NICOSIA, June 5, 2024 (AFP) – Outdoor work and food delivery services were suspended in Cyprus on Wednesday as the first heatwave of the year brought scorching temperatures to the Mediterranean island. The meteorological department issued an orange warning as the mercury hit 43 degrees Celsius (109 Fahrenheit) in Nicosia, 38 degrees on the coast and 34 in the mountains. Due to the extreme heat alert, the labour department issued a decree stating that all […]
Environment
May marks 12th straight month of record global heat: EU
PARIS, June 5, 2024 (AFP) – C It is the latest red flag in a year already hit by climate extremes and rising greenhouse gas emissions, spurring fresh calls for more rapid action to limit global warming. “The global average temperature for the last 12 months (June 2023-May 2024) is the highest on record… and 1.63 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average”, EU monitor Copernicus said, referring to the period before human-caused greenhouse gas […]
EarthCARE satellite to probe how clouds affect climate
By Juliette Collen PARIS, May 26, 2024 (AFP) – Will clouds help cool or warm our world in the years ahead? The EarthCARE satellite will soon blast off on a mission to find out, aiming to investigate what role clouds could play in the fight against climate change. The collaboration between the European Space Agency and Japan’s JAXA space agency is scheduled to launch Tuesday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from California’s Vandenberg base. […]
Low-lying Maldives seeks easier funding to battle waves
MALÉ, Maldives, May 25, 2024 (AFP) – The Maldives on Saturday demanded international funding to battle rising sea levels, saying the low-lying Indian Ocean archipelago was being unfairly excluded from the most generous support measures. “The Maldives is liable for just 0.003 percent of global emissions, but is one of the first countries to endure the existential consequences of the climate crisis,” President Mohamed Muizzu wrote in Britain’s Guardian newspaper. “Wealthier nations have a moral […]
Global coral bleaching event expanding to new countries: scientists
By Lucie AUBOURG WASHINGTON (AFP) – The massive coral bleaching episode signaled by US authorities last month is expanding and deepening in reefs around the globe, scientists warned Thursday. Amid record ocean temperatures, coral bleaching has been recorded in 62 countries and territories since February 2023, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said — an increase of nine from its warning in April. “This event is still growing in size and impacts,” Derek […]
‘Danger behind the beauty’: more solar storms could be heading our way
By Daniel Lawler PARIS, May 18, 2024 (AFP) – Tourists normally have to pay big money and brave cold climates for a chance to see an aurora, but last weekend many people around the world simply had to look up to see these colourful displays dance across the sky. Usually banished to the poles of Earth, the auroras strayed as far as Mexico, southern Europe and South Africa on the evening of May 10, delighting […]
Early forest fires prompt evacuations in Canada
MONTREAL, May 12, 2024 (AFP) – Thousands of people fled their homes Sunday in western Canada as hundreds of wildfires beginning earlier than usual portend a difficult fire season. The small town of Fort Nelson in the province of British Columbia was among the areas threatened by flames. “Fires are really all around us from the west to the northeast,” Mayor Rob Fraser told AFP as he urged hundreds of people who have stayed put […]
Pet dogs and strays suffer in Asia heatwave
By Sailendra Sil with Rose Troup Buchanan in Bangkok Soaring temperatures across Kolkata have brought life in much of the Indian megacity to a standstill, but veterinarian Partha Das cannot recall a time when he was more busy. His clinic has been swamped by distressed members of the public carrying in beloved pets suffering nosebleeds, severe skin rashes and lapses into unconsciousness in a relentless heatwave suffocating much of South and Southeastern Asia over the […]
Indonesia volcano eruption shuts more airports, ash reaches Malaysia
Indonesia, May 1, 2024 (AFP) – Eruptions at a remote Indonesian volcano forced more than half a dozen airports to close with ash spreading as far as Malaysia, officials said Wednesday, while authorities rushed to evacuate thousands due to tsunami fears. Mount Ruang erupted three times on Tuesday, spewing lava and ash more than five kilometres (three miles) into the sky and forcing authorities to issue evacuation orders for 12,000 locals. A rescue ship and […]
WHO says US keeping them updated on bird flu outbreak
GENEVA, April 30, 2024 (AFP) – The WHO said Tuesday it was being frequently updated by Washington about the bird flu outbreak in the United States — the only country so far where dairy cows have been infected. Earlier this month, US authorities said a person working on a dairy farm in Texas was recovering from bird flu after having been exposed to cattle. “We have been receiving information and we have been receiving […]
Kenya delays schools reopening due to floods
NAIROBI, April 29, 2024 (AFP) – Kenya said Monday that it would postpone the reopening of schools by one week due to “ongoing heavy rains” that have triggered deadly floods in the East African nation. Schools were originally scheduled to reopen on Monday, following mid-term holidays, but the torrential monsoon downpours have affected many educational facilities, prompting the education ministry to delay the resumption of classes. “The devastating effects of the rains in some of […]
Cicada-palooza! Billions of bugs to blanket America
By Issam AHMED WASHINGTON, April 27, 2024 (AFP) – They’re loud. They’re sexually aroused. And for one special, cacophonous month up to a trillion of them will engulf suburbs and woodlands across America. Two cicada “broods” are set for a rare double emergence that last occurred in 1803, when Thomas Jefferson was president and the United States purchased Louisiana from France. The prospect of another natural wonder just weeks after a total solar eclipse across […]