24/7 News Coverage
October 29, 2024
FROTH AND BUBBLE
Plastics: lifesaver turned environmental threat



Paris (AFP) Oct 29, 2024
Before it threatened biodiversity, the oceans and the global food chain, plastics saved lives and transformed societies as a durable, malleable and cheap material. From the 1950s, plastics enjoyed a positive image "in all areas of life", according to the Plastic Atlas from the Heinrich Boell Foundation. But with plastic now an integral part of daily life and global production exploding, concerns abound about its impact on the health of the planet - and ourselves. - Healthcare advances - ... read more

TECH SPACE
Countdown to Busan: is a plastic pollution treaty in reach?
Bangkok (AFP) Oct 29, 2024
Negotiators meet in less than a month to agree on the world's first treaty to end plastic pollution, but countries remain so far apart that a deal may prove impossible. ... more
WATER WORLD
Global network of undersea robots unveils hidden depths of phytoplankton biomass
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 29, 2024
Marine phytoplankton play a critical role in Earth's ecosystems, driving primary production and anchoring the global carbon cycle. These microscopic organisms, which thrive in the sunlit layers of t ... more
WATER WORLD
Giant clam declared critically endangered after the latest assessment
Boulder CO (SPX) Oct 29, 2024
The giant clam, known for its colorful cape-like mantle, wavy shell and astonishing size, is in danger of going extinct after its population plunged by more than 80% over the last century, according ... more
WOOD PILE
Autumn season science event invites volunteers to track leaf color change
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 29, 2024
The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program invites volunteers of all ages to join a seasonal study, aiding students and citizen scientists in observing changes i ... more
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CARBON WORLDS
Carbon cuts 'miles short' of 2030 goal: UN
Paris (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere reached new record highs in 2023, the UN warned on Monday, with countries falling "miles short" of what is needed to curb devastating global warming. ... more
ICE WORLD
Slowing ocean currents may slightly ease Arctic warming
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 28, 2024
The Arctic is currently warming at rates three to four times higher than the global average. However, new research indicates that a slower ocean current, known as the Atlantic Meridional Overturning ... more
FARM NEWS
Lebanon's wine region wrestles with war
Beirut, Lebanon (AFP) Oct 29, 2024
The moment Israel's strikes on Lebanon's Bekaa Valley cease, Roland Abou-Khater straps a white flag to his truck, watches the sky for warplanes then whisks a harvesting team to near the firing line. ... more
FLORA AND FAUNA
Mowed down by cars, European hedgehog numbers shrinking
Cali, Colombia (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
The Western European hedgehog - the prickly, nocturnal critter people love to encounter in the garden - is in decline, mowed down by cars as its shrinking habitat forces it to move ever closer to humans. ... more

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WOOD PILE
One in three tree species at risk of extinction: report
Cali, Colombia (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
More than one in three species of trees are at risk of extinction worldwide, threatening life as we know it on Earth, according to a report published Monday. ... more
DEMOCRACY
Japan PM vows to stay on despite election debacle
Tokyo (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba vowed Monday to stay in office despite his gamble of snap elections backfiring, with his party's ruling coalition falling short of a majority for the first time since 2009. ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW
Climate change-worsened floods wreak havoc in Africa
Lokoja, Nigeria (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
Every rainy season for the past 12 years, floods have swept through 67-year-old Idris Egbunu's house in central Nigeria. ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW
New storm bears down on Philippines after deadly Trami tolls rises to 110
Manila (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
The Philippines raised a fresh weather alert on Monday, days more than 100 people were killed by the worst storm of the year. ... more
EPIDEMICS
Covid lessons learned? UN summit mulls plan for healthy planet, and humans
Cali, Colombia (AFP) Oct 25, 2024
The Covid-19 and Ebola outbreaks brought into stark relief the harms that can come to humans if we interfere too much with nature, placing ourselves in contact with animals carrying unknown pathogens. ... more
WATER WORLD
BHP, Vale agree to pay $30bn compensation for Brazil dam disaster
Brasilia (AFP) Oct 25, 2024
Mining giants BHP and Vale on Friday signed a deal with Brazil's government to pay nearly $30 billion in compensation for a 2015 dam collapse that triggered the country's worst environmental disaster. ... more
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CYBER WARS
US unveils national security plan to step up use of AI
Washington (AFP) Oct 27, 2024
The United States on Thursday ordered the Pentagon and intelligence agencies to step up use of artificial intelligence to advance national security, in the first such strategy to counter threats from rivals such as China. ... more
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Xi tells BRICS summit world facing 'serious challenges'
Kazan, Russia (AFP) Oct 24, 2024
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday told leaders of BRICS emerging economies the world was facing "serious challenges" and urged the group to be a "stabilising force". ... more
FLORA AND FAUNA
COP16 chair hails biodiversity attaining 'equal footing' with climate crisis
Cali, Colombia (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
The world's biggest nature protection conference, under way in Cali, has placed biodiversity loss "on an equal footing" with the climate emergency, the meeting's Colombian president told AFP in an interview Monday. ... more
CARBON WORLDS
Greenhouse gases hit new record highs in 2023: UN
Geneva (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
Greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere reached new record highs in 2023, locking in future temperature increases for years to come, the United Nations warned Monday. ... more
CLIMATE SCIENCE
Trump vs Harris: Competing visions for a warming world
Washington (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
"Drill, baby, drill" versus championing green energy: Donald Trump and Kamala Harris offer starkly opposing visions on climate, with the outcome of the US presidential race poised to shape the planet's warming trajectory. ... more
EARLY EARTH
Dinosaurs rose after cooling period triggered by ancient volcanic eruptions
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 29, 2024
201.6 million years ago, a mass extinction event erased around 75% of Earth's species. This event aligned with massive volcanic eruptions that split the supercontinent Pangaea, gradually shaping wha ... more
FLORA AND FAUNA
How Mammals Developed Their Upright Posture
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 28, 2024
Mammals, including humans, are distinct for their upright posture, a characteristic that has been fundamental to their evolutionary success. However, the earliest mammalian ancestors bore a striking ... more
FLORA AND FAUNA
Earth's biodiversity crisis in numbers
Cali, Colombia (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
The experts' assessment is clear: humans are the major threat to Earth's land, seas and all the living things they shelter, including ourselves. ... more
WATER WORLD
Scientists warn of possible collapse of Atlantic currents
Oslo (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
A group of scientists warned Monday of the greatly underestimated risk of a collapse of ocean currents in the Atlantic which could have catastrophic consequences for the Nordic countries as the region's leaders gathered in Iceland. ... more
FARM NEWS
Surf and Turf: Oregon State researchers to study feeding seaweed to cattle
Burns OR (SPX) Oct 29, 2024
Oregon State University researchers have received a $1 million grant to study the impact of adding seaweed to the diets of beef cattle as a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Recent resea ... more
WHITE OUT
Still no snow on Japan's Mount Fuji, breaking record
Tokyo (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
Japan's Mount Fuji remained snow-less as of Monday - the latest date that its majestic slopes have been bare since records began 130 years ago, the weather agency said. ... more
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Iraq opens arms to Lebanese fleeing Israeli attacks
Al-Qassem, Iraq (AFP) Oct 29, 2024
Israeli bombardment of Lebanon forced Mohammed Fawaz and his family to flee so often that they finally moved many kilometres (miles) away to find respite in central Iraq. ... more
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SHAKE AND BLOW
Flood strands 600 in French holiday village
Marseille (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
Almost 600 people were trapped in southern France Monday after flooding damaged the bridge on the only road to a holiday village, with a local mayor saying authorities were working to evacuate them. ... more
AFRICA NEWS
Mali army says killed dozens of 'terrorists'
Bamako (AFP) Oct 27, 2024
Mali's army on Sunday said it had killed some 40 "terrorists" and destroyed one of their bases in two operations in the centre of the jihadist-plagued country. ... more
PILLAGING PIRATES
El Salvador troops target gangs in large-scale operation
San Salvador (AFP) Oct 28, 2024
Around 2,500 soldiers and police surrounded a neighborhood on the outskirts of El Salvador's capital Monday for a high-profile operation as part of President Nayib Bukele's crackdown on gangs. ... more
SPACE MEDICINE
Aston University researcher pioneers optical technique for transformative diagnostics
London, UK (SPX) Oct 28, 2024
A researcher from Aston University has developed an innovative optical technique that uses a specialized form of light, known as Orbital Angular Momentum (OAM), potentially transforming non-invasive ... more
WEATHER REPORT
Canada says heat waves linked to climate change; France prepares for major warming scenario
Ottawa (AFP) Oct 25, 2024
Canada's environment ministry said Friday that climate change had made nearly all the heat waves recorded this summer more likely, including in an Arctic area where temperatures hit 35 degrees Celcius. ... more
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