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by Josh Edelson Agence France-Presse MENDOCINO, United States (AFP) — Thousands of firefighters, backed by US troops and crews from as far away as Australia and New Zealand, made progress Wednesday in their battle with California’s biggest wildfire on record — but the weather forecast for the rest of the week is not promising, officials said. Nearly 20 major fires have ravaged the sprawling western state over the past two weeks, fanned by strong winds and […]
by Marlowe Hood Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Even if humanity slashes greenhouse gas emissions in line with Paris climate treaty goals, the planet could overwhelm such efforts and irretrievably tip into a hellish ‘hothouse’ state, top scientists warned Monday. Under such a scenario, Earth’s average temperature would stabilize 4 or 5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, rather than the 1.5 C to 2 C (2.7 or 3.6 Fahrenheit) cap called for […]
by Bojan Kavci Agence France-Presse MARKOVEC, Slovenia (AFP)–When he used to go hunting, Miha Mlakar would dream of killing a bear. But today the 33-year-old from Slovenia makes his living watching the animals, peacefully, in their natural forest environment. The turnaround to shooting bears with a camera, not a rifle, puts Mlakar, who runs bear observation tours, in step with wider efforts in the small Alpine nation to promote the coexistence of humans and […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP)– Europe sweltered Saturday in intense heat with temperatures hitting near-record highs of 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit) in Portugal, while elsewhere the high temperatures, exacerbated fires and melted the asphalt on highways. Here is a roundup: – Spain: three dead – In southern Spain, the heat continued to pound the tourist city of Cordoba reaching 44 C. In Catalonia in the northeast, a fire on the border with France forced […]
SAIDA, Lebanon (AFP) — Lebanese environmentalists on Saturday sank 10 old tanks and armored vehicles to the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea in a novel attempt to attract divers and create new habitats for marine life. Three kilometres off the coast of the city of Sidon, a huge crane on the back of a ship manoeuvred the military hardware into place over the water before dropping them down to the seabed one after the other. […]
OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Puppies discovered on an uninhabited island in the Canadian wilds are looking for a new home. The litter — four males and three females — has been dubbed the “Gilligan’s Island crew” after the 1960s American television sitcom about castaways on an uncharted tropical island. Two boaters recently heard their cries in the night, Deb Vandekerkhove, director of the rescue, told AFP. “The fellas could see some dark figures on the […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP)–Australia Thursday vowed to “vehemently” oppose a new push by Japan to undermine a global moratorium on commercial whaling, and urged like-minded nations to stand firm against Tokyo. Japan has regularly sought an easing of the International Whaling Commission’s (IWC) prohibition on commercial whaling and continues to kill the animals under what it calls a “scientific research” programme despite international criticism. At September’s IWC meeting in Brazil, Tokyo has said it plans to […]
TAMPA, United States (AFP) – Need another reason to hate plastics piling up in the environment? A study in the journal PLOS ONE on Wednesday found that degrading plastics emit powerful greenhouse gases like methane and ethylene, and are a previously unaccounted-for source of these heat-trapping pollutants. Plastic water bottles, shopping bags, industrial plastics and food containers were all tested as part of the study. The “most prolific emitter” was polyethylene, which is used in […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The planet’s largest colony of king penguins has declined by nearly 90 percent in three decades, alarmed researchers said Monday. The last time scientists set foot on France’s remote Ile aux Cochons — roughly halfway between the tip of Africa and Antarctica — the island was blanketed by two million of the flightless birds, which stand about a meter (three feet) tall. But recent satellite […]
by Paulina ABRAMOVICH © Agence France-Presse SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP)–Easter Island is known for its unique Moai monumental statues carved by the Rapa Nui people, believed to have arrived on the remote landmass in the southeastern Pacific Ocean in around the 12th century. Despite its isolated location some 3,500 kilometers (2,000 miles) from the coast of Chile, the island is a popular tourist destination, not least due to its remarkable collection of around 900 tall human […]
by Amélie Bottolier-Depois Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Intense heatwaves like the one which fuelled Greece’s deadly wildfires are set to become increasingly frequent around the world due to climate change, experts warn. – Is the current heatwave exceptional? – Record high temperatures have been registered across the Northern Hemisphere in recent weeks, from Norway to Japan. Sweltering summers are the norm in Greece, where at least 82 people have been killed […]
NASA footage from telescopes of the ‘blood moon’ as longest eclipse of the century begins. (AFP Video)
