| February 09, 2009 |  |
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 Whittlesea, Australia (AFP) Feb 9, 2009 
Huddled under a dampened blanket as Australia's deadly bushfires roared over her head "like a jet engine", Sonja Parkinson was convinced she and infant son Sam would die. Instead, the flimsy shelter saved them from the inferno that claimed at least 32 lives in their town of Kinglake, one of many stories of heroism and miraculous escapes to emerge from the country's worst fire disaster. ... read more
Kinglake, Australia (AFP) Feb 9, 2009The death toll from the worst wildfires in Australia's history - described by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as "hell in all its fury" - has risen to 108, authorities said Monday. Firefighters in the southeast of the country were battling dozens of blazes amid fears the death toll could rise still further, as emergency crews sifted through the charred remains of entire towns razed in the infern ... more |
In Finland, kids take hovercraft to school over frozen Baltic Sea
Four dead, at least 12 injured after tornados hit Michigan: US media Italy challenges EU over key climate tool Press Release from Business Wire: Onego Bio Swiss to vote on creating giant 'climate fund' After oil, US moves to secure access to Venezuelan minerals US interior secretary visits Caracas in quest for minerals Denmark inaugurates first flight with sustainable fuel Attack at DR Congo nature park kills five Attack on DR Congo nature park HQ kills five 
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Sydney (AFP) Feb 9, 2009Australia is naturally the most fire-prone continent on earth but climate change appears to be making the wildfires that regularly sweep across the country more ferocious, scientists said Monday. The intensity of the firestorm that killed at least 126 people in Victoria state has stunned Australians, even though they have a long history of dealing with bushfires. The government-run Burea ... more  
Honiara (AFP) Feb 6, 2009Most of the Solomon Islands' main province of Guadalcanal has been declared a disaster area after widespread floods left nine people dead and more than 1,000 families homeless, officials said Friday. There are fears the death toll could rise as several people are missing, including a Belgian national who went trekking in the mountains a day before the torrential rains began. Homes and ... more  
Beijing (AFP) Feb 8, 2009China will divert water from its two longest rivers to help farmers hit by the country's worst drought in decades, state media said Sunday. Water from the Yangtze River, the country's longest, will be diverted to the northern areas of eastern Jiangsu Province, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing Zhang Zhitong, a senior Ministry of Water Resources emergency official. The announcement ... more  
Beijing (AFP) Feb 8, 2009Chinese President Hu Jintao launches a whistlestop tour of Saudi Arabia and Africa Tuesday in a trip expected to focus more on shoring up political ties and less on securing energy supplies. Hu's one-week trip takes him to Saudi Arabia, China's biggest source of oil imports, but the four countries that he will then visit in Africa -- Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Mauritius -- are not endowed ... more |
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Launching the idea of data centers in spaceSan Francisco, United States (AFP) Feb 3, 2026 Tech firms are floating the idea of building data centers in space and tapping into the sun's energy to meet out-of-this-world power demands in a fierce artificial intelligence race. ... more  
Anthropic unveils new AI model as OpenAI rivalry heats upSan Francisco, United States (AFP) Feb 5, 2026 Anthropic on Thursday released its latest high-performing artificial intelligence model, escalating its challenge to OpenAI in the intensifying AI race. ... more
Musk merges xAI into SpaceX in bid to build space data centersSan Francisco, United States (AFP) Feb 3, 2026 Elon Musk has announced that his rocket company SpaceX will take over his artificial intelligence outfit xAI, as he seeks to raise billions of dollars for his science fiction-worthy outer space projects. ... more
  
Reprogrammable metal bricks give robots muscle-like adaptabilityLos Angeles CA (SPX) Feb 04, 2026 Mechanical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated a proof-of-concept material system that allows solid Lego-like building blocks to be programmed with different mechanical properties and the ... more 
OpenClaw's AI agent does everything, even social mediaWashington, United States (AFP) Feb 2, 2026 Meet OpenClaw: the AI assistant that promised to be your dream intern, terrified cybersecurity experts, and now thrives on chatbot-only social media - all in just a few weeks. ... more 
Human taught tactile control lets robots grasp diverse objectsTokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 19, 2026 When humans pick up everyday items such as fragile eggs or slippery metal cups, they instinctively adjust their grip using tactile feedback to avoid breaking or dropping them. In contrast, enabling ... more
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London (AFP) Feb 9, 2009British prosecutors have named the man suspected of throwing a shoe at the Chinese premier in Cambridge as a German postgraduate student at the university, ahead of a court appearance Tuesday. Martin Jahnke, a 27-year-old German national working at the prestigious university's Department of Pathology, was arrested following the protest against Wen Jiabao last week as he gave a speech in the ... more  
Bandar Seri Begawan (AFP) Feb 9, 2009Brunei's tiny agricultural sector suffered hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of damage in recent floods, a government ministry said Monday. The heavy rains since January 20 have led to nearly one million Brunei dollars' (667,000 US) worth of damage to crops and livestock, the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources reported on its website. It said more than 100 vegetable farms ... more 
Monrovia (AFP) Feb 7, 2009Four West African nations have joined forces to do battle against a species of caterpillars laying waste to crops in the region, a statement said Saturday. The agriculture ministers from Liberia, Guinea, Sierra Leone and Ivory Coast have created a team to look into the threats posed by what are believed to be Achaea Catocaloides caterpillars. Crops in central Liberia and southern Guinea ... more  
Brasilia (AFP) Feb 6, 2009A row has blown up in Brazil over a reduction in how much area rural landholders in one part of the Amazon have to replant, with environmental activists slamming what they said amounts to an "amnesty." "This move is an amnesty, a pardon for those who engaged in deforestation and who haven't replanted," the country campaign director for Greenpeace, Sergio Leitao, told AFP. The dispute com ... more |
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China shuns calls to enter nuclear talks after US-Russia treaty lapsesBeijing (AFP) Feb 5, 2026 China rejected calls to enter talks on a new nuclear treaty after a US-Russian agreement expired on Thursday, ending decades of restrictions on how many warheads the two powers can deploy. ... more 
Trump urges new nuclear treaty after Russia agreement endsWashington, United States (AFP) Feb 6, 2026 US President Donald Trump on Thursday called for a brand new nuclear treaty after the last agreement with Russia expired, prompting fears of a new global arms race. ... more 
Iran, US prepare for Oman talks after deadly protest crackdownMuscat, Oman (AFP) Feb 6, 2026 Iran and the United States were preparing for talks on Friday in Oman, with Washington looking to see if there was any prospect of diplomatic progress on the Iranian nuclear programme and other issues while refusing to rule out military action. ... more
  
Why did Xi hold back-to-back calls with Putin, Trump?Beijing (AFP) Feb 5, 2026 China's leader Xi Jinping held back-to-back calls with Russia's Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump this week, timing analysts said on Thursday was rare and significant as Beijing positions itself as a stable global power. ... more 
Russia, US agree to resume military contacts at Ukraine talksAbu Dhabi (AFP) Feb 5, 2026 Russia and the United States agreed to resume high-level military contacts, in a major step of rapprochement between the world's top nuclear powers at Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. ... more 
China's Xi calls for 'orderly' world in talks with Uruguay leaderBeijing (AFP) Feb 3, 2026 China's leader Xi Jinping called Tuesday for an "equal and orderly multipolar world" in the face of "unilateral bullying", in an apparent jab at the United States. ... more
  
Iraq starts investigations into IS detainees moved from SyriaBaghdad (AFP) Feb 2, 2026 Iraq's judiciary announced on Monday it has begun its investigations into more than 1,300 Islamic State group detainees who were transferred from Syria as part of a US operation. ... more 
Where does Iraq stand as US turns up heat on Iran?Baghdad (AFP) Jan 29, 2026 Faced with political deadlock, open American meddling and the threat of war across its borders, is Iraq being dragged back to darker times after achieving hard-won stability? ... more 
Rubio warns Iraq on Iran ties as Maliki sets returnWashington, United States (AFP) Jan 26, 2026 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Iraq on Sunday against a pro-Iranian government as the expected return of Nouri al-Maliki as prime minister stirs Washington's concern. ... more
  
Pakistan seeks out perpetrators after deadly separatist attacksQuetta, Pakistan (AFP) Feb 1, 2026 Pakistan forces hunted on Sunday for the separatists behind a string of coordinated attacks in restive Balochistan province, with the government vowing to retaliate after more than 190 people were killed in two days. ... more 
US judge grants asylum to Chinese man who filmed alleged Uyghur campsWashington, United States (AFP) Jan 29, 2026 A US immigration judge on Wednesday granted asylum to a Chinese man who fled his country after documenting sites of alleged human rights abuses against Uyghurs, his mother and lawyer told AFP. ... more 
Kurdish women braid their hair in show of solidarity with Syria KurdsErbil, Iraq (AFP) Jan 23, 2026 Women in Iraqi Kurdistan and beyond have taken to the streets and social media to braid their hair in a show of solidarity after a Syrian soldier bragged in a video about cutting off a Kurdish fighter's braid in Raqa. ... more |
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