A rare antelope is being killed to make $20,000 scarves

Giovanni Albertini is accustomed to opulence. At this checkpoint on the Switzerland-Italy border, a two-hour drive from Milan, he spends his days evaluating well-coiffed travelers and scouring their Gucci and Louis Vuitton luggage for contraband. He and his Swiss border patrol colleagues have assessed diamonds, pricey wines, and caviar, among other luxuries.

But the drab scarf spread out before him now would not immediately impress. Wrinkled, beige, speckled with tiny, crinkly hairs, its only embellishment was a small fringe at each end. And yet this seemingly unremarkable wrap could be another valuable piece of contraband.

Two hours earlier, Albertini had glimpsed it around the neck of a middle-aged Italian woman traveling with her husband in a silver Audi. The corporal pulled their car over because he suspected the shawl might be shahtoosh—the “king of wools” in Persian—a very expensive, ultrasoft, ultrawarm wool that is almost always illegal to import, trade, or even own.

© Photograph by Denis Balibouse, Reuters Enforcement officers in Switzerland confiscate shahtooshes at locations including airports, border crossing checkpoints, and clothing stores.

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Deadly earthquake and tsunami kill hundreds in Sulawesi, Indonesia

At least 384 people were killed and many swept away as giant waves crashed onto beaches, when a major earthquake and tsunami hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, authorities said on Saturday.

Hundreds had gathered for a festival on the beach in the city of Palu on Friday when waves as high as six meters (18 feet) smashed onshore at dusk, sweeping many to their death and destroying anything in their path, following a 7.5 magnitude earthquake. (Reuters)

Florence is nation’s second wettest storm, behind Harvey

WASHINGTON – Hurricane Florence was the nation’s second rainiest storm in 70 years, a top rainfall meteorologist calculated.

Only last year’s Hurricane Harvey rained more over a 14,000 square mile (36,260 square kilometers) area during a four-day time period, said Ken Kunkel, a meteorologist at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and North Carolina State University.
Scientists said climate change likely boosted rainfall totals for both storms.

Kunkel’s preliminary analysis found more than 17.5 inches (0.4 meters) fell on average over five weather stations in the 14,000 square miles of the eastern Carolinas stretching from Fayetteville, North Carolina, to Florence, South Carolina. The amount is second to Harvey’s 25.6 inches (0.6 meters).

“That’s a lot of water,” Kunkel said.

The third rainiest storm was in March 2016 in northern Louisiana and the seventh was in southern Louisiana in August 2016. The three rainiest and four of the top seven have all occurred in the last three years — which Kunkel said is no coincidence.

Kunkel, who specializes in analyzing rain data from thousands of weather stations, based his work on rainfall since 1949 when recording became more widespread across the continental United States.

Kunkel examined rainfall over a compact area — 14,000 square miles, a figure based on latitude and longitude squares — and larger areas such as 20,000, 30,000 and 80,000 square miles. Florence’s unusual amount was most noticeable on the smallest scale.

When the scientist looked at a bigger area, 20,000 square miles, Florence fell to seventh place, behind Harvey, 1998’s Hurricane Georges, the two Louisiana rainstorms, a 1962 northern California downpour and a 1994 Texas drenching.

The analysis has not been published or peer reviewed yet, but will be, Kunkel said.

It is “not surprising — but still terrifying — that the two top ranked soakers happened over the past two years,” said Pennsylvania State University climate scientist Michael Mann, who wasn’t part of Kunkel’s research but praised it. He said warmer oceans, more moisture and slower moving storms due in various ways to climate change make storms dump more rain.

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The Arctic’s thickest sea ice is breaking up for the first time on record

The sea ice off the coast of northern Greenland is normally some of the thickest in the entire Arctic, with ridges of ice piled as high as 70 feet in some places.

And despite the rapid retreat of sea ice across the region due to climate change, this harsh corner of the globe was expected to be the last to retain year-round sea ice cover.

But recent satellite imagery shows that some of the Arctic’s oldest ice has been replaced by miles of open water for the first time on record, surprising scientists and ice monitors.

“This was the area that was seen as the last bastion, where we’d see these changes come last, but they’ve arrived,” said Walt Meier, a senior research scientist with the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

How the breakup happened

Hurricane Lane floods homes as some swim in powerful waves

HONOLULU (AP) — Hurricane Lane weakened Friday as it headed toward the Hawaiian islands, but it still brought torrential rains that immersed a city in waist-deep water and forced people to flee flooding homes, while others jumped off seawalls with boogie boards into the turbulent ocean.

As many dealt with flooding and even brush fires, swimmers and surfers ignored warnings from authorities and plunged into powerful waves at Oahu’s famed Waikiki Beach, which was closed.

Emergency officials said repeatedly over loudspeakers: “Please get out of the water! It’s very dangerous!” Honolulu’s mayor pleaded with tourists that they were putting themselves in danger as the storm churned closer.

The National Weather Service downgraded the storm to a Category 1 with winds of 74 to 95 mph as it headed north toward the islands. It was expected to veer west, skirting the islands, but still threatened to bring heavy rains and strong, gusty winds statewide, meteorologist Gavin Shigesato said.

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