed to have aphrodisiac properties.
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Tropical
Storm
 Tropical
storm Arlene skirted the island of Bermuda with gale-force winds
and pounding surf, but the island escaped significant damage from the
Atlantic hurricane season’s first named storm. Arlene
was broken apart by a strong area of high barometric pressure to the
north of Bermuda.
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Earthquakes
 A
magnitude 6.7 temblor killed at least 28 people, injured approximately
400 others and wrecked hundreds of buildings in Mexico’s Puebla
State. Earth movements were also felt in northern Japan, Alaska’s Kodiak
Island, southeastern Spain and southern Greece.
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Floods
and Drought
 Heavy
rains and hail brought drought relief to several states in northern
Mexico, while other parts of the region continued to suffer through
the prolonged dry conditions.
The deluge
triggered flash flooding in the border states of Coahuila and Chihuahua
and forced the evacuation of residents in several low-lying towns. Government
officials had recently declared a state of emergency in both states
due to drought conditions. The neighboring state of Sonora continued
to swelter under temperatures of up to 111 degrees Fahrenheit with no
relief in sight. Farmers in the affected areas canceled spring planting
this year due to lack of water and ranchers have reported losing thousands
of cattle.
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Amazon
Floods
 More
than a million people have been left isolated by recent floods in northeast
Brazil.
The inundations
were caused when the Amazon and many of its tributaries overflowed their
banks following heavy rains upstream. Nineteen thousand residents were
forced to evacuate in the rain-forest region of Para as homes were torn
from their foundations by the force of the floodwaters. Health authorities
now fear the outbreak of waterborne diseases such as malaria, yellow
fever and typhus across the disaster area.
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Elephant
Excuse
 A
herd of wild elephants was blamed for delaying the delivery of Indonesian
election ballots from remote communities in Sumatra, according
to the Jakarta Post.
Twenty
election officials collected the ballot boxes from remote areas on the
island and were transporting them to election headquarters when the
herd of pachyderms allegedly emerged from the jungle and formed a roadblock
around the convoy. The officials said they were afraid to aggravate
the animals, and waited out the night in silence. The beasts finally
cleared the area and returned to their habitat. The ballot boxes were
reported to have been delivered safely to the election center one day
late.
(top)
Additional
Sources: Japan Meteorological Agency, U.S. Climate Analysis Center,
U.S. Earthquake Information Center and the World Meteorological Organization.
Distributed
by the Los Angeles
Times Syndicate.
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