Ham Radio at risk from mains broadband - ABS-CBNNEWS.COM

Ham Radio at risk from mains broadband - ABS-CBNNEWS.COM

LONDON - Plans to send Internet broadband signals down mains electricity cables rather than telephone lines could hit the radio hams whose transmissions were so vital in the aftermath of the Asian tsunami, New Scientist magazine reported on Wednesday.
The technology is being pushed by power companies keen to compete with traditional broadband suppliers and get a slice of the profits from the demand for fast Internet connection.
The downside is that packets of Internet data pulsing down unshielded mains cables makes the cables behave like aerials that send short-wave interference beaming out over a wide area, the magazine reports.

Ham Radio World Update - Sharp quake jolts New Zealand

Ham Radio World Update - Sharp quake jolts New Zealand
Ham Radio World Update - Sharp quake jolts New Zealand
12 minutes ago

WELLINGTON (AFP) - New Zealand was jolted by a sharp earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, continuing a flurry of seismic activity in the lower North Island.

The latest quake, which hit at 7:56am (1856 GMT Thursday) was centered just north of the capital city Wellington and felt across the North Island and the top of the South.
There were no immediate reports of injury but shopkeepers said items were knocked off shelves.
On Tuesday, 10 earthquakes were recorded in the same area, with the largest reaching 5.3 on the Richter scale.
Kevin Fenaughty, data centre manager at the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, said there was no need to panic despite the recent activity.
It's certainly an unusual week in terms of the number we've had and the number which have been of this size which we've felt, he said.
It could be that there is a fair bit going on -- so some things are happening over in the east (of the region) which is causing stress over in the west. A bit like a chain reaction so there is a little bit of settling going on with the plates.

Ham Radio Tsunami Update - Tsunami response points the way in fight against hunger

Ham Radio Tsunami Update - Tsunami response points the way in fight against hunger: UN agencies

Ham Radio Tsunami Update - Tsunami response points the way in fight against hunger
Tue Jan 18,12:09 PM ET

ROME (AFP) - Three United Nations agencies urged developed countries to demonstrate the same resolve in dealing with the moral outrage of world hunger as they had shown to the victims of the Asian tsunami.
The Rome-based food agencies said immediate international action was needed if rich nations were to honour a pledge to halve the number of hungry people around the world by 2015.
Jacques Diouf, head of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, said that the world's response to the tsunami had set a shining example of how to tackle the hunger crisis.
In no time at all, hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars were pledged, he said.
The big lesson from this outpouring of solidarity is that the willingness to assist those less fortunate does exist.
We have long argued that the means to raise the developing world out of poverty are well within the world society's reach. What is lacking is the political will.
One only hopes that this strong message sent by people everywhere will strengthen the political will, and commitment, for investment in longer-term poverty reduction and sustainable development.

Caribbean Vulnerable to Killer Tsunamis

Caribbean Vulnerable to Killer Tsunamis
Caribbean Vulnerable to Killer Tsunamis
1 hour, 5 minutes ago
By FRANK GRIFFITHS, Associated Press Writer

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Scientists predict killer tsunamis could strike the Caribbean, which lacks a warning system even though its seabed is gouged by some of the world's deepest trenches, where the giant waves can be generated by tectonic activity, and its low-lying islands are heavily populated along their coastlines.
The last tsunami struck the Caribbean in 1946, before island populations skyrocketed, major construction dotted shorelines and the region developed into a prized tourist destination attracting 17 million visitors last year.
The Caribbean is a very dangerous place for tsunamis, said Uri ten Brink, a U.S. Geological Survey geologist in Woods Hole, Mass., and co-author of an article on the threat in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

The Caribbean needs a tsunami warning system.

India's Andamans count the dead as toll nears 7,500 dead or missing

India's Andamans count the dead as toll nears 7,500 dead or missing

India's Andamans count the dead as toll nears 7,500 dead or missing
1 hour, 52 minutes ago

PORT BLAIR, India (AFP) - Rescuers have found 66 more bodies on the tsunami-ravaged Andaman islands as India's military scaled down its sea search for people swept away by the giant waves last month, officials said.
The total number of bodies disposed off as of today is 1,903 and those still listed as missing is 5,551,' Andaman's federal administrator Ram Kapse told AFP in the territory's capital Port Blair.
Officials here decline to list people missing since the December 26 disaster as presumed dead, saying it would have legal implications such as granting compensation and other benefits to bereaved families.
Lieutenant General Aditya Singh, supervising the mammoth relief and rehabilitation programme in the Andamans, said the missing thousands should be declared dead.
'It is very unlikely that people will come back 26 days after the tsunamis struck, especially in this geographical condition where the islands are surrounded by deep sea,' the general told AFP. "

Tsunami, Muslims Pray for Protection in Haj

Tsunami, Muslims Pray for Protection in Haj
Post-Tsunami, Muslims Pray for Protection in Haj
Wed Jan 19, 2:16 PM ET

By Andrew Hammond
MUZDALIFAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - More than 2 million Muslim pilgrims began arriving at Muzdalifah on Wednesday evening ahead of a stoning ritual in this year's haj, which has been overshadowed by the Asian tsunami disaster.
Pilgrims said they were praying for nations ravaged by the giant wave and earthquake off Indonesia on Dec. 26 which killed more than 226,000 people, mainly Muslims.
'I am praying to God to avert the disasters that are happening to Muslims,' said Ethiopian pilgrim Fouad Amin.
'We are praying for them in Indonesia and elsewhere,' added Pakistani Asef Iqbal.
Pilgrims spent Wednesday in prayer at Mount Arafat, the site of Prophet Mohammad's last sermon 1,400 years ago, and where they believe God will hear their prayers.
As night fell, thousands of pilgrims dressed in white robes, which mark a state of purity, thronged the road from Mount Arafat to Muzdalifah, chanting prayers to God. "

Ham Radio World Update - Indonesia Raises Tsunami Death Toll by 70k - Earthquake, Tsunami Death Toll by Nation

Ham Radio World Update - Indonesia Raises Tsunami Death Toll by 70k - Earthquake, Tsunami Death Toll by Nation
By The Associated Press
AP - 39 minutes ago
Latest Headlines:
Indonesia Raises Tsunami Death Toll by 70k

At least 162,735 people have been reported dead around southern Asia and as far away as Somalia on Africa's eastern coast from an earthquake and massive tsunami that smashed coastlines on Dec. 26.

Death tolls by country:
_ Indonesia: 115,229
_ Sri Lanka: 30,920
_ India: 10,744
_ Thailand: 5,291
_ Somalia: 298
_ Myanmar: 90
_ Maldives: 82
_ Malaysia: 68
_ Tanzania: 10
_ Bangladesh: 2
_ Kenya: 1"

TNX
BOB
KE5CTY

Hunger stalks survivors of the tsunami | Reuters.com

Hunger stalks survivors of the tsunami | Reuters.com
Survivors Face Hunger as Muslim Festival Nears
Wed Jan 19, 2005 10:39 PM ET (Page 1 of 3)
By Jerry Norton and Karima Anjani

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - Hunger stalks survivors of the tsunami in outlying villages of Indonesia, the United Nations said, as the death toll from the Indian Ocean disaster soared above 226,000.
In a seaside town on the coast of Indonesia's northern Sumatra island that lay directly in the path of the Dec. 26 wave, prayers rang out at sunrise on Thursday for the first time since the disaster from a mosque pockmarked with holes from the force of the wave.
Street stalls in Banda Aceh, capital of hardest-hit Aceh province on Sumatra's northern tip, bustled as shopkeepers sold pineapples, tomatoes, bright red chilies, purple scallions and sides of meat for a major Muslim festival at the end of the week.

But many elsewhere in the region were not so fortunate."

MORE

Ham Radio on tsunami aid pledges: UN's Egeland

Ham Radio Tsunami - Donors largely making good on tsunami aid pledges: UN's Egeland
Donors largely making good on tsunami aid pledges: UN's Egeland
33 minutes ago Asia - AFP

KOBE, Japan (AFP) - UN relief chief Jan Egeland said yesterday that donors to tsunami-hit countries were largely making good on their pledges, but he wished the same commitment was shown in other humanitarian crises. "

Ham Radio Update - Rocky Mountain News: News

Ham Radio Update Rocky Mountain News: News
Jan 19, 11:12 PM EST
Indonesia raises tsunami death toll by 70k
By MIKE CORDER
Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) -- Indonesia's Health Ministry declared Wednesday that more than 70,000 people previously listed as missing are dead, significantly raising its estimate for the death toll from last month's tsunami.
If confirmed, the overall tsunami death toll in 11 countries would climb to over 221,100, including 166,320 dead in Indonesia."

tsunami death toll approaches quarter million - AFP - Worldwide News Agency

tsunami death toll approaches quarter million - AFP - Worldwide News Agency

Indian Ocean Tsunami death toll approaches quarter million (19/01/2005)

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AFP) The death toll from last month's Indian Ocean tsunami disaster rose towards a quarter of a million while floods hampered relief efforts in worst-hit Indonesia's Aceh province.

The Indonesian death toll jumped to 166,320, the health ministry said late Wednesday, more than 50,000 higher than the government's previous tally.

A member of the ministry's disaster centre, Dr. Ina, told AFP that 166,080 people had been confirmed killed in Aceh, while there were 240 fatalities in the neighbouring province of North Sumatra.

With the latest tolls, the tsunamis triggered by a 9.0-magnitude quake off the coast of Sumatra island have left nearly 220,000 dead in 11 Indian Ocean countries.

ARRLWeb: Solar Wind, Proton Storm Assaulting Earth

ARRLWeb: Solar Wind, Proton Storm Assaulting Earth
Solar Wind, Proton Storm Assaulting Earth
NEWINGTON, CT, Jan 17, 2005--This may be the week to check the sky for a display of northern lights and to check the radio for auroral propagation on VHF. A long-duration X-class solar flare earlier today (UTC) from giant sunspot 720 is expected to generate a major geomagnetic storm when it arrives January 18 or 19 (UTC). Spaceweather.com has issued an aurora alert. X-class flares are major events that can trigger worldwide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. A space weather alert from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Space Environment Center (SEC) warns that a geomagnetic K index of 6 is expected through today UTC. A watch for a geomagnetic A index of 100 also remains in effect through January 17 UTC. NOAA says active sunspot region 720 has produced several strong solar events.