- Fans hail Trump's 'guts' as he returns to site of rally shooting
- Lebanon state media says 'very violent' Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Guardians maul Tigers, miracle Mets rally in MLB series openers
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit south Beirut
- Miami on track for MLS record points after win in Toronto
- Madrid beat Villarreal but Carvajal suffers knee injury
- Madrid beat Villarreal to move level with Liga leaders Barcelona
- Monaco take top spot in Ligue 1 with win at Rennes
- French rugby player on rape charge whistled but 'serene' on return
- Madrid beat Villarreal to level Liga leaders Barca
- Thuram treble fires Inter past Torino and up to second
- 'Fight': defiant Trump jets in to site of rally shooting
- Toddler among 3 dead in migrant Channel crossings
- Mexico City's new mayor sworn in with pledges on water, housing
- Israel on alert ahead of Hamas attack anniversary
- Guardians maul Tigers in MLB playoff series opener
- Macron criticises Israel on Gaza, Lebanon operations
- French rugby player whistled but 'serene' on return amid ongoing rape case
- Kovacic stars as Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- Retegui hat-trick fires five-star Atalanta to hammering of Genoa
- Heavyweights Australia, England off to World Cup winning starts
- Visiting UN refugee agency chief decries 'terrible crisis' in Lebanon
- Spinners come to party as England defeat Bangladesh at T20 World Cup
- Search continues for missing in deadly Bosnia floods
- Man City sink Fulham to get title bid back on track
- France's Auradou whistled on Pau return in Perpignan loss amid ongoing rape case
- A 'forgotten' valley in storm-hit North Carolina, desperate for help
- Arsenal hit back in style after Southampton scare
- Thousands march for Palestinians ahead of Oct 7 anniversary
- Hezbollah heir apparent Safieddine out of contact after strikes
- Liverpool stay top of Premier League as Arsenal, Man City win
- In dank Tour of Emilia, Pogacar shines in rainbow jersey
- DR Congo launches mpox vaccination drive, hoping to curb outbreak
- Trump returns to site of failed assassination
- Careless Leverkusen held to Bundesliga draw
- O'Brien's 'superstar' Kyprios posts landmark win on Arc weekend
- Toddler crushed to death in migrant Channel crossing
- Liverpool suffer Alisson injury blow
- Habosi helps Racing beat Vannes before Auradou's playing return
- Thousands march in London in support of Palestinians, 1 year after Oct 7
- Israel readying response to Iran missile attack
- Schutt, Mooney help Australia beat Sri Lanka in Women's T20 World Cup
- Liverpool extend Premier League lead with win at Palace
- Djokovic 'shakes rust off' to make third round of Shanghai Masters
- 'Imperfect' PSG fighting on all fronts - Luis Enrique
- Struggling Pakistan look to thwart adaptable England
- Child 'trampled to death' in asylum seekers' Channel crossing: minister
- Gauff fights back to set up Beijing final against Muchova
- Guardiola claims Premier League won't delay season for Man City
- Israel to mark October 7 attack as Gaza war spreads
Reclaimed by floods, wildlife returns to Romania's Danube Delta
Tour guide Eugen Grigorov steered his boat past half-underwater combine harvesters and last year's flooded crops in a part of Romania's Danube Delta reclaimed by the great river.
After a dyke burst last summer near his village of Mahmudia, swathes of the delta once drained for farmland were submerged again, creating the region's second-largest lake and a paradise for the region's battered biodiversity.
"Isn't it lovely now? Less pollution than with tractors and herbicides," the 51-year-old said, marvelling at the hundreds of wild pelicans, ducks and gulls flocking to the lake.
But while many welcome the return of wetland wildlife to the delta, local authorities are bracing for battle with farmers who want it drained again.
- 'Let the lake remain' -
Grigorov remembers how the delta first made way for crops in the 1980s, when communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu had the reed islands burnt down and the marshes drained to turn them into farmland.
Since the floods the area has returned to what it was like 40 years ago, Mahmudia's mayor Ion Serpescu told AFP, adding the town was "happy" after the dyke breached.
Serpescu pointed to the fishermen and tourists drawn to visit his village by the lake, saying that "more than 15 guest houses have been built in two years" to accommodate them.
Estimating the cost of rebuilding the dyke at 20-30 million euros ($22-32 million), the 67-year-old believed there was little point in draining the lake again.
"Let the lake remain as it is," he said.
Many of Mahmudia's 2,000 residents hope the Romanian government will agree, after a commission of experts issued an opinion in favour of the delta's ecological restoration.
And during a visit in June, Romania's Environment Minister Mircea Fechet said that nature was "already repairing" the damage and "the delta has done nothing but reclaim its own land".
But others were less keen on the idea, with businessman Emanuel Dobronauteanu suing the local authorities for damages after losing 730 hectares (1,804 acres) of wheat, corn, sunflower and alfalfa in the floods.
Demanding "just compensation", the 58-year-old said the estimated two million lei ($435,000) in damages caused by the floods was too low a figure.
But even he said that he was not completely opposed to the lake's return, telling AFP he would be "most happy" to "go out there to fish" if he was compensated adequately.
- 'Nature takes its due' -
In 2012, Romania launched a project aimed at restoring the Danube Delta's damaged ecosystems with the help of funding from the European Union.
Environmentalists say that leaving the lake flooded would speed up the restoration process.
"Aquatic ecosystems recover much faster than forests," said biologist Dragos Balea, who coordinates the conservation group World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)'s programmes in the delta.
"If you leave an aquatic ecosystem alone, in 10 to 15 years it will recover more than 70 percent" of its original biodiversity, Balea told AFP.
The signs are already encouraging.
"More and more birds are showing up," he said, with his project monitoring more than 90 species in the delta.
The ruptured dyke, which local authorities have blamed on a series of construction flaws, came as no surprise to the biologist.
"You can't mess with nature. Nature takes its due," he said.
P.M.Smith--AMWN