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US seeks transparency on China's first aircraft carrier IANS | Aug 11, 2011, 06.20AM IST WASHINGTON: The US is worried by the lack of transparency about China's first aircraft carrier, which made its maiden voyage on Wednesday, the US state department has stated. "We want to see more transparency. We would welcome any kind of explanation that China would like to give for needing this kind of equipment," said US state department Victoria Nuland. "This is part of our larger concern that China is not as transparent as other countries. It's not as transparent as the United States about its...

Complete title: Tsunami warning is in effect for coastal Alaska after 7.4-magnitude earthquake hits in the Pacific Ocean ### ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The U.S. Geological Survey says a magnitude 7.4 earthquake has been recorded in the Pacific Ocean off Alaska's remote Aleutian Islands. The Alaska Tsunami Warning Center says a tsunami warning has been posted for certain coastal areas of Alaska. That warning covers an area from 80 miles (128 kilometers) northeast of Dutch Harbor to about 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of Adak.

Tokyo (CNN) -- Workers at the stricken Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant are onto "Plan C" in their bid to stop highly radioactive water from gushing directly into the Pacific Ocean through a cracked concrete shaft, a Japanese nuclear official said Monday. Neither of the first two attempts to fill up the 20-centimeter (8-inch) crack outside the No. 2 reactor's turbine building -- on Saturday by pouring in concrete, and then Sunday by using a chemical compound mixed with sawdust and newspaper -- has been successful. "We were assuming and hoping (that water) would stay in the containment vessel as...

China challenges US predominance in Asia-Pacific (AP) – 3 hours ago WASHINGTON (AP) — When China launched threatening war games off Taiwan 15 years ago on the eve of an election on the self-governing island, the U.S. deployed two aircraft carriers, and China quickly backed down. Things don't seem so one-sided any more. China's military has been on a spending spree at a time that the debt-ridden U.S. government is looking to cut defense costs. On Friday, China announced a 12.7 percent hike for this year, the latest in a string of double-digit increases. That trend has triggered worries in...

.'Boost military' to take on China: adviser EXCLUSIVE Greg Sheridan, Foreign editor From: The Australian February 05, 2011 AUSTRALIA will need nuclear-powered attack submarines among a range of highly potent weapons systems, and must revolutionise its strategic culture to answer the security dangers posed by China's massive military build-up, according to one of the federal government's chief military advisers. Ross Babbage, who served on the government's advisory panel for the 2009 Defence white paper, believes Australia should acquire a fleet of 12 nuclear-powered attack submarines. He also favours developing a conventionally armed cruise and ballistic missile capability to be carried...

U.S. Air Force F-22A Raptor stealth fighter jets fly together over the Western Pacific Ocean. Via http://ChamorroBible.org/gpw/gpw-20060917.htm (medium, large, huge) The Photographer Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald, United States Air Force  

A special report on China's place in the world The fourth modernisation China is becoming a military force to reckon with in the western Pacific. How should America respond? Dec 2nd 2010 | from PRINT EDITION THIRTY-FIVE years ago Deng Xiaoping accused the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of “bloating, laxity, conceit, extravagance and inertia”. Even so, three years later, when he set about modernising China, he put the PLA last in the queue, behind farming, industry and science. And when the commander of the navy in 1982 laid out his plans for China to become a world sea power, he...

An East-West Center program, “Legacies of the Pacific War,” which EWC co-sponsored in July with the USS Arizona Memorial Museum Association and the National Park Service World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, has been the subject of some critical attention because of one complaint that the program was anti-veteran. [snip] The program in question was a workshop for college instructors which examined multiple perspectives on the impact of World War II in the Pacific. The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) funded the workshop, which was attended by college professors from nine nations. One of the participants...

Personal wealth in Asia Pacific has grown at a much faster rate compared to the global average. Wealth in the region grew between 100 and 400 per cent in the last 10 years, compared to the average global rate of 42 per cent, according to the first Global Wealth Report by Credit Suisse released on Friday. The Credit Suisse report aims to provide insight for investors going into different markets, using a methodology which calculates total wealth by looking at fixed assets and bankable assets, including properties, equities and cash. Asia Pacific markets have been bullish since recovering from the...

<p>STANFORD, California (CNN) -- In an event known as a "silent earthquake," a 72-square-mile chunk of the south slope of Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano slipped 3.5 inches toward the sea several months ago, leading one scientist to warn of a possible disaster for Pacific Rim nations.</p>

ABOARD THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTON – Nothing projects U.S. global air and sea power more vividly than supercarriers. Bristling with fighter jets that can reach deep into even landlocked trouble zones, America's virtually invincible carrier fleet has long enforced its dominance of the high seas. China may soon put an end to that. U.S. naval planners are scrambling to deal with what analysts say is a game-changing weapon being developed by China — an unprecedented carrier-killing missile called the Dong Feng 21D that could be launched from land with enough accuracy to penetrate the defenses of even the most advanced...

<p>An undersea 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit the southern Philippines on Saturday morning but it was too deep to cause any damage, officials said.</p> <p>No tsunami alert was issued, said the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, based in Hawaii.</p> <p>The quake hit the Moro Gulf off Mindanao Island at 7:15 a.m. (2315 GMT), the U.S. Geological Survey said. It said the quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.4 but the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology later reported a 6.9 magnitude.</p>

Color footage of carrier action in the Pacific. Thie is my daddy's generation in action, just a bunch of kids then. One of my uncles was flying off a carriers, he flew Corsairs.

If you check in regularly with the Drudge Report, you probably remember the mysterious light spiral over Norway last year, and the multitude of explanations offered for it (I think we were finally told that it was a Russian missile experiment gone awry). Now there's a new light spiral in Australia, that isn't getting so much attention - and there aren't any Russian missile tests anywhere near there. So what gives? A quick visit to the website of Share International, a creepy, occultist, messianic New Age group headed by Benjamin Creme, says these light spirals in the sky are a...

NASA says new images from its Jason-2 oceanography satellite shows the tropical Pacific has switched from El Nino warm conditions to La Nina cool conditions. "The central equatorial Pacific Ocean could stay colder than normal into summer and beyond," said oceanographer and climatologist Bill Patzert at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "That's because sea level is already about 4 inches below normal, creating a significant deficit of the heat stored in the upper ocean. The next few months will reveal if the current cooling trend will eventually evolve into a long-lasting La Nina situation." Patzert said a La...

SAIPAN, Northern Marianas – A volcanic eruption near the Pacific's Northern Mariana Islands shot clouds of ash and vapor nearly eight miles into the sky, federal scientists said. The eruption occurred early Saturday and appeared to come from an underwater volcano off Sarigan, a sparsely inhabited island about 100 miles north of the U.S. commonwealth's main island of Saipan. The Northern Marianas are about 3,800 miles southwest of Hawaii. USGS volcanologist Game McGimsey said Sunday that scientists are still trying to pinpoint the source but evidence is pointing to an underwater mountain. "People on the island (Sarigan) heard a loud...

Hugh Pickens writes "Science Daily Headlines reports on research by Oregon State University marine geologist Chris Goldfinger showing that earthquakes of magnitude 8.2 (or higher) have occurred 41 times during the past 10,000 years in the Pacific Northwest. By extrapolation, there is a 37% chance of another major earthquake in the area in the next 50 years that could exceed the power of recent seismic events in Chile and Haiti. If a magnitude-9 quake does strike the Cascadia Subduction Zone, extending from northern Vancouver Island to northern California, the ground could shake for several minutes, highways could be torn to...

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 rattled the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu early Friday, briefly triggering a tsunami watch for the region, officials said. There were no immediate reports of damage. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck just after 4 a.m. local time and was centered 300 miles (485 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Port Vila, at a depth of 22 miles (36 kilometers). The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a tsunami warning for Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia, but canceled the alert about an hour later. The center's duty geophysicist...

VANCOUVER - At least two Canadian fighter jets escorted a Cathay Pacific passenger jet to a safe landing in Vancouver International Airport on Saturday due to a potential unspecified security threat, a North American Aerospace Defense Command spokesperson said. Local media reports said the plane, which reportedly originated in Hong Kong, was towed to a secure part of the tarmac with passengers still on board.

ADELAIDE, Australia — A powerful earthquake struck off the Solomon Islands on Sunday, but a monitoring agency said a tsunami was not expected. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 7.1-magnitude quake hit southwest of the island chain's Kira Kira island in the South Pacific. The temblor's epicenter was about 130 miles (210 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Honiara. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says a destructive wave is not expected. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.