
-
UK imposes online entry permit on European visitors
-
How a Brazilian chief is staving off Amazon destruction
-
Meme politics: White House embraces aggressive alt-right online culture
-
China launches military drills in Taiwan Strait
-
US senator smashes record with 25-hour anti-Trump speech
-
Brazil binman finds newborn baby on garbage route
-
US senator smashes record with marathon anti-Trump speech
-
Trump advisor Waltz faces new pressure over Gmail usage
-
Niger junta frees ministers of overthrown government
-
Trump set to unleash 'Liberation Day' tariffs
-
Boeing chief to acknowledge 'serious missteps' at US Senate hearing
-
Real Madrid hold Real Sociedad in eight-goal thriller to reach Copa del Rey final
-
Nuno salutes 'special' Elanga after stunning strike fires Forest
-
PSG survive scare against Dunkerque to reach French Cup final
-
Sundowns edge Esperance as crowd violence mars quarter-final
-
Nottingham Forest beat Man Utd, Saka scores on Arsenal return
-
Elanga wonder-goal sinks Man Utd as Forest eye Champions League berth
-
Stock markets mostly advance ahead of Trump tariffs deadline
-
US movie theaters urge 45-day 'baseline' before films hit streaming
-
Saka scores on return as Arsenal beat Fulham
-
Third-division Bielefeld shock holders Leverkusen in German Cup
-
Ball-blasting 'Torpedo bats' making waves across MLB opening weekend
-
Newsmax shares surge more than 2,000% in days after IPO
-
Thousands of Hungarians protest against Pride ban law
-
GM leads first quarter US auto sales as tariffs loom
-
Tesla sales tumble in Europe in the first quarter
-
No 'eye for an eye' approach to US tariffs: Mexico
-
NFL club owners back dynamic kickoffs, delay tush push vote
-
Trump 'perfecting' new tariffs as nervous world braces
-
Trump nominee says to press UK on Israel arms
-
French court says Le Pen appeal ruling could come before presidential vote
-
The battle to control assets behind Bosnia crisis
-
Prabhsimran powers Punjab to IPL win over Lucknow
-
Mass layoffs targeting 10,000 jobs hit US health agencies
-
Tiger's April Foolishness: plan to play Masters just a joke
-
Myanmar quake toll passes 2,700, nation halts to honour victims
-
Turkish fans, artists urge Muse to cancel Istanbul gig
-
US seeks death penalty for accused killer of insurance CEO
-
UK govt moves to block sentencing guidelines for minority defendants
-
Trump puts world on edge as 'Liberation Day' tariffs loom
-
Swedish journalist jailed in Turkey kept 'isolated': employer
-
Stock markets advance ahead of Trump tariffs deadline
-
Gulf between Everton and Liverpool has never been bigger, says Moyes
-
Finland to withdraw from anti-personnel mine ban treaty
-
UK vows £20 million to boost drone and 'flying taxi' services
-
Ford's US auto sales dip in first quarter as tariffs loom
-
Digging for box office gold, 'A Minecraft Movie' hits cinemas
-
Southampton boss Juric desperate to avoid Premier League 'worst team' tag
-
Thailand rescue dogs double as emotional support
-
Five takeaways from Marine Le Pen verdict

Heat, drought, fires threaten Lebanon's northern forests
Heatwaves, low rainfall and the threat of wildfires are compounding the woes of people in the forested north of Lebanon, a country where economic pain has long taken prominence over environmental concerns.
After a blistering and dry summer, residents of the mountainous Akkar region near the Syrian border are voicing fears about climate change and water scarcity.
Farmer Abdullah Hammud, 60, has spent his life in the green hills of Akkar, growing everything from tomatoes to figs, but says environmental problems are now hurting his livelihood.
"I've never seen it this hot," Hammud said, looking at a field where he was planning to grow cabbage. "We lost part of the crops."
With Lebanon's mains water supply unreliable at best, he depends on a nearby spring for irrigation, but worries that the supply is falling.
Because trucking in water for his house and farm is not an option, he said, "if the water ran out, we would have to leave".
Rainfall has been below average this year in Lebanon, Mohamad Kanj from the meteorological department told AFP.
A 13-day heatwave last month was "the most severe recorded in terms of the number of days, the area affected and the exceptional temperatures".
Akkar was already one of Lebanon's most disadvantaged regions before the national economy imploded in late 2019, plunging much of the population into poverty.
A report from the American University of Beirut last year found the region also has only low-to-moderate resilience to climate change.
Devastating forest fires raged two years ago near the town of Kobayat, where houses are nestled among the trees in surrounding hills.
A 15-year-old died while helping to battle the flames.
"The fires affected us a lot," said Najla Chahine, 58, a former teacher. "We feared for our lives."
- Green activism -
Since those fires, "there's more awareness", said Chahine, noting however that the local community needs to work harder to face environmental threats because "the state is absent".
She and her son Sami were on a hike as part of a recent local festival.
Several dozen people clambered up and down tree-covered slopes carpeted with dry pine needles and cones.
Sami Chahine, 13, said he has tried to "raise awareness as much as possible" about environmental issues among his friends.
He expressed worry about fires, but also other ecological threats such as pollution, in a country where people often burn trash at informal dump sites and recycling is sporadic.
The hike passed several local springs, one reduced to just a trickle, another totally dry.
Antoine Daher, head of the local non-governmental Council of Environment -- Kobayat, blamed the water shortages on both a lack of rain and rising demand, urging people to reduce consumption.
Daher said his association set up Lebanon's first fire watchtower some 25 years ago and had sought to educate people on ecological topics.
Despite Lebanon's devastating economic crisis, he said, "we mustn't see the environment as a luxury".
- Peak fire season -
Fires remain a major threat, and Khaled Taleb from the Akkar Trail association was training a group on how to prevent and fight them.
"We are currently at the peak of the fire season," he said, warning that the risk only abates in late October.
His association, which now counts 15 volunteers, turned to firefighting in 2020 after major blazes hit the Akkar region.
The area is covered with 200 square kilometres (77 square miles) of forest and home to 73 out of Lebanon's 76 tree species, he said.
The fires near Kobayat in 2021 alone "destroyed more than 1,800 hectares (4,450 acres)", he said, recalling that water access was a major problem for his team.
In October 2019, the Beirut government's failure to contain devastating wildfires was among the triggers of an unprecedented, nationwide anti-government protest movement.
Lebanon "doesn't have the logistical capabilities to deal with a huge fire", said Taleb, whose group works alongside the civil defence and other first responders.
However, he expressed optimism at the local community's willingness to pitch in.
"We weren't born firefighters," he said, adding that until three years ago, "we didn't know anything about firefighting".
"But our main priority now is to protect the forest from all threats."
D.Cunningha--AMWN