Somali Pirates plants to Blow the Ship Oil for $ 20 million

Nairobi  Somali pirates on Wednesday threatened to blow up a ship hijacked the majors unless the ransom was paid $ 20 million, and hijack a Panamanian-flagged merchant ship. South Korea sent a destroyer to ambush dream Samho carrying two million barrels of crude oil with a crew that includes five South Koreans and 19 citizens of the Philippines, after the ship was seized this month.

“We are demanding $ 20 million ransom for the release of South Korean ship,” said Hashi, leader of the pirates that controlled the ship was owned by a Singapore company. “The ship and its crew safe. We know that a number of warships to attack plan, but told them that the ship will be detonated if they attack us,” said the pirate nest in Hobyo.

Meanwhile, Andrew Mwangura, officials of the East African Seafarers Assistance Programme based in Kenya, said the Panamanian-flagged vessel MV VOC controlled pirate Daisy at dawn at the site some 190 kilometers southeast of the port Salalah in Oman. The ship was manned by 21 Filipinos.

He said the big ship sailing from the United Arab Emirates to a port that is not mentioned on the Suez Canal when it was hijacked. It is unclear what brought the ship of goods.

EU naval patrols in the area confirmed the hijacking of ships weighing 47,183 tons of it in the news site. Three hijacked Thai fishing vessel at the weekend and a series of failed attacks launched since then.

Pirates operating off the coast of Somalia to increase piracy attacks on ships in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden in recent months despite a foreign navy held off the coast of the Horn of Africa . The waters off the coast of Somalia is home to most piracy-prone world, and the International Maritime Bureau reporting 24 attacks in the region between April and June 2008 alone.

The pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships in that year, an increase of more than 200 percent of the attacks in 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau. Pirate groups in Somalia, which operates in a strategic sea lane that connects Asia and Europe, making millions of dollars in ransoms from hijacking ships in the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.

Multinational naval patrols in the strategic sea route connecting Europe with Asia through the Gulf of Aden availability appears that only the bands of pirates operating expand their attacks deeper into the Indian Ocean.

Pirate the failed Horn of Africa country is currently holding a dozen ships and over 200 crew, including British couples ship hijacked off the Seychelles. Security Council has approved the operation of incursions into Somali territorial waters to fight piracy, but warships patrolling the area did not do much, according to Puntland Fisheries Minister Ahmed Saed Ali Nur.

the weak Somali transitional government, currently battling a bloody insurgency, is not able to stop the action of the pirates who hijack ships and demand ransom for the release of vessels and their crews. Pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic rifles, using speedboats to pursue their goal. Submerged Somalia since the lifting of energy and anarchism war commanders overthrew dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991. In addition to piracy, kidnappings and deadly violence have also affected the country.( Reuters)

Fujitsu Primergy CX1000

THE cloud computing becomes mandatory requirement for companies that significant data growth. However, producers still rare server that offers device supporting high-performance, but low cost. Answering this market niche, offering the Fujitsu server to a cloud computing environment, Primergy Cloud extension (CX1000). This product offers a level of balance between performance and the optimal price, change the design, operational and economic calculations on the data center. Primergy CX1000 has claimed the highest level of scalability making it ideal for cloud computing environments.

“The server optimizes the operational cost component driving power, heat, and space, so a new milestone economic standard data center,” said Nuraini Kurnia, Regional Marketing Manager Marketing of PT Fujitsu Indonesia, recently.

According to a beautiful woman who was familiarly called Nia, Primergy design since the early CX1000 is designed to be able to provide computing power as possible per square meter, with the lowest possible price. Server, he said, to accommodate up to 38 server nodes in a rack so that the savings achieved at least 20 percent in the case and cooling costs compared to standard rack configuration.

“CX Primergy servers are a new class of complete line of Fujitsu x86: Primergy blade model (BX), Rack (RX), and the tower (TX). Along with PRIMERGY CX1000, Fujitsu introduced a new architecture, Best-Central, which could save the use of the room to eliminate hot aisle in a data center.

Hot aisle is the space behind the shelves where the hot air exhaust from the back of the server.

“CX1000 has his own hot flue channel hot air from the top shelf standard sizes. Without hot aisle, shelves can be arranged Primergy CX1000 backs to each other so that saves space by 40 percent,” said Nia.
Fujitsu is a revolutionary approach that leads to a reduction in carbon consumption central data.Fujitsu Group itself was incorporated in the Green ICT initiatives, the Green Policy Innovation which aims to help customers meet environmental commitments.

Meanwhile, the design ethos that brought back to basics in line with redundant system supports the needs, as well as components that can be dismantled without turning off the system pairs (hot pluggable). In a massive application and environment management systems tervisualisasi, service on the server that failed could be transferred to another server with the help of software. Built with standard components, simple design concepts to the CX1000 can Primergy servers to replace the individual nodes that the system failure occurred, and replace the failed components offline. Addition and subtraction nodes can be done quickly because the infrastructure is divided on Primergy CX1000.

“The need for cloud computing a trap for the operator of data centers into a vicious cycle between performance and cost,” said Head Regional Business Platform Fujitsu Motohiko Uno.

“Today is a vicious cycle that can be defeated by a balance between price and performance. CX1000 introduced the Primergy boundary solution scalability limitations, especially in the cloud computing environment,” he said.

Primergy systems using new generation CX1000 process Xeon 5600 series is capable of providing power terbesar.Director process Cloud Computing Marketing of Intel Corporation Raejeanne Skillern said, “Intel and Fujitsu already has a history of successful long partnership to provide a valuable combination of Intel-based Primergy servers. With the launch of Intel’s latest Xeon 5600 (code name Westmere-EP), welcomed the arrival of Intel’s new generation of servers from Fujitsu Primergy product line, “he said.

Further said, Primergy CX1000 available in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and Vietnam from the end of March 2010.

Asia and Australia braced for a tsunami after a devastating earthquake hit the coast of Chile on Saturday

TOKYO Wide swaths of the south Pacific, Asia and Australia braced for a tsunami after a devastating earthquake hit the coast of Chile on Saturday.Officials in Japan and Australia warned a tsunami from the earthquake was likely to hit Asian shorelines within 24 hours. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a tsunami caution for areas across the region.”Sea-level readings confirm that a tsunami has been generated which could cause widespread damage,” the center said in a bulletin after the magnitude-8.8 quake. “Authorities should take appropriate action to respond to this threat.”

The center noted that the first waves after a quake are not necessarily the largest and said tsunami wave heights are difficult to predict because they can vary significantly along a coast due to the local topography.Earthquakes across the Pacific have had deadly effects on Asia in the past.A tsunami after a magnitude-9.5 quake that struck Chile in 1960, the largest earthquake ever recorded, killed about 140 people in Japan, 61 in Hawaii and 32 in the Philippines. That tsunami was about 3.3 to 13 feet (one to four meters) in height, Japan’s Meteorological Agency said.The tsunami from Saturday’s quake was likely to be much smaller because the quake itself was not as strong.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted earthquake experts as saying the tsunami would likely be tens of centimeters (inches) high and reach Japan in about 22 hours. A tsunami of 28 centimeters (11 inches) was recorded after a magnitude-8.4 earthquake near Chile in 2001.The Meteorological Agency said it was still investigating the likelihood of a tsunami from the magnitude-8.8 quake and did not issue a formal coastal warning.Australia, meanwhile, was put on a tsunami watch.

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for a “potential tsunami threat” to New South Wales state, Queensland state, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. Any potential wave would not hit Australia until Sunday morning local time, it said.The Bureau of Meteorology said a tsunami had already been observed off the coast of Chile that may threaten Australia.The earthquake struck early Saturday in central Chile, shaking the capital for a minute and a half.The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for a swath of territories across the Asia-Pacific, also including New Zealand, Samoa, American Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines and Taiwan. (AP)

earthquake on the coast of Chile has killed at least 52 people

A massive earthquake on the coast of Chile has killed at least 52 people, flattening buildings and triggering a tsunami. The 8.8-magnitude quake, the country’s largest in 25 years, shook the capital Santiago for a minute and half at 3:34am (0634 GMT) today. A tsunami warning has been extended across the Pacific rim, including most of Central and South America and as far as Australia and Antarctica. The wave has already caused serious damage to the sparsely populated Juan Fernandez islands, off the Santiago coast, local radio reported.

Carmen Fernandez, the head of Chile’s emergency services, said at least 52 people died. President Michelle Bachelet has declared a “state of catastrophe” in the country. The quake hit near the town of Maule, 200 miles southwest of Santiago, at a depth of 22 miles underground. The epicentre was just 70 miles from Concepcion, Chile’s second-largest city, where more than 200,000 people live along the Bio Bio river. In Santiago buildings collapsed and phone lines and electricity were brought down, but the full extent of the damage is still being determined.

Santiago resident Simon Shalders said: “There was a lot of movement. The houses were really shaking, walls were moving backwards and forwards, and doors were swinging open. “The power is still out here. There’s quite a few choppers flying around in Santiago I suppose checking out the worst-affected areas.” In the coastal city of Vina del Mar, the earthquake struck just as people were leaving a disco, Julio Alvarez told a local radio station. “It was very bad, people were screaming, some people were running, others appeared paralyzed. I was one of them.”

Several big aftershocks later hit the south-central region, including ones measuring 6.9, 6.2 and 5.6. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for Chile and Peru, and a less-urgent tsunami watch for Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica and Antarctica. A spokesman said: “Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated. “It may have been destructive along coasts near the earthquake epicentre and could also be a threat to more distant coasts.”

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center issued also warned of a “potential tsunami threat; to New South Wales state, Queensland state, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island”. Any potential wave would not hit Australia until Sunday morning local time, it added. Earthquakes are relatively common in Chile, which is part of the pacific “ring-of-fire” tectonic-plate boundary, and many buildings are built to withstand tremors. The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same region on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left two million homeless. The tsunami that it caused killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines and caused damage to the US West Coast.

world celebrations for the new years

Taipei 101

PARIS jazzed up the Eiffel Tower with a multicolored, disco-style light display as the world basked in New Year’s festivities with hopes that 2010 and beyond will bring more peace and prosperity.From fireworks over Sydney’s famous bridge to balloons sent aloft in Tokyo, revelers across the globe at least temporarily shelved worries about the future to bid farewell to “The Noughties” – a bitter-tinged nickname for the first decade of the 21st century playing on a term for “zero” and evoking the word naughty.In New York City, hundreds of thousands of revelers gathered in chilly weather in Times Square to usher in the new decade. Organizers were preparing 3,000 pounds (1,360 kilograms) of confetti that will be scattered when the New Year’s Eve crystal ball drops at midnight.Fireworks were set off at about 6 p.m. and the gigantic ball was lowered into place in preparation for midnight. Many people wore conical party hats and 2010 glasses that blinked colorfully, and some were jumping up and down to keep warm – the National Weather Service said the temperature will be in the low 30s and forecast snow for around midnight.Las Vegas prepared to welcome some 315,000 revelers with fireworks from casino rooftops, a traffic-free Las Vegas Strip and toasts at nightclubs from celebrities including actress Eva Longoria and rapper 50 Cent.

Sydney Harbour

Even as some major stock market indexes rose in 2009, the financial downturn hit hard, sending many industrial economies into recession, tossing millions out of work and out of their homes as foreclosures rose dramatically in some countries.”The year that is ending has been difficult for everybody. No continent, no country, no sector has been spared,” French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on national TV in a New Year’s Eve address. “Even if the tests are unfinished, 2010 will be a year of renewal,” he added.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned her people that the start of the new decade won’t herald immediate relief from the global economic ills. South Africa’s president, Jacob Zuma, was more ebullient, saying the World Cup is set to make 2010 the country’s most important year since the end of apartheid in 1994.At midnight in Rio de Janeiro, about 2 million people gathered along the 2.5-mile (4 kilometer) Copacabana beach to watch a huge fireworks display and listen to dozens of music acts and DJs.

The multitudes came mostly dressed in traditional white clothing, a nod to the Afro-Brazilian religion of Candomble but a custom followed by nearly everyone as it is thought to bring peace and good luck for the coming year.Officials said about 12,000 police were on duty during the New Year’s Eve party in and around Copacabana to provide security.Dressed in white and holding a glass of champagne in his hand, visitor Chad Bissonnette, 27, a nongovernmental group’s director from Washington, D.C., said, “This year was the toughest I’ve experienced – for the first time as an American I saw many friends lose jobs and businesses in my neighborhood close regularly.”

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd hailed events in 2009 like the inauguration of the United States’ first black president, and international attempts to grapple with climate change and the global financial crisis.”The great message from 2009 is that because we’ve been all in this together, we’ve all worked together,” Rudd said in a New Year’s message.Australia got the some of the festivities rolling, as Sydney draped its skies with explosive bursts of crimson, purple and blue to the delight of more than 1 million New Year revelers near the harbor bridge.Concerns that global warming might raise sea levels and cause other environmental problems were on the minds of some as the year ended.

Venice revelers rang in the New Year with wet feet as high tide on its archipelago peaked just before midnight to flood low-lying parts of the city – including the St. Mark’s Square.The last year also offered its reminders of the decade’s fight against terrorism, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and more recently, rising militant violence in Pakistan.Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain, in a statement Wednesday, suggested that terrorism book-ended the decade, with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States, and foiled plot by a Nigerian man to set off explosives on a U.S.-bound airliner on Christmas Eve.

“In late December we were reminded at this decade’s end, just as we were at its beginning, that there is a terrorist threat which puts our safety and security at risk and which requires us to take on al-Qaeda and the Taliban at the epicentre of global terrorism,” he said.

The American Embassy in Indonesia warned of a possible terrorist attack on the resort island of Bali on New Year’s Eve, citing information from the island’s governor – though local security officials said they were unaware of a threat.In a more upbeat theme, the Eiffel Tower was decked out for its 120th anniversary year with hundreds of multicolored lights along its latticework. It was seemingly retro in style, but decidedly 21st century as it showered the Iron Lady in a light show billed as more energy-saving than its usual sparkling lights.

Police blocked off the Champs-Elysees to vehicle traffic as partygoers popped champagne, exchanged la bise – the traditional French cheek to cheek peck – or more amorous kisses to celebrate the New Year.Spain rang in the start of its six-month presidency of the European Union with a sound and light show illuminating Sol square in Madrid and images from the 27 member states projected onto the central post office building.Partiers braved the cold – and a shower from sparkling cava wine bottles – in traditional style by eating 12 grapes, one with each tolling of the city hall bell.Despite frigid temperatures, thousands gathered along the River Thames for fireworks were fired from the London Eye attraction just as Big Ben struck midnight – an hour after continental western Europe.

Europe and the Americas may have partied harder than Asia. Islamic countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan use a different calendar; China will mark the new year in February.Still, in Shanghai, some people paid 518 yuan ($75) to ring the bell at the Longhua Temple at midnight and wish for new-year luck. In Chinese, saying “518” sounds like the phrase “I want prosperity.”

Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries where New Year’s Eve is not celebrated publicly. Clerics in the ultraconservative country say Muslims can only observe their faith’s feasts of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. For them, any other occasions are considered innovations that Islam rejects.Unlike many Islamic countries where pigs are considered unclean, New Year’s in Austria just isn’t complete without a pig-shaped lucky charm – and stalls selling the little porkers did a good business Thursday. Some are made of marzipan or chocolate; others come in glass, wood, rubber or soap.

Herbert Nikitsch of the University of Vienna’s Institute of European Ethnology said the porcine phylactery may originate from the fact that pigs represented food and sustenance for farmers in preindustrial times.Some festivities went awry.In the Philippines, hundreds of people were injured by firecrackers and celebratory gunfire during the celebrations. Many Filipinos, largely influenced by Chinese tradition, believe that noisy New Year’s celebrations drive away evil and misfortune – but some carry that belief to extremes.At Zojoji, one of Tokyo’s oldest and biggest Buddhist temples, thousands of worshippers released clear, helium-filled balloons to mark the new year. Nearby Tokyo Tower twinkled with white lights, while a large “2010” sign glowed from the center.

Tokyo’s Shibuya area, known as a magnet of youth culture, exploded with emotion at the stroke of midnight. Strangers embraced spontaneously as revelers jumped and sang.In Istanbul, Turkish authorities deployed some 2,000 police around Taksim Square to prevent pickpockets and the molestation of women that have marred New Year celebrations in the past. Some officers were under cover, disguised as street vendors or “even in Santa Claus dress,” Istanbul Gov. Muammer Guler said.In Stonehaven, on Scotland’s east coast, the fireballs festival – a tradition for a century and a half – saw in the New Year. The pagan festival is observed by marchers swinging large, flaming balls around their heads. The flames are believed to either ensure sunshine or banish harmful influences.In contrast to many galas worldwide, the Stonehaven Fireballs Association warned those attending not to wear their best clothes – because “there will be sparks flying along with smoke and even whisky.” (AP)

media-hungry terrorists would attack Michael Jackson's trial as a "soft target"

Michael Jackson's

NEW YORK Police concerns that media-hungry terrorists would attack Michael Jackson’s trial as a “soft target” led to a request for federal help, according to FBI files kept on the late pop star. The documents also show that the FBI helped facilitate interviews in the Philippines by California authorities investigating Jackson over allegations that he had sexually abused boys.The FBI monitored Jackson for more than a decade, but the files contain no major revelations about his private life and the bureau apparently never developed any solid evidence against him.In 2004, the Santa Maria Police Department in California asked for FBI “involvement” after Jackson was arrested for child molestation. Police, according to the FBI, said they believed the court case would be a “soft target” for terrorism because of the “worldwide media coverage” the trial would attract.

The FBI concluded there were no threats, but did note the presence in an early court appearance of “The Nation of Islam, represented by its security unit Fruits of Islam,” and of a New Black Panther Party member whose name was left blank in the files. Jackson used Nation of Islam bodyguards during the legal proceedings.

Back in September 1993, an investigator from the Los Angeles Police Department and another from the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Office arrived in Manila to speak to two former employees of Jackson’s Neverland ranch who claimed they saw the singer fondle young boys.

Their trip came after the LAPD had asked the FBI if it wanted to work a possible case against Jackson for transporting a minor across state lines for immoral purposes. The FBI checked with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which declined.

The files say an FBI agent accompanied the California officials to the first interview to make sure there were no problems.The documents, dating from 1992 to 2005, were made public Tuesday through a Freedom of Information Act request from The Associated Press and other media after Jackson’s death June 25, at age 50. The FBI initially said it had about 600 pages in its files but released 333 pages, citing privacy rules and the desire to protect investigative techniques.

In March 2004, the Santa Barbara County district attorney’s office reached out to the FBI, seeking help in developing a strategy to prosecute Jackson for molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor in the singer’s home. Jackson was acquitted of all 14 counts against him in what was one of the most widely followed cases in history.

The FBI reviewed case notes from local authorities and examined 16 computers taken from Jackson’s home. Nothing notable was described as being found on the hard drives, though parts of the files are redacted.Tom Mesereau, who was Jackson’s lead defense attorney during his trial, said the FBI documents provide further proof the singer did nothing wrong.

“He was not a criminal and he was not a pedophile,” Mesereau said. “The fact that so many agencies investigated him and couldn’t find anything proves he was completely innocent.”

A message left for Ken Sunshine, spokesman for the Jackson family, was not immediately returned.The Santa Barbara case was the most recent time the FBI was asked to investigate Jackson but records show the agency had been looking at his alleged involvement with younger boys for more than a decade.

In September 1993, an FBI agent in London told colleagues in Los Angeles that the British press was reporting that a man was making allegations he had held a sexually charged phone call with Jackson in 1979, when the man was 13 and Jackson was 20. Aside from asking the information be passed on to local authorities in Los Angeles, the FBI agent in London noted that no further action was being taken.

In October 1995, the U.S. Customs Service asked the FBI to review a VHS videotape labeled “Michael Jackson’s Neverland Favorites An All Boy Anthology” as part of a child pornography investigation. The recording was of such poor quality that investigators appear to have been unable to determine what was on it.

The files include death threats against Jackson, then-President George H.W. Bush and mob boss John Gotti that led to the 1993 sentencing of Frank Paul Jones, who allegedly was obsessed with Janet Jackson, Michael’s sister.

A letter obtained by the FBI, dated July 6, 1992, states: “I decided that because nobody is taking me serious, and I can’t handle my state of mind, that I am going to Washington D.C. to threaten to kill the President of the United States, George Bush.”

The letter also says, “Michael (Jackson) I will personally attempt to kill, if he doesn’t pay me my money.” One of the documents, written by the L.A. City Attorney’s office, indicated on June 22, 1992, that the author of the letter “arrives in Calif.” and “Threatens to kill.” The FBI includes an interview with an unidentified “victim,” whose name is redacted but presumably Michael Jackson, who states that he was aware of the threats and took them seriously.According to a 1992 Associated Press story, Jones was arrested June 22 and held on $15,000 bail for investigation of trespassing in the driveway of the Jackson family compound in Encino, Calif. The following year, he was sentenced to two years in prison for “mailing a threatening communication,” according to a 1993 press report included in the FBI files.

A total of 21 politicians and journalists who were abducted in southern Philippines

The group was abducted in Mindanai, Monday morning.The army said they were taken by people when trying to apply the Battle nomination for the upcoming local elections.Elections in the Philippines are often plagued with violence, particularly in the south where the clashes are often associated with local competition and rebellion.The Philippines will hold elections in May 2010.Registration of local and national elections will begin early next month.Jess Dureza, President Gloria Arroyo’s adviser in the matter of violations in Mindanao said, “This is the cruel massacre of civilians unparalleled in modern history”.He proposed a state of emergency was declared there.According to local reports, the group was heading for the election commission office in the Province of Maguindanao to submit documents to the Mayor Ismael Mangudadatu.

Still not clear how many people who died and who was responsible.But this murder was also unusual because it included women and journalists.At the present stage of this violence seem unrelated to the Muslim rebellion in Mindanao who want greater autonomy from central government.Power and the money seems to be the main motive.Mangudadatu reportedly will challenge local leaders Datu Andal Ampatuanfor the governor’s seat in the province of the majority Muslim Mindanao.Lt. Col. Romeo Brawner, Philippine military spokesman told  his party found 21 bodies, 13 women and eight men.

Light Shed on Mysteries of Deadly Jellyfish

Box jellyfish are odd creatures. Some species have 24 eyes. They mate in mass spawning, during which males and females never touch while they release sperm and eggs into the ocean and let nature take its course.Most interest to humans is the fact that box jellyfish can be deadly. But because jellyfish don’t make for good fossils, and few jellies exist in museum collections, little is known about their evolutionary history or the relationships between different species.Now scientists have gained new information about the distribution, relationships and evolution of these deadly sea creatures, findings that could eventually help researchers generate antivenom to save lives.

Who’s related to whom

Box jellies, also called sea wasps, stingers or fire jellies, live primarily in warm coastal waters around the world. They are particularly well known in Australia, the Philippines and the rest of southeast Asia, but they also occur in Hawaii and in waters off the United States Gulf and East Coasts. Some are harmless, others cause death to humans in just minutes.Named for their box or cube-shaped body, these animals are members of Cubozoa, the smallest class of Cnidaria, animals ranging from sea anemones and corals to Portuguese man of war and true jellyfish, all of which possess stinging capsules known as nematocysts.

Using DNA extracted from tissue samples, the researchers used a number of genetic tests and analytical techniques to trace the evolution of the various species and their toxicity and to sort out misidentified species. Among the findings: Box jellies may contain a unique family of proteins that, with further study, could help create antiserums.The Australian box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri), the largest box jellyfish species, is considered the most venomous marine animal and its sting can be fatal. Its close relative, Chironex yamaguchii, has caused deaths in Japan and the Philippines. A much smaller species, Carukia barnesi, is the first species known to cause Irukandji Syndrome. Symptoms include severe low back pain, nausea, headache and vomiting, and sometimes “an impending feeling of doom”, but the syndrome is usually not life-threatening. Other box jellyfish species are now known to cause the same symptoms.“Knowing who is related to whom among the box jellyfish will be very helpful in making predictions about species that are not well known,” said NOAA researcher Allen Collins. Its possible an antivenom that works for one species might work for another, he said.

Where they are

Other species of jellyfish are known to swarm and takeover parts of the oceans. Box jellies don’t seem to move around as much as some species, however. The study revealed several patterns in the global distribution of box jellyfish species. Some live exclusively in the Atlantic, others in the Pacific, and still others are found in the Indian Ocean.”Geography seems to isolate species and most don’t seem to cross open ocean habitats,” the researchers said in a statement. “A few are found in all three oceans and may live in tropical regions around the globe.”The study, funded by the National Science Foundation and the PADI Foundation, is detailed in the Proceedings of the Royal Society.