Environment

A tsunami warning was issued after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck off the Pacific coast of Central America. Prelim M7.0 earthquake off the coast of Central America Nov-24 18:43 UTC, updates https://t.co/757MJhB1G6 — USGS Big Quakes (@USGSBigQuakes) November 24, 2016 The quake was felt in several countries across the region and struck just as the category 2 Hurricane Otto descended near the southeastern coast of Nicaragua, where a state of emergency has been declared.

Around fifty thousand people are being evacuated as wildfires rage through parts of Israel’s third largest city, Haifa. The fires had been burning in several locations for the past three days but intensified on Thursday, fueled by unseasonably dry weather and strong winds. The wildfires tore across central and northern Israel on Thursday, with Israeli leaders blaming arsonists for some of the blazes and branding them terrorists. The BBC reports: Wildfires are also threatening homes near Jerusalem and in the West Bank.

Genetically modified mosquitoes could soon be unleashed in Florida. On November 19th, the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District to formally approved a field trial release of genetically-modified mosquitoes. Developed by UK biotechnology firm Oxitec, the engineered mosquitoes are intended to be used in the fight against dengue fever as well as the Zika virus as they carry a gene that makes their offspring die early.

Donald Trump plans to ban all climate change research conducted by Nasa as part of a no-nonsense approach to “politicized science”, his senior adviser has said. Former Rep. Bob Walker is planning to to end NASA’s research into climate change and shift their focus to “deep space” investigation. The Guardian reports: Bob Walker, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said there was no need for Nasa to do what he has previously described as “politically correct environmental monitoring”. “We see Nasa in an exploration role, in deep space research,” Walker told the Guardian.

Two days after a strong, shallow 6.9 magnitude struck Japan off the coast of Fukushima, moments ago JMA reported that another earthquake has hit Japan, once again off Fukushima, at a depth of 10 kilometers, which according to NHK reports was modestly weaker, with a preliminary measurement of 5.6 on the Richter scale according to USGS.

• EARTHQUAKE REPORTED IN JAPAN, OFF FUKUSHIMA, JMA SAYS
• JAPAN EARTHQUAKE MAGNITUDE 6.1, NHK SAYS
• 5.6 MAG. EARTHQUAKE 37KM SE OF NAMIE JAPAN :USGS

NHK reports that there is no tsunami risk.