New York (AFP) Jan 11, 2022 UN chief Antonio Guterres is “deeply concerned” over reports of a deadly airstrike in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, his spokesman said Monday, in the international body’s first comment on an attack which rebels said left 56 people dead. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) last week claimed that dozens had been killed in a drone strike on a camp for … Continue reading UN’s Guterres ‘saddened’ by reports of deadly strike in Tigray: spokesman

Mombasa, Kenya (AFP) Jan 6, 2022 China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday rejected suggestions that Beijing was luring African countries into debt traps by offering them massive loans, dismissing the idea as a “narrative” pushed by opponents to poverty reduction. Wang, speaking ahead of touring Beijing-funded infrastructure projects in Kenya, said China’s considerable lending to Africa was “mutually benefiting” and nothttp://dlvr.it/SGzK8k Continue reading China is not trapping Africa in debt: foreign minister

Tehran (AFP) Jan 9, 2022 Iran is now home to only a dozen Asiatic cheetahs, the deputy environment minister said Sunday, describing the situation for the endangered species as “extremely critical”. “The measures we have taken to increase protection, reproduction, and the installation of road signs have not been enough to save this species,” Hassan Akbari told Tasnim the news agency. “There are currently only … Continue reading Iran says only 12 Asiatic cheetahs left in the country

Earith, United Kingdom (AFP) Jan 9, 2022 Nature is reclaiming her territory at a quarry in the east of England that is being transformed into a vast reserve offering vital sanctuary to endangered birds. With its reedbed wetlands, the marshy plain of the Fens outside Cambridge has become an attractive habitat for the secretive bittern, which was until 2015 on the UK’s Red list of … Continue reading Former quarry turns haven for endangered UK birds

Salton Sea, United States (AFP) Jan 7, 2022 Hollywood’s jetset once crowded the shores of the Salton Sea, a then-idyllic southern California playground for the wealthy. Today, it is desolate and depressed – the evaporating water leaving behind dead shellfish, dust and chemicals that irritate the airways. But also lithium. The increasingly valuable metal, whose supply is concentrated in a few global pockets, is vital … Continue reading Renewable: Lithium promises revival for dying California inland sea

Madrid (AFP) Jan 9, 2022 Debate over the environmental impact of Spain’s huge factory farming sector is heating up in the country, Europe’s biggest meat consumer, and splitting its ruling coalition. In an interview published in British daily The Guardian, Consumer Affairs Minister Alberto Garzon lashed out against Spain’s “so-called mega-farms”, calling them unsustainable. “They find a village in a depopulated bhttp://dlvr.it/SGvppD Continue reading Too much meat? Spain factory farming debate creates beef

Johannesburg (AFP) Jan 9, 2022 At least six people, including a diver, have been killed in flash flooding from torrential rains in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province, a senior regional official said Sunday. “A total of six people died in separate incidents including a member of the… police services,” Oscar Mabuyane, the Eastern Cape provincial premier said in a statement, updating the death toll. The … Continue reading Six die in South African floods

Fairbanks AK (SPX) Jan 06, 2022 Understanding the surges and retreats of Alaska’s Malaspina Glacier is key if climate change models are to be applied to the glacier with confidence. Work by graduate student Victor Devaux-Chupin at the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute is providing some answers. The Malaspina consists of three lobes, each fed by its own glacier. The Agassiz glacier becomes the … Continue reading Malaspina Glacier, world’s largest piedmont glacier, surges approximately every 10 years

Goma, Dr Congo (AFP) Jan 8, 2022 A lowland gorilla, a critically endangered species, was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s famed Virunga National Park, authorities said. Conservationists have long sought to protect the world heritage site’s gorilla population even as violence and instability has plagued the DRC’s eastern provinces over 25 years. “We’re excited to announce the first lowland gorilla birth of thehttp://dlvr.it/SGqcRZ Continue reading DR Congo park fetes birth of endangered gorilla species

Sydney, Australia (SPX) Jan 10, 2022 A team of Australian and international scientists led by Australian Museum (AM) and University of New South Wales (UNSW) palaeontologist Dr Matthew McCurry and Dr Michael Frese of the University of Canberra have discovered and investigated an important new fossil site in New South Wales, Australia, containing superb examples of fossilised animals and plants from the Miocene epoch. The … Continue reading Life in the “dead” heart of Australia