Panda diplomacy: Two giant pandas from China land in Indonesia

Yahoo – AFP, 28 September 2017

One of two giant pandas stays inside a cage as they arrive at the
Sukarno-Hatta airport in Indonesia

Two giant pandas from China arrived in Indonesia on Thursday in an act of "panda diplomacy" aimed at celebrating 60 years of bilateral ties.

Cai Tao and Hu Chun, both aged seven, arrived from Sichuan province and will be housed at a safari zoo in Bogor, a city near the capital Jakarta.

The pandas were lent by Beijing to mark the diplomatic anniversary despite recent tensions between the nations, with a number of clashes between Chinese and Indonesian vessels in the South China Sea.

The delivery is the first time Indonesia has been lent pandas, the country's forest and environment ministry said, making it the 16th country to be gifted with the animals by China.

A safari zoo will be their home for the next ten years once they clear an initial month-long quarantine.

"We hope we can breed them, that Hu Chun and Cai Tao will mate so they'll have offspring while they're here," said Yulius Suprihardo, a spokesman for Taman Safari Indonesia.

The zoo has built a 1,300 metres squared panda home for Cai Tao, who weighs 128kg (282 pounds), and Hu Chun, who weighs 113 kg (249 pounds).

Giant pandas are considered vulnerable and there are only about 1,800 in the wild, according to conservation organisation World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

China's use of giant pandas -- a national icon -- as gifts has a long history and has been dubbed "panda diplomacy".

Indonesia maintains it has no maritime disputes with China in the South China Sea, unlike other Asian nations, and does not contest ownership of reefs or islets there.

But Beijing's expansive claims in the sea overlap Indonesia's exclusive economic zone -- waters where a state has the right to exploit resources -- around the remote Natuna Islands.

The skirmishes have prompted Indonesia to bolster defences there.

In July, Indonesia changed the name South China Sea to North Natuna Sea to show its sovereignty in the waters, prompting criticism from Beijing.

Big Western brands polluting oceans with cheap plastic in Philippines: report

Yahoo – AFP, 22 September 2017

More than 54,200 pieces of plastic waste were recovered from Manila Bay
during a week-long clean-up campaign, Greenpeace said

Western consumer giants are polluting oceans by selling products packaged in cheap, disposable plastic to Filipinos, Greenpeace has claimed -- naming Nestle, Unilever and Procter & Gamble among the worst offenders.

The environmental group ranked the Philippines as the "third-worst polluter into the world's oceans" after China and Indonesia in a report released Friday in Manila.

Single-use plastics from products sold by conglomerates, such as bags, bottle labels, and straws, stood out during a week-long Greenpeace clean-up campaign held on Manila Bay this month, it said.

More than 54,200 pieces of plastic waste were recovered from the bay in total, including some 9,000 from Nestle products -- the most frequently-seen brand, according to a tally kept by the group.

"These corporations are the missing piece in the global fight against plastic pollution," Greenpeace campaigner Abigail Aguilar said in a statement.

Greenpeace said plastic waste was a particularly serious problem in "sachet economies" like the Philippines and other developing countries, where people on limited incomes are pushed to buy cheap goods in small quantities.

In the Philippines, a country of 103 million people with high levels of poverty, products sold in single-use sachets include instant coffee, shampoo, cooking oil, food seasoning and toothpaste.

These low-value disposable sachets usually end up in landfill or as litter or marine debris, according to Greenpeace.

Nestle provided Aguilar details of its "environmental sustainability projects" on Friday, she said.

Unilever, number two on the Greenpeace list, and number five Procter & Gamble did not respond to the group's correspondence, said regional Greenpeace spokeswoman Angelica Pago.

The solutions proposed by Nestle were "still promoting incineration and end-of-pipe solutions, while Greenpeace advocates for waste reduction and banning of single-use plastics altogether", Pago added.

Nestle told AFP it was putting together material to explain its waste management efforts, but that the presentation would not be ready until next week. Procter & Gamble and Unilever did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.

Greenpeace said the Philippines contributed 1.88 million tonnes of "mismanaged plastic waste" each year, with Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia also on its list of the world's biggest ocean plastic polluters.

The problem is expected to worsen as these countries' growing economies lead to rising incomes and "exploding demand for consumer products", the campaign group said.

Plastic waste from products made by Indonesian firm PT Torabika Mayora was third most-seen on Manila Bay, Greenpeace said, with local firm Universal Robina Corp at number four.

Bluefin tuna return to North Sea waters after 50-year absence

DutchNews, September 11, 2017

Bluefin tuna have returned to the North Sea for the first time in 50 years, raising hopes that they will soon be seen again in Dutch waters. 

Scientists confirmed that the fish had been spotted off the coast of Scandinavia. The research team were given an exemption from a ban on fishing bluefin tuna so that they could fit satellite tracking devices to 40 specimens in order to keep tabs on their movements. 

Bluefin tuna disappeared from the North Sea in the 1960s as a result of overfishing. They are the largest species of tuna, growing to up to three metres long and weighing as much as 680 kg. 

Experts said it was unclear why the fish had returned to the North Sea, but speculated it could be the result of either global warming or an increase in the numbers of smaller fish that bluefin tuna prey on, such as herring and mackerel. 

The research is expected to last two weeks, though it may take up to a year to process the data from the satellite tags. ‘We’ll be able to see exactly where the tuna have been and where its main food sources are. That will allow us to come up with good conservation measures,’ said project leader Ingvild Harkes.

Related Articles:

Critically Endangered Sentani Rainbowfish Rediscovered in Papua (Jul 2016)

Record 6,250 manatees spotted in Florida waters (Feb 2016)

Wadden Sea shark population may be on the rise (Aug 2015)

Europe fish stocks 'heading for recovery', study claims (Jul 2013)

U.S. seafood catch reaches 17-year high (Sep 2012)

British Columbia salmon return one of largest seen in region (Sep 2013)

Pink salmon, shown in a file photograph,

have a lifespan of two years

“2011 and Beyond” - What you are seeing, and why - Jan 16, 2010 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Text version)

"....Let us just talk about the ocean for a moment. We won't even get to what's happening in the air and what mammals might experience. Let's just speak of the ocean. Have you heard about the salmon? What has your science warned you against? You're overfishing! The sea is dying. The coral is dying. The reefs are going away. You're not seeing the food chain that used to be there. You've overfished everything. Fishing quotas have been set up to help this. Oh, all those little people in the red room - they don't know about the purple. Red people only know about the red paradigm.

Did you hear about the salmon recently? There's too many of them! In the very place where quotas are in place so you won't overfish, they're jumping in the boats! Against all odds and any projections from environmentalists or biologists, they're overrunning the oceans in Alaska - way too many fish.

What does that tell you? Is it possible that Gaia takes care of itself? That's what it tells you! Perhaps this alignment is going to keep humanity fed. Did anybody think of this? What if Gaia is in alliance with you? What if the increase in consciousness that raised your DNA vibration has alerted Gaia to change the weather cycle and get ready to feed humanity? Are you looking at the ocean where the oil spill occurred? It's recovering in a way that was not predicted. What's happening?

The life cycle itself is being altered by the temperature change of the ocean and much of what you have believed is the paradigm of life in the sea is slowly changing. A new system of life is appearing, as it has before, and is upon you in your lifetime. It will compliment what you know and expose you to a new concept: Gaia regularly refreshes the life cycle on Earth. ...."

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”

Hurricane records broken in 2017

Yahoo – AFP, Marlowe HOOD, September 8, 2017

As it flew across the Caribbean, Hurricane Irma generated winds averaging just
over 180 miles per hour for more than 33 hours, longer than any super-storm of
comparable power ever recorded (AFP Photo/Lionel CHAMOISEAU)

Paris (AFP) - Not even halfway into the 2017 hurricane season, and before Irma makes landfall in Florida, tropical mega-storms in the Atlantic basin have already broken several records, and challenged others, experts say.

A few that stand out, so far:

So strong for so long

As it swept across the Caribbean, Hurricane Irma generated winds averaging just over 295 kilometres per hour (185 miles per hour) for more than 33 hours, longer than any super-storm of comparable power ever recorded.

"Such an intensity, for such a long period, has never been observed in the satellite era" that began in the early 1970s, Etienne Kapikian, a forecaster at Meteo France, said.

The runner up is Typhoon Haiyan, which left more than 7,000 people dead or missing in the Philippines and packed winds of the same speed for 24 hours in 2013.

Atlantic surge

Irma was the first hurricane on record to reach Category 5 status -- the highest intensity level -- while still in the Atlantic Ocean, before entering the balmy waters of the Caribbean Sea, according to the US National Hurricane Center.

Tropical storms draw strength from surface waters warmer than 26 degrees Celsius (79 degrees Fahrenheit).

The fact that the swirling mass of clouds and water was able to turbo-charge over the Atlantic -- whose waters are cooler than the Caribbean but warmer than a few decades ago -- is consistent with global warming, scientists say.

Category 5 tropical storms produce sustained winds of at least 252 km/h for at least a minute at a time. Irma has since dropped down to Category 4.

$10 billion cost

Hurricane Irma has so far caused more than $10 billion (8.3 billion euros) in economic losses across the Caribbean, making it the costliest storm ever for the region's island nations and territories, according to the Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology, based in Karlsruhe, Germany.

The tally is sure to rise as the storm hits the Bahamas on its way to Florida, but it has already surpassed the damage record set by Hurricanes Ike in 2008, and Hugo in 1989, at $9.4 billion each in today's dollars.

Hardest hit by Irma were Sint Maarten ($2.5 billion) and the US Virgin Islands ($2.45 billion), followed by Saint Martin ($1.55 billion) and the British Virgin Islands ($1.4 billion), according to the estimate.

Updated map showing the forecast track of three powerful hurricanes in 

the Atlantic. (AFP Photo/AFP)

Rain, rain, rain

Tropical storm Harvey -- which made landfall in Texas as a Category 4 hurricane on August 25 -- dumped more rain in places than any cyclone ever measured on the continental United States.

In one area southeast of Houston, Harvey unloaded more than 125 centimetres of water (nearly 50 inches), breaking the previous record (122 cm) set by cyclone Amelia.

Second-fastest hurricane

The highest sustained wind speed ever registered for an Atlantic basin storm was 305 km/h (190 mph), for Hurricane Allen, which caused several hundred deaths in Haiti and over a billion dollars in damage.

With consistent winds of 295 km/h, Irma shares the title of second-fastest hurricane with Wilma (2005), Gilbert (1988) and the notorious "Labour Day" storm that devastated southern Florida in 1935.

Three's a crowd

Along with Irma, the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico is host to two other hurricanes: the Category 4 Jose, projected to leave inhabited islands largely untouched on its northwest trajectory, and Category 2 Katia, due to make landfall in the Mexican state of Veracruz.

Three-at-once is not unprecedented, but it is rare -- it last occurred in 2010. Those storms, however, spun harmlessly in the Atlantic, while this time, two of them are hitting land.

The event of four active hurricanes hitting at one time has happened twice -- in 1893 and 1998 when Hurricanes Georges, Ivan, Jeanne and Karl all raged simultaneously.

#UPDATE #HurricaneKatia strengthens to Category Two as Atlantic tropical mega-storms break records in 2017 https://t.co/4cRbW5IkF0 pic.twitter.com/WEqzksWJ0C

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 8, 2017

Related Articles:

Mexico's biggest quake in century kills at least 35 - New

Cyclones and climate change: connecting the dots

"A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll)

(Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Weather

Let's talk about the weather. We retreat to exactly what we told you before in this very chair. The water cycle is a cooling cycle, not a heating cycle. You're going to have more severe winters and storms. It's going to get colder. But it gets warmer before it gets colder. That is the cycle, and it has always been the cycle. You can see it in the rings of the trees and the cores of the ice. Don't let your scientists pull the political wool over your eyes for their own purposes. Start seeing these things for what they are. It's a recurring cycle based on four Earth alignment attributes, including the wobble (the precession). You're in this cycle. Prepare.

The beginnings of it will be with you from now at least until the end of the 2012 36-year window, and you can watch it work. The first thing that happens is that the ice melts at the poles, but not completely. It's the way it has happened before. As the redistribution of weight from the poles to the oceans of the earth takes place, the weight is redistributed to the crust, and that creates earthquakes. And the earthquakes that will be the most powerful are the ones that are closest to the poles. We told you that some time ago. So it's not a mystery that suddenly you have some of the most powerful earthquakes that you've ever had. Not only that, but a cooling ocean creates larger storms.

What do the conspiracists do with all this? "See? We're doomed. Here it comes," they say. "Here it comes! The end is here!" Twenty-two years ago, we gave you the information that is happening today. We told you about the weather. We told you to get ready for it, but we still haven't told you why the water cycle is needed. We've hinted at it since it is very controversial, and we'll lose many readers right here and now. Here's the prediction: The scientists are going to laugh and biologists are going to scratch their heads and roll their eyes.

The Refreshing of the Cycle of Life

When you change the temperature of the waters of the planet, it changes the life cycle of the ocean and it eventually renews itself. The life cycle of the planet has a limit to its viability over time. There has to be a refreshing of the very cycle of life, and this is what the water cycle does. Are there any places you've seen too many fish lately? Yes. Millions of salmon in the north. Odd that it was in Alaska, isn't it? Alaska is very close to the poles where the water temperature is being felt first. Oh, again the experts will tell you that this is not the reason. It's about hatcheries and rivers. But nobody predicted this, did they? Science is fast to give you reasons, but slow to give you logic in advance. They always seem to be surprised.

We are saying things we haven't said before. Again, watch for this, an actual change in the life cycle of the planet's oceans because of the water temperature shift. Biologists are going to have to start redesigning the paradigm of how everything works, including reefs, ocean bottoms, and how plankton survive and reproduce. Listen, this is not the first time that the life cycle has been refreshed! But again, this may take generations of humanity to complete. In the process, you may again lose species. This is normal. Gaia is slow, and Humans are impatient. Your textbooks may someday tell of how naive humanity was back in 2011 when they tried to blame weather changes on everything but a natural cycle. Now you know why there is a water cycle.

So what does that tell you about Gaia? Gaia is beginning the cycle of refreshing life on over-fished oceans. It tells you that in the cracks, there is love and caring about the Humans who live on the earth. There's a reason you're here. There's a plan here, and a benevolent Universe and quantum energy with intelligent design. All is there for you, precious, sacred Human Being. …”

Polish grandpa conquers Atlantic again in third kayak odyssey

Yahoo – AFP, September 3, 2017

Aleksander Doba before last year's unsuccessful attempt to cross the Atlantic
Ocean. On Sunday he managed to make the journey for the third time, finishing
in France after 111 days (AFP Photo/EDUARDO MUNOZ ALVAREZ)

Warsaw (AFP) - A Polish grandfather on Sunday completed his third solo trans-Atlantic kayak crossing, arriving on the French coast 111 days after dipping his paddle into the waters off the US state of New Jersey.

"Hello! This is France, it's Aleksander Doba, and I officially took my first steps on dry land in Europe at 12:25", the bearded 70-year-old said in a video posted on his official Facebook page.

"I feel great... and I'm very happy that I finally reached Europe!" a jubilant Doba said after arriving in Le Conquet, a town about 30 kilometres (19 miles) from the French city of Brest on the Brittany coast, where he was greeted by the applause of several dozen fans.

Doba started his third trans-Atlantic crossing on May 16th from Barnegat Bay, braving high seas and saying that he even "patted a shark" during his 4,150-mile (6,680-kilometre) journey across the north Atlantic.

"I felt completely drunk although I was totally sober... I was a bit off-kilter, but I'm fine, alive and well!" Doba added, describing how it felt to set foot on solid land after months rolling on the waves.

The successful crossing came after Doba was forced to give up an attempt in June 2016 because of strong waves off the US coast at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, that had pushed him back ashore.

A star in Poland, the gray-bearded Doba gained global attention when he was named a National Geographic adventurer of the year in 2015.

At that point, the retired engineer -- also an avid rock-climber, parachutist, glider pilot, sailor and yacht skipper -- already had two solo Atlantic kayak crossings under his belt.

The first, between October 2010 and February 2011, took him from the Senegalese capital Dakar to the Brazilian city of Acarau.

The second saw him set off from Lisbon in October 2013 and arrive in Florida in April the following year.

A Polish grandfather arrived on the French coast 111 days after dipping his paddle into the waters off New Jersey https://t.co/wgOkYPcRkm pic.twitter.com/I0p5q8f5Pc

— AFP news agency (@AFP) September 5, 2017

'Tsunami-sunk' Roman ruins discovered in Tunisia

Yahoo – AFP, August 31, 2017

A handout picture released by the Tunisian National Heritage Institute and the

 University of Sassari on August 31, 2017 shows archaeologists diving off the coast 

of Nabeul in northeastern Tunisia at the site of the ancient Roman city of Neapolis

(AFP Photo/Handout)

Nabeul (Tunisia) (AFP) - Vast underwater Roman ruins have been discovered off northeast Tunisia, apparently confirming a theory that the city of Neapolis was partly submerged by a tsunami in the 4th century AD.

"It's a major discovery," Mounir Fantar, the head of a Tunisian-Italian archaeological mission which made the find off the coast of Nabeul, told AFP.

He said an underwater expedition had found streets, monuments and around 100 tanks used to produce garum, a fermented fish-based condiment that was a favourite of ancient Rome.

"This discovery has allowed us to establish with certainty that Neapolis was a major centre for the manufacture of garum and salt fish, probably the largest centre in the Roman world," said Fantar.

"Probably the notables of Neapolis owed their fortune to garum."

Fantar's team started work in 2010 in search of the port of Neapolis but only made the breakthrough find of the ruins stretching out over 20 hectares (almost 50 acres) this summer thanks to favourable weather conditions.

The discovery also proved that Neapolis had been partly submerged by a tsunami on July 21 in 365 AD that badly damaged Alexandria in Egypt and the Greek island of Crete, as recorded by historian Ammien Marcellin.