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by Issam AHMED Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – Scientists say they have proven what many people fortunate enough to grow up with theirs have known all along: Grandmothers have strong nurturing instincts and are hard-wired to care deeply about their grandchildren. A new study published in the Royal Society B on Tuesday is the first to provide a neural snapshot of the cherished intergenerational bond. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), researchers […]
ZURICH, Switzerland (AFP) – The top international banking supervisory authority on Tuesday said lenders should account for climate risks when managing their business, suggesting a list of 18 “principles” to guide banks and national supervisors. Banks should “consider the potential impacts of climate-related risk drivers on their individual business models and assess the financial materiality of these risks,” the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision said in a consultation document. The BCBS is charged with creating rules […]
by Laurence THOMANN Agence France-Presse AGRA, India (AFP) – Foreign tourists have been welcomed back to India after pandemic travel bans but intrepid travellers will have to brave the intense pollution season to visit the country’s most famous attraction. Around the palatial gardens of the Taj Mahal, air quality deteriorates each winter, enveloping the white marble mausoleum in a thick coat of hazardous smog. The problem is replicated across whole swathes of northern India, where […]
by Evan GERSHKOVICH MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia on Tuesday admitted to destroying one of its satellites during a missile test, but rejected US accusations that it had endangered the International Space Station. US officials on Monday accused Russia of a “dangerous and irresponsible” strike on a satellite that had created a cloud of debris and forced the ISS crew to take evasive action. The move reignited concerns about an escalating arms race in space, […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US pharmaceutical company Pfizer on Tuesday asked regulators to authorize its Covid pill after it was shown to cut hospitalization or death by nearly 90 percent among newly-infected high risk patients. The move comes a few weeks after Merck also approached the Food and Drug Administration seeking a green light for its antiviral capsule against the coronavirus. Experts see the oral medications as an invaluable addition to vaccines in the […]
TURIN, Italy (AFP) — Novak Djokovic expressed his shock Monday at the ‘disappearance’ of Chinese tennis star Peng Shuai, who has not been heard from since accusing a powerful politician of sexual assault. Peng claimed earlier this month that former vice-premier Zhang Gaoli had assaulted her, the first time the #MeToo movement has struck at the top echelons of the ruling Communist Party. Chinese officials have refused to answer questions on the fate […]
by Patrick BAERT KUNMING, China (AFP) — Environmental activist Zhang Zhengxiang is almost blind, and lives in poverty — but he has successfully faced down hundreds of companies on the banks of one of China’s most polluted lakes. The 74-year-old strident campaigner has spent his life trying to protect the sprawling Lake Dian in southwestern China, challenging businesses to clean up their act around the local beauty spot and reporting those who pollute it. “When […]
by Anna CUENCA Agence France-Presse GLASGOW, United Kingdom (AFP) – Glasgow was a vital cog in the machine of Britain’s Industrial Revolution, which brought the baleful impact of carbon emissions and eventually climate change to the world. Today, the venue for the COP26 environmental summit is home to a pioneering project to counteract the effects of planetary warming, centred on Glasgow’s Forth and Clyde Canal. Coinciding with COP26, its managers have launched “Europe’s first ‘smart […]
by Abhaya SRIVASTAVA Agence France-Presse NEW DELHI, India (AFP) – Even as its capital was blanketed by toxic smog, India led the charge to weaken anti-coal pledges at the COP26 summit, with experts saying it is prioritising its economic growth over the planet’s future. The world’s third-largest emitter teamed up with China to water down language on fossil fuels at the Glasgow conference, forcing a compromise: a climate deal that bound countries to “phase down” […]
by Camille BAS-WOHLERT Agence France Presse COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — Premature deaths caused by fine particle air pollution have fallen 10 percent annually across Europe, but the invisible killer still accounts for 307,000 premature deaths a year, the European Environment Agency said Monday. If the latest air quality guidelines from the World Health Organisation were followed by EU members, the latest number of fatalities recorded in 2019 could be cut in half, according to […]
by Kaouthar Oudrhiri SAIDIA, Morocco (AFP) — Moroccan environmentalist Mohamed Benata stood taking photos of what should be the mouth of the Moulouya river — but after years of drought and over-pumping, it comes to a halt just short of the sea. One of the longest rivers in the North African kingdom and a vital lifeline for farmers in the area near the Algerian border, the final few paces of the 500-kilometre (310-mile) waterway are […]
by Raad Al-Jammas Agence France-Presse Iraqi wheat farmer Khamis Ahmad Abbas lost it all when his battle with drought forced him to abandon his land, pushing him into unemployment. Experts have warned that record low rainfall, compounded by climate change, are threatening social and economic disaster in war-scarred Iraq. “Growing wheat and barley is a gamble. It all depends on the rain,” said the 42-year-old father of nine. Unable to make ends meet, Abbas quit […]
