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NIAMEY, Niger (AFP) — Several districts of Niger’s capital Niamey were submerged in floodwaters on Tuesday after heavy rainfall caused the Niger River to break its banks. Homes, rice fields and market gardens were destroyed as the Nigerien government asked residents to evacuate affected areas of the city. Almost all of Niamey’s 1.5 million inhabitants live on the banks of the river and some have even built their houses in its bed. “The damage is […]
by Andrew BEATTY Agence France-Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s devastating 2019-2020 bushfires were “clearly” fuelled by climate change, a government inquiry reported Tuesday following some of the largest forest fires ever recorded worldwide. With this year’s fire season already underway, authorities recommended urgent action to limit the impact of extreme blazes, expected “to become more frequent” in future. The deadly bushfires raged for nine months to March and were most severe in New South Wales […]
by Olivier MONNIER Agence France-Presse TORONTO, Canada (AFP) — In the shadow of Canada’s largest cluster of skyscrapers, Toronto is looking to preserve a majestic, centuries-old oak tree — but efforts have been complicated by the pandemic. The towering 24-meter (79-feet) high Northern Red Oak is one of the oldest trees in these parts, having sprouted an estimated 300 years ago, around the time that French explorers set up a trading post on the nearby […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Researchers in Hong Kong Monday identified what they said was the first confirmed case worldwide of COVID-19 reinfection, raising questions about the durability of immunity, whether acquired naturally or with a vaccine. “Our study proves that immunity for COVID infection is not lifelong — in fact, reinfection can occur quite quickly,” said Kelvin Kai-Wang To, a microbiologist at Hong Kong University’s Faculty of Medicine and lead […]
LOS ANGELES, California (AFP) — Thousands of firefighters made small progress on Monday as they battled to contain historic wildfires in California, with potentially dangerous lighting storms proving milder than expected and temperatures easing. Governor Gavin Newsom said some 625 fires were burning throughout the state and had scorched more than 1.2 million acres — nearly the size of the Grand Canyon. Of those fires, 17 were considered major, he said, including the LNU Lightning […]
PORT LOUIS, Mauritius (AFP) — The broken stem of a Japanese-owned ship which ran aground causing a devastating oil spill in pristine waters off Mauritius, has been successfully sunk in the open ocean, the national crisis committee said Monday. The MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef off the Indian Ocean island on July 25 and began leaking oil two weeks later, prompting a race against the clock to pump all the fuel off the […]
by Kelly MACNAMARA Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Songbirds in tropical rainforests curtail their reproduction to help them survive droughts, according to a study Monday. Species with longer lifespans were better able to cope with this environmental volatility than previously thought, researchers found. With more record hot spells gripping parts of the planet and biodiversity threatened by human encroachment on habitats, a crucial question is whether species can adapt to these ever-harsher conditions. […]
By Issam AHMED Agence France Presse The United States has issued an emergency authorization to use blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients as a treatment against the disease. Is it safe and effective? Has US President Donald Trump’s administration put political considerations ahead of the science? Here’s what you need to know. – What is convalescent plasma? – When a person has COVID-19, their body produces antibodies that fight the coronavirus. These proteins float in […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Dr Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration, apologized Monday after misrepresenting a key statistic on how effective blood plasma is for treating COVID-19 when announcing an emergency approval measure. The US on Sunday issued emergency approval for plasma taken from recovered coronavirus patients, so that more people can get access to the experimental treatment. But Hahn and other senior health officials came under fire […]
by Sammy Ketz Agence France-Presse JABAL MARAGHA, Sudan (AFP) — When a team of archaeologists deep in the deserts of Sudan arrived at the ancient site of Jabal Maragha last month, they thought they were lost. The site had vanished. But they hadn’t made a mistake. In fact, gold-hunters with giant diggers had destroyed almost all sign of the two millenia-old site. “They had only one goal in digging here — to find gold,” said shocked […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Hundreds of people in eastern China have been infected with bacteria which can cause dysentery after drinking contaminated water, state media said Monday, prompting the closure of a local water plant. Nearly 500 people in the rural town of Baoyi — about 550 kilometres (342 miles) west of Shanghai — have developed fever and diarrhoea since late last week. A report by the local government published Sunday found they have been […]
by Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — For half a century scientists feared that the Somali elephant shrew had vanished from the face of the Earth. No one had seen so much as a whisker. But the tiny mammal with its probing trunk-like nose was quietly thriving in the arid, rocky landscape of the Horn of Africa, researchers said Tuesday. The elusive, insect-eating creature is neither an elephant nor a shrew. It is […]
