Philippines on red alert for Typhoon Durian

MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines raised its highest alert level and warned residents to move to higher ground on Wednesday as Typhoon Durian barrelled toward the north of the country, gaining strength on a path toward Manila.

Disaster officials warned of possible flash floods, landslides and storm surges of up to 15 feet from Durian, the fourth typhoon to hit the Southeast Asian archipelago in three months.

Schools in Manila and surrounding provinces were suspended and all sea travel was halted as residents braced for Durian to hit the eastern island of Catanduanes on Thursday morning en route toward the densely-populated northern island of Luzon.

Durian, named after a pungent fruit, was packing winds of up to 190 kph (120 mph) with gusts of up to 225 kph (140 mph) but the weather bureau said it was likely to weaken when it reaches land.

If the storm continues on its current path, it could sweep close to Manila on Friday morning. The sprawling capital of 12 million people was severely battered by Typhoon Xangsane in late September.

Luzon, where Manila is based, is the country's business hub and the main growing area for rice and coconuts.

"All governors have convened their disaster coordinating councils and have stockpiled medicines and food. Their heavy equipment and rescue teams are already on standby," Anthony Golez, deputy administrator of the Office of the Civil Defense, said.

Two other typhoons, Cimaron and Chebi, hit the country in late October and early November, causing landslides and flashfloods in some areas and widespread crop damage.

Storms regularly hit the Philippines. In the worst disaster in recent years, more than 5,000 people died on the central island of Leyte in 1991 in floods triggered by a typhoon.

In 2004, a series of storms left about 1,800 people dead or missing, including 480 who were killed when mudslides buried three towns in Quezon, an eastern province.

California sea lions attack humans

SAN FRANCISCO - Tourists flock to Fisherman's Wharf for the seafood and the stunning views of San Francisco Bay, but for many visitors, the real stars are the dozens of playful, whiskered sea lions that lounge by the water's edge, gulping down fish.

Now a series of sea-lion attacks on people in recent months has led experts to warn that the animals are not as cute and cuddly as they appear.

"People should understand these animals are out there not to attack people or humans. But they're out there to survive for themselves," said Jim Oswald, a spokesman for the Marine Mammal Center across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco.

In the most frightening of the recent episodes, a rogue sea lion bit 14 swimmers this month and chased 10 more out of the water at San Francisco's Aquatic Park, a sheltered lagoon near the bay. At least one victim suffered puncture wounds.

Some scientists speculate that the animals' aggressive behavior is being caused by eating fish contaminated by toxic algae, or by a shortage of food off the coast. But wildlife experts say even healthy sea lions are best left alone.

In Southern California in June, a sea lion charged several people on Manhattan Beach and bit a man before waddling into the water and swimming away. In Berkeley, a woman was hospitalized last spring after a sea lion took a chunk out of her leg.

Last year, a group of sea lions took over a Newport Beach marina and caused a vintage 50-foot yacht to capsize when they boarded it. And a lifeguard in Santa Barbara was bitten three times while swimming off El Capitan State Beach.

In Alaska, a huge sea lion jumped onto a fisherman's boat in 2004, knocked him overboard and pulled him underwater; he escaped without serious injury.

Sea lions, which can reach 1,000 pounds, typically bite only if they feel threatened or cornered. And they are more likely to flee than fight if they can escape. Researchers have described the most recent attacks, in which some swimmers were chased through open water, as abnormal behavior.

Still, with a population numbering about 200,000 and growing, these playful, social creatures are increasingly likely to cross paths with humans.

Sea lions accustomed to the easy pickings of seafood scraps in popular fishing areas can become aggressive toward people if they fear their food is about to be taken away, Oswald said.

The Berkeley attack, for example, was at a marina where fishermen dock their boats and feed fish scraps to sea lions. After they ran out of scraps, the sea lion turned aggressive and bit a crew member.

At the same time, a drop in fish stocks off the Southern California coast due to El Nino-like conditions could be driving more hungry sea lions than usual to San Francisco Bay, said Lynn Cullivan, a spokesman for San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park.

Humans could also be contributing to aggression in sea lions in another way: Toxic algae blooms fed by agricultural runoff and other pollution can lead to the poisoning of marine mammals by a chemical called domoic acid, which can cause brain damage. The Marine Mammal Center treated more than 200 sea lions for domoic acid poisoning last year.

Veterinarians at the center believe the brain damage caused by the poison could have led to the marauding animal's erratic behavior in Aquatic Park, Oswald said, though they cannot be sure without actually examining the sea lion.

So far park rangers have not been able to track the attacker down. Nevertheless, the lagoon where the attacks occurred has been reopened to swimmers, though with new signs warning people to stay away from sea lions.

"People who swim with the lions — though I'm sure that's nice — it's probably not the best thing to do," Oswald said. "It's a wild animal. And you want to keep them wild."

Australian report: Carbon dioxide emissions have doubled since the 1990s

SYDNEY, Australia — The rate at which humans are pumping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere has more than doubled since the 1990s, according to Australian research, the latest report warning about the high rate of emissions accumulating in the atmosphere.
Findings published by Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization also showed that 2005 marked the fourth-consecutive year of increased carbon dioxide emissions.

"To have four years in a row of above-average carbon dioxide growth is unprecedented," Paul Fraser, a scientist with the CSIRO's center for marine and atmospheric research, said in a statement.

The study analyzed a 30-year record of air samples collected at an Australian Bureau of Meteorology observation station on the southern island state of Tasmania.

Mike Raupach, a scientist with the organization, said from 2000 to 2005 the growth rate of carbon dioxide emissions was more than 2.5% per year, whereas in the 1990s it was less than 1% per year.

Raupach, who is also co-chairman of the Global Carbon Project, said 7.85 billion tons of carbon passed into the atmosphere last year, compared to 6.67 billion tons in 2000.

About half of all carbon dioxide emissions remain trapped in the atmosphere, and the rest are absorbed by the land and oceans, Raupach said. As emissions rise, so does the amount of carbon in the air.

Earlier this month, the World Meteorological Organization reported the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached 379.1 parts per million in 2005, more than 35% higher than in the late 18th century.

Raupach and Fraser presented their findings last week at an annual science meeting at Tasmania's Cape Grim Baseline Air Pollution Station.

Floods death toll rises to 34 in Kenya

NAIROBI, Nov 29 (Reuters) - The worst floods in decades have killed 11 more Kenyans in the last two weeks, bringing the death toll to 34 since last month, the Red Cross said on Wednesday.

Torrential rains have battered the Horn of Africa region in recent weeks, killing hundreds, uprooting thousands more and triggering a humanitarian disaster. Somalia and parts of neighbouring Ethiopia and Kenya have been particularly hard hit.

"Our assessment is one person died in Northeastern province and 10 in Eastern," a Kenyan Red Cross spokeswoman said.

Earlier this month the charity appealed for $7 million for flood relief, and she said it would now need more than that.

So far, the appeal had only raised about $70,000, she said.

A Kenyan government minister gave a lower overall death toll, saying 20 people had died since the floods began. He said the authorities were working with the United Nations to deliver emergency aid and move affected communities to higher ground.

"Our estimation is that 20 people have died so far," said Wario Ali, an assistant minister for special programmes. He said the government had spent $3 million so far on relief operations.

The situation is worse in Somalia, where more people have lost their homes but security problems have restricted efforts by aid agencies to help them.

"In some areas people are sitting on dykes, completely surrounded by water and have no access to drinking water and food," the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

In a statement on Wednesday, it said it was airlifting tarpaulins to 350,000 Somalis in the worst affected areas. Weather experts expect the rains to continue into January.

Nonnative animals flourish in Hawaii

HONOLULU - In Hawaii's warm, moist environment, interlopers have flourished — pillaging forests, screeching through the night in suburban neighborhoods and rooting around in rural taro patches.

Stealthy species such as hybrid Polynesian pigs and a newly discovered gall wasp have eluded eradication efforts and taken hold in an ecosystem that once was home to only one terrestrial mammal — an insectivorous bat. Partly as a result, Hawaii today has more than 300 endangered and threatened plant and animal species accounting for about a quarter of the United States' protected species.

Some nonnative animals arrived by accident, such as the noisy coqui frog from Puerto Rico. Others — including the Big Island's wild horses and cattle, Molokai's resident goats and Honolulu's feral felines — were either deliberately released for hunting or broke free from residents who had brought them.

Humans have strengthened their defenses, spraying lethal citric acid to kill coqui frogs and setting out traps for pigs in suburban Oahu. One Big Island taro farmer said earlier this year that he shot and killed several wild horses that had damaged his crops.

Hawaii wildlife officials made their own stance clear. On Nov. 6, state-hired hunters shot and killed four dogs believed to have slain at least 113 fledgling wedge-tailed shearwaters inside an Oahu nature reserve.

"Pets that are abandoned or left to run loose in a Hawaiian ecosystem become predators with catastrophic results," said Peter Young, chairman of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

It is a serious issue for the islands, with their isolated environments. There are about 9,975 endemic species, while another 1,100 have disappeared as invasive species showed up, said Earl Campbell, who heads the Invasive Species Division of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's regional office in Honolulu.

Native inhabitants have evolved without defenses needed to fend off aggressive attackers and competitors they now face, Campbell said. Mint in Hawaii is not minty, for example. Nettles do not sting. And unlike their continental cousins, Hawaii's native raspberry does not have prickles — meaning they are not tough enough to withstand foraging by nonnative animals such as pigs.

"If you look at factors that cause problems for species, invasives are important in many places. But here it is the primary reason right now that things are declining," Campbell said.

Not everyone feels the nonnative animals and plans need all be wiped out, though. Of the approximately 5,000 alien species in Hawaii, only about 300-500 have gone on to wreak significant damage, he said. Some, including plants, are even beneficial.

"The term 'invasive species' makes one think that the hordes are at our gates and threatening to destroy life as we know it, when actually the animals who are considered invasive for the most part had no say in coming to Hawaii," said Cathy Goeggel, Animal Rights Hawaii director.

She suggested that some harmful animals could be fenced out or relocated, such as rooting pigs.

At the center of it all are people who need to recognize their mistakes and think more about how to make things better, said Christy Martin, spokeswoman for the Coordinating Group on Alien Pest Species, a partnership that brings together a long list of federal, state and private agencies.

"There's definitely a disconnect between caring for animals and setting up cat-feeding stations, and protecting the ones that are native, that are supposed to be there, that need our help definitely more than the cats do," Martin said.

There are programs and rules to keep potentially invasive animals out of the islands. But there is nothing comparable to keep potentially invasive plants from being imported and planted in Hawaiian gardens.

It would be too difficult, costly and controversial to eliminate established invasive animals, such as pigs and goats, which live in hard-to-reach places and are hunted by some poorer residents to feed their families. Efforts now are concentrated on controlling the old invasive species, fighting off the newer ones, keeping the would-be problems out and continuing to educate the public.

The first animals introduced by people were rats, which arrived first with Polynesians' voyaging canoes. Quick-spreading haole koa was planted in the 1980s to provide fodder for cattle in the islands, Martin said.

"If only we'd chosen better. And we say that again and again," she said.