Montrose, United Kingdom (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 In a town in northeastern Scotland, Debbie Banks looks for clues to track down criminals as she clicks through a database of tiger skins. There are thousands of photographs, including of rugs, carcasses and taxidermy specimens. Banks, the crime campaign leader for the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), a London-based charity, tries to identify individual big cats from their … Continue reading Earning its stripes: tech bid to crack tiger trade

Los Angeles (AFP) Aug 17, 2022 When Covid-19 reached Brazil’s Amazon, and an indigenous tribe sealed off its borders, director Alex Pritz found an innovative way to finish his documentary – he handed the cameras over to the Uru-eu-wau-wau themselves. “The Territory,” to be released by National Geographic on Friday, follows the plight of some 200 hunter-gatherers who live in a protected area of rainforest, … Continue reading Amazon tribe go behind the camera in Nat Geo film ‘The Territory’

Washington DC (UPI) Aug 16, 2021 Scientists now believe asteroids may have brought water to Earth, according to the just-published results of a six-year study. Researchers analyzed rare samples collected from a six-year Japanese space mission and their findings were published Monday in the science journal Nature. The material was brought back to Earth in 2020 from the asteroid Ryugu. Scientists studied 0.2 ouncehttp://dlvr.it/SWngzd Continue reading Scientists believe asteroids may have carried water to Earth

Madrid (AFP) Aug 16, 2022 Some 300 firefighters spent a difficult night battling a huge wildfire in southeastern Spain that has burnt through nearly 10,000 hectares in an area notoriously difficult to access, officials said Tuesday. The fire began when lightning hit the Vall de Ebo area in the province of Alicante late Saturday and it has since spread rapidly, fuelled by strong winds, forcing … Continue reading Spain firefighters battle to control huge Valencia wildfire

Ouagadougou (AFP) Aug 12, 2022 Burkina Faso’s army will deploy a new strategy to push back jihadist insurgents and recapture lost territory, the defence minister said Friday. The landlocked Sahel state is in the grip of a seven-year-old insurgency that has claimed more than 2,000 lives and forced some 1.9 million people to leave their homes. Burkina Faso’s insurgency has been concentrated in the north … Continue reading Burkina junta says army to win back areas lost to rebels

Nairobi (AFP) Aug 13, 2022 Tigrayan rebels denied Saturday they have had “direct engagements” with the Ethiopian government, following a statement by the African Union which has been leading a push to end the 21-month conflict. Getachew Reda, spokesman for the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), said an AFP story that cited an AU statement was “pure fabrication”. “Such engagement simply didn’t happen!” he saihttp://dlvr.it/SWk79R Continue reading Tigray rebels deny ‘direct engagements’ with Ethiopia govt

Bunia, Dr Congo (AFP) Aug 12, 2022 Four people have been killed and two Chinese workers gone missing after soldiers and militiamen battled over a mine in troubled eastern DR Congo, the army said on Friday. The CODECO militia attacked a Chinese-managed mining site in Mungbwalu village, Ituri province, overnight on Wednesday, army spokesman Lieutenant Jules Ngongo told AFP. Militiamen killed three miners in the … Continue reading Four dead in DR Congo mine attack, two Chinese missing

Schwedt, Germany (AFP) Aug 13, 2022 Thousands of fish have washed up dead on the Oder river running through Germany and Poland, sparking warnings of an environmental disaster as residents are urged to stay away from the water. The fish floating by the German banks near the eastern town of Schwedt are believed to have washed upstream from Poland where first reports of mass fish … Continue reading ‘Dead fish everywhere’ in German-Polish river after feared chemical waste dump

London (AFP) Aug 12, 2022 The UK government on Friday officially declared a drought across swathes of England, following months of record low rainfall and unprecedented high temperatures in recent weeks. At a meeting of the National Drought Group, the government’s Environment Agency said the “drought trigger threshold had been met” in parts of southwestern, southern, central and eastern England. Drought was lasthttp://dlvr.it/SWfwTK Continue reading Drought declared in several parts of England

Vatican City (AFP) Aug 14, 2022 Pope Francis on Sunday called for international help for Somalia to fight a “deadly” drought that the UN says has displaced one million people. The 85-year-old pontiff drew attention to what he called the “serious humanitarian crisis” in Somalia and parts of surrounding countries after his weekly Angelus prayer at the Vatican. “The people of this region, already living … Continue reading Pope urges help for drought-hit Somalia