24/7 News Coverage
November 16, 2023
SUPERPOWERS
'Planet Earth is big enough': Biden, Xi vow to ease tensions



Woodside, United States (AFP) Nov 15, 2023
US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping shook hands and pledged to reduce soaring tensions between the superpowers Wednesday as they met for the first time in a year at a high-stakes summit in California. "We have to ensure that competition does not veer into conflict," Biden told Xi across a long wooden table as their delegations sat down for talks at the scenic Filoli country estate near San Francisco. Xi responded by saying that "Planet Earth is big enough for the two countri ... read more

TECH SPACE
Rice researcher scans tropical forest with mixed-reality device
Houston TX (SPX) Nov 16, 2023
Rice University scientists used a commercially available mixed-reality headset with custom-designed software to measure and analyze forest floor vegetation, demonstrating a correlation between anima ... more
WEATHER REPORT
Threat from sand and dust storms spreading: UN
Tashkent (AFP) Nov 15, 2023
The UN warned Wednesday that the number of sand and dust storms are increasing "dramatically" with Central Asia the most hit by the dangerous phenomenon. ... more
WEATHER REPORT
Heat projected to kill nearly five times more people by 2050
Paris (AFP) Nov 15, 2023
Nearly five times more people will likely die due to extreme heat in the coming decades, an international team of experts said Wednesday, warning that without action on climate change the "health of humanity is at grave risk". ... more
CLIMATE SCIENCE
Greenhouse gases hit record high in 2022: UN
Geneva (AFP) Nov 15, 2023
Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere hit new record highs in 2022, with no end in sight to the rising trend, the United Nations warned Wednesday. ... more
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AEROSPACE


NASA C-130 makes first-ever flight to Antarctica for GUSTO balloon mission

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Israel army withdraws from inside Gaza hospital, journalist tells AFP
Jerusalem (AFP) Nov 15, 2023
A journalist trapped inside Gaza's largest hospital told AFP on Wednesday that Israeli troops had withdrawn from the building after entering it overnight and have redeployed around its outskirts. ... more
FROTH AND BUBBLE
PepsiCo sued by New York state over plastic pollution
New York (AFP) Nov 15, 2023
New York state sued PepsiCo on Wednesday, pointing to the soda giant's plastic waste as a scourge of waterways and blasting the company's "misleading" statements on the environment. ... more
ICE WORLD
Frozen library of ancient ice tells tales of climate's past
Copenhagen (AFP) Nov 16, 2023
How was the air breathed by Caesar, the Prophet Mohammed or Christopher Columbus? A giant freezer in Copenhagen holds the answers, storing blocks of ice with atmospheric tales thousands of years old. ... more
AFRICA NEWS
Uganda charges militia chief over tourist murders
Kampala (AFP) Nov 13, 2023
Ugandan prosecutors on Monday charged the commander of a feared militia with terrorism and murder over the killing of two foreign tourists and their driver last month. ... more
AFRICA NEWS
Six killed in east DR Congo after soldiers, pro-state militants clash
Goma, Dr Congo (AFP) Nov 12, 2023
At least six people have been killed after a dispute between soldiers and pro-government militants in volatile eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, several sources said on Sunday. ... more

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AFRICA NEWS


UN fears escalation of interethnic violence in Sudan

DISASTER MANAGEMENT
U.N.: Israel allows fuel shipment into Gaza, but nothing for hospitals
Washington DC (UPI) Nov 15, 2021
Gaza received its first shipment of fuel Wednesday since the start of the Israel-Hamas war more than five weeks ago, the United Nations relief agency for Palestinian refugees said Wednesday. ... more
AFRICA NEWS
From biodiversity to political crises: five things about Madagascar
Antananarivo (AFP) Nov 13, 2023
Madagascar will hold the first round of its presidential elections on Thursday, with the run-up to the vote marred by near daily opposition demonstrations. ... more
FIRE STORM
'Out of control' fires endanger wildlife in Brazilian wetlands
Pocon�, Brazil (AFP) Nov 15, 2023
The Pantanal wetlands in western Brazil are famed as a paradise of biodiversity, but these days they have enormous clouds of smoke billowing over them, as raging wildfires reduce vast expanses to scorched earth. ... more
WATER WORLD
Endangered sea turtles get second life at Tunisian centre
Sfax, Tunisia (AFP) Nov 13, 2023
A crowd has gathered to see off Rose, a loggerhead sea turtle, who labours across the Tunisian sand to rejoin the waters of the Mediterranean. ... more
FIRE STORM
26 dead, dozens hospitalised in China building fire: state media
Beijing (AFP) Nov 16, 2023
Twenty-six people have died and dozens were sent to hospital after a fire tore through a building in northern China's Shanxi province on Thursday, state media reported. ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW


Two dead, three missing in central Vietnam floods

WATER WORLD
'King of Lake Ohrid': the fight to save a Balkan trout
Pogradec, Albania (AFP) Nov 16, 2023
Along the picturesque shores of Lake Ohrid, things have taken on a frantic pace at the Lin Hatchery in Albania's Pogradec, as a team of specialists races to release the final batch of newly spawned trout this season. ... more
FLORA AND FAUNA
The mystery of phosphite - a scientific detective story
Konstanz, Germany (SPX) Nov 13, 2023
Our story begins at the end of the 1980s, with a sheet of paper. On this sheet, a scientist calculated that the conversion of the chemical compound phosphite to phosphate would release enough energy ... more
FROTH AND BUBBLE
Scientists caution against a reliance on mechanical devices to clear water bodies of plastic
Plymouth UK (SPX) Nov 10, 2023
An international group of scientists has cautioned against reliance on mechanical cleanup devices as a means of addressing the plastic pollution crisis. The researchers - comprising a number o ... more
EARLY EARTH
Recreation of ancient seawater reveals which nutrients shaped the evolution of early life
Oxford UK (SPX) Nov 14, 2023
Scientists know very little about conditions in the ocean when life first evolved, but new research published in Nature Geoscience has revealed how geological processes controlled which nutrients we ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW
Some of today's earthquakes may be aftershocks from quakes in the 1800s
Washington DC (SPX) Nov 14, 2023
In the 1800s, some of the strongest earthquakes in recorded U.S. history struck North America's continental interior. Almost two centuries later, the central and eastern United States may still be e ... more
EARLY EARTH
The first dinosaur egg was leathery
Beijing, China (SPX) Nov 14, 2023
The discovery of several exceptionally preserved reproduction-related dinosaur specimens over the last three decades has improved our knowledge of dinosaur reproductive biology. Nevertheless, due to ... more
SINO DAILY
Tibet activists and pro-China supporters demonstrate at APEC summit
San Francisco (AFP) Nov 16, 2023
Groups of Tibet activists and pro-China supporters staged opposing demonstrations in San Francisco on Wednesday as Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the city for an APEC summit. ... more
SINO DAILY
China says resettling people fleeing northern Myanmar clashes
Beijing (AFP) Nov 16, 2023
China said on Thursday it was helping resettle people who have crossed its border fleeing clashes in northern Myanmar, where the UN says over 200,000 people have been displaced by fighting between the junta and an alliance of ethnic minority groups. ... more
SINO DAILY
Markets mostly drop as rate-hope rally loses steam
Hong Kong (AFP) Nov 16, 2023
Most markets fell Thursday as investors took a breather and cashed in on a recent rally, though analysts said the outlook was bright, even as data pointed to a soft landing for the world's top economy. ... more
CLIMATE SCIENCE
China, US pledge climate cooperation ahead of Xi-Biden meet
Beijing (AFP) Nov 15, 2023
China and the United States pledged Wednesday to work more closely together to fight global warming, declaring the climate crisis "one of the greatest challenges of our time". ... more
CLIMATE SCIENCE
EU negotiators reach deal on methane emission curbs
Brussels (AFP) Nov 15, 2023
Negotiators for the EU's member states and lawmakers on Wednesday reached a deal on new rules to curb methane emissions which would put new reporting requirements on the coal, gas and oil industry. ... more
CLIMATE SCIENCE
World severely off track to limit planet-heating emissions: UN
Paris (AFP) Nov 14, 2023
The world is "failing to get a grip" on climate change, the UN warned Tuesday, as an assessment of climate pledges shows only minor progress on reducing emissions this decade. ... more
FIRE STORM
Fight fire with fire: controlled burns stem California blazes
Santa Cruz, United States (AFP) Nov 13, 2023
In a forest in northern California, a line of people spread out through the trees, setting fire to shrubs and fallen branches in an act of intentional arson aimed at making the woodland better able to cope with future conflagrations. ... more
AFRICA NEWS
One in four Somalis face 'crisis-level hunger': UN
Nairobi (AFP) Nov 14, 2023
A quarter of Somalia's population face "crisis-level hunger" by the end of the year, the United Nations warned on Tuesday, as the country battles deadly floods. ... more
AFRICA NEWS
Benin struggles in battle to halt coastal erosion
Cotonou (AFP) Nov 15, 2023
Along its Atlantic coast, Benin's government has spent millions of dollars to protect coastal communities from sea erosion. But Doris Alapini can only watch as waves tirelessly eat away at her land and the large seaside restaurant she built. ... more
WEATHER REPORT
Threat from sand and dust storms spreading: UN
Tashkent (AFP) Nov 15, 2023
The UN warned Wednesday that the number of sand and dust storms are increasing "dramatically" with Central Asia most hit by the dangerous phenomena. ... more
ROBO SPACE
AI images of white faces are now 'hyper-real': study
Paris (AFP) Nov 13, 2023
Images of faces generated by artificial intelligence (AI) can now appear more real than pictures of real people - as long as they are white, a study said on Monday. ... more
FLORA AND FAUNA
Critically endangered Sumatran elephant born in Indonesia
Jakarta (AFP) Nov 13, 2023
A critically endangered Sumatran elephant was born in western Indonesia over the weekend, according to officials, giving renewed hope to conservation efforts after several other baby elephant and rhino births in recent months. ... more
FROTH AND BUBBLE
Campaigners demand Thailand act on air pollution
Bangkok (AFP) Nov 13, 2023
Campaigners on Monday demanded the Thai government urgently pass a "clean air act" as the kingdom braces for its annual peak pollution season. ... more
FROTH AND BUBBLE
'Forever chemicals' blood tests in Belgium over polluted water
Brussels (AFP) Nov 14, 2023
Belgium's southern Wallonia region pledged Tuesday to offer free blood tests for residents to measure their possible exposure to PFAS "forever chemicals" amid a scandal over polluted drinking water. ... more
FROTH AND BUBBLE
Pupils, employees urged to stay home in smog-hit Tehran
Tehran (AFP) Nov 14, 2023
Iranian authorities urged young schoolchildren and many civil servants in the capital Tehran to stay at home Wednesday due to a spike in air pollution levels. ... more
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