Tag: global warming
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Flash floods kill 50 in western Afghanistan
Flash flooding has killed at least 50 people in western Afghanistan, provincial police said Saturday, a week after hundreds were washed away in the north of the country. The floods on Friday also destroyed about 2,000 houses, and damaged thousands more homes and businesses, Ghor police spokesman Abdul Rahman Badri said in a statement. The…
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Brace yourselves for another heatwave, more heavy rains
The Meteorological Department has warned that with a heatwave taking over, temperatures are likely to increase across Pakistan. The weather will be hot and dry in most parts of the country this week, while it will be even hotter in the southern regions. The heat intensity has not yet peaked due to rains in April…
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Hotter, drier, sicker? How a changing planet drives disease
Bangkok (AFP) – Humans have made our planet warmer, more polluted and ever less hospitable to many species, and these changes are driving the spread of infectious disease. Warmer, wetter climates can expand the range of vector species like mosquitos, while habitat loss can push disease-carrying animals into closer contact with humans. New research reveals how…
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Floods misery reminder of changing climate’s role in supercharging rain
Floods have been tearing a path of destruction across the globe, hammering Kenya, submerging Dubai, and forcing hundreds of thousands of people from Russia to China, Brazil and Somalia from their homes. Though not all directly attributed to global warming, they are occurring in a year of record-breaking temperatures and underscore what scientists have long warned –…
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World sweltered as April smashed global heat records
April marked another “remarkable” month of record-breaking global air and sea surface temperature averages, according to a new report by the EU’s climate monitor published on Wednesday. The abnormally warm conditions came despite the continued weakening of the El Nino weather phenomenon that contributes to increased heat, said the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, pointing…
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Rains, mudslides kill 29 in southern Brazil’s ‘worst disaster’
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday visited the country’s south where floods and mudslides caused by torrential rains have killed 29 people, with the toll expected to rise. Authorities in Rio Grande do Sul have declared a state of emergency as rescuers continue to search for dozens of people reported missing among the…
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Heatwave swells Asia’s appetite for air-conditioning
Hong Kong (AFP) – A record-breaking heatwave is broiling parts of Asia, helping drive surging demand for cooling options, including air-conditioning. AC exhaust units are a common feature of urban landscapes in many parts of Asia, clinging like limpets to towering apartment blocks in Hong Kong or tucked in a cross formation between the windows of…
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April temperatures in Bangladesh hottest on record
Bangladesh last month saw the hottest average April temperatures since the country began keeping weather records in 1948, a senior forecaster told AFP on Wednesday. “2024 was the hottest April since 1948 in terms of hot days and area coverage in the country,” Bangladesh Meteorological Department senior forecaster Muhammad Abul Kalam Mallik said. Bangladesh remains…
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Indian election resumes as heatwave hits voters
India’s six-week election juggernaut resumed Friday with millions of people lining up outside polling stations in parts of the country hit by a scorching heatwave. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is widely expected to win a third term in the election, which concludes in early June. But turnout in the first round of voting last week…
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Thousands in heatwave-hit Bangladesh pray for rain
Dhaka (AFP) – Thousands of Bangladeshis gathered to pray for rain on Wednesday in the middle of an extreme heatwave that prompted authorities to shut down schools around the country. Extensive scientific research has found climate change is causing heat waves to become longer, more frequent and more intense. Bangladesh’s weather bureau says that average maximum…