Environment

New Delhi, Feb 3 (PTI) The government plans to auction three mineral blocks having reserves of 280.295 million tonne in the current and next month.

Of the mines to be auctioned, two are limestone blocks while one is graphite mine, according to latest data of mines ministry.

BUENOS AIRES; 03 Feb 2019; AA: The death toll rose to 121 after a dam burst in southeastern Brazil on Jan. 25, according to the local media.

At least 226 people have been missing near the town of Brumadinho after the dam broke at an iron ore mining complex operated by the Brazilian mining giant Vale S.A.

Search-and-rescue efforts remain ongoing in the area.

So far, a total of five people were arrested over the incident.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The second in a string of powerful storms battered California on Saturday, shutting key highways after water and mud rushed into lanes from bare hillsides in wildfire burn areas where thousands of residents were under evacuation orders.

Flash flood warnings were issued for huge swaths of Southern California and forecasters said the system brought more than 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain at lower elevations and several feet of snow in the mountains, where whiteout conditions closed roads.

03 Feb 2019; DW: Unrelenting torrential rain lashed parts of the northeastern state of Queensland on Sunday, bursting river banks and inundating roads and homes.  

Local authorities issued a number of flash flood warnings for the area surrounding the coastal city of Townsville, which has just experienced its wettest seven days on record. Some 1,012 millimeters (40 inches) of rain was dumped there over the past week, compared to the previous high of 886 millimeters in 1998.

ISLAMABAD, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake of 5.8 magnitude jolted parts of Pakistan including the capital city of Islamabad on Saturday evening, the country's National Seismic Monitoring Center said.

According to the center, the earthquake struck at 5:04 p.m. local time, with the epicenter determined in Hindu Kush Region in Afghanistan with a focal depth of 80 km.

JAKARTA, Feb. 2 (Xinhua) -- A shallow earthquake with a revised magnitude of 6.1 rocked West Sumatra province of western Indonesia on Saturday, but was not potential for tsunami, the meteorology and geophysics agency said.

There were no initial reports of damages or casualty after the main shock, according to the national disaster management agency.

The meteorology agency said earlier that the quake was at 6.0 magnitude before revising it to 6.1, Agung M. Utomo, official in charge of the agency told Xinhua.

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia sweltered through its hottest month on record in January and the summer of extremes continued with wildfires razing the drought-parched south and flooding in expanses of the tropical north.

Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology confirmed the January record on Friday as parts of the northern hemisphere had record cold.

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- The first in a series of winter storms swept through Southern California on Friday, trigging heavy rain, mudslides and lighting strikes.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — U.S. land managers will move forward in March with the sale of oil and gas leases that include land near Chaco Culture National Historical Park and other sites sacred to Native American tribes.

The sale comes as Democratic members of Congress, tribal leaders and environmentalists have criticized the federal Bureau of Land Management for pushing ahead with drilling permit reviews and preparations for energy leases despite the recent government shutdown.

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesia’s volatile Mount Merapi volcano has unleashed a river of lava that flowed 1,400 meters (4,590 feet) down its slopes.

Merapi, on the island of Java, has entered an “effusive eruption phase,” Kasbani, head of the Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center, said Wednesday.

Kasbani, who goes by a single name, said the volcanic material that spewed out late Tuesday was the volcano’s longest lava flow since it began erupting again in August.