Life

‘Oppressive’ heat wave scorches US west and south

LOS ANGELES, July 16, 2023 (AFP) – Swaths of the United States home to more than 80 million people were under heat warnings or advisories Sunday, as relentless, record-breaking temperatures continued to bake western and southern states. The National Weather Service (NWS) warned of “a widespread and oppressive heat wave” in parts of the Southwest, western Gulf Coast and southern Florida, with sizzling temperatures carrying into the coming week raising health risks for millions. Southern […]

Dangerous heatwaves strike globe as wildfires rage

ROME, July 16, 2023 (AFP) – Scorching weather gripped three continents on Sunday, whipping up wildfires and threatening to topple temperature records as the dire consequences of global warming take shape. Predictions of historic heat hung over swathes of Asia, Europe and the United States. In Japan, authorities issued heatstroke alerts to tens of millions of people in 20 of its 47 prefectures as near-record high temperatures scorched large areas and torrential rain pummelled other […]

Iraq’s marshes are dying, and a civilisation with them

By Guillaume DECAMME CHIBAYISH, Iraq, July 13, 2023 (AFP) – Mohammed Hamid Nour is only 23, but he is already nostalgic for how Iraq’s Mesopotamian marshes once were before drought dried them up, decimating his herd of water buffaloes. Even at their centre in Chibayish, only a few expanses of the ancient waterways — home to a Marsh Arab culture that goes back millennia — survive, linked by channels that snake through the reeds. Pull […]

In Brazil, stargazers escape cities in search of ‘astro-tourism’

By Eugenia LOGIURATTO SANTA MARIA MADALENA, Brazil, July 12, 2023 (AFP) – Awestruck by the oranges and blues of the Jewel Box star cluster, part of the Southern Cross constellation, Pedro Froes manages to get out a few words: “It’s incredible.” Froes is viewing the stars from a telescope in Desengano State Park, a rural patch of Brazil largely spared from light pollution, located some 260 kilometers (160 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro. Desengano […]

Doctors walk out in UK health service’s biggest strike

LONDON, July 13, 2023 (AFP) – Hospital doctors in England will on Thursday stage the biggest walkout in the history of the UK’s state-funded National Health Service, prompting fears for patient safety. The unprecedented five-day stoppage over pay and staffing is the latest in eight months of industrial action across the NHS, which is already reeling from a vast pandemic backlog. Nurses, ambulance staff and other medical staff have all joined picket lines in recent […]

California surfers terrorized by board-stealing sea otter

LOS ANGELES, July 12, 2023 (AFP) – Wanted: one ornery sea otter that has been attacking California surfers and commandeering their boards. Wildlife authorities in the city of Santa Cruz, about a 90-minute drive south of San Francisco, have actually posted a warning to the public about the creature, which they say is a five-year-old female. She has been attacking surfers for weeks but of late her marauding has risen to a new level. In […]

Ancient Egypt artists altered their work, study shows

By Juliette COLLEN PARIS, July 12, 2023 (AFP) – From subtly shifting the position of Ramses II’s sceptre, to touch-ups on a necklace or headdress, ancient Egyptian artists were more creative than previously thought, according to a study published Wednesday. Using new portable imaging and chemical analysis techniques, an international team of scientists took a fresh look at paintings in the Valley of the Kings — a royal burial ground for pharaohs and other ancient […]

Musk launches xAI to rival OpenAI, Google

WASHINGTON, July 12, 2023 (AFP) – Elon Musk on Wednesday launched his own artificial intelligence company, xAI, as he seeks to compete with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT — a program he accuses of being politically biased and irresponsible. The xAI website said the Tesla tycoon would run the company separately from his other companies but that the technology developed would benefit those businesses, including Twitter. “The goal of xAI is to understand the true […]

Death toll rises to 66 in India’s monsoon mayhem

NEW DELHI, July 12, 2023 (AFP) – Days of relentless monsoon rains have killed at least 66 people in India, government officials said Wednesday, with dozens of foreign tourists stranded in the Himalayas after floods severed road connections. Flooding and landslides are common and cause widespread devastation during India’s treacherous monsoon season, but experts say climate change is increasing their frequency and severity. Torrential downpours have washed away vehicles, demolished buildings and torn down bridges […]

Oceans are changing colour and climate change may be to blame

PARIS, July 12, 2023 (AFP) – Over the past 20 years huge swathes of the world’s oceans have changed colour, displaying a subtle greening towards the tropics that researchers say points to the effect of climate change on life in the world’s seas. In the new research published on Wednesday, scientists said they had detected shifts in colours across more than half of the world’s oceans — an expanse bigger than Earth’s total land area. […]

Viral disease killing felines on ‘cat island’ Cyprus

By Anouk Riondet NICOSIA, July 11, 2023 (AFP) – A sickly ginger kitten named Bebe is pulled out of a cat carrier at a veterinary clinic in the Cypriot capital, Nicosia. The six-month-old is suffering from a strain of feline coronavirus that is wreaking havoc on the prolific cat population of Cyprus. Cats are everywhere on the eastern Mediterranean island, home to the earliest evidence of the animal’s domestication and known by some as the […]

Critical negotiations on deep sea mining kick off in Jamaica

By Amélie BOTTOLLIER-DEPOIS Agence France-Presse UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Critical negotiations concerning the future of deep sea mining and mineral extraction kicked off Monday in Jamaica, as conservationists aim to rein in a nascent industry that so far lacks meaningful guardrails. The International Seabed Authority (ISA) — a little known intergovernmental body based in Kingston — and its member states have spent the last decade trying to hash out a mining code for […]