Issues

Thousands homeless after fire guts migrant camp on Greek island

Thousands of migrants were left without shelter on Wednesday after overnight fires gutted their overcrowded camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, and authorities warned that some asylum seekers who…

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Bank of England tells insurers to step up climate change preparations

How much capital insurers and other financial firms must hold could be directly linked to their readiness to cope with risks from climate change, a senior Bank of England official…

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Fire breaks out at Greece’s overcrowded Moria refugee camp

Fire broke out at Greece’s overcrowded migrant camp of Moria on the island of Lesbos early on Wednesday, fire brigade officials said. There were no reports of injuries so far,…

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Amnesty demands criminal investigation into Malta’s treatement of refugees

International NGO Amnesty International has called for a criminal investigation into Malta's treatment of migrants and refugees. "Malta seems to have really escalated the level of unlawfulness," said Elisa De…

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UPDATED: Police in Tunisia shoot dead three suspected militants after officer stabbed

Police in Tunisia chased and shot dead three suspected Islamist militants after they attacked two police officers, killing one of them, in the coastal city of Sousse on Sunday, the…

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California hit by record heat wave

The California Independent System Operator (ISO) declared a "Stage 2" power emergency late on Saturday, warning that rotating power outages were possible amid a record heat wave. A Stage 2…

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70 migrants rescued at sea by a patrol boat in Lampedusa

A boat with the 70 migrants recovered at sea by a patrol boat of the harbour master's office heads to the commercial pier of the island of Lampedusa, southern Italy,…

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Climate change bigger economic risk than pandemic, ECB’s Schnabel says

The coronavirus pandemic demonstrates in the clearest terms why central banks must take a bigger role in fighting climate change even if the issue at first appears unrelated to monetary…

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Italian coastguard rescues people on board rescue ship funded by Bansky

The Italian coastguard said on Saturday it has rescued 49 people from the refugee rescue ship funded by street artist Banksy. The vessel had called for urgent help after assisting…

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Three years on, Rohingya refugees remain in Bangladesh camps

August 25 marked the third anniversary of attacks by Rohingya Muslim insurgents that triggered military retaliation and led to the exodus from Buddhist-majority Myanmar over following days and weeks of…

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Thirty-six migrants rescued off southern Spanish coast

Several sub-Saharan women and a boy are taken care of by Red Cross members upon their arrival at port in Motril, Granada, southern Spain, 26 August 2020. A total of…

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Dozens of migrants rescued off Greek island

Dozens of migrants have been rescued from a boat off the Greek island of Halki, the coast guard said on Wednesday, in one of the biggest operations of its kind…

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Photo Story: Potential hurricanes at each end of Caribbean

A handout picture made available by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows a wind speed probabilities projection map for the Tropical Storm Marco (L) and Laura (R) moving…

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China evacuates 100,000 as floods threaten heritage site

Floods on the upper reaches of China’s Yangtze river forced authorities to evacuate more than 100,000 people on Tuesday and threatened a 1,200-year-old world heritage site. Staff, police and volunteers…

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Suspected Islamist attack in Berlin

German authorities are investigating a series of car accidents that left several people injured on a Berlin motorway on Tuesday evening as an Islamist attack, prosecutors' spokesman told Focus magazine…

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Number of migrants landing in Italy more than doubles in past year

The number of migrants landing on Italy's shores has more than doubled in the last year as an economic crisis in Tunisia fuels migration in boats across the Mediterranean, Interior…

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Photo Story: Perseid meteor shower over Austria

A digital stacked combination of long-time multiple exposures shows satellites and Perseid meteors crossing the sky over a chapel near the town of Herrnleis during Perseid meteor shower, Austria. The…

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Last year was one of three warmest on record

Last year was one of the three warmest on record, with glaciers melting, sea levels rising and a spate of wildfires, heatwaves and droughts, research published in the Bulletin of…

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UK Royal Air Force sends plane to help monitor migrant crossings

Britain’s Royal Air Force has sent a maritime patrol aircraft to help support border control operations in the English Channel after an increase in migrants seeking to cross from France.…

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Ocean world found on dwarf planet, raising possibility of life

Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is an "ocean world" with a big reservoir of salty water under its frigid surface, scientists said in…

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More than 4,000 migrants reach UK by small boats in 2020

More than 4,000 migrants have now reached the UK in 2020 by crossing the English Channel in small boats. Families with young children have been among hundreds of people arriving…

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Countries urged to target human smugglers after migrants die at sea

Two UN agencies are calling for greater action to dismantle smuggling and trafficking networks following the deaths of 27 migrants off the coast of Mauritania, northwest Africa. The International Organization…

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Photo Story: The International Space Station passes in front of the Sun

The International Space Station (ISS) flies in front of the Sun as seen from the vicinity of Lieskovec, Slovakia, 08 August 2020. Next to it is the sunspot AR2770 is…

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UK armed forces asked to help deal with migrant boats crossing Channel

Britain’s armed forces have been asked to help deal with boats carrying migrants across the Channel from France, the Defence Ministry said after a spate of arrivals on the southern…

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British Government threatens to use ‘maritime assets’ to deter migrants

The British government has threatened to deploy "maritime assets", reported to include the Royal Navy, to stem the growing number of migrants trying to cross the English Channel. Sources told…

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Photo Story: Iraqi asylum seekers repatriated from Greece

Migrants wearing face masks board an airplane bound for Iraq, at the Eleftherios Venizelos International Airport in Athens, Greece, 06 August 2020. According to the Greek Migration and Asylum Ministry,…

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Italy to resume migrant repatriations to Tunisia

The Italian interior ministry announced that the repatriation of Tunisian migrants who land in Italy will resume on August 10. These repatriations had stopped during the coronavirus lockdown. The ministry…

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More people will die because of warmer climates than all infectious diseases – study

The worrying and growing death toll from global warming will come close to surpassing the current number of deaths from all the infectious diseases combined if planet-heating emissions are not…

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Photo Story: New landing of migrants in Lampedusa, southern Italy

Italian immigration officers help a child disembark from a ship as a group of migrants arrives from North Africa to the island of Lampedusa, southern Italy, 03 August 2020. According…

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SpaceX Crew Astronauts ‘splash down’ safely

Two NASA astronauts, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, splashed down safely in the SpaceX Crew Dragon “Endeavour” in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Pensacola, Florida, at 2:48…

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NASA set to launch robotic rover to seek signs of past life on Mars

NASA is set to launch an ambitious mission to Mars on Thursday with the liftoff of its next-generation Perseverance rover, a six-wheeled robot tasked with deploying a mini helicopter, testing…

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Migrants transferred from overcrowded hotspot Lampedusa to Palermo

A reported 43 migrants have been transferred from an overcrowded hotspot in Lampedusa to a hosting facility in Palermo, officials said Tuesday. The migrants on Monday night were taken by…

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Hanna pummels Texas coast with strong winds, heavy rain

Hanna, the first hurricane of the 2020 Atlantic season, left a trail of destruction along the Texas coast on Sunday, downing power lines, toppling part of the U.S.-Mexico border wall…

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UK Defence Secretary to boost ability to handle space threat from Russia, China

Britain will boost its ability to handle threats posed by Russia and China in space as part of a foreign, security and defence policy review being conducted by the UK…

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North American hurricane and wildfire season may be more extreme

The upcoming Atlantic hurricane season and California wildfires in the autumn may be more extreme than usual, the German reinsurer Munich Re said on Thursday. So-called La Nina weather conditions…

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China launches attempt to land rover on Mars

China successfully launched an unmanned probe to Mars on Thursday in its first independent mission to another planet, a bid for global leadership in space and a display of its…

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Ceremony to mark the 45th anniversary of Apollo-Soyuz docking

A series of photos during a ceremony to mark the 45th anniversary of the docking of a US Apollo space module with a Soviet Soyuz space capsule, at the Museum…

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Photo Story: Comet NEOWISE seen from the International Space Station

A handout picture made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows Comet NEOWISE (short for C/2020 F3 NEOWISE) viewed from the International Space Station (ISS) on 05…

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First images from Solar Orbiter Mission

A handout picture made available by the European Space Agency (ESA) shows a view of the Sun taken by the Polarimetric and Helioseismic Imager (PHI) Full Disc Telescope on ESA's…

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Record temperature trajectory threatens to breach 1.5°C global heating threshold

New climate data from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) predicts that the annual mean global temperature is likely to be at least 1.0°C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900) in each of…

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Red Cross: Climate change and conflict are a cruel combo that stalk the world’s most vulnerable

Countries affected by conflict are also disproportionately impacted by climate change, a double threat that pushes people out of their homes, disrupts food production, cuts off supplies, amplifies diseases and…

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France and Britain agree to form joint unit to fight migrant traffickers

The interior ministers of France and Britain on Sunday signed an agreement creating a new joint police intelligence unit to combat migrant traffickers and reduce the "unsustainable" numbers crossing the…

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Photo Story: Comet NEOWISE above Prague

The Comet NEOWISE or C/2020 F3 is seen above Prague Castle with St. Vitus Cathedral, in Prague, Czech Republic, 13 July 2020. The comet passed closest to the Sun on…

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Photo Story: Comet NEOWISE over Hungary

The Comet NEOWISE or C/2020 F3 is seen above Salgotarjan, Hungary, early 10 July 2020. It passed closest to the Sun on 03 July and its closest approach to Earth…

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Italian authorities seize migrant rescue boat Sea-Watch 3

Authorities in Italy have seized a boat operated by a German NGO that last month rescued more than 200 people stranded at sea, because it did not comply with safety…

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FAO strengthens efforts to help vulnerable countries fight climate change

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has been accredited as an implementing partner of the Adaptation Fund and will work with the international fund on projects…

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Rocket Lab vehicle fails to reach orbit, loses payload of satellites

A rocket from small-satellite launch firm Rocket Lab failed to reach orbit minutes after a successful liftoff from New Zealand on Saturday, the company said, losing its payload of seven…

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Heatwaves have become longer in most of the world since 1950s

Heatwaves have increased in both length and frequency in nearly every part of the world since the 1950s, according to what is described as the first study to look at…

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Fivefold growth of forest fires in Siberia

Russia’s forest fire aerial protection service says forest fires in Siberia have grown nearly fivefold over the past week. The fires come amid a notable heat wave in parts of…

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Greta Thunberg criticises the way world leaders behaved after her UN climate change speech in September

Greta Thunberg has voiced her frustration with world leaders who want selfies with her just so they can "look good". The 17-year-old environmental campaigner criticised the behaviour of high-ranking figures…

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Glasgow attacker identified as a Sudanese man

Police in Scotland named a man who was shot dead by officers during a knife attack in the city of Glasgow as Badreddin Abadlla Adam, 28, from Sudan. Six people,…

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NASA names HQ building after first African American female engineer at NASA

A handout picture made available by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) shows Mary Winston Jackson, the first African American female engineer at NASA, at work at NASA Langley…

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Ocean in Jupiter’s moon Europa could hold life

The interior ocean in Jupiter's moon Europa may be able to sustain life, NASA scientists believe. Their work is based on computer simulations of the reservoirs below the ice-shell…

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Virgin Galactic, NASA to develop program for private missions to space station

Billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc announced it has signed up with NASA to develop a program to promote private missions to the International Space Station (ISS), sending the…

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Microplastics found for first time in Antarctica’s food chain

For the first time, scientists have discovered microplastics inside small organisms living in the soil in Antarctica, according to a new study published on Wednesday. "Plastics are thus entering the…

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Record high temperatures…in Siberia

Russia recorded an all-time heat record in the least place one would probably expect to find a heatwave: that's above the Artcic Circle in Siberia, as the region continues to…

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Maxi anti-mafia operation in Catania leads to over 50 arrests

A vast antimafia operation was carried out in the early hours of the day in the Sicilian city of Catania. Hundreds of police officers, including members of special corps and…

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