Volcano eruption[ 520 ]

Volcano spews lava as eruption looms
December 22, 2009 -- Updated 1330 GMT (2130 HKT)


(CNN) -- Fountains of red-hot lava shot up from the intensifying Mayon volcano as the Philippines awaited an imminent eruption, the country's national news agency reported Tuesday.

Tens of thousands of people have already fled their homes. More than 9,000 families -- a total of 44,394 people -- are being housed in evacuation camps after authorities raised the alert status of the country's most active volcano, Albay Province Gov. Joey Salceda said.

The Philippine Institute on Volcanology and Seismology was considering ratcheting up the volcano alert to the highest level, which would mean an eruption was underway, the Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported.

But officials said not everyone is heeding their warnings -- some villagers were spotted within the danger zone checking on their homes and farms on the foothills of the volcano.
Video: Volcano ready to blow
RELATED TOPICS

* Mayon Volcano
* Philippines

The government is trying to enforce a "no man's land" rule in the designated danger zone, with military and police instructed to double the personnel manning the nine checkpoints and double their foot patrol operation inside the restricted area, PNA reported.

"Mayon continued to show an intense level of activity during the past 24-hour observation period. Seismic activity remained elevated in number and size as the seismic network detected a total of 1,266 volcanic earthquakes," it said in a statement about the last 24 hours to 7 a.m. local time on Tuesday (6 p.m. ET on Monday).

People in surrounding Albay Province have flocked to town centers to catch a glimpse of glowing lava cascading down the slopes of Mayon since the mountain began oozing fiery lava and belching clouds of ash last week.

The volcano, located about 500 km (310 miles) south of the Philippine capital of Manila, has erupted 49 times since its first documented eruption in 1616.

The Philippines is situated in the so-called Ring of Fire, an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Mayon's most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and devastated several towns. Its last major eruption was in 1993. Since then, it has remained restless, emitting ash and spewing lava.

Copenhagen now...[ 519 ]

Copenhagen police battle climate protesters

David Shukman describes the scene as riot police confront protesters BBC 17:34 GMT, Wednesday, 16 December 2009 Police have forced back hundreds of protesters who tried to break through a perimeter fence at the UN climate summit venue in Copenhagen. The Bella Centre, where the conference is taking place, has now been shut off, with no-one allowed to enter or leave. Activists have been angered by lack of progress on a new climate deal and also by restrictions on access to the talks. Meanwhile, African countries have softened their demands for climate finance from rich nations. RICHARD BLACK'S EARTHWATCH The African group reportedly gave the Ethiopian negotiator a real roasting about this at their routine morning meeting, because the proposal gives ground on some of the African bloc's fundamental points Read more from Richard Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, speaking on behalf of all African nations, announced the move, which could remove a key obstacle in the talks. "I know my proposal today will disappoint some Africans," he said. "My proposal scales back our expectation with respect to the level of funding in return for more reliable funding." In another development, Danish Environment Minister Connie Hedegaard has resigned as summit president. She will be replaced by Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen. Ms Hedegaard said the move was procedural, adding: "With so many heads of state and government having arrived, it's appropriate that the prime minister of Denmark presides." However, behind the scenes there are said to be deep tensions between the Danish PM's office and Ms Hedegaard's department. Stand-off Police detained at least 240 protesters as they marched to the summit across Copenhagen. AT THE SCENE Malcolm Senior, BBC News, Copenhagen From out of the gloom, a few hundred protesters headed towards the UN conference centre. They paused in front of the massed lines of police, blocks of concrete and metal fencing. Then a female voice urged them to push past the police lines and on to the summit. There was a surge and young people pushed hard against the lines. The crush was obvious. Some protesters squeezed through and climbed onto the roofs of parked vans. The first one was urged to come down - he refused. His riot policeman nemesis joined him on the roof, and threatened him with his police baton. The protester ignored him, and a brief game of cat and mouse ensued. Then the policeman hit him hard across the legs, and the protester slid down the windscreen onto the ground. A couple of others followed suit, but no-one made it past the police ring. The helicopter buzzed overhead. The surge stopped. The stand-off began. The has been a tense stand-off between protesters and police following earlier clashes. TV footage showed police using their batons on the crowd and some protesters wiping their eyes after being hit by pepper spray or tear gas. Protesters and police officers were injured in the clashes. As government ministers from around the world join the talks, Danish officials have cut the number of campaigners allowed in. Thousands of would-be delegates have queued for hours to gain access to the conference venue - many unsuccessfully. Those unable to take part on Wednesday included campaign group Friends of the Earth. It said its delegates had arrived at the centre to find their badges were no longer valid. Some campaigners said that after marching to the summit they would try to break in. And sources told the BBC that UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown had been told that he could not leave the Conference Centre in Copenhagen for security reasons. Mr Brown was due to hold a series of bilateral meetings at his hotel close to the conference centre. Inside the conference, Wednesday's "high-level" session, due to be addressed by prime ministers and other dignitaries, was delayed when several developing countries protested about procedural issues. China said the process chosen by the Danish hosts "lacked transparency". Others complained that rewritten texts were being pushed through without proper consultation. COPENHAGEN LATEST Australia's Kevin Rudd, Indonesia's Susilo Yudhoyono, France's Nicolas Sarkozy and Germany's Angela Merkel and UK's Gordon Brown among world leaders due to address the conference on Thursday Japan offers $5bn a year to poor nations if a deal is reached Australia, France, Japan, Norway, the UK and US collectively commit $3.5bn over three years to combating deforestation Updated: 08:07 GMT, 17 December Climate change in graphics Q&A: Copenhagen summit The BBC's environment correspondent Richard Black says the summit has been plagued by claims from poorer countries that the Danes have tailored the shape of negotiations to suit the EU's desired outcomes. Delegates still have a huge number of fundamental issues to address before the summit finishes at the end of the week, our correspondent says. These include the size of emissions cuts by developed nations, how finance should be raised and disbursed, and most fundamentally, whether a deal here should aim to keep the global temperature rise to 2C or 1.5C. Draft text released to delegates and obtained by the BBC makes clear that the most important parts of any eventual deal have still to be decided. Temperature targets are still in the text as alternatives, our correspondent says. Proposed figures for emission cuts by developed nations - apart from the US - range from 15% by the period 2013-2017 to 49% by 2013-2020. The section on finance consists entirely of paragraphs in square brackets, meaning that none of it has been agreed, our correspondent adds. Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has suggested that poor countries may have to give up their hope of getting immediate long-term financial commitments from richer countries. The amount of aid rich nations will pay poorer ones to combat global warming has been one of the main stumbling blocks at the summit. In an interview with the UK's Financial Times, Mr Ban said he did not think the exact amount was vital to the current deal. "If they are not able to agree this time at Copenhagen, then there needs to be some initial arrangement. This is a time when common sense, compromise and partnership should prevail," he said. US hopes Despite the difficulties, the White House says US President Barack Obama, who will join world leaders in Copenhagen later in the week, is confident of reaching a deal. "The president believes that we can get... an operational agreement that makes sense in Copenhagen, over the next few days," spokesman Robert Gibbs told a briefing. UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is already in Copenhagen, told reporters on Tuesday that it was a critical moment. "This is a very important moment for the world," Mr Brown said. "It is possible that we will not get an agreement and it is also true that there are many issues to be sorted out. But I am determined... to do everything I can to bring the world together." More than 120 leaders will formally join the talks on Thursday, aiming to seal an accord by Friday.

W.Africa :Agricultural fires[ 518 ]

Fires in Western Africa

Agricultural fires burned across much of western Africa in early December 2009. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on December 6, 2009. Red outlines indicate hotspots associated with high surface temperatures, and the fires range from Côte d’Ivoire in the west to Nigeria in the east. Although most of the fires emit no visible smoke plumes, plumes do arise from blazes in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, and Nigeria. South of the fires, tiny clouds trace the coastline.

Although agricultural burning such as this is not necessarily immediately hazardous, it can have a major impact on air quality and human health, climate, and natural resources.

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott, NASA Earth Observatory.

Instrument:

Aqua - MODIS

Help needed...[ 517 ]

NATO chief asks for Russian help in Afghanistan

Conor Sweeney

MOSCOW

Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:44pm EST

ANALYSIS

Tough time looms in Afghanistan

Afghanistan is going to be a significantly tougher nut to crack than Iraq, military generals and experts say. Full Article

MOSCOW 16-12-09, (Reuters) -

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen asked Russia on Wednesday to give the Western military alliance more help in Afghanistan but failed to get an immediate pledge of assistance from the Kremlin.

On his first visit to Moscow since taking office on August 1, the NATO chief told senior officials that the bitter rows of recent years should not blind Russia to a common security threat from Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

Moscow views Cold War adversary NATO with deep suspicion and ties have been severely strained by last year's war between Russia and Georgia and by U.S.-backed plans to invite more former Soviet states to join the alliance.

Rasmussen, who is trying to secure more support for the fight against the Taliban after U.S. President Barack Obama pledged 30,000 more troops, said Russia could up its efforts by contributing more helicopters.

"I have invited Russia to strengthen Russia's terms of cooperation in Afghanistan," the former Danish prime minister said after meeting President Dmitry Medvedev in the Kremlin.

The NATO chief later said that he had asked Russian leaders to allow the alliance to fly cargoes -- including possibly military ones -- over Russian territory to Afghanistan and to provide more helicopters for the Afghan armed forces.

"I indicated that we would like to see a widening of the transit conditions," he told the Ekho Moskvy radio station.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Medvedev would consider NATO's requests, but gave no indication that Moscow was willing to increase cooperation and Rasmussen said he did not expect an immediate answer.

Rasmussen told former Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, who is now a powerful prime minister, that Afghanistan should become the centerpiece of NATO cooperation with Russia. Putin said simply that cooperation with NATO could yield good results.

STRAINED TIES

Rasmussen inherited an extremely strained relationship with Russia when he took over at NATO from Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and he faces an uphill battle to convince a skeptical Moscow that they can trust one another after the rows of the past.

The Western alliance froze contacts with Moscow over the war in Georgia and resumed formal talks on April 29, the day NATO informed Moscow it was expelling two Russian diplomats.

Russia responded in May by announcing the expulsion of two Canadians working at NATO's information center in Moscow.

"Disagreements should not overshadow the fact that, basically, we share security interests in many areas because we are faced with the same threats," Rasmussen told Lavrov.

But Rasmussen also called on Russia to withdraw troops from Georgia and said that Georgia and Ukraine would one day be NATO members, statements that are likely to upset Russian leaders just as the alliance seeks help on Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union spent almost 10 years fighting in Afghanistan before withdrawing in 1989 after losing some 15,000 troops in a war with Western-backed mujahideen insurgents.

Since U.S. forces entered Afghanistan to topple the Taliban in 2001, Russia has raised concerns about increased drug trafficking but repeatedly ruled out sending troops back.

Russia says NATO members such as the United States, France, Germany and Spain already have bilateral deals to transport military cargoes and personnel across Russian territory.

(Editing by Charles Dick)

Japan: Historic cultural properties...[516]

Historic hot spring resort and lighthouse named tangible cultural properties

The main building of the Tsuru no Yu hot spring inn in Semboku, Akita Prefecture. (Mainichi)

The oldest red brick lighthouse in Japan and an Edo period hot spring were two of 135 buildings recently recommended for registration as tangible cultural properties.

The 9.7-meter-tall lighthouse was built in 1873 overlooking the Irago Channel into Ise Bay, while the main building of the Tsuru no Yu hot spring resort stands on a mountain in Semboku, Akita Prefecture.

"It's an old, simple building," says owner Kazushi Sato. "But I hope this wooden structure will continue to please the five senses."

Famous for its secret hot spring source and its beautiful seasonal vistas, the cloudy hot spring waters give the entire inn a resort feel. However, customers attempting to reserve one of the five rooms in the charming thatch-roofed inn's main building the maximum half-year in advance often find it already fully booked. There are a total of 35 rooms in the entire complex, and the hotel sees about 25,000 guests a year.

According to the prefecture's cultural asset preservation office, Akita's second feudal lord is said to have frequented the hot spring, and it has flourished as a health spa since the Edo period. The main building was probably rebuilt around the beginning of the Meiji period.

The commission also recommended registration for the family home of a noted Edo period soy sauce maker in Noda, Chiba Prefecture; Sakato Bridge in Nakagawa, Nagano Prefecture; and the Miyazaki Jingu Shinden, a Shinto shrine in Miyazaki Prefecture. Furthermore, it named the castle town of Kanazawa, Ishikawa Prefecture, the Obasute and Kashihara terraced rice fields in Chikuma, Nagano Prefecture and Kamikatsu, Tokushima Prefecture, and Nagasaki Prefecture's Hirado Island as cultural landscapes.