The outbreak of killer E. coli that has spread to 12 countries and killed 19 people may be linked to a Hamburg festival in May. The festival drew 1.5 million visitors from Germany and abroad, and the first reported case of E. coli infection followed just a week later in the city's university hospital. German authorities were still warning consumers off raw vegetables, despite the EU's Reference Laboratory for E. coli saying scientific tests had failed to support a link to the outbreak.
Faced with uncertainty over the source of the outbreak, reports said police were INVESTIGATING A POSSIBLE DELIBERATE ACT and were checking two restaurants in the northern town of Lubeck, one in which 17 diners fell ill and another in which eight women were sickened. On Thursday, German authorities said the number of new infections appeared to be stabilising. But "we are dealing here... with the biggest epidemic caused by bacteria in recent decades."
All but one of the fatalities since the outbreak of enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC) poisoning began last month have occurred in Germany. A patient who died in Sweden had recently returned from Germany.
Regional German health authorities have reported more than 2000 cases of people falling ill with EHEC poisoning, with symptoms including stomach cramps, diarrhoea, fever and vomiting. The fact that a large majority are female suggests that the source is "probably something that women prefer more than men". The outbreak was "THE LARGEST EPIDEMIC OF HUS TO HAVE OCCURRED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD."
Britain confirmed four more cases of poisoning, bringing the total number of infected in the country to 11. Each is related to German travel and three of the patients have HUS. The cucumber advisory, retracted this week, left tens of thousands of tonnes of Spanish produce unsold, costing Spanish growers an estimated €200 million ($272.15 million) a week. With no clarity on the source of the mysterious bacteria, the outbreak has led some countries such as Russia and Lebanon to ban vegetables from the EU, in moves criticised by the 27-member bloc.
police are searching for eighteen hardened criminals.**
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.1 FIJI REGION
5.9 FIJI REGION
6.4 WEST OF MACQUARIE ISLAND
5.5 MAULE, CHILE
5.2 NEW IRELAND REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 GUAM REGION
Yesterday -
6/4/11 -
5.2 NORTHERN PERU
5.2 VANUATU
6/3/11 -
5.6 NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
5.1 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.1 LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.1 LOYALTY ISLANDS
5.0 SIKKIM, INDIA
5.0 WESTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
5.4 EASTERN HONSHU, JAPAN
6.5 OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
VOLCANOES -
CHILE - A chain of volcanoes has erupted in southern Chile, forcing the evacuation of thousands of residents. Large columns of smoke have been rising from the Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle volcano range, about 800km (500 miles) south of the capital Santiago. Witnesses also reported a strong smell of ash and sulphur. A dozen small earthquakes were recorded before the eruption began. The officials have issued a red alert - the maximum warning level for the area. So far there have been no reports of any injuries. However, ash clouds have drifted to neighbouring Argentina where officials have ordered residents to stay indoors. A regional airport in the Argentine city of Bariloche has been closed due to the volcanic ash. An eyewitness said she saw "big black clouds hanging over the Andes" and ash dust lying on the road. It is THE FIRST TIME SINCE 1960 THAT THE VOLCANIC CHAIN HAS ERUPTED. Chile is one of the most volcanic countries in the world. Chile's chain of about 2000 volcanoes is the world's second largest after Indonesia.
MEXICO - Popocatepetl Volcano blasts tower of ash near Mexico City. The Popocatepetl volcano that towers over Mexico City began rumbling again Friday, shooting a blast of ash about 2 miles above its crater at dawn. The ash cloud drifted first to the west and then turned back east toward the city of Puebla. The mountain shook for several minutes before the ash burst out. The crater is about 40 miles southeast of Mexico's capital. The cloud "has a high ash content, but it doesn't represent a risk. A little ash could fall in Puebla city."
TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical storms.
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
U.S. - Evacuations grew from North Dakota through Nebraska along the Missouri River on Saturday as officials accelerated water releases from near capacity reservoirs swelled by heavy rains and a melting snowpack. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has stepped up flows from dams in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota and the U.S. Coast Guard has closed a more than 180-mile stretch of the river from near Sioux City, Iowa, south due to high water. More than 400 residents had left upscale riverside neighborhoods in Bismarck, North Dakota, by Saturday and hundreds of homes in affluent Dakota Dunes, South Dakota, were sealed in anticipation of waters reaching newly built levees. Officials stopped short of mandatory evacuations in South Dakota. Up to 3,000 Pierre and Fort Pierre residents in the central part of the state and more than 800 of the 1,100 homes over 250 miles away in Dakota Dunes are threatened. In Nebraska, at least several hundred Nebraska residents were leaving flood-threatened parts of South Sioux City, Decatur, and Fort Calhoun.
RECORD AMOUNTS OF WATER have been released from reservoirs, and as a result river levels are expected to remain several feet higher until well into July. "It's a 70-mile fight in South Dakota." Water was seeping into backyards and basements in the Pierre and nearby Fort Pierre areas. "We are quite optimistic about the levee system and our pumping operation will keep people as dry as we possibly can."
Farther downstream, the river was swelling beyond its banks in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri and officials braced for evacuations and built levees. The maximum planned release rates could push the river up to seven feet above flood stage at Sioux City, Omaha and Kansas City. "The Missouri River, from wherever it touches Nebraska, is creating problems for us."
The director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources called the flooding UNPRECEDENTED and the outlook unclear, due to the releases from the reservoirs. "We have never seen these kinds of releases from Gavin's Point. There is no exact date, all we can do is watch and be prepared." The river is expected to continue to rise rapidly in Pierre until Tuesday, when controlled U.S. Army Corps of Engineers releases from the Oahe Dam above the city are planned to reach maximum levels. Those levels may hold for weeks.
In Montana, the Corps has increased water flows from Fort Peck Dam and widespread flooding of tributaries has forced hundreds of evacuations and inundated several smaller cities. The Missouri River basin forms the northwest section of the Mississippi River system that stretches from the Rockies to western New York in the north and funnels water down through Louisiana to the Gulf of Mexico.
EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / WILDFIRES / CLIMATE CHANGE -
Huge wildfire in Arizona - ONE OF THE LARGEST WILDFIRES IN ARIZONA HISTORY is torching cabins, forcing people to flee in the middle of the night, and sending smoke 200 miles away, as other fires burned in several Western states that did not immediately threaten any buildings. The Wallow fire has burned 165 square miles (105,600 acres) making it the fourth-largest wildfire in state history. The Rodeo-Chediski fire burned 469,000 acres in 2002, the Cave Creek complex fire burned 248,000 acres in 2005, and the Willow fire burned 120,000 acres in 2004. Residents in the scenic mountain community of Alpine were ordered to pack up and leave on Thursday night. Smoke from the Alpine fire is carrying all the way to Albuquerque, more than 200 miles to the northeast.
It is a dramatic tale: that illegal immigrants being pursued by the Border Patrol started one of the nation’s largest wildfires, which has burned up more than 70,000 acres of national forest along Arizona’s border with Mexico since it began almost four weeks ago. Most border crossings occur at night, when it is cold in the mountains and the migrants are likely to start fires for warmth. With the high winds, low humidity and extremely dry conditions in the forest right now, the likelihood of a campfire getting out of control is especially great. But the authorities say that despite the tale being repeated often by some residents of the rugged countryside here, they do not know for sure if it is true. The fire is now 75 percent contained, firefighters said Wednesday, as smoke from controlled burns billowed up into the clouds. The cost of the firefighting operation exceeds $20 million.
