Houma, United States (AFP) Sept 12, 2024 Francine weakened Thursday as it moved inland from Louisiana, where the storm left hundreds of thousands without power, but it was continuing to dump dangerous levels of rain across the US south, forecasters said. After making landfall on Wednesday afternoon as a Category 2 hurricane, Francine was downgraded by the following morning to a tropical depression, the National … Continue reading Storm Francine downgraded but still drenching US south

Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 11, 2024 Living organisms depend on tiny quantities of metals to carry out essential biological processes such as breathing, DNA transcription, and energy production. These processes have relied on metals since life first appeared in Earth’s early oceans. Many of the enzymes within organisms require metals, particularly transition metals, which occupy a specific space on the periodic table. A reseahttp://dlvr.it/TD9vwn Continue reading Iron played a critical role as the earliest transition metal in life

Geneva (AFP) Sept 11, 2024 The United Nations on Wednesday said the probability of the cooling La Nina weather phenomenon appearing this year had decreased slightly since June. There is now a 55-percent chance of La Nina conditions emerging between September and November, and a 60-percent chance between October and next February, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said in its latest update. In its previoushttp://dlvr.it/TD8LYB Continue reading UN revises down slightly likelihood of La Nina in 2024

Lao Cai, Vietnam (AFP) Sept 11, 2024 When a massive landslide crashed into her village in northern Vietnam, Hoang Thi Bay clung desperately to a concrete pillar as the wall of mud and rocks swept houses away all around her. The landslide triggered by intense rains from Typhoon Yagi engulfed the remote community of Lang Nu in Lao Cai province early on Tuesday, killing at … Continue reading ‘Lost everything’: survivor tells of deadly Vietnam landslide horror

Tokyo (AFP) Sept 11, 2024 Japan’s main whaling company has released images showing the first fin whale caught commercially by its fleet in almost 50 years before it was butchered and sent home for consumption. Japan, one of three countries to hunt whales commercially with Norway and Iceland, this year added the fin whale to a catch list that already includes minke, Bryde’s and sei … Continue reading Japan shows first commercial fin whale catch in 48 years

Montreal (AFP) Sept 11, 2024 Images of towering wildfires tearing through forests and leaving a national park in cinders have kept many tourists away, putting one of Canada’s top industries on edge. The nation has been ranked among the top 12 destinations worldwide for its stunning displays of nature and cultural mosaic. But 2023 saw megafires scorch a record amount of forests and displace 200,000 … Continue reading Canada tourism fears bigger, badder wildfires coming

Port Moresby (AFP) Sept 11, 2024 A magnitude-6.3 earthquake struck in the Bismarck Sea off the coast of Papua New Guinea on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey said. The shallow quake located far from land produced no tsunami warning or immediate reports of damage. It was centred about 224 kilometres (139 miles) northeast of the city of Madang, located along the country’s northern coast. … Continue reading Magnitude-6.3 quake strikes off Papua New Guinea

Manila (AFP) Sept 11, 2024 Hundreds of people fled their homes in the Philippines on Wednesday after it spurted harmful gases, an official said, as experts warned of a potential eruption. About 300 residents of villages within four kilometres (2.5 miles) of the Kanlaon volcano crater in the centre of the country were evacuated on Tuesday as a precaution, the local government of nearby Canlaon … Continue reading Hundreds flee after Philippine volcano warning

Houston (AFP) Sept 11, 2024 Storm Francine became a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday as it churned towards the southern US state of Louisiana, the National Hurricane Center (NHC) said, threatening storm surge, rain and flooding along the Gulf coast. The storm was packing sustained winds of 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour, and was about 150 miles east of the mouth of the Rio Grande, … Continue reading Francine becomes a hurricane as it heads for US coast

Derna, Libya (AFP) Sept 10, 2024 One year after a wall of water swept through eastern Libya’s coastal city of Derna, killing thousands and causing devastation, reconstruction is under way but essential services are lacking, NGOs say. On September 10, 2023, extreme rainfall from hurricane-strength Storm Daniel caused two dams to burst inland from Derna, which lies some 1,300 kilometres (800 miles) east of the … Continue reading ‘Essential services’ still sparse in Libya’s flood-ravaged Derna