China landslide leaves ten dead, at least 12 missing
Beijing (AFP) July 1, 2016 -
Heavy rain caused a landslide in southwestern China Friday that killed at least ten and left 12 others missing, local officials said.
The landslide hit early morning and buried 29 people in the village of Pianpo, in the province of Guizhou, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the county government.
Seventeen had been pulled from the rubble as of early Friday evening - ten of w ...
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Landslides and flooding kill 25 in India
Dehradun, India (AFP) July 2, 2016 -
The death toll from landslides and flooding in northern India has risen to 25 after rescuers found more bodies buried under debris, officials said Saturday.
At least dozens more are missing after torrential rains triggered landslides and floods in the Himalayan states of Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh.
Some 15 people have lost their lives so far in Uttarakhand and at least 10 were rep ...
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Heavy rains cut off Liberia's main airport
Monrovia (AFP) July 1, 2016 -
Heavy rains have cut the only road access to Liberia's main airport, leaving travellers to cross some sections by canoe, passengers told AFP on Friday.
At certain points the sole road between the capital Monrovia and Roberts International Airport is 1.5 metres (five feet) underwater.
Passenger Amara Kamara, 36, said the downpours, which began on June 29, had left him stranded.
"I am ...
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Flash floods kill 33 in northern Pakistan: officials
Peshawar, Pakistan (AFP) July 3, 2016 -
Flash floods caused by torrential monsoon rains have killed at least 33 people in northern Pakistan, the majority from a village near the border with Afghanistan, officials said Sunday.
The rains began late Saturday and were concentrated mainly in the northwestern province of Khybher Pakthunkwa, which has been badly affected by flooding in recent years that some scientists have linked to cli ...
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Singapore to pursue firms over fires, despite Indonesian ire
Jakarta (AFP) July 3, 2016 -
Singapore is refusing to back down in its pursuit of those responsible for haze-belching forest fires in Southeast Asia last year, despite struggling to bring the perpetrators before the courts and drawing a sharp rebuke from neighbouring Indonesia.
Forest fires are part of an annual dry-season problem in Indonesia, started illegally to quickly and cheaply clear land for cultivation - parti ...
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Rwanda hikes import duties on secondhand clothes
Kigali (AFP) July 1, 2016 -
Rwandan has massively hiked import duties on secondhand clothes and shoes, coming mainly from Europe and North America, to help promote local manufacturers, officials said Friday.
The measure "takes effect from July 1", Rwandan Revenue Agency manager Drocelle Mukashyaka told AFP.
Import duty on each kilogram (2.2 pounds) of shoes and clothing was previously $0.2 (0.18 euro), but it has b ...
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Scientists observe first signs of healing in the Antarctic ozone layer
Leeds UK (SPX) Jul 03, 2016 -
New research has identified clear signs that the hole in the Antarctic ozone layer is beginning to close. Scientists from the University of Leeds were part of an international team led by Professor Susan Solomon of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to confirm the first signs of healing of the ozone layer, which shields life on Earth from the sun's harmful ultraviolet rays.
Recovery ...
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New farming strategies can help prevent soil runoff while maintaining high crop yields
Columbia MO (SPX) Jul 03, 2016 -
Soil and nutrient loss and runoff from agricultural fields are major problems environmentally and economically in the U.S. and globally. After heavy spring rains, soil and water runoff containing fertilizer and pesticides is washed downstream, carrying the sediment and chemicals to the Gulf of Mexico. This process creates a large oxygen-starved area which is toxic to aquatic organisms and damage ...
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What does the sperm whale say
Odense M, Denmark (SPX) Jul 03, 2016 -
When a team of researchers began listening in on seven sperm whales in the waters off the Azores, they discovered that the whales' characteristic tapping sounds serve as a form of individual communication. But what are they actually saying?
"They clearly have something on their minds - but to be perfectly honest, we haven't the faintest idea what that might be."
That is how the Unive ...
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Conservation key to curbing emissions from palm oil agriculture in Africa
Durham NC (SPX) Jul 03, 2016 -
As oil palm production expands from Southeast Asia into Central Africa, a new Duke University-led study warns that converting Africa's tropical forests into monoculture palm plantations will cause a significant spike in climate-warming carbon emissions. The authors urge regional governments to enact mandatory policies regulating which forests can be cleared and how much remaining forest must be ...
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Study finds that plant growth responses to high carbon dioxide depend on symbiotic fungi
Bloomington IN (SPX) Jul 03, 2016 -
Research by an international team of environmental scientists from the United Kingdom, Belgium and United States, including Indiana University, has found that plants that associate with one type of symbiotic fungi grow bigger in response to high levels of carbon dioxide, or CO2, in the atmosphere, but plants that associate with the other major type of symbiotic fungi do not.
The study, whi ...
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Climate study finds human fingerprint in Northern Hemisphere greening
Oak Ridge TN (SPX) Jul 03, 2016 -
A multinational team led by the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory Climate Change Science Institute has found the first positive correlation between human activity and enhanced vegetation growth.
The research team, led by Jiafu Mao of the Ecosystem Simulation Science group in the Environmental Sciences Division, used new environmental data and strict statistical methods t ...
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