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BRISBANE, Australia (AFP) — Novak Djokovic said Australian Open organizers should consider delaying the first Grand Slam of the year if haze from bush-fires raging around the country threatens players’ health. The opening major of 2020 is due to start at Melbourne Park on January 20 and the city was blanketed by smoke from blazes burning to the east on Saturday, compromising air quality. Djokovic, president of the ATP players council, said in the early […]
by Holly ROBERTSON / with Andrew Beatty and Glenda Kwek in Sydney Agence France-Presse BATEMANS BAY, Australia (AFP) — Skies turned black and ash rained down as fires raged across southeastern Australia on Saturday, threatening power supplies to major cities and prompting the call-up of 3,000 military reservists. Temperature records were smashed, and gale-force winds pounded fire-stricken coastal communities in the two most populous states New South Wales and Victoria. New South Wales Premier Gladys […]
by Holly Robertson SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia authorized the forced evacuation of residents Thursday amid a mass exodus of tourists from fire-ravaged coastal communities, as the country braces for a weekend heatwave expected to fan deadly bushfires. Catastrophic blazes ripped through the country’s south-east on New Year’s Eve, killing at least eight people and stranding holidaymakers. New South Wales (NSW) Premier Gladys Berejiklian declared a seven-day state of emergency that allows for forced evacuations […]
by Holly ROBERTSON SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Relief supplies began reaching thousands of people stranded in fire-ravaged Australian towns Wednesday after deadly bushfires ripped through popular tourist spots and rural areas leaving at least eight people dead. Navy ships and military aircraft were deployed alongside emergency crews to provide humanitarian relief and assess the damage from the deadliest spate of blazes yet in a months-long bushfire crisis. Police said three more bodies were discovered Wednesday, […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — At least 15 natural disasters linked to climate change this year caused damage of over $1 billion and seven of them cost at least $10 billion, British charity Christian Aid said Friday. This year is set to be the second hottest year in history and each of the disasters in the report has a link with climate change, Christian Aid said. “Extreme weather, fueled by climate change, struck every corner of […]
by Daniel DE CARTERET Agence France Presse BUXTON, Australia (AFP) — A state of emergency was declared in Australia’s most populated region on Thursday as an unprecedented heatwave fanned out-of-control bushfires, destroying homes and smothering huge areas with a toxic smoke. As thousands of firefighters battled blazes, temperatures neared 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit) in some places and authorities warned the extreme weather conditions could get even worse. Australia endures bushfires every year […]
by Dessy Sagita and Peter Brieger Agence France-Presse JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia’s little-known glaciers are melting so fast they could disappear in a decade, a new study says, underscoring the imminent threat posed by climate change to ice sheets in tropical countries. As the COP 25 summit wraps up in Madrid, nations are struggling to finalise rules for the 2015 landmark Paris climate accord, which aims to limit global temperature rises. Thousands of kilometres […]
by Bryan McManus Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The melting of Greenland’s massive ice sheet is happening much faster than expected and could put millions more people at risk by the end of the century, scientists warned Tuesday. Up to three kilometres thick (two miles) in some places, Greenland has lost 3.8 trillion tonnes of ice since 1992, enough on its own to add 10.6 millimetres (1.06 centimetres, 0.4 inches) to sea levels, according […]
SANKT LEONHARD IM PITZTAL, Austria (AFP) — In his office nestled in Austria’s snow-capped Pitztal valley, Eberhard Schultes is among those pushing to expand the region’s skiing sector — but environmentalists alarmed about the region’s vanishing glaciers are pushing back. Schultes is the managing director of the Pitztaler Gletscherbahnen mountain lift company, which is trying to win approval for a new ski area to connect the Pitztaler glacier to the neighbouring Oetztal formation. Even though […]
by Alia DHARSSI Agence France-Presse VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) — The world’s first fully electric commercial aircraft took its inaugural test flight on Tuesday, taking off from the Canadian city of Vancouver where tall mountain peaks edge the Pacific Ocean. “This proves that commercial aviation in all-electric form can work,” said Roei Ganzarski, chief executive of Seattle-based engineering firm magniX. The company designed the plane’s motor and worked in partnership with Harbour Air, which ferries half […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Smoke haze from bushfires raging in Australia spread to the capital Sunday, as firefighters raced to contain more than 140 blazes ahead of a heatwave forecast early this week. Australia is experiencing a horrific start to its fire season, which scientists say began earlier and is more extreme this year due to a prolonged drought and the effects of climate change. Residents of Canberra in the country’s southeast woke up to […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Actor Leonardo di Caprio joined former US vice president Al Gore and other personalities Wednesday in backing a new initiative to seek solutions to climate change. Leading figures from politics, economics, science, and entertainment are lending their support to Countdown, which seeks to build support for zero-net emissions and is organized by the TED conference platform. TED President Chris Anderson and former UN environment chief Christiana Figueres launched the […]
