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TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said Thursday it will work with Japan’s atomic energy agency to provide technical assistance to a US start-up run by Bill Gates that is building a next-generation nuclear reactor in Wyoming. American billionaire Gates is the founder and chair of TerraPower, which plans to build its plant in the US state by 2028 using a new technology called Natrium, touted as a “carbon-free, reliable energy solution”. The Japanese […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) – A long-abandoned fuel tanker off the coast of war-torn Yemen poses a “grave threat” to millions of the impoverished country’s residents, potentially exacerbating its humanitarian crisis, Greenpeace warned on Thursday. The 45-year-old fuel vessel FSO Safer has 1.1 million barrels of crude on board and has been moored out at sea about six kilometres (four miles) off Yemen’s western lifeline port of Hodeida. “The abandoned tanker, with its toxic […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) – Glaciers are retreating faster globally due to climate change but they melt more quickly when they flow into a lake than when they end on land, with consequences for water supplies, a new study found on Thursday. The Swiss-funded study is the first large-scale, detailed analysis of the phenomenon in mountain glaciers and could help forecast major water shortages and huge flood waves. It examined all 319 glaciers in the eastern […]
ACEH JAYA, Indonesia (AFP) — Nearly a dozen poachers were jailed by an Indonesian court Thursday over the 2020 killing of five critically endangered Sumatran elephants and the illegal trade of their lucrative tusks, as the Southeast Asian archipelago’s battle with wildlife crime continues. Rampant deforestation has reduced the elephants’ habitat and brought them into increasing conflict with humans, while their ivory tusks are prized in the illegal wildlife trade. Authorities found the dead elephants […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Scientists discovered more than 200 new species across the greater Mekong region in 2020, according to a WWF report, despite the threats posed by climate change and human activities such as logging. The finds include a new primate, a colourless cavefish and an iridescent snake with an unusual non-overlapping pattern of scales. In all, 224 new species of plants and vertebrate animals were found in the region — which includes Myanmar, […]
by Kyoko HASEGAWA Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Six young people sued the operator of Japan’s stricken Fukushima nuclear plant on Thursday over claims they developed thyroid cancer due to exposure to radiation after the facility’s meltdown. The plaintiffs, now aged between 17 and 27, were living in the Fukushima region when a huge earthquake on March 11, 2011 triggered a tsunami that caused the nuclear disaster. On Thursday their lawyers marched into the […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) – Thailand’s navy and pollution experts battled Thursday to clear up an oil spill close to pristine holiday beaches, after an undersea pipeline leaked up to 50 tonnes of crude. The kingdom’s Pollution Control Department has warned that the spill in the Gulf of Thailand, about 20 kilometres (12 miles) off the coast of Rayong province, could threaten a national park in nearby Ko Samet island. Weak currents have kept the oil […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – German-owned luxury car brand Bentley said Wednesday that its first all-electric vehicle will be ready by 2025, as it unveiled major investment on becoming a fully carbon zero company. Its first battery-powered electric vehicle will be developed and built at its factory in Crewe, northwest England, Bentley said in a statement. The carmaker, owned by Volkswagen, added it was investing £2.5 billion ($3.4 billion, 3.0 billion euros) “in sustainability over […]
PERU (AFP) – Teams of workers raced Wednesday to clear mud and debris from the only transport access to the jewel of Peru’s tourism sector, Machu Picchu, following torrential rain in the Andes. Heavy downfalls on Friday caused the Alcamayo river that runs through the small tourist town of Machu Picchu Pueblo — at the foot of the mountain that boasts the world famous Inca citadel — to burst its banks. Almost 900 tourists were […]
FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) – The operating company behind the controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany said Wednesday it has founded a German subsidiary as it seeks to get the pipeline up and running amid rising diplomatic tensions. “The new company is to become the owner and operator of the 54-kilometre section of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline located in the German territorial waters,” the Swiss-based Nord Stream 2 AG said in a statement. […]
EL CALLAO, Peru (AFP) – A fresh oil leak has occurred off the coast of Peru — already cleaning up after a major crude spill 10 days earlier — during work on an underwater refinery pipeline, the government said Wednesday. The leak occurred Tuesday during work at the La Pampilla refinery, owned by Spanish company Repsol, the environment ministry said. It occurred during “work being done prior to the removal of the PLEM (pipeline end […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – Climate change is threatening the future of the Winter Olympics, reducing the number of suitable venues for the event around the globe, a report warned ahead of the Beijing Games. The Olympics in China, which start on February 4, will be the first Winter Games to rely almost 100 percent on artificial snow, according to the study. “Slippery Slopes: How Climate Change is Threatening the Winter Olympics”, was produced by […]
