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by Neil SANDS WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — At least one person was left in a critical condition when New Zealand’s White Island volcano erupted suddenly on Monday, leaving authorities scrambling to treat the injured and find those unaccounted for. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the volcanic island — also known as Whakaari — off New Zealand’s north coast had erupted while groups of tourists were visiting. “It is very much an evolving situation and […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Smoke haze from bushfires raging in Australia spread to the capital Sunday, as firefighters raced to contain more than 140 blazes ahead of a heatwave forecast early this week. Australia is experiencing a horrific start to its fire season, which scientists say began earlier and is more extreme this year due to a prolonged drought and the effects of climate change. Residents of Canberra in the country’s southeast woke up to […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Out of control bushfires forced residents in eastern Australia to flee their homes on Saturday, as other parts of the country braced for a heatwave due next week. Bushfires are common in the country but scientists say this year’s season has come earlier and with more intensity due to a prolonged drought and climatic conditions fuelled by global warming. Scorching temperatures have tipped above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) close […]
MAJURO, Marshall Islands (AFP) — More than 200 people have been forced to flee their homes after they were inundated by freak waves in the Marshall Islands capital Majuro. Swells averaging five meters (16 feet) washed rocks and debris onto roads, temporarily cutting access to the international airport at the peak of the flooding on Wednesday. The Red Cross set up evacuation centers at two schools, with local churches and Majuro’s mosque also offering help […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — The fire danger was elevated across wider swathes of southern Australia on Thursday, with residents warned to avoid at-risk areas as smoke from bushfires choked Sydney and other major cities. Devastating fires along the country’s east coast have claimed six lives and destroyed more than 500 homes since mid-October, with climate change and unseasonably hot, dry conditions fuelling the unprecedented blazes. Now the fire danger has moved into states further south, […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — The death toll from devastating bushfires in eastern Australia has risen to four after a man’s body was discovered in a scorched area of bushland, police said Thursday. Residents found the body outside the New South Wales town of Kempsey, one of several areas hit by bushfires in recent days. Police said formal identification was yet to take place but it was believed to be the body of a 58-year-old man […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A helicopter crashed while fighting a bushfire in northern Australia on Wednesday and the pilot managed to survive with only minor injuries, officials said. “The helicopter crashed during waterbombing operations at the Pechey fire today,” a Queensland Fire and Emergency Service spokesperson told AFP. A rescue helicopter was sent to the scene and the pilot was treated for minor injuries, a Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman told AFP. “We transported one male […]
CANBERRA, Australia (AFP) — Disgraced Catholic Cardinal George Pell was handed a final chance to clear his name Wednesday, when Australia’s top court agreed to allow his appeal against convictions for child abuse. The 78-year-old former Vatican treasurer is currently serving a six-year jail sentence for molesting two 13-year-old choirboys in a Melbourne cathedral in the 1990s, but continues to deny any wrongdoing. Justice Michelle Gordon — in a statement that took less than […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia escaped the worst-feared impacts of bushfires during a day of “catastrophic” conditions but the threat remains high, with dozens of fires still blazing and expectations of a brutal summer ahead. More than 300 new fires — including 19 that reached emergency level — were sparked Tuesday during high temperatures, gusting winds and dry conditions that were described as the worst on record. Thousands of firefighters deployed to combat the fires […]
by Daniel DE CARTERET / with Holly Robertson in Winmalee HILLVILLE, Australia (AFP) — Dozens of fires fanned by gale-force winds, scorching temperatures and tinder-dry bushland burned out of control in eastern Australia on Tuesday, as residents up and down the coast were warned it was now too late to leave. Thousands of firefighters had spread out across New South Wales in anticipation of what they called “off the scale” fire risk and “catastrophic” conditions, […]
by Holly ROBERTSON / with Daniel de Carteret in Taree, New South Wales WINMALEE, Australia (AFP) — Thousands of firefighters fanned out across eastern Australia Tuesday as gale-force winds, scorching temperatures and tinder-dry bushland brought “catastrophic” fire conditions. Dozens of bushfires were already burning out of control as temperatures were expected to climb toward 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) and winds were forecast to top 60 kilometers (40 miles) per hour in parts of New […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A state of emergency was declared on Monday and residents in the Sydney area were warned of “catastrophic” fire danger as Australia girded for a fresh wave of deadly bushfires that have ravaged the drought-stricken east of the country. For the first time, Australia’s largest city and the surrounding area faced the highest level of fire warning — with authorities cautioning that “lives and homes will be at risk”. “There is […]
