Niamey (AFP) June 16, 2023 Traditional chiefs, officials, human rights activists and NGOs have been criss-crossing the vast Tillaberi region of western Niger for several months. Their mission: to organise forums in a bid to ease community tensions revived by massacres of civilians in the landlocked West African nation. In the past, disputes between the various ethnic groups were settled in peaceful fashion by trahttp://dlvr.it/SqmJkq Continue reading Intercommunal forums seek to end deadly violence in Niger

Mbombela, South Africa (AFP) June 13, 2023 Under a scorching sun, 200 South African firefighters wrapped up a last round of training on Tuesday before flying out to help Canada battle unprecedented forest blazes there. It is a rare offer of aid from a developing country battling its own crises. They are a second batch of fighters flying out to the north American nation where … Continue reading South Africa sends hundreds of firefighters to Canada

Geneva (AFP) June 13, 2023 The United Nations slammed Tuesday the Myanmar junta’s “unfathomable” decision to suspend travel authorisations for aid workers trying to reach more than a million people in cyclone-ravaged Rakhine state. Cyclone Mocha brought lashing rain and winds of 195 kilometres (120 miles) per hour to Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh last month, killing at least 148 people in Myanmar. The cyclonhttp://dlvr.it/Sqg7R0 Continue reading Myanmar’s blocking of aid access ‘unfathomable’: UN

Mandvi, India (AFP) June 14, 2023 More than 100,000 people have been evacuated from the path of a fierce cyclone heading towards India and Pakistan, with forecasters warning Wednesday it could devastate homes and tear down power lines. Biparjoy, meaning “disaster” in Bengali, is making its way across the Arabian Sea and is expected to make landfall as a “very severe cyclonic storm” on Thursday … Continue reading 100,000 evacuated as cyclone threatens India and Pakistan

Havana (AFP) June 13, 2023 The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in east and central Cuba has risen to six, official media reported Tuesday as thousands of evacuees started returning home amid widespread property damage. Heavy rains that began last Thursday have weakened and water levels were now subsiding, the Granma government mouthpiece said. Four people have died in the eastern provinces of … Continue reading Six dead in Cuba flooding, hundreds of houses damaged

Helsinki, Finland (SPX) Jun 14, 2023 ICEYE, the global leader in persistent monitoring with radar imaging satellites and an expert in natural catastrophe solutions, has successfully expanded its constellation with four new synthetic aperture radar (“SAR”) satellites on June 12. The launch on SpaceX’s Transporter-8 smallsat rideshare mission via Exolaunch was conducted from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, USA. Each spacechttp://dlvr.it/SqfgnH Continue reading ICEYE’s four satellites launch with SpaceX’s Transporter-8, introducing high-resolution spot fine image product

Tucson AZ (SPX) Jun 14, 2023 Sodium chloride, better known as table salt, isn’t exactly the type of mineral that captures the imagination of scientists. However, a smattering of tiny salt crystals discovered in a sample from an asteroid has researchers at the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Laboratory excited, because these crystals can only have formed in the presence of liquid water. Even … Continue reading Space rock holds clues as to how Earth got its water

Montevideo (AFP) June 10, 2023 Drought-parched Uruguay is thirsty, and in one of the main leafy parks of its capital a new sight is appearing: heavy equipment drilling in an emergency quest for more water. For the past 10 days, the noisy machinery has added to the urban soundscape. “You always have to have a Plan B,” said Valeria Arballo, a geologist supervising the hunt … Continue reading Thirsty Uruguayans launch quest to find underground water

Washington (AFP) June 9, 2023 Residents of the northeastern United States were breathing more easily Friday as smoke from Canadian fires gradually cleared after blanketing several cities in a noxious haze this week. In New York and Washington air quality was classified as “moderate” by the US Environmental Protection Agency. In the American capital, the sky was blue again Friday morning, but as a measure … Continue reading Toxic smoke dissipates over northeastern US

Beijing, China (SPX) Jun 12, 2023 It’s tough accomplishing everything we want to get done in a day. But it would have been even more difficult had we lived earlier in Earth’s history. Although we take the 24-hour day for granted, in Earth’s deep past, days were even shorter. Day length was shorter because the Moon was closer. “Over time, the Moon has stolen Earth’s … Continue reading Earth had an 19-hour day for a billion years