24/7 News Coverage
December 27, 2024
EARTH OBSERVATION
China builds large commercial radar satellite constellation



Sydney, Australia (SPX) Dec 27, 2024
The large-scale application of a Chinese commercial radar remote sensing constellation composed of 12 satellites began on Monday, according to PIESAT, a Beijing-based satellite firm. The announcement came after four PIESAT-2 satellites, which were launched into a 528-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit last week, were calibrated and successfully transmitted high-resolution images and data back to Earth. The latest satellites joined another eight satellites that were previously deployed to space, ... read more

EARTH OBSERVATION
Changes in store for atmospheric rivers
Boulder CO (SPX) Dec 23, 2024
Communities up and down the West Coast of the United States can expect the potent storms known as atmospheric rivers to evolve as the climate warms. But residents in Southern California will see muc ... more
EXO WORLDS
New study uncovers variety in Arctic Ocean hydrothermal vent systems
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 20, 2024
A recent investigation into Earth's northernmost hydrothermal system reveals a greater diversity of vent styles than previously known, offering critical insights into their origins and potential glo ... 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
ICE WORLD
ESA and NASA collaborate to track Greenland ice sheet melting
Paris, France (SPX) Dec 23, 2024
As global warming accelerates the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet, its contribution to rising sea levels and disruptions in global weather patterns underscores the need for precise monitoring. Fo ... more
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ENVIROMENT.WIRE
DISASTER.WIRE
 WAR.WIRE
FLORA AND FAUNA
Mayotte faces environment, biodiversity crisis after cyclone
Dzaoudzi, France (AFP) Dec 27, 2024
Mayotte has changed beyond recognition since a cyclone devastated the Indian Ocean territory, sparking an environment and biodiversity crisis that could last for a decade or more, scientists say. ... more
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Blogs to Bluesky: social media shifts responses after 2004 tsunami
Jakarta (AFP) Dec 24, 2024
The world's deadliest tsunami hit nations around the Indian Ocean two decades ago before social media platforms flourished, but they have since transformed how we understand and respond to disasters - from finding the missing to swift crowdfunding. ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW
Tears, prayers as Asia mourns tsunami dead 20 years on
Banda Aceh, Indonesia (AFP) Dec 26, 2024
Tearful mourners prayed and lit candles Thursday at ceremonies across Asia to remember the 220,000 people killed two decades ago when a tsunami hit coastlines around the Indian Ocean in one of the world's worst disasters. ... more
DEMOCRACY
China rails at 'interference' after US criticism of Hong Kong bounties
Beijing (AFP) Dec 27, 2024
China on Friday warned the United States it did "not tolerate interference" after the US State Department called Hong Kong's announcement of bounties on six democracy campaigners based overseas "a form of transnational repression". ... more

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TECHNOLOGY NEWS


DEMOCRACY
US calls Hong Kong bounties 'transnational repression'
Washington (AFP) Dec 27, 2024
Hong Kong's announcement of bounties on six democracy campaigners based overseas "is a form of transnational repression," the US State Department said on Thursday. ... more
CLIMATE SCIENCE
'Dangerous new era': climate change spurs disaster in 2024
Paris (AFP) Dec 27, 2024
From tiny and impoverished Mayotte to oil-rich behemoth Saudi Arabia, prosperous European cities to overcrowded slums in Africa, nowhere was spared the devastating impact of supercharged climate disasters in 2024. ... more
FROTH AND BUBBLE
Russian scientists criticise oil spill cleanup; Oil leak in Peru tourist zone triggers 'environmental emergency'
Moscow (AFP) Dec 25, 2024
Russian scientists criticised Wednesday the effort to clean up oil that has washed ashore from two oil tankers, saying it lacks sufficient equipment. ... more
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Felipe VI urges Spain to learn from floods in Christmas message
Madrid (AFP) Dec 24, 2024
King Felipe VI urged Spain to draw lessons from this year's catastrophic floods to "strengthen society and make us grow" in his Christmas message broadcast on Tuesday. ... more
AFRICA NEWS
10 civilians killed in 'accidential' Nigerian army strike
Kano, Nigeria (AFP) Dec 26, 2024
Airstrikes by Nigerian military forces targeting suspected jihadists in the northwest Sokoto state killed 10 civilians and injured six others, local officials said Thursday. ... more
ABOUT US
Catholics hold muted Christmas mass in Indonesia's Sharia stronghold
Banda Aceh, Indonesia (AFP) Dec 25, 2024
With flickering candles and the sound of organs, hundreds of Catholics held a muted Christmas Eve mass in Indonesia's Aceh province, the only one under ultraconservative Islamic law in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation. ... more
TECHNOLOGY NEWS


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AFRICA NEWS
France hands over first base in Chad amid withdrawal
N'Djamena (AFP) Dec 26, 2024
France has handed over its first military base as part of the withdrawal of its military forces from Chad, the French and Chadian militaries said Thursday. ... more
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Gaza hospital says three babies die of 'severe temperature drop'
Khan Yunis, Palestinian Territories (AFP) Dec 26, 2024
The chief paediatric doctor at a southern Gaza hospital told AFP that three babies had died of "severe temperature drop" this week, as the war-ravaged Palestinian territory grapples with winter cold. ... more
WATER WORLD
Key public service makes quiet return in Gaza
Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories (AFP) Dec 26, 2024
The quiet resumption of operations at a desalination plant in the Gaza Strip last month marked a small but significant step toward restoring public services in the Palestinian territory ravaged by more than 14 months of war. ... more
AFRICA NEWS
US says kills two Al-Shabaab fighters in airstrike; Gabon jails eight officers over torture
Washington (AFP) Dec 26, 2024
The US military said Thursday it had killed two members of the jihadist Al-Shabaab group in southern Somalia in an airstrike. ... more
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
What we know about disappearance of four Ecuadoran minors
Quito (AFP) Dec 26, 2024
The discovery of several charred bodies during a search in Ecuador for four adolescent boys who disappeared during a military operation has deepened shock and anger at the case. ... more
SPACEMART
Space Flight Laboratory confirms launch and deployment of HawkEye 360 Cluster 11
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Dec 27, 2024
Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) has announced the successful launch and deployment of HawkEye 360's Cluster 11, marking a significant milestone in its collaboration with the Virginia-based company. Th ... more
SPACEMART
China launches four Earth-observation radar satellites into orbit
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Dec 20, 2024
China successfully launched four Earth-observation radar satellites into space early Tuesday morning aboard a Long March 2D rocket, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (C ... more
IRAQ WARS
Iraq's prohibition zeal threatens Baghdad's boozy subculture
Baghdad (AFP) Dec 22, 2024
The smell of dampness rises through the dust at a private club in central Baghdad, one of many shut in a crackdown on alcohol sales in Iraq. ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW
Turkey court jails hotel owner, architect in quake trial
Istanbul (AFP) Dec 25, 2024
A Turkish court on Wednesday sentenced the owner and architect of a hotel where 72 people died after it collapsed following an earthquake last year to over 18 years in prison. ... more
DISASTER MANAGEMENT
Ecuador's leader orders stepped-up search for missing adolescents
Quito (AFP) Dec 24, 2024
Ecuador's President Daniel Noboa has ordered an intensified search for four adolescent boys who disappeared during a military operation, with public anger over the incident flaring weeks ahead of elections. ... more
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. ... more
EARLY EARTH
Massive eruptions did not trigger dinosaur extinction
Berlin, Germany (SPX) Dec 20, 2024
Massive volcanic eruptions in India, once theorized as a potential cause of dinosaur extinction, likely played a minimal role in their demise, according to new research by climate scientists at Utre ... more
TECHNOLOGY NEWS


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FARM NEWS
Russia-Ukraine War's unexpected casualties: Hungry people in distant nations
East Lansing MI (SPX) Dec 23, 2024
The war in Ukraine is causing hunger thousands of miles from the battlefields, according to a new study. Nearly three years of war in the "breadbasket of the world" has left croplands destroyed and ... 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
DEMOCRACY
France's Macron announces fourth government of the year
Paris (AFP) Dec 23, 2024
French President Emmanuel Macron named a new government Monday evening, putting together a team under Francois Bayrou, his fourth prime minister of the year, to drag the second-largest EU economy out of political crisis. ... more
SHAKE AND BLOW
Mayotte cyclone likely to have killed 'dozens' not '1000s'; Mozambique death toll rises to 120
Paris (AFP) Dec 23, 2024
French Prime Minister Francois Bayrou on Monday hit out at "alarmist" claims about a significant death toll from Cyclone Chido, which hit the country's Indian Ocean territory of Mayotte. ... more
WATER WORLD
Saving the mysterious African manatee at Cameroon hotspot
Dizangue, Cameroon (AFP) Dec 24, 2024
Ever since his first hard-won sightings of African manatees, award-winning marine biologist Aristide Takoukam Kamla has been devoted to protecting the little known and at risk aquatic mammals. ... more
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