Tag: Environment

EU sends help to Turkey as wildfire death toll hits eight

by Kadir DEMIR MARMARIS, Turkey (AFP) — The European Union sent help to Turkey on Monday and volunteers joined firefighters in battling a week of violent blazes that have killed eight people and put pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkey’s struggles against its deadliest wildfires in decades come as a blistering heatwave grips southeastern Europe creating tinderbox conditions that Greek officials blame squarely on climate change. The fires tearing through Turkey since last Wednesday […]

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Greece suffering worst heatwave for three decades: PM

ATHENS, Greece (AFP) — Greece is suffering its worst heatwave since 1987, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned on Monday, as forecasters said temperatures could hit 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) later. The intense heat has helped fan wildfires that have destroyed more than 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of pine and olive groves in the country’s west since Saturday. © Agence France-Presse

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Fires rage across southern Europe, forcing hundreds to evacuate

by Raziye AKKOC with AFP bureaus ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) — Dozens of villages were evacuated in tourist hotspots in southern Turkey on Sunday as wildfires that have claimed eight lives raged for a fifth day, while blazes also hit Greece, Italy and Spain. Fanned by soaring temperatures and strong winds — with experts saying that climate change increases both the frequency and intensity of such blazes — this year’s fire season has been significantly more […]

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Heatwave hits Japan site of Olympic marathon

Japan’s northern Hokkaido region was supposed to offer cooler climes for next week’s Olympic marathons and race walks, but now the area is battling a heatwave. Olympic organisers moved the two events from Tokyo in 2019, worried that even shifting the start times to dawn would not be enough to keep athletes safe from the heat. The summer temperatures in Hokkaido’s Sapporo were expected to be kinder — around five or six degrees Celsius cooler […]

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Earth’s ‘vital signs’ worsening as humanity’s impact deepens

by Patrick GALEY PARIS, France (AFP) — The global economy’s business-as-usual approach to climate change has seen Earth’s “vital signs” deteriorate to record levels, an influential group of scientists said Wednesday, warning that several climate tipping points were now imminent. The researchers, part of a group of more than 14,000 scientists who have signed on to an initiative declaring a worldwide climate emergency, said that governments had consistently failed to address the root cause of […]

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Israel freezes UAE oil deal over environmental concerns

JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel’s environmental protection ministry said Sunday it was delaying implementation of a proposed oil transport deal with the United Arab Emirates, freezing a project that has angered environmentalists. The agreement, which followed the UAE and Israel establishing diplomatic ties last year, would see Gulf oil brought to the Red Sea port of Eilat by tanker, than moved by pipeline through mainland Israel to the Mediterranean port of Ashkelon, from where it […]

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Pollution turns Argentina lake bright pink

TRELEW, Argentina (AFP) — A lagoon in Argentina’s southern Patagonia region has turned bright pink in a striking, but frightful phenomenon experts and activists blame on pollution by a chemical used to preserve prawns for export. The color is caused by sodium sulfite, an anti-bacterial product used in fish factories, whose waste is blamed for contaminating the Chubut river that feeds the Corfo lagoon and other water sources in the region, according to activists. Residents […]

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Finland rallies to save one of world’s most endangered seals

by Sam KINGSLEY PUUMALA, United States (AFP) — The serene, icy waters of Finland’s Lake Saimaa are a boon to fishermen and tourists, but their presence also threatens one of the world’s rarest and most endangered seals. Despite seeing numbers recover in recent decades, the Saimaa ringed seal still faces extinction amid climate change and die-hard fishing habits. Out on Saimaa, a dark grey, whiskered creature pops its head up and breaks the surface in […]

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Survivor window closing in Japan landslide, 24 unaccounted for

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — More than 1,000 soldiers and rescue workers joined an increasingly desperate search Tuesday for survivors in a Japanese resort town devastated by a landslide three days ago. Four people have been confirmed dead after the disaster in Atami in central Japan and officials said they were still unable to clarify the fate or whereabouts of 24 other residents. Helicopter images showed a bleak line of sludge and rubble snaking down a […]

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Fears for future of Mexico City’s ‘green lung’

by Yussel Gonzalez MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — A major construction project in wetlands seen as one of the “green lungs” of smog-choked Mexico City has raised concerns for the future of the UNESCO World Heritage Site. A more than 1.7-kilometer (one mile) long reinforced concrete bridge is being built on a freshwater lake system that helps to regulate the temperature and prevent flooding in the city of nine million people. Hundreds of trees have […]

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UN confirms 18.3C record heat in Antarctica

by Robin MILLARD GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The United Nations on Thursday recognized a new record high temperature for the Antarctic continent, confirming a reading of 18.3 degrees Celsius (64.9 degrees Fahrenheit) made last year. The record heat was reached at Argentina’s Esperanza research station on the Antarctic Peninsula on February 6, 2020, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said. “Verification of this maximum temperature record is important because it helps us to build up a […]

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World’s second-largest hydropower dam goes online in China

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China began operating the world’s second-largest hydropower station on Monday in what officials hailed as a milestone towards Beijing’s carbon neutrality goals, despite warnings of environmental damage. The 289-meter (948 feet) high Baihetan Hydropower Station in southwest China, second in the world only to the country’s Three Gorges Dam in terms of power generation, began partial operation Monday morning, state media reported. Baihetan was built with a total installed capacity of […]

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