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6.5 Quake Strikes Northern California
Some Injuries Report With Lots Some property Damage So Far
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A 6.5 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Northern California Saturday afternoon, shaking buildings south of the Oregon border and knocking out power in several coastal communities.The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit at about 4:27 p.m. about 27 miles from Eureka, a city of about 26,000.The state's warning center had received no reports of injuries or major damage, California Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Lori Newquist said.
Sandra Hall, owner of Antiques and Goodies in Eureka, said furniture fell over, nearly all her lamps broke and the handful of customers in her store got a big scare. She said it was the most dramatic quake in the 30 years the store has been open. It was shaking for a very long time," Hall said.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said there was no threat of the quake generating a tsunami. In November 2006, an 8.3-magnitude temblor in Japan sent waves that hit the region for eight hours, causing $9 million damage. The quake was felt as far south as Capitola in central California, and as far north as Roseburg in central Oregon, USGS geophysicist Richard Buckmaster said.
The earthquake knocked out the power in Arcata, a small town that's home to Humboldt State University, and one resident said many people had objects knocked off walls and televisions tumble. "It was huge — one of the biggest earthquakes we've had up here in 20 years," said Judd Starks, the kitchen manager at a bar and restaurant known as The Alibi. "The whole town is kind of freaked out right now. All the power is out, people are out walking around.
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China, Brazil, India and South Africa Emergies As Key Nations On Climate Change Accord
U.N Intergovernmental Panel Now Accepts New Emerged Roles
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The head of a United Nations panel on climate change, Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said the emergence of India, China, Brazil and South Africa as new established leaders on the global change scene is the most important and significant change in the climate change for now. It is certain now that developed nations will not be able to craft an agreement without these nations taking a leadership role.
The next global meeting on climate change is scheduled for next year in Mexico. Indian in the meantime has intensified its communications with the other important partner in the group of four China. The Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi by phone to discuss continued cooperation on climate change. India has expressed their satisfaction with the outcome of the Copenhagen summit, partly because the gathering failed to reach a legally binding agreement on specific targets for the reduction of greenhouse gases.
Mayon Volcano About To Erupt in the Philippines
Last Eruption Was in 2006
A major explosive eruption could occur at any time as the Mount Mayon volcano located in Central Philippines. Officials are bracing for a major disaster."The likelihood of an explosive eruption is high. The closest large city to the volcano is Legazpi City.
On Tuesday Mayon sprayed volcanic ash over a wide area Tuesday, raising new health fears for thousands living around the volcano.The main problem of the eruption from a distance is the fine ash which is being generated by the collapse of rock fragments from the lava flow.Volcanic ash from Mayon has proved extremely deadly in the past. During the volcano's last eruption in 2006, the volcano oozed lava and vented steam and ash for two months and a powerful typhoon later dislodged tons of volcanic ash creating an avalanche of mud and boulders that crushed entire villages, leaving more than 1,000 people dead.
Global Warming Deal or Climate Change Cooling
Obama Got Something Out of Copenhagen Anyway?
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The conference in Copenhagen today approved a deal to tackle global warming, after an accord Barack Obama brokered with China, India, Brazil and South Africa paved way for the agreement. The non-binding agreement at the conclusion of the American-led Copenhagen Accord, sets the reference to the global temperature rise to just 2C - but the plan does not specify greenhouse gas cuts needed to achieve the 2C goal.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said: "We have a deal" and described the agreement as an "important beginning" in the fight against climate change. It will allow a provision for $30 billion of climate aid for poorer countries over the next three years to become operational. There will also be a further $100 billion a year from 2020. Many critics say the accord is weak and just too cool to effect any meaningful global warming changes. Among the most vocal opponents are delegates for poorer countries led by Sudan, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela. They complain there is not enough funds coming from richer nations to assist the effects of pollutions dumbed on the backs of poorer nations from the many years of industralization of the richer nations. UK Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband, who spent the night in talks after Gordon Brown had left the conference, said the failure to secure a stronger agreement showed the difficulty world leaders faced in tackling climate change. Barrack Obama of the US, other European leaders and leaders of China, Brazil, India and South Africa along with Secretary General Moon are glad to come out with something they called an agreement and plan to work away from here to improve on it.
Climate Change Treaty Deal is Almost Done
Late Night World Leaders Session With US and China Leads the Way For a Near Deal
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Both the US and China, the two largest emitters of greenhouse gases, have led the way in making the necessary consessions to make a deal very possible in Copenhagen. The host country called the late night session and many leaders were at hand to push the matter along. China signalled concessions on the monitoring of emission curbs while the US said it would commit money for developing countries.
Denmark's Lars Lokke Rasmussen called late-night talks with a group of 26 influential world leaders and after they finnished, their aides continued working on a political agreement for them. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said her administration was prepared to help establish funding of $100bn a year for developing countries if a deal emerged that met US requirements. While Beijing has been hostile to this notion, Chinese Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei said China was ready to engage in "dialogue and co-operation that is not intrusive, that does not infringe on China's sovereignty". The draft declaration is reportedly set to mention a cap of 2C the document been prepared by the UN climate convention secretariat is working its way to becoming the Climate Treaty Document of Copenhagen.
Wind Farms Are Just Alright
Wind is the Hottest Renewable Energy Source Today
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Whether it’s a wind farm, a coal-fired power plant, a nuclear reactor or even just a big box store, there are always going to be locals opposed to it, declaring “not in my back yard!”.As to the attractiveness of wind farms, people do seem to come down on one side or the other rather vehemently. Those in favor of wind development have been known to extol the visual virtues of a horizon full of windmills not only for the turbines’ graceful sculptural lines but also for the fact that their very presence advertises the coming of a modern, almost futuristic age of clean, renewable energy.
Writing in the online magazine Contemporary Aesthetics, Yuriko Saito waxes eloquent about the visual appeal of wind farms when created thoughtfully. “[I]t is possible to create an aesthetically pleasing effect by choosing the color, shape and height of the turbines appropriate…to the particular landscape, making them uniform in their appearance and movement, and…arranging them in proportion to the landscape,” he says. “One writer admires the windmills in Sweden as ‘graceful objects’ because ‘the slender airfoils seem both delicate and powerful…while their gentle motion imparts a living kinetic nature’.” But with wind now the hottest renewable energy source going, those opposed to seeing windmills better get used to it. In 2008 wind power provided 1.5 percent of global electricity—having doubled its output every year now for five years in a row—and should account for as much as eight percent by 2018.
Eighty Dollars a Barrell oil Can Complicate US Economic Recovery
Remember $145 per Barrel Rates in December 2008
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The U.S. economy remains weak and one in six Americans can't find enough work. Yet oil prices have risen steadily this year. A barrel of crude costs $79 and change, more than double its price at the end of 2008. This year's runup pales in comparison to the one that peaked last summer above $145 a barrel. Even so, some researchers warn we could once again be approaching the point at which rising energy costs will squeeze consumers.
That could complicate recovery in an economy that, despite the tumult of the past two years, remains as consumer-driven as ever. The price of a gallon of gas is $2.63 a gallon, according to the latest AAA survey. That's well below the 2008 peak of $4.11 -- but up 25% from a year ago and 63% above last December's low. What's more, the factors behind this spike seem apt to persist for some time. They include a pickup in global economic activity fueled by massive government spending, a decline in the purchasing power of the dollar as the U.S. holds interest rates near zero, and lack of new oil supplies coming online to meet future demand.
Profits of Oil Companies Down
Oil Price Remain Relatively Low
The Royal Dutch Shell company said profit for the three months to September fell 73% to $3bn (£1.8bn) from a year earlier. We are not expecting a quick recovery," Shell chief executive Peter Voser said. BP, its UK rival, this week reported its third-quarter profits were well ahead of expectations.
Global crude prices hit a record $147 a barrel last year, before falling back as the world recession took hold. US light crude is currently at $77 after a big drop this week.
Shell said its oil and gas production for the third quarter was 2.9 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, similar to the same quarter last year.
US competitors Exxon Mobil, the world's largest oil company, and Chevron will also report their results this week.
The Age of Petroleum oil is Coming to An End
Cheap oil will Also Become Harder to Find
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There is a consensus that the era of Petroleum oil is coming to an end soon, though most governments, including the larger economies of the world, US, Germany, China, UK, exhibit little concern about oil depletion.
The report's from most oil research and development organizations also state that the 10 largest oil producing fields in the world are all in decline.
On one side, there are those who say that global supplies have already reached their zenith, and we are unprepared for the crisis that will hit world economies in the years to come.
On the other, there are oil companies and many energy analysts who dismiss the notion that supplies are running out. The report's authors admit it is hard to tell who is right, as the world lacks a reliable gauge with which to measure oil depletion. More than two-thirds of current crude oil production capacity may need to be replaced by 2030.
Uk energy researchers say the problems are created by "inconsistent definitions", it says, noting the "paucity of reliable data, the frequent absence of third-party auditing of that data and the corresponding uncertainty surrounding the data that is available".
It goes on: "The difficulties are greatest where they matter most, namely the oil reserves of Opec countries. "But they also apply at a much more basic level, such as uncertainties over the amount of oil produced by a given country in a given year. "The resulting confusion both fuels the peak oil debate and creates substantial risk in relying on any particular set of numbers."
Part of the difficulty in estimating the amount of oil left is that those with the reserves are often unwilling to divulge what can be commercially very sensitive information. Countries and companies are notoriously reticent about their oil reserves.
In all analysis, it clear however that the risk presented by global oil depletion deserves much more serious attention by the research and policy communities. Despite the evidence, it is surprising that the major governments rarely mentions the issue in official publications. The unequivocal attention is necessary at this time, as the evidence of such depletion is apparent, it is also important to increase the zeal for alternative sources of our energy use.
Nigerian Government Recall Ambassador to USA
ANAC Nigerians Abroad to Hold Emergency Deliberation on Matter
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Nigerian Ambassador to US, Oluwole Rotimi, Sacked
·Calls Foreign Minister a tribalist •Boasts that he defeated Maduekwe's "ragtag" Biafran Army
By Yemi Adebowale in Lagos and Constance Ikoku in Washington DC, 02.14.2009
President Umaru Yar'Adua has approved the immediate recall of Nigeria's Ambassador to the United States, retired Brigadier-General Oluwole Rotimi, for "gross insubordination."
Sources at the Nigerian embassy in Washington DC said the decision to recall Rotimi followed his running disagreement with the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ojo Maduekwe, over issues bordering on activities of the mission, policy, protocol and hierarchy.
The disagreement that was said to have started last year resulted in a series of correspondence between Maduekwe and Rotimi, culminating in a letter written by the latter in which he called the minister a tribalist and boasted, "I have dealt with people like you in the past. I was the Adjutant General of the Nigerian army that thoroughly defeated your ragtag Biafran army."
Maduekwe who was piqued by the contents of the letter, particularly the reference to the Biafran war, formally complained to the President in a memo, attaching Rotimi's letter.
Maduekwe in his letter to the President stated: "This man (Rotimi) has no temperament to be an ambassador of Nigeria in our most important mission.
"This is a strategic assessment of the situation. Anyone who has such a disposition may not be able to handle the Nigerian embassy in Washington, which is deemed in Nigerian diplomatic circles as a strategic and sensitive mission.
"The recommendation that he be recalled has to do with his capacity to run the place. It is not personal."
It was on this basis that the President immediately approved his recall from the mission. In the interim, Ambassador Wakil, the Deputy Ambassador has been asked to oversee the mission pending the appointment of a replacement.
All efforts to reach the Ambassador last night on his mobile phone proved unsuccessful as it kept entering voice mail. Voice messages were not returned as at press time either.
A Nigerian embassy official in Washington disclosed that the root cause of the friction between both officials started sometime last year when Maduekwe wrote two letters inviting the Ambassador and his deputy, Ambassador Wakil to a meeting in Abuja to discuss the emergence of Barack Obama as the 44th US President and what it would mean for Nigeria-US relations.
Rotimi was said to have felt slighted that the minister wrote a separate letter to his deputy whom he regarded as his subordinate.
He subsequently wrote two protest letters - one to Maduekwe and a second one to the Secretary to the Govern-ment of the Federation, Yayale Ahmed. He also asked that the trip be rescheduled to enable him sort out one or two things.
Not satisfied, Rotimi further wrote to Senator Jubril Aminu, Chairman, Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, on the same issue.
Rotimi then proceeded to Abuja when he did not receive an official reply from the minister. Maduekwe on the other hand was reportedly irked that the Ambassador proceeded on the trip without the necessary approval.
Rotimi's action, an embassy official divulged, was seen as an infringement of an important regulation regarding the movement of public officers.
Insiders familiar with the Nigerian civil service set up said his trip was arbitrary given his protest letter and request for a postponement of the meeting, and that since he had not received feedback, it was seen as gross insubordination within foreign service regulations.
According to an official: "when you write, you wait for a reply. Movement must be sanctioned by your boss."
Similarly, Maduekwe's effort to streamline the operations of the foreign affairs ministry, particularly the embassies, was said to have been resisted by Rotimi in Washington.
The minister's brusque style of leadership has reportedly ruffled feathers in the foreign service where most officials are used to "business as usual" bosses.
As such, the little or lack of cordial relations between both men compounded matters, making it almost impossible to mend fences.
In addition, other occurrences pointed to strained relations between the public officers. The usual practice is that an Ambassador receives the foreign minister at the airport when he arrives a country, and sees him off at the end of his official trip.
This was not the case when the minister visited Washington sometime last year to give a talk at a think-tank in the capital city.
However, by January this year, Rotimi tried to seek a rapprochement when he led a delegation to receive Maduekwe who flew into Washington as the head of the Nigerian delegation to President Obama's inauguration.
But the short-lived détente came under strain again when Rotimi, during the swearing-in ceremony, introduced Emeka Anyaoku, the president's special envoy, as the leader of delegation in the presence of the minister.
THISDAY learnt that there was actually a disagreement before the trip as to who should lead the delegation to the event.
Eventually, Anyaoku was mandated to head the Federal Government team, while Maduekwe led the foreign ministry team.
But this presented an image problem for Nigeria, because it gave the impression that the home base was in disarray.
Another official of the Nigerian embassy in Washington alleged that Rotimi only appeared for work at the embassy thrice a week and retired to Florida where he has a home, for the rest of the week. "How can he effectively run a key embassy like this," the official queried.
Before the latest incident that led to Rotimi's recall, Anyaoku it was gathered, tried to reconcile the two men shortly after Obama's inauguration, but failed.
Rotimi was a former military governor of the old Western State from 1971 to 1975. He arrived Washington DC on 31st March 2008, and presented his Letters of Credence to the then President, George Bush at the White House, on April 9, 2008.
His sudden recall means that Nigeria will have to deal with the signals the incident would send to the international community, explained a diplomatic source.
One way to save face is to show that Nigeria is ready to revamp its foreign relations machinery and sharpen is focus on improving the effectiveness of the country's foreign missions overseas, he said.
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