TANAH DATAR, Indonesia, May 13, 2024 (AFP) – The number of people killed by flash floods and cold lava flow from a volcano in western Indonesia over the weekend has risen to 41 with 17 more missing, a local disaster agency official told AFP Monday. Hours of heavy rain caused large volcanic rocks to roll down one of Indonesia’s most active volcanos into two districts on Sumatra island Saturday evening, while flooding inundated […]
Other News
Indonesia’s Mount Ibu erupts again, spews huge ash tower
JAKARTA, May 13, 2024 (AFP) – A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted on Monday, spewing a huge ash tower more than five kilometres (three miles) into the sky after authorities raised its alert level to the second-highest last week. No damage or casualties were immediately reported but images showed a column of ash soaring into the sky on Halmahera island in North Maluku province. Authorities said it reached more than five kilometres above the volcano’s […]
Wildfires in western Canada force thousands from their homes
By: Thomas I. Likness – NET/25 Eagle News Service (Eagle News) — Out-of-control wildfires have prompted Canadian officials to evacuate thousands of people in northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta. Poor air quality and reduced visibility have forced the three-thousand residents of Fort Nelson, B-C and a nearby Indigenous community to flee their homes. A fast-growing blaze has chewed its way through 42-hundred hectares of forest. A tree that fell on a power line is […]
Early forest fires prompt evacuations in Canada
MONTREAL, May 12, 2024 (AFP) – Thousands of people fled their homes Sunday in western Canada as hundreds of wildfires beginning earlier than usual portend a difficult fire season. The small town of Fort Nelson in the province of British Columbia was among the areas threatened by flames. “Fires are really all around us from the west to the northeast,” Mayor Rob Fraser told AFP as he urged hundreds of people who have stayed put […]
Cambodia’s famed Kampot pepper withers in scorching heatwave
By Suy SE KAMPOT, Cambodia, May 13, 2024 (AFP) – Farmer Chhim Laem shakes his head as he walks between long rows of dead bushes, their brown leaves scorched by heat and drought that have devastated Cambodia’s famed Kampot pepper crop. Known for its intense floral flavour, Kampot pepper is prized by top chefs around the world and sells for up to $200 per kilo. Nurtured for generations in two provinces in southwest Cambodia, the […]
PAGASA: Easterlies still affecting the country
(Eagle News)–The easterlies are affecting the country, the Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said. As a result, Metro Manila will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers and thunderstorms. Flashfloods or landslides during severe thunderstorms are possible. The rest of the country, PAGASA said, will experience the same conditions. According to PAGASA, the entire country will have light to moderate winds and slight to moderate coastal waters.
Third time could prove lucky for aurora viewers around the world
By Issam AHMED with AFP bureaus around the world WASHINGTON, May 13, 2024 (AFP) – Anyone who missed the dazzling auroras dancing across night skies earlier this weekend will get another chance Sunday evening, as the powerful geomagnetic storm hitting the Earth is expected to intensify yet again. “Several intense Coronal Mass Ejections are still anticipated to reach the Earth’s outer atmosphere by later today,” the US National Weather Service said. Those ejections — expulsions […]
President Putin removes defence minister Shoigu
MOSCOW, May 12, 2024 (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday moved to replace defence minister Sergei Shoigu in a major shake-up to Russia’s military leadership more than two years into its Ukraine offensive. Putin proposed economist Andrey Belousov as Shoigu’s replacement, according to a list of the ministerial nominations published by the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament. The move comes at a key time in the conflict with Russian troops advancing […]
Powerful quake hits Guatemala, no victims reported
GUATEMALA CITY, May 12, 2024 (AFP) – A powerful earthquake Sunday shook Guatemala near its southwestern border with Mexico, causing some buildings to collapse but claiming no known victims, the country’s National Institute for Seismology reported. The quake, with a magnitude of 6.5, struck at 5:39 am (1139 GMT). Its epicenter was in the Pacific Ocean 90 kilometers (55 miles) from the coast of San Marcos department and at a depth of 25 kilometers, […]
‘God, have mercy!’: Survivors recount horror of Indonesia flood
By Metrison AGAM, Indonesia, May 12, 2024 (AFP) – Rina Devina was getting ready to go to sleep with her husband and two of her children at home on the Indonesian island of Sumatra when she heard a thunderous noise and someone shouted “flash flood!” Hours of heavy rain and cold lava from nearby volcano Mount Marapi inundated two districts just before midnight on Saturday, sweeping dozens of people to their deaths and damaging […]
One dead in suspected Indonesia tiger attack, hunt ongoing
PEKANBARU, Indonesia, May 11, 2024 (AFP) – A man has been found dead in western Indonesia after a suspected attack by a Sumatran tiger authorities were still hunting, a local official said Saturday, the latest case of conflict between humans and the critically endangered species. There are only several hundred tigers on the western island of Sumatra left in the wild and they are often targeted by poachers for their body parts, while rampant deforestation […]
Over 4,000 people evacuated in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region: governor
Ukraine, May 12, 2024 (AFP) – More than 4,000 people have been evacuated from border areas in Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, the local governor said on Sunday, following a surprise cross-border Russian offensive there that began on Friday. “In total, 4,073 people have been evacuated,” governor Oleg Synegubov wrote on social media, a day after Russian forces claimed the capture of five villages in the region. Synegubov said that on Sunday a 63-year-old man was […]