Threats keep dolphin protest out of Japan village

TOKYO The star of “The Cove,” an Oscar winning documentary about a Japanese dolphin hunt, is back in Japan to protest the slaughter but had to cancel his trip to the village at the center of the controversy because of threats from an ultranationalist group.Instead, Ric O’Barry, the former dolphin-trainer for the 1960s “Flipper” TV show, is playing host to a reception Wednesday for some 100 animal-lovers at a Tokyo hotel.On Thursday, he will take a petition signed by 1.7 million people from 155 nations demanding the end of the dolphin hunt to the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, escorted by police security.

The 70-year-old had initially planned to take the petition to the Japanese Fisheries Ministry. That was also canceled on advice from Japanese police.”I wish all these people could be in Taiji,” the small coastal village highlighted in the documentary, O’Barry told The Associated Press. “It was too dangerous. The big losers are the people of Taiji.”Taiji, which has a population of 3,500 people, defends the dolphin-killing as tradition and a livelihood. In the past, some of the captured dolphins have been sold to aquariums. Others are eaten as meat.

“The Cove,” which won this year’s Academy Award for best documentary, depicts a handful of fishermen from Taiji who herd a flock of dolphins into a cove and stab them to death, turning the waters red with blood.The Taiji dolphin hunt begins every year on Sept. 1, and a fishing group has confirmed that the hunt is on this year, although boats returned empty Wednesday.O’Barry and other conservationists have made trips before to the village around the beginning of the hunt to express their opposition to what they say is a cruel slaying of animals that are as intelligent as human beings.

His trip last year – covered by the AP – is being shown on the “Animal Planet” TV series in the U.S. starting this month. There are no plans to show the series in Japan.The message of “The Cove” has drawn support from nature-lovers around the world, including celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Courtney Cox and Robin Williams.

The Japanese government allows a hunt of about 20,000 dolphins a year, and it argues that killing them – and also whales – is no different from raising cows or pigs for slaughter.But conservationists disagree. Groups such as the U.S.-based Sea Shepherd have dogged the Japanese whale hunt – which the government allows for academic research but from which the meat is also sold – chasing whaling vessels in an effort to impede their operations.

O’Barry had initially planned outdoor rock-festival-like festivities in Taiji this year, bringing along movie stars who support him. But he can barely step out of his hotel room because of the threats, he said.”The Cove” opened in some Japanese theaters in June. Earlier, some screenings were canceled after getting a flood of angry phone calls and threats by far-right nationalists, who oppose the film as a denigration of Japanese culture.

Protesters have shown up at the distributor’s office in downtown Tokyo, shouting slogans. But many Japanese have never eaten dolphin or whale meat, and are horrified by the butchering of dolphins in “The Cove.””The documentary was shocking for Japanese,” said Akihiro Orihara, 40, who runs vegetarian restaurants in Tokyo and attended O’Barry’s reception. “We need information to be able to make our decision.”O’Barry said he has not given up and plans to be back every year.”Cruelty shouldn’t be the tradition or culture of any nation,” he said. (AP)

more than 60 whales were found dead on the Beach Kaitaia in New Zealand

60 whales died on a beach in New Zealand. Whale that died after it beached.This was disclosed by Carolyn Smith of the New Zealand Ministry of Nature Protection. Carolyn announced that more than 60 whales were found dead on the Beach Kaitaia in New Zealand. Whales can not be saved because rescuers could not save enough time for the whales.

Carolyn guessed it before the fish were stranded at first. He was stranded due to make sure they can not survive. Similarly as reported from all voices, Saturday, August 21, 2010.Carolyn adds there are actually about 73 whales that were stranded but there are some among the fish who saved themselves by returning to the sea.Ministry of Nature Protection explained the type of pilot whales were stranded since Thursday night.

Some volunteers are trying hard to restore the large fish in the sea. But, not easy to do so.whale on the beach of New Zealand is not this just happened the first time only. Last December, about 100 whale also beached in the country and then they can not survive presumed dead.

Hurricane Threatens Gulf of Mexico

Low-pressure air in the southeastern United States will move toward the Gulf of Mexico, and potentially 50 percent turned into a tropical storm within 48 hours. According to the U.S. National Hurricane Center about the threat of bad weather in the area of the location of the worst oil spill in American history,According to weather forecasts, the low air pressure will cause the flow of warm water in the Gulf on Monday morning local time, and will be able to produce locally heavy rain and strong winds along the central Gulf Coast region.

Commander of the National Disaster Management Agency Thad Alen, who heads the government’s response in tackling the oil spill, said at the weekend, the activity of disposal wells that are designed to permanently block the oil wells will be finished after the giant energy company BP to end the period of testing and planning some time ago.Disposal wells by BP, the owner of the well which was leaked last week, also suspended because of bad weather.

Avalanche Mud trap 500 Citizens of China, 5 Killed

China still not escape the bad weather disasters that befall their region lately. Mud landslides that occurred in Sichuan Province is reported to have killed five people and trapping 500 others.This disaster is preceded by heavy rain that lashed since Thursday, August 12th at midnight local time in Mianzhu. This region is known as an area suffering the most severe damage when an earthquake occurred in 2008 ago.

While these results break landslide mud transport and communications lines that connect the region. The government itself has sent rescue teams to evacuate the survivors was due to landslides. Similarly Xinhua reported on Friday (13/08/2010).This latest disaster to be a slap to China, after more than a thousand people were killed in the city in Gansu province Zhouqu mud when landslides swept a village last week. This disaster also occurred after heavy rains hit the area.

United Nations give warning of second wave of Pakistani flood deaths

Pakistan  The United Nations appealed on Wednesday for $459 million in aid for flood-hit Pakistan, warning of a second wave of death among sick, hungry survivors unless help arrived quickly.Roiling floods triggered by unusually heavy monsoon rain have scoured Pakistan’s Indus river basin, killing more than 1,600 people, forcing 2 million from their homes and disrupting the lives of about 14 million people, or 8 percent of the population.President Asif Ali Zardari, whose government has come in for harsh criticism for its perceived sluggish response to the disaster, defended a decision to travel abroad as the floods began, saying he helped focus international attention on the plight of the victims.The floods, the worst in the region in 80 years, have raised fears for the prospects of the nuclear-armed U.S. ally already battling a deadly Islamist militancy.U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Wednesday the U.S. military was tripling the number of helicopters in Pakistan to 19 from six and sending in a landing platform to be used off the coast of Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city.

Washington, which had already committed $55 million to Pakistani flood relief efforts, also announced it was contributing a further $16.2 million to the U.N. refugee agency and International Red Cross for emergency assistance to flood victims.Aid agencies have complained of a lackluster donor response to the crisis, while a U.N. spokesman said help was needed soon.”If we do not respond soon enough to the urgent needs of the population, if we do not provide life-saving assistance as soon as is necessary, there may be a second wave of death caused by diseases and food shortages,” said U.N. humanitarian operations the spokesman Maurizio Giuliano.Hundreds of roads and bridges have been destroyed from northern mountains to the plains of the southern province of Sindh, where the waters have not yet crested, meaning the situation could get worse.

Countless villages and farms have been inundated, crops destroyed and livestock lost. In some places, families are huddled on tiny patches of water-logged land with their animals surrounded by an inland sea.On the outskirts of the city of Sukkur, in Sindh, hundreds of people waited for food supplies at a tent camp.”I can’t find my 12-year-old son. I’ve been to my village with soldiers on a boat but there was no sign of him,” said farmer Mohammad Hassan.”I’m so worried. I don’t know what to do. Should I take care of my family here or go and look for my son?” Hassan, a father of 10, told Reuters before rushing into a throng jostling around a truck that arrived with rations of cooked rice.

ECONOMIC DAMAGE

The International Monetary Fund has warned of major economic harm and the Finance Ministry said the country would miss this year’s 4.5 percent gross domestic product growth target, although it was not clear by how much.Pakistani stocks ended 0.17 percent down at 9,875.68 as the economic costs of the disaster rattled investors. the market has lost 5.37 percent since the floods began.The United Nations says the disaster is the biggest the country has faced and it would cost billions of dollars to rehabilitate the victims and rebuild ruined infrastructure.Giuliano said he was optimistic aid would arrive and $150 million had already been pledged. The U.N. World Food Program needs $150 million to feed 6 million people for three months.Zardari defended his decision to travel to France and Britain at the end of last month.

“Some have criticized my decision, saying it represented aloofness, but I felt that I had to choose substance over symbolism,” he said in an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal.The British government had pledged $24 million in aid, following his meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron, the Pakistani leader said.

Pakistan’s military, which has ruled the country for more than half of its 63-year history, has taken the lead in relief efforts, reinforcing the faith many Pakistanis have in their armed forces and highlighting the comparative ineffectiveness of civilian governments.Analysts say the armed forces would not try to take power as they have vowed to shun politics and are busy fighting militants.U.S. military helicopters have been airlifting survivors in an effort that may win Washington some supporters in Pakistan, where anti-American sentiment runs high.

“Let’s not talk about politics. We were trapped here and they came to evacuate us,” said Abdul Rehman, 37, rescued by a U.S. helicopter after being stranded with a new-born baby and wife.”They’re doing good. Let’s appreciate them.”The United States needs a stable Pakistan to help it end a nine-year war by the Taliban in Afghanistan.(Reuters)

Secret Behind Jupiter's Giant Size

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. 120 times the size of Earth. However, recent measurements by the spacecraft reveal the planet’s core at most 10 times the size of the planet we inhabit.Recent studies found that about Jupiter, the giant planet has a core of very small compared with the size. Scientists believe, so the planet Jupiter, the largest in the Milky Way Galaxy because he swallowed the other small planets, before the swell.

As disclosed in the site of science, New Scientist, the core of Jupiter thought to have greater evaporation in a collision with a planet the size 10 times the size of Earth. This study provides new insight into a process that is fierce in the early formation of our solar system.Researchers from Peking University, China has to imitate what might happen in the event that the collision. The simulation results show, rocky planets closer to Jupiter will be demolished as it hit the giant planet’s atmosphere.

Half an hour later, the planet would fall into the core of Jupiter. Heavy elements in the core as the metal will evaporate and then mixed with hydrogen and helium in the atmosphere of Jupiter. Scientists believe this may explain why the core of Jupiter is very small but extremely dense atmosphere.Douglas Lin of the University of California, said that while the smaller planet does not bump into him, Jupiter will continue to grow into a giant planet itself.

The research team said, elements in the planet Saturn may also be caused by something similar, a collision with a smaller planet.The planets in our solar system created by collisions between dwarf planets that orbit the Sun, who was also born. In the process the impact, small planets to melt and form planets is greater.

Earth and Moon are the result of a collision between two giant planets about the size of Mars and Venus.Collision process occurs in less than 24 hours, and the temperature of the earth at that time was very high, around 7000 degrees Celsius, where rock and metal can be melted.

The Death toll rises to 11 in flooding in Europe

WARSAW, Poland  The death toll in flooding in central Europe rises to 11 as Poland’s interior minister said Sunday that two more people had died in the southwestern region of the country.The flooding has struck an area near the borders of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic.Heavy rains in Poland caused flooding in the southwestern town of Bogatynia and one person was already reported dead on Saturday.In the northern Czech Republic, five people were found drowned over the weekend.

Another three people drowned in the eastern German state of Saxony on Saturday. Several roads and villages there were flooded by swelling Neisse river and hundreds of people were evacuated with rubber boats by rescue workers from their homes in the city of Goerlitz.Polish Interior Minister Jerzy Miller refused to give details about the three deaths in his country because he said he wasn’t yet sure if their relatives had all been informed.

The worst-hit town in Poland was Bogatynia, where a bridge was destroyed and many were left without electricity and running water.It is the third time this year that Poland has been affected by flooding. A first wave in May was the most severe. It caused widespread damage to homes and killed more than 20 people.

In the Czech Republic, at least a thousand people had to be evacuated Saturday, some from areas below two dams threatened by rising waters. People in the towns of Chrastava and Frydlant were rescued by police and military helicopters from the roofs of their homes.Three summer camps for children were evacuated.(AP)

federal judge Judge orders protections reinstated for gray wolf in Montana and Idaho

HELENA, Mont. A federal judge on Thursday reinstated protections for wolves in Montana and Idaho, saying the government made a political decision in removing the protections from just two of the states where Northern Rocky Mountain wolves roam.The decision puts a halt to wolf hunts in Montana and Idaho planned for this fall. Montana wildlife regulators last month set the wolf-hunt quota at 186, more than doubling last year’s number, with the aim of reducing the state’s wolf population.U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula said in his ruling that the entire region’s wolf population either must be listed as an endangered species or removed from the list, but the protections for the same population can’t be different for each state.

Last year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service turned over wolf management to Montana and Idaho wildlife officials but left federal endangered species protections in place for wolves in Wyoming. There, legislators have approved a plan classifying wolves in most areas of the state outside the vicinity of Yellowstone National Park as predators that could be shot on site.

Molloy sided with the wildlife advocates who sued the federal government, ruling that Endangered Species Act does not allow the Fish and Wildlife Service to list only part of a species as endangered, and the federal agency must protect the entire Northern Rocky Mountain wolf population.”The rule delisting the gray wolf must be set aside because, though it may be a pragmatic solution to a difficult biological issue, it is not a legal one,” Molloy wrote.

Gray wolves were listed as endangered in 1974, but following a reintroduction program in the mid-1990s, there are now more than 1,700 in the Northern Rockies, which includes all of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, along with portions of Washington, Oregon and Utah.Defenders of Wildlife, the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and other wildlife advocates sued the federal government after the Fish and Wildlife Service decision in April 2009. They argued that the government’s decision would have set a precedent allowing the government to arbitrarily choose which animals should be protected and where.

Doug Honnold, an attorney for EarthJustice representing the plaintiffs, said he was gratified by the ruling, though he is sure there will be another chapter to the story.”For today, we are celebrating that the approach we thought was flatly illegal has been rejected. The troubling consequences for the Endangered Species Act have been averted and the wolf hunts are blocked,” Honnold said.

The plaintiffs don’t want wolves on the endangered species list forever, but they do want a solid plan in place, said Suzanne Stone, Northern Rockies representative for Defenders of Wildlife. The government’s plan was poorly devised and would have allowed too many wolves to be killed, she said.”We need a good wolf management and delisting that allows for a healthy interconnected wolf population,” Stone said.

Officials with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game declined to comment immediately after the ruling was released, saying they had yet to read the whole decision.The Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Commission has asked the state to appeal the ruling to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, according to a statement by the state Fish, Wildlife and Parks agency.

Carolyn Sime, wolf program coordinator for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, said Montana has done everything it’s been asked to do in developing its state management program but now will have to apply federal law and regulations once more.”This puts a spotlight on Wyoming and seeing what can be done with Wyoming,” Sime said.The increase in the wolf population brought livestock losses for ranchers and competition for hunters for big game, such as elk. Molloy’s decision means ranchers in northwestern Montana will no longer be able to haze, harass or kill wolves that prey on their livestock, Sime said.

Wolves in southwestern Montana will revert to their “experimental population” status and ranchers there will still be able to kill wolves that attack their animals, she said.But a big blow is the loss of a hunting season, Sime said.”That’s clearly a management tool that we want to have in the toolbox. We think it’s legitimate and appropriate,” she said.Both Idaho and Montana held wolf hunts last year. Montana’s kill ended with 73 wolves and Idaho’s with 185.

Idaho’s congressional delegation released a statement that said Molloy’s ruling ignored the exploding population of wolves and that the state can manage wolves in a sustainable and responsible way.”We look for a more reasonable decision from a higher court,” said the statement from Sens. Mike Crapo and Jim Risch and Reps. Mike Simpson and Walt Minnick.At the end of 2009, there were at least 843 wolves in Idaho, 524 in Montana and 320 in Wyoming, with more in parts of Oregon and Washington state.

Thursday’s ruling could affect a lawsuit in which Wyoming charges the Fish and Wildlife Service had no reason to refuse to turn over management of gray wolves to Wyoming as it did to the other states. The case is before U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne.”If the rule is vacated, there’s a question that Judge Johnson has to consider of whether or not there is something for him to decide,” said Bruce Salzburg, Wyoming attorney general.(AP)

Sun Tsunami Heading into Earth Day

Earth is threatened due to being hit by a wave of bad weather in space this Tuesday, after a huge explosion of the Sun. Thus the warning issued by scientists.Sun explosion that happened last week was recorded by several satellites, including the latest satellite of the U.S. space agency, NASA, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), who observed shock waves on the surface of the Sun.

Explosion leads to Earth and potentially send ‘tsunami Sun’ which crossed the sky over 93 million miles.Site of New Scientist reports, satellite images generated SDO showed flare shock waves from the Sun into space.Experts say, the wave will reach Earth superkilat gas this Tuesday – which will hit the shield that protects the Earth’s magnetic field.This event is expected to trigger the appearance of spectacular aurora, or northern and southern lights on Earth.Scientists have warned previously, that the sun blasts a huge big potential to damage satellites and power, and means of communication on Earth.NASA recently warned that the UK could suffer due to power outages and damage communications system for a long time, after the storm hit the Earth the Sun.

http://www.youtube.com/v/mvdRMgmUR7c&rel=0&fs=1

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph page spread predictions of a senior space expert who believes the Earth will be hit by a storm of energy that startling sun, after sun up from the ‘long sleep’ some time in the year 2013.Dr Lucie Green of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Surrey, continue to observe increased activity of the Sun through a telescope Japan, Hinode.”Fireworks are produced by the Sun was incredible,” he said, such as pages loaded Telegraph, Monday, August 2, 2010.”This is a rare phenomenon, the explosion was not only one, two nearly simultaneous explosions occurred in different locations, and will be launched toward the Earth.

He explained, this eruption occurred when a large magnetic structures in the Sun’s atmosphere and the loss of stability can no longer pressed by the gravity of the Sun.”The first eruption seen so large that changing the magnetic field at half the Sun’s atmosphere and conditioning for the second explosion.”The explosion led to the Earth’s potential, but may run at different speeds.””This means we have an excellent opportunity to observe the effects, both main effects and prolonged impact.” However, there has been no explanation from a spokesman for NASA.
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As NewScientist page is loaded, the Sun’s magnetic explosions will form a cloud complex which sends electrical particles to Earth.When it hit the early Earth, can occur anytime, even now, it would trigger auroras at the poles.At worst, this could be a threat to satellites – though probably not the worst.Earth is threatened due to being hit by a wave of bad weather in space this Tuesday, after a huge explosion of the Sun. Thus the warning issued by scientists.

Sun explosion that happened last week was recorded by several satellites, including the latest satellite of the U.S. space agency, NASA, the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), who observed shock waves on the surface of the Sun.Explosion leads to Earth and potentially send ‘tsunami Sun’ which crossed the sky over 93 million miles.Site of New Scientist reports, satellite images generated SDO showed flare shock waves from the Sun into space.

Experts say, the wave will reach Earth superkilat gas this Tuesday – which will hit the shield that protects the Earth’s magnetic field.This event is expected to trigger the appearance of spectacular aurora, or northern and southern lights on Earth.Scientists have warned previously, that the sun blasts a huge big potential to damage satellites and power, and means of communication on Earth.NASA recently warned that the UK could suffer due to power outages and damage communications system for a long time, after the storm hit the Earth the Sun.

Meanwhile, the Daily Telegraph page spread predictions of a senior space expert who believes the Earth will be hit by a storm of energy that startling sun, after sun up from the ‘long sleep’ some time in the year 2013.Dr Lucie Green of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, Surrey, continue to observe increased activity of the Sun through a telescope Japan, Hinode.

“Fireworks are produced by the Sun was incredible,” he said, such as pages loaded Telegraph, Monday, August 2, 2010.”This is a rare phenomenon, the explosion was not only one, two nearly simultaneous explosions occurred in different locations, and will be launched toward the Earth.He explained, this eruption occurred when a large magnetic structures in the Sun’s atmosphere and the loss of stability can no longer pressed by the gravity of the Sun.”The first eruption seen so large that changing the magnetic field at half the Sun’s atmosphere and conditioning for the second explosion.”The explosion led to the Earth’s potential, but may run at different speeds.””This means we have an excellent opportunity to observe the

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As NewScientist page is loaded, the Sun’s magnetic explosions will form a cloud complex which sends electrical particles to Earth.When it hit the early Earth, can occur anytime, even now, it would trigger auroras at the poles.At worst, this could be a threat to satellites – though probably not the worst.

Hundreds of penguins that apparently starved to death are washing up on the beaches of Brazil

SAO PAULO Hundreds of penguins that apparently starved to death are washing up on the beaches of Brazil, worrying scientists who are still investigating what’s causing them to die.About 500 of the black-and-white birds have been found just in the last 10 days on Peruibe, Praia Grande and Itanhaem beaches in Sao Paulo state, said Thiago do Nascimento, a biologist at the Peruibe Aquarium.Most were Magellan penguins migrating north from Argentina, Chile and the Falkland Islands in search of food in warmer waters.

Many are not finding it: Autopsies done on several birds revealed their stomachs were entirely empty – indicating they likely starved to death, Nascimento said.Scientists are investigating whether strong currents and colder-than-normal waters have hurt populations of the species that make up the penguins’ diet, or whether human activity may be playing a role.”Overfishing may have made the fish and squid scarcer,” Nascimento said.Nascimento said it’s common for penguins to swim north this time of year. Inevitably, some get lost along the way or die from hunger or exhaustion, and end up on the Brazilian coast far from home.But not in such numbers – Nascimento said about 100 to 150 live penguins show up on the beach in an average year, and only 10 or so are dead.”What worries us this year,” he said, “is the absurdly high number of penguins that have appeared dead in a short period of time.”(AP)