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  Paris (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 Forest fires supercharged by climate change are burning twice as much global tree cover as 20 years ago, according to a data Wednesday showing the equivalent of 16 football pitches are now lost every minute. The research showed in unprecedented detail how wildfires have progressed over the past two decades, with the blazes claiming an estimated three more million hectares each year - an area the size of Belgium - compared with 2001. The study showed that the majority of tree cover loss is occu ... read more |
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US communities are mapping heat islands to boost climate resilienceSilver Spring, United States (AFP) Aug 18, 2022 The phone's home screen shows 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32C) in Silver Spring, a suburb of Washington, on a mid-August day. But the reality is more complex - in terms of heat exposure, not all parts of the city are equal. ... more  
Earning its stripes: tech bid to crack tiger tradeMontrose, United Kingdom (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 In a town in northeastern Scotland, Debbie Banks looks for clues to track down criminals as she clicks through a database of tiger skins. ... more 
Scientists announce plans to resurrect extinct Tasmanian tigerWashington DC (UPI) Aug 16, 2021 Like something out of Jurassic Park, a Dallas-based genetics company announced Tuesday it is working to resurrect Australia's extinct Tasmanian tiger, also known as the thylacine, to slow biodiversity loss and climate change. ... more  
Scientists believe asteroids may have carried water to EarthWashington DC (UPI) Aug 16, 2021 Scientists now believe asteroids may have brought water to Earth, according to the just-published results of a six-year study. ... more |
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Argentina declares national mourning as flood death toll hits 16
Argentina flooding death toll rises to 16, two girls missing Argentina port city 'destroyed' by massive rainstorm, 13 dead 'We have to rebuild a city,' Argentine official says after storm kills 10 Ten dead, hundreds evacuated in Argentina floods Six dead, hundreds evacuated in Argentina floods At least six dead, hospital evacuated in Argentina floods Three dead, five missing in Indonesia floods and landslides One dead, seven missing in Indonesia floods and landslides Acquittal of Fukushima operator ex-bosses finalised |
| Previous Issues | Aug 17 | Aug 16 | Aug 15 | Aug 12 | Aug 11 |
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Dutch anglers save fish as Rhine drought bitesGiesbeek, Netherlands (AFP) Aug 18, 2022 Angler Mark Kouwenhoven grins as he wades into what's left of a dried-up Dutch lake where his colleagues are throwing slime-coated fish into buckets. ... more  
Five years on from deadly Sierra Leone mudslide, risks remainFreetown (AFP) Aug 18, 2022 Five years after a devastating mudslide killed more than a thousand people in Sierra Leone's capital, conservationists and survivors worry that poor governance could lead to another disaster. ... more  
16 killed, dozens missing in northwest China floods; 'Frightening' floods hit N.ZealandBeijing (AFP) Aug 18, 2022 Sixteen people have been killed and dozens are missing in flash flooding in northwest China after a sudden downpour triggered mudslides and caused a river to change course, state media reported Thursday. ... more  
China use of psychiatric hospitals to punish activists 'widespread': reportMadrid (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 China's use of psychiatric hospitals to imprison activists without due process remains routine, a rights group has said, accusing doctors and the healthcare system of colluding with authorities in punishing dissidents. ... more |
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Restrictions lifted on Hong Kong's largest security trialHong Kong (AFP) Aug 18, 2022 Reporting restrictions blanketing Hong Kong's largest national security prosecution were lifted on Thursday following an earlier a High Court ruling, shedding new light on pre-trial hearings that have dragged on for more than a year. ... more 
Portugal, Spain struggle to control forest fires;26 dead in north Algeria firesOrjais, Portugal (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 Officials said a massive forest fire in Portugal was "under control" after raging for days, but more than 1,000 firefighters were still battling to keep it contained Thursday. ... more  
France braces for violent storms after weeks of droughtMarseille (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 The French weather service warned Wednesday of new flash flooding risks after fierce rainstorms lashed much of the country overnight, providing a measure of relief for parched landscapes after a summer of record drought. ... more  
Indonesia celebrates first independence day at future capitalSepaku, Indonesia (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 Indonesia celebrated its first independence day at its future capital in the ancient rainforests of eastern Borneo on Wednesday as the nation plans a move away from slowly sinking, traffic-clogged Jakarta. ... more |
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China heat wave pushes up prices as hens lay fewer eggsBeijing (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 Scorching temperatures in eastern China have pushed up egg prices because hens are laying fewer in a hotter-than-usual summer, local media reported. ... more 
Iraq's Garden of Eden now 'like a desert'Huwaizah Marshes, Iraq (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 To feed and cool his buffaloes, Hashem Gassed must cross 10 kilometres (six miles) of sunburnt land in southern Iraq, where drought is devastating swathes of the mythical Mesopotamian Marshes. ... more  
Amazon tribe go behind the camera in Nat Geo film 'The Territory'Los Angeles (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 When Covid-19 reached Brazil's Amazon, and an indigenous tribe sealed off its borders, director Alex Pritz found an innovative way to finish his documentary - he handed the cameras over to the Uru-eu-wau-wau themselves. ... more 
Biden signs major climate change, health care lawWashington (AFP) Aug 16, 2022 President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed into law a big climate change and health care spending bill, giving Democrats another boost ahead of midterm elections in which Republicans are suddenly less certain of their predicted crushing victory. ... more 
Sudan flood tol rises to 75; Niger rainy-season floods kill 32Khartoum (AFP) Aug 16, 2022 The death toll from flooding triggered by torrential rains in Sudan has risen to 75 and destroyed or damaged tens of thousands of homes, police said on Tuesday. ... more |
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 Hunting pythons in Florida, for profit and therapy  |
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 Vyschetarasivka, Ukraine (AFP) Aug 14, 2022  Anastasiya Rudenko clutches the gleaming gold medal her late husband Viktor was awarded for working in the Chernobyl nuclear disaster zone.
He died in 2014 from bladder cancer - perhaps a result of radiation, she thinks. Now she mourns his loss in the Ukrainian village of Vyschetarasivka, across the river from the Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant.
Kiev and Moscow accuse each other of she ... more |
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 Paris (ESA) Aug 18, 2022 
Europe's first commercial satellite capable of being completely reprogrammed while in space is now in commercial use.
Satellite operator Eutelsat has sold six of its eight beams - used for data and mobile communications - to organisations including governments and other users. It is expected that the entire satellite capacity will be sold in the coming months.
The satellite - called ... more |
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 Geneva (AFP) Aug 17, 2022  Some of Switzerland's best-known lakes are at their lowest level ever for August after a dry year so far in 2022, the environment ministry said on Wednesday.
At the same time, discharge levels on the Rhine, one of Europe's major rivers which starts in the Swiss Alps, have never been so low in August since records began.
"There is a low water situation in Switzerland, especially on the ce ... more |
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 Fairbanks AK (SPX) Aug 15, 2022 
Thawing Arctic hillsides release a significant amount of organic carbon that has been locked in frozen ground for thousands of years but which now can contribute to an already warming climate, according to new research.
The finding comes from the study of hillsides in a far north region of Russia, where the researchers also found a significant and rapid increase of collapsed hillsides. The ... more |
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 London (AFP) Aug 12, 2022 
The UK government on Friday officially declared a drought across swathes of England, following months of record low rainfall and unprecedented high temperatures in recent weeks.
At a meeting of the National Drought Group, the government's Environment Agency said the "drought trigger threshold had been met" in parts of southwestern, southern, central and eastern England.
Drought was last ... more |
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 Beijing (AFP) Aug 18, 2022  Sixteen people have been killed and dozens are missing in flash flooding in northwest China after a sudden downpour triggered mudslides and caused a river to change course, state media reported Thursday.
The floods occurred in a mountainous region of Datong county in Qinghai province, affecting more than 6,200 people from six villages, state broadcaster CCTV said.
"As of noon on the 18th ... more |
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 Washington (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 
The Pentagon said Wednesday that US forces killed 13 fighters of the al-Shabaab militant group in an airstrike in Somalia.
The strike took place on August 14 near Teedaan in the central-southern part of the country while Shabaab fighters were attacking Somali National Army forces, the Pentagon's Africa Command said in a statement.
"US forces are authorized to conduct strikes in defense o ... more |
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 Los Angeles (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 
When Covid-19 reached Brazil's Amazon, and an indigenous tribe sealed off its borders, director Alex Pritz found an innovative way to finish his documentary - he handed the cameras over to the Uru-eu-wau-wau themselves.
"The Territory," to be released by National Geographic on Friday, follows the plight of some 200 hunter-gatherers who live in a protected area of rainforest, surrounded and ... more |
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 Silver Spring, United States (AFP) Aug 18, 2022 
The phone's home screen shows 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32C) in Silver Spring, a suburb of Washington, on a mid-August day. But the reality is more complex - in terms of heat exposure, not all parts of the city are equal.
Maria Velez, 53, knows she is lucky to live next to a creek. A stone's throw from her house, other neighborhoods with small apartment buildings are far more built-up and much ... more |
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 Dulles VA (SPX) Aug 12, 2022 
NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) officially marked the handover and commencement of operations of the Landsat 9 Earth observation satellite. Landsat 9 was designed, built and tested by Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) at its Gilbert, Arizona satellite facility and was launched into orbit aboard an Atlas V rocket in September 2021. The satellite completed its systems verificatio ... more |
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 Amsterdam, Netherlands (SPX) Aug 11, 2022 
Sponges are among the oldest creatures on Earth and play a key role in many underwater ecosystems. A new study by Niklas Kornder of the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and colleagues finds that sponges 'sneeze' to clear their water channels. With a sneeze the sponge releases a type of mucus that is eaten by other animals. The results of this study are published in Current Biology on August 10th 20 ... more |
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 Beijing (AFP) Aug 16, 2022 
Chinese lithium hub Sichuan province will ration electricity supply to factories until Saturday, state media reported, as a heatwave sends power demands soaring and dries up reservoirs.
Temperatures in the province - home to nearly 84 million people - have hovered above 40-42 degrees Celsius (104-108 degrees Fahrenheit) since last week, according to data from China's Meteorological Adminis ... more |
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 Sydney, Australia (SPX) Aug 15, 2022 
Researchers from the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Queensland University of Technology (QUT) have developed a new method to improve solid-state hydrogen fuel cell charging times.
Hydrogen is gaining significant attention as an efficient way to store 'green energy' from renewables such as wind and solar. Compressed gas is the most common form of hydrogen storage, however it can ... more |
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 Montrose, United Kingdom (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 
In a town in northeastern Scotland, Debbie Banks looks for clues to track down criminals as she clicks through a database of tiger skins.
There are thousands of photographs, including of rugs, carcasses and taxidermy specimens.
Banks, the crime campaign leader for the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a London-based charity, tries to identify individual big cats from their strip ... more |
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 Bangkok (AFP) Aug 14, 2022 
Thailand and China kicked off a joint air force exercise on Sunday, the kingdom's military said, the first such drills in years following a pause forced by Covid-19.
The "Falcon Strike" exercise comes after China's biggest-ever military drills around Taiwan, which were conducted in retaliation to a visit there by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Thai Air Chief Marshall Prapas Sornchaidee s ... more |
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 Greenbelt MD (SPX) Aug 12, 2022 
From space, parts of the Amazon rainforest that have previously been logged or burned may look fully recovered with a healthy, lush, and green canopy. They may seem to be places buzzing with activity and full of sounds. But inside the rainforest the animal life may tell a different story of damage to their environment through a quieter soundscape.
Scientists from NASA's Goddard Space Fligh ... more |
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