Life

Great Barrier Reef may never recover from bleaching: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — Australia’s Great Barrier Reef may never recover from last year’s warming-driven coral bleaching, said a study Wednesday that called for urgent action in the face of ineffective conservation efforts. Record-high temperatures in 2015 and 2016 drove an unprecedented bleaching episode, which occurs when stressed corals expel the algae that live in their tissue and provide them with food. Bleached coral is more susceptible to disease, and without sufficient time to recover […]

Law tops recent list of high-paying fields in the Philippines

QUEZON CITY, Philippines (Eagle News) — Law topped the list of fields that provide the highest salaries to fresh graduates, this based on an online platform for job seekers. Jobstreet Philippines country manager Philip Gioca said based on their survey conducted in the last quarter of 2016 until February 2017,  fresh graduates or new hires in in the legal field get a monthly average of P27, 124. The survey was sent out to 644 respondents (employers and companies) who […]

Unproven stem cell therapy causes three women to go blind

by Kerry SHERIDAN Agence France Presse MIAMI, United States (AFP) — An unproven stem cell therapy that involves extracting a patient’s fat tissue and injecting it into the eyes has caused three United States women to go blind, a report said Wednesday. The women, aged between 72 and 88, were treated in Florida in 2015 for a progressive eye disease called macular degeneration, said the report in the New England Journal of Medicine. They thought they […]

Rare ‘Tintin in America’ drawing to go on auction

PARIS, France (Reuters) — A rare Tintin drawing by Belgian cartoonist Herge from the ‘Tintin in America’ edition will soon be up for grabs at a Paris auction, and is estimated to fetch between 600,000 and 700,000 euros. Following an unexpected record sale of an original Tintin comic book drawing last November, which fetched 1.55 million euros, the Paris auction house Artcurial is set to hold a new auction of the rare drawing on April […]

Antarctic penguin numbers double previous estimates: scientists

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Almost six million Adelie penguins are living in East Antarctica, more than double the number previously thought, scientists said Wednesday in findings that have implications for conservation. Research by an Australian, French and Japanese team used aerial and ground surveys, tagging and resighting data and automated camera images over several breeding seasons, which allowed them to come up with the new figure. They focused on a 5,000 kilometre (3,100 mile) stretch of […]

Twitter confirms hacking after pro-Turkey attacks

PARIS, France (AFP) — Twitter confirmed Wednesday a major hacking attack which has seen a number of high-profile accounts defaced by pro-Turkey supporters with a message condemning “Nazi Germany” and “Nazi Holland”. “We are aware of an issue affecting a number of account holders this morning,” a Twitter spokesperson said, adding the source of the attack had been tracked to a third party app whose permissions had been removed. © Agence France-Presse

Chimney mounted anti-pollution device for Poles

GLIWICE, Poland (Reuters) — Engineers from the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice are testing a cost-effective electrostatic precipitator for households which use coal or other polluting fuels for heating. The system developed by the scientists can be mounted directly onto the chimney of a house or apartment building and uses electrostatic charges to stop dust particles. Dust carrying pollutants are deposited on the precipitator walls and does not escape alongside the smoke into the […]

Boracay nanguna sa 15 Most Loved Islands sa mundo

(Eagle News) — Muling nakuha ng Boracay ang Number 1 spot bilang pinakamagandang isla sa buong mundo noong 2016. Ito ang lumabas sa isinagawang survey sa mga reader kung saan nanguna ang Boracay sa labing limang isla na pinagpilian. Pumapangalawa naman ngayong taon ang Palawan na nakatanggap ng Reader’s Choice Award noong 2015 at 2014. Nakapasok din ang Cebu na nasa pang-limang pwesto. Nanguna umano ang Boracay dahil sa malapulbong buhangin gayundin ang nakakabighaning sunset […]

London Fashion Week showcases Filipino Designer’s 2017 Collection at Fashion Scout

    By Love Ann Sison EBC London Bureau (Eagle News) — London Fashion Week brought fresh new collections from multi-award winning Filipino designer, Happy Andrada, at Fashion Scout which is United Kingdom’s largest fashion showcase for emerging & established design talent. It was held on February 18 at Freemason’s Hall, one of the finest art-deco buildings in the UK and popular for its fine backdrop for fashion shows. Sophisticated models gracefully walked the runways […]

Climate change drives thirsty koalas to special water stations

SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) — Thirty kilometers (18.6 miles) south of the outback New South Wales town center of Gunnedah, semi-retired farmer Robert Frend is hoping to save an Australian icon, the koala, from dying of thirst. The marsupials are known to get their water from chewing on eucalyptus leaves. But in 2009, 25 per cent of the koala population in Gunnedah – the self-proclaimed “koala capital of the world” was lost due to a heatwave. […]

Curbing pollution can prevent 3 million Chinese deaths a year: study

PARIS, France (AFP) — China can avoid three million premature deaths each year if it slashes a type of fine-particle air pollution to United Nations-recommended levels, a study said Wednesday. The average daily particle concentration in 38 of China’s largest cities between January 2010 and June 2013 was about 93 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3) of air, researchers reported in The BMJ medical journal. This was way over the World Health Organization (WHO) standard of […]

Reso on Paris Agreement approved on final reading in Senate

(Eagle News) — Senators on Tuesday posed no objections to the ratification of the Paris Agreement, with all 22 senators present concurring. “I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to my colleagues’ unanimous support on this historic day of the Senate’s concurrence in the accession to the Paris Agreement,” Senator Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on climate change, said. She said the country’s accession to the Paris Agreement “strengthens its role in climate […]