The death toll is rising as north-western Turkey reels in the wake
of a
second earthquake in two days.
Latest reports say 120 people have died and more than a thousand
have
been injured.
The casualty figures are expected to increase as an unknown number
of
people are trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings.
The tremor measured 7.2 on Richter scale, the Kandilli Seismic Institute
in
Istanbul said, revising upwards an earlier estimate of 6.5.
Local people said some 30 buildings had collapsed.
The quake also set off explosions in the province of Bolu.
Russian troops backed by tanks and artillery have moved into Chechnya's
second city, tightening their hold on the breakaway region.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said federal forces were
"sweeping'' the city of Gudermes."The Russian flag has been raised
there," he added.
The assault came only hours after Chechen President Aslan Maskhadov
made a
fresh appeal to Russian counterpart Boris Yeltsin to open talks
on ending
the war, now in its tenth week.
Mr Maskhadov's office said more than 4,100 people had been killed
and 8,500
wounded in the conflict.
The White House has condemned a series of rocket attacks on American
and UN
targets in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan.
The targets included the US embassy compound, the US information
centre and
the main UN building in the city.None was hit.
Reports say between five and seven rockets were fired from vehicles,
which
then blew up. At least two people were wounded, including a security
guard
at the centre.
No group has claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Warm, wet winters and dry, hot summers over the next century are
predicted to wreak havoc on West Coast water supplies, according
to
two recently released studies on the impact a few degree rise in
temperature over that period of time.
The reports, one focused on California and the other on the Pacific
Northwest, predict that an increase in winter precipitation will
fall mostly
as rain rather than snow. As a result, less water will be stored
in the
snowpack.
With less water stored in the snow pack, there will be less water
available
for the dry summer months. This will lead to worsened drought conditions,
greater irrigation needs and other water-use conflicts.
Less water stored in the snow pack also means more water will run
off
immediately, adding to winter flooding and landslide problems. Flood
controls and levees in coastal areas would be increasingly challenged,
requiring additional management.
(This has nothing to do with Global warming.This is natural and
part of the
normal cycle of your planet)
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria. The worst floods in Nigeria's oil-producing
Niger
Delta for at least 30 years have left tens of thousands homeless
and without
food, local officials said Friday.
A spokesman for the governor of Rivers State said 68 communities
were
made uninhabitable in just one of the four worst affected local
government
areas of the state.
Thank You
Tia