Earthquake hits much of England

The biggest earthquake in the UK for nearly 25 years has shaken homes across large parts of England.
People in Newcastle, Yorkshire, London, Manchester, the Midlands and Norfolk and also parts of Wales, felt the tremor just before 0100 GMT.

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HIV / AIDS - A2

Below is the link for the up to date data from WHO Some figures include:

Number of people living with HIV in 2007
Total 33.2 million [30.6–36.1 million]
Adults 30.8 million [28.2–33.6 million]
Women 15.4 million [13.9–16.6 million]

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Wind farms ‘a threat to national security’

Ambitious plans to meet up to a third of Britain’s energy needs from offshore wind farms are in jeopardy because the Ministry of Defence objects that the turbines interfere with its radar.

The MoD has lodged last-minute objections to at least four onshore wind farms in the line of sight of its stations on the east coast because they make it impossible to spot aircraft, The Times has learnt. The same objections are likely to apply to wind turbines in the North Sea, part of the massive renewable energy project announced by John Hutton, the Energy Secretary, barely two months ago. They would be directly in line with the three principal radar defence stations, Brizlee Wood, Saxton Wold and Trimingham on the Northumberland, Yorkshire and Norfolk coasts.

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Rain lashes the West, bringing flash flooding and travel chaos

Heavy rain brought flash flooding to communities still suffering from last summer’s disaster, disrupting road and rail travel around the county today. (Tuesday 15th Jan 2008)

More than 1.2in (30mm) of rain was recorded overnight in Wales and the West Midlands, with gale force winds causing the cargo ship Ice Prince to sink off the Dorset coast.

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Managing Flood Risk

Please click here to access resources published by the Geographical Association.

Antarctic is losing ice ‘nearly twice as fast as ten years ago’

The rate of annual ice loss in the Antarctic has increased by almost 80 billion tonnes in a decade, a study has found.

Measurements using satellite radar readings revealed that in parts of the continent the rate of loss has speeded up by 140 per cent since 1996. Global warming is thought to be among the most likely factors and the data provides one of the most detailed assessments yet of the changes.

The findings challenge suggestions from previous research that the overall quantities of ice and snow in Antarctica could increase over the next century because of greater snowfall. The total annual loss was estimated at 196 billion tonnes, almost 50 times as much as the 4 billion tonnes of drinking water supplied to Britain’s taps each year.

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First new nuclear power plant 'will be completed before 2020'

The Government today gave the go-ahead for a new generation of nuclear power plants, provoking a sharply polarised response from the supporters and opponents of nuclear energy.

Announcing the plans in Parliament, John Hutton, the Business Secretary, said that the proposals made sound commercial and environmental sense, and hoped that the first new nuclear power station would be completed well before 2020.

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