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Lesotho farmers protest against Chinese wool deal![]() Maseru, Lesotho (AFP) June 28, 2019 Several thousand farmers in the mountain kingdom of Lesotho marched to parliament on Friday to protest against regulations forcing them to sell their wool and mohair to a Chinese broker. Wool and mohair are key exports for farmers in Lesotho, but the government of the small southern Africa nation signed a monopoly deal last year with a Chinese broker who is accused of failing to pay for goods. The protest won the support of some members of Prime Minister Thomas Thabane's All Basotho Convention p ... read more |
Haute couture turns back on fur, both real and fakeParis (AFP) July 3, 2019 Something rather significant was missing from the Paris haute couture shows which wrapped up on Wednesday night - fur. ... more
China says pork production recovering as swine fever cases declineBeijing (AFP) July 4, 2019 New cases of African swine fever have declined and pork production is returning to normal, Chinese officials said Thursday, after millions of pigs were culled because of the deadly disease. ... more
Lithuania declares emergency as drought hits farmersVilnius (AFP) July 3, 2019 Lithuania declared an emergency on Wednesday as a severe drought hit the Baltic EU state, threatening to slash this year's harvest by up to half. ... more
Monsoon rains soak India's financial capitalMumbai (AFP) July 1, 2019 Heavy rains flooded parts of India's financial capital of Mumbai on Monday, as the country's four-month summer monsoon swung into full force. ... more |
IMF approves $206 mn aid to Sri Lanka after Cyclone Ditwah
Flights cancelled, roads flooded as rare storm soaks UAE Sri Lanka plans $1.6 bn in cyclone recovery spending in 2026 Brazil megacity Sao Paulo struck by fresh water crisis Indonesians reeling from flood devastation plea for global help Levee break near Seattle prompts evacuation order Flash flood kills dozens in Morocco town At least 20 dead in eastern Bolivia floods Press Release from Business Wire: Textron Inc. Flash floods kill 37 in Moroccan coastal town |
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| Previous Issues | Jul 05 | Jul 04 | Jul 03 | Jul 02 | Jul 01 |
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Cooler for parts of Europe, Spain battles wildfiresParis (AFP) June 30, 2019 A welcome temperature drop came to western parts of Europe on Sunday, after almost a week-long heatwave, but hundreds of Spanish firefighters and soldiers continued to battle three major blazes. ... more
More Manila water shortages ahead as reservoir feeding city driesBulacan, Philippines (AFP) July 1, 2019 Fishermen now pick their catch from the shallow, muddy slosh of the depleted reservoir which feeds the Philippine capital, as drought once again leaves Manila residents with up to 17-hour-a-day water shortages. ... more
The Water Future of Earth's 'Third Pole'Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 27, 2019 Himalaya. Karakoram. Hindu Kush. The names of Asia's high mountain ranges conjure up adventure to those living far away, but for more than a billion people, these are the names of their most reliabl ... more
Health warnings and speed limits as Europe bakes in heatwaveParis (AFP) June 25, 2019 As Europe sizzled Tuesday at the start of a heatwave tipped to break records, drivers on Germany's famously speedy motorways were ordered to slow down and fans at the women's World Cup were showered in health warnings. ... more
Dry lakebeds and fights for water as drought grips India's Chennai, India (AFP) June 22, 2019 Angry residents fight in queues at water taps, lakes have been turned into barren moonscapes and restaurants are cutting back on meals as the worst drought in living memory grips India's Chennai. ... more |
![]() Bordeaux winemakers cheer heatwave: 'It's magic!'
Canada, China diplomatic row provokes farm troublesSaint-Thomas, Canada (AFP) June 27, 2019 Quebec hog farmer Serge Menard is worried about the future of his herd and his farm in the wake of China's ban on Canadian meat exports - the latest screw to turn in an escalating diplomatic row. ... more |
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Looking for freshwater in all the snowy placesGreenbelt MD (SPX) Jun 21, 2019 Snowflakes that cover mountains or linger under tree canopies are a vital freshwater resource for over a billion people around the world. To help determine how much freshwater is stored in snow, a t ... more
Scientists map huge undersea fresh-water aquifer off US NortheastNew York NY (SPX) Jun 24, 2019 In a new survey of the sub-seafloor off the U.S. Northeast coast, scientists have made a surprising discovery: a gigantic aquifer of relatively fresh water trapped in porous sediments lying below th ... more
Qu Dongyu becomes first Chinese to head UN food agency FAORome (AFP) June 23, 2019 Qu Dongyu on Sunday became the first Chinese national to be elected to head the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, clinching the post in the first round of voting. ... more
Rare wolf killed in Bangladesh after first appearance in decadesDhaka (AFP) June 16, 2019 The first Indian grey wolf to be seen in Bangladesh in eight decades has been beaten to death by farmers after preying on their livestock, wildlife experts said Sunday. ... more
Fearful of elephant attacks, some in Botswana cheer hunting's returnKasane, Botswana (AFP) June 20, 2019 An elephant carcass lies at the edge of a field in Legotlhwana village, northeast Botswana - evidence of the desperation and anger felt by a farmer whose crops have been repeatedly destroyed. ... more |
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Scientists discover the biggest seaweed bloom in the world St. Petersburg FL (SPX) Jul 08, 2019
Scientists led by the USF College of Marine Science used NASA satellite observations to discover the largest bloom of macroalgae in the world called the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt (GASB), as reported in Science.
They confirmed that the belt of brown macroalgae called Sargassum forms its shape in response to ocean currents, based on numerical simulations. It can grow so large that it bla ... more |
NASA Eyes GPS at the Moon for Artemis Missions Greenbelt MD (SPX) Jul 01, 2019
GPS, a satellite-based navigation system used by an estimated four billion people worldwide to figure out where they are on Earth at any moment, could be used to pilot in and around lunar orbit during future Artemis missions.
A team at NASA is developing a special receiver that would be able to pick up location signals provided by the 24 to 32 operational Global Positioning System satellit ... more |
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Reforestation could cut carbon levels by two-thirds, study says Washington (AFP) July 4, 2019 Good news: we can help halt climate change through a massive campaign of reforestation, according to a new study published Thursday.
Bad news: it would require covering an area the size of the United States in new trees, and even then some scientists are skeptical about the paper's conclusions.
Such an effort could capture two-thirds of manmade carbon emissions and reduce overall levels ... more |
Applying pressure is way toward generating more electricity from waste heat Osaka, Japan (SPX) Jul 01, 2019
Researchers at Osaka University have been able to enhance the power factor of a promising thermoelectric material by more than 100% by varying the pressure, paving the way for new materials with improved thermoelectric properties. Thermoelectric materials have the unique ability to generate electricity from temperature differences and therefore could potentially be used to convert otherwise wast ... more |
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Photon Energy connects three pv power plants to grid in Hungary Amsterdam, Netherlands (SPX) Jul 08, 2019
Photon Energy NV reports that its subsidiary Photon Energy Solutions HU Kft has built and grid-connected three photovoltaic power plants in Nagyecsed, Hungary with a total installed capacity of 2.1 MWp. This latest addition expands the Group's proprietary portfolio of PV power plants to 39.2 MWp.
The plants, covering an area of 4.4 hectares, are connected to the grid of E.ON Tiszantuli Ara ... more |
Stanford study shows how to improve production at wind farms Stanford CA (SPX) Jul 08, 2019
Solitary wind turbines produce the most power when pointing directly into the wind. But when tightly packed lines of turbines face the wind on wind farms, wakes from upstream generators can interfere with those downstream. Like a speedboat slowed by choppy water from a boat in front, the wake from a wind turbine reduces the output of those behind it.
Pointing turbines slightly away from on ... more |
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Three miners dead after tremor in Poland Warsaw (AFP) July 1, 2019
Three miners died and six others were hospitalised on Monday after a tremor hit their coal mine in southern Poland, according to the operator PGG.
"We received the sad news that a third miner is also dead. Rescuers are currently working on bringing the bodies to the surface," PGG spokesman Tomasz Glogowski told the TVN24 commercial news channel.
The nine men were boring a walkway more th ... more |
Nepal declines permission for Dalai Lama's birthday celebration Kathmandu (AFP) July 7, 2019 The Dalai Lama's birthday celebrations in Nepal were cancelled after the government refused permission for the event to go ahead, officials said Sunday, in another sign of the growing influence of China over its Himalayan neighbour.
Nepal is home to around 20,000 exiled Tibetans, but under pressure from Beijing the current communist government has taken an increasingly hardline stance on the ... more |
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Jumping space robot 'flies' like a spacecraft Paris (ESA) Jul 08, 2019
Astronauts on the Moon found themselves hopping around, rather than simply walking. Switzerland's SpaceBok planetary exploration robot has followed their example, launching all four legs off the ground during tests at ESA's technical heart.
SpaceBok is a quadruped robot designed and built by a Swiss student team from ETH Zurich and ZHAW Zurich. It is currently being tested using robotic fa ... more |
US waste driving global garbage glut: study Paris (AFP) July 3, 2019
The United States is driving a worldwide waste boom that poses a severe risk to human health, the environment and the economy, according to anew study of global garbage trends published Wednesday.
Data on the combined solid, plastic, food and hazardous waste of 194 countries showed that the world now produces an average of 2.1 billion tonnes of trash each year - enough to fill more than ... more |
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Cooler for parts of Europe, Spain battles wildfires Paris (AFP) June 30, 2019 A welcome temperature drop came to western parts of Europe on Sunday, after almost a week-long heatwave, but hundreds of Spanish firefighters and soldiers continued to battle three major blazes.
France too had to contend with fire in the south of the country - and some farmers there counted the cost of the heatwave to their grape vines.
In Germany there was no respite, with a record hig ... more |
The far-future ocean: Warm yet oxygen-rich Kiel, Germany (SPX) Jul 01, 2019
The oceans are losing oxygen. Numerous studies based on direct measurements in recent years have shown this. Since water can dissolve less gas as temperatures rise, these results were not surprising. In addition to global warming, factors such as eutrophication of the coastal seas also contribute to the ongoing deoxygenation.
Will the oceans become completely oxygen-depleted at some point ... more |
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Alaska heat wave shatters city's record, disrupts jobs and lives Los Angeles (AFP) July 5, 2019
Temperatures in Alaska's largest city Anchorage have soared to a sweltering all-time record of 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 centigrade) as a heat wave grips the US state which straddles the Arctic Circle.
Fourth of July fireworks were canceled due to risk of wildfires caused by "extreme dry weather conditions," as temperatures matching those in Miami highlighted rapid warming in a region consid ... more |
India to ease investment rules to catch up China New Delhi (AFP) July 5, 2019
India's newly re-elected government promised Friday an easing of foreign investment rules and more infrastructure spending in an effort to boost flagging growth rates and create jobs.
India has been leap-frogged by China as the world's fastest-growing major economy, with unemployment in Asia's third-biggest economy at its highest since the 1970s.
In the first budget since Prime Minister ... more |
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Details of Solar Science Mission Revealed at UK Astronomy Meeting London, UK (SPX) Jul 05, 2019
Named after a Celtic goddess of the Sun, SULIS is a UK-led solar science mission, designed to answer fundamental questions about the physics of solar storms. The mission consists of a cluster of small satellites and will carefully monitor solar storms using state-of-the-art UK technology, as well as demonstrating new technologies in space. Lead Investigator on the project, Dr. Eamon Scullion of ... more |
When spiders leave the nest, they turn aggressive Washington (UPI) Jul 2, 2019
Spiders who exhibit sociability and tolerance when they're first born often become aggressive when they leave the nest and plot out on their own. Now, scientists are beginning to understand why.
Most spiders are solitary creatures and, like other solitary animals, solo spiders tend to behave aggressively toward other spiders. But most spiders aren't born aggressive. Spiderlings spend th ... more |
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