Earth System Science News

AFP - French electricity and nuclear power group EDF was assembling a takeover bid for British Energy worth more than 11 billion pounds (13.7 billion euros, 21.7 billion dollars), The Times reported on Friday.

AP - The U.N. climate chief said Thursday he is encouraged by the climate views of the three contenders in the U.S. presidential election.

AP - Japan and France agreed Friday to cooperate on climate change and promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

AFP - The future food security of millions of people is at risk because over-fishing, climate change and pollution are inflicting massive damage on the world’s oceans, marine scientists warned this week.

AP - A conservation group is demanding emergency listing under the Endangered Species Act for a lizard found only in isolated parts of New Mexico and Texas.

AP - Scientists predicted Thursday that climate change in coming decades will cause more flooding in the Northern Hemisphere and droughts in some southern and arid zones.

AFP - Costa Rica plans to balance out carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to become “carbon neutral” by 2021, through a joint government-private enterprise effort, without foresaking economic growth, the environment minister said Thursday.

NewsFactor - IDC researchers predict that spending on the Linux ecosystem will rise from $21 billion in 2007 to more than $49 billion in 2011, driven by rising enterprise deployments of Linux server operating systems.

AFP - A vast study of the plants and animals unique to Madagascar was published Thursday in a bid to protect thousands of rare species found only on the large African island.

Reuters - Britain’s energy minister said
on Thursday he will work with Canadian officials on technology
for fighting global warming, and steered clear of criticizing
Canada’s less-ambitious targets for cutting emissions.

LiveScience.com - Skeptics who argue that global warming is caused by cosmic rays rather than man-made greenhouse gases have been dealt another blow.
Some who question the human-induced global warming scenario argue that changes in the intensity of these rays, which are caused by variations in solar activity, affect the cloud cover of the Earth, allowing [...]

Reuters - Germany’s RWE and Britain’s
Centrica have both made indicative bids for British
Energy valuing the nuclear power operator at up to 11
billion pounds ($22 billion), sources close to the matter said.

AFP - Ever since US film-maker Michael Moore’s provocative documentaries proved box-office hits at the cinema, TV docs too have been on a roll, broadcasters told AFP Thursday at the world’s largest television and media fair.

AP - A top government health official said Wednesday that climate change is expected to have a significant impact on health in the next few decades, with certain regions of the country — and the elderly and children — most vulnerable to increased health problems.

AFP - Indonesians living near a devastating “mud volcano” that has spewed sludge for nearly two years now have another problem to contend with — flammable gas.

AP - A small earthquake awoke residents in south Texas Monday, but there are no reported injuries.

AP - Several earthquakes have jolted various sections of Alaska’s remote Aleutian Islands.

SPACE.com - Venus may harbor active volcanoes that produce the high
amounts of sulfur dioxide in its atmosphere.

LiveScience.com - An extensive fault that tracks the Pacific coast of North America from Canada to Northern California could trigger major quakes along California’s San Andreas Fault, a new study suggests.
“The faults seem to be communicating with each other,” said study leader Chris Goldfinger of Oregon State University.
The evidence came from core samples of marine [...]

Reuters - A big earthquake in Tokyo during the day
would force more than 12 million people to try to walk home,
cramming streets and causing confusion, the government said.

AP - A moderate earthquake Tuesday shook a town in northeast Nevada where a stronger tremor caused damage more than a month ago.

Reuters - A powerful magnitude 6.1 earthquake
struck copper-rich northern Chile on Monday, the U.S.
Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of
damage.

AFP - An earthquake rocked northwestern Iran on Sunday, state television reported, adding there was no early information on casualties or damage.

Reuters - At least a dozen earthquakes hit
China’s remote northwestern region of Xinjiang on Friday,
flattening or damaging more than 2,000 houses, but no
casualties had been reported so far, Xinhua news agency said.

Reuters - A major earthquake and two aftershocks
hit China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang on Friday morning,
the China Earthquake Administration said, but there were no
initial reports of casualties or damage.