
-
Judgment day in EU chief's Covid vaccine texts case
-
Trump set to meet Syrian leader ahead of Qatar visit
-
Misinformation clouds Sean Combs's sex trafficking trial
-
'Panic and paralysis': US firms fret despite China tariff reprieve
-
Menendez brothers resentenced, parole now possible
-
'Humiliated': Combs's ex Cassie gives searing testimony of abuse
-
Latin America mourns world's 'poorest president' Mujica, dead at 89
-
Masters champion McIlroy to headline Australian Open
-
Sean Combs's ex Cassie says he coerced her into 'disgusting' sex ordeals
-
McIlroy, Scheffler and Schauffele together for rainy PGA battle
-
Uruguay's Mujica, world's 'poorest president,' dies aged 89
-
Lift-off at Eurovision as first qualifiers revealed
-
Forest striker Awoniyi placed in induced coma after surgery: reports
-
'Kramer vs Kramer' director Robert Benton dies: representative
-
Tatum suffered ruptured right Achilles in playoff defeat: Celtics
-
US stocks mostly rise on better inflation data while dollar retreats
-
Winning farewell for Orlando Pirates' Spanish coach Riveiro
-
Lift-off at Eurovision as first semi-final takes flight
-
UN relief chief urges action 'to prevent genocide' in Gaza
-
Baseball pariahs Rose, Jackson eligible for Hall of Fame after league ruling
-
Scheffler excited for 1-2-3 group with McIlroy, Schauffele
-
Sean Combs's ex Cassie says he forced her into 'disgusting' sex ordeals
-
Uruguay's 'poorest president' Mujica dies aged 89
-
Senior UN official urges action 'to prevent genocide' in Gaza
-
'Kramer vs Kramer' director Robert Benton dies: report
-
Sinner moves through gears to reach Italian Open quarters
-
Massages, chefs and trainers: Airbnb adds in-home services
-
Republicans eye key votes on Trump tax cuts mega-bill
-
Brazil legend Marta returns for Japan friendlies
-
McIlroy, Scheffler and Schauffele together to start PGA
-
Jose Mujica: Uruguay's tractor-driving leftist icon
-
Uruguay's ex-president Mujica dead at 89
-
It's showtime at Eurovision as semis begin
-
DeChambeau says '24 PGA near miss a major confidence boost
-
Gaza, Trump dominate politically charged Cannes Festival opening
-
Carney says new govt will 'relentlessly' protect Canada sovereignty
-
Gaza rescuers says Israeli strikes kill 28 near hospital
-
Schauffele still has something to prove after two major wins
-
US inflation cooled in April as Trump began tariff rollout
-
US reverses Biden-era export controls on advanced AI chips
-
Trump, casting himself as peacemaker, to lift Syria sanctions
-
US Ryder Cup captain Bradley eyes LIV's Koepka, DeChambeau
-
Musetti battles Medvedev and match-point rain delay to reach Rome quarters
-
Rights groups urge court to halt UK fighter jet supplies to Israel
-
Steamy excitement at Eurovision contest
-
Forest hit back over criticism of owner Marinakis over Nuno clash
-
Sean Combs's ex Cassie says he 'controlled' her life with violence
-
Mali dissolves political parties in blow to junta critics
-
Blackmore's history-making exploits inspiring to all: de Bromhead
-
Southern Hills named host of 2032 PGA Championship

Great Barrier Reef ocean temperatures hit 400-year record: study
For the past decade, water temperatures along Australia's famed Great Barrier Reef have been the warmest in 400 years, a major study said on Thursday.
Ocean temperatures around the spectacular coral system have increased yearly since 1960 but were particularly hotter during recent mass coral bleaching events, according to a study in the science journal Nature.
The warmer waters are most likely down to human-induced climate change, the report said.
Co-author Helen McGregor said she was "extremely concerned" about the reef, describing the temperature increases as "unprecedented".
"These are corals that have lived for 400 years and this is the warmest temperatures they're experiencing. These are the Redwood trees of the reef," she told AFP.
Often dubbed the world's largest living structure, the Great Barrier Reef is a 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) long expanse, home to a stunning array of biodiversity that includes more than 600 types of coral and 1,625 fish species.
But repeated mass bleaching events -- when extreme heat saps the coral of nutrients and colour -- threaten the reef's fragile ecosystem.
Coral bleaching occurs when water temperatures rise more than one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit).
- 'Changes happening too quickly' -
The Australian researchers examined sea surface temperatures in the Coral Sea –- a 2,000-kilometre (1,200-mile) stretch of ocean that extends down the northeast coast and includes the Great Barrier Reef.
Scientists used coral skeleton samples to reconstruct sea surface temperatures from 1618 to 1995, as well as more recent data.
They found temperatures before 1900 had been relatively stable but the sea had warmed 0.12C (0.2F) on average since 1960 until the present.
Those temperatures were even higher during the past five mass bleaching events in 2016, 2017, 2020, 2022 and 2024, the report found.
McGregor said that although corals could recover, increasing high temperatures and repeated bleaching events were straining that ability.
"These changes -- from what we're seeing so far -- appear to be happening too rapidly for the corals to adapt to so it really threatens the reef as we know it," said McGregor, a climate researcher at the University of Wollongong.
This year's bleaching event has left 81 percent of the reef with extreme or high levels of damage -- one of the most severe and widespread on record, the latest government data shows.
It will take scientists a few more months to determine how much of the reef is beyond recovery.
- 'Existentially threatened' -
Richard Leck, World Wide Fund Australia's head of oceans, said the future of the reef was "increasingly vulnerable".
"At the moment, we can see the reef is resilient. It's bounced back from previous coral bleaching events but at some point that elastic band will snap," he told AFP.
"Coral reefs, as an ecosystem, are the first ecosystem on the planet to be existentially threatened by climate change."
"I think we have to be hopeful that the world is not going to stand by and let that happen. But it is a fraction of a second to midnight," he said.
Governments around the globe are ramping up efforts to help curb greenhouse gases or invest in reef adaptation and mitigation efforts.
Australia has invested about Aus$5 billion ($3.2 billion) in improving water quality, reducing the effects of climate change, and protecting threatened species.
But Australia, one of the world's largest gas and coal exporters, has only recently set targets to become carbon neutral.
L.Miller--AMWN