Climate Change & Environment
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Mourners gather in Beirut to pay respects to conservationist who died after Israeli strike

Mourners gathered Sunday in Beirut to pay their respects to a much-loved Lebanese conservationist who died after succumbing to wounds sustained in an Israeli strike on her home on the country's southern coast.

Mona Khalil, who spent more than two decades protecting sea turtles along Lebanon's coastline, was critically injured in the strike on her home in the village of Mansouri earlier this month and died of her wounds Friday. She was 76.

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Tributes paid to Lebanon conservationist killed in Israeli strike

Activists and campaign groups on Saturday paid tribute to Lebanese environmentalist Mona Khalil who died from injuries sustained in an Israeli strike in the country's south, where she dedicated her life to turtle conservation for decades.

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Tropical Storm Boris forms off Mexico's southern Pacific coast, brings flooding threat

Tropical Storm Boris formed Monday and was expected to bring heavy rain, flooding and possible mudslides to parts of southern Mexico's Pacific coast, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

Boris was located about 85 miles (135 kilometers) southeast of Acapulco and 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Punta Maldonado, according to the Miami-based weather center. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph (65 kph) and was moving northeast at 2 mph (3 kph).

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Exceptionally early heat wave shatters records and brings deaths in Europe

Firefighters battled a grass fire in Edinburgh and temperature records toppled as a spring heatwave scorched parts of Western Europe, triggering government warnings about risks to life.

London recorded a rare "tropical night," defined as one in which the temperature does not fall below 20 Celsius (68 Fahrenheit), and Britain's Met Office weather service said the temperature in southern England could hit 35 C (95 F) on Tuesday.

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Heat wave empties roads and markets in north India as some turn to nighttime work

Roads and markets have emptied during afternoons and some farmers have switched to nighttime work to avoid scorching temperatures as a heat wave grips large parts of India.

The India Meteorological Department forecast maximum temperatures Thursday of around 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in the capital, New Delhi, where authorities have opened temporary "cooling zones" to help people cope.

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Torrential rain and floods batter China, killing at least 12 and forcing mass evacuations

Torrential rain and floods hit parts of China this week, killing at least 12 people and forcing tens of thousands of people to evacuate, state media reported.

State broadcaster CCTV reported on Wednesday five deaths and 11 people missing in Shimen County of Hunan province in central China after rain battered the region. A rescue operation is underway. By Tuesday evening, more than 19,000 had been relocated, Chinese official news agency Xinhua reported.

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Nature puts heat on blast as scorching temperatures in east US could smash records

A long-lasting weather pattern is poised to blast hot air like a furnace across the eastern United States, with the unusual heat wave threatening to shatter record high temperatures on Wednesday in big cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.

The heat is unusual for April, not only because it's scorching much of the nation so early in the year but also for its duration. The near-record temperatures are expected to last into this weekend, forecasters say.

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Red tide in South Africa is causing mass deaths of crayfish

A toxic algae bloom known as a red tide is causing the mass deaths of crayfish and other ocean life on parts of South Africa's west coast.

The environment ministry warned people on Thursday against collecting and eating the crayfish, which could be toxic, and police were deployed on some beaches.

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Climate change fueled deadly rainstorms in Iberia, Morocco

Human-driven climate change intensified torrential downpours that killed dozens and forced thousands of people from their homes across Spain, Portugal and Morocco earlier this year, a network of climate scientists said Thursday.

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How bomb cyclones form and create dangerous conditions

When turbulent weather with whipping winds and heavy snow is in the forecast, meteorologists sometimes warn that a storm could "bomb out" or become a bomb cyclone. But what exactly does this mean?

According to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, certain storms undergo bombogenesis, which happens when a storm's central pressure drops at least 24 millibars in 24 hours. These storms are sometimes called bomb cyclones. Storm intensity is measured by central pressure, so the lower the pressure, the stronger the storm.

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