Life

Brazil indigenous protesters defy court, resume roadblock

NOVO PROGRESSO, Brazil (AFP) — Indigenous protesters in Brazil defied a court order Tuesday and resumed a roadblock of a key highway through the Amazon rainforest, demanding help against the new coronavirus and an end to illegal mining and deforestation. Brandishing bows and wearing traditional feather headdresses and body paint, dozens of protesters from the Kayapo Mekranoti ethnic group have been blocking highway BR-163 through the Amazon rainforest since Monday morning. They briefly lifted their […]

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Arctic sea ice melting faster than forecast

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — The Arctic sea ice is melting faster than climate models had predicted, researchers at the University of Copenhagen warned on Tuesday. Until now, climate models have predicted a slow and steady increase of Arctic temperatures, but a new study shows that warming is occurring at a more rapid pace. “We have been clearly underestimating the rate of temperature increases in the atmosphere nearest to the sea level, which has ultimately caused […]

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Atlantic plastic levels far higher than thought: study

by Patrick GALEY PARIS, France (AFP) — There may be more plastic floating just beneath the surface of the Atlantic ocean today than the estimated total weight of plastic waste dumped in it since 1950, new research showed Tuesday. The findings, based on analysis of samples of the three most common plastic materials and computer modelling, highlight the unseen scale of the pollution clogging the world’s second-largest ocean. Earth’s oceans contain an estimated 150 million […]

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Small asteroid becomes closest ever seen passing Earth: NASA

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An asteroid the size of an SUV passed 1,830 miles (2,950 kilometers) above Earth, the closest asteroid ever observed passing by our planet, NASA said Tuesday. If it had been on a collision course with Earth, the asteroid — named 2020 QG — would likely not have caused any damage, instead of disintegrating in the atmosphere, creating a fireball in the sky, or a meteor, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) […]

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‘Test-&-trace’ crucial but won’t beat coronavirus alone: study

by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Testing for COVID-19 and tracing the prior contacts of those found to be infected are crucial measures for slowing the disease’s spread, but inadequate unless combined with other measures, researchers said Wednesday. By itself, the test-and-trace approach can reduce the virus’ reproduction rate, or R number, by 26 percent, they reported in The Lancet Infectious Diseases, using mathematical models to examine data from previously published studies. The reproduction […]

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‘Making of Harry Potter’ park to open in Tokyo in 2023

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Muggles in Japan can discover how the Harry Potter films were made at a new amusement park opening in 2023 in Tokyo, Warner Bros said Tuesday, in the latest expansion of the multibillion-dollar wizarding franchise. The attraction, offering visitors a behind-the-scenes look into the production of the eight-hit movies, is the second of its kind, modeled on the original permanent studio exhibition in Britain. “The Studio Tour Tokyo” will stretch across […]

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Greenland ice melting past ‘tipping point’: study

by Camille BAS-WOHLERT COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — The melting of Greenland’s ice cap has gone so far that it is now irreversible, with snowfall no longer able to compensate for the loss of ice even if global warming were to end today, according to researchers. “Greenland’s glaciers have passed a tipping point of sorts, where the snowfall that replenishes the ice sheet each year cannot keep up with the ice that is flowing into the […]

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How climate change could expose new epidemics

by Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Long-dormant viruses brought back to life; the resurgence of deadly and disfiguring smallpox; a dengue or zika “season” in Europe. These could be disaster movie storylines, but they are also serious and increasingly plausible scenarios of epidemics unleashed by global warming, scientists say. The COVID-19 pandemic that has swept the globe and claimed over 760,000 lives so far almost certainly came from a wild bat, […]

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Ariane rocket puts telecom satellites into orbit

PARIS, France (AFP) — A rocket that blasted off from French Guiana successfully placed two communications satellites into orbit Saturday, launch firm Arianespace said. The Ariane 5 rocket took off at 2204 GMT from Kourou, the European Space Agency’s space centre in the South American territory, the company said in a statement. Two satellites on board — belonging to the intergovernmental provider Intelsat and Japan’s Broadcasting Satellite System Corporation — were later successfully placed into […]

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“Ecological disaster”: Ship that oozed oil off Mauritius coast splits in two

  PORT LOUIS, Mauritius (AFP) — A ship that has leaked more than 1,000 tonnes of oil in pristine waters off the coast of Mauritius has split in two. The bulk carrier MV Wakashio ran aground on a coral reef off the southeastern coast of Mauritius on July 25 and began oozing oil more than a week later, threatening a protected marine park boasting mangrove forests and endangered species. Mauritius declared an environmental emergency and […]

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New York museums, galleries to reopen from August 24

  NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — New York’s museums, art galleries and other cultural institutions will be allowed to reopen starting August 24, state governor Andrew Cuomo said Friday after a five-month shutdown due to the coronavirus. However, there will be mandatory face masks, timed ticketing with staggered entry and just 25 percent occupancy, he tweeted. The reopening does not include performing arts venues, which will remain shut until the end of the year. […]

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Rowers dredge waste in days-long Hungary race

by Géza Molnar / Balazs Wizner Agence France-Presse ZÁHONY, Hungary (AFP) — The 150-odd competitors meeting on the banks of Hungary’s second largest river carried somewhat unusual equipment for a boat race — protective gloves, rubber boots and large bags. Their challenge was to collect as much rubbish as possible from the Tisza, in the northeast of the country on the Ukrainian border, navigating it on rafts, built themselves from trash, for nine days. “Every […]

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