A 7.6 magnitude earthquake just struck near the Iran-Iraq border (in Iraq, southeast of the city of As-Sulaymaniyah, according to US Geological Survey). Initial reports of damage in Baghdad and that the tremor was felt in Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia.
Prelim M7.2 earthquake Iran-Iraq border region Nov-12 18:18 UTC, updates https://t.co/QIaZuvWNXu
— USGS Big Quakes (@USGSBigQuakes) November 12, 2017
Malawi is bracing itself for an outbreak of the plague after the Daily Mail reports that deadly disease continues to spread across the island nation of Madagascar. At least 143 people have died and more than 2,000 others have been infected in Madagascar since an outbreak in early August this year which has now spread to its 10th African nation.
Malawi's health secretary confirmed the country is ready for any reported cases of the disease amid mounting concerns of Africa's 'porous borders'.
About a month ago, we noted reports from the French nuclear watchdog ISRN that a spike in airborne radioactivity had been detected in the air in Western and Central Europe: "Ruthenium-106 has been detected by several European networks involved in the monitoring of atmospheric radioactive contamination, at levels of a few milliBecquerels per cubic meter of air."
Authored by Gail Tverberg via Our Finite World blog,
It is easy for those of us in the West to overlook how important China has become to the world economy, and also the limits it is reaching. The two big areas in which China seems to be reaching limits are energy production and debt. Reaching either of these limits could eventually cause a collapse.
As we’ve pointed out, the supervolcano phenomenon is hardly unique to Yellowstone National Park, where a long dormant volcano with the potential to cause a devastating eruption has been rumbling since mid-summer, making some scientists uneasy.