Cerrito, Colombia (AFP) Dec 14, 2023 A group of condors rip into the carcass of a calf at the top of a Colombian mountain which rises 4,200 metres above sea level. Their meal is a peace offering from local ranchers working to improve their relationship with the world’s largest bird of prey, dubbed the King of the Andes. “It’s a bird that, when you see … Continue reading Once the enemy, majestic condor wins hearts of Colombian farmers

Babcock Ranch, United States (AFP) Dec 15, 2023 When Hurricane Ian churned past her home in southwest Florida last year, Mary Frisbee shrugged off worries. She watched TV and surfed the internet. That’s because she and her husband live in Babcock Ranch, a town near the US Gulf Coast that was created with two imperatives: homes have to be built sustainably, and must be able … Continue reading A hurricane-proof town? Florida community may be a test case

Kigali (AFP) Dec 14, 2023 Rwanda’s government announced on Thursday that restrictions on trading hours for bars and other entertainment venues imposed to control “noise pollution” would be relaxed for the festive season. All “non-essential services” in the tightly controlled east African country have been trading under shorter opening hours since September when the government unveiled new measures to curb public disthttp://dlvr.it/T0946R Continue reading Rwanda relaxes curbs on bars, clubs for festive season

Dakar (AFP) Dec 14, 2023 An attack in central Mali this week, blamed on jihadists, left dozens of soldiers and civilians dead, local sources said Thursday. However the Malian army reported only that it had repelled a “terrorist” attack on the Farabougou camp on Tuesday, without mentioning casualties. Central Mali is a hotbed of the violence that is plaguing the Sahel region. As elsewhere in … Continue reading Dozens killed in jihadist attack in central Mali: Local sources

Hong Kong (AFP) Dec 14, 2023 Hong Kong police offered bounties on Thursday for information leading to the capture of five overseas activists accused of national security crimes, drawing prompt rebukes from the United States and Britain. The city’s authorities said the five wanted individuals, all now living abroad, would be pursued “till the end” as they offered HK$1,000,000 ($128,000) bounties for help catching them.http://dlvr.it/T0944W Continue reading US, UK hit out at Hong Kong bounty offers for 5 wanted activists

Palm Cove, Australia (AFP) Dec 13, 2023 Tropical Cyclone Jasper hit northeast Australia Wednesday, leaving thousands of people in coastal communities without power and preparing for potentially “life-threatening” floods. The Category Two storm barrelled in off the Coral Sea, making landfall at around 5:00 pm on Wednesday (0700 GMT), government meteorologists said. Damaging winds of up to 113 kilometres (70 miles) per hour werehttp://dlvr.it/T04qLj Continue reading Cyclone Jasper makes landfall in Australia

Beijing (AFP) Dec 13, 2023 China on Wednesday accused Britain of having “malicious intentions” toward Hong Kong after British Foreign Secretary David Cameron met with the son of jailed pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai. Lai, a 75-year-old British citizen and founder of the now-shuttered tabloid Apple Daily, has been behind bars in Hong Kong since 2020, awaiting trial for alleged “collusion with foreign forces” under ahttp://dlvr.it/T04qHy Continue reading China blasts UK’s ‘malicious intentions’ after Cameron meets Hong Kong dissident

Geneva (AFP) Dec 13, 2023 Swiss lawmakers are expected Wednesday to elect Viola Amherd, the first woman to serve as Swiss defence minister, as the country’s next president, and also pick a new cabinet. Seats in the seven-member government, known as the Federal Council, are distributed among Switzerland’s four main parties, and rarely shift hands. But with current President Alain Berset due to step down … Continue reading Swiss lawmakers set to elect defence minister as president

Singapore (AFP) Dec 13, 2023 Singaporeans bid farewell to a two-year-old panda cub on Wednesday as authorities prepared to send him to China where he will join the country’s breeding program. Le Le, the first panda to be born in the city-state, made his final public appearance at the River Wonders wildlife park before a month-long quarantine ahead of his departure. Dozens of visitors lined … Continue reading Singapore bids farewell to China-bound panda cub

Washington DC (UPI) Dec 12, 2023 Researchers have found a new reason to quit smoking. Not only does smoking destroy the heart and lungs, it also shrinks the brain. The study at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and published Tuesday in Biological Psychiatry: Global Open Science, set out to examine why smokers are at a higher risk for Alzheimer’s and dementia. … Continue reading Smoking shrinks brain, says study linking cigarettes to Alzheimer’s, dementia