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New Zealand earthquake magnitude 6.3 hits Christchurch
New Zealand earthquake: a major quake hit New Zeland’s second largest city Tuesday, local time. Initial reports indicate collapsed buildings and possible casualties from the New Zealand earthquake.
By David C. Scott, Staff / February 21, 2011
For the second time in five months, New Zealand’s south island city of Christchurch was rocked by a major earthquake on Tuesday afternoon local time.
Initial reports from Reuters news agency indicated that there were no reports of casualties, from the magnitude 6.3 temblor. Read more…
Libya: Colonel Gaddafi ‘flees’ to Venezuela as cities fall to protesters
Credible Western intelligence reports say that Muammar Gaddafi has fled Libya and is on his way to exile in Venezuela, according to William Hague, the foreign secretary.
Following an emergency EU meeting of foreign ministers on the situation in Libya, Mr Hague was asked if Britain, or other Western countries, knew if Col. Gaddafi had left Tripoli.
“About whether Col. Gaddafi, is in Venezuela, I have no information that says he is although I have seen some information that suggests he is on his way there,” he said.
British officials stressed that Mr Hague was referring “not to media reports but information from other channels”. “This is credible information,” said a diplomat. Read more…
Libya: Protesters, security clash in capital
Associated Press
CAIRO — Protesters and security forces battled in the center of Tripoli as anti-government unrest spread to the Libyan capital and Moammar Gadhafi‘s son went on state television to proclaim that his father remained in charge with the army’s backing and would “fight until the last man, the last woman, the last bullet.”
Even as Seif al-Islam Gadhafi spoke Sunday night, clashes were raging in and around Tripoli’s central Green Square, lasting until dawn Monday, witnesses said. They reported snipers opening fire on crowds trying to seize the square, and Gadhafi supporters speeding through in vehicles, shooting and running over protesters. Early Monday, protesters took over the office of two of the multiple state-run satellite news channels, witnesses said.
The protests and violence were the heaviest yet in Read more…
N.Korean Regime Worried About Arab Uprisings
The North Korean authorities are apparently on full alert as news trickles in about pro-democracy protests in the Middle East despite an official blackout. According to a source, security agents have banned all gatherings, especially of university students, as news spreads about the public revolts in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere in the Arab world.
The source added that partitions have been removed in restaurants across the country, and security agents break up even small gatherings in open-air markets.
“This is the first time I saw even partitions removed from restaurants in North Korea,” a recent defector said. Students in Pyongyang have begun Read more…
Oil climbs on escalated Libya tensions
SINGAPORE (Commodity Online) : World oil prices advanced further in Asian trade Monday as political tensions spread to more countries including major oil producer Libya.
Light sweet crude for March delivery, which will expire Tuesday, was seen trading at $87.37 a barrel at 12.00 noon Singapore time while April delivery jumped to $91.35 a barrel.
In London, Brent crude for April delivery was at $103.54 a barrel.
Analysts said the black gold is likely to advance further during the day Benchmark on worries of oil supply disruptions as unrests over authoritarian governments in the Middle East escalate to more countries.
Concerns over Middle East oil supplies helped prices recover from early weakness after China raised its banks’ reserve requirements last Friday for the second time this year to combat rising inflation.
According to China’s National Development and Reform Commission, gasoline and diesel prices will go up 350 yuan per ton starting Read more…
Rising world food prices may soon hit Africa hard, but could be a future boon
Damaged rice is seen in a paddy field destroyed by flood- waters near a village in Manmunai West in Batticaloa district, about 199 miles east of Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Jan. 26. The floods inundated rice paddies, and according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, at least 15.5 percent of the main annual rice harvest could be lost.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Reuters
Johannesburg, South Africa
Global food prices reached a historic high last month, a fact that may cause even the most comfortable of Americans to cinch in their belts and cut back on spending.
But what about the world’s poor?
“Global food prices are rising to dangerous levels and threaten tens of millions of poor people around the world,” World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick said Tuesday as he announced the bank’s findings that about 44 million people in developing countries have been pushed into poverty since Read more…
Poultry farmers on bird flu alert
“We have asked poultry farmers to report any unusual and large-scale deaths so as to take the necessary measures to confirm if there is any outbreak of bird flu here,” said Dr Y Thirupathaiah, additional director, planning, directorate of animal husbandry.
In 2006, bird flu fear led to losses worth crores of rupees in the state as poultry birds had to be culled in large numbers and eggs were also destroyed.
In case of any signs of bird flu in the state, the serum samples will have to be Read more…
North Korea ‘preparing nuclear test’
North Korea has started digging tunnels at its nuclear test site in apparent preparation for a third atomic detonation, a report said Sunday.
North Korea started building at least two new tunnels at its
facility in northeastern North Hamgyong province for a possible underground atomic test, according to a South Korean official.
The source told Yonhap news agency: “It is obvious evidence that it (the North) is preparing a third nuclear test.”
The report comes after Pyongyang racked Read more…
Military Wants More Global Partnerships In Space
US Needs To Better Protect Satellites, Military Says
AP Photo/Department of Defense, Cherie Cullen
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Posted: 5:02 am EST February 20, 2011Updated: 10:21 am EST February 20, 2011
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military needs to better protect its satellites and strengthen its ability to use them as weapons as the uncharted battlefield of space becomes increasingly crowded and dangerous, Pentagon leaders say. A new military strategy for space, as mapped out by the Pentagon, calls for greater cooperation with other nations on space-based programs to improve America’s ability to deter enemies. “It’s a domain, like air land and sea,” said Gen. Kevin Chilton, who led U.S. Strategic Command until he retired late last month. “Space is not just a Read more…
Earth Likely “Unrecognizable” by 2050 Say Experts
In 2011 the Earth’s population will reach 7 billion. The United Nations (UN) reports that the total number of people will climb to 9 billion in 2050, peak at 9.5 billion, stabilize temporarily, and then decline. Despite the confidence with which these projections are presented, in an American Association for the Advancement of Science press briefing and presentation today the Population Council’s John Bongaarts presents evidence that the actual Read more…
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