-Caveat Lector- Quickening News for Wednesday, September 15, 1999 EARTHQUAKE: List / Deadly Aftershock in Turkey / Major quake rocks southern Bolivia, no injuries reported / Iran Shaken by Quake / Tremor Hits Southwest China / WORLD WEATHER: Thousands homeless after Ghana hit by torrential rains / Tropical Storms York and Zia - Heat Deaths in Hong Kong / Floods make 50,000 homeless in north Sudan / Hurricane Floyd inflicts its fury on the Bahamas - In the Bahamas, Floyd sweeps away entire village / Spanish Rains Kill 3 / Typhoon York slams into Hong Kong / U.S. WEATHER: Floyd strikes land near Cape Fear, North Carolina / WILDFIRES/TSUNAMI/MUDSLIDES/AVALANCHE: Philippine Landslide Kills 10 / HEALTH: E coli apparently sickens 313 in Illinois / AIDS epidemic replaces war as Africa's 'killing field' / ENVIRONMENT: First California Killer Bee Death / Midwest Mercury Levels Unsafe / SPACE/TECHNOLOGY/SCIENCE/Y2K: Solar Activity / WORLD STRESS: Apparent truck bomb kills 13 in southern Russia / SOCIAL UNREST: Church gunman kills 7, self, in Texas / FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK: Just a short note... ------------------- EARTHQUAKE* [EDITOR'S NOTE: The monthly statistics will be more accurate as to number of quakes, mag. and time.] There were (preliminary) 17 quakes since the last login of 3.0 mag. or higher. The highest being 6.4 0 = 7. , 1 = 6. , 3 = 5. , 8 = 4. , 2 of the quakes in the U.S. The highest being 3.9 99/09/15 20:39:09.7 095.8--4.0--FOX ISLS, ALEUTIAN ISLS 99/09/15 19:38:58.2 029.4--4.7--KURIL ISLS 99/09/15 09:58:36.0 183.4--4.1--CENTRAL PERU 99/09/15 08:10:01.0 000.0--4.6--COAST OF CENTRAL AMERICA 99/09/15 03:01:07.4 215.2--6.4--S BOLIVIA 99/09/14 22:17:34.2 173.8--5.3--MARIANA ISLS 99/09/14 15:47:26.2 304.3--4.7--S ITALY 99/09/14 12:54:46.2 154.1--4.2--SICHUAN, CHINA 99/09/14 12:23:44.0 033.0--5.2--VOLCANO ISLS RGN 99/09/14 11:57:14.0 004.8--3.2--CALIF-NEVADA BDR RGN 99/09/14 09:01:58.0 068.7--3.9--CENTRAL ALASKA 99/09/14 05:44:30.4 037.8--4.3--FOX ISLS, ALEUTIAN ISLS 99/09/14 04:01:22.0 033.0--5.7--S SANDWICH ISLS RGN 99/09/14 02:03:41.3 049.4--4.2--COAST OF GUATEMALA ------------------- DEADLY AFTERSHOCK IN TURKEY Earth Alert http://www.discovery.com/news/earthalert/earthalert.html Sept. 14, 1999 - At least seven people were killed and 420 others injured when a powerful aftershock rumbled through earthquake-devastated western Turkey on Monday. The magnitude 5.8 quake, centered in the city of Izmit, struck at 2:55 p.m., spreading panic throughout the region. Three of the victims were killed in the city of Golcuk when the vehicle in which they were traveling was crushed by falling masonry. One other woman died of a heart attack brought on by the shaking. Many people suffered broken bones while trying to flee from buildings as they jumped from balconies or out of windows. Others were buried in fallen debris. Rescue squads were rushed to the area by helicopter to help to save those trapped. Disaster officials said that at least 29 buildings, which were weakened by the magnitude 7.4 temblor on Aug. 17, were leveled during Monday's quake. At least 20 people in Golcuk were trapped under rubble. Many residents went to local hospitals to try to get news of family members who were missing. Frightened parents rushed to schools, which were opened again on Monday after summer vacation, to retrieve their children. Seismologists said the aftershocks could continue for anywhere from one to three years after the powerful quake, but that they would diminish with time. ------------------- MAJOR QUAKE ROCKS SOUTHERN BOLIVIA, NO INJURIES REPORTED September 15, 1999 Web posted at: 7:37 AM EDT (1137 GMT) LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) -- A major earthquake rocked the south of Bolivia near the border with Argentina but no injuries were reported, a Bolivian seismologist said on Wednesday. The earthquake registered six on the Richter scale but its focus, or hypocenter, was 185 miles (300 km) below the earth's surface. The quake hit at 11:01 p.m. local time on Tuesday (0301 GMT on Wednesday) near the border town of Villazon, some 680 miles (1,100 km) south of the capital La Paz, San Calixto Seismology Observatory Director Lawrence Drake told Reuters. "It was felt, but there were no reports of injuries," Drake said. A quake with a force of six on the Richter scale can cause widespread damage in a populated area but this quake was centered in a relatively uninhabited, mountainous area. "Everything was shaking, furniture moved around and the lights went out but we haven't heard of any injuries," one witness in Tarija told Reuters. Tarija is about 120 miles (200 km) northwest of the epicenter, or the point on the earth's surface directly above the earthquake's focus. Another witness said residents of Tarija ran out into the streets when they felt the earthquake. The last quake to strike Bolivia was on May 22, 1998, in the rural region of Aiquile, in the center of the country. That one, with a magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale, killed hundreds of people and destroyed about 2,000 homes. The U.S. Geological Survey's Web site on earthquake information reported the earthquake's magnitude as 6.1 on the Richter scale and said it was some 133 miles (214 km) below the surface. The Strasbourg, France-based Institute de Physique du Globe said the quake showed a magnitude of six to 6.4 on the Richter scale. A major earthquake is considered to be seven to 7.99 on the Richter scale, a formula for measuring the strength of a quake. ------------------- IRAN SHAKEN BY QUAKE Earth Alert http://www.discovery.com/news/earthalert/earthalert.html Sept. 15, 1999 - A magnitude 4.7 earthquake shook cities in central Iran on Tuesday at 4:02 a.m. local time, panicking residents and cracking walls and windows. There were no immediate reports of injuries, but at least 20 homes were damaged by the shaking. The tremor struck the province of Chahar Mahal va Bakhtiari and was centered 30 miles from the city of Borujen. The region is located about 250 miles southwest of Tehran. ------------------- TREMOR HITS SOUTHWEST CHINA Earth Alert http://www.discovery.com/news/earthalert/earthalert.html Sept. 15, 1999 - A magnitude 5.0 earthquake rocked China's southwestern Sichuan Province on Tuesday at 6:54 p.m. local time, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage. The quake was centered in the city of Mianzhu and was also felt in Chengdu, the capital city of the province. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Emergency Food Supplies -- For the best in portable water filters and Survival Food at a low cost, click on: http://cyberstage.net/survival.html =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ***** WORLD WEATHER* THOUSANDS HOMELESS AFTER GHANA HIT BY TORRENTIAL RAINS CNN News http://cnn.com September 14, 1999 Web posted at: 1:27 PM EDT (1727 GMT) ACCRA, Ghana (AP) -- A week of torrential rainfall has devastated vast tracts of farmland and left thousands homeless in Ghana's east and northern regions, the government announced. Over 9,000 people were left homeless after the rains caused flooding and three dams to overflow, submerging several villages, Thomas Abilla, a senior government disaster official told a visiting delegation from the capital Accra on Sunday. The unusually severe downpour that fell over the affected areas last week also caused the collapse of a major bridge linking Ghana to its northern neighbor, Burkina Faso, disrupting a vital land route for the transportation of goods from Ghana's ports, he said. There were also reports of 48 deaths last week from a cholera outbreak triggered by deteriorating sanitation conditions, Abilla said. Assistance is urgently needed to enable rescue workers to relocate flood victims from temporary shelters in local schools, Abilla said. ------------------- TROPICAL STORMS YORK AND ZIA Earth Alert http://www.discovery.com/news/earthalert/earthalert.html Sept. 14, 1999 - Tropical Storm York formed in the western Pacific early Tuesday and picked up strength between the Philippines and the Chinese mainland as it moved toward Hong Kong at 10 mph, where it is predicted to make landfall on Wednesday. York was packing winds of 51 mph as it moved on a west-northwesterly course. Zia became a tropical storm on Tuesday as it moved at 18 mph on a northwesterly course toward the southern tip of Japan, packing winds of 51 mph. The storm is predicted to make landfall by midday Tuesday. *-*-* HEAT DEATHS IN HONG KONG Earth Alert http://www.discovery.com/news/earthalert/earthalert.html Sept. 15, 1999 - Three people in Hong Kong have died from heatstroke and numerous others have fallen ill as the approach of Tropical Storm York slowed winds and trapped heat and pollution in the atmosphere. Three people remained hospitalized early Monday, including one man who was in critical condition. Hong Kong harbor was blanketed in heavy smog on Monday and air pollution in the downtown area reached health-threatening levels. Residents with heart and respiratory problems were warned to stay indoors and avoid strenuous activities. Temperatures soared to 97 degrees Fahrenheit in some areas during the past weekend, but the heat did not abate as wind speeds became extremely low ahead of the tropical storm. ------------------- FLOODS MAKE 50,000 HOMELESS IN NORTH SUDAN CNN News http://cnn.com September 15, 1999 Web posted at: 6:56 AM EDT (1056 GMT) KHARTOUM, Sudan (Reuters) -- Flash floods have made more than 50,000 people homeless and cut off power and water supplies and telephones in the northern Sudanese town of Dongola, newspapers reported on Wednesday. The privately-owned Al-Sahafa daily quoted flood committee officials as warning of the danger of an epidemic from drinking water polluted by sewage and asking for donations to supply food, drugs, tents and drinking water. The town, 450 km (280 miles) northwest of Khartoum, has a population of about 150,000. The newspaper said 8,115 houses, 320 shops, 32 food stores, 23 public corporations, 163 government houses, six mosques and 22 schools and nurseries as well as part of the local university had been destroyed. State radio said on Wednesday a Sudan Airways plane had flown food and other items valued at 50 million Sudanese pounds ($20,000) to Dongola. The airline promised to fly relief aid without charge to the town from anywhere in Sudan or abroad. The privately-owned Al-Rai Al-Akher daily quoted Izzeddin Ibrahim, head of the higher flood committee, as saying that damage to the Nile embankment in Dongola had been repaired after it had broken twice in the last four days. There were no rains in the area and the Nile river had been receding throughout Sudan, he was quoted as saying. European ambassadors in Sudan, including those of France, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, were reported to be travelling to Dongola on Wednesday, accompanied by Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail, to assess humanitarian needs. ------------------- HURRICANE FLOYD INFLICTS ITS FURY ON THE BAHAMAS CNN News http://cnn.com September 15, 1999 Web posted at: 7:38 AM EDT (1138 GMT) NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) -- Residents and tourists in Nassau began venturing outside after a day spent in shelters, boarded-up homes and hotel lobbies as Hurricane Floyd clobbered the vulnerable Bahamas on a steady march towards the southeastern United States. Meanwhile, President Bill Clinton issued pre-emptive disaster declarations for Florida and Georgia, enabling state and local governments to begin recovery efforts as early as possible. Nearly 2 million people have been urged to leave the storm's path. Trees blocked the main highway linking the island's east and center, and two barges were washed ashore near main street. LOVE-FM radio reported an unmanned barge in nearby Arawak Cay Harbor came loose from its moorings and was floating around. There were reports of flooding up to 3 feet (one meter) high in some areas. Several people including one who fell off a roof were being treated for minor injuries at Princess Margaret Public Hospital, ZNF government radio reported. No other information on injuries was immediately available. It was difficult to estimate the extent of the damage elsewhere, because the hurricane knocked out phone lines to most of the populated islands and they remained down even as Floyd was poised to leave the Bahamas. At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT), the storm's center was located about 110 miles (177 kilometers) east-southeast of Cape Canaveral. Floyd was moving northwest near 14 mph (23 kph), and a turn to the north and increase in speed was expected later Wednesday. *-*-* IN THE BAHAMAS, FLOYD SWEEPS AWAY ENTIRE VILLAGE -- September 16, 1999 _ NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) -- An entire village swept out to sea. Homes smashed to pieces. Half of one island's cemetery washed away. Boats torn apart. Bahamians on Wednesday began assessing the cost of a 12-hour battering from Hurricane Floyd, but the full extent of the storm's damage was not known: Reports were not available from several islands still without communications. In Nassau, the capital on New Providence Island, airline and telephone service was restored Wednesday and the most visible damage was uprooted trees. Many Nassau residents counted their blessings as reports came in of the destruction on near and far-flung islands. "The whole settlement of Crossing Rock was swept away," said senior officer Chris Lloyd, of the Bahamas Air Sea Rescue Association. Residents of the village -- on Abaco Island, 60 miles north of Nassau -- had all been evacuated earlier Lloyd said there were reports of one presumed death -- a man who was missing in northern Grand Bahama, one of three islands in an archipelago of 600 that took a direct hit. ABACO, SMALLER ISLANDS BADLY DAMAGED Several people were treated for minor injuries, including a man on Providence Island who fell from a roof he was trying to prepare for the hurricane. At least two people were hit by projectiles flung through the air during the storm. Great Abaco and tiny keys that ring its eastern periphery, including Man-O-War, Green Turtle and Elbow Cay, sustained "extreme" damage, Lloyd said. Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, accompanied by U.S. Ambassador Arthur Schechter, flew to outlying islands Wednesday to inspect storm damage. Entire neighborhoods on Abaco were flooded by storm surges whipped up by wind gusts up to 190 mph (305 km/h), Lloyd said. In Marsh Harbour, the main town on Abaco, wooden homes were flattened and reduced to debris. A U.S. Coast Guard pilot said it looked like one in 10 houses were destroyed in one neighborhood of Marsh Harbour, which was first settled by 600 loyalist officers escaping the American Revolution in 1783. On the hard-hit eastern island of San Salvador, Club Med officials were trying to charter aircraft to evacuate 380 tourists who rode out the storm at the resort, which like many hotels was running on generator power. San Salvador's Riding Rock Inn, one of the four biggest employers on the island, sustained substantial damage, government ZNS radio reported. But most hotels reported only minor damage, including the sprawling Atlantis resort on Paradise Island, across a bridge from Nassau. STRANDED TOURISTS SEEK WAY HOME Impatient tourists headed to Nassau's airport hours before it reopened Wednesday. One group of Americans chartered a plane in Fort Lauderdale to come get them. Local charters were booked up or not operating. On northern Eleuthera island, where winds reached 110 mph (165 km/h) Tuesday, many homes were without roofs and half the cemetery was washed away. Boats on Eleuthera, 100 miles east of Nassau, were tossed like toys onto the shore. In Nassau, curious onlookers gathered at a wharf where two freighters were beached. Residents in the capital shoveled sand from homes, removed uprooted trees from streets and congratulated themselves on preparing well. ------------------- SPANISH RAINS KILL 3 Earth Alert http://www.discovery.com/news/earthalert/earthalert.html Sept. 15, 1999 - Three people in Spain have been killed in the pounding rainstorms the country has endured over the past few days. A Catholic priest was drowned on Tuesday when his car was carried away by the swift currents of flash floods in the city of Cuence east of Madrid. Two women died on Monday in traffic accidents caused by severe hailstorms in the northern region of Aragon. The rains also flooded basements and caused interruptions in power throughout the area. ------------------- TYPHOON YORK SLAMS INTO HONG KONG CNN News http://cnn.com September 16, 1999 Web posted at: 4:49 p.m. HKT (0849 GMT) HONG KONG (CNN) -- Typhoon York slammed into Hong Kong Thursday with driving rains and fierce winds of up to 150 km/h (93 mph) that left one person dead and at least 215 injured in its wake. The typhoon -- the most powerful tropical storm to hit Hong Kong since Typhoon Ellen struck in 1983 -- forced the closure of schools, financial markets and most businesses. One man died after being struck by debris and 116 others were taken to hospitals with injuries related to the storm, a government spokesman said. Officials opened 33 temporary emergency shelters and said nearly 500 people had sought refuge. There were scattered power outages, with some remote villages in rural New Territories cut off. Typhoon York was whipped up by "dramatic changes in strength and direction of wind," said K.M. Leung, senior scientific officer at the Hong Kong Observatory. The observatory raised a No. 10 hurricane signal, the strongest warning Hong Kong meteorologists issue during tropical storms. At least 40 roads were closed, mostly from fallen trees or debris, but others were closed because they were littered with thousands of shards of glass after window panes came plunging down from office buildings. "I've never seen so much broken glass in my life," said officer worker Sherri Wu. SAILORS PLUCKED FROM HIGH SEAS Dozens of airline flights were canceled or delayed, and ferry service to outlying islands was shut down. Fishing boats scurried for cover. A government helicopter plucked to safety five crew members of a sinking Chinese freighter near Hong Kong. Rescuers also pulled residents out of flooded homes and elevators stranded between floors by power cuts. At 2 p.m. local time (0600 GMT), the eye of the typhoon was located about 40 kilometers (25 miles) west-southwest of Hong Kong, and was moving west-northwest at about 10 km/h (6 mph) toward the mouth of China's Pearl River. York was the second bad storm for Hong Kong in less than four weeks. On August 22, when Typhoon Sam struck, a China Airlines jet flipped over while landing at the territory's Chek Lap Kok airport, killing three out of 315 on board. ***** U.S. WEATHER* FLOYD STRIKES LAND NEAR CAPE FEAR, NORTH CAROLINA CNN News http://cnn.com September 16, 1999 Web posted at: 3:54 a.m. EDT (0754 GMT) WILMINGTON, North Carolina (CNN) -- Hurricane Floyd swept ashore near Cape Fear early Thursday morning, pounding the North Carolina coast with 110-mph winds and an 11-foot wall of water. At 3 a.m., Floyd struck the shore about 25 miles south of Wilmington, North Carolina, where the storm already had dumped more than 14 inches of rain. The storm remained a Category 2 hurricane as it moved north-northeast at 20 mph, and forecasters expected it to pick up speed as the day continued. Its top winds slipped from 115 mph to 110 early Thursday, dropping it from a Category 3 to a Category 2 storm. Floyd knocked out power to more than 230,000 homes, flooding streets with waist-high water and spawning tornadoes that destroyed at least one home in a region slapped by Hurricane Dennis just weeks ago. Hurricane-force winds extended more than 115 miles from the eye as Floyd moved inland after driving more than 2.5 million people from the East Coast. "It is still quite large," said Jack Beven, a hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami. "We will have hurricane-force and tropical storm-force winds covering a large area." Floyd has been blamed for two deaths in North Carolina, plus one in the Bahamas. It was expected to hit the Carolinas with triple-digit winds and a storm surge up to 11 feet. ***** WILDFIRE/TSUNAMI/MUDSLIDES/AVALANCHE* PHILIPPINE LANDSLIDE KILLS 10 Earth Alert http://www.discovery.com/news/earthalert/earthalert.html Sept. 14, 1999 - A van carrying at least 14 commuters was buried by a landslide triggered by torrential rains on a mountainous Philippine road on Monday. Part of a mountainside, weakened by days of rain, gave way and slid across the road in the city of Tuba, about 130 miles north of Manila. Rescuers were able to extract one survivor, a teenage girl, from the wreckage. Ten other bodies were recovered, but police and firefighters had to battle heavy rain searching for other survivors beneath the mud and boulders. An ongoing storm has been drenching the region since the end of last week, causing flash flooding in many areas of the northern island of Luzon, including the city of Manila. ***** =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= M.O.M. - Maples Osage Membership, Kansas Country. Looking for a few good members. Classes in optimum nutrition, stress reduction and longevity -- Natural living methods only. -- Contact us at http://www.terraworld.net/wahshashi or call (316) 743-4131 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= HEALTH* E. COLI APPARENTLY SICKENS 313 IN ILLINOIS Copyright © 1999 Nando Media Copyright © 1999 Associated Press SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (September 15, 1999 10:08 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - The number of people with symptoms linked to a central Illinois E. coli outbreak has reached 313, authorities said Wednesday. Twenty-two of those 313 have been hospitalized. Of the 313 people with E. coli symptoms, 44 have been tested and confirmed as having E. coli, the state Public Health Department said. Most of the people apparently were exposed to the bacteria at a party held Labor Day weekend in a cow pasture near Petersburg, about 25 miles northwest of Springfield. About 1,800 people attended the event. The source of the E. coli contamination is still unknown. The health department has conducted more than 600 interviews. Many people who contract this strain of E. coli experience intense cramps and bloody diarrhea. In severe cases, it can destroy red blood cells and interfere with kidney function. ------------------- AIDS EPIDEMIC REPLACES WAR AS AFRICA'S 'KILLING FIELD' Copyright © 1999 Nando Media Copyright © 1999 Associated Press By ANGUS SHAW LUSAKA, Zambia (September 15, 1999 7:34 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - AIDS, not war, has turned Africa into a "killing field" and will wipe out enough of the adult population to create 13 million orphans in the next 18 months, the United Nations children's agency said Wednesday. Such cataclysmic statements at the 11th international AIDS in Africa conference were aimed at prodding African governments - which spend more on defense than on health - to act against the scourge of the continent. Africa is home to two-thirds of the world's 31 million HIV-infected people. Last year, AIDS killed 2 million Africans, outstripping deaths from armed conflicts on the continent 10-1, said the children's fund, called UNICEF. In 15 years, AIDS has killed 11 million Africans, more than 80 percent of the world's AIDS deaths. "By any measure, the HIV-AIDS pandemic is the most terrible undeclared war in the world, with the whole of sub-Saharan Africa a killing field," UNICEF executive director Carol Bellamy said on the conference's third day. Ninety percent of the world's AIDS orphans live in Africa, and most suffer "alarmingly higher rates of malnutrition, stunting and illiteracy", UNICEF said. They often die of neglect and are victimized by the stigma surrounding the disease. UNICEF's figures come from UNAIDS, a Geneva-based organization of epidemiologists and statisticians who study AIDS. Jim Carmichael, a UNAIDS representative in New York, said the group estimates how many children will become orphans based on anonymous HIV testing of pregnant women at prenatal clinics. Then the group looks at whether the rates of HIV in that country are staying stable, increasing or decreasing, he said. "In most places it's stable or increasing. There are very few places that it's decreasing," he said. The number of child-headed households is rising sharply, the UNICEF report said. In many southern African nations up to 25 percent of adults are infected with the AIDS virus - the highest prevalence in the world. In Zambia alone, 90,000 AIDS orphans have been left to fend for themselves on the streets. Bellamy said decades of gains for child survival and development are being wiped out by the disease. Lack of AIDS education is part of the problem, the group said. More than a quarter of adolescent women south of the Sahara - the group most at risk from infection with the HIV virus that causes AIDS - were unaware of any effective way of avoiding the disease, research has shown. In southern Africa, more than 30 percent of young women felt a healthy-looking person could not be a carrier. The threat has been worsened, Bellamy said, by the lack of commitment from political leaders to fight AIDS. It amounts to a "conspiracy of silence" to hide the seriousness of the crisis from ordinary people, she said. The United States spends $880 million fighting about 40,000 new AIDS cases a year. All of Africa spends about $150 million fighting 4 million new cases a year, and only one-tenth of the expenditure comes from governments, Bellamy said. She said African governments must mobilize community education as a top priority. She called for them to set goals for the year 2002, including: - making adolescent women aware of how to protect themselves. - giving up to 70 percent of pregnant women access to voluntary and confidential testing. - encouraging HIV-positive mothers to seek treatment to block mother-to-child transmission. - making sure local governments can provide food, education and basic health care for the 13 million AIDS orphans. "We can achieve these goals only with the sustained support of officials at the highest level," Bellamy said. Wednesday's speakers also touched on a related topic: sexual exploitation of children. A report earlier this week showed that young girls are at special risk for HIV infection - partly because of the belief among many sexually active men that young girls are "safe," and even that sex with a virgin can cure AIDS. Marvellous Mhloyi, a population and family planning researcher from Zimbabwe, called for governments to pass harsher laws to protect children from exploitation. Emma Tuahepa, 24, of Namibia, told the conference she was infected with HIV during her first sexual encounters while at school. "I didn't know anything about sex," she said. "The guy who infected me introduced me to sex. It is time to tell our children the truth." ***** ENVIRONMENT* FIRST CALIFORNIA KILLER BEE DEATH Earth Alert http://www.discovery.com/news/earthalert/earthalert.html Sept. 14, 1999 - An 83-year-old beekeeper who was attacked by a swarm of killer bees in Los Angeles two weeks ago died of his injuries last Saturday. The highly aggressive Africanized bees, which had taken over hives on the man's property, attacked and stung him at least 50 times as he was mowing his lawn. He is believed to be the first victim of killer bees in California, and the sixth nationwide. The Los Angeles County coroner will issue a final decision on the cause of death after an autopsy. ------------------- MIDWEST MERCURY LEVELS UNSAFE Earth Alert http://www.discovery.com/news/earthalert/earthalert.html Sept. 15, 1999 - Coal-fired electric plants are responsible for the high doses of mercury found in Midwest lakes and river, announced a report released Tuesday by environmental groups. Mercury levels in Chicago rainfall are 42 times greater than considered safe by federal standards, and levels in rain are even higher in Detroit and Duluth, Minn., according to the report. The mercury contamination report was developed by groups including the Environmental Law and Policy Center and the Sierra Club. The data were collected from government and university studies with the help of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The electric utility industry is currently not required to reduce emissions, says Peter Morman of the Environmental Law and Policy Center. Morman says mercury pollution by Midwestern utilities probably will increase because deregulation will prompt them to generate higher levels of electricity. Separately, New York state's attorney general was taking legal action Wednesday against 17 Midwestern coal-fired electric plants, saying their pollution has contaminated air in the Northeast for years. A naturally occurring metal, mercury accumulates in fish and becomes more concentrated as it moves up the food chain. In humans, the neurotoxin can slow fetal and child development and cause brain damage. Data collected by the University of Michigan Air Quality Laboratory found that rain falling on Chicago's South Side had mercury levels ranging from 5.4 parts per trillion to 74.5 parts per trillion. The EPA considers mercury levels in the Great Lakes to be safe for wildlife at 1.3 parts per trillion. For humans, it is 1.8 parts per trillion. ***** SPACE/TECHNOLOGY/SCIENCE/Y2K* The Solar Flux info for September 14 is 154, and the Sunspot number is 183. The Solar Flux info for September 15 is 156, and the Sunspot number is 158. ***** WORLD STRESS* APPARENT TRUCK BOMB KILLS 13 IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA CNN News http://cnn.com September 16, 1999 Web posted at: 4:30 a.m. EDT (0830 GMT) MOSCOW (CNN) -- Moscow (CNN) - An apparent truck bomb has killed 13 people and injured 115 in the southern Russian city of Volgodonsk. The Russian Emergency Ministry told CNN the blast occurred at an entrance to a 9-story apartment building, destroying its facade. Investigators believe the explosion was caused by a bomb in a truck outside the building. The Rostov Region Interior Ministry officials said a truck pulled up to the first entrance of the building at approximately 6 a.m., and 15 minutes later there was an explosion. Authorities said the building is one of several hundred, even thousands, checked for possible explosives this week as part of a nationwide security operation dubbed "Operation Whirlwind". Police checked the basement and attic and spoke with residents, officials said, and because of that, authorities believe the perpetrators were not able to store any explosives in the building. This is the fifth supected or confirmed terrorist act in Russia in the past two weeks. Moscow has had two deadly apartment explosions which killed more than 200, as well as a bombing at a downtown shopping center. In the southern Russian city of Buinaksk another apartment building blast killed another 64 people. President Boris Yeltsin wwas epxected to meet with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin Thursday; Putin planned to report to the president on the wave of terrorism. On Monday, 118 people died in a Moscow apartment explosion. Authorities have not produced any evidence linking the blasts to any particular group, but Russian authorities suspected Islamic militants from southern Russia were responsible for the explosions earlier this month. ***** SOCIAL UNREST* CHURCH GUNMAN KILLS 7, SELF, IN TEXAS CNN News http://cnn.com September 16, 1999 Web posted at: 3:05 a.m. EDT (0705 GMT) FORT WORTH, Texas (CNN) -- Investigators early Thursday were trying to identify the black-clad gunman who killed seven people and himself at a Fort Worth church Wednesday night. The killer and six of his victims remained inside Wedgwood Baptist Church, and a seventh victim died at a Fort Worth hospital, police said. Investigators closed the church to check for explosives. "There are some indications that something may not be right," Fort Worth municipal spokesman Pat Svacina said. Investigators believe a pipe bomb went off during the attack, and were using the a robot to check for explosives. Fire Chief H. Larry McMillen said authorities feared the dead gunman's body may be booby-trapped. "It's one of these situations where we've got to wait, take our time, and make sure the crime scene is processed correctly and that no one else gets injured," Fort Worth Police Chief Ralph Mendoza said. SHOOTING MOTIVE UNKNOWN The man's identity and motive remained early Thursday. Police described the killer only as a slender white man in his mid-20s or 30s, dressed entirely in black. He shot himself in the head at the end of his spree, Mendoza said. In addition to those killed, another seven were wounded, and some of those were reported in critical condition late Wednesday. The wounded included at least four teens, two boys and two girls, and a 12-year-old boy. Another five teens were unaccounted for early Thursday. The attack came about a half-hour after the beginning of a prayer service and annual youth rally called "See You at the Pole," at which teens gather at a flagpole and pray for friends, families and nations. The rally attracted teens from across the area, police said. "At first we thought it was a joke, part of grabbing the kids' attention," congregation member Marcelo Hernandez said. "But the louder it got, then people started running into the sanctuary ... People started dropping to the bottom of the benches. "He was firing from outside in the hallway. By the time he came inside, he had already fired several rounds," Hernandez said. Several teens told Dallas television station WFAA that as many as 40 shots may have been fired. "He was shooting, then he went out and shut the door and went back in," one girl said. "He kept sitting down and pausing and putting in more bullets." The man was "cussing royally" as he fired, she said. ***** FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK* Just a short note. 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