by Mariëtte Le Roux PARIS, France (AFP) — An unusually large and bright Moon will adorn the night sky next Monday — the closest “supermoon” to Earth in 68 years and a chance for dramatic photos and spectacular surf. Weather permitting, the phenomenon should appear at its most impressive at 1352 GMT, when it will be at its fullest just as night falls over Asia, astronomers said. Provided there are no clouds and not too much […]
Environment
Aussie police find baby koala in woman’s bag
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australian police uncovered a baby koala hidden in the bag of a woman they stopped in the street. The 50-year-old, who was being spoken to on unrelated matters on Sunday evening, stunned Brisbane officers when she revealed she had the creature in her canvas satchell. “Not quite believing their ears, the officers cautiously unzipped the bag and found this gorgeous boy,” Queensland police said. “The koala — believed to be about […]
Climate change challenges authoritarian China: experts
by Matthew KNIGHT SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — The gleaming towers of Shanghai belie the Chinese commercial hub’s vulnerability to climate change, and the city is spending billions to try to protect itself, but experts say the country’s authoritarian system is a hidden weakness. According to a report last year by Climate Central, a US-based research group, the low-lying megacity is, in population terms, the world’s most at risk from rising sea levels. A two degree […]
Historic climate pact enters into force
by Mariette Le Roux and Catherine Hours PARIS, France | AFP | — A worldwide pact to battle global warming entered into force Friday, just a week before nations reassemble to discuss how to make good on their promises to cut planet-warming greenhouse gases. Dubbed the Paris Agreement, it is the first-ever deal binding all the world’s nations, rich and poor, to a commitment to cap global warming caused mainly by the burning of […]
Twin pandas meet each other for first time in Shanghai
THE giant panda twins born in Shanghai Wildlife Park met each other for the first time on Friday after they were born one month ago. The cubs have grown black fur on their ears as well as the unmistakable “panda eyes”. Upon receiving a physical examination, the baby boy weighed in at 1,350 grams while his younger sister weighed 1,168 grams. They weighed just 131.5 grams and 113.2 grams, roughly equivalent to the weight […]
Panda wrestles with zoo intruder in China
NANCHANG CITY, JIANGXI PROVINCE, China (CCTV) — A sleeping giant panda wrestled a man who entered his enclosure on Thursday (October 27) in southern China’s Jiangxi province, state media reported. State broadcaster CCTV showed surveillance video of a man sneaking into the enclosure and touching the head of the panda named Meiling in provincial capital, Nanchang. Meiling is a 12-year-old male panda of over 120 kilograms, it added. According to the footage, Meiling got up […]
Peru releases 17,000 at-risk turtles into Amazon wild
LORETO, Peru (Reuters) — Thousands of endangered Taricaya turtles have been released in Peru’s Amazon region as part of efforts to conserve the majestic species on the verge of extinction. On Sunday (October 30), staff from Peru’s National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (SERNANP) released some 17,000 baby turtles as part of an ongoing program. The Taricaya were once in abundance along the Amazon but due to development and logging in the […]
Elephant poaching costs Africa tourism $25mn: study
PARIS, France (AFP) — Stopping the killing of elephants for their tusks could add some $25 million (23 million euros) to Africa’s annual tourism income, more than offsetting the anti-poaching spend, a study said Tuesday. While the figure pales in comparison to the estimated value of the black market ivory trade in China, it represents about a fifth of tourist income for game parks in 14 countries, where half of Africa’s elephants are located, the […]
17,000 river turtles released in Peru national reserve
PACAYA SAMIRIA NATIONAL RESERVE, Peru (AFP) — Peru frees 17,000 yellow-spotted river turtles in the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve. Each year, for a month, the Peruvian wild-life authorities free 500,000 of these turtles in the Loreto region north of Peru in order to maintain the level of this species. https://youtu.be/dGdTbxlDHng
Nicaragua fishermen dread construction of Atlantic-Pacific canal
MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AFP) — Peasants in southern Nicaragua, whose lands will be expropriated for a project to build an Atlantic-Pacific canal, fear that President Daniel Ortega’s reelection will have a negative impact on their communities because of their opposition to the venture. https://youtu.be/8Xu134jeuuU
Whaling: The hunters and the hunted
Portorož, Slovenia | AFP | by Mariëtte Le Roux — Thirty years into a moratorium on commercial whaling, hundreds of the marine mammals, some endangered, are killed every year — some in open defiance of the ban, others in the name of scientific research. The moratorium, monitored by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) which closed its 66th meeting in Slovenia on Friday is credited with having saved tens, perhaps hundreds, of thousands of whales. It has […]
WATCH: New video of “the world’s saddest polar bear” released in Beijing
GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) — A new video of a polar bear that has been kept captive in a Chinese shopping mall was released on Tuesday (October 25) at a news conference held by animal rights groups, in order to urge the closure of the aquarium and raise awareness for animal protection. The aquarium, located in Grandview Shopping Mall in southern city of Guangzhou, has been making headlines since it opened in January, after Chinese netizens posted […]