SCIENCE

A huge blast at an explosives depot in Seychelles on Thursday injured 66 people and brought down buildings, prompting the country's "shocked" president to declare a state of emergency.

Insured losses from natural catastrophes will pass the $100-billion threshold for the fourth year running in 2023, reinsurance giant Swiss Re said Thursday.

European leaders will meet their Chinese counterparts in Beijing on Thursday for talks dominated by divisions between the bloc and its largest economic partner over everything from trade to the war against Ukraine.

Airlines should carry a record number of passengers next year as the sector puts the Covid-19 pandemic behind it, the industry's top trade association said Wednesday, although profitability remains a concern.

President Vladimir Putin is in the United Arab Emirates for a rare visit outside the former Soviet Union Wednesday, as Russia seeks to reassert itself on the global stage.

With 2023 confirmed to be the hottest year on record by Europe's climate monitor, the temperature was also rising on Wednesday for negotiators thrashing out the thorny issue of fossil fuels at COP28 in Dubai.

Major airport expansion projects are taking off across Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, and a new airline is set to launch next year -- all banking on an expected boom in air travel in Southeast Asia, fuelled by Chinese and Indian tourists.

Humanity faces an "unprecedented" risk from tipping points that could unleash a domino effect of irreversible catastrophes across the planet, researchers warned Wednesday.

As countries try to hammer out a response to climate change at the COP28 talks in Dubai, here are some key figures about how fossil fuels have warmed our world.

Battle lines on fossil fuels hardened at UN climate talks on Tuesday despite scientists warning that global warming could breach the 1.5C threshold within seven years.

A record almost 2,500 fossil fuel lobbyists have been accredited for UN climate talks in Dubai, as negotiators wrestle with calls to end all new oil, gas and coal projects to curb global warming, campaign groups said Tuesday.

The world may cross the crucial 1.5C global warming threshold in seven years as fossil fuel CO2 emissions continue to rise, scientists warned Tuesday, urging countries at the COP28 talks to "act now" on coal, oil and gas pollution.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister has slammed the door shut on agreeing to phase out fossil fuels at the UN's COP28 climate talks, setting the stage for difficult negotiations in Dubai.

Inside the negotiating rooms and on the sidelines of the COP28 climate talks, simmering tensions over wealthy countries' "green trade" policies have been bubbling to the surface, with developing nations fearful they will be penalised.

The president of Guinea-Bissau dissolved parliament on Monday ahead of fresh elections, saying an "attempted coup" had plunged the West African nation into a new crisis.

The Emirati head of the UN climate conference insisted on Monday that he respects climate science after he came under fire over a leaked video in which he questioned the science on fossil fuels.

The Emirati president of the UN's COP28 talks said Monday he respects climate science, after a leaked video showed him declaring that no science says phasing out fossil fuel will achieve climate goals.

The United Arab Emirates is choking under "alarmingly high" air pollution levels fed by its fossil fuel industry, Human Rights Watch warned on Monday as the oil-rich country hosts the UN's COP28 climate talks in Dubai.

On a sailing boat anchored off Oman's pristine Daymaniyat Islands, volunteer divers pull on wetsuits, check their scuba tanks and then take turns plunging into the clear turquoise water.

Sania sits in front of her home in Indonesia, less than a kilometre from Southeast Asia's biggest coal complex, where chimneys pump dark grey smoke and a chemical smell into the air.

Dubai's glitzy skyline was obscured by a blanket of smog rated as "unhealthy" on Sunday as thousands of delegates attended a COP28 conference dedicated to the harmful effects of air pollution.

Armed with satellite images of pipelines, former US vice president and climate champion Al Gore singled out the emissions of the United Arab Emirates at the COP28 talks in the oil-rich monarchy on Sunday.

A drone buzzed back and forth above rows of verdant orange trees planted near Nabeul, eastern Tunisia.

Israel carried out bombardments in Gaza on Sunday as international calls mounted for greater protection of civilians and the renewal of an expired truce with Palestinian militant group Hamas.

They call the giant climate business expo running outside the COP28 United Nations talks in Dubai the "green zone".

More than 20 nations including the United States called for a tripling of nuclear energy to drive down emissions on Saturday as world leaders assembled for a second day at UN climate talks in Dubai.

It would be a mistake to reject nuclear power because of problems at a handful of projects, Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said in an interview with AFP. Grossi was speaking at the COP28 conference in Dubai, where on Saturday a group of large countries are expected to call for nuclear power capacity to be tripled by 2050 as part of the fight against global warming.

More than 110 countries want the COP28 climate negotiations to adopt a goal of tripling renewable energy and doubling energy efficiency by 2030, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Friday.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced Friday plans by UAE state-owned renewables firm Masdar and German energy giant RWE to invest up to GBP11 billion ($14 billion) in a giant offshore windfarm.