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by Michael O’HAGAN Agence France-Presse KAMPALA, Uganda (AFP) – Chinese and French oil giants finally sealed a $10-billion deal Tuesday to unlock Uganda’s energy resources and build a vast regional oil pipeline, a mega-project that has incensed environmental groups. The so-called Final Investment Decision should pave the way for the export of millions of barrels of black gold that was first discovered in 2006 in Uganda, one of the world’s most biodiverse regions. The decision […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – Coral reefs that anchor a quarter of marine wildlife and the livelihoods of more than half-a-billion people will most likely be wiped out even if global warming is capped within Paris climate goals, researchers said Tuesday. An average increase of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels would see more than 99 percent of the world’s coral reefs unable to recover from ever more frequent marine heat […]
by Samir Tounsi Agence France-Presse MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) – Relations between the United States and Mexico are under strain as the Mexican government pushes ahead with planned energy sector reforms that have alarmed Washington and foreign investors. President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador wants to strengthen the state-owned electricity provider and roll back the effects of liberalization under previous governments that he says favored private companies. That has prompted warnings that Mexico is in danger […]
by Lucie AUBOURG WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Pfizer and BioNTech said Tuesday they are seeking emergency authorization from US health regulators for use of their Covid vaccine for children aged over six months and under five years. If the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorizes the two-shot regimen, it will become the first Covid vaccine available to this age group in the United States. The companies said Tuesday that they started submitting their […]
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) – Greenland’s immense ice sheet has lost enough ice in the past 20 years to submerge the entire United States in half a metre of water, according to data released this week by Danish researchers. The climate is warming faster in the Arctic than anywhere else on the planet and melting ice from Greenland is now the main factor in the rise in the Earth’s oceans, according to NASA. Since measurements began […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — A sub-variant of the highly contagious Omicron coronavirus strain, which some studies indicate could be even more infectious than the original version, has been detected in 57 countries, the WHO said Tuesday. The fast-spreading and heavily mutated Omicron variant has rapidly become the dominant variant worldwide since it was first detected in southern Africa 10 weeks ago. In its weekly epidemiological update, the World Health Organization said that the variant, which […]
by Nina LARSON Agence France Presse The World Health Organization chief warned Tuesday that it is too early for countries to either declare victory over Covid-19 or give up attempts to halt transmission. “It is premature for any country to either surrender or to declare victory,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. “This virus is dangerous, and it continues to evolve before our very eyes.” His comments came as Denmark on Tuesday became […]
by Robin MILLARD Agence France-Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) – The World Health Organization warned Tuesday that the vast amount of waste produced in tackling the Covid-19 pandemic posed a threat to human and environmental health. The tens of thousands of tonnes of extra medical waste had put a huge strain on healthcare waste management systems, the WHO said in a report. The extra waste is “threatening human and environmental health and exposing a dire need […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Japan will seek UNESCO World Heritage recognition for a centuries-old network of mines on Tuesday, the government said, risking renewed diplomatic tensions with South Korea over forced wartime labour. The controversial gold and silver mine complex on central Japan’s Sado Island dates back 400 years and was once one of the largest of its kind in the world, according to authorities in the coastal region where it is located. But more […]
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – The US government announced Monday it wants to revive a regulation limiting air emissions of mercury and other toxic substances from fossil fuel-fired power plants that had been undermined by the previous administration. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “is proposing to reaffirm that it is appropriate and necessary to regulate emissions of hazardous air pollutants from coal- and oil-fired power plants,” the agency said in a statement. In May […]
QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) – An oil spill in eastern Ecuador has reached a nature reserve and polluted a river that supplies water to indigenous communities, the country’s environmental ministry said Monday. Nearly two hectares (five acres) of a protected area of the Cayambe-Coca national park have been contaminated, as well as the Coca river — one of the biggest in the Ecuadoran Amazon, the ministry said in a statement. The park of some 400,000 hectares […]
MARSEILLE, France (AFP) – French authorities said Monday they would begin testing limited daily permits to visit one of the most pristine coves near the Mediterranean city of Marseille, where summer crowds have sharply increased erosion risks. The high cliffs and sapphire-blue waters at the Sugiton pebble beach are a main tourist draw for the Calanques National Park, not least because other areas of the forest reserve are often closed due to fire risks. Some […]
