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Big leap in quest to get to bottom of climate ice mystery

Stanislav Kutuzov felt the drillhead he was controlling smash into the rock more than 100 metres below him high on a glacier in the Pamir peaks of Tajikistan. The ice core samples it took could help solve one of climate science's great mysteries.

World leaders ditch ties at sweaty climate summit

Diplomacy ditched its stuffy tie for once at a climate meeting in Belem, Brazil, where Thursday's Amazonian heat saw leaders and bureaucrats eagerly remove what is normally considered a summit fashion must.

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Mongolia sells more coal to China as world shuns polluting fuel

Mongolia is ramping up efforts to export coal to energy-hungry China, a government official told AFP, despite global efforts to end the use of the polluting fossil fuel.

India at 75: Melting glaciers, heatwaves and climate crisis

From prime ministers and millionaires to labourers and ascetics, Hindu faithful dream of trekking at least once in their lives to Gaumukh, where the waters of India's holiest river, the Ganges, emerge from a Himalayan glacier.

Oil and gas emissions up to three times what is reported: monitor

Planet-heating emissions from oil and gas production could be three times higher than reported, according to a satellite monitoring project launched Wednesday that the UN chief said made it harder to "cheat".

More than 130 seals found dead on Caspian beaches

More than 130 endangered seals have been found dead on Kazakh beaches of the Caspian Sea, officials said Wednesday.

At COP27 climate talks, US midterms make waves

The US midterms made waves Wednesday at a UN climate summit on the shores of Egypt, with activists urging President Joe Biden to take bolder action against global warming regardless of the result.

US-China rivalry clouds Beijing's climate promises at UN summit

Fractured relations between the United States and China have cast further doubt on whether Beijing will sign up to more climate promises, with pressure mounting on the world's biggest emitter.

Please don't lick psychedelic toads, warn US park officials

US park officials have asked visitors to stop licking psychedelic toads, warning that anyone seeking a hallucinogenic high from the wart-covered amphibians is more likely to end up seriously ill.

Colombia, Venezuela launch COP27 call to save Amazon

The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela, Gustavo Petro and Nicolas Maduro, launched a call Tuesday at the COP27 climate summit for a wide-ranging alliance to protect the Amazon, the planet's biggest tropical forest.

Ukraine's Zelensky tells COP27 Russia's war harms climate efforts

A fast-heating world "cannot afford a single gunshot", Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told the UN climate summit on Tuesday, arguing that Russia's invasion threatened international efforts to tackle global warming.

Bow makers fear demise as Brazil seeks ban on rare wood trade

Global classical stars including US cellist Yo-Yo Ma and British conductor Simon Rattle joined a campaign on Tuesday to stop Brazil blocking the trade in a rare wood used for making bows.

Global South needs $2 trillion a year to tame, cope with climate

Developing and emerging countries -- excluding China -- need investments well beyond $2 trillion annually by 2030 if the world is to stop the global warming juggernaut and cope with its impacts, according to a UN-backed report released Tuesday.

Renault to reorganise towards electric future

French automaker Renault will pitch investors Tuesday on its planned green revamp, with two spin-offs: a new electric-vehicle unit and a subsidiary for thermal and hybrid assets.

Cities under strain: India's predicted urban boom

India is projected to see an explosion in its urban population in the coming decades, but its cities already cannot cope and climate change will make living conditions harsher still.

Wounded whale washes ashore in northern France

A 7.6-metre (25-foot) whale, wounded but alive, was discovered stranded on a beach in northern France on Monday, authorities said, with experts hoping the rising tide will help the cetacean back on its way.

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.

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