24/7 News Coverage
December 20, 2024
WATER WORLD
Australia agrees deal to strengthen Solomons police



Sydney (AFP) Dec 20, 2024
Australia said Friday it had agreed to boost Solomon Islands' police force with a multi-year funding, training and infrastructure package for the Pacific nation, which has fostered close ties with China. But in a sign of the competition it faces from Beijing, the Solomons police announced the same day it had received a modest donation from China for its police support fund. The Australian deal - valued at Aus$190 million (US$118 million) over four years - will include the construction of a new ... read more

EARLY EARTH
Virginia Tech research unveils a new timeline of life stretching back 1.5 billion years
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 20, 2024
A groundbreaking Virginia Tech study has expanded our understanding of the evolution of life, extending the chart of species diversity to nearly 2 billion years ago, deep into the Proterozoic Eon. T ... more
AFRICA NEWS
Digital Earth Africa launches coastal monitoring tool for informed decision making
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Dec 20, 2024
Africa's coastlines are undergoing significant transformations due to rising sea levels, climate-induced extreme weather, urbanization, and growing coastal populations. These changes pose major chal ... more
EXO WORLDS
Living in the deep, dark, slow lane: Insights from the first global appraisal of microbiomes in Earth's subsurface environments
Woods Hole MA (SPX) Dec 20, 2024
Which microbes thrive below us in darkness - in gold mines, in aquifers, in deep boreholes in the seafloor - and how do they compare to the microbiomes that envelop the Earth's surfaces, on land and ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW
Rescuers extend search for Vanuatu quake survivors
Port Vila, Vanuatu (AFP) Dec 20, 2024
Rescuers say they have expanded a search for trapped survivors in quake-rocked Vanuatu to "numerous places of collapse" beyond the capital, as the reported death toll climbs to 10. ... more
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ENVIROMENT.WIRE
DISASTER.WIRE
 WAR.WIRE
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Macron extends visit to cyclone-hit Mayotte after locals vent anger
Mamoudzou (AFP) Dec 20, 2024
French President Emmanuel Macron extended his visit to cyclone-devastated Mayotte on Friday after angry residents vented exasperation and despair over the scale of the disaster. ... more
AFRICA NEWS
UAE says will not arm Sudan paramilitary RSF: White House
Washington (AFP) Dec 20, 2024
The United Arab Emirates has informed the United States that it will not arm paramilitaries in Sudan's brutal civil war, US lawmakers long critical of the Gulf power's role quoted the White House as saying on Thursday. ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW
Cyclone Chido death toll in Mozambique rises to 73
Maputo (AFP) Dec 19, 2024
Cyclone Chido has killed at least 73 people in Mozambique, the National Institute of Risk and Disaster Management said Thursday, raising the death toll from the figure of 45 it announced the day before. ... more
WATER WORLD
UK's biggest water supplier wins lifeline as customer bills hiked
London (AFP) Dec 19, 2024
Britain's largest water supplier Thames Water, which is drowning in debt, won a financial lifeline Thursday as regulators allowed it to massively hike customers' bills, though by less than the company demanded. ... more

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DEMOCRACY
Myanmar junta FM briefs neighbours on election plans: Thai FM
Bangkok (AFP) Dec 19, 2024
Myanmar's junta-appointed foreign minister briefed officials from five neighbouring countries on the military's repeatedly delayed plans to hold elections, Thailand's foreign minister said on Thursday. ... more
ICE WORLD
Warmer winter melts incomes of China's ice cutters
Harbin, China (AFP) Dec 18, 2024
Gruff men shout over an angry motor as they float huge blocks of ice towards a rusty conveyor belt on the bank of a frozen river in northeastern China. ... more
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Mexico encourages citizens to drop off firearms at churches
Mexico City (AFP) Dec 18, 2024
The Mexican government announced Tuesday a new citizen disarmament program whereby people with guns can drop them off at churches for a reimbursement fee. ... more
WHALES AHOY
Paul Watson: eco-warrior on the high seas
Paris (AFP) Dec 17, 2024
Veteran anti-whaling campaigner Paul Watson, released from detention in Greenland after Denmark refused a Japanese extradition request, has spent decades battling harpoonists and seal hunters in high seas confrontations. ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW
Spain central bank raises 2024 growth forecast despite floods
Madrid (AFP) Dec 17, 2024
Spain's central bank raised its 2024 growth forecast by 0.3 percentage points on Tuesday despite the impact of the devastating October 29 floods, the country's worst such disaster in decades. ... more
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Tackling climate, nature separately risks worsening crises: UN
Paris (AFP) Dec 17, 2024
Overconsumption and unsustainable farming are fuelling overlapping crises in nature and the climate, putting crucial ecosystems such as coral reefs at imminent risk of destruction, a landmark UN report said Tuesday. ... more
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SHAKE AND BLOW
One in 5 properties in England now at risk of flooding
London (AFP) Dec 17, 2024
Around one in five properties in England are at risk of flooding, a 15 percent increase from 2018, the Environment Agency warned Tuesday using models incorporating new localised data and climate change projections. ... more
FROTH AND BUBBLE
Japan inspects US air base over chemical spill
Tokyo (AFP) Dec 20, 2024
Japanese authorities on Friday staged an inspection of a US military base in Tokyo, a government spokesman said, after being informed by the American side of a chemical leak. ... more
FLOATING STEEL
13 dead after Indian navy speedboat rams ferry off Mumbai
Mumbai (AFP) Dec 18, 2024
An Indian navy speedboat undergoing tests in the busy seas off the financial capital Mumbai lost control and slammed into a ferry, killing 13 people, the navy and government said Wednesday. ... more
WATER WORLD
Surface-based sonar system could rapidly map the ocean floor at high resolution
Boston MA (SPX) Dec 20, 2024
On June 18, 2023, the Titan submersible was about an hour-and-a-half into its two-hour descent to the Titanic wreckage at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean when it lost contact with its support ship. ... more
FARM NEWS
Early warning system aims to curb locust swarms
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 20, 2024
Desert locusts, known for their devastating impact on crops, typically live solitary lives until environmental triggers like intense rainfall prompt them to form massive swarms. A single swarm spann ... more
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Sri Lanka navy rescues boat of 100 Rohingya refugees
Colombo (AFP) Dec 20, 2024
Sri Lanka's navy said Friday it had rescued 102 Rohingya refugees from war-torn Myanmar adrift in a fishing trawler off the Indian Ocean island nation, bringing them safely to port. ... more
FLORA AND FAUNA
Critically endangered elephant found dead in Bali river
Badung, Indonesia (AFP) Dec 17, 2024
A critically endangered elephant living at a zoo on the Indonesian resort island of Bali was found dead in a river Tuesday after being swept away by strong currents following days of torrential rain, officials said. ... more
AFRICA NEWS
Mali junta renames colonial French street names
Bamako (AFP) Dec 18, 2024
Mali followed fellow junta-ruled Burkina Faso and Niger on Wednesday in renaming streets and squares in its capital to get rid of their French colonial names. ... more
FROTH AND BUBBLE
Russian oil spill contaminates 50km of Black Sea beaches
Moscow (AFP) Dec 18, 2024
Russia Wednesday expanded an operation to clean up thousands of tonnes of oil that spilt into the sea and contaminated 50 kilometres of beaches after tanker ships were wrecked in a storm. ... more
FROTH AND BUBBLE
Somalia struggles to rid itself of plastic despite ban
Mogadishu (AFP) Dec 18, 2024
Somalia took the ambitious step of banning single-use plastic bags this year, but in a country with many economic challenges, it has proved hard to implement. ... more
EARTH OBSERVATION
Climate change made Cyclone Chido stronger: scientists
Paris (AFP) Dec 18, 2024
Climate change intensified Cyclone Chido as it barrelled toward the Indian Ocean archipelago of Mayotte, said a preliminary study by scientists studying the link between global warming and tropical storms. ... more
WATER WORLD
Cutting edge satellite monitors water levels in Ohio River Basin
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 18, 2024
The Ohio River Basin, spanning from Pennsylvania to Illinois, covers an area nearly as large as France and is home to over 25 million people. A collaborative effort between NASA and the French space ... more
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ICE WORLD
Melting sea ice in Antarctica causes ocean storms, scientists say
Paris (AFP) Dec 18, 2024
The record-breaking retreat of Antarctic sea ice in 2023 has led to more frequent storms over newly exposed parts of the Southern Ocean, according to a study published Wednesday. ... more
DEMOCRACY
Syria ex-rebel military chief says to dissolve armed wing
Latakia, Syria (AFP) Dec 18, 2024
The military chief of Syria's victorious Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham said on Tuesday it would be "the first" to dissolve its armed wing and integrate into the armed forces. ... more
FLORA AND FAUNA
UN experts urge three 'transformations' for nature
Paris (AFP) Dec 18, 2024
Human societies need a radical overhaul to stop the destruction of the planet, according to the UN biodiversity expert panel's "transformative change" report released Wednesday. ... more
WEATHER REPORT
Storm fears overshadow India coast decades after tsunami
Akkaraipettai, India (AFP) Dec 19, 2024
The deadly tsunami that swamped India's southern coast two decades ago was a one-off disaster, but storms that are growing ever more intense spark panic each time howling gales whip up waves. ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW
Loss and redemption: tsunami survivors and the sea
Phang Nga, Thailand (AFP) Dec 19, 2024
As an eight-year-old boy Pirun Kla-Talay was orphaned by the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. Now he makes his living from the waters that claimed his parents. ... more
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