The Raw Story

Sunday, 17 May 2015

A comet 'wiped out highly advanced ancient civilisation after smashing into Earth nearly 13,000 years ago'

The author of a controversial new book claims a comet struck the Earth nearly 13,000 years ago and wiped out a highly advanced ancient civilisation.

When Graham Hancock wrote , it was derided by academics but became a commercial sensation.

He argued an ancient culture in Antarctica was obliterated - but subjects such as astronomy and mathematics were passed to later civilisations.

Despite selling an estimated 3m copies, a BBC programme sought to demolish his theory.

Paul V Heinrich, a US geologist, wrote: "Rather than stumbling upon an archaeological mystery, he has merely created one."

Now, 20 years later, he is set to publish a 500-page sequel - - that he believes will prove his critics wrong.

Citing scientific and archaeological research, Hancock, a former journalist, told the : "In 1995, I wrote a book about all the clues — the fingerprints — that pointed to the existence of this lost civilisation.

"But what I lacked was a smoking gun. Now we have it.

"A series of papers in geophysics and geological journals have been bringing forward evidence that the Earth was indeed hit by a comet 12,800 years ago, which is exactly what I proposed in my book."

Hancock argues that the existence of the comet has been masked because it struck ice and did not leave a crater.

But he acknowledges that many will ridicule his new book, which is to be published in September.

The International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE) has written to officials of the EU Parliament and Commission asking for an immediate ban on glyphosate herbicides and four insecticides judged by the World Health Organisation's cancer agency, IARC, to be probable carcinogens.

The letter states that glyphosate herbicides are associated with health problems such as birth defects, infertility, damage to the nervous system, Parkinson's disease and several forms of cancer.

The letter adds, "for safeguarding the health of European populations, ISDE states that the rational basis is already strong enough" to justify an immediate and permanent ban.

The ISDE's Board includes doctors from Europe, North and South America, Pakistan, and Kenya. ISDE has national and regional member organisations in over 25 different countries.

The European Commission, for its part, has formally asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to give its opinion on IARC's verdict on glyphosate herbicides, according to an article in EU Food Policy (available by subscription only).

EU Food Policy says that the full IARC monograph study on which the conclusion is based will not be published until 2016, but the IARC has agreed to provide to EFSA a list of all the studies it used this month.

Ladislav Miko, the acting director general of the Commission health division, DG SANTE, told EU Food Policy, "Furthermore, EFSA should establish to which extent IARC's assessment was based on information on the active substance glyphosate versus on formulated plant protection products containing glyphosate and co-formulants."

This is a good question, as the complete herbicide formulations are well established to be more toxic than the isolated active ingredient glyphosate.

However, there are signs that Mr Miko is also asking the wrong questions to protect public health. According to EU Food Policy, he wants EFSA to consider whether "firm causality" has been established between the health effects observed in IARC's assessment and the application of glyphosate herbicides, consistent with good practice and having regard to "realistic conditions of use".

In the wording of this question, Mr Miko has given far too much wriggle room to industry. It is difficult to see how "firm causality" could ever be established between ill health effects and the use of any pesticide, let alone how it could be proved that any health effects seen resulted from good practice and realistic conditions of use.

EU Food Policy notes that EFSA is already peer reviewing conclusions on glyphosate with a deadline of August as part of the renewal of the EU authorisation procedure. The Commission wants it to deliver its analysis of the IARC findings by that date.

The open letter from the ISDE is here:
http://bit.ly/1HoreZ0

You can subscribe to EU Food Policy here:
http://bit.ly/1HamIrE

© BCFS photo
Efforts are underway to battle the wildfires in B.C., which has claimed roughly 17,000 hectares, west of Prince George.

PRINCE GEORGE, B.C. -- Crews are responding to five new wildfires in British Columbia's Central Interior, as a massive blaze continues to burn about 70 kilometres southwest of Prince George.

B.C.'s Wildfire Management Branch says all of the new fires were sparked by Friday's lightning activity in the Cariboo region.

The largest fire is raging four hectares west of Anahim Lake, where a three-person attack crew, airtankers and a helicopter are on site with 16 additional firefighters on the way.

The branch says crews are also working on three small fires in the Big Bar area and one small fire southwest of Quesnel.

Meanwhile, the aggressive Little Bobtail Lake blaze has destroyed about 17,000 hectares since it was first discovered last Saturday.

Some 240 firefighters, 11 helicopters, eight air tankers and 23 pieces of heavy machinery have been brought in and 20 per cent of the fire has been contained.

Jill Kelsh with the Prince George Fire Centre says crews have been working around the clock since last Sunday.

"It's not very often that we have crews working day and night. They have been working as hard with all of the resources they have to get this fire under containment," she says.

"It was our first and only extremely large fire burning in the province so it was definitely a high priority for us."

She says an evacuation order remains in place for about 80 people and it's too soon to say when they could return to their homes.

Kelsh says the area is finally seeing cooler temperatures and although winds have picked up, they are currently in crews' favour as they are moving away from larger communities.

Officials are hoping the gusty winds will not cause any immediate threat to structures, she says.

Unseasonably dry, hot weather has brought wildfire season early in B.C.

One wildfire that destroyed about 83 hectares near Clearwater was 100 per cent contained as of Saturday morning.

Another blaze near Pelican Lake was about 164 hectares in size and only 50 per cent contained.

Many Guam residents were left without power or water yesterday while hundreds remained in island storm shelters.

More than 3,300 Guam Waterworks Authority subscribers experienced water outages and 40 percent of Guam Power Authority customers experienced power outages that lasted through yesterday, according to GPA and GWA spokeswoman Heidi Ballendorf.

Ballendorf said more than five of the emergency generators used to power water wells experienced malfunctions, which left about 8.2 percent of the agency's 41,000 customers without water.

[embedded content]

According to Ballendorf, crews installed the emergency generators before Dolphin's approach when they discovered more than five generators would not start.

In response, GWA electricians were deployed yesterday while the island was still in Condition of Readiness 1 to fix the downed generators.

GWA and Guam EPA lab technicians also were out yesterday at some of the 400 points along a 700-mile-long GWA water line to test water quality.

All residents, particularly those who lost water, are being advised to boil tap water used for cooking and drinking.

[embedded content]

At 3 a.m. yesterday, GPA crews were deployed to restore power to scattered areas.

"Our crews are working in 12-to-14-hour shifts day and night to solve the outages," Ballendorf said.

Ballendorf said the crews' priorities were "feeder" lines, which she said service the most customers.

Prior to the storm hitting the island, Ballendorf said GPA is able to detect the locations of outages as they occur and the moment they happen through smart grids and a remote operating system called SCADA.

"We know where the outages are and we're working diligently to get those back up," Ballendorf said.

Deanne Criswell, a senior federal official from Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters said the agency didn't receive any reports of fatalities or injuries on Guam or in the CNMI.

Criswell said, once the team from Region 9 and the 35-person Incident Management Assistance Team finish their assessments, FEMA will know what types of assistance will need to be provided. FEMA's Region 9 serves Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada and Pacific islands.

More than 100 people were moved yesterday from the Maria Ulloa Elementary School shelter to the Astumbo shelter, which housed about 336 residents. The Machananao Elementary School shelter, which housed 199 residents, also remained open.

The other six shelters used during the typhoon were closed.

Once people are situated, officials will work out the next plan of action, governor's spokesman Julius Santos said. Priorities are set on trying to find solutions for these residents, and opening schools by Monday.

National Weather Service meteorologist Chip Guard said Guam was well prepared for Dolphin.

"It was unusual to see a small storm like that expand at the last minute," Guard said. "Regardless, I think the island got by really well because of the preparations people made."

Guard added: "This was probably the strongest storm we've had in 10 years."

Many Guam residents were left without power or water yesterday while hundreds remained in island storm shelters.

Ballendorf said more than five of the emergency generators used to power water wells experienced malfunctions, which left about 8.2 percent of the agency's 41,000 customers without water.

[embedded content]

According to Ballendorf, crews installed the emergency generators before Dolphin's approach when they discovered more than five generators would not start.

In response, GWA electricians were deployed yesterday while the island was still in Condition of Readiness 1 to fix the downed generators.

GWA and Guam EPA lab technicians also were out yesterday at some of the 400 points along a 700-mile-long GWA water line to test water quality.

All residents, particularly those who lost water, are being advised to boil tap water used for cooking and drinking.

[embedded content]

At 3 a.m. yesterday, GPA crews were deployed to restore power to scattered areas.

"Our crews are working in 12-to-14-hour shifts day and night to solve the outages," Ballendorf said.

Ballendorf said the crews' priorities were "feeder" lines, which she said service the most customers.

"We know where the outages are and we're working diligently to get those back up," Ballendorf said.

Deanne Criswell, a senior federal official from Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters said the agency didn't receive any reports of fatalities or injuries on Guam or in the CNMI.

The other six shelters used during the typhoon were closed.

National Weather Service meteorologist Chip Guard said Guam was well prepared for Dolphin.

"It was unusual to see a small storm like that expand at the last minute," Guard said. "Regardless, I think the island got by really well because of the preparations people made."

Guard added: "This was probably the strongest storm we've had in 10 years."

Five people were lightly wounded on Saturday when a wolf suspected of carrying rabies attacked three groups of hikers in separate incidents in northern Israel.

The five who were bitten by the canine were given rabies shots, as were another two people as a precautionary measure, according to Ynet.

The she-wolf first attacked a group of hikers in the Golan Heights. Although bystanders were eventually successful in chasing the wolf away with rocks, three individuals were bitten, including a father and his nine-year-old son.

The victims were transferred to the nearby Ziv Medical Center and were listed in good condition.

"The father is suffering from cuts and scratches on his hands and arms," said Majid Abu Janev, a nurse who treated the victims.

Three more people later arrived at the medical center; a man suffering from scratches and a fractured ankle he sustained while trying to escape the wolf and a woman suffering from a bite and deep scratches. The woman's husband was also given a rabies vaccine after coming into contact with her open wounds.

"We thoroughly washed, disinfected and bandaged the wounds and administered rabies vaccines," Janev said.

Later, a family from Kibbutz Neot Mordechai in the Upper Galilee was attacked by the same wolf near the Nimrod Fortress, a 13th century castle on the southern slopes of Mount Hermon.

Said one of the wolf's victims, Amir Menkes, 21: "Our family went for a walk near the area of the Hermon by the Nimrod Fortress. We went down from the parking lot towards a spring. We originally did not notice that a wolf emerged from a thicket, but she ran at us once we saw her. We started to run away but she chased us and bit me in the thigh. She also went after my brother, but then somehow got lost," Menkes said, adding that the family managed to film the wolf while driving to the hospital.

Park rangers launched an extensive search for the wolf. Authorities believe the wolf is rabid, as healthy wolves do not normally approach humans, particularly when they are in groups.

Rangers said they have also considered the idea that the female wolf may have had young pups by her and may have felt threatened by the presence of others.

This marks the third reported incident of a wolf attack in Israel in the past year. Last December, a group of children in the city of Katzrin in the Golan Heights were attacked, and in March a wolf attacked a passerby in the northern city of Tiberias and was later shot after being tracked down to nearby Kibbutz Ginosar.

The Agriculture Ministry has recorded five incidences of rabies in animals throughout the country this year, including one wolf. Last year, the ministry said its goal was to rid the country of rabies with mandatory vaccinations for all dogs over the age of three months and recommended vaccinations for cats and ferrets.

In addition, efforts are being taken to track down stray animals and administer oral vaccinations, with specific emphasis on jackals and foxes.

According to the Agriculture Ministry, most incidents of rabies are found in the north, as the borders of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan are popular transit points for animals carrying the disease.

At least 50,000 people die from rabies worldwide on an annual basis, with half of the victims being children under the age of 15, according to a report.

Ralph Persson, a hunter in Jämtland, northern Sweden, scared off a charging bear by roaring at the animal as it attacked him, it has emerged.

While out training a new hunting dog, Persson sensed a change in the animal's bark. Seconds later a brown bear came charging at him from the woods. "I screamed as much as I could and made myself very big," Persson told newspaper, in an interview which has gone viral over the past week.

The bear quickly veered off back into the trees, utterly surprised by Persson's ferocity. Both Ralph and his wife Lena filmed the encounter which can be seen on the newspaper's website.

Persson has come across many bears over his years as a hunter and it's this experience that helped save his life. But he didn't take the passive approach many advise. "To lie down and play dead? I do not believe in that," he told the newspaper.

His trick was to be more adversarial, a tactic he rather surprisingly credits to birds.

"I have seen in the past how even cranes have chased bears by folding up their wings."

Most bear experts agree that many more bears have seen humans in Sweden than humans have seen bears, so shy is the Scandinavian brown bear. They tend to steer clear of us. But Persson admits he may have got too close. "This time, I went over the limit. You have to have respect for the animals."

There have been at least three bear attacks in northern Sweden in the last 12 months, although none have been fatal. Hundreds of brown bears are killed in Sweden every year as part of an annual cull.

Bear attacks on humans are relatively rare in Sweden, compared to the US, where on average two people a year die as a result of an encounter with a bear. By contrast, there have only been two fatalities caused by bear attacks over the last century in Sweden.

The Raw Story

Focused on providing independent journalism.

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Sunday, 17 May 2015

A comet 'wiped out highly advanced ancient civilisation after smashing into Earth nearly 13,000 years ago'

Doctors demand immediate ban on glyphosate herbicides

Lightning sparks new wildfires in British Columbia as massive blaze continues

Thousands on Guam without water, power after Typhoon Dolphin strikes island, destroys homes

Thousands on Guam without water, power after Typhoon Dolphin strikes island, destroys homes

5 people treated for wolf bites in Israel

Swedish man's roar scares off charging bear

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