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GUWAHATI, India (AFP) — A huge fire broke out at an oil field near popular ecotourism spots in northeastern India on Tuesday, after gas that had spewed for two weeks from a blown-out well ignited, officials said. The gas well at an oil field managed by state-owned Oil India started leaking in late May in Tinsukia district of Assam state, and the firm said late last week gas was still flowing “uncontrollably”. Tuesday’s explosion sent […]
by Jalees ANDRABI Agence France-Presse NEW DEHLI, India (AFP) — Indian police have arrested a plantation worker and are hunting two others after a pregnant elephant died after eating fruit laced with explosives, officials said Saturday, in a case that shocked the country. The elephant died in agony last week in the southern state of Kerala, the latest casualty of a growing conflict in South Asia between nature and humans as ever more forest is […]
by Maria ANTONOVA Agence France-Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — An unprecedented fuel spill that has polluted huge stretches of Arctic rivers was caused by melting permafrost, Russian officials said Friday, ordering a review of infrastructure in vulnerable zones. The spill — which has coloured remote tundra waterways with bright red patches visible from space — has highlighted the danger of climate change for Russia as areas locked by permafrost for centuries thaw amid warmer temperatures. […]
by Maria ANTONOVA Agence France-Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia on Thursday intensified efforts to clean up a major fuel spill that environmentalists say is the worst such accident in the Arctic, as investigators made their first arrest. A diesel reservoir collapsed at a power station outside the northern Siberian city of Norilsk on Friday, releasing 15,000 tonnes of fuel into a river and 6,000 tonnes into the soil, according to Russia’s state environmental watchdog. […]
NEW DEHLI, India (AFP) — India pledged to investigate Thursday the death of a pregnant elephant that ate explosives-filled fruit, as cricket and Bollywood stars joined a chorus of outrage over the incident. The elephant died in agony last week in the southern state of Kerala, the latest casualty in a growing conflict in South Asia between large animals and humans as ever more forest is lost to urban expansion. Footage of the animal standing […]
GUWAHATI, India (AFP) — About 2,000 people have been evacuated from their homes as authorities struggle to control gas pouring from an exploded well near a popular ecotourism spot in northeastern India. The gas well in an oil field managed by state-owned Oil India Ltd blew out last Wednesday in Tinsukia district of Assam state, and “started releasing natural gas in an uncontrolled manner”, the company said. Authorities have established an exclusion zone of 1.5 kilometres […]
MADRID, Spain (AFP) — The Spanish government on Tuesday proposed new legislation on rubbish that seeks to dramatically reduce single-use plastic packaging, notably by taxing it. The move specifically aims to reduce the plastic cups and bottles used in the fast food and take-away sectors. “If we add up all the waste generated in a year in Spain… it would be enough to fill up the Santiago Bernabeu stadium 2,900 times,” said Environment Minister Teresa […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Vast tracts of pristine rainforest on three continents went up in smoke last year, with an area roughly the size of Switzerland cut down or burned to make way for cattle and commercial crops, researchers said Tuesday. Brazil accounted for more than a third of the loss, with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Indonesia a distant second and third, Global Forest Watch said in its […]
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — A young humpback whale that swam up one of Canada’s major rivers and has been exploring the waters off Montreal for a few days was likely led astray while on a hunting trip, authorities have said. Since Saturday, the giant creature has been swimming in the St Lawrence river against the backdrop of the Montreal skyline — hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the waters it usually calls home. The humpback is […]
by Sam Jahan and Kazi Santo Agence France-Presse KHULNA, Bangladesh (AFP) — Rezaul Islam wades through waist-high water, a sack of rice on his head salvaged from what remains of his home, a week after a cyclone savaged Bangladesh and eastern India. The strongest storm to hit the area this century killed more than 100 people, flattening entire villages, uprooting trees and ruining fish ponds in the Indian state of West Bengal, and south-west Bangladesh. “We […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia has started cloud seeding to induce rain as the archipelago moves to head off annual forest fires blamed for blanketing swathes of Southeast Asia in toxic haze. Last year’s fires were the worst since 2015 due to dry weather, with some 1.6 million hectares (3.95 million acres) of land, mostly on Sumatra and Borneo islands, razed by the out-of-control blazes. Authorities deployed tens of thousands of personnel and water-bombing aircraft […]
by Nick Perry PICTURES BY TONY KARUMBA Agence France-Presse BOMA, South Sudan (AFP) — The light plane banked sharply to circle back over the plains. The pilot had spotted something below: antelope, first one, then many, the stragglers of a million-strong migration across this vast wilderness. But there are other wonders out here on the savanna. A trio of extremely rare Nubian giraffe lumber by, the seldom-seen, majestic giants casting long shadows over the grasslands. “There’s […]
