Washington (AFP) March 17, 2023 Logging, wildfires and farming are causing mountain forests, habitat to 85 percent of the world’s birds, mammals and amphibians, to vanish at an alarming rate, according to a study published on Friday. Mountain forests covered 1.1 billion hectares (2.71 billion acres) of the planet in 2000, the authors of the study published in the Cell Press journal One Earth said. … Continue reading Mountain forests disappearing at alarming rate: study

Sydney (AFP) March 18, 2023 Millions of dead and rotting fish have clogged a vast stretch of river near a remote town in the Australian outback as a searing heatwave sweeps through the region. Videos posted to social media showed boats ploughing through a blanket of dead fish smothering the water, with the surface barely visible underneath. The New South Wales government said on Friday … Continue reading Millions of dead fish clog Australian river

Jakarta (AFP) March 18, 2023 Indonesia’s Mount Merapi, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, erupted late Friday and continued to spew hot ash and other volcanic material on Saturday. Footage of flaming lava pouring out of the crater and a tall column of hot cloud rising 1,300 metres into the air was taken by the government-run Merapi Volcano Observatory on Friday night. The volcano … Continue reading Indonesia’s Merapi volcano erupts, spews hot lava

Blantyre, Malawi (AFP) March 17, 2023 Cyclone Freddy, which dissipated this week after a record-breaking rampage, has caused more than 460 deaths in southern Africa and affected more than half a million people in Malawi, the UN said Friday. The storm dumped six months’ worth of rainfall in six days in southern Malawi, leaving a trail of destruction and severely damaged infrastructure as well as … Continue reading Cyclone Freddy affects 500,000 people in Malawi: UN

Bordeaux (AFP) March 17, 2023 At least 910 dolphins have washed up on France’s Atlantic coast since the start of the winter, an oceanographic institute reported Friday. Over the past week alone, more than 400 of the marine mammals were found stranded along the coast, an “unprecedented” number, the Pelagis oceanographic observatory based in the western city of La Rochelle said in a report. The … Continue reading France reports 910 dolphins washed up on Atlantic coast

Conakry (AFP) March 15, 2023 A court in Guinea on Wednesday postponed the trial of three former senior political figures accused of corruption after none of the defendants or their lawyers appeared at the hearing. Ibrahima Kassory Fofana, who served as Guinea’s former prime minister until a 2021 military coup faces a charge of having misused public funds. The then defence and environment ministers – … Continue reading Guinea court postpones trial of three former ministers

Ankara (AFP) March 16, 2023 A state of emergency imposed in Turkey’s quake-hit southeast is shackling reporters, a top media rights campaigner told AFP, expressing fears they will be pressured in the run-up to May’s crunch elections. President Recep Tayyip declared a three-month state of emergency in the affected provinces when Turkey suffered its deadliest natural disaster of modern times last month. The 7.8-magnihttp://dlvr.it/Sl2zwX Continue reading Quake restrictions muzzle Turkish media ahead of elections: monitor

Johannesburg (AFP) March 16, 2023 A bid to ban the import of hunting trophies to Britain has upset conservationists in southern Africa, with some saying the bill is counterproductive and smacks of colonialism. The law, which aims to help protect endangered animals and has the backing of celebrities including model Kate Moss and football presenter Gary Lineker, is to be voted by British lawmakers on … Continue reading UK trophy hunting bill irks African conservationists

Bamako (AFP) March 15, 2023 A prominent social media influencer in Mali was detained Wednesday after lambasting the ruling military junta as a “failure” with regards to insecurity and inflation, prosecutors told AFP. The arrest of Rokia Doumbia came days after another media figure, radio and TV presenter Mohamed Youssouf Bathily, widely known as “Ras Bath”, was jailed for alleging former prime minister Soumeylou Boubeyhttp://dlvr.it/Sl2zwL Continue reading Mali influencer arrested after denouncing junta’s ‘failure’

Paris (AFP) March 17, 2023 Will you choose beauty? The carnivorous Wavy Bubble Snail, perhaps, with its billowing skirts shimmering under UV light. Or will it be age? Like the venerable 500-year-old Methuselah oyster. Or will you be seduced by the leopard slug with its gymnastic mating ritual? The list of finalists for Mollusc of the Year has something for everyone. In a public vote … Continue reading Their time to slime: who will be ‘Mollusc of the Year’?