Reporter abandons live broadcast to rescue young girl from Turkey earthquake

Aditi Bharade
Tue, 7 February 2023 


A journalist from Turkish media outlet A News was reporting live on earthquake rescue efforts.

His broadcast was interrupted by the onset of a second earthquake, per a video by The Telegraph.

The journalist ran towards a little girl, carried her to safety, and tried to calm her down.

A journalist abandoned his live broadcast while reporting on the devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Turkey so he could carry a little girl to safety.

Yuksel Akalan, a journalist from the Turkish media outlet A News, was reporting on Monday on rescue efforts in the aftermath of the first earthquake. Akalan was filming with his cameraman on a street in Malatya, Turkey, per CBS News.

But Akalan's broadcast was cut short when he was caught in the middle of a powerful second earthquake, a video published by The Telegraph and Reuters showed. In the video, Akalan is seen running while the ground shakes. Sirens can be heard blaring in the background and structures can be heard crashing to the ground.

According to The Telegraph, Akalan said in the video: "As we were heading to the rubble to film search and rescue efforts, there were two consecutive aftershocks with a loud noise and the building you are seeing on my left was brought down to earth."

The video then cuts to the journalist running towards a young girl in distress, lifting her up and carrying her out into the open street.

After setting the crying girl down, Akalan is seen comforting her and telling her to remain calm, per The Telegraph's subtitles. He then resumed his broadcast. 

—Reuters (@Reuters) February 6, 2023

The first quake was one of the strongest to hit the region in over 100 years.

It was followed by a second earthquake, which had a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter Scale and struck the Kahramanmaras province in southern Turkey at 1:24 p.m. local time, per Bloomberg.

The death toll from the quakes has exceeded 4,300 and is expected to rise, CNN reported.

Representatives for A News did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.

‘Like the apocalypse’: Videos show devastation after huge earthquakes in Turkey, Syria

Aspen Pflughoeft
Mon, February 6, 2023 

A powerful earthquake and numerous large aftershocks rocked southern Turkey and northern Syria throughout the day on Monday, Feb. 6. Videos showed the devastating scenes where thousands have been killed or injured.

The initial 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Nurdağı, Turkey, in the middle of the night on Feb. 6, according to the United States Geological Survey. A series of aftershocks — including a massive quake with a 7.5 magnitude — rocked the Gaziantep region for hours.

The earthquakes flattened buildings in southern Turkey and northern Syria. Videos shared on Facebook by India Today and RTE News showed multi-story buildings crumbling in seconds, filling the streets with dust and rubble.


Thousands of people have been killed or injured from the earthquakes, but the exact death toll remains unclear. CNN reported that “more than 1,500 people” were killed across both countries. The Associated Press reported that the earthquakes have killed “more than 2,300 people.” Rescue teams are searching to find survivors amid the rubble.

Cold winter weather in the region is complicating rescue efforts and further endangering trapped survivors, CNN reported. The weather could reduce the time rescuers have to find and save people trapped under the rubble.


The earthquakes were felt as far as Cairo, Egypt, and Beirut, Lebanon, The Associated Press reported.

A survivor in Atareb, Syria, told Reuters the earthquakes felt “like the apocalypse.”

Drone footage shared by The Daily Sabah, Anadolu Agency and Reuters showed scenes of devastation from multiple cities in Turkey.



Rescue and relief operations are underway in Turkey and Syria, The Associated Press reported.

A map from the U.S. Geological Survey shows where the earthquakes hit. Nurdağı is a city in the Turkish province of Gaziantep and about 610 miles southeast of Istanbul. The Gaziantep region is along the Turkey-Syria border.

A map shows the location of the earthquake and aftershocks that rocked southern Turkey and northern Syria.

Race to find survivors as quake aid pours into Turkey, Syria

APTOPIX Turkey Earthquake
A woman sits on the rubble as emergency rescue teams search for people under the remains of destroyed buildings in Nurdagi town on the outskirts of Osmaniye city southern Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. A powerful earthquake hit southeast Turkey and Syria early Monday, toppling hundreds of buildings and killing and injuring thousands of people. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)


Rescue workers and medics carry a woman out of the debris of a collapsed building in Elbistan, Kahramanmaras, in southern Turkey, Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023. Rescuers raced Tuesday to find survivors in the rubble of thousands of buildings brought down by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and multiple aftershocks that struck eastern Turkey and neighboring Syria. (Ismail Coskun/IHA via AP)

APTOPIX Turkey Earthquake 2/14

MEHMET GUZEL, GHAITH ALSAYED and SUZAN FRASER
Mon, February 6, 2023 

NURDAGI, Turkey (AP) — Search teams and emergency aid from around the world poured into Turkey and Syria on Tuesday as rescuers working in freezing temperatures dug — sometimes with their bare hands — through the remains of buildings flattened by a magnitude 7.8 earthquake. The death toll soared above 5,000 and was still expected to rise.

But with the damage spread over a wide area, the massive relief operation often struggled to reach devastated towns, and voices that had been crying out from the rubble fell silent.

“We could hear their voices, they were calling for help," said Ali Silo, whose two relatives could not be saved in the Turkish town of Nurdagi.

In the end, it was left to Silo, a Syrian who arrived from Hama a decade ago, and other residents to recover the bodies and those of two other victims.

Monday's quake cut a swath of destruction that stretched hundreds of kilometers (miles) across southeastern Turkey and neighboring Syria, toppling thousands of buildings and heaping more misery on a region shaped by Syria’s 12-year civil war and refugee crisis.

Aftershocks then rattled tangled piles of metal and concrete, making the search efforts perilous, while freezing temperatures made them ever more urgent.

The scale of the suffering — and the accompanying rescue effort — were staggering.

More than 8,000 people have been pulled from the debris in Turkey alone, and some 380,000 have taken refuge in government shelters or hotels, said Turkish Vice President Fuat Oktay. They huddled in shopping malls, stadiums, mosques and community centers, while others spent the night outside in blankets gathering around fires.

Many took to social media to plead for assistance for loved ones believed to be trapped under the rubble — and Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Interior Ministry officials as saying all calls were being “collected meticulously” and the information relayed to search teams.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 13 million of the country's 85 million were affected in some way — and declared a state of emergency in 10 provinces in order to manage the response.

For the entire quake-hit area, that number could be as high as 23 million people, according to Adelheid Marschang, a senior emergencies officer with the World Health Organization.

“This is a crisis on top of multiple crises in the affected region,” Marschang said in Geneva.

Teams from nearly 30 countries around the world headed for Turkey or Syria.

As promises of help flooded in, Turkey said it would only allow vehicles carrying aid to enter the worst-hit provinces of Kahramanmaras, Adiyaman and Hatay in order to speed the effort.

The United Nations said it was “exploring all avenues” to get supplies to rebel-held northwestern Syria, where millions live in extreme poverty and rely on humanitarian aid to survive.

Nurgul Atay told The Associated Press she could hear her mother's voice beneath the rubble of a collapsed building in the Turkish city of Antakya, the capital of Hatay province, but that her and others' efforts to get into the ruins had been futile without any heavy equipment to help.

“If only we could lift the concrete slab we'd be able to reach her,” she said. “My mother is 70 years old, she won't be able to withstand this for long.”

But in the northwestern Syrian town of Jinderis, a young girl called Nour was pulled alive from the wreckage of a collapsed building Monday.

A rescuer cradled her head in his hands and tenderly wiped dust from around her eyes as she lay amid crushed concrete and twisted metal before being pulled out and passed to another man.

Turkey has large numbers of troops in the border region with Syria and has tasked the military to aid in the rescue efforts, including setting up tents for the homeless and a field hospital in Hatay province. Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said a humanitarian aid brigade based in Ankara and eight military search and rescue teams had also been deployed.

A navy ship docked on Tuesday at the province’s port of Iskenderun, where a hospital collapsed, to transport survivors in need of medical care to a nearby city. Thick, black smoke rose from another area of the port, where firefighters have not yet been able to douse a fire that broke out among shipping containers toppled by the earthquake.

In northern Syria, meanwhile, Sebastien Gay, the head of mission in the country for Doctors Without Borders, said health facilities were overwhelmed with medical personnel working around “around the clock to respond to the huge numbers of wounded.”

The affected area in Syria is divided between government-controlled territory and the country’s last opposition-held enclave, which is surrounded by Russian-backed government forces. Turkey is home to millions of refugees from the Syrian civil war.

The rebel-held enclave is packed with some 4 million people displaced from other parts of the country by the war. Many live in buildings that were already damaged by military bombardments.

Erdogan said the total number of deaths in Turkey had passed 3,500, with some 22,000 people injured.

The death toll in government-held areas of Syria climbed over 800, with some 1,400 injured, according to the Health Ministry. The country’s rebel-held northwest also saw at least 800 die, according to the White Helmets, the emergency organization leading rescue operations, with more than 2,200 injured.

The region sits on top of major fault lines and is frequently shaken by earthquakes. Some 18,000 were killed in similarly powerful earthquakes that hit northwest Turkey in 1999.

The U.S. Geological Survey measured Monday’s quake at 7.8, with a depth of 18 kilometers (11 miles). Hours later, another quake, likely triggered by the first, struck more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) away with 7.5 magnitude.

Alsayed reported from Azmarin, Syria, while Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey. Associated Press writers David Rising in Bangkok, Zeynep Bilginsoy and Robert Badendieck in Istanbul, Bassem Mroue and Kareem Chehayeb in Beirut, Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, and Riazat Butt in Islamabad, contributed to this report.

  

Is the Turkey earthquake related to the one in Buffalo and Ontario? 'The timing isn't right,' seismologist says

'We do see earthquakes caused by that large main shock, 

but they tend to be within the length of the rupture zone,'

expert says

Elianna Lev

Mon, February 6, 2023 

The powerful and devastating earthquake that has killed thousands in Turkey and Syria is unrelated to the 4.2-magnitude earthquake that shook Buffalo and parts of southern Ontario Monday morning.

John Cassidy, an earthquake seismologist with Natural Resources Canada, says both instances are relatively rare events. The 7.8 shallow quake in Turkey is one of the largest experienced in the region in 100 years, and ruptured a fault hundreds of kilometers long.

The earthquake felt in Buffalo and Ontario, however, is most likely unrelated.

“There are a lot of aftershocks and we do see earthquakes caused by that large main shock, but they tend to be within the length of the rupture zone” he tells Yahoo News Canada. “In this case, within 500 kilometers is where you’d see potential for other earthquakes to be triggered.”

There have been studies that look at earthquakes triggered at great distances, but they’re related to the seismic waves of a large earthquake as they roll through a region, triggering tiny earthquakes, Cassidy explains. That’s generally observed in volcanic regions.

“That’s not the case in New York (and Ontario),” he says. “The timing isn’t right either.”

That’s not to say large earthquakes aren’t to be expected in different parts of Canada. While it’s not unheard of for parts of Ontario to be shaken by earthquakes, they’re rather rare. But the Ottawa Valley region is a seismic zone, which continues up to Temiscaming, the St. Lawrence Valley and the Lower St. Lawrence. The Charlevoix Region of Quebec has had many large earthquakes, including ones up to magnitude 7 on the Richter scale.

RELATED: B.C.'s big earthquake: 'It could be tomorrow, it could be 200 years from now'

There’s also been large earthquakes along the eastern boundaries of Canada, such as off the coast of Newfoundland and Baffin Island.

“While they’re rare events, they do happen,” says Cassidy.

However, the largest and most frequent earthquakes take place along Canada’s West Coast, from Vancouver Island, all the way up to the Yukon, where up to magnitude 9 earthquakes have been recorded.

As for the “Big One”, which is expected along the South coast, Cassidy says it’s not overdue but we’re well into the cycle of when it can be expected.

These earthquakes are rare and happen roughly every 300 to 800 or 900 years. The last one was in 1700, so three 323 years ago, so we’re certainly into the cycle.John Cassidy, earthquake seismologist, Natural Resources Canada

Other types of extreme earthquakes have been felt in recent years. In 2012, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake - the same magnitude as the one in Turkey - occurred offshore in Haida Gwaii. It quake triggered lots of landslides and a tsunami, but it was a sparsely populated area and there was little damage to structures because of the distance factor.

Canada earthquake warning system in the works

Erie County Executive describes Buffalo-area earthquake: 'Maybe my house got hit by a car'  Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz described what he felt as a magnitude 3.8 earthquake rattled western New York. He says he thought maybe his house got hit by a car.

While there’s no way to predict earthquakes, Cassidy says the way we protect ourselves from them are through building codes, which are updated every five years, and bridge codes. There are also models developed of what we can expect across Canada when it comes to the types of ground shaking and how long it could last.

Experts do this by looking at recorded earthquakes across the country and large ones across the world, which are similar to the ones that are known to happen in Canada.

What’s currently being developed are early warning systems, which don’t predict earthquakes but provide people with seconds to minutes of time before strong shaking arrives. The system detects the waves that occur after the earthquake has happened, so those in the surrounding areas can be alerted.

“It takes time for those waves to travel,” Cassidy explains. “Really strong waves travel at about three and a half kilometers each second. So if you’re a distance away from the earthquake, it’s possible to get some warning before it arrives.”

Similar systems currently operate in Mexico, Japan, California and Oregon. It allows for high speed trains and traffic to stop from running into tunnels, alarms in hospitals to alert surgeons from operating, and elevators to stop working.

“There’s a lot of automated systems that do some very simple but very useful things before strong shaking arrives,” he says.

Cassidy says that warning system should be available across Canada by next March.

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/02/b_6.html

B.C. rattled by a 3.9-magnitude earthquake, shaking reported

https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/2023/02/turkey-earthquake-latest-news-second.html

WORST QUAKE IN 70 YEARS

Turkey earthquake latest news: Second massive 7.7 magnitude quake strikes

FELT IN CANADA

Buffalo, New York, area is hit with the strongest earthquake in 40 years


USGS

Marlene Lenthang and Colin Sheeley
Mon, February 6, 2023

A 3.8-magnitude earthquake struck Monday morning near Buffalo, New York, the strongest recorded in the area in 40 years.

The quake hit 1.24 miles east-northeast of West Seneca, New York, with a depth of 1.86 miles, around 6:15 a.m., according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz said no damage had been reported so far in West Seneca, a suburb of Buffalo near the U.S.-Canada border.

He said he had spoken with the deputy commissioner of the Erie County Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Services, Gregory J. Butcher, who said a “confirmed quake was felt as far north as Niagara Falls and south to Orchard Park.”

“It felt like a car hit my house in Buffalo. I jumped out of bed,” Poloncarz said.

Yaareb Altaweel, a seismologist at the National Earthquake Information Center, said Northeast earthquakes “happen all the time” and quakes can strike anywhere at any time.

Since 1983, there have been 24 earthquakes above magnitude 2.5 in the West Seneca region, with Monday’s being the largest so far in the area.

Altaweel said another 3.8-magnitude quake took place in 1999 in western New York.

“On a scale of earthquakes, 3.8 isn’t that big. But the crust in that region is old crust. It’s old and cold, and the efficiency of transferring the seismic waves versus sedimentary areas — that’s why people can feel it more. That’s why earthquakes can be felt even at 1.0 in some places,” he said.

Altaweel said a 3.8-magnitude quake is “not a big earthquake that you’d expect damage from.”

Existing fractures and fault lines can cause earthquakes to hit so far inland, he said.

Altaweel said there was nothing abnormal about this shock.

“I’d say it’s very normal. There was one, a 2.6, in March 2022. There was another 2 in 2020. These keep happening in this region at low magnitude,” he said.

Around the globe, an initial 7.8-magnitude earthquake in southeastern Turkey was followed hours later by a 7.5-magnitude quake that shook buildings and killed more than 3,600 people in the country and neighboring Syria. The toll is expected to rise sharply on both sides of the border.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

4.2 magnitude earthquake felt in Ontario largest to hit Buffalo area in decades

Mon, February 6, 2023 


A 4.2 magnitude earthquake was "lightly felt" in Ontario after it hit near Buffalo, N.Y., Earthquakes Canada said Monday – a light quake by international measures but the largest to hit the area in more than a half-century.

No significant damage was reported in the hours after Monday morning's earthquake and none would be expected to accompany one of its size, said Stephen Halchuk, a seismologist with Natural Resources Canada.

A search of recorded seismic activity within 100 kilometres showed the last one to measure higher on the Richter scale was 4.5 magnitude in 1967 near Buffalo, Halchuk said.

"It is larger than we would normally see," he said.

The earthquake was reported at 6:15 a.m. and pinpointed around six kilometres east of Buffalo. The U.S. Geological Survey measured it slightly lower at 3.8.

Just across the U.S.-Canada border in Fort Erie, Ont., Mayor Wayne Redekop said he was stirred awake by the sound of the earthquake's rumble. His house shook, but everything stayed on the shelves, he said.

"It was fairly mild, but it was definitely noticeable," he said.

Redekop said he exchanged texts with his two daughters who also live in town and they told him they also felt their homes shake.

"It was a sufficient magnitude that it woke everybody up except my youngest grandson, who apparently slept right through it," Redekop said. "But he's four. He probably ran the batteries down yesterday and needed to recharge."

The area, referred to by seismologists as the Niagara-Attica zone, sees regular activity, with records indicating about 60 earthquakes in the past decade, Halchuk said. But the vast majority have been magnitude two or smaller – too small to be felt.

The zone is far from North American tectonic plate boundaries in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and in the Caribbean Sea. But as the plate crawls along, at a pace of around five to ten centimetres a year, stresses build up in the earth's crust, leading to "areas of weakness", such as the Niagara-Attica zone, Halchuk said.

"You get these stresses being released in the form of these small earthquakes that occur occasionally in the region," he said, noting there's no reason to expect more frequent earthquakes.

The quake came on the same day as a major 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked large parts of Turkey and Syria, toppling buildings and killing thousands. Halchuk said Turkey lies near an intersection of three tectonic plates, creating high seismic activity and the potential for large damaging earthquakes.

In the Niagara-Attica zone, the largest earthquake ever recorded was a 4.9 magnitude quake in 1929 near Attica, N.Y., which caused only moderate damage, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 6, 2023.

Jordan Omstead, The Canadian Press

FACT CHECK

Florida High School Athletic Assoc. weighs mandating menstrual cycle details for female athletes




Associated Press
Sat, February 4, 2023 

CLAIM: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is requiring all female student-athletes in the state to provide detailed information about their periods in order to compete in organized sports.

AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The Florida High School Athletic Association is weighing the recommendation from an advisory committee, but no final decision has been made. DeSantis’ education commissioner is a member of the association’s board of directors and the commissioner also appoints three others, but the association is a private nonprofit organization, not a state agency under the purview of the governor’s office.

THE FACTS: Social media users are suggesting the conservative Republican governor, who has been an outspoken critic of transgender athletes, is again using sports to stoke controversy as he weighs a run for president in 2024.

“BREAKING: Ron DeSantis wants female student-athletes to submit menstrual information. THIS IS INSANE!,” wrote one Twitter user in a post.

“Ron DeSantis: The government has no right in telling federal employees to wear masks. Also, Ron DeSantis: The government has every right to know when every single high school girl has her period,” wrote another Twitter user in a post that had been liked or shared more than 3,000 times as of Friday. “Ron DeSantis is the epitome of hypocrisy and quite the creep!”

But the proposed mandate hasn’t had final approval and wasn’t developed by DeSantis’ office.

Florida currently asks female high school athletes to provide information about their menstrual cycle on health forms required to participate in sports, but it is not mandatory.

Ryan Harrison, the association’s spokesperson, confirmed the new recommendations were developed by its sports medicine advisory committee and approved in late January. It will now be considered by the association board of directors at its next meeting in Gainesville from Feb. 26-27.

The association is recognized as the state’s official governing body for interscholastic sports. Its board includes a representative for the office of state Education Commissioner Manny Diaz, who DeSantis appointed. Diaz also picks three others to serve on the 16-member board.

DeSantis and Diaz’s offices didn’t respond to emails seeking comment this week, but Harrison stressed the proposed changes are not in response to concerns about transgender athletes competing in women’s sports, as some social media users claim.

Read: ‘A path forward to more sustainability’: Disney union celebrates after voting down contract offer

“There is absolutely no support of the argument that their recommendation is aimed towards addressing an individual group of people,” he wrote in an email.

The athletic association’s current Preparticipation Physical Evaluation Form, which must be completed by a student and their physician and kept on file at their school, asks female athletes five questions about their periods, but they’re all listed as optional.

The questions, which association officials say have been on the form for at least two decades, including when a student had their first menstrual period, when the most recent one was, how long the interval between their periods typically lasts, how many they’ve had in the past year and the longest interval between periods in the last year.

The proposed revisions to the form include four mandatory questions about menstruation, including if the student has ever had a period, the age they had their first period, the date of their most recent period and how many periods they’ve had in the past year.

Robert Sefcik, a member of the sports medicine advisory committee, said making the menstrual cycle questions mandatory rather than optional is consistent with national guidelines for sports physicals developed by the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Sports Medicine and other groups.

Read: ‘I like freaked out’: Woman says changes to her phone bill she didn’t approve cost her thousands

He said having a form that has been vetted and published by national organizations provides an “extremely credible resource” for doctors conducting sports physicals.

“We appreciate the medical necessity of the questions, including menstrual history, that are included on this form and support their inclusion on the form,” Sefcik, who was the committee’s previous chairperson and voted in favor of recommendations, wrote in an email

The national guidelines say menstrual history is an “essential discussion for female athletes” because period abnormalities could be a sign of “low energy availability, pregnancy, or other gynecologic or medical conditions.”

“Menstrual dysfunction is 2-3 times more common in athletes than nonathletes, and 10-15% of female athletes have amenorrhea (loss of menstrual cycle) or oligomenorrhea (a decrease in the number of menstrual cycles per year),” the guidelines read. “Amenorrhea occurs more frequently in players of sports that emphasize leanness, such as running, gymnastics, cheerleading, dance, and figure skating.”

This is part of AP’s effort to address widely shared misinformation, including work with outside companies and organizations to add factual context to misleading content that is circulating online. Learn more about fact-checking at AP.

‘Ugly fish’ caught in Vermont pond ignites debate. ‘Like it came out of an acid bath’

Mark Price
Mon, February 6, 2023 at 6:09 AM MST·2 min read

A strange looking fish pulled from an iced-over Vermont pond has ignited an online debate about what exactly made it so “ugly.”

It’s assumed to be a chain pickerel, which are typically green and covered in “dark chain-like patterns.”

But this one looks more like a lab experiment: cream colored, with gray splotches and an odd yellow racing stripe down one side.

“Check out this odd looking chain pickerel,” the online angler group Vermont Fishing wrote on Facebook on Feb. 2.

“Anyone ever seen or caught anything like this? Is it a partial albino? A pie-bald fish? While it almost looks like a fish that’s been laying in a cooler in direct contact with ice for a few hours, the angler ensures us that it came through the hole exactly as you see it.”

College student Caden Hurley and his ice fishing buddies Dylan Partlow and Ryan Vassuer caught the fish Jan. 28 on Sabin Pond in Woodbury.

Hurley said they were definitely taken off guard by what came out of the ice.

“We saw the flag and went running,” Hurley told McClatchy News. “When we pulled it out, we knew the species, (but) ... I said ‘Dude look at this thing.’ I’d guess 22-24 (inches) and 3 pounds. We took our fair share of pictures and released it.”

Hurley hasn’t weighed into the online debate.

Vermont Fishing asked its 7,100 Facebook followers if they had caught anything like it, and responses suggest its rare.

Many guessed the fish was either a hybrid or a mutant born of water contamination.

Still others suggested it was something other than a pickerel.

This is what a chain pickerel looks like.

“One ugly fish,” Sterling Pelsue wrote. “Looks like it came out of an acid bath.”

“I think it’s super cool. I know it’s a major mutation but I think it looks awesome,” Carly Buswell posted.

“I would have kept it and put it on the wall,” Reva Bartlett said.

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources confirmed to McClatchy News on Feb. 6 the fish is a chain pickerel, but counts as “a truly unusual catch.”

“It looks like a healthy individual exhibiting a condition called leucism,” the department said in an email.

“Leucism is a pigment condition that can unevenly affect coloration across an animal, resulting in white patches of varying extent. ... Unlike true albinism, leucism does not affect the eyes. ... In the case of this chain pickerel, you can see that the eyes are a normal color for a member of this species.”

Hurley, a civil engineering major at Norwich University, says he appreciates the interest in fishing the debate has generated.

“I didn’t realize it would get so much attention, but it’s great to see so many people interested in it, and a pretty cool memory for me and the boys,” he said.

Fish Vermont

4d · 

Check out this odd looking Chain Pickerel caught by Caden Hurley in a central Vermont pond. Anyone ever seen or caught anything like this? Is it a partial albino? A pie-bald fish? While it almost looks like a fish that's been laying in a cooler in direct contact with ice for a few hours, the angler ensures us that it came through the hole exactly as you see it (and was released alive). We believe it to be exhibiting traits in line with the condition known as "Leucism".

Leucism is when there's a partial loss of pigmentation resulting in white, pale, or patchy coloration of the skin, hair, feathers, scales or cuticle, but not the eyes. It's not common in fish, but it does happen!

Let us know if you've seen anything like it!

#fishvermont #icefishing #chainpickerel #piebald #youneverknowwhatyoullfind

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KARMA IS A BITCH DEPT.
Skull-waving neo-Nazi Russian mercenary gets shot in head in execution-style attack

Sun, February 5, 2023 

Igor Mangushev, a Russian mercenary and propagandist

According to reports circulating on social media, Mangushev was shot in the head at close range, execution-style, at a checkpoint in the Russian-occupied part of Luhansk Oblast.

Mangushev (call sign “Bereg”) was sent to the neurosurgery department of one of the hospitals in Kadiivka (which the Russians call Stakhanov) with a gunshot wound.

Read also: A look at the trio who convinced Putin to invade

“So, performing with someone else’s skull has brought (Mangushev) misfortune,” Kazanskyi wrote.

“Mangushev got shot through his own skull. He is still alive, but with such an injury, the prospects are not very good.”


According to the journalist, “karma caught up” with Mangushev, and it was soldiers of Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov who most likely shot the Russian mercenary.

“The details are still uncertain, but they say there is a reason to shout ‘Akhmat-sila!’” Kazanskyi said, quoting what Mangushev’s attackers are reported to have cried during the shooting.

ПриZрак Новороссии/Telegram

Russian sources also confirmed that an “accident” happened to the mercenary. Russian authorities declined to release more information about the attack, but Russian milbloggers condemned the attack and speculated that Mangushev may have been on his knees and shot from behind.

“Information from the doctors: it was made from a short-barreled weapon, a bullet of approximately 9 mm, close-up, occipital-parietal region, wound channel from the back down at 45 degrees,” the Russians quoted one of the invaders who fought in the same unit as Bereg.

Mangushev is the leader of the neo-Nazi movement “Light Rus”. He is also considered the creator of PMC “Raccoon”, which closely cooperated with Russia’s FSB security service.

Read also: Tactics of Wagner PMC mercenaries in Ukraine revealed in intelligence report – CNN

The U.S. think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), quoting a Western expert, noted that Mangushev has ties to Wagner Group and that an attack against Mangushev may have been a message to the Wagner Group and its financier, Yevgeny Prigozhin.

During his shameful “skull brandishing” speech in the summer of 2022, Mangushev repeated the stereotypes of Russian propaganda and called for the genocide of Ukrainians.

The propagandist stated that the Russian Federation “is not at war with people, but with the idea” of Ukraine’s existence, and “all bearers of this idea must be destroyed.”

The New Voice of Ukraine

A Russian officer who brandished the skull of a Ukrainian soldier at a heavy metal concert was shot in an 'execution-style' hit: report

Joshua Zitser
Mon, February 6, 2023 

A view of a damaged building in the Luhansk region.

STRINGER/AFP via Getty Images

A Russian captain was shot "execution-style" in the head on Saturday, according to reports.

Igor Mangushev was filmed last year brandishing the supposed skull of a slain Ukrainian soldier.

An expert said the "hit" on Mangushev may have been a proxy attack on the head of the Wagner Group.

A captain in the Russian army, who previously worked as a propagandist, was shot in the head at close range in Ukraine over the weekend, according to reports.

British newspaper The Telegraph reported that Igor Mangushev was taken to a hospital in the town of Stakhanov early Saturday with a "close range" gunshot wound to the head.

According to The New Voice of Ukraine, citing unverified doctors' reports, Mangushev was shot "execution-stye" at a checkpoint in the Russian-occupied region of Luhansk Oblast.

He survived but is now being treated for the gunshot wound by a neurosurgery department at a hospital in Kaddivka, in eastern Ukraine, the outlet said.

The Institute for the Study of War, an American think tank, said on Saturday that Mangushev had ties to the private military contractor the Wagner Group.

It also noted that Mangushev gained notoriety for a stunt involving the skull of what he said was a Ukrainian soldier who had died at the Azovstal plant in Mariupol.

Last summer, Mangushev was filmed brandishing the skull during a heavy metal concert. Per The New Voice of Ukraine, during the recording he called for the destruction of all those who supported the existence of Ukraine.



According to MailOnline, Mangushev has repeatedly called for the murder of Ukrainian civilians in Telegram posts.

The Daily Beast reported that Mangushev also had links to neo-Nazi groups.

Images released on Telegram appear to show a bandaged Mangushev covered in blood, lying on a hospital bed.

The Telegraph reported that the photos were shared by Mangushev's friend Boris Rozhkin, who has been sanctioned by Ukraine for pushing pro-Kremlin propaganda.

"I think we can safely describe this as a hit," Mark Galeotti, a London-based expert on Russian security and director of Mayak Intelligence, said in a series of tweets about the incident.

In the posts, Galeotti theorized that the shooting could be a "proxy attack" on Yevgeny Prigozhin, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the head of the Wagner Group.

"This could be a warning, or taking a pawn off the board, or a sign that Prigozhin's more thuggish rivals feel he is weakened enough that they can move," he added.

The Antarctic and Arctic sounds rarely heard before


Georgina Rannard - Climate and science reporter
Sun, February 5, 2023

What do you hear when you think of the Arctic and Antarctic?

"Singing" ice, a seal that sounds like it is in space, and a seismic airgun thundering like a bomb are some of the noises released by two marine acoustic labs.

The project introduces the public to 50 rarely heard sounds recorded underwater in the polar regions.

It highlights how noisy oceans are becoming due to increased human activity that also disrupts sea life.

"These sounds are fairly alien to most people," explains artist and researcher Dr Geraint Rhys Whittaker.

Ice shelf collapse

"We probably think we know what the poles sound like but often that is imagined," adds Dr Whittaker, who works at the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity and the Alfred Wegener Institute in Germany.

The underwater microphones were attached to floats with scientific instruments left in the Arctic and Antarctic for about two years.

One sound captured was calls from the least-researched Antarctic seal. Ross seals live in the open seas and on pack ice that is difficult to reach. The scientists recorded five calls from the creature of different frequencies.

Crabeater seals, minke whales, narwhals and humpback whales were also recorded.

Humpback whales

It can be hard to capture these sounds due to the inhospitable environment and the vast distances that animals travel in the regions.

"The difficulty is knowing where the mammals will be because they move and you can't rely on where they will be," explains Dr Whittaker.

The roaring collapse of ice shelves was also recorded, a process that is being accelerated in parts of the polar regions by rising temperatures linked to climate change.

The delicate sound of ice "singing" is included in the collection. It is caused by ice moving in water, or contracting as temperatures rise and fall, or when ice melts and refreezes.

Europe and polar regions bear brunt of warming in 2022

Few people read scientific research published by universities, Dr Whittaker suggests, and he hopes that listening to the sounds will make people stop and think about the polar oceans. Oceans occupy 71% of our planet's surface and are hugely important for preserving life on Earth but are severely impacted by climate change.

Temperatures in the Arctic are rising four times faster than other parts of the world.

Seals

The microphones also picked up human-made noise in the oceans, caused by shipping and oil and gas exploration.

Noise pollution from seismic blasting, used to explore the seabed, travels huge distances and scientists have found it negatively affects animal life.

The project reveals just how noisy the oceans are, suggests Dr Whittaker, who says he hopes it highlights the need for laws to reduce noise from shipping and dredging damaging marine life.

Working with the sound-art project Cities and Memory, the noises have also been turned into more than 100 compositions put together by musicians highlighting climate change.

"With Earth's poles warming faster than the global average, this collection of sounds aims to draw attention to a fascinating but rapidly changing environment, and encourages us to think about ways to preserve it for future generations," explains Stuart Fowkes, founder of Cities and Memory.

Dr Ilse van Opzeeland, from the Ocean Acoustics Group at Alfred Wegener Institute, hopes combining art and science will help raise awareness.

"A 'translation' through art breathes new life into our scientific data that goes beyond a traditional publication or policy paper by making it accessible to non-scientists," she said.

"We must make the greatest efforts to protect, conserve and restore our planet's endangered habitats. The interaction of art and science can help by creating awareness and brings attention to this."