Category: Environment

SYDNEY, April 5, 2010 (AFP) – Australian authorities were attempting Monday to stabilise a stranded Chinese coal carrier which is threatening to break up on the Great Barrier Reef and spill more oil into the pristine waters. The Shen Neng 1 ran aground on Saturday when it hit a shoal off the eastern state of […]

PARIS, March 14, 2010 (AFP) – Scientists revealed Sunday for the first time how some snakes can detect the faint body heat exuded by a mouse a metre (three feet) away with enough precision and speed to hunt in the dark. It has been known for decades that rattlesnakes, boas and pythons have so-called pit […]

LOVOZERO, March 2, 2010 (AFP) – In a billowing cloud of white, Russia’s Arctic herders drive thousands of panting and wild-eyed reindeer through the knee-deep snow to the first slaughter this year. But warm winters in recent years have forced herders here in the far northern Kola Peninsula to delay for months the rounding up […]

Feb 27, 2010 (LBO) – Community organizations in Sri Lanka’s dry zone could get apply to get a grant of up to 9000 US dollars under a program that promotes environmental friendly agriculture, water and waste management, the World Bank has said. The lender’s Colombo office is calling application to give grants under its Civil […]

SANTIAGO, February 28, 2010 (AFP) – One of the largest earthquakes on record killed at least 300 people in Chile on Saturday and sent giant waves roaring across the Pacific Ocean that forced Japan on tsunami alert almost a day later. In an address to the nation, President Michelle Bachelet said two million Chileans had […]

Feb 27, 2010 (LBO) – A tsunami generated by a large earthquake in Chile could reach the coasts of several Asian countries on Sunday, with Indonesia first in line at around 0300 Greenwich time followed by Japan and Philippines, a US government warning said. A Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) message says waves could reach […]

Feb 03, 2010 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has re-opened two wildlife parks in the country’s south and east which are famed for migratory birds and elephants, after an internal conflict which had kept them closed had ended, a top official said. Since the parks opened last week a few visitors had trickled in, but officials […]

LONDON, February 3, 2010 (AFP) – The embattled chief of the UN climate change panel admitted Wednesday that a mistake in a landmark 2007 report had damaged the body’s credibility, in an interview with a British newspaper. But Rajendra Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), refused to apologise in the interview […]

CHICAGO, January 20, 2010 (AFP) – Huge Asian carp, which act like “aquatic vacuum cleaners” and leap into the air when spooked by motorboats, may have invaded the US Great Lakes despite a massive effort to block them, officials said Tuesday. Researchers analyzing water samples have discovered fragments of Asian carp DNA in Lake Michigan, […]

Jan 18, 2009 (LBO) – Sri Lanka rural farmers living close to forested areas with wild elephants will be taught to manage human animal conflicts through a new model dairy pilot project, its promoters said. Exetel, an Australian IT firm that runs a call centre in Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society […]

PORT-AU-PRINCE, January 13, 2010 (AFP) – In just one terrifying minute the earth convulsed Tuesday in Haiti, flattening buildings and casually tossing chunks of twisted metal and concrete into the air. Thousands fled sobbing in terror and panic onto the streets of the capital Port-au-Prince, seeking to escape the fury of the 7.0 earthquake. But […]

BERLIN, January 10, 2010 (AFP) – The Arctic freeze gripping Europe left hundreds of people stuck in vehicles in deep snow or stranded at airports with scores of flights cancelled and power cuts to thousands of homes on Sunday. The treacherous conditions cut off villages in northern Germany and on the Baltic islands, and disrupted […]