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PARIS, July 20, 2023 (AFP) – Struck by near-record temperatures and wildfires during this week’s heatwave, the Mediterranean region is ranked as a climate-change “hot spot” by scientists. The beaches, seafood and heritage sites in the region spanning parts of southern Europe, northern Africa and western Asia are under threat. Here are five key threats to the region flagged by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Its reports are the most comprehensive […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Tuesday that Turkey was ready to finally ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change. Erdogan’s announcement at a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly followed a year of violent weather events in Turkey — including wildfires and flash floods — that have claimed some 100 lives. Turkey in April 2016 signed the landmark agreement on limiting the dangerous emissions that contribute to […]
by Marlowe HOOD Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – Wildfires in Siberia, North America and around the Mediterranean caused record levels of planet-warming CO2 emissions this summer, the EU’s Earth monitoring service said Tuesday. Globally, forests going up in flames emitted more than 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2 — equivalent to India’s annual emissions from all sources — in July and August alone, the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) reported. More than half of CO2 […]
ATHENS, Greece (AFP) – Greece is hosting a summit of southern EU leaders on Friday that will focus on climate change and “security challenges” including migration and the Afghan crisis. Greek government spokesman Yiannis Economou said the one-day meeting, with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen in attendance, will address issues “jeopardising safety and stability in the Mediterranean”. The agenda includes migration and the situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover but Economou said Athens was placing […]
by Guillaume Lavallee Agence France-Presse GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — The densely populated Gaza Strip has long lacked sufficient drinking water, but a new project helps ease the shortage with a solar-powered process to extract potable water straight from the air. Unusually, the project operating in the Islamist-run Palestinian enclave, which has been blockaded by Israel since 2007, is the brainchild of a Russian-Israeli billionaire, Michael Mirilashvili. The company he heads, Watergen, has developed […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — From Venice and the tower of Pisa to the medieval city of Rhodes, dozens of UNESCO World Heritage sites in the Mediterranean basin are deeply threatened by rising sea levels, researchers warned Tuesday. All but two of 49 UN-recognised icons of human civilization rimming the Mediterranean Sea risk being damaged by the rising watermark, soil erosion, or both, with few options for protecting most of them, they reported in the scientific […]
by Ala Sakka with Aymen Jamli in Tunis Agence France Presse More than 50 migrants drowned in the Mediterranean on Sunday, the majority off the coasts of Tunisia and Turkey, while Italy marked a sea change in its policy. Tunisian authorities said 48 bodies were recovered off the country’s southern coast, close to the city of Sfax, while 68 people were rescued. “The boat had a maximum capacity of 75 to 90 people, but […]
by Shaun Tandon Agence France-Presse UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Tuesday to fight an “Iranian curtain” descending on the Middle East, pledging to prevent Tehran from ever establishing a permanent foothold in Syria. Netanyahu — who in recent years has coined his own sort of theater at the annual United Nations speech marathon with podium props and dramatic warnings — was in a lighter mood for 2017, cracking jokes and […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — English rockers Coldplay have released a new song written with ambient legend Brian Eno, with proceeds to support migrants who make the dangerous journey to Europe across the Mediterranean. “Aliens,” released late Thursday alongside an animated video, is the latest single from Coldplay’s upcoming EP “Kaleidoscope.” Coldplay said that proceeds from “Aliens” would support the Migrant Offshore Aid Station, a charity in Malta that sends search and rescue teams to […]
Agence France Presse A senior officer aboard a United States Navy supercarrier deployed in the eastern Mediterranean said Monday his forces were wary of “tensions” with allies of Syria’s regime but were ready to defend US-backed forces. The USS George H.W. Bush has been a leading part of the US bombing campaign in Iraq and Syria, primarily against the Islamic State group but on occasion targeting Syrian government forces and their allies fighting US-backed groups. […]
TAJURA, Libya (Reuters) — Red Crescent volunteers recovered the bodies of 24 migrants on Tuesday (June 27) that were washed up in an eastern suburb of the Libyan capital, Tripoli, as large-scale rescues were made in the Mediterranean. Residents in Tajoura district said the bodies had begun washing up at the end of last week. Several had been partially devoured by stray dogs, according to a local coast guard official. The toll was expected to […]
JERUSALEM, Israel (AFP) — Swimmers wanting to avoid being stung by jellyfish may want to watch the sky as much as the sea after Israeli researchers found a link between their arrival and the phase of the moon. The Israeli study found the lunar calendar is a key determinant of when jellyfish arrive on the Mediterranean country’s shores. In the middle of the lunar months — the days before and during the full moon — […]
