Amelia Earhart Clue Found

Scientific investigations have revealed that human DNA may be present in fragments of material that could provide crucial information about the fate of Amelia Earhart, the legendary pilot who disappeared 74 years ago while flying over the Pacific Ocean in a record attempt to circle the world at the equator. Scientists at the University of Oklahoma attempted to detect human DNA from three bone fragments recovered last year by a group of aviation enthusiasts on an expedition to Nikumaroro Island, 2,900km south of Hawaii.

A doctor in Fiji determined the bones were of a human male, but the remains disappeared.

“There is simply no way that the Earhart aircraft could be anywhere near Papua New Guinea,” he said.

Mr Gillespie says radio transmissions and other evidence indicate Earhart landed on an atoll in the central Pacific and perished from a lack of food and water.

Huge tsunami kills hundreds in Japan, sweeps across Pacific

TOKYO: The biggest earthquake on record to hit Japan rocked the northeast coast on Friday, triggering a 10-metre tsunami that killed hundreds of people and swept away everything in its path, including houses, ships and cars.

The Red Cross in Geneva said the wall of water was higher than some Pacific islands and a tsunami warning was issued for almost the entire Pacific basin, although alerts were lifted for some countries, including Taiwan, Australia and New Zealand.

Up to 300 bodies were found in the coastal city of Sendai, media said. NHK television said the victims appeared to have drowned. The extent of the destruction along a lengthy stretch of coastline suggested the death toll could rise significantly.

Some 3,000 residents living near a nuclear plant in Fukushima prefecture, north of Tokyo, were told to evacuate but the government said no radiation was leaking. It said the evacuation was a precaution after a reactor cooling malfunction.

Other nuclear power plants and oil refineries were shut down after the 8.9 magnitude quake, while one refinery was ablaze. A major explosion hit a petrochemical complex in Miyagi prefecture after the quake, Kyodo said.

Political leaders pushed for an emergency budget to help fund relief efforts after Prime Minister Naoto Kan asked them to “save the country”, Kyodo news agency reported.

Stunning TV footage showed a muddy wall of water carrying cars and wrecked homes at high speed across farmland near Sendai, home to one million people and which lies 300 km (180 miles) northeast of Tokyo. Ships had been flung onto a harbour wharf, where they lay helplessly on their side.

The quake, the most powerful since Japan started keeping records 140 years ago, sparked at least 80 fires in cities and towns along the coast, Kyodo news agency said.

A ship carrying 100 people had been swept away by the tsunami, Kyodo said. One train was unaccounted for.

In Tokyo, residents who had earlier fled swaying buildings jammed the streets trying to make their way home after much of the city’s public transportation was shut down.

Electronics giant Sony Corp , one of the country’s biggest exporters, shut six factories, as air force jets raced toward the northeast coast to determine the extent of the damage.

The Bank of Japan, which has been struggling to boost the anaemic economy, said it would do its utmost to ensure financial market stability as the yen and Japanese shares fell.

“I was terrified and I”m still frightened,” said Hidekatsu Hata, 36, manager of a Chinese noodle restaurant in Tokyo, where buildings shook violently. “I’ve never experienced such a big quake before.”

The tsunami alerts revived memories of the giant waves which struck Asia in 2004. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued alerts for countries to the west and across the Pacific as far away as Colombia and Peru.

The earthquake was the fifth most powerful to hit the world in the past century.

There were several strong aftershocks. In Tokyo, there was widespread panic. An oil refinery near the city was on fire, with dozens of storage tanks under threat.

Around 4.4 million homes were without power in northern Japan, media said.

“People are flooding the streets. It’s incredible. Everyone is trying to get home but I didn’t see any taxis,” said Koji Goto, a 43-year-old Tokyo resident.

NHK television showed flames and black smoke billowing from a building in Odaiba, a Tokyo suburb, and bullet trains to the north of the country were halted. Thick smoke was also pouring out of an industrial area in Yokohama’s Isogo area. TV showed residents of the city running out of shaking buildings, shielding their heads with their hands from falling masonry.

TV footage showed boats, cars and trucks tossed around like toys in the water after a small tsunami hit the town of Kamaichi in northern Japan. An overpass, location unknown, appeared to have collapsed and cars were turning around and speeding away.

“The building shook for what seemed a long time and many people in the newsroom grabbed their helmets and some got under their desks,” Reuters correspondent Linda Sieg said in Tokyo. “It was probably the worst I have felt since I came to Japan more than 20 years ago.”

The U.S. navy said its ships had been unaffected by the tsunami and were ready to provide disaster relief if needed.

China offered to provide earthquake relief.

The quake struck just before the Tokyo stock market closed, pushing the Nikkei down to end at a five-week low. Nikkei futures trading in Osaka tumbled as much as 4.7 percent in reaction to the news.

The disaster also weighed on markets elsewhere.

GREAT KANTO QUAKE

The quake surpasses the Great Kanto quake of Sept. 1, 1923, which had a magnitude of 7.9 and killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area.

The 1995 Kobe quake caused $100 billion in damage and was the most expensive natural disaster in history. Economic damage from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was estimated at about $10 billion.

Passengers on a subway line in Tokyo screamed and grabbed other passengers” hands during the quake. The shaking was so bad it was hard to stand, said Reuters reporter Mariko Katsumura.

Hundreds of office workers and shoppers spilled into Hitotsugi street, a shopping street in Akasaka in downtown Tokyo.

Crowds gathered in front of televisions in a shop next to the drugstore for details. After the shaking from the first quake subsided, crowds watched and pointed to construction cranes on an office building up the street with voices saying, “They”re still shaking!”, “Are they going to fall?”

Japan”s northeast Pacific coast, called Sanriku, has suffered from quakes and tsunamis in the past and a 7.2 quake struck on Wednesday. In 1933, a magnitude 8.1 quake in the area killed more than 3,000 people.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world”s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

Recent major earthquakes to hit Japan

Japan was struck on Friday by an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.9, the biggest in about 140 years.

Japan is one of the world’s most earthquake-prone countries, with a tremor occurring at least every five minutes.

Located in the “Ring of Fire” arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches partly encircling the Pacific Basin, the country accounts for about 20 percent of the world”s earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or greater.

Tokyo, with a population of 12 million, sits on the junction of four tectonic plates: the Eurasian, North American, Philippine and Pacific.

The sudden bending or breaking of any plate can trigger an earthquake.

Following are dates of some major recent quakes.

Aug. 16, 2005 – A major quake with a magnitude of 7.2 rocked a region about 300 km (190 miles) north of Tokyo, injuring more than 80 people.

Oct. 23, 2004 – A 6.8 magnitude quake hit the Niigata region, about 250 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo, killing 65 people and injuring 3,000.

Jan. 17, 1995 – A quake of 7.3 magnitude struck, killing more than 6,400 in the western city of Kobe in 1995. It caused $100 billion in damage and was the costliest natural disaster in history.

The Great Kanto earthquake on Sept. 1, 1923, had a magnitude of 7.9. It killed more than 140,000 people in the Tokyo area and seismologists have said another such quake could hit the city any time.

Tsunami may wash over Pacific islands: Red Cross

GENEVA: The tsunami set off by Japan’s major earthquake is currently higher than some Pacific islands which it could wash over, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said on Friday.

“Our biggest concern is the Asia and Pacific region, where developing countries are far more vulnerable to this type of unfolding disaster. The tsunami is a major threat,” Paul Conneally, spokesman for the Federation, the world”s biggest disaster relief network, said in Geneva.

“At the moment, it is higher than some islands and could go right over them,” he said.

The biggest earthquake to hit Japan in 140 years struck the northeast coast on Friday, triggering a 10-metre tsunami that swept away everything in its path, including houses, cars and farm buildings on fire.

Massive quake unleashes tsunami on Japan

TOKYO: One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded hit Japan Friday, unleashing a 10-metre high tsunami that tossed ships inland and sparked fears that destructive waves could hit across the Pacific Ocean.

The devastating 8.9-magnitude quake left many people injured in coastal areas of the main Honshu island and Tokyo, police said, while TV footage showed widespread flooding in the area. 26 people were reported dead.

A monster 10-metre (33 feet) wall of water was reported in Sendai city in northeastern Miyagi prefecture, media said after a four-metre wave hit the coast earlier. The government said the quake had caused “tremendous damage”.

Helicopter footage showed massive inundation in northern coastal towns, where floods of black water sent shipping containers, cars and debris crashing through streets. An oil refinery was ablaze near Tokyo.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre issued a widespread warning for territories as far away as South America, New Zealand and Hawaii, where evacuations were ordered.

“An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicentre within minutes and more
distant coastlines within hours,” the centre said in a statement.

Swells of up to one metre were reported hitting Russia”s far east, with bigger waves expected later.

Television footage showed a wide, muddy stream moving rapidly across a residential area near the Natori River in Sendai, levelling all in its path.

The tsunami also reached Sendai airport, submerging the runway while a process known as liquefaction, caused by the intense shaking of the tremor, turned parts of the ground to liquid.

Public broadcaster NHK said several dozen houses had been washed away in Miyagi Prefecture.

In the capital, where millions evacuated strongly swaying buildings, multiple injuries were reported when the roof of a hall collapsed during a graduation ceremony, police said.

Plumes of smoke rose from at least 10 locations in the city, where four million homes suffered power outages.

The first quake struck just under 400 kilometres (250 miles) northeast of Tokyo, the US trendpk.comlogical Survey said. It was followed by more than a dozen aftershocks, one as strong as 7.1.

The quake was the largest ever in Japan, the fifth strongest tremor worldwide since 1900 and the seventh strongest in history, according to the US trendpk.comlogical Survey and Japanese seismologists.

“We were shaken so strongly for a while that we needed to hold on to something in order not to fall,” said an official at the local government of the hardest-hit city of Kurihara in Miyagi prefecture.

“We couldn”t escape the building immediately because the tremors continued… City officials are now outside, collecting information on damage,” she said by telephone.

A major blackout occurred across a wide area of northeastern Japan.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan quickly assembled his cabinet after the quake hit, and the government dispatched naval vessels from near Tokyo to Miyagi.

The quake affected the nation’s key transportation systems, including Narita airport, which shut its runways for safety checks.

The quake, which hit at 14:46 pm (0546 GMT) and lasted about two minutes, rattled buildings in greater Tokyo, the world”s largest urban area and home to some 30 million people.

In Tokyo, where the subway system stopped, sirens wailed and people streamed out of buildings. The government moved to reassure people that there had been no radiation leak from the country”s network of nuclear power plants.

Japan sits on the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, which is dotted with volcanoes, and Tokyo is situated in one of its most dangerous areas.

The quake sent the Nikkei share index plunging at the close while the yen fell sharply against the US dollar before recovering.

The mega-city of Tokyo sits on the intersection of three continental plates — the Eurasian, Pacific and Philippine Sea plates — which are slowly grinding against each other, building up enormous seismic pressure.

The government’s Earthquake Research Committee has warned of a 70 percent chance that a great, magnitude-eight quake will strike within the next 30 years in the Kanto plains, home to Tokyo”s vast urban sprawl.

The last time a “Big One” hit Tokyo was in 1923, when the Great Kanto Earthquake claimed more than 140,000 lives, many of them in fires. In 1855, the Ansei Edo quake also devastated the city.

In 1995 Kobe earthquake killed more than 6,400 people.

More than 220,000 people were killed when a 9.1-magnitude quake hit off Indonesia in 2004, unleashing a massive tsunami that devastated coastlines in countries around the Indian Ocean as far away as Africa.

Small quakes are felt every day somewhere in Japan and people take part in regular drills at schools and workplaces to prepare for a calamity.

Nuclear power plants and bullet trains are designed to automatically shut down when the earth rumbles and many buildings have been quake-proofed with steel and ferro-concrete at great cost in recent decades.

Typhoon Megi batters Philippine; 10 killed

Typhoon Megi cleared the Philippines’ main island and headed towards China on Tuesday (October 19), and authorities said initial estimates showed the super storm had damaged around one percent of the country’s unmilled rice crop.
The eye of the storm hit Isabela province on Monday (October 18), cutting off power lines and damaging homes in largely rural villages. Felled trees, power lines and debris rendered many roads impassable, and some vehicles got stuck in mud.
On Tuesday, soldiers joined residents in clearing fallen trees and patching up houses that had lost their roofing and walls. More thorough damage assessments were expected as local airlines resumed normal operations, but wide areas remained without phone and power services. Officials from the disaster agency were trying to reach east coast towns and villages, saying most houses appeared to have been destroyed after Megi hit land as a category 5 super typhoon with winds in excess of 250 kph (155 mph) on Monday. Officials estimated that the typhoon also affected 385,000 tonnes of rice crops, as it came at the peak of harvest season.The town of Ilagan in Isabela was one of the hardest hit, and water supplies ran low, prompting residents to queue for rations.The national disaster agency put the death toll so far at 10, a low tally for such a strong typhoon in the country.Benito Ramos, executive director of the national disaster agency, said three people drowned in Maconacon town, which was directly in Megi’s path, when they were swept away by giant waves on Monday.Nearly 20 people were also injured, mostly by shattered glass panels, he said, adding that proactive evacuations of nearly 8,000 people had limited the loss of life.Officials had issued warnings as early as Thursday (October 14) and deployed rescue gear, rubber boats, ambulances, and relief items over the weekend.Benito said they were trying to reach coastal towns facing the Pacific, because there were reports that 90 percent of homes there were wiped out.

Mixed trend at Asian stocks

Mixed trend was witnessed at the Asian stock markets on Friday. Bearish trend was seen at the Japanese and Hong Kong stock markets whereas Chinese stock markets recorded bulls.
Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific index shed 5 percent in Tokyo, while Japanese Nikkei index lost 1 percent and Topix index reduced by1.2 percent. Hang Seng of Hong Kong experienced a decrease of 4 percent. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in China soared by 6 percent to increase the Shanghai Composite Index by 4 percent.

Ocean census discovers 5,000 new species

The mysteries of the deep have been revealed after a remarkable 10-year survey of the worlds oceans. Altogether, the international Census of Marine Life counted 201,206 different species of which 5,000 are new.
But experts estimate there are a million species living in the sea, so a mere 20% of the huge total have been discovered so far. Dr Jesse Ausubel, co-founder of the census, told a celebration at the Royal Institution yesterday: We have created a baseline of what lives in the ocean, where and when. There was chaos in the records when we set out. But there are decades of work ahead.
Science committee chairman Dr Ian Poiner added: This is a milestone for marine science. We have a benchmark which will serve scientists for years to come. More then 2,700 experts spent 9,000 days at sea on more than 540 expeditions, recording everything from microbes to whales.
Thirty-million observations of 120,000 species have been organised in the global marine life database, the Ocean Biogeographic Information System. It will provide a record against which future changes in ocean life can be measured. The scientists found that fish make up 16,764 of the known species. But there are thought to be 21,800, with up to 150 new species discovered every year.
Pacific Bluefin tuna were found to cross the Pacific three times in 600 days. The Atlantic bluefin migrates about 3,700 miles between North America and Europe. But the record goes to puffins which make a 40,000-mile circle every year from New Zealand to Japan, Russia, Alaska, Chile and back. Another discovery was how many sea creatures share a similar DNA, with a maximum 15% difference among fish.
French scientist Myriam Sibuet said: In the deep sea, we found luxuriant communities despite extreme conditions. The discovery of new species and habitats have both advanced science and inspired artists with their extraordinary beauty.

KSE witnesses mixed trend

Karachi Stock Exchange has witnessed mixed trend on Monday.
Bears ruled Japan while Hong Kong and Korea remained up.
Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific Index gained 0.51 percent while Japans Nikkei Index 0.3 percent. Topix lost 0.8 percent.
Hang Seng hit 10-month high as it gained 1.4 percent.

Asian stocks witness mixed trend

Asian stock markets turned in a mixed performance Thursday.
China and Korean markets remained up while bears ruled Hong Kong and Japan. Morgan Stanley Asia Pacific Index shed 0.9 percent; Nikkei Index lost 1.75 points. Topix Index shed 2.5 percent. On the contrary, Shanghai Composite Index added 1.42 percent.

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