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by Harumi Ozawa Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Hundreds of fans flocked to a Tokyo zoo Tuesday for the first public viewing of baby panda Xiang Xiang, after winning a lucky lottery ticket that a quarter of a million applied for. Long queues formed outside the zoo as fans — many wearing panda cub hats or gloves — waited patiently for a brief glimpse of Xiang Xiang, whose name is derived from the […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A baby panda born six months ago made its debut before the cameras in Japan Monday, a day before a doting public gets an eagerly-awaited glimpse of the cuddly animal. The panda named Xiang Xiang — derived from the Chinese character for “fragrance” — has sparked a media frenzy since its birth on June 12 at Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo. Broadcasters aired live footage of the cub nimbly climbing a tree and […]
by Siavosh Ghazi Agence France Presse TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran shut schools around Tehran Sunday and cancelled sporting events as thick smog blanketed the capital despite curbs on road traffic and industrial activity. The authorities shuttered primary schools in the province of Tehran, home to 14 million residents, before ordering them to remain closed on Monday. All sports competitions set for Monday were also cancelled, as restrictions on road traffic were stepped up, including […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Pangolin smugglers are constantly opening up new routes to evade law enforcement agencies, a study showed Friday, highlighting the challenge of tackling the trade in the world’s most heavily trafficked mammal. While at least 20 tons of pangolins and their parts are seized annually after being trafficked across borders, smugglers were using dozens of new routes for the illegal trade every year in a determined effort to stay ahead of […]
by Kerry Sheridan Agence France Presse MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Last year’s global heat record, extreme heat in Asia and unusually warm waters off the coast of Alaska happened purely because the planet is getting warmer due to human activities like burning fossil fuels, a study said Wednesday. The findings mark the first time that global scientists have identified severe weather that could not have happened without climate change, said the peer-reviewed report titled […]
by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Dinosaurs, the most fearsome creatures ever to walk the Earth, were bugged already 100 million years ago by a paltry pest that still plagues animals today: the bloodsucking tick, scientists have discovered. Preserved for eternity in amber, fossilised tree resin, researchers have found a hard tick — uncannily similar to those we know — clinging to a 99-million-year-old dinosaur feather, a team wrote in the […]
by Kerry SHERIDAN Agence France Presse MIAMI, United States (AFP) — A rapidly warming Arctic, where temperatures are rising twice as fast as the rest of the planet, is the “new normal,” and the melting ice is triggering environmental changes that will affect the whole world, warned a global scientific report Tuesday. The Arctic is going through “an unprecedented transition in human history,” that will accelerate sea level rise and boost the frequency of extreme […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The heads of several of the world’s space agencies have proposed the creation of a climate observatory to pool acquired data and share it with scientists around the globe, according to a declaration adopted Monday in Paris. On the eve of the One Planet Summit organised in the French capital, the space agencies’ chiefs met to discuss climate monitoring from space, including such areas as greenhouse gases, water resource management and the use […]
by Marie Wolfrom Agence France Presse SEDERON, France (AFP) — Furtive, wily and the animal of fairy tales, wolves fascinate nature lovers, but they raise fears among French sheep breeders who are trying to save their flocks. Amid debate in France on a future policy towards wolves, the government is being asked to come to the aide of sheep farming. “In one night, we lost 10 percent of our flock,” said Claire Lapie, 32, a […]
MALINDI, Kenya (AFP) — Conservationists in the Kenyan town of Watumu are seeking the help of local residents to try to raise awareness of the dangers of plastic waste, which is posing a major threat to the marine ecosystem.
by Mariëtte Le Roux Agence France Presse NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — The world’s nations vowed Wednesday to curb plastic and chemical contamination of the air, soil, rivers and oceans, calling for a steep change in how goods are produced and consumed. Government envoys issued a political declaration outlining the path to “a pollution-free planet” at the third UN Environment Assembly (UNEA). “Pollution is cutting short the lives of millions of people every year,” said the […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Extreme heat sometimes forces hummingbirds to seek shade instead of foraging for food, researchers said Wednesday, warning that global warming could test the tiny birds’ capacity to adapt. With hearts beating more than 1,000 times a minute, hummingbirds need to feed constantly, which means they can ill afford to spend time dodging sunshine, according to a report in the journal Royal Society Open Science. “They […]
