Berlin (AFP) Feb 9, 2021 Freezing drivers were stranded for hours in traffic jams in Germany and Covid-19 vaccination centres were shut in Britain on Tuesday as Europe was pummelled by the heaviest snow in years. Some parts of Germany were cloaked in up to 50 centimetres (20 inches) of snow by Tuesday afternoon, according to local media reports. Traffic on a motorway near the … Continue reading Snow and bitter cold bring chaos to Germany and Britain

Hampton VA (SPX) Feb 10, 2021 A NASA airborne study has returned to the field for a second year of science flights to advance the accuracy of short- and long-term climate models. The Aerosol Cloud meTeorology Interactions oVer the western ATlantic Experiment (ACTIVATE) began the third of six planned flight campaigns – two campaigns each year beginning in 2020 and ending in 2022 – in … Continue reading ACTIVATE begins second year of Marine Cloud Study

Is your list of new business customers falling short due to issues with their rejected credit approvals? New User Missed Opportunity or “NUMO” is a growing problem for e-commerce vendors. It is caused by false payment declines based on a lack of access to current consumer data by the rating agencies. But you can fix this problem.http://dlvr.it/RsRzQR Continue reading E-Tailers Squandering a Fortune in ‘NUMO’ False Declines

Geneva (AFP) Feb 9, 2021 An international team of experts wrapping up a month spent in China investigating the Covid-19 pandemic’s origins will brief the media in Wuhan on Tuesday, the WHO announced. “The international team working to understand the origins of the Covid-19 virus is completing its four weeks’ stay in Wuhan, China and together with their Chinese colleagues will participate in a press … Continue reading WHO team probing Covid origins in China to brief media

Hong Kong (AFP) Feb 9, 2021 Hong Kong’s top court on Tuesday ordered pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai to stay behind bars as it sided with prosecutors in the first legal test of Beijing’s sweeping new national security law. The landmark case cements the dramatic changes the security law has begun making to semi-autonomous Hong Kong’s common law traditions as Beijing seeks to snuff out … Continue reading Hong Kong’s top court denies bail to media tycoon Jimmy Lai

Sydney (AFP) Feb 8, 2021 An Australian journalist who disappeared from Chinese state television’s airwaves six months ago and was detained by Beijing authorities has been formally arrested for “supplying state secrets overseas”. Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne said Monday that China had revealed it formally arrested Cheng Lei on February 5, after taking her into custody last August without explanation.http://dlvr.it/RsN1w2 Continue reading China chages Australian journalist for supplying state secrets; HK radio star arrested for sedition

Rishikesh, India (AFP) Feb 7, 2021 At least 200 people are missing in northern India after a piece of Himalayan glacier fell into a river, causing a torrent that tore through two power plants and swept away roads and bridges, police said on Sunday. Three bodies have been found and a desperate operation has been launched to rescue about 20 people trapped in a tunnel, … Continue reading 200 missing in India after burst glacier causes flash flooding

Paris (AFP) Feb 7, 2021 France outperformed its target for reducing carbon emissions in 2019, President Emmanuel Macron said Sunday, four days after a court rapped the state for not respecting its own climate targets. “France reduced its greenhouse gas emissions in 2019 by -1.7%. It is beyond our objective!” Macron wrote on Twitter. Earlier, Environment Minister Barbara Pompili was quoted in an interview with … Continue reading France exceeded CO2 reduction target in 2019: Macron

The Hague (AFP) Feb 7, 2021 The Netherlands and parts of Germany were blanketed on Sunday by a snowstorm that disrupted planes and trains and put some coronavirus testing on hold. Britain was also bracing for heavy snow from what Dutch meteorologists have called Storm Darcy, which is packing winds of up to 90 kilometres (55 miles) an hour. People rushed outdoors to enjoy sledging … Continue reading Dutch hit by first snowstorm in a decade as Europe shivers

Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany (SPX) Feb 04, 2021 In the event of a forest fire, flash flooding or a landslide, how can firefighters and rescue workers get to the disaster site as quickly as possible? What measures need to be taken? What lessons can be learned from past disasters? The HEIMDALL project provides answers via a digital platform that collects all of this information. At the virtual … Continue reading Digital platform helps rescue services during natural disasters