Sydney (AFP) Nov 11, 2022 A magnitude-7.3 earthquake struck in the sea off Tonga late Friday, according to the US Geological Survey, sparking a tsunami warning that was later lifted. The USGS said the quake hit 10 kilometres (six miles) deep, about 200 kilometres southeast of Neiafu, a town in the northeast of the Pacific archipelago nation, shortly before midnight local time (1100 GMT). It … Continue reading Tsunami warning lifted after major quake near Tonga

Brussels (AFP) Nov 11, 2022 The European Union aims to set up a “military partnership mission” in the coming months to help bolster Niger’s forces as they battle jihadists, a senior EU official said Friday. The 27-nation bloc is revising its footprint in the volatile Sahel region after cutting back its training mission in Mali in response to the deployment of Russian mercenaries to support … Continue reading EU eyes ‘military partnership mission’ for Niger

Kongens Lyngby, Denmark (SPX) Nov 10, 2022 Ice is continuously streaming off Greenland’s melting glaciers at an accelerating rate, dramatically increasing global sea levels. New results published [DATE] in Nature indicate that existing models have underestimated how much ice will be lost during the 21st century. Hence, its contribution to sea-level rise will be significantly higher. By 2100, the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream willhttp://dlvr.it/Scbk35 Continue reading Ice loss from Northeastern Greenland significantly underestimated

Moffett Field CA (SPX) Nov 10, 2022 New NASA research models are shedding light on how insect populations may respond to severe changes in temperature that are likely climate change. In a study recently published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that 65% of the insect populations they examined could go extinct over the next century. Insects perform many important roles in Earth’s ecosystems. They … Continue reading Climate change can put more insects at risk for extinction

Paris (AFP) Nov 10, 2022 World leaders will not attend high-stakes UN biodiversity talks in Montreal next month, a top official said Thursday, despite fears their absence could scupper major breakthroughs at the meeting. Hopes are high that a new global biodiversity framework will be agreed at the talks, dubbed COP15, despite a long list of targets that have yet to be agreed. The landmark … Continue reading World leaders won’t attend key biodiversity talks next month: UN

Askola, Finland (AFP) Nov 11, 2022 Standing next to a freshly-cut clearing the size of seven football fields, Finnish forest engineer Matti Jappila pointed to growth rings in an up to 300-year-old tree stump. “I have started to systematically carry out these loggings, sort of in advance,” he said. Like many other Finns, Jappila fears that the EU’s upcoming biodiversity strategy, which aims to protect … Continue reading Finland’s foresters decry ‘unfair’ EU climate plans

Beijing, China (SPX) Nov 11, 2022 Protecting and restoring the degraded arid lakes are globally urgent issues. Lop Nur, known as the “Sea of Death”, is located in the Tarim River basin, the largest inland basin in China, and is one of the four unmanned areas in China. On November 3, 2022, Scientific Reports published a research paper entitled “Active water management brings reliability restore … Continue reading Study sheds light on rebirth code of Lop Nur

Urbana IL (SPX) Nov 08, 2022 After more than 9,000 years in cultivation, annual paddy rice is now available as a long-lived perennial. The advancement means farmers can plant just once and reap up to eight harvests without sacrificing yield, an important step change relative to “ratooning,” or cutting back annual rice to obtain second, weaker harvest. A new report in Nature Sustainability chronicles agronomic, … Continue reading Farmers in China, Uganda move to high-yielding, cost-saving perennial rice

Washington (AFP) Nov 9, 2022 President Joe Biden’s agenda hung in the balance early Wednesday as a predicted Republican wave failed to materialize in congressional elections fought against a backdrop of stubbornly high inflation and fears for US democracy. Tuesday’s election saw a clearer verdict in races for states’ governors with rising Republican star Ron DeSantis winning by a crushing margin in Florida, cementing hihttp://dlvr.it/ScWvGb Continue reading Republican ‘red wave’ hopes fizzle in US midterm vote

Alty, Sudan (AFP) Nov 9, 2022 The pharaohs worshipped it as a god, the eternal bringer of life. But the clock is ticking on the Nile. Human-driven climate change, pollution and exploitation are putting existential pressure on the world’s second-longest river, which half a billion people depend on for survival. All along its 6,500-kilometre (4,000-mile) length, alarm bells are ringing. From Egypt to Uganda, AFP … Continue reading Nile is in mortal danger, from its source to the sea