A Yahoo representative has confirmed that the data published Thursday was indeed some 450,000 names and passwords for Yahoo and other companies.
“We confirm that an older file from Yahoo Contributor Network (previously Associated Content) containing approximately 450,000 Yahoo and other company users names and passwords was compromised yesterday, July 11,” Caroline MacLeod-Smith, Yahoo’s head of consumer PR in the UK said via e-mail. “Of these, less than 5 percent of the Yahoo accounts had valid passwords. We are taking immediate action by fixing the vulnerability that led to the disclosure of this data, changing the passwords of the affected Yahoo users and notifying the companies whose users accounts may have been compromised. We apologize to all affected users. We encourage users to change their passwords on a regular basis and also familiarize themselves with our online safety tips at security.yahoo.com.”
The group of hackers calls itself “the D33Ds Company” and claims to have hacked into the database by exploiting an SQL injection vulnerability found on a Yahoo subdomain. They published a list of over 453,000 log-in credentials on the Internet that were allegedly stolen from a database associated with an unnamed Yahoo service…………
……. Hackers Mock Yahoo’s Security
“We hope that the parties responsible for managing the security of this subdomain will take this as a wake-up call, and not as a threat,” the hackers said. “There have been many security holes exploited in webservers belonging to Yahoo! Inc. that have caused far greater damage than our disclosure. Please do not take them lightly.”
“The subdomain and vulnerable parameters have not been posted to avoid further damage,” the hackers said in their release notes…….
Philippine authorities rescued 14 protected sea turtles that were caught in a net laid down by Chinese poachers, a navy commander said Saturday.
However one sea turtle was already dead when a joint team from the navy and the environment department arrived Friday in the remote area off the western island of Palawan, said Major Ferdinand Atos.
Atos, commander of naval forces in the area, said informants had told them that Chinese poachers planted the net a week ago in the coastal district of Balabac.
“They enter the waters of Balabac, riding in a speedboat and they plant their nets, using their contacts among the locals,” he told AFP.
The 200-metre (660-foot) net left by the poachers was removed and the 14 surviving sea turtles were set free, Atos said.
He said informants had told them that Chinese fishermen used their contacts to enter the area frequently and would bring their catch to Half-Moon Shoal, an outcrop in the Spratly islands claimed by both the Philippines and China.
The shoal has come under closer scrutiny after China announced that one of its naval frigates had run aground there.
Sea turtles are protected under Philippine law and catching them is punishable by at least 12 years in jail.
Chinese fishermen poaching in Philippine waters have become an issue in recent months.
In April, Philippine authorities tried to arrest Chinese fishermen taking sea turtles and other protected species from Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea.
They were blocked by Chinese government ships, triggering a continuing standoff over the area which is claimed by both countries.
Icelandic payments processor Valitor must reopen a gateway handling Visa and MasterCard donations to Wikileaks, a judge ruled Thursday. However, the gateway will probably remain closed while Valitor appeals the case, an attorney for DataCell, the Icelandic company hosting WikiLeaks’ donations website, said on Friday.
The court ruled that Valitor must resume processing payments for Wikileaks’ partner DataCell within two weeks, according to the ruling. If Valitor doesn’t, then it must pay a fine of 800,000 Icelandic kronur (USD$6,200) per day until the company complies with the ruling, the Reykjavik district court ruled.
MasterCard, Visa, Western Union, Bank of America, and PayPal stopped processing payments for WikiLeaks after it began releasing some 250,000 secret U.S. diplomatic cables in November 2010, making it hard for it to raise funds. The blockade reduced donations to WikiLeaks by 95 percent and cost the organization over $20 million, the organization said in a news release.
WikiLeaks hailed the Icelandic court’s ruling as a significant victory against Washington’s attempt to silence the whistle-blowing website.
DataCell CEO Andreas Fink said the court had dismissed Visa’s argument that DataCell should not be allowed to process donations for third parties.
“The verdict is an important one as the court had to rule on the conditions of the contracts we had with a payment processor which indirectly imposes Visa general rules on us,” said Fink.
Valitor failed to establish that WikiLeaks is an illegal organization, so the court confirmed indirectly that WikiLeaks is a organization as any other and should not be treated differently, he said.
According to Sveinn Andri Sveinsson, DataCell’s attorney, the judge concluded that Valitor was quite aware DataCell set up the payment gateway to collect donations for WikiLeaks. “That is logical because on the payment gateway (website) WikiLeaks’ name and logo is all over. This is really quite obvious,” he said via email.
The ruling also showed that Valitor had no problem with DataCell and WikiLeaks in the first place but in fact turned DataCell down only after receiving calls from Visa international, according to Fink. Valitor argued that Visa did not order it to block services to DataCell, but that “is very hard to believe”, Fink said.
The court ruled almost completely in favor of DataCell, he said. Only DataCell’s demand to impose daily fines of 1 million kronur per day was lowered to 800,000 kronur, Fink said. Valitor was also ordered to pay 1.5 million kronur to cover DataCell’s litigation costs.
Valitor did not respond to a request for comment, but Sveinsson said Valitor has indicated its intention to appeal the judgement to the Supreme Court of Iceland, postponing enforcement of Thursday’s ruling.
Sveinsson hopes the ruling will help WikiLeaks in a similar case against Teller in Denmark and support a complaint that DataCell filed with the European Commission about the affair.
A decision from the European Commission on whether to pursue the financial services companies involved in the blockade is expected before the end of August, WikiLeaks said.
Because of their dependence on snow pack, wolverines were recently listed as warranted for protection under the Endangered Species Act due in large part to the threat of climate change reducing distribution and habitat connectivity.
Wolverines live in harsh conditions; they range over large areas of cold mountainous low-productivity habitat with persistent snow. The paper suggests wolverines take advantage of the crevices and boulders of the mountainous terrain, as well as the snow cover to cache and “refrigerate” food sources such as elk, caribou, moose and mountain goat carrion, ground squirrels and other food collected during more plentiful times of year.
These cold, structured chambers provide protection of the food supply from scavengers, insects and bacteria. In addition, the refrigerated caches increase the predictability of available food resources, reduce the energy spent by females searching for food while in lactation phase, and decrease the time mothers spend away from cubs.
The paper appears in the current edition of the Journal of Mammalogy and was co-authored by Robert M. Inman of WCS, Audrey J. Magoun of Wildlife Research and Management, Jens Persson of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and Jenny Mattisson of the Norwegian Institute for Nature Research.
“People don’t normally think of insects and microbes as being in competition for food with wolverines,” said lead author Robert Inman of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s North America Program. “But in fact, bacteria will devour an unprotected food source if that source is available.”
Through an extensive literary review, the authors noted that wolverine reproduction is confined to a brief period of the year, and the lactation phase in females (February through April) corresponds to a period of low availability of food resources.
Wolverines, which are opportunistic foragers, have adapted by amassing food caches during the preceding winter months when food is more readily available. Without the cached food supply or an unforeseen alternative (such as a winter-killed ungulate), early litter loss occurs.
Inman said, “Understanding why and how wolverines exist where they do and the various adaptations they have evolved to eke out a living will better inform population management strategies and conservation of the species.”
Climate change will play a key role in management planning for the conservation of wolverines, the authors say.
In a study published in 2010, wolverine biologists demonstrated a relationship between the areas where wolverines exist (their distribution) and persistent snow cover.
The first theory advanced was that wolverines must have deep snow available in springtime so that they can give birth to their small cubs in a warm, secure den.
The newly released study suggests that other factors related to climate and snow pack, such as competition for food, may also be involved in explaining the limits to wolverine distribution.
Because of their dependence on snow pack, wolverines were recently listed as warranted for protection under the Endangered Species Act due in large part to the threat of climate change reducing distribution and habitat connectivity.
The authors say that a deeper understanding of how and why wolverines use snow pack the ways they do is critical to understanding how climate change will impact survival and reproductive rates.
“Shedding light on the specific mechanism of how climate will affect wolverines is important in order to know what to do to help them hold on,” said WCS’s North America Program Director, Jodi Hilty.
Inman and co-authors published a study in December of 2011 on the spatial ecology of wolverines in the Journal of Wildlife Management. This latest paper represents the second of several that will help to inform a conservation strategy for the species.
Before her death in December 2010, Nieves Lopez Martinez, palaeontologist of the Complutense University of Madrid, was working on the research of dinosaur eggs with a very peculiar characteristic: an ovoid, asymmetrical shape.
Together with Enric Vicens, palaeontologist of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, the two scientists conducted an exhaustive analysis of their discovery, recently published in the journal Palaeontology.
The new type of dinosaur egg has been given the scientific name of Sankofa pyrenaica. The eggs were discovered in the Montsec area of Lleida, in two sites located on either side of the Terradets pass.
The South Pyrenean area is rich in dinosaur egg sites, most of which correspond to sauropod eggs from the upper Cretaceous, dating back more than 70 million years ago. During that period, the area was a coastal area full of beaches and deltas which won land from the sea through sediment accumulation.
Sand and mud from that period gave way, millions of years later, to the sandstone and marl where dinosaur remains now can be found. On the beach ridges and flat coastal lands is where a large group of dinosaurs laid their eggs.
The sites where the discoveries were made correspond to the upper Cretaceous, between the Campanian and Maastrichtian periods, some 70 to 83 million years ago.
The fossils found belong to small eggs measuring some 7 centimetres tall and 4 cm wide, while the eggshell was on average 0.27mm thick. Most of the eggs found were broken in small fragments, but scientists also discovered more or less complete eggs, which can be easily studied in sections.
The eggs found at the sites all belong to the same species. The main difference when compared to other eggs from the same period is their asymmetrical shape, similar to that of chicken eggs. The more complete samples clearly show an oval form rarely seen in eggs from the upper Cretaceous period and similar to modern day eggs.
Their shape is a unique characteristic of theropod eggs from the upper Cretaceous period and suggests a connection with bird eggs. Non avian dinosaur eggs are symmetrical and elongated. Asymmetry in bird eggs is associated to the physiology of birds: they take on this shape given the existence of only one oviduct which can form only one egg at a time.
In this case the isthmus, the region in the oviduct creating the eggshell membrane, is what gives the egg its asymmetrical shape. Thanks to this shape, the wider end contains a bag of air which allows the bird to breathe in the last stages of its development. This evolutionary step was still relatively underdeveloped in dinosaurs.
Thus, the egg discovered by UCM and UAB researchers in certain manners represents Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
between dinosaurs and birds. Only one other egg, discovered in Argentina and corresponding to a primitive bird from the same period, has similar characteristics.
The discover represents proof in favour of the hypothesis that non avian theropods, the dinosaurs of the Cretaceous period, and birds could have had a common ancestor.
Scientists have long believed that comets and, or a type of very primitive meteorite called carbonaceous chondrites were the sources of early Earth’s volatile elements-which include hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon-and possibly organic material, too.
Understanding where these volatiles came from is crucial for determining the origins of both water and life on the planet. New research led by Carnegie’s Conel Alexander focuses on frozen water that was distributed throughout much of the early Solar System, but probably not in the materials that aggregated to initially form Earth.
The evidence for this ice is now preserved in objects like comets and water-bearing carbonaceous chondrites. The team’s findings contradict prevailing theories about the relationship between these two types of bodies and suggest that meteorites, and their parent asteroids, are the most-likely sources of the Earth’s water. Their work is published July 12 by Science Express.
Looking at the ratio of hydrogen to its heavy isotope deuterium in frozen water (H2O), scientists can get an idea of the relative distance from the Sun at which objects containing the water were formed.
Objects that formed farther out should generally have higher deuterium content in their ice than objects that formed closer to the Sun, and objects that formed in the same regions should have similar hydrogen isotopic compositions.
Therefore, by comparing the deuterium content of water in carbonaceous chondrites to the deuterium content of comets, it is possible to tell if they formed in similar reaches of the Solar System.
It has been suggested that both comets and carbonaceous chondrites formed beyond the orbit of Jupiter, perhaps even at the edges of our Solar System, and then moved inward, eventually bringing their bounty of volatiles and organic material to Earth. If this were true, then the ice found in comets and the remnants of ice preserved in carbonaceous chondrites in the form of hydrated silicates, such as clays, would have similar isotopic compositions.
Alexander’s team included Carnegie’s Larry Nitler, Marilyn Fogel, and Roxane Bowden, as well as Kieren Howard from the Natural History Museum in London and Kingsborough Community College of the City University of New York and Christopher Herd of the University of Alberta.
They analyzed samples from 85 carbonaceous chondrites, and were able to show that carbonaceous chondrites likely did not form in the same regions of the Solar System as comets because they have much lower deuterium content. If so, this result directly contradicts the two most-prominent models for how the Solar System developed its current architecture.
The team suggests that carbonaceous chondrites formed instead in the asteroid belt that exists between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. What’s more, they propose that most of the volatile elements on Earth arrived from a variety of chondrites, not from comets.
“Our results provide important new constraints for the origin of volatiles in the inner Solar System, including the Earth,” Alexander said. “And they have important implications for the current models of the formation and orbital evolution of the planets and smaller objects in our Solar System.”
Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest location on Earth and is the only continent with no time zones.
The continent of Antarctica is at risk from human activities and other forces, and environmental management is needed to protect the planet’s last great wilderness area, says an international team of researchers, including a Texas A and M University oceanographer, in a paper published in the current issue of Science magazine.
Mahlon “Chuck” Kennicutt II, professor of oceanography who has conducted research in the area for more than 25 years, says Antarctica faces growing threats from global warming, loss of sea ice and landed ice, increased tourism, over-fishing in the region, pollution and invasive species creeping into the area.
One of the longer-term concerns that may present the greatest threat overall is the potential for oil, gas and mineral exploitation on the continent and in the surrounding ocean, the authors note.
Kennicutt says the Antarctic Treaty System that governs the continent has worked well since it was established in 1962 and that 50 countries currently adhere to the treaty, but it is under pressure today from global climate changes and the ever-present interest in the area’s natural resources, from fish to krill to oil to gas to minerals.
“Many people may not realize that Antarctica is a like a ‘canary in a coal mine’ when it comes to global warming, and Antarctica serves as a sort of thermostat for Earth,” he points out.
“The polar regions are the most sensitive regions on Earth to global warming, responding rapidly, so what happens in Antarctica in response to this warming affects the entire Earth system in many ways that we barely understand,” Kennicutt explains.
“Antarctica contains over 90 percent of the fresh water in the world, locked up as solid water in its massive ice sheets. Research that develops fundamental knowledge and understanding of these complex systems conducted in and from Antarctica is critical to understanding many of the challenges facing Earth today.”
In addition to conducting research in the area, Kennicutt is also president of the Scientific Committee for Antarctic Research (SCAR), formed in 1958 to coordinate international research in the region.
More than twice the size of the United States, Antarctica has no cities, no government and no permanent residents. All who go to Antarctica are short-time visitors, whether they are scientists, personnel that support scientists or tourists.
Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest location on Earth and is the only continent with no time zones.
“The Antarctic Treaty has worked well for the past 50 years, but we need to rethink how best to protect the continent from a range of growing of threats,” Kennicutt adds.
“The treaty forbids oil or gas development, but it’s possible that could be challenged in the years to come. Until now, energy companies have shown little interest in exploring the southern reaches of our planet because of the harsh conditions, the distance to market and the lack of technologies make it a very expensive commercial proposition.
“In the 1960s, most believed that drilling on the North Slope of Alaska was not economical, and in less than 30 years, it became one of the world’s major sources of oil. Deep-water drilling today is practiced worldwide and subfloor completion technologies are rapidly advancing, so barriers in the past may soon be overcome increasing the threat to Antarctica in the not-so-distant future.”
Another problem – melting ice from several areas of Antarctica – is a very real concern today, Kennicutt adds.
“A report in the news last week shows that sea-level rise on the east coast of the U.S. is occurring much faster than predicted,” he notes.
“As the planet warms and the massive ice sheets break apart and melt, sea levels could continue to rise dramatically, not only in the U.S. but around the world. The ice sheets of Antarctica are known as the ‘sleeping giants’ in the ongoing debates about climate change and sea level rise. Scientists have only rudimentary understanding of how and when these ‘giants’ will contribute to sea level in the future.”
He adds that the first explorers to Antarctica more than 100 years ago would be surprised to see how things have changed in the region.
For instance, it has been proven there are more than 300 sub-glacial lakes in Antarctica, some of them as big as the Great Lakes, and the huge ice sheets in the area flow like rivers to the ocean. He adds that growing tourism in the area and numerous scientific expeditions suggest that the prospect of permanent human settlements is not out of the question.
“All of these concerns pose serious challenges to conservation and protection efforts in Antarctica,” Kennicutt notes.
“The bottom line is that we need to make sure that existing agreements and practices that address and respond to these threats are robust enough to last for the next 50 years, and that they truly provide the necessary protection of Antarctica that we all wish for and that we owe to future generations.”
The relatively strong tremor that threw into panic people in Bulgaria’s capital Sofia and nearby Pernik is an aftershock of the 5.8-magnitude quake at the end of May, according to experts.
“What we experienced on Saturday is an aftershock of the earthquake of May 22 this year and has the same epicenter,” Professor Nikolay Miloshev, director of the National Institute of Geography, Geophysics and Geodesy, Sofia, explained.
In his words it is not unusual that today’s earthquake is related to the May tremor because it was very strong and even then seismologists predicted aftershocks may continue for months.
Saturday’s earthquake was estimated as 4.5 on the Richter scale by the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre and as 4.2 on the Richter scale by the Geophysical Institute at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS).
The jolt struck at 3.52 p.m. and was felt in Pernik, Sofia, Samokov, Montana and Plovdiv.
The quake occurred at a depth of 10 km and was epicentered 7 km southeast of Pernik and 19 kilometers west of Sofia, very near to the epicenter of the 5.8-magnitude jolt which hit the region in the small hours of May 22.
Sheldon, Iowa — The dry conditions continue. But the past year has been a roller coaster into and out of drought.
We started 2011 wet, but by the end of the year, it was quite dry, and we were concerned about spring planting. We were in what the US Drought monitor calls “severe drought”. But by the time it was time to plant, we were pretty close to where we should be in the moisture profile, and the forecast was for improvement. Now it looks like the pendulum may be swinging back the other way.
The latest information from the US Drought Monitor indicates that our area is in moderate drought. The forecast isn’t any better news. The US Seasonal drought outlook for northwest Iowa is that development of greater drought is likely.
Much of the Corn Belt continues to experience increasing dryness and drought, with departure from normal precip over the past 30 days on the order of 3 to 5 inches below normal across central and eastern Iowa and much of Illinois and Indiana.
So the good news (if you can look at it that way) is that we’re not alone, it’s dry everywhere. In fact, over a thousand counties in 26 states are being named natural-disaster areas, the biggest such declaration ever by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It covers a third of farmers nationwide, and makes them eligible for low-interest loans.
The data cutoff for Drought Monitor maps is Tuesday at 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. The maps, which are based on analysis of the data, are released each Thursday at 8:30 a.m. Eastern Time.
Firefighters aided by aircraft immediately attacked the first lightning-caused fire in Yellowstone National Park this season, but a park spokesman said Friday there’s been no talk of suppressing every blaze. “Our bottom line has always been if we believe that there is a threat to people and property, our goal is to protect people and property,” spokesman Al Nash said. “But not every fire in Yellowstone poses a threat.” The fire was reported Thursday near the park’s northern border in northwest Wyoming. Initially reported at 5 acres, the fire grew to 29 acres by Friday afternoon.
Torrential rains have killed more than 20 people in China and destroyed about one million homes, local media reported on Saturday.
Heavy rains have been battering a number of Chinese provinces for several weeks, triggering mudslides and flooding.
Eleven people were killed in the southern province of Guangdong and ten in the central province of Hubei, where more than 2 million people were affected by the disaster.
The damage caused by the rain has exceeded $156 million.
* Monsoon covers entire country four days ahead of usual date
* Deficit from June 1-July 11 narrows to 22 percent (Adds details, quotes, background)
By Ratnajyoti Dutta
NEW DELHI, July 12 (Reuters) – India’s monsoon rains were above average in the past week for the first time in the current season, the weather office said, as the downpours resumed after a worrying fortnight-long pause over the central part of the country.
The annual rains are crucial for farm output and economic growth as about 55 percent of the South Asian nation’s arable land is rain-fed. The farm sector accounts for about 15 percent of a nearly $2-trillion economy, Asia’s third-biggest.
Rains were 1 percent above average for the week ended July 11, a sharp improvement from 49 percent below average in the previous week – allaying fears of a drought, which would hit output of food crops in the major consumer and producer.
Rapid progress of monsoon rains over the grain bowl of northwest India helped cover the entire country four days ahead of the usual date of July 15 although weather officials have cautioned it could remain weak until next week.
“The monsoon scenario is not as bad as has been painted,” Food Minister K.V. Thomas told Reuters.
Farm Minister Sharad Pawar had already said on Wednesday the rains had improved, speeding the sowing of major summer crops such as rice and cotton.
Rains had been 30 percent below average from June 1 to July 4 and now that deficit has narrowed to 22 percent below average.
Weather officials said the monsoon rains would be above average over the hilly regions of the north and northeast over the next three days, helping to fill reservoirs, but would decrease over northern states such as Punjab and Haryana in the grain bowl of India early next week.
CROP SCENE
The revival of rains over central India increased the pace of soybean planting, which is now almost 80 percent complete in Madhya Pradesh, the main producing state for the oilseed, an industry official said.
“Rains are needed even in the next week to complete the sowing operations,” said Rajesh Agrawal, spokesman for the Soybean Processors’ Association of India said.
Soybean is the main oilseed crop for India, the world’s biggest importer of cooking oils and also a major supplier of soymeal to nations such as Iran, South Korea, Vietnam, Japan, and Thailand.
By July 6, soybean had been planted in 1.9 million hectares, more than the normal area, according to preliminary farm ministry data. A further update will be issued on Friday.
Thomas said the planting scenario for rice and cane was also “good.” India also has huge stockpiles of rice after three years of bumper harvests. By July 1, government rice stocks were 30.7 million tonnes, much higher than the 9.8 million tonnes targeted for the quarter to end-September.
But concerns remain for cereals in some rain-fed areas of the western state of Maharashtra and southern Karnataka. Cereals had been planted on 2.19 million hectares by July 6 compared with normal acreage of 5.66 million hectares.
Severe flooding in Japan has forced the evacuation of some 400,000 people today. The country’s meteorological agency today warned that more landslides and flooding is expected to hit the deluged island of Kyushu, where severe weather has killed up to 20 people in the last several days. Rain pounded the southern island today, with over four inches of water coming down per hour, according to the weather unit, said SAPA news agency. At least nine people have gone missing. Weather officials said that over 30 inches of rain hit the southern city of Aso in the last three days. Hundreds of thousands of people on the island and the surrounding southern provinces have been advised to leave the region or go to storm shelters. The nation has deployed self-defense units to the area to assist with recovery efforts.
Rock and debris from a landslide lie along five miles of what had been an ice-white glacier inside Glacier Bay National Park.
By Miguel Llanos, msnbc.com
A massive landslide sent tons of rock and debris tumbling more than five miles down a glacier in Alaska, the National Park Service reported in an event that could be yet another sign of a warming world.
Located in a remote area of Glacier Bay National Park, the slide was so big it registered on earthquake monitors as a magnitude 3.4 event.
“It’s certainly the largest that we’re aware of” inside the park, Glacier Bay ecologist Lewis Sharman told msnbc.com.
Larger landslides have happened over geologic time, Marten Geertsema, a natural hazards researcher for the Forest Service in nearby British Columbia, told msnbc.com, but it definitely was “one of the longest runout landslides on a glacier in Alaska and Canada in recent times.”
Moreover, the force was enormous, Geertsema said. No one was present, but had anyone been there they probably “would be blown over by the air blast,” he told the Associated Press.
Officials ruled out an earthquake as the trigger that caused part of the nearly 12,000-foot Lituya Mountain to give way, smothering the ice-white Johns Hopkins Glacier with dark rock and debris over an area a half-mile wide and 5.5 miles long.
Drake Olson / FlyDrake.com via AP
The landslide is viewed from above the Johns Hopkins Glacier.
One possibility is that thawing permafrost, which is ground that stays frozen for two more our years, caused the slide.
“We are seeing an increase in rock slides in mountain areas throughout the world because of permafrost degradation,” said Geertsema.
“I don’t know whether permafrost degradation played a role here, but we can be almost certain that permafrost exists on Lituya Mountain,” said Geertsema, who reviewed aerial photos of the mountain and slide area. ”Certainly this type of event could happen from permafrost degradation.”
Many areas of mountain permafrost have been thawing in recent decades as temperatures warm, and some experts are becoming convinced that thawing is a factor in the frequency of rock slides, Geertsema said, pointing to data by Swiss scientists studying the Alps.
Marten Geertsema and Drake Olson
The section of rock and ice that slid off Lituya Mountain is seen here. Marten Geertsema estimates it was 200 meters, or about 600 feet, wide.
“It plays an important role,” Geertsema said of climate change. “I think we have been underestimating the role it might play.”
Sharman, the park ecologist, echoed that sentiment, saying he’s heard from experts that “they would not be surprised” to see more such landslides inside the national park if temperatures continue to warm.
“Certainly we are seeing an increase in large landslides over the past decades,” Geertsema said, citing his 2006 study that found between 1973 and 2003 the average in northern British Columbia increased from 1.3 large landslides per year to 2.3.
Moreover, he said, most of the slides in northern British Columbia are happening in the warmest years.
Landslides like this one can also be triggered by other factors, Geertsema added, such as a combination of large snowpack and a cold spring that results in a delayed and then rapid melt.
The slide itself was miles from areas used by park visitors, most of whom see Glacier Bay by cruise ship.
“You can’t see it from a boat or the bay. You’ve got to be up flying. And it’s not on a typical flying route,” park service spokesman John Quinley told Reuters. “It would have been pretty horrific if you’d been camped on the glacier.”
And it won’t reach the bay for a long time.
The frozen ground that covers the top of the world has been thawing rapidly over the last three decades. But there is cause for concern beyond the far north, because the carbon released from thawing permafrost could raise global temeratures even higher. NBC’s Anne Thompson reports for “Changing Planet,” produced by NBC Learn in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
“The landslide is approximately 12-14 miles up the glacier,” the park said on its Facebook page, and the glacier itself moves material towards the bay only about 10-15 feet a day. “So this debris may not reach the face of the glacier for many years,” it added.
Officials are currently trying to estimate the volume of material that fell in the slide.
In 1958, a nearby landslide, this one above Lituya Bay and triggered by a 7.7 earthquake, created a wave hundreds of feet high that washed 1,720 feet up a narrow inlet. Two people on a fishing boat vanished and three others on land were killed.
One fishing vessel was able to ride out the wave, Geertsema noted.
“They looked below them and they could see the tops of the Sitka spruce trees way below,” he said. “The other boat disappeared.”
Last month’s slide covered more land area than the 1958 incident, but even so it probably won’t go down as the biggest one by volume in North America.
“We do not know the volume of the recent landslide on the Johns Hopkins Glacier yet, but it is unlikely to break the volume record,” Rex Baum, a U.S. Geological Survey expert, told msnbc.com.
What is the record? That, said Baum, would be the 2.8 cubic kilometer rock slide avalanche from the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state.
The search for four people assumed caught in Thursday’s landslide in southeastern B.C. resumed Friday afternoon and was to continue until dark, and then resume at first light Saturday morning, officials say.
More landslides earlier Friday had delayed the ground search for a father, his two adult daughters and a German woman believed to be trapped by a landslide that roared down a mountainside in southeastern B.C.
RCMP said there had been further slides in the area, and because of that searchers had to wait for geotechnicians to assess the safety of the terrain before they went in.
Bill Macpherson, spokesman for the Central Kootenay Regional District, said engineers gave the go-ahead, although there was no certainty the danger had passed.
“In spite of ongoing debris movement and continued slope instability, the search of the landslide at Johnsons Landing has resumed this afternoon at approximately14:15 hours [PT],” Macpherson said in a statement Friday afternoon.
About 40 rescue workers are now in Johnsons Landing, with 13 on top of the debris pile at any one time, trying to burrow in strategically to locate possible survivors, Vancouver Fire Department spokesman Les Sziklai told CBC News on Friday night. The department has a number of personnel assisting at the landslide scene, Sziklai said.
The earlier search delay had frustrated family members and local residents.
“It’s taken them a long time to get in there. In the old days we would’ve just gone in by ourselves, and it may have been dangerous, but this place is full of independent people,” said resident Susan Grimble.
The girls’ mother, Lynn Migdal, who is in Florida, told CBC News that Diana Webber, 22, and Rachel Webber, 17, and her ex-husband, Valentine Webber, were about to sit down for breakfast moments before the slide hit.
Now she believes they are trapped under the debris that destroyed the home.
“There is three people buried deep down in my house right now and there is not one rescue person on the property. Something fast has to be done,” Lynn Migdal said just after 7 a.m. PT.
Three homes were damaged by the landslide on Thursday. (Bob Keating/CBC)
Aerial reconnaissance of the site was conducted by 10 a.m., but ground crews were not allowed in to search the site because of stability concerns, according to Macpherson.
“My family has been buried under the ground since 11 o’clock yesterday. I know that the conditions were not good enough. They had to evacuate, but I was promised that by 4:30 yesterday afternoon, as soon as there was light, that there would be dogs and people digging,” said Migdal.
Diana Webber, 22, is believed to have been in a home hit by the landslide.(Facebook)
“All we need is some shovels to dig out my 17-year-old daughter, my 22-year-old daughter and my ex-husband.”
The other missing person is believed to be Petra Frehse, a German woman who has been a part-time resident of the area for several years.
RCMP Cpl. Dan Moskaluk said multiple helicopters, two search-dog teams, underwater recovery divers, a landslide expert and a geotechnician were dispatched to the scene in the tiny community of Johnsons Landing to help in the search and recovery effort.
The efforts were called off Thursday evening because the area was deemed too volatile to search in the dark.
Rachel Webber, 17, is also believed to have been in the house struck by the landslide.(Facebook)
“I think everybody is realistic that the odds of survivability for the individuals that were in the direct path [of the landslide] …are not that great,” said Moskaluk.
“So realistically, we are looking at possibly a recovery operation. But again, we never lose hope.”
Four members of Vancouver’s Heavy Urban Search and Rescue team arrived to help with the search on Thursday night, and more arrived on Friday morning.
By Ethan A. Huff,
(NaturalNews) Dozens of young children in Cambodia have died in recent months of what health authorities are claiming is some kind of mystery disease. But based on the nature of the afflicted children’s symptoms prior to their deaths, it seems a likely possibility that they may have been victims of vaccine injuries, and that the disease explanation is the media’s attempt to cover up the truth. According to Dr. Nima Asgari, a public health specialist at the United Nations (UN) body in Cambodia, as many as 60 children have died in Cambodia since April, all after experiencing similar symptoms. Prior to their deaths, many of the children had reportedly been suffering high fever, severe chest disease symptoms, and/or signs of neurological damage, symptoms which are all strangely associated with vaccine injury.
The so-called “disease,” which authorities insisted from the beginning they could not identify, has actually afflicted 61 children thus far, only one of which obviously survived. But all the children who were admitted to hospitals in both Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s largest and capital city, and a popular tourist area known as Siem Reap, were seven years of age or younger at their times of death.
The World Health Organization (WHO) says it is worried about the fact that the “condition” leads to a very high mortality rate in such a short period of time. But at the same time, the international body claims the disease is not contagious, as neither hospital staff nor nearby patients that have come into contact with the now-deceased children have developed similar symptoms.
Mysterious deaths wreak of deliberate experimentation on humans via vaccines
Since the mystery condition does not appear to be contagious in any way, and only seems to occur in young children of vaccine age, it is not that far of a stretch to hypothesize that vaccines may have something to do with these mysterious deaths. It would not be the first time, after all, that vaccine experimentation has led to the unusually rapid spread of “disease” in just a few weeks or months.
The AIDS epidemic, for instance, appears to have been triggered by a vaccine campaign for smallpox in Africa back in the late 1970s. (
http://www.infowars.com ) According to some reports, the 13-year campaign launched by WHO to vaccinate Africans living in Central Africa was directly responsible for inducing HIV and AIDS, which quickly spread around the world. (
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net )
Interestingly, Cambodia has recently launched its own vaccination campaigns, including one for measles that began back in 2011. (
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/health/2011-02/10/c_13725980.htm ) But neither health authorities nor the mainstream media have even entertained the thought that vaccines might the cause of the mystery deaths.
Some official reports are now blaming the deaths of Enterovirus Type 71 (EV71), also known as “hand, foot and mouth disease.” (
http://news.blogs.cnn.com ) But this explanation does not make any sense, as EV71 is highly contagious, while the “mystery condition” does not appear to be contagious.
Why are people panicking as their courtyards fill with “mysterious blood redrain“?
Did Nostradamus and others predict “rain like blood”?
Has this happened before?
What causes the red color in the mysterious rain?
Is it caused by an unidentified life form?
Could dust from a meteor affect an area more than a decade later?
Is all this just coincidence?
On Thursday, July 5, 2012, around 6:50 p.m. local time, a mysterious red rain shower fell for about 15 minutes in Kannur, Kerala, India. Locales within a one kilometer area in the Indian state of Kerala experienced this phenomenon, as it filled courtyards with blood red rain and stained people’s clothes pink.
Wildlife experts are concerned and investigating after 512 Magellanic penguins washed up dead across 65 miles of the Brazilian coast, reports the Merco Press. Further worrying veterinarians is that the birds were all apparently in good health, well fed, and free from oil stains. Magellanic penguins are migratory, moving from southern Argentina to Sao Paolo at this time of year. It’s not a great time for penguins in general, with the population of a major colony in Antarctica plummeting 36% since 1991.
Biohazard name:
Mass. Die-off (Magellanic penguins)
Biohazard level:
0/4 —
Biohazard desc.:
This does not included biological hazard category.
A section of the Des Moines River with a history of hot weather related fish kills was home to one of the longest in the state’s history with nearly 58,000 dead fish in more than 42 stream miles with a value exceeding $10.1 million.
Dead fish were found in the Des Moines River from the dam in Eldon to the Farmington Bridge on Iowa Highway 2.
This section of the Des Moines River has had sizable fish kills over the years, including 2006 and in 2008, during summer flows of 300 to 500 CFS and high water temperature.
The DNR also investigated fish kills in the Iowa River between the Hawkeye Wildlife Area and the Iowa Highway 965 bridge in Johnson County and in the main lake at Lake Odessa in Louisa County.
The section of the Iowa River has periodically experienced hot weather fish kills in the past.
Paul Sleeper, fisheries biologist at Lake Macbride, said water from the shallow Hawkeye Wildlife area with low oxygen levels and temperatures in the 90s flowed under the Iowa Highway 965 and I-380 bridges where most of the dead fish were found. Sleeper said they counted 95 walleyes at the upper end of the Coralville Reservoir, along with six channel catfish and a few common carp on Monday.
“It looks like they had been dead for several days,” Sleeper said.
At Lake Odessa, 96 percent of the 19,000 fish killed were gizzard shad that are susceptible to changes in water temperature. Chad Dolan, fisheries biologist at the DNR’s Lake Darling office, said they suspect the kill happened Saturday night after the high air temperatures. The water temperature was in the low to mid 90s.
A section of the Des Moines River with a history of hot weather related fish kills was home to one of the longest in the state’s history with nearly 58,000 dead fish in more than 42 stream miles with a value exceeding $10.1 million.
Dead fish were found in the Des Moines River from the dam in Eldon to the Farmington Bridge on Hwy. 2.
The majority of fish killed, 37,159, were shovelnose sturgeon, with a value $116.20 per pound, according to American Fisheries Society guidelines for monetary value in fish kills. The sturgeon averaged more than two pounds each with a value of $9,865,241.85.
The investigation began around 10:30 a.m., July 7, when Lacey-Keosauqua State Park manager Justin Pedretti reported seeing “lots” of dead fish in the river to Mark Flammang, fisheries biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Flammang and fisheries aide Wes Alexander were joined by Jon Ryk and Paul Brant from the DNR’s Washington field office on the river at Eldon and for the next 11 hours they collected water samples, conducted fish counts, and took water temperature readings working their way downstream to Farmington.
“We didn’t find low levels of dissolved oxygen or high levels of ammonia which is usually indicative of some sort of spill so it comes down to water temperature,” said Flammang. “You just don’t see rivers at 97 degrees and it was 97 degrees at every site that we sampled. I’ve never seen water at that temperature in Iowa.”
The effects of high water temperature on fish were likely compounded by stream flows that had fallen from 5,000 cubic feet per second before July 4, to 1,200 CFS on July 7.
In addition to shovelnose sturgeon, Flammang found more than 12,000 channel catfish, nearly 1,900 walleye, more than 1,100 flathead catfish, 1,500 freshwater drum, 750 carpsuckers, 370 white bass, 45 shorthead redhorse and 25 goldeye.
“It looks like a lot of fish, but I don’t expect this fish kill to have a noticeable impact on the fish population in this stretch of the river. The shovelnose sturgeon is something we’re concerned about, but the river has shown time and time again that it can recover,” Flammang said.
This section of the Des Moines River has had sizable fish kills over the years, including 2006 and in 2008, during summer flows of 300 to 500 CFS and high water temperature.
The DNR also investigated fish kills in the Iowa River between the Hawkeye Wildlife Area and the Hwy. 965 Bridge in Johnson County, and in the main lake at Lake Odessa in Louisa County.
The section of the Iowa River has periodically experienced hot weather fish kills in the past.
Paul Sleeper, fisheries biologist at Lake Macbride, said water from the shallow Hawkeye Wildlife area with low oxygen levels and temperatures in the 90s flowed under the Hwy. 965 and I-380 bridges were most of the dead fish were found. Sleeper said they counted 95 walleyes at the upper end of the Coralville Reservoir, along with six channel catfish and a few common carp on Monday.
“It looks like they had been dead for several days,” Sleeper said.
At Lake Odessa, 96 percent of the 19,000 fish killed were gizzard shad that are susceptible to changes in water temperature. Chad Dolan, fisheries biologist at the DNR’s Lake Darling office, said they suspect the kill happened Saturday night after the high air temperatures. The water temperature was in the low to mid 90s.
Other species killed were bluegills, crappies, freshwater drum, northern pike, largemouth bass, yellow bass, common carp, channel catfish, goldfish and brown bullhead. Dolan said live fish were seen in the areas of the fish kill and anglers were catching fish during the Sunday
While elevated water temperature is likely the cause of these fish kills, the DNR will be submitting water samples for analysis to see if other factors were responsible. If the public sees dead or stressed fish, they are encouraged to contact the DNR at 515-281-8694.
A friend of the surfer who was killed in a shark attack north of Lancelin this morning is believed to have witnessed the attack. Police have revealed the victim is a 24-year-old Perth man but have not yet released his name. He is the fifth person to die from a shark attack in Western Australia since September last year. Water Police and the Department of Fisheries are now searching for the man’s body. The attack happened about 4 km south of Wedge Island about 9am. Tony Cappelluti from the Fisheries Department said the victim was with a friend when attacked by what was believed to be a great white shark. “The two people were in the water surfing or waiting for a wave when the victim was attacked by a shark,” he said. It is believed that the two men were about 40 or 50 metres off the beach at the time of attack. Mr Cappelluti said two other surfers, one on a jet ski and the other being towed came over to help when they saw a commotion in the water. He said the man’s friend and the others surfers were not in a position to help and went back to shore and contacted the police. “No body has been recovered but from eyewitness accounts we presume he has been killed.” A man who said he had been the person on the jet ski nearby told ABC that he tried to retrieve the man who had been attacked from the water. “I was towing my mate on the back of the jet ski and in front of us I just saw a guy get attacked by a shark and I just took my mate straight to the shore and went straight out and there was just blood everywhere and a massive, massive white shark circling the body,” he said. “I reached to grab the body and the shark came at me on the jet ski and tried to knock me off and I did another loop and when I came to get back to the body the shark took it.”
Mr Cappelluti said the attack had taken place near a very remote section of the beach and he was not sure if anyone was on the beach at the time. He said the victim’s friend was believed to be “very distressed.” Shire of Dandaragan president Shane Love said the thoughts of the community were with the victim’s family and friends. “I think anytime this sort of thing happens it’s a shock to coastal communities who love to go in the water and enjoy it, it’s very sad,” he said. Mr Love said while there were not many people who lived in the shacks at Wedge Island, which is about 160km north of Perth, the wider community of people who visited regularly was much larger. Police from Jurien Bay are attending the incident and the beach where the incident took place is currently closed. Lancelin local, Michael Balcombe who has been fishing in the area for about 45 years said he often saw big sharks in the area including tiger sharks and bronze whalers. “You always see sharks if you’re fishing around here,” he said. Mr Balcombe said considering the attack took place 4 km south of Wedge Island, it may have been at a popular surfing area called Didi Bay. Today’s attack is the second fatal shark attack in Western Australia this year.
Biohazard name:
Shark attack (Fatal)
Biohazard level:
0/4 —
Biohazard desc.:
This does not included biological hazard category.
A swarm of bees attacked several people Friday evening, sending five to the hospital for treatment. The bee attack took place about 6:30 p.m. Friday on the 4100 block of North 10th Street, where a construction crew was repairing the roof of a strip mall, said McAllen Fire Capt. Rene Del Bosque. Customers were ordered to stay inside the various buildings, including Hop Tung Vietnamese Chinese Restaurant and the Lucky 13 tattoo parlor. Employees at other stores looked out from their windows as firefighters worked to remove the bees, but were also stung in the process. Those not inside businesses were kept away by McAllen police and firefighters. Those who had been stung were moved across the street to North Cross Shopping Center, where first responders treated those who had been stung. About 7:45 p.m., firefighters wearing bee suits removed the beehive and cleared the area. “At first I saw some of the guys swatting in the air and didn’t know what was going on but then as they got close I saw the bees,” said Andy Wynn, one of the roofers who dropped to the ground and covered himself in insulation material in an effort to stay safe from the bees. “I was concerned that some of the guys might jump off the roof to get away from the bees … it was about 5 or 10 at a time but they came at you and tried to get in your ears or your nose.” Wynn said he’d never been attacked by bees in his eight years as a roofer.
Biohazard name:
Bees attack
Biohazard level:
0/4 —
Biohazard desc.:
This does not included biological hazard category.
A fire at a National Grid substation in Liverpool on Friday morning sparked outages in several local communities. / Bill Ali
SALINA — Thousands of National Grid customers were in the dark during a major power outage on Friday. The outage had the greatest affect on customers in Syracuse and Salina, and was sparked by a fire at a National Grid substation in Liverpool. The substation caught fire around 12:30am on Friday.
A National Grid spokesperson says the fire is believed to be specifically caused by bushlings, which allow energey to pass between pieces of equipment and are a vital component of substations.
National Grid has asked thousands of customers to conserve power while they are re-routing those serviced by the substation to other grids. To minimize strain on grids, customers are asked to unplug unnecessary electronics and turn up the temperatures on air conditioners to 70-72 degrees.
Those asked to conserve seem willing to comply, despite the 90 degree temperatures. “It’s hot, yeah, but there’s other ways we can keep cool,” said Salina National Grid customer Daniel Zaborskiy. “Like instead of using A/C, we can use a fan, for instance.”
Some affected by the outages are upset with National Grid. “They should provide a service and we should have confidence and know that they’re going to deliver that service to us, like they want their money on time at all times,” said Syracuse customer Taj Bey.
[In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit, for research and/or educational purposes. This constitutes 'FAIR USE' of any such copyrighted material.]
The Health Ranger interviews neurosurgeon, author and researcher Dr. Russell Blaylock, also known as the foremost authority on excitoxins such as MSG and aspartame. Dr. Blaylock is the author of “Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills.” In this part of the interview, Dr. Blaylock covers topics such as:
* MSG, aspartame and other dangerous excitotoxins that can cause neurological diseases
* Nutrition and it’s affect on the brain and recovery from brain injuries
* What “MSG Syndrome” is and just how toxic MSG really is
* What MSG does to the brain and brain function, especially in young children
* How MSG has contributed to the obesity epidemic in America and American children
* How food companies hide dangerous food additives under many different names
Learn more at:
RussellBlaylockMD.com
BlaylockWellnessCenter.com
Dr. Russell Blaylock M.D. is a retired neurosurgeon and author whose trailblazing research has tirelessly documented the fact that there is an epidemic of neurological disorders in the western world which are directly connected to toxins in our environment, and how this relates to the larger global eugenics program behind population reduction. In this fascinating interview, Blaylock reveals how depopulation programs forged by the Rockefeller foundation in association with the Nazis were the basis of modern day incarnations of eugenics like fluoride poisoning and vaccinations.
Blaylock explains how the eugenics movement began in America through Rockefeller, Ford and Carnegie funding and what originated as The Science of Man project, which was an effort to socially engineer humanity to weed out those deemed “undesirable” to the elite. Rockefeller funding via major universities then bankrolled eugenics programs for the next several years, information about which was gleaned and exchanged with the Nazis in Hitler’s Germany. Once eugenics had attracted the negative connotations of racial superiority and genocide, the pseudo-science was reborn under the umbrella of molecular biology and DNA.
The goal is to alter behavior by chemically changing the way in which the brain functions. One of the primary methods through which this is achieved is by fluoridating water and food supplies. Blaylock explains how fluoride opportunists seized upon falls in dental cavities, which were occurring naturally as a result of increased calcium intake and better diets in the west, to claim that mass fluoridation was the answer, while burying a plethora of studies that proved adding fluoride to water did not reduce cavities at all and in fact in several instances increased dental cavities.
Blaylock highlights how independent study after study has shown that fluoride increases cancer rates, increases bone disorders, which as Blaylock points out is a good way of increasing mortality rates amongst the elderly, and also leads to profound neurological disorders. Blaylock highlights the research of Phyllis Mullenix, Ph.D, who during her tenure at Harvard University conducted one of the largest studies into fluoride’s effects on the brain in animals. Mullenix found that offspring of animals who had been fed fluoride became hyperactive (ADHD) and that if you gave an animal fluoride after birth they became very lethargic and apathetic. Mullenix discovered that fluoride tends to accumulate in the part of the brain that controls behavior. After revealing the truth about fluoride, Mullenix was later shunned and attacked by the medical establishment that she had once been a part of.
Blaylock delves into the dangers of vaccines and how they are part of the eugenics assault, pointing out that America’s infant mortality rates are impossibly high for a nation that is supposed to be a global leader in health care. Blaylock puts the number down to the fact that American babies are now being shot up with more vaccines than ever before, the rising number of which correlates exactly with levels of infant mortality. “When you over-vaccinate, it interferes with the development of the brain and then the child has difficulty learning, they have behavioral problems, and their brain cannot develop normally,” states Blaylock.
This is a key interview to watch if you want to get a firm grasp of how we are under attack from modern day eugenics. Blaylock frames the information in clear and easily understood verbiage so everyone can obtain a coherent understanding of how we are being targeted and what we can do to defend ourselves against this chemical and behavioral assault on humanity.
A shortage of properly packaged drugs could be putting patients at risk, federal health officials said on Thursday. They warned about clinics giving injections to more than one patient from vials designed for use for just one patient.
Ten patients in Arizona and Delaware were hospitalized with serious infections they got when clinic staff injected them with drugs taken from vials meant for one-time use in recent months, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Another patient was found dead at home after getting one of the injections, although it couldn’t be proven the infection killed the patient. Last April, staff at one clinic in Delaware managed to infect nine patients with bacteria from their own bodies.
The CDC said the cases illustrate a growing problem — there have been 20 such incidents since 2007.
Staff at both clinics said they had trouble getting specially designed vials for multiple uses, the CDC said. There have been nationwide shortages of some of the drugs because of manufacturing problems. So staff diluted single-dose packages and used them in several patients, spreading infection. “Medications labeled as ‘single dose’ or ‘single use’ typically are preservative-free and should be dedicated for single-patient use to protect patients from infection risks,” the team of investigators wrote in the CDC’s weekly report on death and disease.
At one clinic in Arizona, staffers diluted a vial of contrast agent, used to help make x-rays clearer when preparing patients for injections of strong pain medications. They injected 10 patients from this one diluted vial. Three patients were infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, also known as MRSA, a serious and hard-to-treat bacterial infection.
All had to be hospitalized with meningitis, blood infections or abcesses – one for 41 days. “The fourth recipient of diluted contrast from the afternoon vial was found deceased at home, six days after treatment at the clinic. The cause of death was reported as multiple-drug overdose; however, invasive MRSA infection could not be ruled out,” the health officials wrote.
In Delaware, seven patients ended up in the hospital for three to eight days after getting injections for joint pain from the same orthopedic clinic last March. “When a national drug shortage disrupted the supply of 10 mL single dose vials, office staff members began using 30 mL single dose vials of bupivacaine for multiple patients,” the investigators wrote.
CDC experts tested the patients and they all were infected with an identical strain of S. aureus – and it matched a strain found living in two of the clinic workers. The workers were colonized – meaning the bacteria lived in their noses or on their skin but didn’t make them sick.
“This report reminds health-care providers of the serious consequences of multipatient use of single-dose vials that can occur even when health-care workers believe they are being careful,” the report reads. There are ways to safely use smaller vials for multiple patients, but the CDC and state health officials in Arizona and Delaware said clinic staff need special training.
How can patients protect themselves? Infection control experts say it’s best to be a squeaky wheel — always ask doctors, nurses and other clinic staff if they have washed their hands before touching you. Patients receiving injections should ask if the equipment is sterile and if it has been prepared according to procedure. And anyone who has been to a clinic or hospital recently should immediately check with a doctor if they develop a fever, rash or cough.
People who live in or travel to the Northeast or upper Midwest this summer should take precautions to avoid contracting babesiosis, a tick-born disease native to those areas, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2011, more than 1,100 cases of babesiosis from 15 states were reported to the CDC.
Ninety-seven percent of cases occurred in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. Most cases — 82 percent — occurred in the summer months (June through August). More than half of infected people were over age 60.
Babesiosis is caused by the parasite Babesia microti, which infects red blood cells. Symptoms can include fever, nausea and headache, although most people infected with the parasite feel fine, the CDC says.
In recent years, cases of babesiosis in the United States have increased, and the disease may be spreading into new regions. Last year was the first time health officials reported cases of the disease to the CDC using a standard definition of the illness. Surveillance for the disease occurred in 18 states.
To prevent babesiosis infection, people who live in or travel to regions where the disease is found should take the following precautions: avoid tick-infested areas, apply repellents, wear long pants and long-sleeved shirts when outdoors, shower soon after being outdoors, and check their entire bodies for ticks, the CDC says.
Tick bites are the most common way babesiosis is transmitted, but people can also become infected through blood transfusions, and the disease can pass from mother to child during pregnancy.
In 2011, 10 people were suspected of contracting babesiosis through blood transfusions, and one case of congenital transmission of the disease was reported.
Treatments for babesiosis are effective, and usually involve a combination of anti-malarial drugs or antibiotics, such as quinine and clindamycin, according to the New York State Department of Health. But most people do not become sick enough to require treatment, and the CDC says people who do not have symptoms should not be treated with drugs.
Because there’s no way to screen the blood supply for the babesiosis parasite, people known to have had the disease should refrain from donating blood indefinitely, the CDC says.
Ongoing surveillance for the disease will allow officials to develop effective prevention and control measures to reduce the burden of babesiosis, the report says.
The report will be published July 13 in the CDC journal Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The RevecoMED International offices in Fullerton, Calif.
By Myron Levin and Stuart Silverstein
FairWarning.org
For several years, doctors and medical spas around the country have touted a fat-melting device called the LipoTron 3000, or Lipo-Ex, as a revolutionary way for people to slim down.
Signature Medical Spa in Tampa, Fla., in an online pitch for its “Lipo-Ex Spring Fling Fat-Off!,” described the technology as “truly the only non-invasive way to reduce fat.”
Praise also came from Sculpt Medical Spa in Chicago, which called the procedure “the most innovative, effective, and technologically advanced” non-surgical method of removing fat.
Doctors have appeared on TV news shows in Houston, Phoenix and Miami to promote LipoTron treatments.
These testimonials have translated into millions of dollars in sales for physicians, med spas, and the device’s manufacturer, RevecoMED International of Fullerton, Calif.
But there’s a problem: The LipoTron, which targets fat with radiofrequency waves, has never been cleared or approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which would make it illegal under federal law to sell or promote it for weight loss.
The FDA is aware of the activity. But an investigation by FairWarning found that the agency has not taken enforcement action — even though it has known about the situation at least since January, 2010. At that time, two whistleblowers, one a former LipoTron distributor, provided sales records and a trove of other documents to an FDA criminal investigator.
The case spotlights the booming, multi-billion-dollar business of aesthetic medicine—and the willingness of some doctors and med spas to use unapproved devices as they vie to be first with the latest technologies to smooth wrinkles, tighten skin and sculpt the body.
The FDA won’t say if it is investigating Reveco, citing a policy not to discuss investigations or acknowledge if there is one.
For his part, RevecoMED President James S. Rosen said the agency hasn’t contacted the company. He asserted that, “As of today, we are compliant with the FDA.”
Still, for observers such as Dr. Patricia K. Farris, a clinical associate professor of medicine at Tulane University and a spokesperson for the American Academy of Dermatology, the situation is baffling.
Told of the unauthorized sales, Farris responded: “It shocks me the FDA would not have cracked down on them.”
“I mean, radiofrequency is an electrical device, and you can’t just be throwing these things in the marketplace without doing the right studies to make sure that, A, the device is safe and, B, that the thing does something and has some benefit.”
Dr. Suzanne Yee, a Little Rock, Ark., plastic surgeon whom Reveco asked several years ago to take part in a LipoTron study, said she was surprised to learn that the company already was selling the device.
She noted that some medical spas have falsely stated on their websites that the LipoTron is FDA-approved. “It’s not FDA-approved,” Yee said. “I think that’s dishonest.”
There have been scattered incidents of patients receiving minor shocks and burns from LipoTron treatments, but no known reports of serious injury.
While the FDA has failed to act, the Texas Department of State Health Services issued a warning letter last September to a Fort Worth distributor for marketing the LipoTron without FDA clearance. According to an agency report, Mark Durante, managing partner of Advanced Aesthetic Concepts, told state investigators that the LipoTron had been cleared by the FDA, but later corrected himself to say paperwork had been filed but no clearance yet given.
Durante told FairWarning that, in response to the warning, his company changed some language on its website. However, a spokeswoman for the Texas agency said it recently opened a second complaint investigation of Advanced Aesthetic Concepts.
Selling for as much as $85,000, the LipoTron passes radiofrequency waves through the body to heat, and destroy, fat cells. According to Reveco, the procedure targets subcutaneous fat, which is just below the skin, as well as visceral fat surrounding the vital organs, but without harming adjacent tissues. Spas typically recommend six to eight treatments for about $400 each.
According to interviews and records, Reveco first sought a green light from the FDA in 2007. It chose the FDA’s market clearance procedure, which is less demanding than the formal approval process.
To get a new device cleared this way, the manufacturer must show it is similar in safety and effectiveness to products that are already on the market.
However, Reveco’s bid failed. The company’s initial application “wasn’t in-depth enough,” Rosen said, and the FDA repeatedly sought additional data. Finally, according to Rosen, “We said, ‘You know what, it’s not worth it.”
According to interviews and a document reviewed by FairWarning, the FDA then told Reveco that the device could not be marketed.
LipoTron sales continued, however. Rosen wouldn’t disclose how many of the devices have been sold, but the number is believed to be in the low hundreds.
In 2011, Reveco took another tack with the FDA. It classified the LipoTron as a massager used for relief of minor pain. That would make it, in FDA parlance, a Class 1 device — a category that includes such simple, low-risk items as elastic bandages and examination gloves.
The advantage for Reveco is that massagers can be sold without a green light from the FDA. They automatically are exempt from FDA review and can be put on the market once a notice is filed.
Yet doctors and med spas have been promoting the device on the Internet not for massages but for removing fat.
Rosen said that was not Reveco’s responsibility, stating that the company can’t dictate what doctors do or “police everything out on the Internet.”
Asked who would pay $85,000 for a massager, Rosen replied: “Anybody that wants to buy it.”
Physicians are free under federal law to prescribe unapproved, or “off-label,” uses of drugs or medical devices — but only if the products have been cleared or approved for another purpose, according to the FDA.
FDA spokeswoman Sarah Clark-Lynn said in an email that if a device is not legally on the market, “a physician should not have been able to obtain it, much less use it on a patient.”
Dr. Sherwood Baxt, a New Jersey plastic surgeon who advertised the procedure in a promotional video, said that when he bought the LipoTron he wasn’t troubled by its lack of FDA clearance. He explained that he had used unapproved devices before and, while he considered the agency’s green light a marketing advantage, he didn’t consider it necessary.
Besides, Baxt said, “We were told FDA approval was imminent.” It didn’t work out that way, however, and, he said, “After two years, I just stopped asking.”
He continues to use the device for skin tightening on certain patients but quit using it for fat reduction. For fat reduction, Baxt said, “It wasn’t as effective as I thought it was going to be.”
The FDA was informed of the unauthorized sales through an anonymous call. Paige Peterson, a former LipoTron distributor, and Belinda W. Worley, a marketing consultant who worked with her, told FairWarning they dialed in from a hospital phone in hopes the call could not be traced.
But they agreed to meet with criminal investigator Evan Rae a few days later at a Hilton inn in Waco, mid-way between Rae’s office in Austin and Dallas, where Peterson and Worley lived.
They found a quiet spot in the lobby bar, which was closed in the morning, and talked for a couple of hours. Peterson said she gave Rae a detailed statement, a computer flash drive and copies of records, including emails, memos and invoices. Rae taped the conversation and snapped photos of the LipoTron 3000 the women had brought along. Rae declined to be interviewed.
Peterson told FairWarning she had made 39 LipoTron sales, even though she was aware the device had not been cleared by the FDA. The evidence she gave Rae “was just as damning of me as everybody else. I have zero assurances that the FDA is not going to arrest me.”
Peterson admitted there was no love lost between her and Reveco. She said she had paid out-of-pocket for some research costs aimed at getting FDA approval, but had not been reimbursed. And she said the company dumped her as a distributor in favor of another sales group.
But Peterson also said Reveco had misled her with repeated assurances it was taking all proper steps and FDA approval was imminent—and spread this misinformation to some anxious customers.
“I had run out of acceptable answers to give the doctors that had purchased the LipoTron,” she said. “I needed to fall on my sword and tell the truth.” Better to come clean, Peterson decided, than to wait for the FDA “to come knocking on my door.”
While declining to comment on Peterson’s statements, Rosen said she had gone over to “the dark side.”
“She’s a person that’s vindictive,” he said. “She’s doing it out of spite.”
For her part, Peterson says that after 2½ years she is surprised and frustrated by the apparent lack of action.
“Why do we have an FDA?” she asked.
“I tried to do what I thought was right, and nobody’s doing anything about it. Everybody gets to thumb their nose at the law.”
NEW YORK — One in eight people with the painful condition fibromyalgia self-medicate with pot and other cannabis products, according to a new Canadian study
“That is not unusual behavior, in general, for people with chronic medical illnesses for which we don’t have great treatments,” said Dr. Igor Grant, who heads the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research at the University of California and was not involved in the study.
“People start looking around, they look for other types of remedies, because they need the help,” he told Reuters Health.
The question is if self-medicating with cannabis is really helpful for people with fibromyalgia, researchers say.
Marijuana has been shown to ease certain types of pain in patients with HIV and other conditions. But Grant said he doesn’t know of any research showing the drug can relieve the pain associated with fibromyalgia.
And the question of whether it helps fibromyalgia sufferers regain some of their daily functions, such as housekeeping or working, remains up in the air, too.
“We don’t want to just see pain reduction, but an improvement in function,” said Peter Ste-Marie, a pain researcher at McGill University in Montreal, who worked on the new study. “If it’s not helping them get back into a daily life pattern, is it helping them?”
Teaching children to cook found pivotal in their ability to make healthy food choices
By Raw Michelle
(NaturalNews) While it’s obvious that children (and even adults) who like fruits and vegetables are more likely to eat them, researchers are trying to identify the pivotal variable that causes individuals to like them. The study comes from Alberta, Canada, where researchers conducted a province-wide study on the eating habits of students in the fifth grade. Students from over 150 schools were surveyed, in an attempt to appraise the eating patterns that were being established so early in life….
Using probiotic enriched foods can optimize your health
By Dr. David Jockers,
(NaturalNews) Our ancestors’ utilized probiotic enriched foods on a regular basis. This was necessary as a means of food preservation without the advent of refrigeration. Many ancient medicine men and physicians began utilizing them to treat certain ailments. Probiotic enriched foods are one of the most important attributes of a healthy diet and lifestyle. In the early 20th century, Nobel Prize winning scientist Ilya Ilyich Mechinikov attributed the remarkable health of a group of Bulgarian people…
Ward off cancer, protect against radiation, and ease irritable bowel syndrome with mint
By Carolanne Wright,
(NaturalNews) A seemingly humble herb, mint offers a variety of exceptional health enhancing features. Research has shown that certain varieties of mint have properties that help defend against cancer and damaging radiation. Not only does this herb offer protective benefit, but it also provides those who suffer from irritable bowl syndrome much needed relief. Mentha piperita (peppermint) is native to the Mediterranean and nutrient rich. The fresh herb contains ample amounts of vitamin A, C, B12…
Not getting enough vitamin D could cause you to lose mobility, become disabled
By Ethan A. Huff,
(NaturalNews) There is no longer any doubt that regular, unfiltered sunlight exposure, which helps promote and maintain optimal blood levels of vitamin D, plays a critical role in health promotion and disease prevention. And a recent study published in the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Science further confirms this, having found that inadequate blood levels of vitamin D can lead to decreased mobility and even disablement, particularly among the elderly. Based on data collected from the comprehensive…
Use these supplements to stop cravings, burn fat and energize your workouts
By PF Louis, July 11 2012
(NaturalNews) Maybe you’ve noticed – people on low or no fat diets tend to remain fat or regain it quickly. Food fat issues are overrated. We need good fat to help build cell walls and brain cells. Calorie sources and how they’re metabolized are the real issues. A more recent, more accurate assessment points to high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It is in almost all processed and junk foods, even those that don’t taste sweet. Almost half the calories of HFCS are not used for energy. They’re stored…
A beloved family cat in Colorado is dying of a type of cancer very likely caused by a vaccine. Hozart, who belongs to the Gorden family of Colorado Springs, has developed vaccine-associated sarcoma (VAS), probably as the result of a feline leukemia vaccination.
The Gordens have spent thousands of dollars to save their pet, but things don’t look good for Hozart. The family wishes they had been told the risks vs. benefits of the vaccines he was given. They had no idea the FeLV vaccine is linked to cancerous tumors in cats. Nor did they know indoor-only cats like Hozart have no need for the vaccine.
Rabies vaccines (which Hozart was given at the same time) have also been linked to VAS in cats, but since those vaccines are required by law, our recommendation is to never give more than one vaccine at the same time.
Whether your pet is a cat or a dog, it’s important to learn about veterinary vaccines – which are core, which are non-core, which vaccines your pet truly needs — and how often.
Dr. Deborah Germeroth, a veterinarian in Colorado Springs puts it this way: “There’s no cookie-cutter recipe for animal vaccines, but you don’t need everything under the sun,” Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should.”
Several studies in both humans and animals over the last half dozen years provide evidence that calorie-restricted diets supplemented with omega-3 fatty acids can help pets lose weight
Omega-3’s reduce the effect of inflammatory enzymes produced by body fat, which is likely the mechanism by which they also help with weight loss.
Fish body oils like krill oil are by far the most effective method for supplementing your pet’s diet with omega-3 fats.
The potential for weight loss is only one of many important health benefits omega-3 fatty acids provide to both people and pets.
There are general guidelines for how much krill oil to give healthy pets, but it’s best to consult with your holistic vet to arrive at an optimum amount for your individual dog or cat.
Our daughter has never hesitated to quickly and loudly let us know when she is even slightly unhappy. If he were hurting or upsetting her in any way… it would be clear.
Eldon Taylor joins Dr. Rita Louise on Just Energy Radio where he discusses the power of our beliefs and the affect they have on our lives.
About Eldon Taylor
Eldon Taylor is the host of the popular radio show, Provocative Enlightenment. He is an award winning, New York Times best selling author of over 300 books, and audio and video programs. He is the inventor of the patented InnerTalk technology and the founder and President of Progressive Awareness Research, Inc. who has been featured as an expert in films, print, television and radio. He has been called a ³master of the mind² and has appeared as an expert witness on both hypnosis and subliminal communication.
‘Foie gras’ duck meat produced by force-feeding ducks, geese until their livers expand
By Ethan A. Huff,
(NaturalNews) A delicacy in French cuisine, foie gras is served all around the world in some of the finest restaurants where food enthusiasts flock to get their fix of this rare and unusual fare. But in order to produce this controversial cuisine, farmers have to gorge ducks and geese with ghastly amounts of corn feed administered through a force-feeding tube, which causes the birds’ livers to artificially expand in size, and may cause them severe pain and distress. Though the practice has been…
The ‘Monsanto Rider’: Are Biotech Companies About to Gain Immunity from Federal Law?
By Ronnie Cummins,
(NaturalNews) While many Americans were firing up barbecues and breaking out the sparklers to celebrate Independence Day, biotech industry executives were more likely chilling champagne to celebrate another kind of independence: immunity from federal law. A so-called “Monsanto rider,” quietly slipped into the multi-billion dollar FY 2013 Agricultural Appropriations bill, would require – not just allow, but require – the Secretary of Agriculture to grant a temporary permit for the planting or cultivation…
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MasterCard, Visa, Western Union, Bank of America, and PayPal stopped processing payments for WikiLeaks after it began releasing some 250,000 secret U.S. diplomatic cables in November 2010, making it hard for it to raise funds. The blockade reduced donations to WikiLeaks by 95 percent and cost the organization over $20 million, the organization said in 
FlyDrake.com via Glacier Bay National Park
Drake Olson / FlyDrake.com via AP
Marten Geertsema and Drake Olson
B.C. landslide rescue3:25
Diana Webber, 22, is believed to have been in a home hit by the landslide. (Facebook)
Rachel Webber, 17, is also believed to have been in the house struck by the landslide. (Facebook)
The annual migration takes some penguins as far north as Rio de Janeiro
Don Farrall / Getty Images
Lilly Fowler/ FairWarning.org
