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  Cape Town (AFP) Feb 13, 2018 South Africa on Tuesday declared a "national disaster" over a drought that has ravaged parts of the country and threatened to leave homes in Cape Town without running water. The government said it had elevated the drought to a "national disaster" after reassessing its "magnitude and severity". Cape Town is in the grip of a three-year-long drought as sparse winter rains have failed to bring relief, and dam levels have dropped dangerously low. Rains over the weekend raised hopes that the situa ... read more |
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Water: Why the taps run dryParis (AFP) Feb 13, 2018 The world has abundant freshwater but it is unevenly distributed and under increasing pressure, UN agencies say, as highlighted by the severe shortages in Cape Town. ... more 
A lightning-based approach to immediate short-duration rainfall predictionsBeijing, China (SPX) Feb 13, 2018 Previous studies have indicated a worldwide increasing trend of intense precipitation events under the influence of global warming. Heavy precipitation events increase the risk of flooding, exerting ... more 
For global water crisis, climate may be the last strawParis (AFP) Feb 13, 2018 Before man-made climate change kicked in - and well before "Day Zero" in Cape Town, where taps may run dry in early May - the global water crisis was upon us. ... more 
Worsening Ethiopian drought threatens to end nomadic lifestyleDabafayed, Ethiopia (AFP) Feb 13, 2018 Down a sandy track past a desiccated animal carcass lies a cluster of half-built huts that Ethiopia's government and aid agencies hope will blunt the worsening toll of repeated droughts. ... more |
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Philippine lawmaker quits top job as graft probe moves forward
Floods devastate India's breadbasket of Punjab Landslides kill 12 after eastern Malaysia deluges Philippines president says corruption scandal protests justified Philippines commission to probe widening flood project scandal Magnitude 7.4 quake strikes off Russian Far East, tsunami warning lifted Magnitude 7.4 quake strikes off Russian Far East, tsunami warning issued S.Sudan flooding displaces 100,000 in matter of weeks: UN Afghan deputy PM visits earthquake hit area Death toll from Indonesia flooding rises to 23 |
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| Previous Issues | Feb 13 | Feb 12 | Feb 11 | Feb 09 | Feb 08 |
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'Monster fatberg' goes on public display in LondonLondon (AFP) Feb 8, 2018 History enthusiasts with strong stomachs can now come face-to-face with part of the 130-tonne "monster fatberg" found last year clogging a Victorian-era sewer, in a new London exhibit. ... more  
Amazon unveils grocery delivery via Whole Foods chainWashington (AFP) Feb 8, 2018 US online giant Amazon on Thursday unveiled plans to launch grocery delivery to a number of US cities for its Prime subscriber using its recently acquired Whole Foods supermarket chain. ... more 
Study warns of return of forgotten crop pathogenWashington (UPI) Feb 8, 2018 Scientists have confirmed the first case of stem rust in Britain in 60 years. In a new study, published this week in the journal Nature Communications Biology, researchers warn of the risks posed by a resurgence of the forgotten plant pathogen. ... more  
Farm sunshine, not cancer: Replacing tobacco fields with solar arraysHoughton MI (SPX) Feb 08, 2018 Although tobacco use is the leading cause of avoidable death globally, farming tobacco continues to provide the primary source of income to many farmers. But two Michigan Technological University re ... more 
China's need to turn milk greenHarpenden UK (SPX) Feb 08, 2018 China will need more than three times as much milk by 2050 as it produced in 2010 and, without changes to its current supply lines, the demand will lift global greenhouse gas emissions from dairy he ... more |
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 Nigeria to send troops to restive central states: army 
Sweet route to greater yieldsHarpenden UK (SPX) Feb 08, 2018 Three years ago, biotechnologists demonstrated in field trials that they could increase the productivity of maize by introducing a rice gene into the plant that regulated the accumulation of sucrose ... more  |
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Bottoms up: Morocco PM glugs water to dispel pollution fearsRabat (AFP) Feb 7, 2018 Morocco's prime minister on Wednesday swigged a glass of water from a reservoir supplying some seven million people in a bid to dispel fears over pollution. ... more 
Nigeria grapples with mob justice in farmer-herder clashesGboko, Nigeria (AFP) Feb 7, 2018 In the heart of Gboko's main market, in Benue state, central Nigeria, stains still darken the dusty corners of the car park, where seven men were burned alive in broad daylight. ... more 
UTIA research examines long-term economic impact of cover cropsKnoxville TN (SPX) Feb 06, 2018 It isn't often that researchers have the luxury to examine data from a long-term research project. While most research projects last from three to five years, scientists with the University of Tenne ... more 
New Year canines stashed away in Muslim MalaysiaKuala Lumpur (AFP) Jan 26, 2018 As the Year of the Dog approaches, some shops run by the Chinese diaspora in Malaysia are keeping canine figurines hidden inside to avoid causing offence in the Muslim-majority country. ... more 
More rice, please: 13 rice genomes reveal ways to keep up with ever-growing populationCold Spring Harbor, NY (SPX) Feb 05, 2018 Billions of people around the world rely on rice as a mainstay of their diet. The grain provides about 20 percent of the calories consumed by humans worldwide. Rice production is critical for global ... more |
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 Pasadena CA (JPL) Feb 14, 2018 
On Jan. 31, NASA ended the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer's (TES) almost 14-year career of discovery. Launched in 2004 on NASA's Aura spacecraft, TES was the first instrument designed to monitor ozone in the lowest layers of the atmosphere directly from space. Its high-resolution observations led to new measurements of atmospheric gases that have altered our understanding of the Earth system ... more |
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 Moscow (Sputnik) Feb 12, 2018 
The Pentagon and Israel's Defense Ministry have launched 'Urban Navigation Challenge', a startup competition to create advanced 'counter-terror' navigation systems which don't use GPS. The project makes no mention of officially designated US "rivals" like Russia or China, but according to Russian experts, it would make no difference even if it did.
The project, officially dubbed the Combat ... more |
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 Kinshasa (AFP) Feb 12, 2018 
The Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo are to jointly seek funds to help them protect their tropical peatlands, a major factor in the issue of climate change.
In a joint statement seen by AFP on Monday, the two central African neighbours said they hoped to gain "guarantees, in the form of funding... with the aim of sufficiently offsetting" sacrifices made by their populat ... more |
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 Kaunas, Lithuania (SPX) Feb 13, 2018 
Researchers of Kaunas University of Technology (KTU), Lithuania are working on improving the efficiency of microbial fuel cells (MFC) by using modified graphite felt. Primary results show that the new MFC can generate 20 percent higher voltage than usual cells.
Over the past 20 years, nearly three-fourths of human-caused emissions came from the burning of fossil fuels. Increasing pollution ... more |
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 Golden CO (SPX) Feb 08, 2018  Researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) created an environmentally stable, high-efficiency perovskite solar cell, bringing the emerging technology a step closer to commercial deployment.
Over the past decade, perovskites have rapidly evolved into a promising technology, now with the ability to convert about 23 percent of sunlight into elec ... more |
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 Washington (UPI) Jan 31, 2018 
The Irish government, despite what happens for Great Britain, is committed to the European Union's energy and renewable policies, the environment minister said.
"Ireland is now a world leader in integrating renewables onto the electricity grid," Irish Environment Minister Denis Naughten said in comments emailed Wednesday from a renewable energy conference in Dublin. "Whatever the final ... more |
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 Sydney (AFP) Feb 4, 2018 
Embattled Indian miner Adani's plans for a massive coal project in Australia has been dealt another blow after the government confirmed Sunday it would not fund a rail link to the facility.
The development of the controversial US$16 billion Carmichael mine near the Great Barrier Reef is set to be one of the world's largest. But it has been delayed by several years amid regulatory and legal h ... more |
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 Beijing (AFP) Feb 13, 2018 
China's former internet czar, who oversaw a tightening of online censorship during his tenure, has been expelled from the Communist Party for taking bribes, the top graft watchdog said Tuesday.
More than 20 allegations against Lu Wei, ranging from serious crimes to criticisms of his character, were listed on the website of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, which announced the ... more |
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 Brooklyn NY (SPX) Feb 08, 2018  For more than a decade, biomimetic robots have been deployed alongside live animals to better understand the drivers of animal behavior, including social cues, fear, leadership, and even courtship. The encounters have always been unidirectional; the animals observe and respond to the robots. But in the lab of Maurizio Porfiri, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the NYU Tandon ... more |
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 Frankfurt Am Main (AFP) Feb 13, 2018  "Car nation" Germany has surprised neighbours with a radical proposal to reduce road traffic by making public transport free, as Berlin scrambles to meet EU air pollution targets and avoid big fines.
The move comes just over two years after Volkswagen's devastating "dieselgate" emissions cheating scandal unleashed a wave of anger at the auto industry, a keystone of German prosperity.
"We ... more |
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 Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jan 25, 2018 
NASA's satellite instruments are often the first to detect wildfires burning in remote regions, and the locations of new fires are sent directly to land managers worldwide within hours of the satellite overpass. Together, NASA instruments, including a number built and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, detect actively burning fires, track the transport of smoke ... more |
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 Tampa FL (SPX) Feb 13, 2018 
Twenty-five years of satellite data prove climate models are correct in predicting that sea levels will rise at an increasing rate.
In a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers found that since 1993, ocean waters have moved up the shore by almost 1 millimeter per decade.
That's on top of the 3 millimeter steady annual increase. This ... more |
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 Edinburgh UK (SPX) Feb 13, 2018 
Lightning may strike less often in future across the globe as the planet warms, a scientific study suggests.
The research forecasts a 15 per cent drop in the average number of lightning flashes worldwide by the turn of this century, if global temperatures are in the top range of forecasts.
A drop in the incidence of lightning strikes could impact on the frequency of wildfires, especi ... more |
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 Washington (AFP) Feb 9, 2018  US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson welcomed Chinese state councillor Yang Jiechi to Washington on Thursday as the world's two most powerful diplomats talked trade, drugs and North Korea.
Yang is in Washington for two days at a time when relations between the top powers are dominated by the North Korean nuclear stand-off and President Donald Trump's concerns about their trade imbalance.
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 Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Feb 12, 2018 
Magnetism plays a critical role in various solar phenomena such as flares, mass ejections, flux ropes, and coronal heating. Sunspots are areas of concentrated magnetic fields. A sunspot usually consists of a circular dark core (the umbra) with a vertical magnetic field and radially-elongated fine threads (the penumbra) with a horizontal field.
The penumbra harbors an outward flow of gas al ... more |
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 San Francisco CA (SPX) Feb 13, 2018 
There's no sneaking by this spider. New research from the University of California Merced and the California Academy of Sciences shows that individuals from the spider family Selenopidae - commonly known as flattie spiders - can sense prey approaching from any direction and whip around in one-eighth of a second to strike. High-speed footage reveals that a swift flex of their long legs helps the ... more |
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