Ship Sinking in Antarctic Waters

More than 150 passengers and crew took to lifeboats in Antarctic waters on Friday after their cruise ship hit an object and began taking on water through a hole in the hull, Britain‘s Coast Guard said. No injuries were reported.»Latest reports are that all persons are safe and accounted for,» said Coast Guard spokesman Fred Caygill.Evacuees from the Liberian-flagged Explorer were boarding another cruise ship, Endeavor, near the South Shetland Islands and were expected to be transferred later to a larger ship, said Henry Purbrick, watch officer at the Coast Guard centre in Falmouth, England.»We believed it has been hulled, it has a hole the size of a fist and some cracking in the hull of the ship, it’s taking water and it’s listing about 21 degrees,» Caygill told AP Radio.»There has been some information coming back that it may have hit an iceberg but it has not been confirmed.»It was unclear whether the vessel would sink, Caygill said.There was a lot of ice in the area, but the vessel was built to withstand ice, said another Coast Guard spokesman Mark Clark.The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said it was informed at 12:24 a.m. EST of the incident involving the 2646-ton vessel Explorer.The incident was reported near the South Shetland Islands and Graham Land, an Antarctic peninsula, the Coast Guard said.Rescue centres in Norfolk, Va., and Ushuaia, Argentina, were taking charge of coordination, the Coast Guard said.It was believed the passengers included 22 or 23 British citizens, and undetermined numbers of Americans and Canadians, the Coast Guard said.

 

Powerful Cyclone Kills at Least 242 in Bangladesh

A cyclone, with winds of 150 kilometres per hour, killed at least 1100 people, in Bangladesh.Tropical Cyclone Sidr roared across the country’s south-western coast late Thursday with driving rain and high waves,  Forcing the evacuation of 650,000 villagers, officials said.The government affirms that the deaths until the moment are 242, but other data think that the dead people are but of 1000.The cyclone destroyed homes, crops and fish farms in 15 coastal districts.Relief workers struggled to ferry food and medicine Friday to hundreds of thousands of survivors, officials and aid workers said.In Bagerhat, one of the hardest hit districts near the Bay of Bengal, some villagers waited for hours to get some dry biscuits and rice, United News reported.Volunteers from international aid agencies including the U.N. World Food Program, Save the Children and the U.S. have joined the relief effort.Power and communications in the capital, Dhaka, also remained down late Friday. Strong winds uprooted trees, snapped power and telecommunication lines and sent billboards flying through the air, injuring several peopleAt least 650,000 coastal villagers moved Thursday to cyclone shelters where they were given emergencyBangladesh, a low-lying delta nation, is prone to seasonal cyclones and floods that cause huge losses of life and property. The coastal area borders eastern India and is famous for the mangrove forests of the Sundarbans, a world heritage site that is home to rare Royal Bengal Tigers.

 

UN: climate change will have ‘abrupt and irreversible’ consequences

The United Nations warn that climate change could have «abrupt and irreversible» consequences.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report is seen as one of the most influential documents produced on the global warming issue to date.The UN Secretary-General, caution that human activity could lead to «abrupt and irreversible» changes in our climateAfter the release of their report, the states members of the united nations hope that it lowers the polluting gas emanation, before 2012, when current pledges under the UN’s Kyoto Protocol expire.IPCC experts have agreed that the rise in Earth’s temperature observed in the past few decades is principally the result of human activity.The reports stated that the impacts of climate change are already visible, in the form of retreating glaciers and snow loss in alpine regions, thinning Arctic summer sea ice and thawing permafrost.Heatwaves, rainstorms, drought, tropical cyclones and surges in sea level are among the events expected to become more frequent, and more intense this century. As a result, water shortages, hunger, flooding and damage to homes will be a heightened threat. The report will summarise the main points from three huge documents issued this year covering the evidence for climate change; the present and possible future impacts of it; and the options for tackling the peril.