Napier, New Zealand (AFP) Feb 18, 2023 Water and electricity supplies slowly returned to cyclone-struck New Zealand cities Saturday, as the death toll from the disaster rose to nine. Almost a week after Cyclone Gabrielle brought scouring winds and torrential rains to the country’s North Island – causing landslides and widespread flooding – recovery efforts have begun in earnest. Roger Ball, acting director of the … Continue reading Power, water return to cyclone-hit New Zealand cities

Beijing (AFP) Feb 18, 2023 With China’s dropping of its “zero-Covid” policy, makeshift quarantine centres and testing booths are being repurposed as mini-libraries, information points or even housing. Since Beijing suddenly abandoned its hardline virus control measures in December after almost three years, cities across China have been left with tens of thousands of the temporary structures. Some of the metal or phttp://dlvr.it/Sjj2Yt Continue reading China’s zero-Covid structures take on second lives

Antakya, Turkey (AFP) Feb 19, 2023 Turkey on Sunday said rescue efforts following last week’s devastating earthquake had ended in all but two provinces as visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced $100 million in fresh humanitarian aid. The 7.8-magnitude tremor that struck southeastern Turkey and northern Syria on February 6 has killed more than 44,000 people, with the likelihood of finding survivors two … Continue reading Turkey winds down quake rescue as Blinken pledges fresh US aid

Madrid (AFP) Feb 18, 2023 Demonstrators packed a park in Madrid Saturday to protest at plans to fell more than 1,000 trees to extend a metro line in the Spanish capital, an AFP correspondent said. The work will involve cutting down 1,027 trees in a southwestern area known as Madrid Rio, the regional government has said, angering ecologists and local residents. The protest was called … Continue reading Protesters hit streets over Madrid tree-culling plans

Santiago (AFP) Feb 18, 2023 In international waters off the coasts of Chile and Peru, the ocean teems with plant and animal species – some do not exist anywhere else and many are endangered. Urgently seeking to prevent biodiversity loss in these waters, Chile is pushing for a new marine protected area (MPA) to be created, and hoping to seal the deal during an upcoming … Continue reading Protecting high seas off Chile’s coast depends on UN vote in New York

United Nations, United States (AFP) Feb 19, 2023 The prospect of large-scale mining to extract valuable minerals from the depths of the Pacific Ocean, once a distant vision, has grown more real, raising alarms among the oceans’ most fervent defenders. “I think this is a real and imminent risk,” Emma Wilson of the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition, an umbrella organization of environmental groups and scientific … Continue reading Concerns and impatience over mining the world’s seabeds

Buenos Aires (AFP) Feb 17, 2023 Argentina broke records for heat and cold within a short window of just five days this week, with temperatures plummeting a jaw-dropping 30 degrees Celsius as a heatwave gave way to historic snowfalls. A cold front from Patagonia caused temperatures in Buenos Aires to drop from a high of 38.1 C (100.6 degrees Fahrenheit) last Sunday to only 7.9C … Continue reading Heat and cold records broken in just five days in Argentina

Washington (AFP) Feb 17, 2023 Global warming melts sea ice, which leads to further warming because water absorbs more heat than ice, creating what scientists call a “climate feedback loop.” A report released Friday contains what researchers believe is the most comprehensive list of feedback loops ever compiled and a stark warning that climate models may be underestimating their impact. “Many feedback loops significanhttp://dlvr.it/SjfM2k Continue reading ‘Feedback loops’ worsening climate crisis: report

Beijing, China (SPX) Feb 17, 2023 Since the discovery of the Antarctic ozone hole in the 1980s, numerous studies have pointed out that this depletion of ozone in the Antarctic has important impacts on global climate change, and that the changes in Antarctic stratospheric temperatures during austral winter are of great significance to ozone depletion and the formation of the ozone hole. Previous studies have … Continue reading Ozone depletion leads to Antarctic upper-stratospheric warming in winter

Paris (AFP) Feb 15, 2023 Urban planners are fending off abuse fuelled by conspiracy theories about their “15-minute city” regeneration projects which suspicious social media users claim are the road to “climate lockdowns”. The 15-minute city premise is simple – all amenities such as parks and grocery stores must be accessible within a quarter of an hour walk or bike ride from a person’s home. … Continue reading Conspiracy theories on ’15-minute cities’ flourish