The angry earth

Arkansas town rocked by unprecedented series of quakes

The Arkansas Geological Survey is trying to unravel a mystery: What is causing earthquakes in the town of Guy, Arkansas?

Since 20 September, the community of 549 residents north of Little Rock has experienced an almost constant shaking from 487 measurable earthquakes.

"This time last year we had 39 quakes total for the entire state," said a local scientist.

A fourth person has died as the flood crisis worsens across Australia, with at least four states and territories on high alert for thunderstorms and heavy rain.

Farmers have watched their livelihoods swallowed by the deluge and thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes, with the tragedy of the situation compounded by yet another death. Three of the deaths occured in Queensland.

A total of eight earthquakes rocked northern Luzon on Monday, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) reported on Tuesday.

Following the magnitude 5.1 earthquake at 8:24am, some 6km southwest of Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya in the Philippines, seven more tremors occured.

An Indonesian artist is selling souvenirs of ash from the country's most volatile volcano to raise money for victims of its eruptions. Agus Budi Setiawan is selling souvenirs - small clear bottles containing volcanic ash - for $1 per bottle.

Papua New Guinea was rattled by a strong 6.1-magnitude earthquake, but as it struck 90 miles deep it is unlikely to have caused damage or sparked a tsunami.

Go figure

2 Number of men who call themselves president of the Ivory Coast after the recent disputed election

500m Users of Facebook, in the week founder Mark Zuckerberg was named Time magazine's man of the year

23% Number of UK four- and five-year-olds reported as 'obese or overweight' in the year they start school

On this day in 1606

First English colonists set sail for Jamestown – and a new world

The Susan Constant, the Godspeed and Discovery were three unremarkable ships that accomplished a remarkable feat. The Susan Constant was the largest, at just 120 tons and 116 feet long, and carried 105 passengers.

It was they - all men - who were what makes the little armada remembered today: in a venture of the Virginia Company, it carried across the Atlantic the first permanent European settlers in North America.

The ships (Godspeed carried 52 settlers and Discovery 231) took 63 days to cross from London to an island off the coast of what became known as the state of Virginia.

The Jamestown colony was founded on 14 May 1607. Earlier attempts, such as the Lost Colony of Roanoke, failed, but Jamestown took root.

The location was selected mainly because it was easy to defend against other European forces, and was not inhabited by local Indians.

As the settlers, under leader John Smith, moved to the mainland, there were some skirmishes with the natives, but peace broke out after John Rolfe married a princess of the Powhatan tribe: Pocahontas.

More settlers arrived from Europe and the colony expanded, but Jamestown ceased to exist after the transfer of Virginia's capital to Williamsburg in 1699.

Replicas of the three ships are today docked in the James River at Jamestown. The Susan Constant, under Captain Christopher Newport, set sail from London in 1606, on this day.

The week in laughs

A new study found that US school children rank 25th in maths, 17th in science, and 14th in reading which, according to my calculations, means we're in third place

(Jimmy Kimmel)

Americans, eh? They're even going to build a shopping centre at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It's abyss mall.

(Sickipedia)

Maroon 5 played at the White House Christmas tree lighting. They were a big deal a couple years ago. Like President Obama

(Craig Ferguson)

There's a new soccer team in?Weatherfield: Tram Near Rovers

(Mario Rosenstock)

Ukraine announced plans to open Chernobyl to tourists. They say it's just like Disneyland, except the six-foot mouse is real.

(Conan O'Brien)

News hound - What it says in the international press

Sowetan - Scarce land so two buried in one grave

PEOPLE left Delft cemetery in Cape Town puzzled and very unhappy after two children were buried in one grave, because of a new city by-law to conserve scarce land. Philasande Ntuli (5) and Shaun Mashiri (5) died last week when were hit by a taxi.

Irish Echo - Numbers up of Irish heading Down Under

New figures from the Department of Immigration reveal that the number of Irish people emigrating to Australia has increased sharply. Just over 3,000 Irish citizens were granted permanent residency in the year ending June 2010, a 22% rise on the previous year.

The Press and Journal - Man dies after leg impaled in break-in

A man died after being impaled on a fence during an attempted break-in at an Aberdeen industrial estate. The man, who was in his 20s, was discovered by a member of the public. His leg is believed to have been impaled on a fence at the rear of the yard.

Daily Nation - Kenyan vigilantes threaten drug dealers

Residents of Mombasa are boiling with anger. They are so furious that they cannot wait for police to act on the drug racket that is turning their children into zombies. They have threatened to conduct citizen arrests of the drug dealers if the police do not act.

Checking out - The people we said goodbye to last week

Tom Walkinshaw, 64, British engineer and racing team owner; cancer

Richard Holbrooke, 69, US diplomat; complications from aortic dissection

William Thompson, 71, Ulster Unionist MP for West Tyrone 1997-2001; after long illness

Dale Roberts, 24, English footballer with Rushden & Diamonds; suicide

Woolly Wolstenholme, 63, British prog rocker (Barclay James Harvest); suicide

Bernard Patrick Devlin, 89, Irish-born Catholic Bishop of Gibraltar (1985-98)

Ralph Coates, 64, English footballer (Burnley, Spurs)

Blake Edwards, 88, US film director, pneumonia