SYDNEY, Nov 23, 2023 (AFP) – Australian firefighters Thursday battled a runaway bushfire that has incinerated 10 homes and forced scores of people to evacuate in the northern outskirts of Perth during a fierce heatwave. Fire services issued emergency warnings for fire-swept areas north of the Western Australian capital, urging people to flee their homes if they can, or shelter in place if it is already too late to move. More than 500 emergency workers […]
Tag: climate
Toyota ad rapped as ‘irresponsible’ to the environment
LONDON, Nov 22, 2023 (AFP) – Britain’s advertising watchdog on Wednesday said it had banned an advert for a Toyota 4×4 vehicle because it promoted “irresponsible behaviour” towards the environment. The paid-for post on Facebook and poster ad for the Japanese firm’s Hilux sports utility vehicle showed a line of SUVs driving off road in a cloud of dust before joining a tarmacked road. A complaint was made to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) that […]
Heavy rain in Kenya affects tens of thousands, disrupts cargo
NAIROBI, Nov 19, 2023 (AFP) – Kenya on Sunday said tens of thousands of people across the country had been impacted by heavy rainfall, flooding and landslides that had also interrupted cargo services at Mombasa port. The Horn of Africa has experienced intense rainfall linked to the El Nino weather phenomenon in recent weeks that has claimed dozens of lives, including at least 46 in various parts of Kenya. Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua said at […]
At least 21 dead in torrential Dominican Republic rains
SANTO DOMINGO, Nov 20, 2023 (AFP) – At least 21 people, including three children, died after heavy rainfall inundated the Dominican Republic over the weekend, authorities said Sunday, warning the downpours were linked to worsening climate change. Torrential storms over the past 48 hours have caused flooding, damaged infrastructure and brought down houses in the Caribbean nation, in what President Luis Abinader has called the “largest rainfall event ever” in the country’s history. “Those who […]
1.5C limit ‘only option’ for saving Earth’s ice and snow
BANGKOK, Nov 16, 2023 (AFP) – Allowing global temperatures to rise two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels will be catastrophic for the world’s ice sheets, glaciers, polar seas and permafrost, a new report warned Thursday. The assessment of the global “cryosphere” — parts of the Earth covered in ice and snow for at least some of the year — urges upcoming climate talks to commit to keeping warming below 1.5C. “Because of what we have […]
UAE inaugurates giant solar plant, two weeks before climate talks
AL DHAFRA, United Arab Emirates, Nov 16, 2023 (AFP) – The United Arab Emirates inaugurated on Thursday one of the world’s biggest solar plants, two weeks before the oil-rich Gulf state hosts UN climate talks. The Al Dhafra plant, south of the capital Abu Dhabi, stretches over 21 square kilometres (eight square miles) of desert, an area about one-fifth the size of Paris. Its rows of photovoltaic panels rotate to follow the sun and are […]
South Asia worst in world for water scarcity: UN
NEW DELHI, Nov 13, 2023 (AFP) – More children in South Asia are struggling due to severe water scarcity made worse by the impacts of climate change than anywhere else worldwide, the United Nations said Monday. “A staggering 347 million children under 18 are exposed to high or extremely high water scarcity in South Asia, the highest number among all regions in the world,” the UN children’s agency said in a report. The eight-nation region, […]
Australia offers refuge to Tuvaluans facing climate displacement
By Steven TRASK SYDNEY, Nov 10, 2023 (AFP) – Citizens of climate-threatened Tuvalu will have the right to live in Australia under a landmark pact unveiled Friday — an offer of refuge as their Pacific homeland is lost beneath the seas. Prime ministers Kausea Natano and Anthony Albanese inked a treaty to help Tuvalu’s 11,000 residents tackle climate change, and to take up sanctuary should the worst fears materialise. Tuvalu is among the world’s most […]
Hottest October on record as 2023 on track to be warmest year in history
By Kelly MACNAMARA PARIS, Nov 8, 2023 (AFP) – Last month was the hottest October on record globally, Europe’s climate monitor said Wednesday, as months of exceptional heat are likely to make 2023 the warmest year in history. With temperatures soaring beyond previous averages by exceptional margins, scientists say the pressure on world leaders to curb planet-heating greenhouse gas pollution has never been more urgent as they prepare to meet in Dubai for the UN […]
El Nino set to last at least til April: UN
GENEVA, Nov 8, 2023 (AFP) – The El Nino weather phenomenon, which triggers higher global temperatures, is expected to last until at least April 2024, the United Nations said on Wednesday. El Nino is a naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, as well as drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere. The UN’s World Meteorological Organization said the current El Nino, which developed rapidly during July-August this […]
Seven dead as Western Europe hit by record winds of Storm Ciaran
BRUSSELS, Nov 2, 2023 (AFP) – Seven people were killed as Storm Ciaran battered Western Europe on Thursday, bringing record winds as high as 200 kilometres per hour, floods, blackouts and major travel disruption. In the Belgian city of Ghent, a five-year-old Ukrainian boy and a 64-year-old woman were killed by falling branches. Falling trees had earlier killed a lorry driver in his vehicle in northern France’s Aisne region, and French authorities also reported the […]
Over 40% of Antarctica’s ice shelves lost mass in 25 years: study
PARIS, Oct 12, 2023 (AFP) – More than 40 percent of Antarctica’s ice shelves lost volume in 25 years, increasing the risk of sea levels rising and with human-induced warming the likely cause, scientists said on Thursday. Ice shelves are freshwater extensions of the ice sheets that cover much of Antarctica, floating on the seas that surround the vast and ecologically fragile continent. They act as giant “plugs” stabilising massive glaciers, slowing down the flow […]





