Temperature
Extremes
High
temperature extreme:
Karima, Sudan 106 degrees.
Low temperature extreme:
Vostok (Russia), Antarctica -85 degrees.
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Au
Revoir to Wolves
The
decision by the French government to remove wild wolves from
the country’s Alpine region brought cheers of celebration from farmers
in the southeast of the country.
Officials issued a report recommending that all of the approximately
40 wolves be either caged or destroyed due to complaints that roaming
packs of wolves were massacring flocks of sheep. Wolves in the French
Alps were hunted to near extinction by the 1930s. Small numbers
began to reappear in the early ‘90s, migrating from the Italian
Alps into a wilderness area north of Nice. Local shepherds blamed
the predators for the deaths of 1,250 sheep last year and hundreds
more in 1999. Environmentalists contradicted the claims, saying
that feral dogs are far more responsible for ravaging the sheep.
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Kenyan
Contamination
Thousands
of Kenya’s residents are feared to have been exposed to radioactivity
from contaminated construction materials used in building roadways
in the city of Msambweni, about 44 miles from the port of Mombasa.
The irradiation was caused by a thorium compound in the construction
material that was obtained from an undisclosed source. One of the
medical authorities sent to the scene told reporters, “This is a
natural radioactive agent, which causes ailments that can occur
after a long period.”
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Choking
Smoke
A
massive cloud of choking smoke descended over northern Egypt,
causing panicked residents to jam phone lines to police and fire
stations.
The giant cloud, which covered the city of Cairo and four northern
districts, left Egyptians short of breath and with irritated eyes.
The smoke came from seasonal fires set by farmers burning straw
from their rice harvests. Unusual atmospheric conditions trapped
the smoke and kept the cloud close to the ground.
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Earthquakes
At
least one person was killed and hundreds of others were injured
when a magnitude 6.4 temblor struck the city of Chiayi in quake-ravaged
Taiwan, one month after the island’s worst earthquake in
recent history.
Earth
movements were also felt in the Kuril Islands, northern New
Zealand, southeastern Turkey, southern Greece,
Wales, and in California’s Mojave Desert and Owens
Valley.
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Eruptions
Ecuador’s
Tungurahua Volcano sent up another huge mushroom-shaped column of
ash and gas as vulcanologists kept the crater under close scrutiny
for an imminent, explosive eruption. At least 23,000 nearby residents
were evacuated during the previous week in anticipation of such
an explosion.
Sicily’s
Mount Etna spewed glowing rocks hundreds of feet into the Mediterranean
sky as Europe’s most active volcano continued its eruptive phase.
Vulcanologists predicted that lava would soon flow from one of the
ruptures in the mountain’s central crater, down into the uninhabited
valley on the western slopes.
Western
Mexico’s Colima Volcano shot smoke 2,950 feet into the sky
during the latest of a series of eruptions.
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Tropical
Cyclone
At
least eight people died in flooding, and thousands of others were
forced to evacuate their homes, after tropical cyclone 05B drenched
parts of Thailand and northern Malaysia before taking aim
on the east coast of India. The storm was packing winds of 120 mph
as it made landfall near Calcutta late in the week.
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Mexican
Inundations
At
least six more people perished in Mexico's flood-ravaged
state of Tabasco when emergency releases of water from the Penoles
Dam caused new surges of floodwater.
Dams upstream from the flooded areas have been filled to the bursting
point by incessant rains which began in mid-September.
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Girthy
Griffin Flies Again
An
overweight griffin vulture was put on a starvation diet by Jordanian
conservationists until the bird of prey was once again able to return
to the skies.
The animal specialists at the Royal Society for the Conservation
of Nature in Jordan began caring for the raptor last month when
it was brought to the center after having been captured by hunters
and domesticated. The predatory bird, known in Arabic as a black
eagle, is regionally threatened and has protected status. Mohammed
Yussef, head of research at the Society, said the bird had probably
been in captivity for more than a year and was so fat it couldn’t
fly. After only two days of fasting, the large bird became hungry
enough to once again take flight.
