News

London, 21 Mar (ONA) --- UN scientists are likely to weigh up technology to remove CO2 from the atmosphere, as they gather to finalise a key report.This idea will be one of many solutions considered over the next two weeks by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).Also in attendance will be government officials from all over the world, who will need to approve every line in the summary report.It is due to be published on 4 April 2022.This new study will be the third of three important reports from the IPCC issued over the past eight months. The previous two have looked ...

Tokyo, 17 Mar (ONA) --- A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake hit off northeastern Japan late last night, left at least two people dead, more than 160 injured and causing a high-speed Shinkansen train to derail, Japanese Kyodo news reported.Two men in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, the areas hit hardest by the quake, died, while the injuries reported as of today occurred across a total of 12 prefectures, according to local authorities and the Japanese Fire and Disaster Management Agency.Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a parliamentary session that authorities are looking into ...

Madrid, 15 Mar (ONA) --- Spain today issued extremely poor air quality ratings for Madrid and a large swath of the country after a mass of hot air from the Sahara dumped dust after crossing the Mediterranean. The national air quality index qualified as “extremely unfavorable” — its worst rating — the capital and large parts of the southeast coast. Spain’s weather service described the dust storm from the Sahara as “extraordinary and very intense,” while adding that it was unclear if it was the worst episode of its kind on record. The service forecast that ...

Geneva, 14 Mar (ONA) --- Nearly all the world’s countries today kicked off a UN-backed meeting aimed at preventing the loss of biodiversity. The move is seen as critical to avoiding the extinction of many vulnerable species, the emergence of pathogens like the coronavirus, and the damage to both lives and livelihoods of people around the world, Indigenous peoples in particular. The two-week meeting of over 190 countries on the Convention on Biological Diversity, after a two-year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will be the last gathering of its kind before a major ...

Manila, 14 Mar (ONA) —— A 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit a western Philippine province and the capital today, but no major damage has been reported so far, government seismologists said.The quake struck at 5:05 am (21:05 GMT) with an epicentre located off Lubang town in Occidental Mindoro province, 76 kilometres south-west of Manila, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.It was felt in different intensities in the capital region of Metro Manila and other nearby provinces.More than 40 aftershocks have been recorded since the quake, the strongest of which had ...

Jakarta, 10 Mar (ONA) --- Mount Merapi on Indonesia's Java island ejected searing-hot, fast-moving clouds several times overnight, forcing hundreds of people to flee, the country's disaster management agency said today.Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency said that a mixture of hot lava, ash and gases known as pyroclastic flows travelled up to 5,000 metres on the south-east slope of the volcano.Ash also rained down on several villages around the volcano, Muhari added. As many as 253 residents have sought refuge in safer locations.The volcano's ...

Antarctic, 9 Mar (ONA) --- Scientists have found and filmed one of the greatest ever undiscovered shipwrecks 107 years after it sank.The Endurance, the lost vessel of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, was found at the weekend at the bottom of the Weddell Sea.The ship was crushed by sea-ice and sank in 1915, forcing Shackleton and his men to make an astonishing escape on foot and in small boats.Even though it has been sitting in 3km (10,000ft) of water for over a century, it looks just like it did on the November day it went down.Its timbers, although disrupted, are still very ...

Athens, 9 Mar (ONA) --- While cause remains unconfirmed, green groups fear the three whales could be the ‘tip of iceberg’ with many more animals hurt. Environmental groups have linked the beaching of three whales in Corfu to seismic testing for oil and gas in the waters off the Greek island, the British Guardian reported. Two Cuvier’s beaked whales were found stranded at Arillas and Agios Gordios beaches on the west of the island on 20 February. A third beaked whale ran ashore on Agios Gordios beach the day after. “It took dozens of volunteers over five ...

Guatemala City, 8 Mar (ONA) --- About 370 residents were evacuated today from the slopes of Guatemala’s Volcano of Fire as red-hot rock and ash flowed down the slopes toward an area devastated by a deadly 2018 eruption.Guatemala’s disaster agency said shelters had been opened for the evacuees.The 12,300-foot (3,763-meter) high Volcano of Fire is one of the most active in Central America and an eruption in 2018 killed 194 people and left another 234 missing.The biggest danger from the volcano are lahars, a mixture of ash, rock, mud and debris, that can bury entire ...

London, 8 Mar (ONA) --- A study suggests the world's largest rainforest is losing its ability to bounce back from damage caused by droughts, fires and deforestation.Large swathes could become sparsely forested savannah, which is much less efficient than tropical forest at sucking carbon dioxide from the air.The giant forest traps carbon that would otherwise add to global warming.But previous studies have shown that parts of the Amazon are now emitting more carbon dioxide than can be absorbed."The trees are losing health and could be approaching a tipping point - basically, a mass loss ...

Canberra, 8 Mar (ONA) --- Two more people died and 40,000 were told to evacuate in New South Wales as the eastern Australian state kept being battered by torrential rains today.The flood crisis has now claimed seven lives in the state after a 67-year-old woman and her 34-year-old son were found in floodwaters in western Sydney today, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet said.The premier said 40,000 people were under evacuation orders in the state, with two thirds of those orders in suburbs around Greater Sydney.At least 13 more people died in neighbouring Queensland in floods there, news ...

Beijing, 6 Mar (ONA) --- Fourteen people were killed in a coal mine accident in China's southwest Guizhou province, the official Xinhua news agency said today after a 10-day rescue operation.A collapse at the Shunxun coal mine in Zhenfeng county trapped the 14 people on 25 February 2022.The mine has an annual capacity of 150,000 tonnes, data from the National Energy Administration showed.China's mines are among the world's deadliest. The country in recent years has been calling for an end to small coal mines with an annual capacity below 300,000 tonnes due to environmental and safety ...

Sydney, 6 Mar (ONA) --- Sydney, Australia's most populous city that has been drenched in rain for days, braced for more heavy downpours today as the death toll from flooding across the country's east rose to 17.A wild weather system that dumped more than a year's worth of rainfall over a week in southern Queensland and northern New South Wales (NSW) brought widespread destruction, leaving thousands of people in the states displaced and sweeping away property, livestock and roads.A total of 17 people have been killed since the deluge began, according to police.The Bureau of ...

Colorado, US, 6 Mar (ONA) --- With a backdrop of mountain vistas and a rink of natural ice, the annual ice hockey tournament at Grand Lake offers a picturesque snapshot of Colorado’s beauty. What’s not apparent is the problem brewing under players’ skates. This year’s tournament was held a month later than normal, with thin ice forcing organizers to postpone the event originally scheduled for the third weekend of January. “We had slushy conditions and less than six inches of ice. There just was no way it could safely be held,” said Steve Kudron, mayor of ...

Sydney, 3 Mar (ONA) --- Around 500,000 people in Sydney and its surrounding areas had been told to evacuate or prepare to flee floodwaters as torrential rain lashed an extraordinarily long stretch of the Australian east coast. Rivers were rising in Australia’s most populous city, home to 5 million, with New South Wales’ State Emergency Services warning of “treacherous weather conditions” over the next 24 hours. Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology warned of life-threatening flash flooding and damaging winds with peak gusts in excess of 90 kilometers (56 miles) ...

Brisbane, Australia, 28 Feb (ONA) --- Parts of Australia’s third-most populous city Brisbane were under water today after heavy rains brought record flooding to some east coast areas and killed eight people. The flooding in Brisbane and its surrounds is the worst since 2011 when the city of 2.6 million people was inundated by what was described as a once-in-a-century event. Queensland emergency services warned life-threatening flash flooding was occurring in parts of Gold Coast. --- Ends/KH ...

Dallas, 24 Feb (ONA) --- Travel has been disrupted from Central Texas to the Great Lakes due to freezing rain and drizzle. The ice-glazed roads also led to hundreds of traffic accidents. Hundreds of flights were canceled at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport as the freezing rain iced parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas. Airlines had canceled more than 2,000 flights so far. Meanwhile, heavy snow is expected in upstate New York and New England later this week, with more than 8 inches (20 centimeters) possible through Saturday morning, ...

Antananarivo, Madagascar, 23 Feb (ONA) --- Cyclone Emnati crashed into the southeastern coast of Madagascar in the early hours today, ripping roofs off houses and raising fears of flooding and food shortages in a region still recovering from the destruction inflicted by another tropical storm just weeks ago. More than 30,000 people were moved to safe accommodation before Emnati arrived. Madagascar’s National Office for Risk and Disaster Management estimates more than 250,000 people could be impacted by the latest cyclone. There were no immediate reports of ...

Rome, 22 Feb (ONA) ---- The Italian coastguard has rescued more than 570 migrants in the central Mediterranean, though one person was recovered dead. The people on the two overcrowded fishing boats were in distress during the night due to bad weather conditions off the Calabrian coast, the Guardia Costiera said today. The crews of three patrol boats took the people on board and brought them to another coastguard vessel, where medical personnel took care of them. One person died before help could arrive. According to the migrants, the person had died in the past few days.The rescued ...

Lisbon, Portugal, 22 Feb (ONA) --- A fire aboard a ship carrying cars in the mid-Atlantic is dying out, a Portuguese navy officer said today. The huge vessel is expected to be towed to the Bahamas. The blaze on the Felicity Ace has burned for six days near Portugal’s Azores Islands. A Portuguese Air Force helicopter evacuated the 22 crew members last week, leaving the 200-meter-long (650-foot-long) vessel adrift. Two ocean-going tugboats with firefighting equipment have hosed down the ship’s hull to cool it. Two more tugboats were expected to arrive by the ...

London, 21 Feb (ONA) --- Storm Franklin is continuing to hammer parts of the United Kingdom (UK) with strong winds and heavy rain. There is severe flooding in parts of Northern Ireland and more than 80 flood warnings remain in place in parts of Yorkshire. "Severe disruption" means Network Rail is advising customers to check before they travel. Franklin comes days after Storm Eunice killed three people and left 1.4 million homes without power. Storm Franklin is the third named storm in a week - following Dudley and Eunice - the first time this has happened since ...

Buenos Aires, Argentina, 21 Feb (ONA) --- Wildfires that have been ravaging northern Argentina for several weeks advanced relentlessly, although the light rains that began over the weekend gave some hope to firefighters. Corrientes province is the most affected area, where local officials said at least eight separate fires continued to burn and had devastated at least 9% of its territory. The flames are consuming about 30,000 hectares (89,000 acres) a day in Corrientes, destroying almost 800,000 hectares so far, according to the latest official reports. Strong winds, low ...

Rio de Janeiro, 20 Feb (ONA) --- Bad weather has hampered the search for survivors in the Brazilian city of Petrópolis, four days after devastating flash floods and mudslides. Emergency teams had to suspend their work several times because of torrential rains. They say there is little hope of finding anyone alive. Officials say 146 people have died, including at least 27 children and teenagers, while 191 are still missing. More than 900 people are being housed in schools and shelters, BBC news reported. --- Ends/KH ...

London, 20 Feb (ONA) --- At least 16 people have been killed as Storm Eunice carved a deadly trail across Europe.According to the German News Agency (DPA), deaths were reported in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, the Irish Republic and the United Kingdom, as fierce winds felled trees and sent debris flying.Millions of homes and businesses lost power across Europe, while hundreds of flights have been cancelled and many more delayed.--- ...

Berlin, 17 Feb (ONA) --- Meteorologists warned today that Germany could see more extreme weather after a storm that swept across the country overnight toppled trees and caused widespread delays to rail and air traffic. There were no immediate reports of injuries. German rail company Deutsche Bahn said it halted long-distance connections in seven northern states early today. National carrier Lufthansa and other airlines also canceled several flights due to Storm Ylenia. Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia state closed schools as a precaution, and several other ...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 17 Feb (ONA) --- Rio de Janeiro s government has confirmed 94 deaths from floods and mudslides that swept away homes and cars in the city of Petropolis. But even as families prepared to bury their dead, it was unclear today how many bodies remained trapped in the mud. More than 24 hours after the deadly deluge early Tuesday, survivors were digging to find lost loved ones. Rio de Janeiro’s public prosecutors’ office said in a statement last night that it had compiled a list of 35 people yet to be located. Footage posted on social ...

Sydney, 16 Feb (ONA) --- A swimmer has been killed after being catastrophically injured in the first fatal shark attack in Sydney since 1963, Australian officials say. Emergency services were called to Little Bay beach near Malabar today where human remains were found in the water, police say. At the moment, Little Bay and several nearby beaches are closed. Police said the beach would remain closed for the meantime and urged people to practice caution on beaches and follow safety guidance, the BBC news reported. --- Ends/Anas ...

Petropolis, 16 Feb (ONA) --- About 38 people have died in landslides and flash flooding in the Brazilian city of Petropolis, emergency workers say. The city, which is located in the mountains north of Rio de Janeiro, was hit by torrential rainfall causing the destruction of houses in hillside neighborhoods, and cars being swept away by floodwaters. The city’s mayor declared state of emergency amid ongoing work in search and rescue missions for survivors, the BBC news reported. --- Ends/Anas ...

London, 16 Feb (ONA) --- More than eight million trees have been brought down due to winter storms and many are now threatened by another two named storms expected on Britain. The two storms, named Dudley and Eunice, are expected to worsen the already catastrophic damage caused on trees. The climate’s soaring heat is worsening weather and making it even more unpredictable. Management and planting strategies must adapt more quickly. Richard Tanner, a forest ranger said that the west shore of Windermere has been tremendously affected. All over the place giant ...

Brasilia, 16 Feb (ONA) -- At least 18 people have died in landslides and floods due to heavy rain in Petropolis city, Brazil today.Floods engulfed the streets and swept away cars and trees and authorities had urged the public to flee to safer places, according to CNN.It added that rescue teams had to use boats to look ...