Life

Part of China’s Great Wall not built for war: study

JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — The northern segment of the Great Wall of China was built not to block invading armies but rather to monitor civilian movement, an Israeli archaeologist said Tuesday. When researchers fully mapped the Great Wall’s 740-kilometre (460-mile) Northern Line for the first time, their findings challenged previous assumptions. “Prior to our research, most people thought the wall’s purpose was to stop Genghis Khan’s army,” said Gideon Shelach-Lavi from Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, who led […]

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UK slave trader’s statue toppled in anti-racism protests

by Dmitry ZAKS Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Protesters tore down the statue of a notorious British slave trader Sunday and dumped it in a harbour on the second day of demonstrations against George Floyd’s death. Footage showed a few dozen people tie a rope around the neck of Edward Colston’s statue and bring it to the ground in the southwestern city of Bristol. They stamped on it for a few minutes before […]

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India arrests man over shocking death of elephant

by Jalees ANDRABI Agence France-Presse NEW DEHLI, India (AFP) — Indian police have arrested a plantation worker and are hunting two others after a pregnant elephant died after eating fruit laced with explosives, officials said Saturday, in a case that shocked the country. The elephant died in agony last week in the southern state of Kerala, the latest casualty of a growing conflict in South Asia between nature and humans as ever more forest is […]

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Russia sees melting permafrost behind Arctic fuel spill

by Maria ANTONOVA Agence France-Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — An unprecedented fuel spill that has polluted huge stretches of Arctic rivers was caused by melting permafrost, Russian officials said Friday, ordering a review of infrastructure in vulnerable zones. The spill — which has coloured remote tundra waterways with bright red patches visible from space — has highlighted the danger of climate change for Russia as areas locked by permafrost for centuries thaw amid warmer temperatures. […]

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Warmest May on record, Siberia 10C hotter

by Kelly MACNAMARA / Marlowe HOOD Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Temperatures soared 10 degrees Celsius above average last month in Siberia, home to much of Earth’s permafrost, as the world experienceTemperatures soared 10 degrees Celsius above average last month in Siberia, home to much of Earth’s permafrost, as the world experienced its warmest May on record, the European Union’s climate monitoring network said Friday. The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said May […]

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Hollywood Foreign Press Association starts official screening of EBC Films’ “Guerrero Dos”

  (Eagle News) — The prestigious Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA) is set to start official screening of EBC Films’ Guerrero Dos Tuloy Ang Laban (The Fight Continues). The screening is scheduled at June 5, 7 pm in Los Angeles, which is June 6 at 10 a.m., Manila time.  It will last for two weeks. The HFPA is a group of over 90 members of journalists responsible for Golden Globe Awards every January. Despite the […]

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WHO backs masks where virus widespread, distancing tough

  by Robin MILLARD Agence France Presse GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization on Friday backed the use of fabric facemasks in places where the new coronavirus is widespread and physical distancing is difficult, in a change of advice. As the deadly virus continues to spread, the WHO issued updated guidance on who should wear a mask, when it should be worn and what it should be made of. The use of masks […]

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Pygmies return to forest to isolate against coronavirus

by Camille LAFFONT PICTURES BY FLORENT VERGNES Agence France-Presse BAYANGA, Central African Republic (AFP) — Dzanga-Sangha, a wildlife sanctuary in southwest Central African Republic, is a remote place, linked to the rest of the world by a narrow trail that becomes impassable in heavy rain. But for the region’s Pygmies—outcasts in a country already ranked among the poorest in the world—Dzanga-Sangha’s isolation could be a blessing. As coronavirus spreads in the CAR, with more than 1,000 […]

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Mauritania’s former desert jewel, forgotten and fading

by Amaury HAUCHARD PICTURES BY JOHN WESSELS Agence France-Presse TICHITT, Mauritania (AFP) — A few centuries ago, Tichitt was a citadel of trade where Saharan merchants bearing gold, salt and cloth would stop to water their camels and haggle. Today, red-and-white signs in the sand dunes point to where this once great hub of commerce and centre of Islamic culture lies. But visitors to Tichitt, a UNESCO world heritage site, are few now, and the great […]

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Russia struggles to clean up Arctic river fuel spill

by Maria ANTONOVA Agence France-Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia on Thursday intensified efforts to clean up a major fuel spill that environmentalists say is the worst such accident in the Arctic, as investigators made their first arrest. A diesel reservoir collapsed at a power station outside the northern Siberian city of Norilsk on Friday, releasing 15,000 tonnes of fuel into a river and 6,000 tonnes into the soil, according to Russia’s state environmental watchdog. […]

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India vows probe after elephant killed with explosives

NEW DEHLI, India (AFP) — India pledged to investigate Thursday the death of a pregnant elephant that ate explosives-filled fruit, as cricket and Bollywood stars joined a chorus of outrage over the incident. The elephant died in agony last week in the southern state of Kerala, the latest casualty in a growing conflict in South Asia between large animals and humans as ever more forest is lost to urban expansion. Footage of the animal standing […]

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Virus patients with high blood pressure twice as likely to die: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — Patients with high blood pressure admitted to hospital with coronavirus infections are twice as likely to die as those without the condition, researchers said on Friday. For in-patients with the virus who had stopped taking medication for high blood pressure, the risk of dying doubled again, they reported in the European Heart Journal. “It is important that patients with high blood pressure realize that they are at increased risk of dying […]

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