Philippines gunmen ‘release’ students and teachers

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The United States Marine Corps will turn 234 on Tuesday and birthday celebrations will be taking place at bases stretching from the halls of Montezuma all the way to the shores of Tripoli.

Marine Air Corps Station Yuma, however, got the party started a few days earlier by holding a formal ceremony at the base’s parade field on Friday morning.

“Happy 234th birthday. And most of you don’t look a day over 18,” MCAS Yuma Commanding Officer Col. Mark Werth said during the celebration. Read the full story

2009-10-19

MANILA — The death toll from two devastating storms that struck the Philippines over the past month has risen to 858, with ensuing disease outbreaks killing 89 others, the government said Monday.

The latest National Disaster Coordinating Council toll is up from 818 on Sunday. Read the full story

By Francisco Alcuaz Jr. and Ian C. Sayson

Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) — Typhoon Parma knocked down trees and power lines in northern Philippines after veering further away from Manila and surrounding provinces, parts of which are still flooded a week after they were hit by Tropical Storm Ketsana.

About a fifth of Tuguegarao City’s villages flooded after a river swelled, Mayor Randolph Ting said in a phone interview. The city is the capital of the Cagayan province, where Parma moved over land this afternoon. Read the full story

(CBS/AP) The flood-ravaged Philippines is bracing for what could be a super typhoon (a category 4 or 5 in the U.S.), even as residents of the capital and outlying areas have barely recovered from last weekend’s record rainfall that killed at least 293 people in the country.

CBS News’ Barnaby Lo, reporting from Manila, said Typhoon Parma is forecast to hit the Northeast coast on Saturday, with winds of up to 120 mph and gusts up to 140 mph. Read the full story

The rat, which has no fear of humans, measures 82cm long, placing it among the largest species of rat known anywhere in the world.

The creature, which has not yet been formally described, was discovered by an expedition team filming the BBC programme Lost Land of the Volcano.

It is one of a number of exotic animals found by the expedition team. Read the full story

The plant is among the largest of all pitchers and is believed to be the largest meat-eating shrub, dissolving rats with acid-like enzymes.

The team of botanists, led by British experts Stewart McPherson and Alastair Robinson, found the plant on Mount Victoria in the Philippines.

They were inspired to search for the plant after word that it is existed came from two Christian missionaries who described seeing a large carnivorous pitcher in 2000 after they climbed the mountain.

Mr McPherson, of Poole Dorset, said: “The plant produces spectacular traps which catch not only insects, but also rodents. It is remarkable that it remained undiscovered until the 21st century.”

The team, which found the plant in 2007 following a two-month expedition, published details of their discovery in the Botanical Journal of Linnean Society earlier this year following a three-year study of all 120 species of pitcher plant.

They decided to name the plant Nepenthes attenboroughii, after the wildlife broadcaster Sir David.

“My team and I named it in honour of Sir David whose work has inspired generations toward a better understanding of the beauty and diversity of the natural world,” added Mr McPherson.

Sir David, 83, said: “I was contacted by the team shortly after the discovery and they asked if they could name it after me. I was delighted and told them, ‘Thank you very much’.

“I’m absolutely flattered. This is a remarkable species the largest of its kind. I’m told it can catch rats then eat them with its digestive enzymes. It’s certainly capable of that.”

Source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/