The decision to hold a climate summit in oil-and-gas-producer Azerbaijan, which will be hosting the COP29 UN Climate Change Conference this year, has puzzled many environmental groups. But the tightly controlled energy-rich Caspian nation is seeking to change its reputation as a polluting authoritarian state.  Baku has in recent years organised numerous high-profile international events, which …

‘Vanity project’: a climate summit in oil-rich Azerbaijan Read More »

The death toll from central Chile’s blazing wildfires climbed to at least 112 people on Sunday, after President Gabriel Boric warned the number would rise “significantly” as teams search gutted neighborhoods.Responders continued to battle fires in the coastal tourist region of Valparaiso amid an intense summer heat wave, with temperatures soaring to 40 degrees Celsius …

Wildfires scorch central Chile, death toll tops 110 Read More »

Within minutes his world erupted in a hellish fire: Abraham Mardones, with just the clothes on his back, miraculously managed to escape the epicenter of the deadliest wildfires in Chile’s recent history.Still shaken by the charred bodies he saw inside the crumbling houses in his Villa Independencia neighborhood of Vina del Mar, the 24-year-old welder …

Chile wildfire survivors return to horrifying aftermath Read More »

Scorching summer heat is hard to imagine now in mid-winter Paris, but in six months’ time when the world’s athletes arrive for the Olympics, another pounding heatwave would spell trouble for organisers.A new study presenting “climate simulations to anticipate worst-case heatwaves during the Paris 2024 Olympics” has focused minds after it warned that the French …

Heatwave risk hovers over Paris Olympics Read More »

Paris voters on Sunday backed a proposal from the capital’s socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo to triple parking charges on hefty SUV-style cars, according to official results from city hall.Parisians voted 54.55 percent in favour of charging cars weighing 1.6 tonnes or more 18 euros ($19.50) per hour for parking in the city centre, or 12 …

Parisians vote in anti-SUV parking price referendum Read More »

The death toll from central Chile’s blazing wildfires jumped to at least 99 people on Sunday, after President Gabriel Boric warned the number would rise “significantly” as teams search gutted neighborhoods.Responders continued to battle fires in the coastal tourist region of Valparaiso amid an intense summer heat wave, with temperatures soaring to 40 degrees Celsius …

At least 99 dead in Chile wildfires Read More »

Wildfires blazing in central Chile have now killed at least 64 people and the toll will keep rising, President Gabriel Boric said Sunday as the disaster left bodies in the streets and homes gutted.Authorities warned “complicated” conditions as they battled fires in the coastal tourist region of Valparaiso amid an intense summer heat wave, with …

Extreme heat drives Chile wildfires leaving at least 64 dead Read More »

Parisians were voting on Sunday in a referendum on tripling parking costs for hefty SUV-style cars, a campaign that has drivers’ groups up in arms against city hall.Some 1.3 million in the French capital are eligible to cast their ballot on the change, which would see cars weighing 1.6 tonnes or more charged 18 euros …

Parisians vote in anti-SUV parking and pollution referendum Read More »

Chileans Sunday feared a rise in the death toll from wildfires blazing across the South American country that have already killed at least 51 people, leaving bodies in the street and homes gutted.Authorities warned Sunday of “complicated” conditions as they battled fires in the coastal tourist region of Valparaiso amid an intense summer heat wave, …

Extreme heat drives Chile wildfires leaving at least 51 dead Read More »

Turkey on Tuesday holds pre-dawn vigils for the loss of more than 50,000 people — and parts of entire cities — in the earthquake-prone country’s deadliest disaster of modern times.Grieving Turks are still coming to terms with how a 7.8-magnitude tremor could upturn the lives of millions of people in a matter of seconds while …

Turkey commemorates its worst disaster of modern times Read More »