quake

'We need aid': rescuers in quake-hit Myanmar city plead for help

BY JOE STENSON AND SEBASTIEN BERGER

  • Among the worst-hit buildings in the city is the Sky Villa Condominium development, where more than 90 people are feared to be trapped.
  • Exhausted, overwhelmed rescuers in Myanmar's second-biggest city pleaded for help Saturday as they struggled to free hundreds of people trapped in buildings destroyed by a devastating earthquake.
  • Among the worst-hit buildings in the city is the Sky Villa Condominium development, where more than 90 people are feared to be trapped.
Exhausted, overwhelmed rescuers in Myanmar's second-biggest city pleaded for help Saturday as they struggled to free hundreds of people trapped in buildings destroyed by a devastating earthquake.
Friday's shallow 7.7-magnitude quake destroyed dozens of buildings in Mandalay, the country's cultural capital and home to more than 1.7 million people.
In one street, a monastery's clock tower lay collapsed on its side, its hands pointing to 12:55 pm -- just minutes after the time the quake struck.
Among the worst-hit buildings in the city is the Sky Villa Condominium development, where more than 90 people are feared to be trapped.
The building's 12 storeys were reduced to six by the quake, the cracked pastel green walls of the upper floors perched on the crushed remains of the lower levels.
A woman's body stuck out of the wreckage, her arm and hair hanging down.
Rescuers clambered over the ruins painstakingly removing pieces of rubble and wreckage by hand as they sought to open up passageways to those trapped inside.
Scattered around were the remains of people's lives -- a child's plastic bunny toy, pieces of furniture and a picture of the New York skyline.
Some residents sheltered under the shade of nearby trees, where they had spent the night, a few possessions they had managed to salvage -- blankets, motorbike helmets -- alongside them.
Elsewhere, rescuers in flip-flops and minimal protective equipment picked by hand over the remains of buildings, shouting into the rubble in the hope of hearing the answering cry of a survivor.
"There are many victims in condo apartments. More than 100 were pulled out last night," one rescue worker who requested anonymity told AFP. 

Carrying bodies by truck

Widespread power cuts have hampered rescue efforts, with emergency personnel relying on portable generators for power.
After more than 24 hours of desperate searching, many are exhausted and desperate for relief.
"We have been here since last night. We haven't got any sleep. More help is needed here," the rescue worker told AFP.
"We have enough manpower but we don't have enough cars. We are transporting dead bodies using light trucks. About 10-20 bodies in one light truck."
Myanmar is accustomed to regular earthquakes, bisected north to south by the active Sagaing Fault, but the violent fury of Friday's quake was exceptional. 
More than 1,000 deaths have been confirmed already, with nearly 2,400 injured, and with the scale of the disaster only beginning to emerge, the toll is likely to rise significantly.
"Yesterday, when the earthquake happened, I was in my home. It was quite scary," Mandalay resident Ba Chit, 55, told AFP.
"My family members are safe, but other people were affected. I feel so sorry for them. I feel very sad to see this kind of situation."
Myanmar's ability to cope with the aftermath of the quake will be hampered by the effects of four years of civil war, which have ravaged the country's healthcare and emergency systems.
In an indication of the potential enormity of the crisis, the junta has issued an exceptionally rare call for international aid.
Previous military rulers have spurned all foreign assistance even after major natural disasters.
"We need aid. We don't have enough of anything," resident Thar Aye, 68, told AFP.
"I feel so sad to see this tragic situation. I've never experienced anything like this before."
bur-pdw/rsc

quake

'Everyone was screaming': quake shocks Thailand tourists

BY SALLY JENSEN AND MONTIRA RUNGJIRAJITTRANON

  • Some were lazing in rooftop pools when the powerful shaking began to slop the water off the edge of high-rise buildings.
  • French tourist Augustin Gus was shopping for a t-shirt in one of Bangkok's many malls when a massive quake began shaking the building in the Thai capital.
  • Some were lazing in rooftop pools when the powerful shaking began to slop the water off the edge of high-rise buildings.
French tourist Augustin Gus was shopping for a t-shirt in one of Bangkok's many malls when a massive quake began shaking the building in the Thai capital.
"Just when I left the elevator, the earth starts moving. I thought it was me... it was not me," the 23-year-old told AFP.
"Everyone was screaming and running, so I started screaming as well."
The powerful 7.7-magnitude quake struck Friday afternoon in neighbouring Myanmar, where over 1,000 people have been killed and several cities face large-scale destruction.
The damage and toll was far smaller in Bangkok, with 10 people confirmed dead so far, most in the collapse of an under-construction skyscraper.
For many tourists who flocked to the popular destination, the quake was a disconcerting experience.
Some were lazing in rooftop pools when the powerful shaking began to slop the water off the edge of high-rise buildings.
Others were left stranded in the streets with their luggage when the city's metro and light-rail system shut down for safety checks after the quake.
The city's residents, unused to earthquakes, were not able to offer much guidance, said one business traveller from the Solomon Islands, who asked not to be named.
"Unfortunately there were no procedures in place" during his evacuation from the 21st floor of a Bangkok skyscraper on Friday.
"So everyone was getting confused," he said. "I just wanted to get out." 
Cristina Mangion, 31, from Malta, was in her hotel bed when the shaking began.
"I thought I was feeling dizzy from the heat," she told AFP.
Hotel staff came to knock at the doors of each room to offer help, and Mangion's father quickly messaged to check she was okay.

Soldiering on

Despite the experience Mangion and Gus were among the tourists out on Saturday at the sprawling Chatuchak market.
The popular tourist draw is not far from the scene of the deadly building collapse, and market security guard Yim Songtakob said crowds were thinner than usual.
"That's normal... people are scared," said the 55-year-old, who has worked at the market for a decade.
Still, Mangion said she would not be deterred by the tremors.
"I feel bad for what happened," she said. 
"I think the best thing is to actually come here and... really help the locals with their business anyway because this weekend will probably be harder than usual for business."
Gus also said he was not worried about enjoying the rest of his three-week trip.
"I'll still have great memories, it's just an experience and that's why I'm travelling," he said.
Frenchman Gilles Franke, a regular visitor to Thailand who hopes to one day retire in the country, was equally sanguine about the risk of aftershocks.
"When it's your time, it's your time," the 59-year-old told AFP.
"You can die when you cross the road, you can die at any time in your life."
bur/pdw

Climate and Environment

South Korea firefighters deploy helicopters as wildfires reignite

  • Later Saturday, an official from the North Gyeongsang provincial government said helicopters were still being deployed in Andong areas to extinguish mostly small flames and smoke.
  • South Korean firefighters deployed helicopters Saturday as the country's biggest wildfires on record that ravaged wide areas of its southeast reignited in one of the region's cities, an official said.
  • Later Saturday, an official from the North Gyeongsang provincial government said helicopters were still being deployed in Andong areas to extinguish mostly small flames and smoke.
South Korean firefighters deployed helicopters Saturday as the country's biggest wildfires on record that ravaged wide areas of its southeast reignited in one of the region's cities, an official said.
More than a dozen fires have been fanned by high winds and dry conditions, killing 30 people and injuring dozens more in southeastern regions, an interior ministry official said Saturday.
Fires were whipped up again early Saturday in Andong, a city in the worst-hit North Gyeongsang province, forcing authorities to deploy eight helicopters to the area, an official from the Korea Forest Service told AFP.
It came a day after the main fire in the province, where 26 of the 30 victims have died, was extinguished.
"It seems that the remaining embers have flared up a bit," said the official.
"We plan to deploy more helicopters to the area in Andong."
The fires there began on Saturday last week and rolled on for days.
More than 2,900 homes in the region have been completely destroyed, according to the latest figures.
An official said this week that more than 35,000 hectares (86,500 acres) of forest have been burned.
The fire also destroyed several historic sites, including the Gounsa temple complex in the southeastern city of Uiseong, which is believed to have been originally built in the 7th century.
The extent of the damage makes it South Korea's largest-ever wildfire.
Later Saturday, an official from the North Gyeongsang provincial government said helicopters were still being deployed in Andong areas to extinguish mostly small flames and smoke.
"Given the size of the area, it may take some time to complete all operations and fully extinguish the fires," Do Gyu-myeong told AFP. 
Most of the victims in the region were elderly, according to the Korea Forest Service.
Those killed include a pilot in his 70s whose helicopter crashed Wednesday while he was trying to contain a fire.
The flames have been fanned by high winds and ultra-dry conditions, with the area experiencing below-average rains for months after South Korea had its hottest year on record in 2024.
The interior ministry said the wildfires were accidentally started by a grave visitor and "sparks from a brush cutter".
Lee Hye-young, a 65-year-old resident of Andong, said she still remains traumatised by the experience.
"It was really scary to see the sparks flying around all at once," she told AFP.
"While living in North Gyeongsang, I never thought that such a large disaster would strike us."
cdl/jfx

quake

Deadly earthquake forces Thai patients into sports hall

  • When the earthquake struck, patients at Rajavithi Hospital were rushed out of the building, some helped down stairs to nearby makeshift shelters, including to the hospital's canteen and sports hall.
  • Beneath basketball hoops and beside football goals, hospital beds line a sports hall -- patients evacuated from a hospital in the Thai capital for fear of damage by a devastating earthquake.
  • When the earthquake struck, patients at Rajavithi Hospital were rushed out of the building, some helped down stairs to nearby makeshift shelters, including to the hospital's canteen and sports hall.
Beneath basketball hoops and beside football goals, hospital beds line a sports hall -- patients evacuated from a hospital in the Thai capital for fear of damage by a devastating earthquake.
The shallow 7.7-magnitude quake struck central Myanmar on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock -- with powerful tremors shaking Bangkok, more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) to the south.
When the earthquake struck, patients at Rajavithi Hospital were rushed out of the building, some helped down stairs to nearby makeshift shelters, including to the hospital's canteen and sports hall.
The worst impact was in Myanmar, where the junta said at least 1,002 people were killed and nearly 2,400 injured.
Around 10 more deaths have been confirmed in Bangkok, where the Friday lunchtime tremors shook buildings and created panic on the streets.
The construction site of a new 30-storey government building quickly turned into a disaster scene, with people jumping into cars to escape or shrieking as they fled on foot.
Dramatic video footage showed the tremor rocking a high-rise hotel, with water from its rooftop pool whipping over the building's edge.

Fear

At the hospital, staff rushed to take the patients outside.
One patient, being treated for leukaemia, told AFP that she was moved from her private room to a hall in Rajavithi Hospital, walking down multiple flights of stairs aided by nurses.
"I need to receive my blood platelets soon, and the hospital is currently checking which other hospital can provide the treatment," she said, asking not to be named.
Some were later moved back inside, while others were transferred to different hospitals this morning, a hospital staff member said.
On Saturday, around 30 patients were in the hall, where hospital staff provided basic medical care including blood transfusions.
Many Bangkok residents were terrified, remaining fearful about aftershocks.
Some chose to sleep outside under trees in open spaces in Bangkok, or popped up tents in the park for the night. 
Others came out to help.
Panadda Wongphudee, an actor and a former Miss Thailand who often takes part in volunteer activities, handed out refreshments to rescue workers.
bur-pjm/pdw/dhw

energy

Tunisian startup turns olive waste into clean energy

BY AYMEN JAMLI

  • At his workshop, employees transport truckloads of olive waste, stacking it high before feeding it into the processing machines.
  • In a northern Tunisian olive grove, Yassine Khelifi's small workshop hums as a large machine turns olive waste into a valuable energy source in a country heavily reliant on imported fuel.
  • At his workshop, employees transport truckloads of olive waste, stacking it high before feeding it into the processing machines.
In a northern Tunisian olive grove, Yassine Khelifi's small workshop hums as a large machine turns olive waste into a valuable energy source in a country heavily reliant on imported fuel.
Holding a handful of compacted olive residue -- a thick paste left over from oil extraction -- Khelifi said: "This is what we need today. How can we turn something worthless into wealth?"
For generations, rural households in Tunisia have burned olive waste for cooking and heating, or used it as animal feed.
The International Olive Council estimated Tunisia will be the world's third-largest olive oil producer in 2024-2025, with an expected yield of 340,000 tonnes.
The waste generated by the oil extraction is staggering.
Khelifi, an engineer who grew up in a family of farmers, founded Bioheat in 2022 to tackle the issue. He recalled watching workers in olive mills use the olive residue as fuel.
"I always wondered how this material could burn for so long without going out," he said. "That's when I asked myself: 'Why not turn it into energy?'"
Beyond profit, Khelifi hopes his startup helps "reducing the use of firewood as the country faces deforestation and climate change".
At his workshop, employees transport truckloads of olive waste, stacking it high before feeding it into the processing machines.
The material is then compacted into cylindrical briquettes and left to dry for a month under the sun and in greenhouses before its packaging and sale.

The soul of olives

Khelifi began developing his idea in 2018 after he travelled across Europe searching for a machine to turn the olive paste into long-burning fuel.
Unable to find the right technology, he returned to Tunisia and spent four years experimenting with various motors and mechanical parts.
By 2021, he had developed a machine that produced briquettes with just eight-percent moisture.
He said this amount significantly reduces carbon emissions compared to firewood, which requires months of drying and often retains more than double the amount of moisture.
Bioheat found a market among Tunisian restaurants, guesthouses, and schools in underdeveloped regions, where winter temperatures at times drop below freezing.
But the majority of its production -- about 60 percent -- is set for exports to France and Canada, Khelifi said.
The company now employs 10 people and is targeting production of 600 tonnes of briquettes in 2025, he added.
Selim Sahli, 40, who runs a guesthouse, said he replaced traditional firewood with Khelifi's briquettes for heating and cooking.
"It's an eco-friendly and cost-effective alternative," he said. "It's clean, easy to use, and has reduced my heating costs by a third."
Mohamed Harrar, the owner of a pizza shop on the outskirts of Tunis, praised the briquettes for reducing smoke emissions, which he said previously irritated his neighbours. 
"Besides, this waste carries the soul of Tunisian olives and gives the pizza a special flavour," he added.

'Protect the environment'

Given Tunisia's significant olive oil production, waste byproducts pose both a challenge and an opportunity.
Noureddine Nasr, an agricultural and rural development expert, said around 600,000 tonnes of olive waste is produced annually.
"Harnessing this waste can protect the environment, create jobs, and generate wealth," he said.
Nasr believes repurposing olive waste could also help alleviate Tunisia's heavy dependence on imported fuel.
The country imports more than 60 percent of its energy needs, a reliance that widens its trade deficit and strains government subsidies, according to a 2023 World Bank report.
Fuel and gas shortages are common during winter, particularly in Tunisia's northwestern provinces, where households struggle to keep warm.
Redirecting agricultural waste into alternative energy sources could ease this burden.
Yet for entrepreneurs like Khelifi, launching a startup in Tunisia is fraught with challenges.
"The biggest hurdle was funding," he said, lamenting high-interest bank loans. "It felt like walking on a road full of potholes."
But now his goal is "to leave my mark as a key player in Tunisia's transition to clean energy", he added. "And hopefully, the world's, too."
ayj/bou/it

quake

Massive quake kills more than 150 in Myanmar, Thailand

BY SEBASTIEN BERGER AND HLA HLA HTAY WITH DAMON WAKE IN BANGKOK

  • Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said 144 people had been killed, with 732 confirmed injured, but warned the toll was "likely to rise". 
  • A huge earthquake hit Myanmar and Thailand on Friday, killing more than 150 people and injuring hundreds, with dozens trapped in collapsed buildings and the death toll expected to rise.
  • Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said 144 people had been killed, with 732 confirmed injured, but warned the toll was "likely to rise". 
A huge earthquake hit Myanmar and Thailand on Friday, killing more than 150 people and injuring hundreds, with dozens trapped in collapsed buildings and the death toll expected to rise.
The shallow 7.7-magnitude tremor hit northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar in the early afternoon, and was followed minutes later by a 6.4-magnitude aftershock.
The quake flattened buildings, downed bridges, and cracked roads across swathes of Myanmar, and even demolished a 30-storey skyscraper under construction hundreds of kilometres (miles) away in Bangkok.
While the full extent of the catastrophe is yet to emerge, the leader of isolated Myanmar, in the grip of a civil war, issued a rare plea for international aid.
Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing said 144 people had been killed, with 732 confirmed injured, but warned the toll was "likely to rise". 
Eight deaths have been confirmed so far in Thailand, with more expected.
"I would like to invite any country, any organisation, or anyone in Myanmar to come and help. Thank you," he said in a televised speech, after visiting a hospital in the capital Naypyidaw.
He urged massive relief efforts in the wake of the disaster and said he had "opened all ways for foreign aid".
US President Donald Trump said Washington would be offering assistance.

'Mass casualty area '

Four years of civil war sparked by the military seizing power have ravaged Myanmar's infrastructure and healthcare system, leaving it ill-equipped to respond to such a disaster.
Power is down in parts of Myanmar's biggest city Yangon, the local utility said.
The country declared a state of emergency across the six worst-affected regions after the quake.
Hundreds of casualties arrived at a major hospital in Naypyidaw, where the emergency department entrance had collapsed on a car.
Medics treated the wounded outside the hospital, the same one visited by the junta chief. One official described it as a "mass casualty area".
"I haven't seen (something) like this before. We are trying to handle the situation. I'm so exhausted now," a doctor told AFP.
Mandalay, Myanmar's second largest city, appeared to have been badly hit. AFP photos from the city showed multiple buildings in ruins.
A resident reached by phone told AFP that a hospital and a hotel had been destroyed, and said the city was badly lacking in rescue personnel.
The main road bridge linking Mandalay and Sagaing was down, the city's university and historic palace wall have collapsed, and telecoms have been affected, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.

Skyscraper collapse

Across the border in Thailand, a 30-storey skyscraper under construction collapsed into a tangled heap of rubble and dust in a matter of seconds.
Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said eight dead bodies have been recovered and, with between 90 and 110 people unaccounted for, the toll is expected to rise.
"We see several dead bodies under the rubble. We will take time to bring the bodies out to avoid any further collapses," he told reporters.
"I heard people calling for help, saying 'help me'," Worapat Sukthai, deputy police chief of Bang Sue district, told AFP.
As night fell, around 100 rescue workers assembled at the scene to search for survivors, illuminated by specially erected floodlights.
Visiting the site, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said "every building" in Bangkok would need to be inspected for safety, though it was not immediately clear how that would be carried out.
An emergency zone was declared in Bangkok, where some metro and light rail services were suspended.
The streets of the capital were full of commuters attempting to walk home, or simply taking refuge in the entrances of malls and office buildings.
City authorities said parks would stay open overnight for those unable to sleep at home.
Strong quakes are extremely rare in Thailand, and across Bangkok and the northern tourist destination of Chiang Mai, stunned residents hurried outside, unsure of how to respond.
"This is the strongest tremor I've experienced in my life," said Sai, 76, who rushed out of a minimart in Chiang Mai when it started to shake.
The quake was felt across the region, with China, Cambodia, Bangladesh and India all reporting tremors.
India, France and the European Union offered to provide assistance, while the WHO said it was mobilising to prepare trauma injury supplies.
Pope Francis said he was "deeply saddened by the loss of life and widespread devastation" in a telegram published by the Vatican.
Earthquakes are relatively common in Myanmar.
A powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake in the ancient capital Bagan in central Myanmar killed three people in 2016, also toppling spires and crumbling temple walls at the tourist destination.
burs-pdw/sst

diplomacy

Clouds and conspiracies: concerns over push to make rain

BY EMMA GUILLAUME

  • While attempting to control the weather might sound like science fiction, countries have been seeding clouds for decades to try to make rain or snow fall in specific regions.
  • Can countries control the clouds?
  • While attempting to control the weather might sound like science fiction, countries have been seeding clouds for decades to try to make rain or snow fall in specific regions.
Can countries control the clouds? And should they? 
As climate change drives floods and drought, rainmaking is in fashion across the world, despite mixed evidence that it works and concerns it can stoke cross-border tensions.
While attempting to control the weather might sound like science fiction, countries have been seeding clouds for decades to try to make rain or snow fall in specific regions.
Invented in the 1940s, seeding involves a variety of techniques including adding particles to clouds via aircraft.
It is used today across the world in an attempt to alleviate drought, fight forest fires and even to disperse fog at airports.
In 2008, China used it to try to stop rain from falling on Beijing's Olympic stadium.
But experts say that there is insufficient oversight of the practice, as countries show an increasing interest in this and other geoengineering techniques as the planet warms.
The American Meteorological Society has said that "unintended consequences" of cloud seeding have not been clearly shown -- or ruled out -- and raised concerns that unanticipated effects from weather modification could cross political boundaries. 
But experts say the main risk might be more a matter of perception. 
"If a country learns that its neighbour is changing the weather, it will be tempted to blame the neighbour to explain a drought," according to a research note published this month by Marine de Guglielmo Weber, a researcher at France's Strategic Research Institute at the Paris Military School (IRSEM). 
China, for example, is one of the world's most prolific weather modifiers, launching the Sky River initiative in 2018 with the aim of alleviating water shortages and boosting the country's food security. 
The country has conducted operations on the Tibetan plateau, but de Guglielmo Weber warned that this could be seen to affect water availability in downstream countries, such as its rival India.

'Cloud theft'

French writer Mathieu Simonet, who has campaigned for clouds to have UN protection, said seeding could stoke fake news and misinformation "in today's explosive world".
"I think the real risk of cloud theft is psychological," he said.  
In 2018, for example, an Iranian general accused Israel of "stealing clouds" to prevent rain falling in Iran, which was then suffering a severe drought. 
In a context of "extremely intense informational confusion", de Guglielmo Weber warned: "Sometimes it's the conspiracy that wins out," adding that this can be fuelled by mistrust of scientific institutions.  
In 2024, for example, following huge floods in southern Brazil and in the United Arab Emirates, thousands of climate sceptic social media accounts spread false accusations that the torrential rains were triggered by cloud seeding.
De Guglielmo Weber said that raises the challenge of proving, or disproving, the role of weather modification.
And there have been instances when cloud seeding was used deliberately in warfare.
The United States used it during "Operation Popeye" to slow the enemy advance during the Vietnam War.
In response, the UN created a 1976 convention prohibiting "military or any other hostile use of environmental modification techniques". 
A number of countries have not signed the convention, said de Guglielmo Weber. She added that the accord "is very limited" and does not apply if a country causes a climate hazard by accident.

'Silver bullet'

Researcher Laura Kuhl said there was "significant danger that cloud seeding may do more harm than good", in a 2022 article for the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. 
"Cloud seeding is perhaps the ultimate silver bullet, in which literal silver in the form of silver iodide is infused into clouds, causing ice crystals to form and water to condense into rain or snow," wrote Kuhl, an associate professor at Northeastern University in the United States, a specialist in climate adaptation.
She said technological fixes like weather manipulation could distract attention from more complex discussions and reinforce things like unequal water access.
Meanwhile, research on the effects of cloud seeding on neighbouring regions is mixed -- and some evidence suggests it does not work very well even in the target area. 
An assessment published in 2019 by an expert team on weather modification from the World Meteorological Organization found seeding increases precipitation between "essentially zero" and around 20 percent.
It recognised that more countries were turning to cloud seeding but added: "Sometimes desperate activities are based on empty promises rather than sound science."
egu/klm/np/rlp

weather

Clouds changing as world warms, adding to climate uncertainty

BY NICK PERRY

  • "That's why clouds are the greatest challenge.
  • People have always studied the skies to predict the weather, but recently scientists have noticed that clouds are changing on a global scale -- posing one of the greatest challenges to understanding our warming world.
  • "That's why clouds are the greatest challenge.
People have always studied the skies to predict the weather, but recently scientists have noticed that clouds are changing on a global scale -- posing one of the greatest challenges to understanding our warming world.
Some clouds are rising higher into the atmosphere, where they trap more heat. Others are reflecting less sunlight, or shrinking and allowing more solar energy to reach Earth's surface.
Scientists know this is affecting the climate, because the vital role that clouds play in warming and cooling the planet is well understood.
Recent research has shown that clouds -- or rather, a lack of them -- helped drive a stunning surge in record-breaking global heat over the last two years.
What is less certain is how clouds might evolve as the world warms. Will they have a dampening effect on global warming, or amplify it? And if so, by how much?
"That's why clouds are the greatest challenge. Figuring them out is -- and has been -- the big roadblock," said Bjorn Stevens from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology in Germany, who has written extensively on the subject.
Cloud behaviour is notoriously complex to predict and remains a great unknown for scientists trying to accurately forecast future levels of climate change.
Changes in clouds could mean that, even with the same amount of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions, "we could get much more warming or much less warming", said Robin Hogan, principal scientist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
"That's a big scientific uncertainty," he told AFP. 
With satellites and supercomputers, scientists are improving cloud modelling and slowly filling in the missing pieces of the puzzle.

Vicious cycle

Part of the difficulty is that clouds are not uniform -- they act differently depending on their type, structure and altitude.
Fluffy, low-hanging clouds generally have a cooling influence. They are big and bright, blocking and bouncing back incoming sunlight. 
Higher, streaky ones have a warming effect, letting sunlight trickle through and absorbing heat reflected back from Earth.
In recent decades, scientists have observed a growing imbalance between the amount of energy arriving, rather than leaving Earth, hinting at cloud changes.
As the climate has warmed, certain clouds have drifted higher into the atmosphere where they have a stronger greenhouse effect, said Hogan. 
"That actually amplifies the warming," he said.
This is growing evidence that lower clouds are also changing, with recent studies pointing to a marked decline of this cooling layer. 
Less reflective cloud exposes more of Earth's surface to sunlight and boosts warming in a "vicious feedback cycle", said climate scientist Richard Allan from the University of Reading.
In March, Allan co-authored a study in the journal Environmental Research Letters that found dimmer and less extensive low-lying clouds drove a doubling of Earth's energy balance in the past 20 years, and contributed to record ocean warmth in 2023.
A study in December, published in the journal Science, also identified a sharp drop in low-lying cloudiness as a likely culprit for that exceptional warming. 
Stevens said scientists generally agreed that Earth had become less cloudy -- but there are a number of theories about the causes.
"Clouds are changing. And the question is how much of that change is natural variability -- just decadal fluctuations in cloudiness -- and how much of that is forced from the warming," he said.

No smoking gun

Another theory is that decades-long global efforts to improve air quality are altering the formation, properties and lifespan of clouds in ways that are not yet fully understood.
Clouds form around aerosols -- tiny airborne particles like desert dust and sea salt carried on the wind, or pollution from human activity like burning fossil fuels.
Aerosols not only help clouds take shape, but can make them more reflective.
Recent research has suggested that clean air policies -- particularly a global shift to low-sulphur shipping fuel in 2020 -- reduced cloud cover and brightness, inadvertently pushing up warming.
Allan said aerosols were one factor, but it was likely lower clouds were also "melting away" as the climate warmed. 
"My feeling is there's a combination of things. It's never one simple smoking gun," he said.
New tools are chipping away at the uncertainty.
Last May, European and Japanese space agencies launched EarthCARE, a revolutionary satellite capable of capturing unprecedented detail of inner cloud workings.
In orbit it joins PACE -- a cutting-edge NASA satellite also studying aerosols, clouds and climate -- that lifted off just three months earlier.
Other recent innovations, including in machine learning, were helping "bridge the gap" in cloud understanding, said Kara Lamb, a research scientist and aerosols expert at Columbia University.
"We are seeing progress over time," she told AFP.
np/klm/yad

quake

Lines of wounded at Myanmar hospital after powerful quake

BY JOE STENSON WITH CHAYANIT ITTHIPONGMAETEE IN BANGKOK

  • Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing visited the hospital, surveying the wounded lying on stretchers.
  • Rows of wounded lay outside the emergency department of the 1,000-bed hospital in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw on Friday, some writhing in pain and others in shock after a powerful earthquake.
  • Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing visited the hospital, surveying the wounded lying on stretchers.
Rows of wounded lay outside the emergency department of the 1,000-bed hospital in Myanmar's capital Naypyidaw on Friday, some writhing in pain and others in shock after a powerful earthquake.
A stream of casualties were brought to the hospital -- some in cars, others in pickups, and others carried on stretchers, their bodies bloody and covered in dust.
"This is a mass casualty area", a hospital official said, as they ushered journalists away from the treatment area.
The hospital itself was hit by the terrifying tremors, which buckled roads and ripped tarmac apart as the ground vibrated violently for around half a minute.
The hospital's emergency department was itself heavily damaged, a car crushed under the heavy concrete of its fallen entrance.
"Many injured people have been arriving, I haven't seen anything like this before," a doctor at the hospital told AFP.
"We are trying to handle the situation. I'm so exhausted."
Some cried in pain, others lay still as relatives sought to comfort them, intravenous drips from their arms.
"Hundreds of injured people are arriving... but the emergency building here also collapsed," security officials at the hospital said.
Others sat stunned with their head in their hands, blood caking their faces and limbs.
Myanmar's military chief Min Aung Hlaing visited the hospital, surveying the wounded lying on stretchers.

'Help me'

The Myanmar capital is some 250 kilometres (150 miles) south from the epicentre of the 7.7-magnitude shallow tremor, that hit northwest of the city of Sagaing on Friday afternoon, according to the United States Geological Survey.
A 6.4-magnitude aftershock hit the same area minutes later.
A team of AFP journalists were at the National Museum in Naypyidaw when the earthquake struck, with chunks of the ceiling falling and cracks running up the walls.
The road to one of the biggest hospitals in Naypyidaw was jammed with traffic.
As ambulance weaved between vehicles, and shouting paramedic pleaded to be allowed to get through to reach the care of doctors.
Those inside ran outside, many trembling and tearful, and frantically trying to call family members on their phones to check if they were alive.
Powerful tremors were also felt in neighbouring China and in Thailand, where buildings in the capital Bangkok were shaken violently. 
Worapat Sukthai, deputy police chief of Bangkok's Bang Sue district, said he could hear the sound of people screaming for aid trapped in the debris after a 30-story under-construction tower block collapse.
"I heard people calling for help, saying help me," he told AFP. "We estimate that hundreds of people are injured but we are still determining the number of casualties."
"I fear many lives have been lost. We have never experienced an earthquake with such a devastating impact before."
Bangkok residents are used to tremors -- and know to find a safe space outside if possible -- but many said the force on Friday came as a shock.
"I was shopping inside a mall when I noticed some signs moving, so I quickly ran outside," said Attapong Sukyimnoi, a broker. "I knew I had to get to an open space -- it was instinct."
burs-pjm/hmn

wildfires

Rain offers respite to South Korea firefighters as death toll rises

BY YONG-JU SHIN WITH CLAIRE LEE IN SEOUL

  • South Korea's interior ministry said a total of 28 people had been killed as of Friday morning, and 37 others were injured -- nine seriously.
  • Overnight rain helped douse some of South Korea's worst-ever wildfires, authorities said Friday, as the death toll from the unprecedented blazes raging for nearly a week reached 28.
  • South Korea's interior ministry said a total of 28 people had been killed as of Friday morning, and 37 others were injured -- nine seriously.
Overnight rain helped douse some of South Korea's worst-ever wildfires, authorities said Friday, as the death toll from the unprecedented blazes raging for nearly a week reached 28.
More than a dozen fires have ravaged large areas of the country's southeast, destroying an ancient temple, and forcing around 37,000 people to evacuate.
The wildfires blocked roads and knocked out communication lines, causing residents to flee in panic as fireballs rained down on cars stuck in traffic jams.
The flames have been fanned by high winds and ultra-dry conditions, with the area experiencing below-average rains for months after South Korea had its hottest year on record in 2024.
Lim Sang-seop, chief of the Korea Forest Service, said the main fire in North Gyeongsang province, which started around noon last Saturday, was extinguished on Friday afternoon.
It was the deadliest of several wildfires, killing 24 people.
Rain which started Thursday afternoon "reduced the haze, improving visibility, and the cooler temperatures compared to other days create very favourable conditions for firefighting efforts", Lim said.
South Korea's interior ministry said a total of 28 people had been killed as of Friday morning, and 37 others were injured -- nine seriously.
Most of the victims of the fire, which hit deeply rural Andong and Uiseong hardest, were "in their 60s and 70s", an official from the Korea Forest Service told AFP.
The country is grappling with a rapidly ageing society and regional disparities, as just over half of its population resides in the greater Seoul area, while the countryside struggles to attract younger generations.
The fatalities include a pilot in his 70s whose helicopter crashed Wednesday while he was trying to contain a fire, as well as four firefighters and other workers who lost their lives after being trapped by rapidly advancing flames.

Hottest year in 2024

More than 2,240 houses in the region have been destroyed, according to the latest figures, and an official said Thursday more than 35,000 hectares (86,500 acres) of forest have been burned.
The extent of damage makes it South Korea's largest-ever wildfire, after an inferno in April 2000 that scorched 23,913 hectares across the east coast.
The fire also destroyed several historic sites, including the Gounsa temple complex in Uiseong, which is believed to have been originally built in the 7th century.
Among the damaged structures at the temple are two state-designated "treasures", one of which is a pavilion built in 1668 that overlooks a stream.
Last year was South Korea's hottest on record, although temperatures in the months running up to the blaze had been colder than last year and in line with the country's 30-year average, Korea Meteorological Administration data show.
But the fire-hit region had been experiencing unusually dry weather with below-average precipitation.
According to the interior ministry, the wildfires were accidentally started by a grave visitor and "sparks from a brush cutter".

Unusually warm

Some people have expressed concerns that rural communities were left to fend for themselves.
The governor of Yeongyang, where more than half of its 15,271 residents are aged 60 or older, issued a statement on Friday urging residents to help by clearing embers and looking after their neighbours.
Six of the 28 victims were from the ageing town. Governor Oh Do-chang said no helicopters had been deployed to the area over the past three days and urged the central government for more aid.
The devastating California wildfires in January and those in South Korea are similar, said Kimberley Simpson, a fellow in nature-based climate solutions at the University of Sheffield's School of Biosciences. 
"Both were preceded by unusually warm, dry conditions that left vegetation highly flammable, and both were intensified by strong winds that spread the flames and hampered firefighting efforts," she said. 
"Only three months into 2025, we've already witnessed record-breaking wildfire activity in multiple regions.
"As climate change drives rising temperatures and alters rainfall patterns, the conditions that give rise to these devastating fires are becoming more frequent."
cdl/ceb/hmn/rsc

wildfires

South Korea's 'heartbreaking' wildfires expose super-aged society

BY ANTHONY WALLACE WITH CLAIRE LEE IN SEOUL

  • Her neighbour, 79-year-old Lee Sung-gu, who is also an apple farmer, said he felt powerless to act as his village went up in flames.
  • Walking with a cane, 84-year-old apple farmer Kim Mi-ja surveys the wreckage of her village, which was reduced to rubble and covered in ash by South Korea's worst wildfires.
  • Her neighbour, 79-year-old Lee Sung-gu, who is also an apple farmer, said he felt powerless to act as his village went up in flames.
Walking with a cane, 84-year-old apple farmer Kim Mi-ja surveys the wreckage of her village, which was reduced to rubble and covered in ash by South Korea's worst wildfires.
Kim built her house in Chumok-ri village herself when she first moved there from the city but, like most houses in the area, it was totally destroyed by the blazes that killed 28 people.
"My heart feels like it's going to burst even now speaking about it," she told AFP.
Wildfires tore through much of the southeast over the past week, destroying an ancient temple and priceless national treasures, threatening UNESCO-listed villages and burning numerous small villages to the ground.
The inferno has also laid bare South Korea's demographic crisis and regional disparities: it is a super-aged society with the world's lowest birth rate, and rural areas are both underpopulated and disproportionately elderly. 
Just over half of South Korea's entire population lives in the greater Seoul area and the countryside has been hollowed out, with families moving to cities for better jobs and education opportunities.
Most of the victims of the fire, which hit deeply rural Andong and Uiseong hardest, were "in their 60s and 70s", an official from the Korea Forest Service told AFP.
In farmer Kim's district, 62 percent of residents are 60 or older. Her neighbour, 79-year-old Lee Sung-gu, who is also an apple farmer, said he felt powerless to act as his village went up in flames.

'Like a warzone'

"All the houses were completely burnt down and it was like a total war zone," Lee told AFP.
"I didn't have the strength to put the fire out. I didn't have the courage to do it, I could only just watch," he said.
Vast numbers of people moved from the countryside to growing cities in search of employment and prosperity as the South industrialised in the decades after the Korean War and rose to become a global technology and cultural powerhouse.
The trend continues -- the number of people in farming families fell from 4,400,000 to 2,089,000 between 1998 and 2023, figures from Statistics Korea show.
While farmers only account for four percent of the entire South Korean population, 52.6 percent of them are aged 65 or older, according to government data.
For many elderly residents who have watched their houses go up in flames, it is hard to see how they can recover at their age.
"Right now, it's devastating, heartbreaking, and horrific," villager Kim Seung-weon, 73, told AFP inside his severely burned house, a melted air conditioner and charred sofa behind him.
Damaged jangdok -- traditional jars typically used by older Koreans to ferment soybean paste -- were seen alongside burned-down structures and roofs outside.
"I'm at a crossroads, struggling with the thought of life and death. The trauma and stress are extremely overwhelming," he said.

No safety net

Jeon Young-soo, a professor at Hanyang University's Graduate School of International Studies, said the wildfires revealed "the severity of the issues surrounding an ultra-ageing society and regional disparities" in South Korea.
"Due to the lack of a younger population in rural areas, the absence of a safety net for disasters and infrastructure has become very much evident," he told AFP.
Some locals have complained that villages were left to fend for themselves.
The governor of Yeongyang, where 55 percent of its 15,271 residents are aged 60 or older, issued a statement on Friday urging the town's citizens to help by clearing embers and looking after their neighbours.
Six of the 28 victims were from Yeongyang. 
He also reported that no helicopters had been deployed in the past three days and called on the central government for additional support.
The wildfire fatalities included a pilot in his 70s whose helicopter crashed Wednesday while trying to contain the blaze.
"It's really heartbreaking -- I heard the pilot served for about 40 years," Kang Yong-suk, a 74-year-old resident of Andong, told AFP.
"I've heard that many of the victims had limited mobility due to their age. We're all very scared and feel helpless."
cdl-aw/ceb/pbt

climate

Clean energy giant Goldwind leads China's global sector push

BY PETER CATTERALL

  • - Gold rush - Goldwind's origin lies in the vast, arid stretches of western China, where in the 1980s a company named Xinjiang Wind Energy built its first turbine farm.
  • China has rushed ahead in recent years as the world's forerunner in wind energy, propelled by explosive local demand as Beijing aggressively pursues strategic and environmental targets.
  • - Gold rush - Goldwind's origin lies in the vast, arid stretches of western China, where in the 1980s a company named Xinjiang Wind Energy built its first turbine farm.
China has rushed ahead in recent years as the world's forerunner in wind energy, propelled by explosive local demand as Beijing aggressively pursues strategic and environmental targets.
Goldwind -- the country's sector champion -- is set to publish financial results for last year on Friday, offering a window into how its domestic operations and overseas expansion efforts are faring.
AFP looks at how Goldwind and its Chinese peers turned the country into the indisputable global superpower in wind:

Recent gusts

China has been a major player in global installed wind capacity since the late 2000s but it is only in the past few years that it has surged to the top.
Companies from mainland China accounted for six of the top seven turbine manufacturers worldwide last year, according to a report this month by BloombergNEF.
Goldwind held the top spot, followed by three more Chinese firms -- the first time European and US firms all ranked below third.
The country's global wind energy layout is lopsided, however, with the majority of its firms' growth driven by domestic demand.
"The market for wind turbines outside of China is still quite diversified," Lauri Myllyvirta, lead analyst at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), told AFP.
The situation "can stay that way if countries concerned about excessive reliance on China create the conditions for the non-Chinese suppliers to expand capacity", he added.

Overcapacity concerns

China's wind energy boom has fuelled fears in Western countries that a flood of cheap imports will undercut local players, including Denmark's Vestas and GE Vernova of the United States.
A report in January by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) showed Chinese wind turbine manufacturers have for decades received significantly higher levels of state subsidies than member countries.
Western critics argue that the extensive support from Beijing to spur on the domestic wind industry have led to an unfair advantage.
The European Union last April said it would investigate subsidies received by Chinese firms that exported turbines to the continent.
"We cannot allow China's overcapacity issues to distort Europe's established market for wind energy," said Phil Cole, Director of Industrial Affairs at WindEurope, a Brussels-based industry group, in response to the recent OECD report.
"Without European manufacturing and a strong European supply chain, we lose our ability to produce the equipment we need -- and ultimately our energy and national security," said Cole.

Gold rush

Goldwind's origin lies in the vast, arid stretches of western China, where in the 1980s a company named Xinjiang Wind Energy built its first turbine farm.
Engineer-turned-entrepreneur Wu Gang soon joined, helping transform the fledgling firm into a pioneer in China's wind energy sector, establishing Goldwind in 1998.
"Goldwind was there from the beginning," said Andrew Garrad, co-founder of Garrad Hassan, a British engineering consultancy that had early engagement with China's wind industry.
"The West was looking at China as an impoverished place in need of help," Garrad told AFP.
"It wasn't, then, an industrial power to be reckoned with."
Garrad, whose company once sold technology to several Chinese wind energy startups including Goldwind, remembers Wu paying him a visit in Bristol during the early 1990s to talk business.
The two spent three days negotiating a software sale for around £10,000 -- a sum "which, for both of us at the time, was worth having", recalled Garrad.
"He didn't have any money at all, and so he was staying at the youth hostel, sharing a room with five other people," he said.
Wu's firm would go on to strike gold, emerging in this century as a global leader in wind turbine technology and installed capacity.

Global future?

In recent years, as China's wind market matures, state subsidies are cut and the economy faces downward pressure, Goldwind has increasingly been looking overseas.
In 2023, the firm dropped "Xinjiang" from its official name.
The move was interpreted as an attempt to disassociate from the troubled region, where Beijing is accused of large-scale human rights abuses.
It was also seen as adopting a more outward-facing and international identity.
China's wind power manufacturers are making some headway overseas, particularly in emerging and developing countries, said Myllyvirta of the CREA.
This is particularly true "after Western manufacturers were hit by supply chain disruptions and major input prices due to Covid and Russia's invasion of Ukraine", he added.
Emerging markets affiliated with Beijing's "Belt and Road" development push seem to offer Chinese players the best chance at overseas growth, Endri Lico, analyst at Wood Mackenzie, told AFP.
"Chinese strength comes from scale... and strategic control over domestic supply chains and raw material resources," said Lico.
Western markets remain strongholds for local players, however, "due to entrenched positions, energy security concerns and protectionist policies", he added.
pfc/je/dan

record

Arctic sea ice hits lowest peak in satellite record, says US agency

BY ISSAM AHMED

  • "But even more importantly than the record low is that this year adds yet another data point to the continuing long-term loss of Arctic sea ice in all seasons."
  • This year's Arctic sea ice peak is the lowest in the 47-year satellite record, according to data released by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) on Thursday, as the planet continues to swelter under the mounting effects of human-driven climate change.
  • "But even more importantly than the record low is that this year adds yet another data point to the continuing long-term loss of Arctic sea ice in all seasons."
This year's Arctic sea ice peak is the lowest in the 47-year satellite record, according to data released by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) on Thursday, as the planet continues to swelter under the mounting effects of human-driven climate change.
Arctic sea ice forms and expands during the dark, frigid northern winter, reaching its seasonal high point in March. But in recent years, less new ice has formed, and the accumulation of multi-year ice has steadily declined.
The maximum sea ice level for 2025 was likely reached on March 22, measuring 14.33 million square kilometers (5.53 million square miles) -- below the previous low of 14.41 million square kilometers set in 2017.
"This new record low is yet another indicator of how Arctic sea ice has fundamentally changed from earlier decades," said NSIDC senior research scientist Walt Meier in a statement. 
"But even more importantly than the record low is that this year adds yet another data point to the continuing long-term loss of Arctic sea ice in all seasons."
The Arctic record follows a near-record-low summer minimum in the Antarctic, where seasons are reversed.
The 2025 Antarctic sea ice minimum, reached on March 1, was just 1.98 million square kilometers, tying for the second-lowest annual minimum in the satellite record, alongside 2022 and 2024.
Combined Arctic and Antarctic sea ice cover -- frozen ocean water that floats on the surface -- plunged to a record low in mid-February, more than a million square miles below the pre-2010 average. That is an area larger than the entire country of Algeria. 
"We're going to come into this next summer season with less ice to begin with," said Linette Boisvert, an ice scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. "It doesn't bode well for the future."

A vicious cycle

US scientists primarily monitor sea ice using satellites from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP), which detect Earth's microwave radiation. 
Because open water and sea ice emit microwave energy differently, the contrast allows sea ice to stand out clearly in satellite imagery -- even through cloud cover, which obscures traditional optical sensors.
DMSP data is supplemented with historical records, including early observations from the Nimbus-7 satellite, which operated from 1978 to 1985.
While floating sea ice does not directly raise sea levels, its disappearance sets off a cascade of climate consequences, altering weather patterns, disrupting ocean currents, and threatening ecosystems and human communities.
As reflective ice gives way to the darker ocean, more solar energy is absorbed rather than reflected back into space, accelerating both ice melt and global warming.
Shrinking Arctic ice is also reshaping geopolitics, opening new shipping lanes and drawing geopolitical interest. Since taking office this year, US President Donald Trump has said his country must control Greenland, a Danish autonomous territory rich in mineral resources. 
The loss of polar ice spells disaster for numerous species, robbing polar bears, seals, and penguins of crucial habitat used for shelter, hunting, and breeding.
Last year was the hottest on record, and the trend continues: 2025 began with the warmest January ever recorded, followed by the third-warmest February.
NOAA predicts that La Nina weather conditions, which tend to cool global temperatures, are likely to give way to neutral conditions that would persist over the Northern Hemisphere summer.
Polar regions are especially vulnerable to global warming, heating several times faster than the global average. 
Since mid-2023, only July 2024 fell below 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, raising concerns that the Paris Agreement's goal of limiting long-term warming to 1.5C may be slipping out of reach.
ia/aha

diplomacy

Why has Mexico's water debt opened new battle line with US?

  • Mexico's attempts to comply with the treaty have resulted in civil unrest in the past.
  • Mexico's water debt to the United States under a decades-old supply treaty has opened a new battlefront between the two countries, in addition to US President Donald Trump's threatened tariffs.
  • Mexico's attempts to comply with the treaty have resulted in civil unrest in the past.
Mexico's water debt to the United States under a decades-old supply treaty has opened a new battlefront between the two countries, in addition to US President Donald Trump's threatened tariffs.
Mexico's shortfalls, which it blames on an extraordinary drought, led the United States to refuse its neighbor's request for special delivery of water to the border city of Tijuana last week.

What's the deal?

Under a pact dating back to 1944, the neighboring countries share water from two major rivers flowing from the southwestern United States to Mexico.
The agreement obliges the United States to deliver 1.85 billion cubic meters of water a year from the Colorado River.
In return Mexico must supply an average of 432 million cubic meters annually over a five-year cycle from the Rio Grande, which forms part of the border between the two countries.
The current cycle expires in October and Mexico owes the United States more than 1.55 billion cubic meters, according to the two countries' boundary and water commission.
The situation is "critical," warned Gonzalo Hatch Kuri, a geographer and researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
"Only massive storms during the upcoming rainy season of August and September could, miraculously, make it possible to meet the deadline," he told AFP.

What does US say?

Washington said on March 20 that it was the first time it had rejected a request by Mexico for special delivery of water.
It said the Mexican delivery shortfalls were "decimating American agriculture -- particularly farmers in the Rio Grande valley."
US farmers and lawmakers complain that their southern neighbor has waited until the end of each cycle and has been coming up short in the latest period.
The Colorado River has seen its water levels shrink due to drought and heavy agricultural consumption in the southwestern United States, with around half of its water going to raise beef and dairy cattle.
Farmers in southern Texas have voiced fear for the future of cotton, citrus and other farming products.
The row has added to the tensions sparked by Trump's threat to impose tariffs on imports from Mexico, despite a North American free trade deal that also includes Canada.

Why is Mexico falling short?

The Mexican government says that the Rio Grande basin has suffered from two decades of drought that reached extreme levels in 2023.
Excessive water concessions for agricultural and industrial use on the Mexican side have caused water to be "overexploited," according to authorities in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas.
In November, the two countries signed an agreement aimed at preventing water shortages in parched southern US states with more reliable Mexican deliveries of river water.
The accord -- the result of more than 18 months of negotiations -- provides Mexico with "tools and flexibility" to provide water earlier in a five-year cycle to reduce or prevent shortfalls, the boundary and water commission said.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week that the US complaints were "being dealt with" through the boundary and water commission.
"There's been less water. That's part of the problem," she told reporters.
Mexico's attempts to comply with the treaty have resulted in civil unrest in the past.
In 2020, farmers in the northern state of Chihuahua seized a dam to prevent the government from supplying water from a reservoir to the United States, leading to clashes between protesters and the National Guard that left one person dead.
ai/jla/axm/dr/bjt

protest

Just Stop Oil activist group says to stop climate protest stunts

BY LAURIE CHURCHMAN AND ALEXANDRA DEL PERAL

  • "Three years after bursting on the scene in a blaze of orange, at the end of April we will be hanging up the hi vis (high-visibility vests)," the group said on Thursday.
  • British environmentalactivist group Just Stop Oil said on Thursday it would halt its high-profile climate protest stunts after a final demonstration in London in April.
  • "Three years after bursting on the scene in a blaze of orange, at the end of April we will be hanging up the hi vis (high-visibility vests)," the group said on Thursday.
British environmentalactivist group Just Stop Oil said on Thursday it would halt its high-profile climate protest stunts after a final demonstration in London in April.
"It is the end of soup on van Goghs, cornstarch on Stonehenge and slow marching in the streets," the group said in a statement, claiming that it had succeeded in its initial aim to stop Britain approving new oil and gas projects.
Founded in 2022, Just Stop Oil rose to prominence  when its orange-clad activists staged headline-grabbing protests to raise awareness about the danger to the climate posed by greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels.
Stunts included targeting Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" painting with tomato soup and daubing  Stonehenge with orange paint powder.
"Three years after bursting on the scene in a blaze of orange, at the end of April we will be hanging up the hi vis (high-visibility vests)," the group said on Thursday.
"Just Stop Oil's initial demand to end new oil and gas is now government policy, making us one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history."
Since coming to power in July 2024, the UK Labour government has halted new oil and gas exploration licences in the North Sea -- but has also distanced itself from the group.
Just Stop Oil said it would hold a final rally in London's Parliament Square on April 26, and "continue to tell the truth in the courts, speak out for our political prisoners and call out the UK's oppressive anti-protest laws".
It said the demonstration was intended as "a lower-risk action" designed to avoid arrests and encourage more people to take part.
Dozens of Just Stop Oil protesters have been arrested since the group's foundation and the group told AFP 15 were currently in jail.
Earlier this month, a court in London cut by one year a five-year jail term imposed on Just Stop Oil's 58-year-old co-founder Roger Hallam accused of conspiracy for planning to block the M25 motorway in an online call.

'A different approach'

Just Stop Oil confirmed its change of strategy in a call with AFP and said it was working on a new project, but did not provide details.
"As corporations and billionaires corrupt political systems across the world, we need a different approach," it said.
"We are creating a new strategy to face this reality and to carry our responsibilities at this time. Nothing short of a revolution is going to protect us from the coming storms."
Over the years the activists' stunts have drawn condemnation from politicians, police and some sections of the public.
"I'm sure ... plenty of members of the public will be happy to hear that they may be causing less disruption in the future," a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told journalists on Thursday.
He denied however that the government had handed Just Stop Oil "a win".
"We have been very clear when it comes to oil and gas that it has a future for decades to come in our energy mix," he said.
Will McCallum, co-executive director of Greenpeace UK, defended the group's work. 
"Just Stop Oil paid a heavy price for raising their voices at a time when politicians and corporations are trying to silence peaceful protesters -- in the streets and in the courts," he said.
"We must not allow our hard-won right to protest to be stripped away, because it is the right that all other rights depend upon."
Tactics used by the group have included using slow marches to disrupt traffic, blocking major roads, and targeting sporting events, theatre performances, art galleries and heritage sites.
Just Stop Oil activists emptied soup cans over the glass protecting "Sunflowers" at London's National Gallery in October 2022, while protesters targeted the ancient Stonehenge monument in June 2024.
In July 2023, Just Stop Oil protesters disrupted tennis matches at the Wimbledon championships, while in May 2024, two activists in their 80s took a hammer and chisel to the glass case surrounding the Magna Carta at the British Library, holding up a sign that said: "The government is breaking the law."
adm-lcm/jkb/phz/rmb

accident

South Korea wildfires 'largest on record': disaster chief

BY KANG JIN-KYU

  • South Korea's Ministry of Interior and Safety said that 27 people had been killed and dozens more injured, with the toll likely to rise.
  • Wildfires in South Korea are now the largest and deadliest on record, having burned more forest and killed more people than any previous blaze, officials said Thursday, as the death toll hit 27.
  • South Korea's Ministry of Interior and Safety said that 27 people had been killed and dozens more injured, with the toll likely to rise.
Wildfires in South Korea are now the largest and deadliest on record, having burned more forest and killed more people than any previous blaze, officials said Thursday, as the death toll hit 27.
More than a dozen fires broke out over the weekend, scorching wide swathes of the southeast and forcing around 37,000 people to flee, with the fire cutting off roads and downing communications lines as residents escaped in panic.
South Korea's Ministry of Interior and Safety said that 27 people had been killed and dozens more injured, with the toll likely to rise. It is the highest number of deaths since the Korea Forest Service started records for wildfires in 1987.
More than 35,000 hectares (86,500 acres) of forest have been burned, Lee Han-kyung, disaster and safety division chief said, adding that the fire was still spreading "rapidly".
"I don't know how to describe it. My heart feels like it's going to burst even now speaking about it," said Kim Mi-ja, an 84-year-old Andong resident whose home was burnt down.
The extent of damage makes it South Korea's largest ever wildfire, after an inferno in April 2000 that scorched 23,913 hectares across the east coast.
Authorities said changing wind patterns and dry weather had revealed the limitations of conventional firefighting methods.
"I didn't have the strength to put the fire out," said resident Lee Sung-gu.
"I didn't have the courage to do it, I could only just watch," the 79-year-old told AFP, describing how all houses in the area were destroyed.
Many of those killed were residents -- in particular the elderly.
At least three firefighters were killed, and a pilot in a firefighting helicopter died when his aircraft crashed in a mountain area, officials said.

'Climate crisis'

Last year was South Korea's hottest year on record, although temperatures in the months running up to the blaze had been colder than last year, and in line with the country's 30-year average, Korea Meteorological Administration data shows.
But the fire-hit region had been experiencing unusually dry weather with below-average precipitation, authorities said.
"This wildfire has once again exposed the harsh reality of a climate crisis unlike anything we've experienced before," disaster chief Lee said.
"The affected areas have seen only half the average rainfall, coupled with unusually strong winds, which have drastically accelerated the spread of the fire and intensified the damage," he said.
Some types of extreme weather have a well-established link with climate change, such as heatwaves or heavy rainfall.
Other phenomena, such as forest fires, droughts, snowstorms and tropical storms can result from a combination of complex factors.
Yeh Sang-Wook, professor of climatology at Seoul's Hanyang University, told AFP that the lack of rainfall had dried out the land "creating favourable conditions for wildfires". 
"We can't say that it's only due to climate change, but climate change is directly (and) indirectly affecting the changes we are experiencing now. This is a sheer fact."
But another expert, professor Hong Suk-hwan at Pusan National University's Department of Landscape Architecture, said the country's forest management practices also took some blame.
South Korea has prioritised the preservation of large pine trees -- packed with oily resin -- above allowing a variety of deciduous trees to thrive, he said. 
"If a fire breaks out, would it spread more easily on wet paper or on dry paper soaked in oil? Our forests are essentially covered in oil-soaked paper, creating an environment where wildfires can spread at an alarming speed," he told AFP.
Were South Korea to have cultivated more deciduous trees in a natural mixed forest it "would slow wildfire spread and prevent it from escalating".

Ancient pines cut

A 200-year-old pine tree at Bongjeongsa temple in Andong -- the oldest wooden structure in South Korea and a UNESCO-listed site -- was cut down in a bid to preserve the temple itself.
"We had no choice but to cut it down... The fire is spreading rapidly from one pine tree to another," the chief monk said.
At UNESCO-listed Byeongsan Seowon, a former Confucian academy, AFP reporters saw a hazy sky, with fire trucks spraying water and fire retardants onto the historic site in a desperate bid to save it.
"We are spraying three tonnes of water every day," Lee Seung-myung from the Andong fire department told AFP. 
Choi Young-ho, a firefighter at the heritage site, said that they were at the mercy of the wind. 
"If there is a strong wind, it will carry flames from afar -- a very worrisome situation," he said.
Rain is forecast for late Thursday, potentially giving authorities a much-needed window to extinguish the blazes.
hs-kjk-hj/ceb/rsc

climate

Hundreds of fungi species threatened with extinction: IUCN

BY BENJAMIN LEGENDRE

  • Deforestation, for timber or to make way for crops, is the primary existential threat to at least 198 fungi species. 
  • Deforestation, farming and climate-fuelled fires are driving increasing threats to fungi, the lifeblood of most plants on Earth, the International Union for Conservation of Nature warned Thursday.
  • Deforestation, for timber or to make way for crops, is the primary existential threat to at least 198 fungi species. 
Deforestation, farming and climate-fuelled fires are driving increasing threats to fungi, the lifeblood of most plants on Earth, the International Union for Conservation of Nature warned Thursday.
At least 411 fungi face extinction among the 1,300 varieties whose conservation status is well understood, according to the latest update of the IUCN's authoritative "Red List of Threatened Species".
"Fungi are the unsung heroes of life on Earth, forming the very foundation of healthy ecosystems -– yet they have long been overlooked," said IUCN director general Grethel Aguilar.
"Now it's time to turn this knowledge into action and safeguard the extraordinary fungal kingdom, whose vast underground networks sustain nature and life as we know it." 
This assessment, by the global authority on the status of the natural world, concerns only a tiny fraction of the approximately 150,000 fungal species recorded to date, out of an estimated 2.5 million on Earth.
But it illustrates the strains that human activity places on this distinct individual kingdom, which is neither plant nor animal.
"While fungi mainly live hidden underground and inside wood, their loss impacts the life above ground that depends on them," said Professor Anders Dahlberg, who coordinated this latest assessment. 
"It's like the microbiome in our stomachs that are key for our well-being," the Swedish mycologist told AFP, describing a "very, very old symbiosis, more than 400 million years old" which underpin all ecosystems.
"As we lose fungi, we impoverish the ecosystem services and resilience they provide, from drought and pathogen resistance in crops and trees to storing carbon in the soil."
Many fungi "are edible, used in food and drink production including fermentation" and form the basis of medicines, IUCN said.
No porcini mushrooms, chanterelles or other fungi savoured at the dinner table are among the most threatened species. 
Dahlberg said most were very specific varieties and not dominant in any one particular fungal community, though some had been fairly common and widespread. 

'Serious threats'

Close to 300 of the threatened fungi have been pushed to the limit by the "rapid growth of agricultural and urban areas", said the IUCN, a respected international collective of scientific organisations.
"Nitrogen and ammonia run-off from fertilisers and engine pollution also threaten 91 species," it added.
This in particular poses "serious threats" to popular species in Europe like the fibrous waxcap -- Hygrocybe intermedia -- an uncommon yellow-orange mushroom found in meadows from Scandinavia to southern Italy. 
Deforestation, for timber or to make way for crops, is the primary existential threat to at least 198 fungi species. 
"Clear-cutting of old-growth forests is especially damaging, destroying fungi that do not have time to re-establish with rotation forestry," the IUCN said.
Iconic species like giant knight -- Tricholoma colossus -- have been classified as vulnerable due to the loss of 30 percent of old-growth pine forests across Finland, Sweden and Russia since the mid 1970s.
Global warming is also a factor, with more than 50 fungi species at risk of extinction due to changes in fire patterns in the United States "which have drastically changed forests", it said.
IUCN said that fir trees had come to dominate the high Sierra Nevada mountain woods, reducing habitat for the endangered Gastroboletus citrinobrunneus.
The latest Red List includes nearly 170,000 threatened species, of which more than 47,000 are threatened with extinction.
bl/np/klm/gil

protest

Just Stop Oil activist group says to stop climate protest stunts

  • It said it would hold a final rally in London's Parliament Square on April 26, and "continue to tell the truth in the courts, speak out for our political prisoners and call out the UK's oppressive anti-protest laws".
  • British environmental activist group Just Stop Oil said on Thursday it would halt its high-profile climate protest stunts after a final demonstration in London in April.
  • It said it would hold a final rally in London's Parliament Square on April 26, and "continue to tell the truth in the courts, speak out for our political prisoners and call out the UK's oppressive anti-protest laws".
British environmental activist group Just Stop Oil said on Thursday it would halt its high-profile climate protest stunts after a final demonstration in London in April.
"It is the end of soup on Van Goghs, cornstarch on Stonehenge and slow marching in the streets," the group said in a statement, claiming that it had succeeded in its initial aim to stop Britain approving new oil and gas projects.
"Three years after bursting on the scene in a blaze of orange, at the end of April we will be hanging up the hi vis," the group said.
"Just Stop Oil's initial demand to end new oil and gas is now government policy, making us one of the most successful civil resistance campaigns in recent history."
It said it would hold a final rally in London's Parliament Square on April 26, and "continue to tell the truth in the courts, speak out for our political prisoners and call out the UK's oppressive anti-protest laws".
The group confirmed the move in a call with AFP and said it was working on a new project, but did not provide details.
"As corporations and billionaires corrupt political systems across the world, we need a different approach," it said in its statement.
"We are creating a new strategy, to face this reality and to carry our responsibilities at this time. Nothing short of a revolution is going to protect us from the coming storms."
lcm/jkb/sbk

pollution

Fire fighting helicopter tackles Thailand blazes

BY MONTIRA RUNGJIRAJITTRANON

  • As well as damaging important forests, the fires are fuelling Thailand's anxieties about air pollution, which causes millions of people to need medical treatment each year.
  • A bright orange helicopter races over the jungle to dump water on a raging wildfire that is adding to the air pollution choking Thailand's northern tourist hub of Chiang Mai.
  • As well as damaging important forests, the fires are fuelling Thailand's anxieties about air pollution, which causes millions of people to need medical treatment each year.
A bright orange helicopter races over the jungle to dump water on a raging wildfire that is adding to the air pollution choking Thailand's northern tourist hub of Chiang Mai.
Chutaphorn Phuangchingngam, the only female captain in Thailand's national disaster prevention team, draws on two decades of flying to steer the Russian-made chopper through the thick smoke.
Forest fires are burning in several areas of northern Thailand, contributing to the annual spike in air pollution that comes with farmers burning stubble to prepare their land for the next crop.
Chiang Mai had the sixth worst air quality of any major city in the world on Thursday morning, according to monitor IQAir, and the city governor has warned residents against staying outdoors.
Chutaphorn told AFP the dense forest and hilly terrain made helicopters the best tool to fight the blazes.
"We use (helicopters) to put out fire in areas that are difficult to reach, especially in the mountains," she said.
Chutaphorn and her six-member crew flew over Huai Bok reservoir, collecting 3,000 litres of water each time before heading two kilometres to the fire zone, spread across more than 1.6 hectares (four acres).
Northern Thailand is the latest area around the world to suffer significant wildfires, after South Korea -- currently battling its biggest on record -- Japan and California.
While the causes of forest fires can be complex, climate change can make them more likely by creating hotter, drier weather that leaves undergrowth more prone to catching light.
As well as damaging important forests, the fires are fuelling Thailand's anxieties about air pollution, which causes millions of people to need medical treatment each year.

Smog crisis

Levels of PM2.5 pollutants -- dangerous cancer-causing microparticles small enough to enter the bloodstream through the lungs -- were almost 15 times the World Health Organization's recommended limit in Chiang Mai on Thursday, according to IQAir. 
The government banned crop burning early this year to try to improve air quality, with violators facing fines and legal action, but authorities said the measures have proven ineffective.
"There are still large numbers of farmers who continue to burn their fields," said Dusit Pongsapipat, head of the Department of Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation in Chiang Mai.
Danaipat Pokavanich, a clean-air advocate involved in drafting the Clean Air Act -- a bill to curb pollution in Thailand -- praised the firefighting efforts but called them a "temporary fix".
"The law alone won't stop farmers from burning," he said.
He recommended offering financial incentives to encourage sustainable farming practices and investing in technology to reduce the need for burning.
Until then, Chatuphorn and her team remain ready to take to the skies to do their part to clean up the air by putting out forest fires.
"Flying a helicopter for disaster work is different from flying passengers," she said, citing limited visibility as a major challenge.
She remains committed to her childhood dream.
"I just wanted to touch the cloud," she said, after the helicopter landed. "Though now all I feel is just the smoke."
tak/pdw/pjm