2005 sizzled as hottest year in a century, scientists say
New York – Last year was the warmest in a century, nosing out 1998, a federal analysis concludes.
Researchers calculated that 2005 produced the highest annual average surface temperature worldwide since instrument recordings began in the late 1800s, said James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
Hansen said the analysis estimated temperatures in the Arctic from nearby weather stations because no direct data were available. Because of that, “we couldn’t say with 100 percent certainty that it’s the warmest year, but I’m reasonably confident that it was,” Hansen said.
More important, he said, is that 2005 reached the warmth of 1998 without help of the “El Niño of the century,” which pushed temperatures up in 1998.
Over the past 30 years, Earth has warmed a bit more than 1 degree in total, making it about the warmest it’s been in 10,000 years, Hansen said. He blamed a buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.
The global average surface temperature in 2005 was about 58.3 degrees, he said.
CARLSBAD, Calif.
Private jet crashes, killing all 4 aboard
A private jet overshot a runway and crashed in flames Tuesday, killing all four people aboard.
The Cessna 560 came in for a landing at Southern California’s McClellan-Palomar Airport on a flight from Hailey, Idaho, but went about 150 yards beyond the runway, smashing through scaffolding and slamming into a commercial storage facility, said a spokesman for San Diego County.
Idaho business records show the plane was owned by Ketchum City Councilman Steve Shafran and Kipp Nelson, an investment banker and a trustee of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team Foundation.
SALT LAKE CITY
Head of Mormons in hospital for procedure
Gordon Hinckley, the 95-year-old president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was hospitalized Tuesday for what church officials described as a routine procedure.
Hinckley, president of the 12 million-member Mormon church since 1995, was at an undisclosed hospital Tuesday afternoon.
Hinckley, a third-generation Mormon, has worked for the church for 70 years. He is its most-traveled president, and remains active in church affairs despite his age.
BATON ROUGE, La.
State bows to feds, slates vote for April
Under pressure from a federal judge, Gov. Kathleen Blanco set an April 22 date for New Orleans’ elections, which were postponed after Hurricane Katrina scattered the city’s residents and destroyed hundreds of voting precincts.
Elections for mayor, City Council, sheriff and tax assessors will be held on that date.
The Legislature and the U.S. Justice Department still need to sign off on the plan, which includes beefed-up absentee balloting and “mega-polling” sites.
The elections were originally scheduled for Feb. 4 but were indefinitely postponed by the governor because of Katrina.
PORT HARCOURT, Nigeria
Raid on oil company leaves 9 dead in clash
Camouflage-clad attackers raided an Italian oil company’s offices Tuesday, sparking a gunfight that left nine people dead in Nigeria’s petroleum-rich south, where four foreign oil workers are being held hostage.
The attack on Agip’s offices in Port Harcourt is the latest in a spate of violence across the Niger Delta that has killed 23 people, cut petroleum production in Africa’s largest oil exporter and helped push up prices of crude worldwide.
A rash of attacks and kidnappings in recent weeks by militia groups demanding the release from prison of local leaders has cut Nigeria’s daily oil exports of 2.5 million by nearly 10 percent.
MEXICO CITY
Agency to give maps to border crossers
A Mexican government commission said Tuesday it will distribute at least 70,000 maps showing highways, rescue beacons and water tanks in the Arizona desert to curb the death toll of illegal border crossers.
The National Human Rights Commission, a government-funded agency with independent powers, denied the maps would encourage illegal immigration. Officials said they would help guide those in trouble to rescue beacons and areas with cellphone reception. The maps also will show the distance a person can walk in the desert in a single day.
“We are not trying in any way to encourage or promote migration,” said Mauricio Farah, one of the commission’s national inspectors. “The only thing we are trying to do is warn them of the risks they face and where to get water, so they don’t die.”
LONDON
Prospect of new chick elates penguin fans
Zookeepers in southern England said Tuesday they were considering a contest to name a chick expected by the parents of a juvenile penguin stolen just before Christmas.
Dozens of well-wishers sent Amazon World congratulatory e-mails after news spread that the mother had laid a new egg, said Derek Curtis, owner of the zoo on the Isle of Wight. The kidnapped 3-month-old jackass penguin, named Toga, is presumed dead.
Curtis urged caution, saying he would wait three weeks to assure the chick is healthy before going ahead with the contest.
“We don’t want to count our chickens before they hatch, so to speak,” he said.
If all goes well, the penguin chick is expected in February.
