Death toll rises to seven after Japan floods
Tokyo (AFP) Sept 13, 2015 -
The death toll from floods which have devastated parts of Japan in recent days rose to seven Sunday, with thousands of homes submerged, as rescuers searched for 15 people still missing.
Police Sunday found the bodies of two men in rice paddies in Joso, the worst-hit city. Earlier in the day they discovered the body of a 68-year-old man inside a submerged car in a flooded ricefield in the tow ...
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Indonesia declares emergency in haze-hit province
Jakarta (AFP) Sept 14, 2015 -
Indonesia Monday declared a state of emergency in a province choked with thick haze from forest fires, as fears mounted that worsening air quality could affect the upcoming Grand Prix in neighbouring Singapore.
The emergency announcement in Riau province on Sumatra island came as aircraft were deployed to water-bomb the raging blazes and conduct "cloud-seeding", which involves chemically in ...
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Wild fires race across California, devastate wine country
Los Angeles (AFP) Sept 14, 2015 -
Devastating wildfires laid waste to miles of land around California's scenic wine country, reducing hundreds of homes and businesses to smoldering ruins and leaving one person feared dead.
Fast-moving infernos raging in parts of drought-ridden northern California have forced thousands to flee over the past several days, state disaster officials said.
Four firefighters have also been inju ...
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Indonesia water-bombs forest fires to fight haze
Jakarta (AFP) Sept 14, 2015 -
Helicopters Monday water-bombed raging forest fires that have cloaked parts of Indonesia in thick haze and pushed air quality to unhealthy levels in neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia.
Fourteen helicopters were dumping water on blazes on western Sumatra island and the Indonesian part of Borneo island and "cloud-seeding", which involves using chemicals to induce rain, the country's disaster ...
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Digital Fusion Solutions to help U.S. Army with laser project
San Diego (UPI) Sep 9, 2015 -
A subsidiary of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions is to help the U.S. Army with the development of high-energy laser systems.
Under a $32 million task order, Digital Fusion Solutions will provide the Army's Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command with systems engineering, software support, training and new development enhancements.
It will also perform o ...
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Reviving extinct Mediterranean forests
Washington DC (SPX) Sep 09, 2015 -
The Mediterranean has cradled humanity and our cities, farms, domesticated animals, and logging habits for many thousands of years. During the last 5 to 8 millennia, as people developed farming and settled in cities, the landscape has gradually changed from a thick canopy of trees to open grass and shrubs.
The ghosts of Sicily's extinct evergreen forests of holm oak (Quercus ilex) and oliv ...
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Artificial 'plants' could fuel the future
Berkeley CA (SPX) Sep 09, 2015 -
Imagine creating artificial plants that make gasoline and natural gas using only sunlight. And imagine using those fuels to heat our homes or run our cars without adding any greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. By combining nanoscience and biology, researchers led by scientists at University of California, Berkeley, have taken a big step in that direction.
Peidong Yang, a professor of chemi ...
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