Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/296796039?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Friday, April 5, 2013
NWS: Tornado spotted in Tehama County
The National Weather Service said it received reports of a tornado touching down in Tehama County on Thursday.
The tornado touched down just before 7 p.m. south of Red Bluff as it was moving east of Interstate 5, according to eyewitness reports.
A tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service for central Tehama County at 6:48 p.m.
The National Weather Service said Doppler Radar indicated rotation within a storm moving through the area.?
The warning expired at 7:15 p.m.
There were no reports of damage caused by the tornado.
Video from YouTube of tornado touching down in Tehama County:
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/kcra/local/~3/fKVGKcZDvNM/index.html
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Thursday, April 4, 2013
Five deaths from new China bird flu
4 April 2013
Last updated at 13:11 ET
The World Health Organization says there have now been five deaths in China from a new bird flu virus.
There have been 11 laboratory-confirmed cases of the H7N9 virus, a form of avian flu which had not been seen before in humans.
But the WHO says there is currently no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus.
Tests suggest that the virus could be treated with the anti-influenza drugs Tamiflu and Relenza.
Around 400 people who have been in close contact with the 11 cases are being monitored.
'Heightened surveillance'The Chinese government has stepped up its disease surveillance and is retrospectively testing any recently reported cases of severe respiratory infection, to check if any cases had not been recognised as H7N9.
An inter-government task force has been formally established, and the animal health sector has intensified investigations into the possible sources of the virus.
China's government has also advised people to maintain good personal hygiene, including frequent hand-washing and avoid direct contact with sick or dead animals.
The WHO is not recommending any travel or trade restrictions.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-22030882#sa-ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=PublicRSS20-sa
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NKorea refuses to let SKoreans enter joint factory
In this Sept. 21, 2012 photo, North Korean workers assemble Western-style suits at the South Korean-run ShinWon Corp. garment factory inside the Kaesong industrial complex in Kaesong, North Korea. On Wednesday, April 3, 2013, North Korea refused entry to South Koreans trying to cross the Demilitarized Zone to get to their jobs managing factories in the North Korean city of Kaesong. Pyongyang had threatened in recent days to close the border in anger over South Korea's support of U.N. sanctions punishing North Korea for conducting a nuclear test in February. (AP Photo/Jean H. Lee)
In this Sept. 21, 2012 photo, North Korean workers assemble Western-style suits at the South Korean-run ShinWon Corp. garment factory inside the Kaesong industrial complex in Kaesong, North Korea. On Wednesday, April 3, 2013, North Korea refused entry to South Koreans trying to cross the Demilitarized Zone to get to their jobs managing factories in the North Korean city of Kaesong. Pyongyang had threatened in recent days to close the border in anger over South Korea's support of U.N. sanctions punishing North Korea for conducting a nuclear test in February. (AP Photo/Jean H. Lee)
In this Sept. 21, 2012 photo, a North Korean worker handles wires at a South Korean-run factory inside the Kaesong industrial complex in Kaesong, North Korea. On Wednesday, April 3, 2013, North Korea refused entry to South Koreans trying to cross the Demilitarized Zone to get to their jobs managing factories in the North Korean city of Kaesong. Pyongyang had threatened in recent days to close the border in anger over South Korea's support of U.N. sanctions punishing North Korea for conducting a nuclear test in February. (AP Photo/Jean H. Lee)
South Korean vehicles turn back their way as they were refused for entry to North Korea's city of Kaesong, at the customs, immigration and quarantine office in Paju, South Korea, near the border village of Panmunjom, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. North Korea on Wednesday barred South Korean workers from entering a jointly run factory park just over the heavily armed border in the North, officials in Seoul said, a day after Pyongyang announced it would restart its long-shuttered plutonium reactor and increase production of nuclear weapons material. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean army soldiers walk on the empty road after South Korean vehicles which were refused for entry to North Korea at the customs, immigration and quarantine office in Paju, South Korea, near the border village of Panmunjom, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. North Korea on Wednesday barred South Korean workers from entering a jointly run factory park just over the heavily armed border in the North, officials in Seoul said, a day after Pyongyang announced it would restart its long-shuttered plutonium reactor and increase production of nuclear weapons material.(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
South Korean vehicles turn back their way as they were refused for entry to North Korea's city of Kaesong, at the customs, immigration and quarantine office in Paju, South Korea, near the border village of Panmunjom, Wednesday, April 3, 2013. North Korea on Wednesday barred South Korean workers from entering a jointly run factory park just over the heavily armed border in the North, officials in Seoul said, a day after Pyongyang announced it would restart its long-shuttered plutonium reactor and increase production of nuclear weapons material. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
PAJU, South Korea (AP) ? In past deadly confrontations between North and South Korea, a jointly operated industrial park stayed open, churning out goods.
But in the latest sign that North Korea's warlike stance toward South Korea and the United States is moving from words to action, the North on Wednesday barred South Korean managers and trucks delivering supplies from crossing the border to enter the Kaesong industrial park.
It's an announcement that further escalates a torrent of actions that analysts say is aimed at pressuring the U.S. and South Korea to change their policies toward North Korea.
The Kaesong move came a day after the North said it would restart its long-shuttered plutonium reactor and a uranium enrichment plant. Both could produce fuel for nuclear weapons that North Korea is developing and has threatened to hurl at the U.S., but which experts don't think it will be able to accomplish for years.
The North's rising rhetoric has been met by a display of U.S. military strength, including flights of nuclear-capable bombers and stealth jets at annual South Korean-U.S. military drills that the allies call routine and North Korea says are invasion preparations.
The Kaesong industrial park started producing goods in 2004 and has been an unusual point of cooperation in an otherwise hostile relationship between the Koreas, whose three-year war ended in 1953 with an armistice, not a peace treaty.
It has remained open despite the sinking of a South Korean warship in 2010, killing 46 people, which Seoul blamed on the North, and a North Korean artillery attack on a front-line South Korean island later that year that killed four people. The North denies involvement in the ship sinking and says a South Korean live-fire drill triggered the bombardment.
Kaesong's continued operation through those episodes of high tension, and its high economic value to impoverished North Korea, has reassured foreign multinationals that another Korean War is unlikely and their investments in prosperous, dynamic South Korea are safe.
"What we are seeing right now is something that was less expected, that is, less directly in North Korea's interests," said Patrick Cronin, a senior analyst with the Washington-based Center for a New American Security. "Is this a short-term demonstration of North Korean dissatisfaction with U.S-South Korean policy, or a portent of something more drastic at Kaesong?" he said.
Drastic could range from a complete shutdown of Kaesong to North Korea taking South Korean workers at the facility hostage, which is a risk that has long hung over the joint project, Cronin said.
On Tuesday, a senior South Korean government official said Seoul has a contingency plan for its citizens in Kaesong, which number over 800 on weekdays. Most South Korean managers at Kaesong return to South Korea on the weekends. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, saying he was not authorized to speak publicly to the media.
It is unclear how long North Korea will prevent South Koreans from entering the industrial park, which is located in the grim North Korean border city of Kaesong and provides jobs for more than 50,000 North Koreans who make goods such as textiles, clothing and electronic components. The last major disruption at the park amid tensions over U.S.-South Korean military drills in 2009 lasted just three days.
Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Hyung-suk said Pyongyang was allowing South Koreans to return home from Kaesong. Some 33 workers out of about 860 South Koreans at Kaesong returned Wednesday. But Kim said about 480 South Koreans who had planned to travel to the park Wednesday were being refused entry.
Trucks streamed back into South Korea through its Paju border checkpoint in the morning, just minutes after heading through it, after being refused entry into the North.
North Korea threatened last week to shut down the park, which is run with North Korean labor and South Korean know-how. It expressed anger over South Korean media reports that said North Korea hadn't yet shut the park because it is a source of crucial hard currency for the impoverished country.
Its March 30 statement published by the official Korean Central News Agency said "no one can see an inch ahead as regards the destiny" of Kaesong. It characterized the continued existence of the industrial park as a "very unusual thing" in light of tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
About 120 South Korean companies operate factories in Kaesong which produced $470 million of goods such as clocks, clothing and shoes last year that are trucked back to the South for export to other countries. The industrial park is crucial for the small businesses that operate there to take advantage of North Korea's low wages but not important for the South Korean economy overall.
It has more significance to cash-strapped North Korea since, according to the South Korean government, wages for North Korean workers totaled some $81 million last year. On top of that, nearly all the trade between the Koreas, which totaled $2 billion in 2012, passed through Kaesong. North Korea appearing to act against its own interests with Kaesong has underlined the risks that its brinkmanship will result in a miscalculation that could result in an even more dangerous polarization of the Korean Peninsula.
Barring entry to South Koreas is a "slap in the face" after the South Korean government recently extended medical aid to the North, said Lee Choon-kun, a North Korea researcher at the Korea Economic Research Institute, a Seoul-based think tank. "I see this as a start for more provocative actions," he said.
"The North has made too many threats to stop short of any real action," he said.
Kaesong, initially conceived as a test case for reunification and reconciliation, also provides an irksome reminder for North Korea that what it lacks, the South has in abundance ? material prosperity. An enormous gap emerged between the two Koreas in the decades after the Korean War as the South embraced a form of state-directed capitalism while the North adhered to communist central planning.
Every morning, North Korean workers commute to the complex on the edge of Kaesong on South Korean-made Hyundai buses. Once inside the gates of the complex, it's a world apart. The paved streets and sidewalks are marked with South Korean traffic signals and signs and the parking lots are filled with the Hyundai, Samsung and KIA cars driven by South Korean managers.
Inside several factories visited by The Associated Press last year, the posters on the walls are not party slogans but safety warnings. "Beware of fires," read one; "Wash your hands" read another. While most factories in North Korea are drafty, and few have running water, the facilities in Kaesong are equipped with hot water, flush toilets and air conditioners.
In the rest of the Korean Peninsula, it is illegal for Koreans from North and South to interact without government permission. But inside Kaesong, North Korean workers work side by side with South Korean managers, discussing orders and mapping out production.
However, they tend not to socialize with one another. At most factories, North Korean workers eat their meals in cafeterias that serve basic stews and rice while the South Koreans dine separately.
Park Yun-kyu, who heads a men's apparel maker that employs 700 North Korean workers in Kaesong, said he was worried he couldn't send fresh food to his eight South Korean workers there.
"They were working normally when I called them in the morning," said Park, who returned to Seoul after being refused entry into Kaesong. "The problem is food. I hope North Korea would at least let us send food. We have to send food and some materials for production every day."
___
Associated Press writers Charles Hutzler in Beijing and Foster Klug, Hyung-jin Kim, Jean H. Lee, Sam Kim and Youkyung Lee in Seoul contributed to this report.
___
Follow Klug at twitter.com/APKlug, Sam Kim at twitter.com/samkim_ap, Youkyung Lee at twitter.com/YKLeeAP and Jean Lee at twitter.com/newsjean.
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Rising temperature difference between hemispheres could dramatically shift tropical rain patterns
Rising temperature difference between hemispheres could dramatically shift tropical rain patterns
Wednesday, April 3, 2013One often ignored consequence of global climate change is that the Northern Hemisphere is becoming warmer than the Southern Hemisphere, which could significantly alter tropical precipitation patterns, according to a new study by climatologists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Washington, Seattle.
Such a shift could increase or decrease seasonal rainfall in areas such as the Amazon, sub-Saharan Africa or East Asia, leaving some areas wetter and some drier than today.
"A key finding is a tendency to shift tropical rainfall northward, which could mean increases in monsoon weather systems in Asia or shifts of the wet season from south to north in Africa and South America," said UC Berkeley graduate student Andrew R. Friedman, who led the analysis.
"Tropical rainfall likes the warmer hemisphere," summed up John Chiang, UC Berkeley associate professor of geography and a member of the Berkeley Atmospheric Sciences Center. "As a result, tropical rainfall cares a lot about the temperature difference between the two hemispheres."
Chiang and Friedman, along with University of Washington colleagues Dargan M. W. Frierson and graduate student Yen-Ting Hwang, report their findings in a paper now accepted by the Journal of Climate, a publication of the American Meteorological Society. It will appear in an upcoming issue.
Generally, rainfall patterns fall into bands at specific latitudes, such as the Intertropical Convergence Zone. The researchers say that a warmer northern hemisphere causes atmospheric overturning to weaken in the north and strengthen in the south, shifting rain bands northward.
The regions most affected by this shift are likely to be on the bands' north and south edges, Frierson said.
"It really is these borderline regions that will be most affected, which, not coincidentally, are some of the most vulnerable places: areas like the Sahel where rainfall is variable from year to year and the people tend to be dependent on subsistence agriculture," said Frierson, associate professor of atmospheric sciences. "We are making major climate changes to the planet and to expect that rainfall patterns would stay the same is very na?ve."
20th century rainfall patterns
Many discussions of climate change focus on long-term trends in the average global temperature. The UC Berkeley and University of Washington researchers went a step further to determine how the temperature difference between the two hemispheres changed over the last century and how that may have affected tropical rainfall patterns.
Using more than 100 years of data and model simulations, they compared the yearly average temperature difference between the Northern and Southern hemispheres with rainfall throughout the 20th century and noticed that abrupt changes coincided with rainfall disruptions in the equatorial tropics.
The largest was a drop of about one-quarter degree Celsius (about one-half degree Fahrenheit) in the temperature difference in the late 1960s, which coincided with a 30-year drought in the African Sahel that caused famines and increased desertification across North Africa, as well as decreases in the monsoons in East Asia and India.
"If what we see in the last century is true, even small changes in the temperature difference between the Northern and Southern hemispheres could cause measureable changes in tropical rainfall," Chiang said.
This bodes ill for the future, he said. The team found that most computer models simulating past and future climate predict a steadily rising interhemispheric temperature difference through the end of the century. Even if humans begin to lower their greenhouse gas emissions, the models predict about a 1 degree Celsius (2? F) increase in this difference by 2099.
Impact of the Clean Air Act
While the average temperature of the Earth is increasing as a result of dramatic increases in atmospheric greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, the Earth is not warming uniformly. In particular, the greater amount of land mass in the north warms up faster than the ocean-dominated south, Chiang said. Yet, even though greenhouse gas warming of Earth has been going up since the 19th century, his team found no significant overall upward or downward trend in interhemispheric temperature differences last century until a steady increase beginning in the 1980s.
The researchers attribute this to human emissions of aerosols, in particular sulfates ? from coal-burning power plants, for example ? which cooled the Northern Hemisphere and apparently counteracted the warming effect of rising greenhouse gases until the 1970 U.S. Clean Air Act led to a downward trend in sulfur emissions. The act reduced pollution and saved more than 200,000 lives and prevented some 700,000 cases of chronic bronchitis, according to 2010 figures from the Environmental Protection Agency.
"Greenhouse gases and aerosols act in opposite directions, so for much of the 20th century they essentially canceled one another out in the Northern Hemisphere," Chiang said. "When we started cleaning up aerosols we essentially leveled off the aerosol influence and allowed the greenhouse gases to express themselves."
Chiang and his colleagues argue that climate scientists should not only focus on the rising global mean temperature, but also the regional patterns of global warming. As their study shows, the interhemispheric temperature difference has an apparent impact on atmospheric circulation and rainfall in the tropics.
"Global mean temperature is great for detecting climate change, but it is not terribly useful if you want to know what is happening to rainfall over California, for example," Chiang said. "We think this simple index, interhemispheric temperature, is very relevant on a hemispheric and perhaps regional level. It provides a different perspective on climate change and also highlights the effect of aerosols on weather patterns."
###
University of California - Berkeley: http://www.berkeley.edu
Thanks to University of California - Berkeley for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
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Wednesday, April 3, 2013
"Monsignor Meth" admits to drug possession charge
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) ? A suspended Roman Catholic priest accused of making more than $300,000 in methamphetamine sales out of his Connecticut apartment while running an adult video and sex toy shop pleaded guilty Tuesday to a federal drug charge.
Kevin Wallin, 61, of Waterbury, admitted to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine and was scheduled to be sentenced June 25. The prosecution and defense agreed on a sentence of 11 to 14 years in prison.
Prosecutors said the 61-year-old Wallin had meth mailed to him from co-conspirators in California and sold the drugs out of his Waterbury apartment last year. He also bought an adult video and sex toy shop in North Haven named Land of Oz & Dorothy's Place, apparently to launder the drug money, authorities said.
Wearing a beige prison jumpsuit and sporting a goatee and close-cropped hair, Wallin acknowledged in court that the drug operation involved nearly four pounds of methamphetamine. He said "yes" several times as the judge asked whether he understood the consequences of his plea.
Wallin, former pastor at St. Augustine Parish in Bridgeport, appeared to have no supporters in the courtroom. He was led out of the room in handcuffs and remains detained.
Charges against four other people arrested in the case are pending.
"We're glad to have resolved this part of the case," Connecticut U.S. Attorney David B. Fein said outside the courtroom. "It's a serious conspiracy charge involving a very dangerous drug."
Wallin's public defender, Kelly Barrett, declined to comment.
Dubbed in some media as "Monsignor Meth," Wallin was pastor of St. Augustine Parish for nine years until he resigned in June 2011, citing health and personal reasons. He previously served six years as pastor of St. Peter's Church in Danbury until 2002.
"Msgr. Wallin's guilty plea represents an important step in his coming to terms with his own actions and their impact on others," the Diocese of Bridgeport said in a statement. "It is a difficult moment for all of us but we hope it is also the first step in rebuilding his life. We pray that he moves toward healing and wholeness."
The diocese had suspended him from public ministry last May amid concerns by church officials about a number of problems with Wallin, including sexually inappropriate behavior with other men in the church rectory, Wallace said. Church leaders weren't aware of Wallin's involvement with drugs at the time of the suspension, diocese spokesman Brian D. Wallace said.
Wallace said Wallin now faces the prospect of removal from the priesthood by the Vatican, a process called laicization.
Wallin was arrested in January, and a grand jury indicted him and four other people on drug charges.
An undercover officer bought meth from Wallin six times from Sept. 20 to Jan. 2, paying more than $3,400 in total for 23 grams of the drug, authorities said.
Federal agents said they learned through wiretaps and informants about other sales Wallin was making.
On social media, people couldn't help but compare Wallin with Walter White, the main character on the TV show "Breaking Bad," who was making so much cash that he and his wife bought a car wash to launder their profits.
Also charged in the case were Kenneth Devries of Waterbury; Michael Nelson of Manchester; Chad McCluskey of San Clemente, Calif.; and Kristen Laschober of Laguna Niguel, Calif. Authorities say McCluskey and Laschober were involved in the shipping of methamphetamine to Wallin.
All four of those defendants have pleaded not guilty.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/suspended-conn-priest-admits-meth-charge-151427977.html
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look at the birdie: easter swap
I joined in on my first swap- I was so jealous of all the goodies being traded ?for valentines day that I had to get in on the easter fun!?
I joined Sandy's?swap from 521 LakeStreet..her blog is one of my favs!! This little vintage card went to my swap partner Jenny?from jenny's heart I feel so bad- Jennys first box to me got LOST!! Can you even believe it? Ugh- I felt awful- all the time spent one the package and the money.. I was so bummed for both of us but especially her- being the sweetheart she is- she sent me another box! I couldnt believe it - how generous! Thanks again Jenny- Your heart is so sweet!?this is the spoolie she made me
?my box of goodies- I thought the easter family was so thoughtful- some easter crafts supplies- tons of candy- a pink basket and a banner!
?this is the spoolie I sent Jenny
her box included lots of cupcake themed stuff which she collects- I made her a crocheted washcloth and a felt pin- crafting supplies- and some other goodiesI will most definitely join more swaps! I have found some off my favorite blogs- ?Thank you?Erica?From Golden Egg Vintage for opening the doors to this wonderful circle of vintage blogs/friends! She has helped me a ton and been a fun new friend!
-birdie
Source: http://lookatthebirdie-harriette.blogspot.com/2013/04/easter-swap.html
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