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Two missing, 1000 evacuated as Storm Boris brings flooding to northern Italy

Two people are missing and some 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes after heavy flooding and landslides hit the northeastern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. The mayor of the city of Ravenna described the situation as a "full emergency".

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Tuesday, september 17, 2024

Ocean Photographer of the Year winners unveiled

PRESS REVIEW – Tuesday, September 17: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ruffles Labour Party feathers with a cosy visit to Italy's Giorgia Meloni to talk migration. In other news, as fires ravage parts of northern Portugal, residents return to their ho

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Brasilia wildfire rages across national park, threatening protected environments

Wildfires engulfed the conservation area of Brasilia National Park on Monday and smothered the capital in smoke as the country grapples with a historic drought. The fire was reported to be human-caused, according to the government agency that manages the

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Peruvian city of Iquitos, a hotbed for wildlife trafficking in Amazon

Iquitos is a city of over 400,000 inhabitants located at the heart of the Peruvian Amazon and accessible only by boat or plane. In recent years, it has become a hotbed of wildlife trafficking in one of the world’s most biodiverse areas. More than 300 spe

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Monday, september 16, 2024

'Oil giants should pay for the damage', Greenpeace activist says amid deadly floods in Europe

Exceptionally heavy rainfall pounding Central Europe has prompted deadly flooding in the region. FRANCE 24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to Ian Duff, head of Greenpeace International's "Stop Drilling Start Paying" campaign. He says that oil and gas companies h

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'Oil giants should pay for the damage', Greenpeace activist says amid deadly floods in Europe

Exceptionally heavy rainfall pounding Central Europe has prompted deadly flooding in the region. FRANCE24's Sharon Gaffney speaks to Ian Duff, head of Greenpeace International's 'Stop Drilling Start Paying' campaign. He says that oil and gas companies ha

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Gateway to the underworld: Permafrost 'megaslump' in Siberia is expanding

According to a study published in the Journal of Geomorphology, global warming is the cause of the enlargement of the Batagaika crater in Siberia. Also known as the "gate to hell", this crater releases thousands of tonnes of CO2 each year and is expandin

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Sunday, september 15, 2024

Honduran anti-mining activist who fought to save forests, rivers is killed

An environmental activist who protested mining and hydro-electric projects in northern Honduras in an effort to preserve tropical forests and rivers has been killed, police said on Sunday.

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In pictures: Storm Boris brings heavy floods to central, eastern Europe

At least one person died in Poland and another in Austria, authorities said on Sunday, as Storm Boris brought some of the heaviest rains in years to central and eastern Europe. The storm has already caused the deaths of at least five people in Romania, f

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Saturday, september 14, 2024

Heavy rains batter Central Europe, four found dead in Romania

Storms battered eastern Romania on Saturday, flooding several neighbourhoods, where emergency workers found four people dead in a search and rescue mission. The stormy weather comes as several central European nations anticipate severe flooding to hit th

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Friday, september 13, 2024

What Greenland’s nine-day mega-tsunami tells us about climate change

A seismic signal heard across the world last September for nine days has been traced back to a trapped tsunami triggered by a landslide in the remote fjords of Greenland. Climate scientists say that the collapse seems to have been set off by melting glac

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Thursday, september 12, 2024

Paris to lower speed limit on ring road in drive to reduce pollution

Drivers on the French capital's crucial ring road will have to take their foot off the gas pedal just a little bit, as Paris' mayor Anne Hidalgo moves to cut the speed limit from 70 km/h per hours to 50 km/h. The new speed limit will be enforced graduall

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Reclusive Peruvian tribe Mashco Piro under threat: 'Their land has to be protected'

Two loggers, part of a team of people who had a license to cut down trees in the Peruvian Amazon, have been killed by bow and arrow after they allegedly encroached too far into land inhabited by the largest uncontacted tribe on the planet, the Mashco Pir

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Future of Amazon rainforest in peril amid historic droughts

PRESS REVIEW – Thursday, September 12: Papers focus on fires and historic droughts that are ravaging the Amazon and imperiling its role as the lungs of the planet. Also, French daily Le Figaro looks back at the rape accusations levelled against two rugby

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Wednesday, september 11, 2024

Super Typhoon Yagi kills at least 197 in Vietnam, forces evacuations in Hanoi

Thousands of people living along the Red River in Vietnam's capital Hanoi were evacuated on Wednesday, as floods and landslides caused by Asia's most powerful storm this year killed at least 197 people in the country's north. Typhoon Yagi also wreaked ha

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Tuesday, september 10, 2024

Floods in Chad have killed hundreds of people and affected 1.5 million, UN says

Every single one of Chad's provinces have been hit by intense floods brought on by severe rainfall that have left 341 dead and affected a total of 1.5 million inhabitants since July, the UN said on Monday.

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Monday, september 9, 2024

More than 50 killed in Vietnam after Typhoon Yagi triggers floods, landslides

Dozens of people have been killed in northern Vietnam after Asia's most powerful storm this year triggered floods and landslides on its way west. Typhoon Yagi cut power to millions of homes and companies, with factories across the country's northeast rep

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Saving the snot otter: How scientists are working to bring the hellbender to safety

PRESS REVIEW - Monday, September 9: The Paris Olympics have come to a close and it's not quite national mourning, but it's a teary goodbye for the host nation. In other news, as Georgia prepares for parliamentary elections in late October, are voters cho

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Paris's plan to ditch ACs and expand urban cooling system

Around the world, record-shattering temperatures are feeding demand for air conditioning. 135 million individual ACs are sold every year, a figure set to triple by 2050 according to the International Energy Agency. This rush to cool air could in turn bec

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Saturday, september 7, 2024

After years of civil war, South Sudan turns its focus to wildlife conservation

The world’s youngest nation of South Sudan, which emerged after decades of civil war, is home to the world’s biggest conservation project twice the size of Portugal. The conflicts have had an unintended consequence: they delayed development, meaning few

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Friday, september 6, 2024

Summer of 2024 was world's hottest on record, EU climate change monitor says

The world is emerging from its warmest northern hemisphere summer since records began, the European Union's climate change monitoring service said on Friday, as global warming continues to intensify. The exceptional heat increases the likelihood that 202

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Super Typhoon Yagi slams into southern China after deadly pass through Philippines

Super Typhoon Yagi on Friday made landfall in southern China, barrelling into the Hainan and Guangdong provinces. The storm is the biggest to hit Asia in more than a decade and has led to hundreds of thousands of evacuations and schools and businesses to

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Summer 2024 hottest ever recorded, EU climate change monitor says

Scientists have confirmed that summer 2024 broke global heat records for the second consecutive year, making 2024 likely to be the hottest year in recorded history. Data from Copernicus, Europe’s climate change service, shows June to August as the hottes

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Wednesday, september 4, 2024

'Queen of Trash' in dock in Sweden's biggest toxic waste scandal

Eleven people went on trial in Sweden on Tuesday, accused of illegally dumping toxic waste in the country's biggest-ever environmental crime case. Among those charged with "aggravated environmental crime" is Bella Nilsson, an ex-stripper who once called

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Monday, september 2, 2024

Attempted jailbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo turns deadly

Several people have reportedly been killed during an attempted jailbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo. Gunshots rang out overnight at Makala prison in Kinshasa. It's the country's largest incarceration facility - and has long been dangerously overcrow

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Sunday, september 1, 2024

'Hawaii of Europe': Azores seek to avoid pitfalls of mass tourism

This summer, many towns in Europe protested the arrival of tourists. In Spain, some locals even sprayed water guns to deter visitors. But one gem, dubbed the "Hawaii of Europe", has taken drastic measures to avoid overtourism. Faial Island, in the heart

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Friday, august 30, 2024

Weakening typhoon churns through Japan, leaving at least five dead

Typhoon Shanshan, which has weakened to a severe tropical storm, continued to dump heavy rain on Japan, where it has killed at least five people and injured dozens since making landfall on Thursday. One of the strongest typhoons to hit the country in dec

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Thursday, august 29, 2024

Dead fish blanket Greek tourist port after flooding

Greek authorities have started collecting hundreds of thousands of dead fish that poured into a tourist port in the central city of Volos this week after being displaced from their usual freshwater habitats during flooding last year.

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Wednesday, august 28, 2024

‘Refugees in our own village’: India's desert herders pay price for green energy drive

The deserts of India’s western Rajasthan state have become home to one of the country's largest onshore wind farms as the country scrambles to boost renewables and stem the impact of climate change. But local livestock herders say the wind turbines are p

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Japan issues evacuation, emergency warnings as Typhoon Shanshan approaches

Japan on Wednesday was braced for its strongest typhoon of the year as Typhoon Shanshan approached the southern island of Kyushu. Tens of thousands of island residents have been told to evacuate the area and transportation services were suspended as auth

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Monday, august 26, 2024

Pacific sea levels are rising faster than global average, says WMO

Sea levels in the Pacific Ocean are rising more rapidly than the global average, endangering low-lying island nations, a World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) report revealed on Tuesday. While global sea levels have increased by an average of 3.4 milli

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Brazil launches 'war' on wildfires devastating Sao Paulo state

Brazil has deployed military aircraft to combat raging wildfires in the densely populated state of Sao Paulo, where authorities suspect arsonists are responsible for the blazes. Following a crisis meeting, President Lula da Silva and Environment Minister

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Saturday, august 24, 2024

Nearly 300,000 Bangladeshis in emergency shelters after monsoon rains cause heavy flooding

More than 4 million people have been affected by flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains in Bangladesh, with almost 300,000 taking refuge in emergency shelters on Saturday, the ministry of disaster management said.

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Thursday, august 22, 2024

Tim Walz, America's new environmental champion?

As governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz has championed some of the most progressive climate policies, raising hopes that, if elected to office, Kamala Harris's vice presidential pick could help put environmental issues high up the agenda in the White House. F

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Smoke shrouds Brazilian city as Amazon burns

Residents of Porto Velho in the Brazilian Amazon have barely seen sunlight in days as a thick cloud of smoke from forest fires envelops their city. The Amazon suffered a historic drought between June and November last year and this year has recorded more

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Wednesday, august 21, 2024

Australia approves plans for 'largest' solar farm in the world

The Australian government approved on Wednesday an ambitious plan for a massive solar farm intended to power millions of homes domestically and supply electricity to Singapore. The project now depends on sign-offs from Singapore's energy market authority

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The ugly legacy of tourism in Bali: thousands of tons of plastic waste wash up on beaches

Bali’s beaches are among the most beautiful in the world. In 2023, more than 5 million people descended on this Indonesia resort. But behind the picture-perfect image is an ugly legacy of overtourism – a yearly haul of 300,000 tons of plastic waste. Repo

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Sicily yacht disaster: What do we know so far?

Divers were searching on Tuesday for six missing people, including British tech tycoon Mike Lynch, who were on board the British-flagged luxury yacht "Bayesian" that sank off the coast of Sicily amid a storm on Monday, killing one person whose body was r

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Monday, august 19, 2024

Firefighters contain wildfires in Turkey's Izmir and Bolu provinces

Firefighters in Turkey have brought under control two large forest fires that had been burning for three days, with several other wildfires across the country expected to be put out soon, the Forestry Minister said on Sunday. The blazes in Turkey's weste

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Saturday, august 17, 2024

Mediterranean Sea temperature reaches record high

The Mediterranean Sea reached its highest temperature on record of 28.90C Thursday, breaking the record from July 2023, Spanish researchers said. On top of endangering many fish species, overheating of the sea prevents the air from cooling at night and e

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Rising water levels threaten Indonesia's Jakarta

Jakarta, the former capital of Indonesia is sinking at an average of 10cm per year, threatening the livelihoods of its 10 million inhabitants. Meanwhile dykes that prevent sea water from flooding Jakarta are poorly maintained and could collapse at any mo

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Friday, august 16, 2024

Mediterranean Sea reaches highest surface temperature ever recorded

The Mediterranean Sea reached its highest surface temperature with a daily median of 28.9 degrees Celsius on Thursday, according to Spanish researchers, topping a previous record set last month. For two successive summers, the Mediterranean has been warm

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Thursday, august 15, 2024

Anti-whaling activist Paul Watson to remain in detention in Greenland

American-Canadian anti-whaling activist Paul Watson will remain in custody pending a decision to potentially extradite him to Japan, a Greenland court ruled on Thursday. Watson was arrested in Greenland last month on an international arrest warrant and i

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Wednesday, august 14, 2024

Firefighters battle remnants of deadly wildfire near Athens

Firefighters are tackling the last remnants of a deadly wildfire near Athens on Wednesday that has been raging for three days. While most of the fronts have eased since the fire first took hold on Sunday, Greek officials warned against complacency. The c

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Wildfires in 2023 caused massive CO2 emissions, compounding climate change

A university in the United Kingdom has published a first-of-its-kind study on the release of carbon emissions from wildfires. The study found that wildfires last year caused 8.6 billion tons of CO2 emissions – 16 percent above average.

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Tuesday, august 13, 2024

Foreign help rushed to Greece as wildfire forces thousands to flee Athens suburbs

A woman's body was found early Tuesday inside a burned-out Athens factory in what is believed to be the first reported death from a disastrous wildfire that has scorched the city's northeastern suburbs, forcing thousands of residents to flee their homes

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Monday, august 12, 2024

Greece asks EU for help as wildfires near Athens suburbs

Thousands of residents have been evacuated as large wildfires reached the suburbs of Athens, with some flames leaping as high as 25 metres (80 feet). The Greek government formally called on the EU for assistance on Monday, with France pledging to send 18

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Olympics equipment heads for 'second life' as Paris Games come to a close

The stands have fallen quiet and the Athletes' Village is emptying. What happens to all the equipment now the 2024 Paris Olympics are over? Organisers have plans for it.

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Raging Athens wildfire the 'worst so far' this year

A major forest fire that began Sunday afternoon was raging out of control on the northern fringes of the Greek capital Monday, triggering numerous evacuation orders for Athen's suburbs and outlying areas. "It is the worst fire we have seen so far in Gree

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Friday, august 9, 2024

Australian Coral Reef dying due to heat following 400-year temperature record

Ocean temperatures in the Great Barrier Reef hit their highest level in 400 years over the past decade, according to researchers who warned that the reef likely won’t survive if planetary warming isn’t stopped. Story by Camille Knight

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Green economy: Local economic development an opportunity to transform lives of hundreds of millions

A group of scientists at universities across Australia have been measuring summer ocean temperatures in and around Australia's Great Barrier Reef going back to 1618. And they have concluded that water temperatures have risen to their warmest in 400 years

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Australia's Great Barrier Reef under threat from ocean heat following 400-year high

Ocean temperatures around the Great Barrier Reef hit their highest level in 400 years over the past decade, according to researchers who warned that the reef likely won’t survive if global warming isn’t stopped. Story by Camille Knight.

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Thursday, august 8, 2024

'Increasingly likely' that 2024 will be warmest year on record, EU monitor says

2024 has seen each month surpass its temperature record for the time of year, spawned the two hottest days on record and contributed to the intensification of hurricanes, heatwaves, and wildfires across the world – all signs that it will likely go down a

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Wednesday, august 7, 2024

Hottest oceans in 400 years making Great Barrier Reef 'increasingly vulnerable', scientists say

Ocean temperatures in and around Australia's spectacular Great Barrier Reef have risen to their warmest in 400 years over the past decade, according to a major report published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, making the world's largest coral reef sys

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Friday, august 2, 2024

At least 21 dead as heatwave sweeps across Morocco

A heatwave in Morocco has killed at least 21 people in a 24-hour period in the central city of Beni Mellal last week, according to the health ministry. The North African country, which is sweltering under soaring temperatures of up to 48 degrees Celsius,

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Thursday, august 1, 2024

Japan asks Denmark to extradite anti-whaling activist Paul Watson

Denmark announced Thursday that it has received Japan's extradition request for anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, who was arrested in Greenland last month on an international arrest warrant. Watson, the 73-year-old founder of Sea Shepherd, is facing cha

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Tuesday, july 30, 2024

Paris put on second-highest storm alert for Day 4 of Olympic Games

The wider Paris region was put on a severe storm alert Tuesday as the city hosts the Olympic Games, with heavy rain, strong thunderstorms, hail and lightning forecast from 6pm, France's weather service announced.

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More than 90 dead, hundreds feared trapped in southern India landslides

Landslides in the southern Indian state of Kerala on Tuesday killed at least 93 people, according to local authorities. Hundreds are still feared missing after heavy monsoon rains collapsed hillsides and triggered torrents of mud, water and tumbling boul

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Monday, july 29, 2024

‘Tourists, go home!’: Mass tourism exasperates locals in Europe and beyond

An increasing number of visitors has sparked numerous anti-tourism movements in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. Locals blame tourists for driving up housing costs, inflation, and causing environmental degradation. Some affected regions are beginning to ta

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Sunday, july 28, 2024

Cooler temperatures help firefighters battle wildfire in California

Thousands of firefighters battling a wildfire in Northern California received some help from the weather hours after it exploded in size, scorching an area greater than the size of Los Angeles. The blaze was one of several tearing through the western Uni

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