Environment

Seven Killed After Fire Engulfs Philippine Ferry

At least seven people were killed and scores plucked to safety in the Philippines Monday after a fire ripped through a ferry and forced passengers to jump overboard, coast guard and witnesses said.The blaze broke out on the Mercraft 2 at around 6:30 am (2230 GMT Sunday) as it carried 134 passengers and crew from Polillo Island to Real in Quezon province on the main island of Luzon.Seven people died and 120 have been rescued so far, Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Armando Balilo sai

23 May 2022
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Is Our Food System About To Collapse?

For the past few years, scientists have been frantically sounding an alarm that governments refuse to hear: the global food system is beginning to look like the global financial system in the run-up to 2008.While financial collapse would have been devastating to human welfare, food system collapse doesn’t bear thinking about. Yet the evidence that something is going badly wrong has been escalating rapidly.

21 May 2022
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Monkeypox: Time To Worry Or One To Ignore?

If you're still reeling from the COVID pandemic, well sorry but there's another virus to get to grips with. This time it's monkeypox and there are around 80 confirmed cases in 11 countries, that would not normally expect to have the disease.So, what is going on?

21 May 2022
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‘Someone In Cockpit’ Caused China Eastern Crash

United States (US) investigators believe someone in the cockpit deliberately crashed a China Eastern flight that suddenly plunged to the ground in southern China in March, the Wall Street Journal has reported.The Boeing 737-800 was on its way from Kunming to Guangzhou on 21 March when it dropped from its cruising altitude of 29,000 feet into a mountainside, killing all 132 people on board.

18 May 2022
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SEA Games To Light Up Hanoi After COVID Delay

The SEA Games open in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi on Thursday after a six-month COVID delay with Southeast Asian pride at stake in everything from football to bodybuilding and eSports.More than 5,000 athletes including Olympic champions are vying for over 500 gold medals in the event, which is staged every two years, in what should be packed arenas.The 11-nation Games include traditional Olympic sports such as athletics, swimming and boxing, but also regional ones like sepak takraw, an eye-c

12 May 2022
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Indonesians Struggle With Pricey Cooking Oil

As millions of Indonesians travelled to their hometowns to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, one common struggle was being discussed in most family gatherings: the price of cooking oil.“I always host Eid al-Fitr celebrations for my big family. I cook everything for around 20 of us.

11 May 2022
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Indonesia’s Deadly Illegal Gold Mines

Lampang has been a miner at a community gold mine in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan for more than 30 years. Even still, he does not like to talk openly about his work.“Please don’t tell anyone the name of my mine,” Lampang, who is 53 years old and like many Indonesians only goes by one name, said.

9 May 2022
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Mystery Disease Kills Three Children In Indonesia

Three children in Indonesia have died from a mysterious liver disease, the country's health ministry said, raising to at least four the global death toll of a fatal ailment puzzling doctors from the United States (US) to Asia.This severe strain of acute hepatitis has been identified in nearly 230 children in 20 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Tuesday, raising concerns of the disease's "unknown origin".The symptoms afflicting the children include nausea,

5 May 2022
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Shanghai Lockdown: The Plight Of A Deliveryman

Weeks into a strict lockdown, most of Shanghai's 25 million population continue to rely on delivery riders to bring them food and supplies. But this largely invisible workforce of 20,000 faces a lack of shelter and safety. Two delivery riders tell their stories.Rider 1I've been so busy. So many people need supplies.

3 May 2022
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Survivor Rescued From Collapsed China Building

A woman was pulled out alive Tuesday from the rubble of a building that collapsed four days ago in central China, state media said, calling the rescue a "miracle".The commercial building in Changsha city, Hunan province – which housed apartments, a hotel and a cinema – caved in on Friday, sparking a massive rescue effort with hundreds of emergency responders.State broadcaster CCTV showed footage of a person wrapped in a thick striped blanket being carried on a stretcher – the ninth

3 May 2022
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‘Deep-Sea Gold Rush’ For Rare Metals Harmful

In a windowless conference room in Canary Wharf, dozens of mining executives, bankers and government officials are being promised unique insights into how to profit from “the deep-sea gold rush”.The hoped-for gold rush lies thousands of miles away on the bed of the Pacific Ocean, where trillions of potato-sized nodules of rare earth elements vital to power the next generation of electric cars have been discovered 4,000 metres below the surface.Mining companies are hoping that global rules to

1 May 2022
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Insatiable Greed Degrading Land Around The World

Human activities are damaging and degrading the lands of the Earth in an unsustainable fashion according to a new United Nations (UN) report.Up to 40 percent of the global terrain has already been devalued, mainly through modern agriculture.If nothing changes, then an additional area of land the size of South America will be damaged by 2050.But if lands are restored and protected, they could help contain climate change and species loss.

29 April 2022
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