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MEULABOH, Indonesia (AFP) — Young children lie in hospital in Aceh province, Indonesia, as thick smoke caused by forest fires forces dozens of people to be treated for lung infections. Some schoolchildren were still able to go to school in Meulaboh Wednesday wearing masks but several schools suspended classes so students could stay at home. In the past week, about 35 hotspots — concentrations of fires — have destroyed 70 hectares (0.27 square miles) of forests and other […]
DUJIANGYAN CITY, China (CCTV) — Human children are not the only kids in town who love swing sets. A pair of panda sisters named Panyue and Yanhui who live at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP) in Sichuan Province can be found sliding, swinging, wrestling and climbing on their new playset at all hours of the day, when they are not reclining and munching on bamboo shoots that is. The sisters […]
LIANCHENG COUNTY, China (CCTV) –A spectacular thunderstorm has wowed Chinese netizens and smart phone users with its vertical column of downpours in east China’s Fujian Province. The thunderstorm occurred Friday last week. Even amateur footage cannot hide the awesomeness of this half-hour awe-struck celestial phenomenon. Most viewers of the footage aspired for an explanation. “This spectacle occurred due to localized strong convection, judging by our radar returns. The wet microburst against sunshine made it all […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Two young elephants washed out to sea were saved from drowning Sunday by the Sri Lankan navy in the second such incident off the island in as many weeks. The navy said the pair of wild elephants were brought ashore after a “mammoth effort” involving navy divers, ropes and a flotilla of boats to tow them back to shallow waters. Photos showed the elephants in distress, barely keeping their trunks […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Paying small amounts of cash to convince landowners not to cut down their trees is a highly effective strategy for reducing carbon emissions that drive climate change, researchers said Thursday. Trees are important because they absorb lots of carbon dioxide, which is a by-product of fossil fuel burning and is the primary of driver of global warming. The analysis of a system called “Payments for Ecosystems” in Uganda showed its […]
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — Thousands of people fled their homes in western Canada over the weekend as strong winds fanned forest fires that have ravaged British Columbia province for more than a week. The inferno’s progress prompted authorities to take new emergency measures, ordering the evacuation of 24,000 people in the region including the town of Williams Lake which is home to some 11,000 people, reported public broadcaster CBC. Some 60 percent of affected residents […]
BEIJING, China — A heatwave in Beijing has prompted zoo staff to employ measures to protect its animals from high temperatures. Zoo personnel at the Beijing Wildlife Park provided ice and watermelons to the animals and employed water sprays to provide the creatures a respite from the heatwave that has prompted the government to hoist a yellow alert nationwide on July 9. China has a three-tier weather warning system, from red to the orange and yellow, […]
MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — Bertha, believed to be the world’s oldest hippopotamus, has died aged 65, the Manila zoo said Monday, having beaten the typical lifespan for the mostly herbivorous mammals by decades. The 2.5-tonne female was found dead Friday in her enclosure, with a post mortem examination concluding that Bertha, the zoo’s oldest resident, had died from multiple organ failure, zoo director James Dichaves said. “Bertha was among the pioneer animals here. Her mate […]
FRANCE (Reuters) — France’s environment minister Nicolas Hulot unveiled on Thursday (July 6) the “Energy Observer” vessel, as it prepared to embark on an intercontinental odyssey. It is the world’s first boat to be powered solely by renewable energy and hydrogen, designed to spark an exchange about innovative ideas to address climate change. The vessel departed from the French port town of Saint-Malo on June 26, and took a week and a half to dock […]
Kraków, Poland (AFP) — The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization on Wednesday “strongly” urged Poland to stop logging the older parts of the ancient Bialowieza forest, a world heritage site that includes some of Europe’s last primeval woodland. The large-scale logging authorized by the Polish government began in May of last year and has since drawn concern from environmental activists, scientists and the European Union. UNESCO “strongly urges (Poland) to immediately halt all logging and wood […]
SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — Talk about a cute critter: a hippo small enough to fit in a pet cage. Unveiled to the press Wednesday at a zoo in Chile is a two-week-old, female, baby pygmy hippopotamus, yet unnamed. The mother’s name is Coca and the dad goes by Hipolito. They weigh about 250 kilos (550 pounds) — a tenth of the weight of regular, jumbo hippos. The baby now tips the scales at 14 kilos, nearly […]
SOUTHERN Israel, Israel (Reuters) — Potash and fertilizer producer Israel Chemicals (ICL) said on Sunday (July 2) it cannot estimate the level of damage caused to the company or the environment by a spill at its fertilizer plant in Israel’s Negev desert. Large amounts of highly acidic wastewater poured into the desert on Friday (June 30) when a wall of an evaporation pool partially collapsed at the Rotem Amfert facility, according to Israel’s Ministry of […]
