Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
NORTH FORK, United States (AFP) — Wildfires in California have torched a record more than two million acres, the state fire department said Monday, as an uncontrolled blaze forced many residents to flee their homes. The record was hit as the wildfire season still has roughly two months to go in the most populous US state and as thousands of firefighters were battling flames during a scorching heat wave. “In the past 33 years […]
A group of pharmaceutical companies give an update on their research to find a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, with US giant Pfizer saying it could have results from its late-stage vaccine trial as early as October
Kelly MACNAMARA Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Early tests of a Russian coronavirus vaccine showed encouraging results when details were published Friday, but experts said the trials were too small to prove safety and effectiveness. Russia announced last month that its vaccine, named “Sputnik V” after the Soviet-era satellite that was the first launched into space in 1957, had already received approval. This raised concerns among Western scientists over a lack […]
by Nina LARSON Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization said Friday it did not expect widespread immunization against the novel coronavirus until mid-2021, tempering hopes just as research revealed encouraging early results from a Russian vaccine. The virus which has killed nearly 870,000 people worldwide continues to spread, with Italy’s flamboyant former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi now in hospital after becoming the latest high-profile figure to test positive for Covid-19. […]
by Ivan Couronne Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An international group of ethicists on Thursday criticized the World Health Organization’s goal of distributing coronavirus vaccines to treat 20 percent of each country’s population, proposing instead what they said was a more equitable system of distribution. In an article published in the journal Science, US professor Ezekiel Emanuel and more than a dozen experts from Britain, Canada, Australia, Norway and Singapore suggested […]
by Sammy Ketz Agence France-Presse KHARTOUM, Sudan (AFP) — On Sudan’s Tuti Island, where the Blue and White Nile meet, the highest river waters since records began have left people struggling to hold back the rising floods. Wedged between the twin cities of Khartoum and Omdurman, people on Tuti fill bags with sand and small stones in an often futile bid to stop the lapping water from swamping their homes. The world’s longest river is […]
OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Canada on Thursday threw its support behind groups fighting to safeguard caribou that are threatened by a recent US approval of oil and gas drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which borders the Yukon. The US Department of the Interior in August approved plans for drilling in the remote Arctic region. Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal that drilling leases could be auctioned […]
by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Scientists announced Wednesday the discovery of a black hole — the oldest ever detected — that shouldn’t even exist according to the current understanding of cosmic monsters so dense not even light can escape their gravitational pull. Born of a merger between two other black holes, GW190521 weighs in at 142 times the mass of our Sun and is the first “intermediate-mass” black hole ever observed, two consortiums […]
WASHINGTON D.C., United States (AFP) — Winter ice in the Bering Sea, in the northern Pacific Ocean between Alaska and Russia, is at its lowest levels for 5,500 years, according to a study released Wednesday. Researchers analyzed vegetation that accumulated on the uninhabited island of St Matthew over the last five millennia. They looked at variations in peat layers of oxygen atoms called isotopes 16 and 18, whose proportions over time correlate with atmospheric and oceanic […]
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — Germany on Wednesday launched its first “green” bond offering to finance environmental initiatives as it pivots towards a sustainable economy, and could become a benchmark issuer in the booming field. The government raised 6.5 billion euros ($7.7 billion), in the offering for the 10-year 0% bond, with investors placing orders of more than 33 billion euros, according to German finance agency. Even at this early stage, “Germany is well on the way […]
by Shenaz Patel and David Constantin Agence France-Presse In normal times, Bruneau Laurette spends his days providing armed escort to ships dodging pirates as they head through the Indian Ocean. But in recent weeks, the maritime security expert has surged into a new role: the voice of a nation’s anger after an oil spill soiled the coast of his native Mauritius. The disaster occurred after a 100,000-tonne Japanese bulk carrier, MV Wakashio, ran aground on […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Anglo-Dutch consumer giant Unilever on Wednesday unveiled a one-billion-euro plan to remove fossil fuels in the production of cleaning and laundry products which have experienced soaring demand from coronavirus-fearing consumers. The initiative, worth the equivalent of $1.2 billion, will replace all the carbon derived from fossil fuels used in the production of some of Unilever’s best-known products by 2030, it said in a statement. Unilever aims to transform the sustainability […]
