A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of New Zealand Wednesday, but authorities reported no damage and issued no tsunami warning. The US Geological Survey says the quake occurred shortly after 1 a.m. local time. It was 187 miles (300 kilometers) southwest of Invercargill, New Zealand, and six miles (10 kilometers) under the sea….
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for pooling strength in the building of a Beautiful China and making the country even greener through afforestation efforts. Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks when attending a voluntary tree planting activity in…
Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court has called on Muslims to sight the crescent moon of Ramadan on the evening of Friday, February 28. The date corresponds with the 29th of Shaaban 1446 in the Islamic Hijri calendar. “The Supreme Court requests that anyone who sees it (the moon) with the naked eye or through binoculars informs the nearest…
Australia’s southeast on Saturday sweltered in a heat wave that raised the risk of bushfires and led authorities to issue fire bans for large parts of Victoria state. Australia faces a high-risk bushfire season that has already seen Victorian authorities battle a large fire that last week ripped through the state’s vast Grampians National Park, razing homes…
An earthquake measuring 5.7 magnitude struck Western Iran on Thursday, the German Research Centre for Geosciences (GFZ) said. The quake was at a depth of 10 km (6.2 miles), GFZ said. The quake, which occurred at 7:32 am local time at a depth of 10 kilometers, was felt across many parts of the province, with…
A new draft deal was released at deadlocked UN climate talks on Thursday, offering competing options that show rich and developing nations remain far apart on the money needed to help poorer countries tackle global warming. The two options in the text released at COP29 in Azerbaijan recognize a need of a trillion dollars per…
Beaver Moon reaches its peak on Friday, while Leonid meteor shower to shine brightly on Saturday. Stargazers are in for a treat this weekend, with two celestial events coinciding: the Beaver Moon – the final supermoon of the year – and the spectacular Leonid meteor shower, according to American local media. The Beaver Moon reached…
The Philippines ordered evacuations ahead of Typhoon Usagi on Wednesday, as the UN disaster office sought $32.9 million in aid for the country after storms that killed more than 150 people. The national weather service said Usagi, the archipelago’s fifth major storm in three weeks, was likely to make landfall Thursday in Cagayan province on the northeast…
A toxic haze enveloped India’s national capital on Wednesday morning as temperatures dropped and pollution surged, reducing visibility in some parts and prompting a warning from airport authorities that flights may be affected. Delhi overtook Pakistan’s Lahore as the world’s most polluted city in Swiss group IQAir’s live rankings, with an air quality index (AQI) score of…
Nearly 200,000 people in western Japan were urged to evacuate on Saturday as authorities warned of landslides and floods while the remnants of a tropical storm continue to affect the country. The Japan Meteorological Agency said that “warm, moist air… was causing heavy rainfall with thunderstorms in western Japan,” partly due to Kong-rey, which had been…
Rescuers in the Philippines were diving into a lake and scouring isolated villages on Sunday to locate dozens of missing people as the death toll from Tropical Storm Trami hit 100. Trami, which rammed into the Philippines on October 24, was among the deadliest storms to hit the Southeast Asian country this year. According to…
Hundreds of mysterious black tar-like balls have washed up on a popular Sydney beach, prompting lifeguards to close the strand to swimmers. “Mysterious, black, ball-shaped debris” began appearing on Coogee Beach on Tuesday afternoon the local mayor said, leaving flummoxed authorities scrambling to find out what they might be, and where they may have come from. “Coogee…
Milton is expected to make landfall on the Gulf Coast of Florida late Wednesday as a dangerous major hurricane, the US National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. The hurricane was located about 405 miles (650 km) southwest of Tampa Florida, packing maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 kmh), the Miami-based forecaster said.
Oct 5 – In the wake of the devastation of Hurricane Helene in the United States this week, a new storm emerged on social media – false rumors about how disaster funds have been used, and even claims that officials control the weather. Local and national government officials say they are trying to combat the rumors, including…
The moon blotted out most of the sun across the Pacific Ocean on Wednesday afternoon, giving just a few specks of land an impressive annular “ring of fire” eclipse. Only Easter Island and a small area near the southern tip of Chile and Argentina witnessed an annular eclipse, lasting just a few minutes. “The ring…
