A Jewish family walks down a street in northeastern Paris, near where David Tibi works. RNS photo by Elizabeth Bryant
January 10, 2015 - PARIS, FRANCE - Jews are fleeing terror-hit Paris because of growing anti-Semitism in France, one of Britain's most influential Jewish journalists said today.
Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish Chronicle, spoke out after an Islamic terrorist took six people hostage and held them captive in a Kosher supermarket in the French capital.
This afternoon police ordered all shops in a famous Jewish neighborhood in central Paris to close.
The mayor's office in Paris announced the closure of shops along the Rosiers street in Paris' Marais neighborhood, in the heart of the tourist district and less than a mile away from the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo where 12 people were killed on Wednesday.
Hours before the Jewish Sabbath, the street is usually crowded with French Jews and tourists alike.
Mr Pollard said today's terror attack in Paris, linked to the massacre at the office of Charlie Hebdo, will force more French Jews to flee the country.
Many are moving to Britain or to Israel, according to a report published in the newspaper last year.
He said the fact that a terrorist had chosen to target a Jewish store was no 'fluke'.
In a series of tweets he said: 'Every single French Jew I know has either left or is actively working out how to leave'.
Warning: Stephen Pollard, editor of the Jewish
Chronicle, says that Jews are fleeing France and
this will increase because of today's terror attack
'So, it's a fluke that the latest target is a kosher grocer, is it?
'What's going on in France - outrages that have been getting worse for years - put our antisemitism problems in perspective'.
The hostage situation in the Porte de Vincennes part of the city is ongoing today.
But amid fears the terror attack may be linked to anti-Semitism police have also demanded that shops on Rue des Rosiers, in the Jewish quarter of Paris, to close early 'as a precaution' in case of further violence.
18 months ago France had around 500,000 Jewish residents - the largest population in the EU - but this may now be below 400,000, Mr Pollard's newspaper said.
Mr Pollard said: 'It is the largest emigration of Jews anywhere since the war. That's a simple fact.
Last summer the new Chief Rabbi of France, Haim Korsia, admitted there was a mass exodus of Jews leaving the country for the UK, other parts of Europe, Israel and North America.
Mr Korsia said this was a 'warning signal' for France.
He said: 'Jews have been killed and there were the shootings in Toulouse and in Brussels. In general, Jews feel vulnerable in our society.
'The Jews who were murdered were targeted specifically because they were Jewish.
'This means France hasn't found the words and actions necessary to reassure them.'
Joel Mergui, lay chairman of the National Union of French Synagogues, added: 'At some synagogues, whole benches are suddenly empty.'
Strasbourg-born banker Myriam Amsellem left France for London because the UK is 'safer and freer' than her home country, where she claims Jewish traditions were stopped.
She told the Jewish Chronicle last year: 'We feel a lot more comfortable here. I look at France now and I know I would not want to be there.'
Today police across Britain were stepping up security in Jewish areas after the terror outrage in France, a community body said.
The Community Security Trust (CST), which provides security advice to Britain's estimated 260,000 Jews, said police in London and Manchester in northern England had agreed to increase patrols at synagogues and other venues over the next days.
'There is currently no known link to the UK, but CST is in continuing contact with police and government, and there will be increased policing in Jewish neighbourhoods for this weekend's Sabbath,' the trust said on its website.
Last July, the CST said anti-Semitic incidents in Britain had risen amid fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinians in Gaza. - Daily Mail.
The Boeing 777-200 jet reached a ground speed of 745mph as it rode winds of more than 200mph across the AtlanticPhoto: Alamy
January 10, 2015 - BRITAIN- Concorde may have been retired but a British Airways passenger jet approached supersonic speed this week as it rode a surging jet stream from New York to London.
The Boeing 777-200 jet reached a ground speed of 745mph as it rode winds of more than 200mph across the Atlantic. At ground level, the speed of sound is 761mph.
The happy result was a flight time of just five hours and 16 minutes for BA114, which arrived an hour and half before schedule, according to the tracking website, FlightAware.
Dozens of other flights also benefited from the jet stream’s winter surge, but those same windshave also triggered severe storms across Britain.
Pilots have long used jet streams - which flow across the globe from west to east - to cut journey times and save fuel.
Although airlines advertise the route at seven hours, it is not uncommon for flights to save an hour in the air, said Alastair Rosenschein, a former British Airways pilot who flew 747s between London and New York.
“It’s just like surfing. It’s extraordinary how fast you can go,” he said.
But at only 10 miles across and about 2000ft deep it takes skill, planning and a bit of luck to ride one for an entire route.
“You try to sit in the core of the jet where it’s not too turbulent and where you can pick up some free mileage. It’s not unusual to get 100mph tailwinds but they have got more than that,” he said. “This must be a record.”
Wednesday’s weather charts show the jet stream was running at 220 knots (250mph) and was unusually wide, he added, making it easier for pilots and their passengers to benefit.
Concorde’s fastest transatlantic crossing was on 7 February 1996 when it
completed the New York to London flight in 2 hours 52 minutes
They are generally found between 23,000ft and 39,000ft - perfect altitudes for cruising airliners - and are caused by a combination of the earth’s rotation and heat from the sun.
This week’s extreme effects are thought to be the result of plunging temperatures in the United States hitting warmer air from the south.
Whatever the cause, it has proved a boon to travellers. Online flying forums were abuzz with passengers describing their own experiences of flights that had taken less than five and a half hours to cross the Atlantic, along with reassuring messages from pilots that the speeds were well within the tolerances of modern planes.
But while it may help trans-Atlantic passengers arriving from New York, pilots have to plot routes that avoid the high winds when they fly west.
And they can be responsible for what is known as "clear air turbulence", forcing pilots to switch on the fasten seatbelts sign when planes are buffeted by disturbed air surrounding the smooth core. Man-made climate change is blamed for making the problem worse.
The high winds sparked a string of severe weather warnings, forcing train services to be suspended across Scotland, where record-breaking winds of up to 113mph lashed the country - and leaving thousands of homes without power.
Meanwhile, meteorologists say disturbances in the jet stream have brought a cold snap to America's eastern seaboard and midwest, forcing cold air south from Canada, closing schools and even freezing fountains.- Telegraph.
This aerial photo provided by NBC4 Washington, emergency personnel respond to the scene of an accident in Wye Mills, Md., on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2015. Maryland State Police say five people are dead after a Virginia family's car collided with a tractor-trailer. Police say three adults, two children and an unborn child were killed in the crash about 1:15 a.m. Saturday on Route 50 in Wye Mills. The car and truck crashed at an intersection near Chesapeake College. The truck apparently rolled over the car before coming to a rest. Photo By NBC4 Washington/AP
January 10, 2015 - MARYLAND, UNITED STATES - Two children and three adults, including a pregnant woman, were killed in a car accident with a tractor trailer early Saturday on a Maryland highway, state police said.
The family of five were traveling in a 2006 Suzuki Forenza to visit family in Baltimore when the car collided with the big rig before 1:15 a.m. on Route 50 near Queenstown.
State police identified the victims as Regina Ayres, 24, and her daughter, Jordan Ayres, 7; Ayres' boyfriend, Travis Straton, 25, and their 2-month-old son, Jonathan Ayres; and Regina Ayres' pregnant sister, Zerissa Ayres, 30. Four of the five died at the scene, but Zarissa Ayres and her unborn child were pronounced dead later at the hospital, Maryland State Police said. Investigators couldn't immediately say who was driving.
The driver of the tractor trailer, Yvenet Mayette, 28, is being treated at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center, police said. Investigators say the family was traveling westbound and the truck driver was traveling southbound when both approached an intersection. Both drove across the intersection, causing the tractor trailer to hit the passenger side of the car, sending it rolling before it came to a rest.
Investigators are determining which driver had the right of way at the intersection. The road remained closed in both directions Saturday during their investigation, state police told NBC News. - NBC News.
Boko Haram fighters parading on a tank in an unidentified town.(AFP Photo / HO)
January 10, 2015 - NIGERIA
- Boko Haram, the extremist Islamic group that wants to enforce Sharia
Law across Nigeria, has inflicted mass casualties in northeast Nigeria.
Some reports put the number of fatalities as high as 2,000.
Amnesty
International, communicating with experts on the ground in Nigeria, has
said the assault on the town of Baga could be the deadliest attack by
Boko Haram since the extremist group surfaced in 2009.
“The
attack on Baga and surrounding towns looks as if it could be Boko
Haram’s deadliest act in a catalogue of increasingly heinous attacks
carried out by the group,” said Daniel Eyre, Nigeria researcher for Amnesty International.
Amnesty International has quoted some sources that say the town has
been razed, with as many as 2,000 people killed. If true, that would
mark a “disturbing and bloody escalation of Boko Haram’s ongoing onslaught against the civilian population,” Eyre added.
Yanaye
Grema, a 38-year-old fisherman, was part of a citizen’s militia to
defend the town but the extremist Islamic group overpowered them. “People fled into the bush while some shut themselves indoors,” Grema told AFP from the Borno state capital, Maiduguri. "The gunmen pursued fleeing residents into the bush, shooting them dead.”
It wasn’t until Tuesday night that he discovered the scale of the attack. “For
five kilometres (three miles), I kept stepping on dead bodies until I
reached Malam Karanti village, which was also deserted and burnt,” he said.
Children walking outside a charrred house in the remote northeast town
of Baga, Borno State, after two days of clashes between officers of the
Joint Task Force and members of the Islamist sect Boko Haram.(AFP Photo /
STR)
Mike
Omeri, Nigerian government spokesman, said the military on Friday was
battling the insurgents around Baga, where the fundamentalist Islamic
group seized a major military base last week.
"Security
forces have responded rapidly, and have deployed significant military
assets and conducted airstrikes against militant targets," Omeri said in a statement, as quoted by AP.
Although officials are still in the process of securing the town and
attending to the wounded, early accounts indicate most of the victims
were the elderly and children, who were unable to escape the town after
the assault began. "The human carnage perpetrated by Boko Haram terrorists in Baga was enormous,"
Muhammad Abba Gava, a spokesman for poorly armed civilians in a defense
group that fights Boko Haram, told The Associated Press.
"No one could attend to the corpses and even the seriously injured ones who may have died by now," Gava said.
According to the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations, the
5-year insurgency claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people in 2014
alone. The violence has displaced more than a million Nigerians, while
hundreds of thousands have escaped into neighboring Chad and Cameroon. -
RT.
Empty shelves sit in a supermarket in the La Boyera part of eastern Caracas on Jan. 9, 2015. Photographer: Noris Soto/Bloomberg
January 10, 2015 - VENEZUELA - Shoppers thronged grocery stores across Caracas today as deepening shortages led the government to put Venezuela’s food distribution under military protection.
Long
lines, some stretching for blocks, formed outside grocery stores in the
South American country’s capital as residents search for scarce basic
items such as detergent and chicken.
“I’ve visited six stores already today looking for detergent -- I can’t find it anywhere,” said Lisbeth Elsa, a 27-year-old janitor, waiting in line outside a supermarket in eastern Caracas. “We’re wearing our dirty clothes again because we can’t find it. At this point I’ll buy whatever I can find.”
A dearth of foreign currency exacerbated by collapsing oil prices has led to shortages of imports from toilet paper to car batteries, and helped push annual inflation to 64 percent in November. The lines will persist as long as price controls remain in place, Luis Vicente Leon, director of Caracas-based polling firm Datanalisis, said today in a telephone interview.
Government officials met with representatives from supermarket chains today to guarantee supplies, state news agency AVN reported. Interior Minister Carmen Melendez said yesterday that security forces would be sent to food stores and distribution centers to protect shoppers.
‘Into Desperation’
“Don’t fall into desperation -- we have the capacity and products for everyone, with calmness and patience. The stores are full,” she said on state television.
President Nicolas Maduro last week vowed to implement an economic “counter-offensive” to steer the country out of recession, including an overhaul of the foreign exchange system. He has yet to provide details. While the main government-controlled exchange sets a rate of 6.3 bolivars per U.S. dollar, the black market rate is as much as 187 per dollar.
Shoppers line up outside Excelsior Gama grocery story in the Chacao section of eastern Caracas on Jan. 9. 2015. Photographer: Noris Soto/Bloomberg
Inside a Plan Suarez grocery store yesterday in eastern Caracas, shelves were mostly bare. Customers struggled and fought for items at times, with many trying to skip lines. The most sought-after products included detergent, with customers waiting in line for two to three hours to buy a maximum of two bags. A security guard asked that photos of empty shelves not be taken.
Police inside a Luvebras supermarket in eastern Caracas intervened to help staff distribute toilet paper and other products.
‘Looming Fear’
“You can’t find anything, I’ve spent 15 days looking for diapers,” Jean Paul Mate, a meat vendor, said outside the Luvebras store. “You have to take off work to look for products. I go to at least five stores a day.”
Venezuelan online news outlet VIVOplay posted a video of government food security regulator Carlos Osorio being interrupted by throngs of shoppers searching for products as he broadcast on state television from a Bicentenario government-run supermarket in central Caracas.
“What we’re seeing is worse than usual, it’s not only a seasonal problem,” Datanalisis’s Leon said. “Companies are not sure how they will restock their inventories or find merchandise, with a looming fear of a devaluation.”
The price for Venezuela’s oil, which accounts for more than 95 percent of the country’s exports, has plunged by more than half from last year’s peak in June to $47 a barrel this month.
“This is the worst it has ever been -- I’ve seen lines thousands of people long,” Greisly Jarpe, a 42-year-old data analyst, said as she waited for dish soap in eastern Caracas. “People are so desperate they’re sleeping in the lines.” - Bloomberg.
A private house in Petrovsky District of Donetsk damaged in the result of shelling by Ukrainian army (RIA Novosti / Igor Maslov)
January 10, 2015 - UKRAINE
- Eastern Ukraine is nearing a humanitarian catastrophe, as residents
struggle to get food and medicine, rights group Amnesty International
told Reuters. The UN refugee watchdog added that the elderly in the
region could be severely hit by Kiev’s policies.
People in the southeastern Lugansk and Donetsk regions are struggling financially and are barely scraping by, according to the deputy director of Europe and Central Asia at Amnesty International, Denis Krivosheev.
“While it may be too early to call this a humanitarian catastrophe, it’s clearly progressing in that direction,” Krivosheev said, adding that pensioners are the most vulnerable part of the population.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) also expressed major concern for the elderly, pointing to Kiev’s dangerous decision to transfer payouts of social benefits and pensions to government-controlled areas.
A house damaged by recent shelling is seen in the village of Semyonovka
near Slaviansk, eastern Ukraine (Reuters / Vasily Fedosenko)
UNHCR spokesman William Spindler said that not everyone is able to pick up and leave their homes in southeastern Ukraine. So, the most vulnerable are neglected as they fail to receive needed financial support.
According to UN figures, around 5.2 million people in Ukraine are living in conflict zones. Of that number, 1.4 million are in very vulnerable conditions and require assistance as they struggle with the cold winter, money problems, and lack of services.
Moreover, Krivosheev stressed that aid sent to southeastern Ukraine from Russia and other countries – such as food and medicine – is often stifled by pro-Kiev private armies that are preventing it from reaching those in need, with the goal of starving the population there.
“Attempting to create unbearable conditions of life is a whole new ballgame...using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime,” Krivosheev said.
He described the private armies as “renegade gangs” which need to be handled.
Some of the latest data from Ukraine points to a massive movement of people, with over one million forced to leave their homes.
Figures from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) show that 610,000 people have been uprooted in Ukraine and 594,000 have been forced to leave the country as refugees.
A man inspects wreckage inside a damaged building following what locals
say was shelling by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk (Reuters / Sergei
Karpukhin)
The fighting in Ukraine began in April, after the southeastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions refused to recognize the coup-imposed authorities in Kiev, which formed a Western-backed interim government at the time. The death toll has exceeded 4,700 people, with over 10,300 wounded, according to the latest UN estimations.
The situation on the ground then worsened, with non-stop bombing taking place in the southeastern regions, including residential areas. On top of that, things were exacerbated by Kiev’s tactics to periodically turn off water and electricity supplies to the areas not controlled by the government.
Various non-governmental groups have tried to garner attention around the worsening humanitarian situation in Ukraine.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) estimates that over 1.7 million children have been affected by the crisis in Ukraine, with at least 130,000 displaced.
A view of a house destroyed in an air strike carried out by Ukrainian
armed forces in the village of Stanitsa Luganskaya (AFP Photo)
Moreover, up to 150 schools have been shut down due to fighting in the Donetsk region. Around 50,000 children did not return to school in September, as their places of learning were completely destroyed or shut down for safety reasons, UNICEF said in its report.
A total of US$32.4 million is needed to help children survive through the winter, the report concludes. The most needed items are warm clothes, shelter, hygiene supplies, and medicine.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) has been warning about the critical healthcare situation in southeastern Ukraine. It revealed in its latest report that due to a lack of doctors, medicine, and food, some patients are dying from hunger and cold.
A man walks on rubble near an apartment block damaged by what locals say
was shelling by Ukrainian forces in Donetsk (Reuters / Maxim Shemetov)
The Russian Red Cross warned of a humanitarian catastrophe in eastern Ukraine back in July, calling for the immediate evacuation of children from the war zone.
One of the biggest obstacles to improving conditions is the politicization of aid convoys, UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos told RT, recalling a situation with a Russian aid convoy last summer.
Since then, aid convoys have been sent by Russia, Kiev, and Germany, carrying supplies such as cereals, canned foods, generators, medicine, warm clothes, and bottled water.
Trucks of Russian humanitarian convoy are parked in a field outside the
town of Kamensk-Shakhtinsky in Rostov region,
some 30 km from the
Russian-Ukrainian border, Russia (AFP Photo / Dmitry Serebryakov)
Kiev lacks the funds to deal with the dire humanitarian situation on the ground, especially in light of the latest news that Ukraine’s GDP shrank by 7.5 percent between January and November 2014.
“There is a full-blown financial crisis,” said the head of Ukraine’s National Bank, Valeriya Gontareva. “We can only overcome it if we implement quick and even extreme reforms.”
A car and a house burnt during fighting between rebels and Ukrainian
government forces are seen near the Sergey Prokofiev International
Airport in the town of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine (Reuters/Shamil
Zhumatov)
Meanwhile, a new nationwide poll has revealed that the majority of Ukrainians might even be unwilling to help the refugees, highlighting tensions in the country.
Specifically, 54 percent of respondents said they would deny help to refugees, believing it to be the country’s responsibility and not their own.
Only 16.8 percent of the respondents said they think the conflict should be solved through peaceful talks. - RT.
January 10, 2015 - OKLAHOMA, UNITED STATES - A spate of mysterious
booms that has been shaking central Oklahoma returned for a second day
Friday, again rattling houses and frightening livestock.
Oklahoma Geological Survey research seismologist Austin Holland said a series
of booms, much like a sonic boom, rattled the Norman area starting at
11:19 a.m. Friday. Numerous others had been reported Thursday in the
same area at about the same time.
Friday's booms weren't "quite as frequent" as Thursday's, Holland said. "It's quite interesting."
The windows of Anthony Young's home in the town that's the outskirts of
Oklahoma City rattled. "We thought some nut was out here, you know,
with explosives," Young told KOCO-TV. "It sounded like thunder, you could feel the ground shake, but it was nothing like an earthquake" Both Holland and National Weather Service meteorologist Matthew Day didn't have an explanation for the booms.
No earthquakes have been recorded in the area, Holland said, noting
that "we would have seen them on our seismic stations in the area." And
it's unlikely that it's due to a drilling process known as fracking, he
said, because the booms were heard and felt over a wide area including
Norman, Edmond and Shawnee.
Holland's best guess: It must have been something just above the surface of the earth or in the atmosphere.
Day, who's based in Norman, said a phenomenon known as cryoseisms also
isn't likely. Cryoseisms, or "frost quakes," occur when water quickly
freezes in soil or rock, then expands and cracks.
"There are
some stories going around that's what it was, but based on the research
we've done here, it doesn't appear what people heard is related to the
cryoseism phenomena," Day told The Norman Transcript. "There's not
enough moisture, and the temperatures are not cold enough. That happens
in areas where you have a lot of water flowing through a lot of rock,"
Day said.
"We don't know what it was, we just know what it is not," according to Day.
Holland said the booms occurred on generally regular interval,
initially occurring 40 to 60 seconds apart, then about 20 seconds apart.
January 10, 2015 - EARTH - The following constitutes the latest reports of unusual and symbolic animal behavior, mass die-offs, beaching and stranding of mammals, and the appearance of rare creatures.
'Hundreds' of animals dead in South Australia fires
Hundreds of animals could not be saved
Hundreds
of animals are believed to have been killed in South Australia since
bushfires began burning out of control in the Adelaide Hills last
Friday.
Vets and animal rescue teams have gained access to parts of the devastated areas to treat pets, livestock and native animals.
However, many animals have not survived or have been put down, according to animal welfare groups.
The fires have been raging across some 12,500 hectares (30,888 acres) of land about 30 minutes drive south east of Adelaide.
More
than 100 people have needed hospital treatment, while at least 32 homes
(revised down from 38) and 125 outhouses have been destroyed.
Rain was falling on parts of the Adelaide Hills on Wednesday afternoon,
bringing some relief to firefighters who have reportedly now contained
much of the blaze.
But lightning strikes and damaging winds could pose more hazards, according to Australia's Bureau of Meteorology.
WATCH: Parched koala gulp water amid Australian bushfires.
Many animals not killed or burnt by the fires have been left without
food, water or access to shelter, according to the South Australian
branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
(RSPCA).
The extent of the loss of animal life was unknown, so
far, chief executive officer of the state's RSPCA, Tim Vasudeva, told
the BBC. He said many areas were still subject to dangerous fire flare
ups.
RSPCA staff and vets have been moving from property to
property feeding and watering companion animals such as dogs, cats and
horses, sending some animals away to be treated, or humanely euthanising
those too badly hurt to survive.
"In the case of dogs and
cats, if they are healthy you just need to make sure they are secure,
feed and water them and make a note of what property they are on," said
Mr Vasudeva.
"We have taken koalas out, we have treated horses
on properties and wildlife in the bush and we have taken quite a few
animals away [for treatment]."
Rescue teams treated the burnt paws of a young male koala
The Australian Marine Wildlife
Research & Rescue Organisation (AMWRRO) has treated the burnt paws
of a young male koala brought to its Torrens Island centre 15km
northwest of Adelaide.
The koala, found in the Adelaide Hills,
would likely have died if it had not been rescued, AMWRRO President
Aaron Machado told the BBC. He said staff were confident the koala would
recover in a couple of months and be released back into the wild.
Dubbed Jeremy by the staff, the koala faced a high chance of dying from infection or starvation, said Mr Machado.
"Koalas don't have immune systems so the risk of death from infection
is very high. We have cleaned his wounds and dressed them with sterile
bandages," he said.
"They get to a point where they are in so much pain ... they just sit at the bottom of a tree and scream."
In one of the worst cases discovered so far, firefighters managed to
save more than 40 dogs at one commercial kennel in Inglewood but a large
number of animals reportedly died, including all of the cats.
The owners of the Tea Tree Gully Boarding Kennels and Cattery initially
used social media to share the news of what had happened but soon had to
close their sites because of hate mail posted online.
"We have
lost a home, business and pets we love and feel so awful about the loss
of people's beloved pets," a post on the business's Facebook page said,
according to ABC News.
South Australia's Primary Industries Department said it was too early to tell how many livestock had died.
Chief veterinary officer, Roger Paskin, told local media the department was offering assistance to property owners.
"We will send teams out to evaluate their livestock and assist with
them with that and if necessary to euthanise livestock that are too
badly burnt to recover," he said. - BBC.
Deadly eastern brown snake emerges from the surf on Australian beach
Unexpected
arrival of the snake, from between the lifesaving flags at Forster
beach, causes visitors to flee and lifeguards to warn people away
Visitors to a beach on the mid-north coast of New South Wales made a
hasty retreat on Tuesday after spotting an eastern brown snake, one of
the most venomous snakes in the world, emerge from the surf and glide along the sand.
The
unusual incident occurred at One Mile beach at Forster. The unexpected
arrival of the snake, which emerged right between the lifesaving flags,
caused visitors to flee as lifeguards warned people away.
Beachgoer Olivia Moffatt said that visitors were initially afraid it was a shark when lifeguards blew their whistles.
"The snake travelled out of the water and remained on the shore for a while until waves washed up against it," she told the Great Lakes Advocate.
"Raising its head, it headed for shade towards the lifeguard trailer
and happily sat there until again moving up along the beach to the
bush."
http://t.co/kqBzp5UdAq Brown snake swims between the flags at packed Forster beach. pic.twitter.com/WoNjYv8EsI - Great Lakes Advocate (@gladvocate) January 6, 2015
The
eastern brown snake, which can grow to around 2.5 metres, is thought to
be responsible for most human deaths by snakebite in Australia.
However, the snake normally only strikes out when it feels threatened.
Stuart Kozlowski, a reptile keeper at Sydney's Taronga Zoo, said it was unusual for eastern brown snakes to emerge from the sea.
"Their habitat is often near the beach, they like to spend time underground in the sand dunes," he told Guardian Australia. "They quite frequently go into creeks and rivers to cool down and assist with the shedding of skin, but it's unusual for one to go into the salt water.
"I think it was maybe cooling off or perhaps it was frightened and made
a beeline for the water. Some snakes adapt to their environment so it
may be a regular thing for this snake."
Kozlowski said beachgoers did the right thing to move away from the snake rather than recklessly interfere with it.
"You'd definitely want to give it a wide berth," he said. "Snakes don't
attack people, they defend themselves against a threat. But saying
that, brown snakes can be quite territorial, so it's best if you move
away from it.
"It can give a bite that is potentially
life-threatening. These are the snakes we take most care with when
handling them at the zoo."
On Tuesday night, a woman who is
eight months' pregnant, was airlifted to Toowoomba hospital in
Queensland after being bitten on the foot by a king brown snake.
The woman was in her kitchen at home near Mitchell, almost 600km west
of Brisbane, when she was bitten, and remains in a stable condition. - The Guardian.
Dog rescued from pool filled with snakes in South Africa
A local snake wrangler rescued a dog from a pool with bush snakes in it.
Trapped in a pool with snakes, a frightened dog was rescued on the
Bluff Friday, morning, 9 January by local snake wrangler, Shaun Venter.
Venter, whose main focus is the retrieval of snakes, was alerted to a
dog in distress in Brighton Road. The dog was trapped in a pool, with
shallow water and bush snakes.
With the assistance of a
neighbour and friend, Debbie Andre, Venter approached the stricken
animal. "We could see she was very aggressive, but that was all due to
being frightened because of her ordeal. With snakes swimming around in
the pool and the neighbour trying to keep them away from this girl, only
one thing was important - getting her out," said Venter.
The
dog would not let anyone near her, so they were forced to coax her with
pool poles. "I managed to get my hook stick under her collar and had to
drag her out as she was not moving. She was cold, very tired and had a
cut on her paw," he said.
They rushed the injured dog to a vet
where she was tended to. Venter will return to the pool to remove the
snakes and release them elsewehere. - Southlands Sun.
Thousands of dead fish found in a lake in Jabalpur, India
Hanumantal Saturday morning in thousands of small and big fish Utrati eye condition Arin dead. The news spread in the area in a hurry and got people throng the lake shore. JMC in the first degree of the health official cause of death of fish in the pond water shortages or pollution told Aaksijn. JMC's staff has been off for cleaning the pond.
Because of the fog to tell Kshetriyjnon death of so many fish in the pond is fear. Added, raising fears of people in pond water are poisoned. While in terms of elders too much last night because of fog in the pond water fish have died from lack of Aaksijn. Of people today live in fear of poison pond appeared hesitant.
Their say Due to the death of fish in the water shortage may Aaksijn. It may also be responsible for the pollution or it is feared that someone has found something Visalni in pond water. Water Department will investigate. Dr Vinod Shrivastava, Medic JMC. - Pradesh Today. [Translated]
1,370 birds dead due to avian flu in Kano, Nigeria
Taiwan to Cull 120,000 Chickens After Bird Flu Outbreak
Taiwanese
authorities began culling around 120,000 chickens on Friday following
the latest outbreak of a less virulent strain of bird flu, one of the
island's biggest culls in recent years.
The move, to be
completed on Saturday, came after some chickens at a farm in southern
Pingtung county tested positive for the H5N2 strain of bird flu,
according to the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and
Quarantine.
It said the affected farm will be thoroughly
disinfected, while monitoring of other farms in the area will also be
stepped up. Local media said the farm is one of the largest of its kind
in Taiwan and produces around 100,000 eggs daily to supply nearly 100
schools in two southern cities and other establishments.
The
island has reported several outbreaks of the H5N2 strain of bird flu, a
less virulent strain of the virus, in recent years. Taiwan has no
recorded cases of the deadly H5N1 strain, though authorities said pet
birds smuggled from China tested positive for the strain in 2005 and
2012. The birds were subsequently destroyed. - NDTV.
January 10, 2015 - AUSTRALIA
- An out-of-control bushfire is raging in the Perth suburb of
Bullsbrook with flames "higher than rooftops", emergency services say.
Hundreds of firefighters were tackling the blaze, in the semi-rural area about 40 kilometres north-east of Perth.
The fire was reported at 9:20am (AWST) on Saturday and 5,500 hectares had been burned by 9:15pm.
On Sunday the bushfire was moving at more than 2 kilometres per hour in a north-westerly direction.
WATCH: Wildfires in Bullsbrook.
It had jumped containment lines and was burning in the Gnangara Pine Plantation towards Wanneroo Road.
Ross Delaney from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) said on Saturday that there were some areas where the fire was reigniting as fire crews tried to move quickly to the front of the blaze.
"It's very hot, very windy, the fire's very fast moving and difficult to contain," Mr Delaney said.
He said DFES was hoping that the wind would drop and the humidity would rise overnight so firefighters would have a better chance of gaining control of the fire.
Blaze 'snuck up' on Bullsbrook, caught residents 'off guard'
Evacuated Bullsbrook resident Todd Adkins said the fire was upon them without warning.
"It really snuck up on us and just really caught us off guard, and it was really hard to get out," he said.
"We'd all obviously seen it but it just went a lot faster than I thought it would.
Fire burning in Bullsbrook, 40km north-east of Perth. (ABC News: Pamela Medlen)
Flames have come close to structures in the Bullsbrook fire. (ABC News)
Moving horses on a railway pde property in Bullsbrook. Layla Tucak
Firefighters are battling a fire in Bullsbrook, 40km north-east of Perth. (ABC News: Robert Koenig-Luck)
The fire raging in the northern Perth suburb of Bullsbrook can be seen
from around the city, including this view from Clarkson. (ABC News:
Graeme Powell)
The Bullsbrook fire as seen from the Perth CBD. (ABC News: Lindy Magoffin)
"You couldn't see, you couldn't breathe, and to try and drive out we had to drive through fire and everything. It was bad."
A rescue helicopter was sent to the Great Northern Highway after a fire truck reportedly rolled and hit a tree, a St John Ambulance spokesman said.
Two people are believed to have been injured and one person was trapped in the wreckage.
One person would be flown to hospital for treatment, the St Johns Ambulance spokesman said.
Fire alerts issued for residents in multiple suburbs
That night, strike teams had been organised to protect more heavily populated areas.
"We've organised strike teams to do rural urban interface fire fighting in the areas to the west of Old Yanchep Road and also strike teams to come into the Butler area as well," Mr Delaney said.
The DFES said people in affected areas needed to act immediately and were advised to leave if the way was clear.
DFES also issued a watch and act alert for people in Nowergup, Ridgewood, Butler, Emerald Valley and Quinns Rocks.
People in affected areas were advised to leave if the way was clear, or prepare to defend their property.
Roads were closed and authorities were asking people to avoid the area.
DFES also warned that there was ember attack and advised people to close all doors and windows and turn off evaporative air conditioners, but leave water running through the system.
People were also warned that mains water supply may be affected, and they should not rely on it if planning to stay and defend their homes.
An evacuation centre has been set up at the Wanneroo Recreation Centre, 440 Scenic Drive, Wanneroo, and another at Gum Blossom Hall on Tapping Way, Quinns Rock.
People are moving livestock from properties close to the fire.
Aerial water bombers were sent to try to quench the flames, which were throwing a black pall of smoke over the area.
Firefighters were protecting houses in West Bullsbrook.
The smoke was visible from Fremantle, 68 kilometres south-west of Bullsbrook.
There were hot and dry conditions in the area, with nearby Pearce reaching 28.9 degrees Celsius at 2:00pm (AWST) in the afternoon.
The fire started between Railway Parade and Gully Road.
Mr Delaney said authorities were still not sure if the cause of the fire was suspicious.
"We know it started near railway parade ... but we still haven't got a cause, it's under investigation. We've got the fire investigation officer here and also the arson squad here."
Three people rescued from flooded causeway as torrential rain soaks Central Australia
Three people were found clinging to a tree after they were caught in floodwaters near a creek in Alice Springs overnight.
Torrential rains across Central Australia have already claimed one life and police have pleaded with people to use common sense.
Two 23-year-old women and a 21-year-old man managed to scramble out of their four-wheel drive after it was washed off a causeway and climb into a tree near Charles Creek Camp in Alice Springs.
Territory Duty Superintendent Helen Braam urged people not to enter fast flowing creeks following the Charles Creek Camp rescue.
"Northern Territory Emergency Services (NTES) members utilised ropes, harnesses and a rescue pole to successfully rescue the three from the tree and bring them safely to land," Supt Braam said.
"The three were conveyed to Alice Springs Hospital for a precautionary assessment."
Two women and a man had to be rescued after their small 4WD washed off a causeway in Central Australia. (Supplied: NT Police)
Photo: Flash flooding in the Kulgera region has closed roads and caused
damage to buildings, including the local police station. (Supplied: NT
Police)
Rain cascading off Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock, in Central Australia. (Supplied: Parks Australia)
The view from Anzac Hill, looking out across Alice Springs, which has been hit by heavy rainfall. (ABC News)
Late on Friday, NTES were responding to calls for help at 20 homes, with downed power lines and water over roadways stretching police and emergency services resources.
"Almost all of our Northern Territory Emergency Services personnel are volunteers, who have been stretched considerably in the past two days, in search and rescue operations, and sandbagging local homes and business's against rising water levels," Supt Braam said.
Flash flooding in the Kulgera region has closed roads and caused damage to buildings, including the local police station which had up to a metre of water sweep through it.
Police said rainfall in the region topped 100 millimetres in places and travellers on the Stuart Highway found the going difficult as water covered the road.
WATCH:Usually dry Todd River flooding in Alice Springs.
A fridge, believed to be from the Kulgera roadhouse, ended up in the front yard of the police station.
Police said the structural damage to the station was "minimal with electrical equipment and wiring bearing the brunt of the inundation".
"They certainly had a sleepless night but coped admirably in very difficult circumstances given the suddenness of the event," a police spokesperson said.
Residents and visitors to Central Australia have been urged to take extreme caution while rain continues.
Travellers in the Tanami, Barkly, Lasseter and Simpson districts are advised to check road conditions and weather forecasts before setting out.
Supt Braam said people should have a kind word for the NTES volunteers in the field.
"If you see a member of our Emergency Services out and about, make sure you let them know how much we appreciate their efforts." - ABC Australia.
The Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) coronavirus is seen in an undated transmission electron micrograph from the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in this file handout photo. (Reuters)
January 10, 2015 - OMAN
- Oman reported Thursday its first death of a person from Middle East
Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in nearly a year.
No further details were given in the health ministry statement carried by the official ONA news agency. It is the third MERS fatality in the country.
Oman borders Saudi Arabia, the country hardest hit by MERS.
MERS is considered a deadlier but less transmissible cousin of the SARS virus that appeared in Asia in 2003 and infected more than 8,000 people, nine percent of whom died.
Like SARS, it appears to cause a lung infection, with patients suffering coughing, breathing difficulties and a temperature. But MERS differs in that it can cause rapid kidney failure.
Research by Saudi scientists indicates that camels play a role in the transmission of the virus to humans.
In November 2013, an Omani man diagnosed with MERS died in Abu Dhabi.
The victim, 75, had been visiting Abu Dhabi in October when he was diagnosed with the virus.
Following his death, the patient’s body was repatriated to Oman.
As reported by Gulf News, another Omani patient, who represents the first known case of the virus diagnosed in Oman, also died in the country’s northwest region in November. He was 68 years old, and had been running a persistent fever before being diagnosed.
The vast majority of human cases have been in Saudi Arabia, but isolated Mers cases have been reported across Europe and in Asia and the United States in people linked who have recently travelled in the Middle East.
Scientists are not sure of the origin of the virus, but several studies have linked it to camels and some experts think it is being passed to humans through close physical contact or through the consumption of camel meat or camel milk.
However, a study last year, published in the online journal of the American Society for Microbiology mBio, scientists said the detection of the virus in air samples was concerning and needed to be followed up.
“The clear message here is that detection of airborne Mers-CoV molecules, which were 100 percent identical with the viral genomic sequence detected from a camel actively shedding the virus in the same barn on the same day, warrants further investigations and measures to prevent possible airborne transmission of this deadly virus,” said Esam Azhar, an associate professor of medical virology at King Abdul Aziz University in Jeddah who led the study.
Viruses that spread through air - such as flu viruses for example - are far more likely to spread swiftly and widely in human populations than those that can only move from an animal to a person, or from person to person, via direct contact.
For their research, Azhar’s team collected three air samples on three consecutive days from a camel barn near Jeddah owned by a 43-year-old male Mers patient who later died from the disease.
Four of the man’s nine camels had shown signs of nasal discharge the week before the patient became ill, and he had applied a topical medicine in the nose of one of the sick camels a week before experiencing symptoms.
Using a laboratory technique called reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect levels of particular genes, the scientists found that the first air sample, collected on November 7, 2013, contained genetic fragments of the Mers virus.
The World Health Organisation and the Saudi Health Ministry have advised camel farm and slaughterhouse workers to take precautions against Mers by ensuring good hygiene, including frequent hand washing after touching animals, facial protection where feasible, and wearing of protective clothing. - Gulf News.
A lorry has been blown over by strong winds on the Forth Road Bridge.
January 10, 2015 - BRITAIN
- Shetland has been issued with a Met Office amber warning for wind
amid concerns that it might experience gusts of up to 100mph.
It comes after hurricane-force gusts left tens of thousands of homes without power across Scotland on Friday.
The storm caused the suspension of all ScotRail trains, although some limited services later resumed.
More than 28,000 homes are without power as the Atlantic jet stream caused gusts of more than 100mph (160km/h).
Engineers have restored supplies to more than 88,000 customers.
BBC
weather forecaster Philip Avery said the Met Office warning for
Shetland was in place from 04:00 GMT on Saturday until noon the same
day.
Elsewhere, an amber warning for much of the rest of Scotland
has now been lifted, but lesser yellow warnings remain in place across
central and southern Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland.
The
yellow "be aware" warning of strong winds and a chance of snow is also
in place for all areas of Scotland, Northern Ireland and much of England
on Saturday and Sunday.
All ScotRail services were suspended
while Network Rail, which is responsible for the rail infrastructure,
inspected lines for damage caused by winds and high tides.
A powerful jet stream is pushing a deep area of low pressure towards the UK.
The rail operator said the Aberdeen Sleeper hit a tree at Cupar. The tree was cleared and the train was able to continue.
The
majority of services remain suspended, but ScotRail said services
between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley have been restored
on a reduced service.
Some other local services are also now running, with full updates available on the ScotRail website.
It
was hoped most East Coast, Virgin and TransPennine Express services
between Scotland and England would be able to run as normal, but
passengers were warned there may be short notice alterations and
cancellations. Some CrossCountry rail services have been affected.
Anyone planning to travel to or from a station in Scotland should check their journey in advance.
A lorry overturned on the M74
The storm has brought down trees across the country
Engineers are working to restore rail services and electricity supplies
Downed trees brought the line to a halt near Dingwall
About
28,000 Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) customers and 800 Scottish
Power Energy Networks customers remain without power after widespread
overnight disruption to the electricity network in areas of northern and
western Scotland.
SSE had mobilised 1,000 technical and support
staff ahead of the storm, with engineers working in "extremely
challenging and potentially dangerous conditions" to reconnect
electricity.
The company said it had restored supplies to 68,000 customers and was working to restore power to a further 28,000 customers.
The Aberdeen Sleeper was hit by a tree at Cupar
SSE said they had managed to restore power to all homes in Orkney apart from Papa Westray.
About
1,200 engineers and support staff will be deployed on Saturday and SSE
said it will be able to tell householders and businesses when they will
get electricity back by 10:00.
Eleven catering stations have been set up where people can get a hot meal.
Rural areas have been the worst hit, especially around Dingwall and in Inverness-shire, the Western Isles and Skye.
Other
areas affected included parts of Aberdeenshire and rural areas around
Wick, Oban and Fort William, as well as Buchan, Dunblane, Dunoon, Elgin
and Huntly.
Scottish Power Energy Networks said it had managed to
reconnect 20,000 homes, with a further 800 still affected by "pockets
of faults mainly across the central belt, from Ayrshire to Lanarkshire
and across to the Lothians".
The company said "the vast majority"
of customers affected by the storm will have power restored by later
tonight, "but this may depend on weather constraints and by the impact
of current high winds causing additional faults".
Scottish
Transport Minister Derek MacKay told BBC Radio Scotland that "safety has
to be paramount when looking at the services that are operational" but
said everything was being done to "get people moving".
Mr MacKay
added: "Many travellers who have had sleepless nights will know the
winds have been severe and yes it has caused significant impact to the
transport system but we're working very hard to recover from that.
The
Forth Road Bridge reopened to cars only at 07:25 after earlier closed
at about 01:00 when a van overturned on the northbound carriageway as
the wind reached 91mph. The bridge has since reopened to all vehicles.
The strongest gusts were recorded in the Islands reaching 113 miles per hour in Stornoway
The
Dornoch Bridge and the Skye Bridge are closed to high sided vehicles,
while a fallen tree closed the northbound carriageway of the Kessock
Bridge.
Police said that travel conditions in the Highlands and
Islands were "hazardous" and advised against travelling along causeways
or low-lying coastal roads.
The Churchill Barriers in Orkney have been closed. Flood alerts
BBC News correspondent Colin Blane said police and fire services were dealing with many incidents of fallen trees.
The Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued several flood alerts and flood warnings.
BBC
Weather said gusts reached 113mph in Stornoway, 110mph at Loch
Glascarnoch, and 97mph at Altnaharra. Speeds of 61mph have been recorded
overnight at Glasgow and Edinburgh airports.
A gust of 140mph
was recorded at the summit of Cairngorm and the BBC Winterwatch studio,
in a cabin on the Mar Lodge Estate in the Cairngorms, was destroyed by
the winds.
Emergency services are dealing with fallen trees, including this one in central Edinburgh
The BBC Winterwatch studio in the Cairngorms was destroyed by wind
The storm has caused structural damage to buildings, including this one in Glasgow
The yellow warning is also in place for northern
coastal areas of Northern Ireland and parts of northern England,
including Cumbria, Lancashire, Northumberland, Durham and North
Yorkshire.
Cumbria Police said strong winds had blown over a
lorry between junctions 38 and 39 on the northbound carriageway of the
M6 motorway.
The Met Office's chief forecaster said a depression
had been developing over the Atlantic in association with a very strong
jet stream. It is said to have been triggered by sub-zero temperatures
in the US hitting warmer air.
Some ferry services in Scotland have been cancelled.
All
schools on Orkney and the Western Isles have been closed on Friday,
with dozens of schools and nurseries in the Highland Council area also
closed because of the weather.
Herriot Primary School in
Renfrewshire has also been closed after the storm caused damage to its
roof, and there have been a small number of closures in Moray and
elsewhere.
Full details of school closures can be found on council websites.
The
Dounreay nuclear complex on the far north Caithness coast will be
closed to all but essential staff on Friday and Saturday, the site's
operator has said.
line
The winds are predicted to die down on Friday before returning again overnight and into Saturday morning.
Snow showers are also possible across Scotland on Saturday. - BBC.
