News : France24

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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Saturday, july 27, 2024

Thousands forced to evacuate as wildfire consumes Canadian town

Thousands of residents and tourists were forced to evacuated the tourist town of Jasper in Canada's western Alberta province. Officials said Thursday that the blaze prompted 25,000 people to flee as it roared into the near-deserted town of Jasper overnig

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Thursday, july 25, 2024

The Olympics are usually an environmental disaster. Can Paris be the exception?

Organisers of the Paris Olympics have promised the event will be "historic for the climate". As part of its climate strategy, the committee established a goal of generating no more than half the planet-warming gases produced by previous Summer Games in L

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Climate change threatens age-old Mauritania date harvest

Farmers in Mauritania who've relied on growing dates for centuries are seeing their livelihoods disappear before their eyes, with desertification wiping away tens of thousands of the trees over the last few decades.. and the communities that had sprung u

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Wednesday, july 24, 2024

Taiwan hunkers down as deadly Typhoon Gaemi makes landfall

Schools and offices in Taiwan closed on Thursday and thousands of people evacuated as the island braced itself for the first typhoon of the year. Expected to be the strongest storm in eight years, Gaemi brought strong winds that left two dead in the sout

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World breaks hottest day record for second day in a row

The world again registered its hottest day on record on Monday, July 22, inching past Sunday which had just taken the title, according to preliminary data from a European Union monitoring agency.

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Tuesday, july 23, 2024

'Dark Oxygen' in depths of Pacific Ocean prompts new theories on life's origins

Scientists have discovered that metallic nodules on the seafloor produce their own oxygen in the dark depths of the Pacific Ocean. These polymetallic nodules, generating electricity like AA batteries, challenge the belief that only photosynthetic organis

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Monday, july 22, 2024

Greenland arrests anti-whaling activist and Greenpeace co-founder Paul Watson

Prominent anti-whaling activist and co-founder of Greenpeace Paul Watson was arrested on Monday in Greenland under an international warrant issued by Japan in 2012. Watson's foundation said that the reactivation of the Interpol Red Notice against him is

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Sunday, july 21, 2024

Why are French environmentalists protesting against a water reservoir in La Rochelle?

A police officer and five protesters were injured on Saturday when violence erupted during a demonstration in the French grains port of La Rochelle over the use of reservoirs to supply large-scale agriculture, local officials said. For more information W

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China braces for twin tropical cyclones after deadly flash floods

Two tropical cyclones will bring gales and heavy rain to China's eastern seaboard this week, with the first expected to make landfall on Sunday, after deadly flash floods struck the country's interior over the weekend.

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French police clash with reservoir protesters in La Rochelle after port blockade

Protesters clashed with police in France's western port of La Rochelle Saturday, as conservationists and small farmers mobilised against massive irrigation reservoirs under construction. Story by Nicholas Rushworth.

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Saturday, july 20, 2024

French police clash with demonstrators at grain port protests against reservoirs

Five protesters and a police officer were injured during a mobilisation against irrigation reservoirs being built on France's Atlantic coast. Critics of the massive infrastructure projects say that they will benefit larger agricultural producers at the e

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French police removes environmental activists gathered to challenge project of mega water reservoirs

French police removed demonstrators from the western port of La Rochelle with tear gas Saturday, as environmentalists and small farmers mobilised against massive irrigation reservoirs under construction.

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Brazil: The Pantanal, a sanctuary of biodiversity devastated by record fires

The Pantanal, in the Central-West region of Brazil, is in the grip of record fires. In this wildlife sanctuary, more than 760,000 hectares of vegetation were destroyed in the first six months of 2024. June was a record month, with 2,636 new fires. That's

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China highway bridge collapse kills eleven following flooding and heavy storms

Chinese authorities say at least 11 people have died and 30 are missing in the partial collapse of a highway bridge in the northwest of the country following heavy storms and flooding. A similar number are missing in the southwest after dozens of houses

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Thursday, july 18, 2024

Heatwaves strain power grids in southern and eastern Europe, fuel wildfires

Dozens of cities in southern and eastern Europe are on red alert as unrelenting heat is making daily life unbearable and sparking concerns about the rest of the summer. While Europe is no stranger to heatwaves, climate change is making them longer, stron

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Tuesday, july 16, 2024

Southern Europe scorched by heat wave as temperatures surpass 40°C

Governments across southern Europe have issued severe weather warnings as temperatures soar past 40 degrees Celsius. The heat wave has already claimed the life of an elderly man in Albania, who was found dead in his farm south of the capital Tirana.

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Monday, july 15, 2024

Melting ice caps slow Earth's spin, lengthening days at 'unprecedented' rate

A new study says that the melting of the polar ice caps is causing our planet to spin more slowly. As the Earth turns more slowly, the length of day increases, intensifying the effects of a warming climate.

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Saturday, july 13, 2024

Roughly 9,000 evacuated in northeast Canada due to raging wildfires

Around 9,000 people have been evacuated in northeastern Canada as the country battles hundreds of wildfires, many that have broken out in recent days.

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Friday, july 12, 2024

Pakistani midwives on the frontline of climate change

As Pakistan confronts a series of crippling heatwaves, it is pregnant women and newborns who suffer the most. As a result, its midwives have found themselves on the frontline of climate change. Also, as Saudi Arabia declares rights for women in the count

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Meet the woman who ran 20 marathons in 30 days along the Seine

An Australian environmental activist has become the first person to run the entire length of the Seine River, a total of 848km from its source to the sea, in 30 days. Mina Guli set off on this epic journey last month to draw attention to efforts being ma

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Thursday, july 11, 2024

Mongolia: Nomadic way of life under threat from winter climate disasters

Mongolia has emerged from a particularly long and bitter winter. Extreme temperatures killed over 7.1 million animals. Thousands of herder families lost more than 70 percent of their livestock. Climate change has increased the frequency of extreme weathe

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Wednesday, july 10, 2024

French scientists launch programme to decode DNA of marine species

Over the next eight years, scientists will study the DNA of 4,500 marine species found along France's coastline and overseas territories. The ATLASea programme aims to collect specimens of fish, mammals and algae whose genomes have never been sequenced b

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Tuesday, july 9, 2024

Clean energy transition: Wind power overtakes coal in US

US energy generation is getting cleaner, with wind power becoming a bigger source of electricity in the US than coal. The Panama Canal’s administrator is building a billion-dollar water reservoir to compensate for drought. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Po

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Monday, july 8, 2024

2024 could be world's hottest year as June breaks records

Last month was the hottest June on record, the EU's climate change monitoring service said on Monday, continuing a streak of exceptional temperatures that some scientists said puts 2024 on track to be the world's hottest recorded year.

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Sunday, july 7, 2024

Record-breaking heat wave scorches millions across the US, fueling wildfires

A long-running heat wave is threatening roughly 130 million people across the US with record-breaking temperatures from coast to coast, setting the stage for more potential records in the coming days. The National Weather Service has extended excessive h

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Friday, july 5, 2024

Desertification in Iraq: Multiplying sandstorms threaten local population

Water is running out in Iraq, a country where nearly more than half of the territory is considered at risk of desertification. Year after year, the situation is becoming worse and worse. Meanwhile the vast desertified areas create an environment prone to

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A deep dive into capitalism with Scene on Radio podcast co-host John Biewen

Scene on Radio, the Peabody-nominated podcast series produced by The Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, has dedicated its latest season to exploring the history, failures and future of capitalism over the course of 13 episodes. John Biewen, c

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Thursday, july 4, 2024

Google's greenhouse gas emissions are soaring because of AI data centres

The energy required to power AI data centres has caused Google's greenhouse emissions to increase 48% since 2019. Meanwhile, General Motors is faced with a 146 million dollar fine to settle allegations that its vehicles released more pollution than the c

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Wednesday, july 3, 2024

At least seven killed as Hurricane Beryl makes its way towards Jamaica

Hurricane Beryl churned towards Jamaica Tuesday, with forecasters warning of potentially deadly winds and storm surge, after the storm killed at least seven people and caused widespread destruction across the southeastern Caribbean.

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Tuesday, july 2, 2024

AC-free ambition for Paris Olympics melts away as organisers order 2,500 cooling units

The Paris Olympic village will be fitted with 2,500 temporary cooling units when athletes arrive later this month, organisers said Tuesday, in a blow to the event's eco-friendly credentials. The organising committee had initially announced they would ste

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Hurricane Beryl strengthens to earliest category 5 storm on record as it pummels Caribbean

Hurricane Beryl has strengthened to a “potentially catastrophic” Category 5 storm as it razed several islands in the Caribbean, the US National Hurricane Center said on Tuesday. Up to 7 storms of Category 3 or higher are expected this year due to warming

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Monday, july 1, 2024

Brazil's Amazon rainforest sees worst 6 months of wildfires in 20 years, data shows

Brazil's Amazon rainforest saw its worst six-month period of wildfires in 20 years despite a decrease in deforestation, satellite data showed Monday. The 13,489 wildfires – likely sparked by agricultural burning – recorded from January to June 2024 repre

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Sunday, june 30, 2024

Southeast Caribbean braces for 'life-threatening winds' from Hurricane Beryl

The southeast Caribbean began shutting down on Sunday as residents braced for potentially life-threatening winds and flash flooding from Hurricane Beryl, which has strengthened into a Category 4 storm, US forecasters said. Government officials pleaded wi

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Friday, june 28, 2024

We need an investment agenda to deliver the EU's Green Deal: Greens co-chair Bas Eickhout

The European Greens lost a third of their seats in the EU elections earlier this month. Bas Eickhout, co-president of the group in the European Parliament, points out that the Greens actually increased their strength in some parts of the EU – but admits

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Thursday, june 27, 2024

As ice melts, Everest's 'death zone' gives up its ghosts

On Everest's sacred slopes, climate change is thinning snow and ice, increasingly exposing the bodies of hundreds of mountaineers who died chasing their dream to summit the world's highest mountain.

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Wednesday, june 26, 2024

Why climate change is fuelling flight turbulence

Climate and aviation experts are warning that levels of turbulence, and incidents of severe turbulence on airplanes, are likely to get worse due to climate change. The warnings come after a British man died and more than 100 people were injured on board

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Monday, june 24, 2024

Saudi Arabia says more than 1,300 died during hajj pilgrimage due to heat

Saudi Arabia said Sunday that more than 1,300 faithful died during the hajj pilgrimage which took place during intense heat. Dr Steffen Lehman, Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Nevada and Director of the Urban Futures Lab tells

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Tara Polar Station: Scientists to study marine life at North Pole

France's Tara Ocean Foundation has begun the construction of an astonishing polar scientific station. The inauguration of the Tara Polar Station is planned for the end of the year, after which it will launch a series of scientific missions over the next

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Luxury yacht crew charged for setting off fireworks that sparked Greek wildfire

Greek prosecutors on Sunday charged 13 crew members of a luxury yacht accused of setting off fireworks that caused a major wildfire on an island near Athens, media reports said.

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Sunday, june 23, 2024

France's opportunity to be a global leader on climate action at risk

France's opportunity to be a global leader on climate action could be at risk, depending on who wins the upcoming legislative elections. The current frontrunner, the National Rally Party has historically mocked or downplayed environmental issues, while M

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Saturday, june 22, 2024

Weather alert as three went missing in torrential rains in Switzerland and France

Three people were missing on Saturday after massive thunderstorms and rainfall in southeastern Switzerland caused a landslide, authorities said. Story by France 2 and FRANCE 24's Camille Knight.

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Malaysia's palm oil industry struggles to comply with EU regulations

A new EU regulation aims to ban the import of several products, including palm oil, that come from plantations linked to deforestation. While the bloc hails the law as an important way to protect the world's forests, Southeast Asian countries say it thre

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Friday, june 21, 2024

Namibian Pride: activists hail overturning of law that banned same-sex acts between men.

A top court in Namibia has ruled colonial-era laws banning same-sex relationships were unconstitutional, in a case brought by a local LGBTQ+ activist. Also in the programme, Kenyan protesters call for a national shutdown to oppose new tax hikes. We also

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War rages in Sudan: Region faces influx of refugees amid many political, socio-economic challenges

The ongoing civil war in Sudan has provoked one of the world's worst humanitarian crises in decades, the international chief of the medical charity Doctors Without Borders said Thursday. War has raged for more than a year between the regular military und

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Heatwave in Mexico claims lives of more than 150 since March

Mexico has registered 155 deaths associated with high temperatures since March, with 30 in the past week alone, the government said Thursday.

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Thursday, june 20, 2024

Rising heat 'nearing threshold where healthy are at risk'

As climate change renders heatwaves increasingly common and severe, some parts of the world are nearing the threshold where healthy people are at risk of getting ill and even dying in the extreme heat, says Chloe Brimicombe, a climate scientist at the Un

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Wednesday, june 19, 2024

Relatives search for missing in Saudi Arabia as hajj death toll tops 900

Friends and family searched for missing hajj pilgrims on Wednesday as the death toll at the annual rituals, which were carried out in scorching heat, surged past 900.

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Harnessing the power of mushrooms: The mycelium revolution

Could fungi save the world? From restoring nature to mitigating plastic pollution and helping create a new sustainable fabric, mushrooms – along with their root system mycelium – have been hailed as a potential solution to some of the world's most pressi

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Thousands evacuated in New Mexico after wildfires spark state of emergency

Two wildfires burning out of control in New Mexico forced more than 7,000 people to flee Tuesday from a mountainous region of the southwestern US state, where 500 structures have been damaged or destroyed.

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Tuesday, june 18, 2024

At least 550 pilgrims died due to intense heat during hajj, diplomats say

Diplomats on Tuesday said at least 550 pilgrims died during the hajj, underscoring the gruelling nature of the pilgrimage which again unfolded in scorching temperatures this year.

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Sudanese civilians in Darfur facing famine amid searing heat, fierce clashes, widespread atrocities

War, climate change and man-made shortages have brought Sudan -- a nation already facing a litany of horrors -- to the shores of a water crisis. In the blistering sun, as temperatures climb past 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), civilians suff

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Deadly famine in war-ravaged Sudan 'could haunt the region, but also the world, for decades to come'

War, climate change and man-made shortages have brought Sudan -- a nation already facing a litany of horrors -- to the shores of a water crisis. In the blistering sun, as temperatures climb past 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), Issa's family

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Monday, june 17, 2024

Despite being climate conscious, Gen Z struggle to break into green jobs

Generation Z desperately want to be eco-friendly and to work for a company with good climate credentials. But a new survey by LinkedIn has found that only one in 20 GenZers have the "green skills" needed to tackle the climate crisis. FRANCE 24's Yuka Roy

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Earth's frozen regions risk 'irreversible' damage due to climate change, expert warns

The head of one of the world's major environmental groups has told FRANCE 24 that a third major crisis is affecting the world and we need to pay more attention to it. As well as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the crisis in Gaza, she says we

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