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by Céline CORNU Agence France-Presse VENICE, Italy (AFP) — Venice may be famed for Saint Mark’s Square or the Bridge of Sighs, but the Italian city has another jewel that is often overlooked: its lagoon. Once home to a rich variety of fish and birds, mankind’s meddling has raised the water’s salt content dramatically. However, an environmental project aims to restore it to its former glory, by introducing more fresh water. “The idea is to […]
by Shingo ITO Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The Japanese firm that operates a ship leaking fuel off the coast of Mauritius has been involved in accidents before, including a 2006 oil spill in the Indian Ocean. Mitsui OSK Lines operates the MV Wakashio, which ran aground on July 25 just off the coast of Mauritius, carrying 4,000 tonnes of fuel that has been seeping into the pristine coral-filled waters of the island nation. […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — An Italian Alpine resort on Sunday lifted a state of alert declared last week over fears that a chunk of glacier on the Mont Blanc mountain range might crash down on them. Around 15 people who were evacuated can now return to their homes in Courmayeur and traffic in the Cap Ferret valley is permitted again, said a statement from town officials. Climate change has been increasingly melting the world’s glaciers, creating […]
PORT LOUIS, Mauritius (AFP) — Police in Mauritius on Sunday prepared to board a grounded ship leaking tonnes of oil into its crystal-clear waters, as clean-up crews confronted a growing ecological disaster on the archipelago’s pristine shores. The bulk carrier MV Wakashio has been seeping fuel into a protected marine park boasting unspoiled coral reefs, mangrove forests and endangered species, prompting Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth to declare an environmental emergency and appeal for international help. Attempts […]
by Patrick GALEY PARIS, France (AFP) — Intensive farming makes future pandemics such as COVID-19 more likely as wild animals carrying diseases known to infect humans are forced into increasingly close contact with us, research showed Wednesday. Writing in the journal Nature, a team of researchers from University College London warned that animal pathogens are increasingly likely to make the leap to humans as land use changes benefit animal hosts. The United Nations estimates that […]
by Kelly MACNAMARA PARIS, France (AFP) — Fish and other marine life may have to flee thousands of kilometres to escape damaging heatwaves, according to research published Wednesday, highlighting the scale of disruption caused by these increasing surges in ocean temperatures. Hot spells can cause dramatic changes to ocean ecosystems, devastating coral habitats, killing large numbers of seabirds and forcing species like fish, whales and turtles into colder waters. Researchers said the increasing number of […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Herbivores face a higher risk of extinction than predators, whether they are mammals, birds or reptiles, according to an extensive study of 24,500 species both living and extinct that was published Wednesday. The paper, which appeared in Science Advances, suggests herbivores have suffered a higher extinction rate over the past 50,000 years compared to other parts of the food web and the trend continues to this day. This contradicts the […]
by Kelly MACNAMARA Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — It may be one of the most recognisable symbols of conservation, but efforts to protect the giant panda have failed to safeguard large mammals sharing its habitats, according to research published Monday showing dramatic declines of leopards and other predators. The giant panda has won the hearts of animal lovers around the world and images of the bamboo-eating creature with its ink-blot eye patches have come […]
LOS ANGELES, California (AFP) — More than 1,300 firefighters were battling a blaze that was burning out of control Sunday in southern California, threatening thousands of people and homes east of Los Angeles. The so-called Apple Fire that broke out Friday near the city of San Bernardino has so far charred more than 20,000 acres (8,000 hectares), sending up columns of smoke visible from far away. It was so smoky that authorities declared an air […]
by Joshua Howat Berger Agence France-Presse RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — The number of forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon last month rose 28 percent from July 2019, satellite data showed Saturday, fueling fears the world’s biggest rainforest will again be devastated by fires this year. Brazil’s national space agency, INPE, identified 6,803 fires in the Amazon region in July 2020, up from 5,318 the year before. The figure is all the more troubling […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Anglo-Dutch energy major Royal Dutch Shell posted Thursday a colossal net loss of $18.1 billion (15.4 billion euros) for the second quarter, blaming massive asset writedowns on the coronavirus-hit oil market. The performance, contrasting sharply with profit after tax of $3.0 billion a year earlier, was sparked by a huge $16.8-billion charge on chronic fallout both from COVID-19 and collapsing oil prices. The vast charge was taken “as a result […]
by Isgender GANBAROV with Emil GULIYEV in Baku Agence France-Presse BANKA, Azerbaijan (AFP) — The village of Banka in Azerbaijan should have plentiful supplies of water as it lies beside one of the country’s mightiest rivers, the Kura. But the river has shallowed dramatically this summer and has become contaminated with salty seawater, in what experts warn is an unfolding ecological disaster. “Our animals are dying. We don’t get water in time,” said farmer Maryam Hasanova, […]
