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RAYONG, Thailand (AFP) – Oil washing up on a beach on Thailand’s east coast could be the “nail in the coffin” for pandemic-hit hotels and restaurants, local hospitality businesses said Saturday. The Thai navy and pollution experts are scrambling to clean up Tuesday night’s spill in the Gulf of Thailand where at least 60 tonnes of crude leaked about 20 kilometres (12 miles) off the coast of Rayong province. Crews in yellow plastic protective suits […]
ATHENS, Greece (AFP) – An ailing young whale found near the coast of Athens in a rare sighting has returned to deeper waters after receiving medication, Greek officials said on Saturday. The male Cuvier’s beaked whale is now swimming near the southern island of Salamis, deputy environment minister Georgios Amyras told state TV ERT, adding that its condition remained precarious. The dolphin-like whale, which normally lives in waters more than 1,000 metres (3,280 feet) deep, […]
QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) – Ecuador said it was monitoring the progress of an operation to clean up an oil leak in the Amazon jungle that threatens to pollute a river. Heavy rains caused a mudslide at Piedra Fina in the eastern Napo province on Friday. A rock struck and ruptured an oil pipeline resulting in the leak of a “huge quantity” of oil, a ministry official said on Saturday. The environment ministry said on Sunday […]
WASHINGTON, D.C., United States (AFP) – A judge on Thursday canceled the sale of oil and gas exploration leases of some 80 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico, after environmental groups sued the Biden administration citing major concerns. Federal District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras declared existing contracts invalid, saying the Department of the Interior did not adequately consider the leases’ impact on climate change when issuing them. According to the ruling, officials had used […]
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) – 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 […]
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 […]
PARIS, France (AFP) – The aviation industry looks at hydrogen-fuelled planes as a solution to decarbonise the sector, but a report by an environmental group released Wednesday found that they will only help limit CO2 emissions. Using hydrogen as fuel produces no climate-warming CO2 when it burns, just water. Automakers and planemakers alike have been looking at it as a means to reduce the climate impact of the transportation sector, although currently most production of […]
