A massive 7.5-magnitude earthquake has struck eastern Indonesia, sparking a tsunami warning for coastline areas within 1,000 kilometres of the epicentre, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

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Strong and whipped winds have pushed flames close to Brea High School and a large office park near the intersection of Wildcat Way and Lambert Road. This has led authorities to announce evacuations in Brea neighborhood.

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Hurricane Paloma has become stronger and turned categorically into a hurricane this Thursday and is now barreling its way to the Caribbean islands and towards Cuba.

National Hurrican Center has a Miami base office that reported the storm, which formed early Thursday east of the Nicaragua-Honduras border, was packing winds with a combined force of near 75 miles per hour (120 kilometers per hour), with higher gusts.

Check out more reportage of the hurricane including photos and maps here - CLICK HERE.

Tropical Storm Paloma strengthened into a hurricane Thursday as it barreled northward across the Caribbean towards Cuba, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said.

The Miami-based monitor reported that the storm, which formed early Thursday east of the Nicaragua-Honduras border, was packing sustained winds near 75 miles per hour (120 kilometers per hour), with higher gusts.

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Intense fires have been burning at Little Tujunga Canyon. A fire carried by the season’s first major winds blasted out of the foothills of the northeastern San Fernando Valley today, blackening 750 acres and destroying one house before winds shifted and the fire’s advance was largely halted.

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Watch out for this one. The National Hurricane Center says Tropical Storm Marco has kept its strength off Mexico’s Gulf Coast with maximum sustained winds near 65 mph (105 kph).

A hurricane watch is in effect for Mexico’s Gulf Coast from Cabo Rojo south to Veracruz, and a tropical storm warning is in effect for the coast from Cabo Rojo south to Punta El Lagarto.

A historic day for Physicists all around the world. The first phase of the Big Bang Experiment was completed without any hiccups. It was conducted in a 27km circular tunnel 80m below the ground in Geneva. The instrument used is called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). which basically is a subatomic particle smasher. The main objective of the experiment is to recreate conditions just after the Big Bang occurred which is widely believed to be how the the Universe came into being in the first place about 13.7 billion years ago. Its being conducted by the European Organization for Nuclear Research, CERN, and involves over 2000 scientists from around the world.

The experiment essentially involves accelerating beams of subatomic particles through the circular tunnel, guided by more than a thousand cylindrical, supercooled magnets. Two beams of particles will move in opposite directions around the tunnel and at four locations the beams will converge, sending the particles crashing into each other at nearly the speed of light. Particle collisions can create other particles because energy equals mass (as Albert Einstein noted when he introduced the equation E=mc2). Two masses (particles) collide, creating a burst of energy, and then condense into other masses (particles).These  particles have never been seen since the Big Bang occurred. As after the bang the temperature and pressure was trillion times more than it is now, the particles that might have been created then would be highly energized and hence unstable. Scientists now are trying to look for those exotic particles that might have formed after the collision and given rise to matter. These are hence the very fundamental particles of matter.

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Ike is forecast to maintain Category 4 status as it moves across the Southeastern Bahamas and near eastern Cuba. Some further strengthening is possible due to less wind shear and warmer water. This could allow Ike to become a very strong Category 4 or possibly even a Category 5 hurricane before affecting Cuba later.

The fact that Gustav is going to have an impact on the Oil market and Gas prices in US is a given. What we can debate on however is, how much will be the impact.

Available news reports show that oil prices fluctuated sharply when it became known on Thursday that Hurricane Gustav has spun toward the Gulf of Mexico and was gaining strength with every passing hour.

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Hurricane Gustav comes calling right at the heels of Hurrican Fay. And if you think you are sitting somewhere far off from the landfall and cannot be affected by such inclement weather situations, then think again. Hurricane Gustav hit Haiti and ended driving up gasoline prices.

Networks are reporting that Hurricane Gustav struck Haiti and sent global oil prices sky rocketing on fears that it could become even more dangerous than before by the time it reaches Gulf of Mexico.

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