The China Mail

Featured

Overcrowded French prison swelters in 'unbearable' heat

Inmates at a prison in southwestern France are struggling to cope as a heatwave grips the region, with high temperatures set to persist through the weekend.

Massive French wildfire contained but 'not under control'

French firefighters said Saturday that the country's biggest wildfire in at least half a century was contained but would not be brought under control before Sunday evening.

Last news

World leaders gather for climate talks under cloud of crises

World leaders meeting Monday for climate talks in Egypt are under pressure to deepen cuts in emissions and financially back developing countries already devastated by the effects of rising temperatures.

COP27: Financing for climate damages gets a foot in the door

UN climate negotiations on Sunday offered a sliver of hope and "solidarity" for developing countries battered by increasingly costly impacts of global warming, in agreeing to discuss the thorny issue of money for "loss and damage".

Hundreds arrested after Schiphol climate protest

Dutch border police on Saturday arrested hundreds of climate activists who clambered over fences and gates at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport and occupied an apron for private jets, which they said should be banned.

Activists glue hands to Goya frames at Prado: Spanish police

Two climate activists on Saturday each glued a hand to the frames of two paintings by Spanish master Francisco Goya at the Prado museum in Madrid, police said.

S.Africa to press rich nations for more money at COP27

South Africa needs much more money to green its economy than what rich nations have promised so far, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Friday, ahead of a key global climate summit.

Climate activists hurl pea soup on Van Gogh in Rome

A group of activists on Friday splashed pea soup onto a Vincent van Gogh masterpiece in Rome, in a protest they warned will continue until more attention was paid to climate change.

Kenya drought kills more than 200 elephants

More than 200 elephants and hundreds of zebras and gnus have died in Kenya's worst drought in four decades, the country's tourism minister said on Friday.

India's capital to shut schools as toxic smog chokes city

Primary schools in India's capital New Delhi will shut to protect children from the toxic smog choking the megacity of 20 million people, authorities said Friday.

Egypt's COP27 climate summit comes at a 'watershed moment'

Leaders of a divided world meet in Egypt on Monday tasked with taming the terrifying juggernaut of global warming as they face gale-force geopolitical crosswinds, including the war in Ukraine and economic turmoil.

Arctic fires could release catastrophic amounts of C02: study

Global warming is responsible for bigger and bigger fires in Siberia, and in the decades ahead they could release huge amounts of carbon now trapped in the soil, says a report out Thursday.

No 'easy road' for Brazil's Lula, as world awaits Amazon action

Brazil's president-elect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is facing a tough battle to halt the destruction of the Amazon, with the weight of global expectation on his shoulders before he even takes office.

UN calls on nations to 'urgently' boost climate funds

Climate change impacts battering vulnerable countries threaten to outstrip efforts to adapt to global warming, the UN warned Thursday, with a "significant" amount of international funding help recycled from other purposes.

'Hazardous' smog chokes India's capital

Smog in New Delhi hit "hazardous" levels on Thursday as smoke from thousands of crop fires in northern India combined with other pollutants to create a noxious grey cocktail enveloping the megacity.

UK's Sunak U-turns on attending COP27 in Egypt

Britain's new prime minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday announced he will join the UN climate conference in Egypt after all, having provoked anger for refusing to attend the global event early into his tenure.

In Bolivia, Lake Poopo's 'water people' left high and dry

An abandoned boat rests on the cracked earth where formerly it floated. Lake Poopo, once Bolivia's second-largest, has mostly disappeared -- taking with it a centuries-old culture reliant entirely on its bounty.

Nile is in mortal danger, from its source to the sea

The pharaohs worshipped it as a god, the eternal bringer of life. But the clock is ticking on the Nile.

S.Africa will need $500 bn to reach net zero: World Bank

South Africa, one of the world's largest greenhouse gas emitters, will require at least half-a-trillion dollars to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the World Bank said Tuesday.

Ardern in a flap as wren rocks N. Zealand's bird beauty contest

A tiny mountain-dwelling wren was the surprise winner Monday of New Zealand's controversial bird of the year competition, which even had Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in a flap.

More than 6,000 baby turtles are released in Peru

More than 6,000 hatchlings of three species of endangered turtles have been released into lakes and lagoons in Peru's Amazon basin to help them repopulate, officials said Saturday.

Heat waves cost poor countries the most, exacerbating inequality

Heat waves, intensified by climate change, have cost the global economy trillions of dollars in the last 30 years, a study published Friday found, with poor countries paying the steepest price.

Global warming palpable for 96% of humans: study

Whether they realised it or not, some 7.6 billion people -- 96 percent of humanity -- felt global warming's impact on temperatures over the last 12 months, researchers have said.

The Amazon: a burning question absent in Brazil vote

Felipe Guimaraes leaps on and off a surfboard on the sand as he shows tourists the basics of surfing. Here, on Rio de Janeiro's Ipanema beach, the stricken Amazon could not feel further away.

Greeks turn to firewood to heat homes amid energy crisis

Residents of the Athens suburb of Glyfada who are struggling to heat their homes as energy prices soar now have an option -- free firewood from the local council.

New NASA tool helps detect 'super-emitters' of methane from space

NASA scientists, using a tool designed to study how dust affects climate, have identified more than 50 spots around the world emitting major levels of methane, a development that could help combat the potent greenhouse gas.

Partial solar eclipse begins in Iceland headed towards India

A partial solar eclipse began over Iceland on Tuesday as the rare celestial spectacle started to make its way east across a swathe of the Northern Hemisphere.

Singapore targets net zero by 2050, eyes hydrogen power

Singapore announced Tuesday it aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, giving a firm date for the first time, and will look at using hydrogen as a major power source.

Post-Diwali Delhi wakes to toxic firecracker smog

New Delhi woke to toxic smog on Tuesday after Diwali revellers defied a firecracker ban and risked jail to celebrate the annual Hindu festival.

'We don't eat lithium': S. America longs for benefits of metal boon

The turquoise glimmer of open-air pools contrasts sharply with the dazzling white of salt flats in Latin America's "lithium triangle," where hope resides for a better life fueled by a metal bonanza.

Nine dead, million seek shelter as cyclone hits Bangladesh

At least nine people have died after a cyclone slammed into Bangladesh, forcing the evacuation of around a million people from their homes, officials said Tuesday.

Food shock: Crop-battering disasters highlight climate threat

Rolling crises linked to war, weather disasters and the pandemic have shaken global food systems and tipped millions into hunger and poverty.

Will climate change doom US truck habit? Detroit says no

The US consumer's love for enormous vehicles has been seen by outsiders as a curiosity and sometimes a sign of profligacy.

Europe's bees stung by climate, pesticides and parasites

Bees pollinate 71 of the 100 crop species that provide 90 percent of food worldwide. They also pollinate wild plants, helping sustain biodiversity and the beauty of the natural world.

The China Mail - Nature (English)