France failed to meet its targets for cutting greenhouse gas emissions in 2016, the government said Monday, just a month after President Emmanuel Macron warned that "we are losing the battle" against global warming.

The environment ministry said the country emitted 463 tons of greenhouse gases, measured as carbon dioxide equivalents, or 3.6 percent more than its goal.

It attributed the slip in part to lower oil prices which can prompt people and businesses to consume more in areas such as transportation or heating.

But emissions were down 15.3 percent from 1990 levels.

As part of the Paris climate accord signed by 195 nations in 2015, France has pledged to cut carbon emissions 27 percent from 2013 levels by 2028, and by 75 percent by 2050.

But the disappointing 2016 results show that "France can't be looking down" on other nations, environment minister Nicolas Hulot said.

"So stronger measures seem necessary to remain on track with our targets", he said.

Macron hosted world leaders last month for talks on financing efforts to combat climate change, with a coalition of 225 companies announcing a five-year plan for monitoring 100 of the world's largest corporate greenhouse gas emitters.

"We're not moving fast enough, that's the problem," Macron told the One Planet Summit, called to bolster the 2015 accord in light of US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of the deal.

Source: AFP

Hong Kong's famous skyline was engulfed in smog Monday, with residents urged to stay indoors.

The winter months regularly bring worse air quality to Hong Kong and other parts of the region due to wind direction and weather conditions.

But as acrid air shrouded the city's skyscrapers, harbour and surrounding hills, residents said they were afraid for their health.

"It feels stuffy and airless. It's more difficult to breathe," said Elsa Choi, 32.

"I'm not sure if masks could filter out (the particles). I won't go outside as much," Choi added.

The air quality in Hong Kong Monday was categorised as "unhealthy" on the World Air Quality Index.

Readings of damaging fine particles known as PM 2.5 hit an average concentration of 198 micrograms per cubic metre.

The World Health Organization recommends a maximum average exposure of 25 micrograms per cubic metre in a 24-hour period.

In Beijing, where pollution has reached hazardous levels in the past, the average reading was 25, categorised as "good".

The government said that pollution in Hong Kong was higher than normal and that the risk to health was "very high", as it warned residents to avoid outdoor activities.

Schools were urged to take "appropriate measures" to safeguard students' health.

The environment bureau blamed the smog on a mix of light winds, preventing dispersion of pollutants, and sunshine which it said worsens the problem.

But campaigners said authorities should not simply look to the weather.

"We know that there is a weather factor but we also know that roadside air pollution comes from traffic," said Patrick Fung of NGO Clean Air Network, who said there should be traffic controls on high pollution days.

Fung added that few people in the densely packed city could go about their daily routine without being close to the clogged roads.

A clean air plan was introduced in 2013, and the environment bureau has said roadside pollutants have dropped by up to 74 percent in the past 20 years.

But the number of days where pollution readings were categorised as a high health risk in 2017 was almost double the number in 2016, according to bureau statistics, although it was an improvement on 2014 and 2015.

Campaigners have questioned the speed at which authorities are implementing change and encouraging a drop in fossil fuel use.

In February last year the government was slammed by environmentalists, lawmakers and manufacturers for axing a tax waiver on electric cars as a way to fight congestion.

Resident Susane Yip, 40, said the smog would also put off tourists who want to capture the city's epic harbour views.

"I hope the government can devote its efforts to solving this problem," Yip told AFP.

Source: AFP

A giant mushroom-shaped cloud shot up from the Philippines' most active volcano on Monday, turning day into night as it rained ash on communities where tens of thousands have fled after warnings of an impending eruption.

"Hazardous eruption imminent," the state volcanology agency concluded in its latest bulletin, saying Mayon volcano could blow up within days after two weeks of activity.

Fine ash and sand fell on Legazpi, a city of about 200,000 people, and nearby areas after the midday explosion turned the area into virtual nighttime, forcing motorists to switch on their lights and use windscreen wipers, an AFP video stringer said.

The ash column rose several kilometres above the volcano, blotting out the sun in a largely agricultural region some 330 kilometres (205 miles) southeast of Manila.

"I had to stop because my helmet had filled up with ash," local housewife Girlie Panesa, 39, told AFP as she parked her motorcycle by the roadside in the nearby town of Ligao.

She asked bystanders for water to wash the cement-grey ash off her visor, saying she plans to ride home despite the hazardous conditions because her teenage daughter was alone in their house.

"We expect the explosions to continue," Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology director Renato Solidum told a news conference in Manila.

"There is a possibility of a dangerous eruption, the start of which we are already witnessing," Solidum added.

He advised local officials to evacuate more areas around the crater, expanding the danger zone from six kilometres to eight kilometres.

He also warned aircraft to steer clear of the area due to the danger of jet engines sucking in ash which could gum up turbines, potentially causing a catastrophic crash.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) said it shut down Legazpi airport until further notice, disrupting several domestic flights, while warning off other aircraft from the region.

"CAAP advised pilots flying near the area to exercise extreme caution, as ash from volcanic eruption can be hazardous to the aircraft," it said in an advisory.

More than 40,000 people had fled in the past week, the civil defence office in Manila said Monday.

Solidum said superheated volcanic rocks and ash rolled down the volcano's flanks while the ash column was shooting up, threatening surrounding communities.

Mayon, a near-perfect cone, rises 2,460 metres (8,070 feet) and is considered the most volatile of the country's 22 active volcanoes.

There have been 51 previous eruptions in recorded history, the last one in 2014. In 1814 it buried the town of Cagsawa, killing more than 1,000 people.

The Philippines is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" of islands that were formed by volcanic activity.

The most powerful explosion in recent years was the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, about 100 kilometres northwest of Manila, which killed more than 800 people.

Source: AFP

For years China was the world's top destination for recyclable trash, but a ban on certain imports has left nations scrambling to find new dumping grounds for growing piles of garbage.

The decision was announced in July and came into force on January 1, giving companies from Europe to the United States barely six months to look for other options, and forcing some to store rubbish in parking lots.

In China, some recycling companies have had to lay off staff or shut down due to the lost business.

The ban bars imports of 24 categories of solid waste, including certain types of plastics, paper and textiles.

"Large amounts of dirty... or even hazardous wastes are mixed in the solid waste that can be used as raw materials. This polluted China's environment seriously," the environment ministry explained in a notice to the World Trade Organization.

In 2015 alone, the Asian giant bought 49.6 million tonnes of rubbish, according to the latest government figures.

The European Union exports half of its collected and sorted plastics, 85 percent of which goes to China. Ireland alone exported 95 percent of its plastic waste to China in 2016.

That same year, the US shipped more than 16 million tonnes of scrap commodities to China worth more than $5.2 billion.

- Filling China's enormous shoes -

The ban has been like an "earthquake" for countries dependent on China, said Arnaud Brunet, head of the Bureau of International Recycling.

"It has put our industry under stress since China is simply the largest market in the world" for recycled materials, he told AFP, noting that he expected exports of certain materials to tank by 40 percent or more.

Global plastic exports to China could sink from 7.4 million tonnes in 2016 to 1.5 million tonnes in 2018, while paper exports might tumble nearly a quarter, according to Brunet's estimate.

The decrease will be partly due to a fall in the threshold of impurities China is willing to accept per tonne of waste -- higher standards that most countries currently cannot meet.

Some are now looking at emerging markets elsewhere such as India, Pakistan or southeast Asia, but it could be more expensive than shipping waste to China.

Sending recyclables to China is cheaper because they are placed on ships that would "otherwise be empty" when they return to the Asian country after delivering consumer goods in Europe, said Simon Ellin, chief executive of the Britain-based Recycling Association.

Brunet also warned that many alternate countries may not yet be up to the task of filling China's enormous shoes, since "processing capacity doesn't develop overnight."

The ban risks causing a "catastrophic" environmental problem as backlogs of recyclable waste are instead incinerated or dumped in landfills with other refuse.

In the US, collectors of recyclables are already reporting "significant stockpiles" of materials, said Adina Renee Adler, senior director of international relations at the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI).

"Some municipalities have announced that they will either not take certain materials or direct them to landfills," she said.

Brandon Wright, a spokesman for the US National Waste and Recycling Association, told AFP that some facilities were storing inventory outside or in parking lots.

- 'Hard to do business' -

The ban has also created challenges for Chinese companies dependent on foreign waste.

"It will be very hard to do business," said Zhang Jinglian, owner of the Huizhou Qinchun plastic recycling company in southern Guangdong province.

More than half their plastics were imported, and as prices for such raw materials go up, production will be reduced by at least a third, he said. He had already let go a dozen employees.

Others, such as Nantong Heju Plastic Recycling in coastal Jiangsu province, will "no longer do business" at all, a representative said.

But at the same time, the ban could jolt China into improving its own patchy recycling systems, allowing it to reuse more local materials, said Greenpeace plastics expert Liu Hua.

"In China at the moment, there isn't a complete, legal and regulated recycling system in place," he said, with even big cities like Beijing reliant on illegal scavengers.

"When there aren't resources coming from abroad, there's a greater likelihood of us improving our own internal recycling."

Tourist hotspots in Mexico's Baja California Peninsula were shaken Friday by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake -- but no injuries or damage were reported, authorities said.

The epicenter was located in the Gulf of California, 76 kilometers northeast of Loreto, a small city in the state of Baja California Sur, the National Seismological Service said.

"There are no reports of people being affected or material damage," Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto posted on Twitter.

The Baja California peninsula, which borders the United States, is home to various resorts including Los Cabos -- a favorite among North American and European tourists.

Richard de la Cruz, director general of Mexico's civil defense, confirmed to Milenio Television that areas near the epicenter were not significantly affected.

"Nobody was injured or killed," he said.

According to De La Cruz, "all safety protocols were activated," with schools and hospitals evacuated following the tremor, which "was felt moderately" in Baja California Sur.

He added there was a small aftershock, although neither a change in sea level nor a tsunami risk is expected.

On September 7 and 19 of last year, Mexico suffered two earthquakes measuring 8.2 and 7.1 on the Richter scale respectively.

The first killed 100 people in Oaxaca and Chiapas, southeastern Mexico, while the second left more than 360 people dead, mostly in the capital Mexico City.

Source: AFP

Tourist hotspots in Mexico's Baja California Peninsula were shaken Friday by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake -- but no injuries or damage were reported, authorities said.

The epicenter was located in the Gulf of California, 76 kilometers northeast of Loreto, a small city in the state of Baja California Sur, the National Seismological Service said.

"There are no reports of people being affected or material damage," Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto posted on Twitter.

The Baja California peninsula, which borders the United States, is home to various resorts including Los Cabos -- a favorite among North American and European tourists.

Richard de la Cruz, director general of Mexico's civil defense, confirmed to Milenio Television that areas near the epicenter were not significantly affected.

"Nobody was injured or killed," he said.

According to De La Cruz, "all safety protocols were activated," with schools and hospitals evacuated following the tremor, which "was felt moderately" in Baja California Sur.

He added there was a small aftershock, although neither a change in sea level nor a tsunami risk is expected.

On September 7 and 19 of last year, Mexico suffered two earthquakes measuring 8.2 and 7.1 on the Richter scale respectively.

The first killed 100 people in Oaxaca and Chiapas, southeastern Mexico, while the second left more than 360 people dead, mostly in the capital Mexico City.

Source: AFP

A spotted hyena has been sighted in a Gabon national park for the first time in 20 years, conservationists said Friday, the latest large predator to have returned to a region where many had gone locally extinct.

The Bateke Plateau National Park lies close to Gabon's border with the Republic of Congo.

Its forests and grasslands once teemed with wildlife, including many large mammal predators, but the ecosystem was decimated by decades of poaching.

Officials said a spotted hyena had been caught on camera traps in the park for the first time in two decades giving hope that more large mammals might return after years of conservation efforts.

The sighting comes two years after a lone male lion was photographed by camera traps after returning.

"The return of these large carnivores is a great demonstration that the efforts of our rangers and partners are having a positive effect on Bateke wildlife," professor Lee White, director of Gabon's National Parks Agency said in a press release.

The spotted hyena was so unknown in recent memories that when researchers showed local park rangers the photographs from the camera traps they did not know the species.

But village elders in communities north of the park instantly recognised the hyena, researchers said.

The sightings are a far cry from when researchers first set up their camera traps in 2001.

That year all they photographed in Bateke was a lone antelope and multiple poachers crossing into the park from the Republic of Congo.

The lion first spotted in 2015 has since made the park his home. But he has yet to be joined by any others.

"This lion... has been continuously photographed during his three-year reign of the park, but remains alone, calling for a mate," the researchers said.

Source: AFP

The black clouds hanging over the boats in Dutch ports Friday were not the remnants of wild winter gales, but harbingers of another devastating storm brewing for Dutch fishermen.

On Tuesday, the European Parliament struck what may prove to be the death knell for some of the Dutch fishing fleet by demanding a ban on electric pulse fishing.

For the Dutch, who invented this experimental method of trawling the North Sea for fish, the decision came as a bombshell, spelling likely catastrophe.

In the northern village of Urk, Andries de Boer, a third generation fisherman, said he like many others now faced an uncertain future after investing heavily to equip their boats with the technology.

On the western coast, in the bustling port of Scheveningen near The Hague, his colleague Anton Dekker said he was "bewildered and extremely disappointed" by "this injustice".

Standing among the nets on his boat, his gaze was lost on the horizon as his crew prepared to head out into the cold North Sea for four days.

- 'It's electrifying' -

Pulse fishing involves dragging electrically charged lines just above the seafloor to shock marine life up from low-lying positions into trawling nets.

EU rules allow member states to equip up to five percent of their fleets with electrodes, and the method has been adopted in particular by Dutch vessels fishing for sole.

Some 84 Dutch boats use the practice, alongside just three Belgian vessels, representing 0.1 percent of the total European fishing fleet.

"Sole is a fish which hides under 10 centimetres of sand during the day. By sending out these little electric pulses, they come out of the sand and bingo, they're in the net," said Dekker.

"When you've been working for years to improve the environment and CO2 emissions, to catch fewer unwanted or small fish, and you've reached your goal -- which is what we believe -- to then see it reduced to nothing, is terrible," said de Boer bitterly.

In Urk, a 10th century village which used to be an island in Flevoland, fishermen have spent hundreds of thousands of euros after having won the go-ahead from the EU on an experimental basis.

But MEPs voted on Tuesday by 402 members to 232 in favour of the ban, while 40 abstained.

"It is a wonderful victory against a terribly harmful kind of fishing," said Yannick Jadot, a French member of the Greens party, who took part in the campaign against the practice.

But Pim Visser, the head of the Dutch fisherman's organisation VisNed, said the campaign had been based on "half-truths, non-facts, insinuations and allegations".

"It's a scandal, and a blow," he said, denying Jadot's accusations by insisting there was no terrible environmental harm.

On the contrary, the Dutch fishermen said: "The seabed is less disturbed" than by more traditional methods of fishing for sole,.

There is "no scientific basis for saying that electric fishing is not good," he added.

- 'Bruised fish' -

Researcher Adriaan Rijnsdorp, from the University of Wageningen, agreed. He is due to complete a study of the environmental effects next year.

"It's a very promising technique, which is important for limiting the damage which fishing inflicts on the ecosystem," he told the NOS public broadcaster.

But the row has increasingly pitted the Netherlands against France -- particularly after 200 top European chefs pledged to stop sourcing seafood obtained through electric pulse fishing.

"We refuse to work with seafood coming from a fishing method that condemns our future and that of the ocean," the chefs said in a text written by two-star Michelin chef Christopher Coutanceau.

They alleged that electric trawlers "produce catches of poor quality, fish which underwent stress and are often marked by post-electrocution bruises."

"It is impossible to work with such low-quality products."

"Nonsense," shot back Visser, insisting the Dutch were selling high-quality fish, and pointing to the beloved French delicacy of foie-gras, most often produced by force-feeding poultry to fatten their livers.

Tuesday's vote was just one step in a long battle, with the EU parliament now trying to strike a compromise with the European Commission, the bloc's executive, and the European Council, which groups the 28 member states.

Dutch fishermen say if a total ban is adopted, then they will need to use 40 million litres of diesel more a year to drag heavier nets, which will cut their revenues by some 20 percent.

Source: AFP

 Facebook has emerged as the top site for wildlife trafficking in the Philippines, a watchdog said Friday, with thousands of endangered crocodiles, snakes and turtles illegally traded in just three months.

Monitoring network TRAFFIC said Facebook had not done enough to shut down the trade, which saw more than 5,000 reptiles from 115 species put up for sale on its discussion groups from June to August 2016 alone.

"Facebook is the platform of choice for illegal traders in the Philippines because of its popularity and insufficient internal monitoring enforcement," the report said.

"This magnitude of commerce in live wild animals online is just mind-boggling," said Serene Chng, TRAFFIC's programme officer for Southeast Asia.

The groups where live reptile advertisements were posted had more than 350,000 members when the study began, with numbers growing 11 percent in three months.

Most transactions were completed using Facebook's Messenger service, the report said, adding that trading continues on the platform despite periodic government raids.

Over half the species bought and sold were protected internationally and by the Philippines' wildlife act, which carries jail terms and fines.

The radiated tortoise, black spotted turtle, Bengal monitor lizard, and Dumeril's boa -- all threatened with extinction -- were among them, as well as the critically endangered Philippine crocodile and Philippine forest turtle.

In one transaction, a trader also used an unnamed ride-sharing service to deliver wildlife to a buyer.

"This small snapshot reinforces how social media has taken over as the new epicentre of wildlife trade," Chng said.

A statement from Facebook's PR firm said the site does not tolerate wildlife trade and is working with TRAFFIC to tackle the problem.

"Facebook does not allow the sale and trade of endangered animals and we will not hesitate to remove any material that violates our community standards when it is reported to us," it said.

TRAFFIC's regional spokeswoman Elizabeth John said that Facebook was "seeking additional information in order to take action" and that the watchdog was helping it liaise with Philippine authorities.

Findings from the study were used to launch raids on suspected illegal traders in Manila and other areas last year, TRAFFIC said, with numerous arrests made.

Philippine customs authorities also intercepted packages with illegal wildlife destined for China, Sweden, and the United States.

Source: AFP

The United States are set to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's number two oil producer after Russia this year, as shale companies, attracted by rising prices, ramp up drilling, the International Energy Agency said on Friday.

"This year promises to be a record-setting one for the US," the IEA wrote in its monthly market report.

Crude production of 9.9 million barrels per day (bpd) in the US was now at the highest level in nearly 50 years, "putting it neck-and-neck with Saudi Arabia, the world's second largest crude producer after Russia," the IEA said.

"Relentless growth should see the US hit historic highs above 10 million bpd, overtaking Saudi Arabia and rivalling Russia during the course of 2018 -– provided OPEC/non-OPEC restraints remain in place," it said.

A global supply glut pushed oil prices as low as $30 per barrel at the start of 2016.

But producing nations -- both inside and outside the OPEC oil cartel -- struck a deal at the end of 2016 to cut back production and drive prices higher.

Geopolitical tensions and a reduction in oil stocks have also contributed to the recovery.

Crude recently rose above $70 per barrel for the first time since 2014 after OPEC and non-OPEC countries agreed to extend their combined cutbacks until the end of this year.

Rising prices have, in turn, made it more attractive for shale companies to increase drilling.

And since the United States is not a party to the deal, its shale production can continue uninhibited.

"US growth in 2017 beat all expectations ... as the shale industry bounced back, profiting from cost cuts, (and) stepped up drilling activity," the IEA said.

"Explosive growth in the US and substantial gains in Canada and Brazil will far outweigh potentially steep declines in Venezuela and Mexico," it said.

"The big 2018 supply story is unfolding fast in the Americas," the IEA said.

Shale production is controversial, because in order to extract oil and gas, a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals is blasted deep underground to release hydrocarbons trapped between layers of rock.

And environmentalists argue that the process -- known as fracking, or hydraulic fracturing technology -- may contaminate ground water and even cause small earthquakes.

- Market nearly balanced -

Regarding OPEC output, the IEA said that there was "no clear sign yet of OPEC turning up the taps to cool down oil's rally".

In its own monthly market report published on Thursday, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries had said that the global oil market was moving closer to reaching a healthy balance between supply and demand.

The IEA, which advises advanced market economies on energy policy, said that there was 95-percent compliance by OPEC countries with the agreed cuts.

In the first annual decline since 2013, total oil production from the group's 14 members fell from 39.6 million bpd to 39.2 million bpd, it said.

And while "supply discipline from the non-OPEC camp has been less rigorous, 82 percent for 2017," it was "nonetheless strong," the agency said.

At the same time, the increase in US production offset roughly 60 percent of the realised cuts, the IEA said.

The impact of the reduction was further blunted by a rebound in output from Libya and Nigeria, excluded from the cuts.

The IEA calculated that the global oil supply eased by 405,000 bpd to 97.7 million bpd in December, but this was due mostly to unplanned outages in the North Sea and lower Venezuelan output, the IEA said.

That compares with estimated overall global demand for oil of 97.8 million bpd.

The IEA said that if both OPEC and non-OPEC countries maintained compliance, "then the market is likely to balance for the year as a whole."

For producers, there was a silver lining to taking part in the supply cuts, since "they earned more in 2017 while pumping less," it said.

Among OPEC producers, Saudi Arabia saw the biggest reward, making nearly $100 million a day in additional revenue. Beleaguered Venezuela, on the other hand, only earned an extra $9 million.

As a whole, OPEC producers netted an extra $362 million a day.

Russia, not a member of the cartel, earned the most of all, pocketing an additional $117 million a day, the IEA calculated.

Source: AFP

Nine people including two firefighters were killed Thursday as violent gales battered northern Europe, snapping air and train links.

Germany halted all long-distance rail traffic for at least a day, while numerous domestic flights were scrapped as hurricane-force winds lashed the country.

The storm claimed six lives in Germany, including two firefighters deployed in emergency operations and two truck drivers whose vehicles were blown over by the gales.

Another driver died when he lost control of his vehicle and crashed in to a truck.

A 59-year-old camper was killed instantly when a tree fell on him in North Rhine-Westphalia state, German police said, as wind speeds reached a high of 203 kilometres an hour (126 mph) at the Brocken -- the highest peak of northern Germany.

The storm, named Friederike, also ripped the roof off a school in the eastern state of Thueringia while children were still in the building. Authorities said no one was hurt there.

In the Bavarian alps, the strong gales forced the cancellation of a ski world championship qualifier at Oberstdorf.

It is the worst storm to strike Germany since 2007, according to the German weather service.

Passengers stuck at rail stations were given a voucher for a hotel room, German rail service Deutsche Bahn spokesman Achim Strauss said.

"We must have protect our passengers and our staff," he added, without saying when the rail service would return to normal.

In the Netherlands, which had borne the brunt of the severe winter storms earlier Thursday, two people were crushed by falling trees as bitter winds barrelled off the North Sea to hit the low-lying country with full force.

As the national weather service raised its warning to the highest code red level, a 62-year-old man was killed in the central Dutch town of Olst by a falling branch when he got out of his truck to remove debris blocking the road.

A second Dutchman, also 62, was killed in eastern Enschede when a tree toppled onto his car, the Dutch news agency ANP said.

In neighbouring Belgium, a woman driver reportedly died when her car was crushed by a tree as she was travelling through a wood in the Grez-Doiceau area, about 35 kilometres south of Brussels.

Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, one of the continent's busiest travel hubs, was forced to briefly cancel all flights as winds gusted up to 140 kilometres an hour in some areas.

Flights later resumed but all passengers were being advised to check their flight status, the airport said in a tweet, adding "up until now, 320 flights have been cancelled".

The airport also had to close the entrances to two of its three departure halls when some roof tiles were whipped off the terminal building.

- Storm carpool -

The traffic chaos also plagued the roads, with the Dutch national traffic office reporting 66 trucks had been toppled over by the high winds causing huge traffic jams on the motorways, the highest recorded number since 1990.

The Dutch NS national train service said meanwhile that only a few trains would be put into service late Thursday, and warned of further disruption on Friday as many overhead lines had been brought down by the high winds.

The hashtag #StormPoolen (or storm carpool) began trending with people searching rides between cities, and some drivers offering spare seats in their cars.

“My lovely boyfriend is trying to get from Leiden Central to Delft. He’s very nice and there’s a bottle of wine in it for whoever can return him unharmed. #StormPoolen,” wrote one Twitter user Molly Quell.

Puk van de Lagemaat promised "mad Dj-ing and Karaoke skills to accompany you in the traficjam (sic)" if anyone could give her a ride from Amsterdam central station to The Hague.

Thalys, the high-speed train operator, said suspended services to the Netherlands and Belgium would resume on Friday while services to Germany would depend on when the Aachen Cologne line reopens.

- Avalanche risk -

Germany's rail service said stranded passengers will receive a hotel voucher or will have the option of spending a night in a train at the station.

Traffic is expected to resume only very gradually, said a German rail spokesman.

Dutch insurers warned that the bill for Thursday's storm damage could top 10 million euros ($12.25 million).

Four people were injured in Antwerp, including one woman who was seriously hurt after being hit in the head by flying metal debris, the Belgian news agency Belga said.

Elsewhere in Europe, Tyrol state in western Austria said part of the Westbahn train line linking Vienna, Linz and Salzburg was closed on Thursday morning because of avalanche risk, national railways company OeBB said.

"We don't want to take any risks," OeBB spokesman Christoph Gasser-Mair said.

Cape Town will next month slash its individual daily water consumption limit by 40 percent to 50 litres, the mayor said Thursday, as the city battles its worst drought in a century.

Mayor Patricia de Lille has warned that if rains do not materialise and drastic consumption reductions are not achieved the normal water supply will be shut off.

Instead residents will have to queue at standpipes for daily water rations of 25 litres (6.6 US gallons).

"We have reached a point of no return... We can no longer ask people to stop wasting water -- we must force them," De Lille said as she announced a raft of tough new measures to fend-off the so-called "Day Zero" standpipe scenario, currently forecast for April 21.

A typical shower uses 15 litres per minute while a standard toilet consumes 15 litres per flush, according to WaterWise, a South African water usage awareness campaign.

One of the measures, which the council will vote on Friday, is a punitive tariff for the city's thirstiest consumers.

"Despite our urging for months, 60 percent of Capetonians are callously using more than 87 litres per day," said De Lille, referring to the current daily water consumption limit.

"At this point, we must assume that they will not change their behaviour," she said.

The city has rolled out a string of projects in recent months to increase its water reserves, including efforts to drill into aquifers and the construction of desalination plants.

But De Lille said those measures "will simply not be enough" and that the chance of reaching "Day Zero" was now "very likely".

"The crisis has reached a new severity necessitating a series of new emergency measures," she said.

The city, which attracts millions of tourists every year, has enforced strict waste controls including splash bans at municipal pools and hauling wasteful homeowners before the courts.

Water consumption in Cape Town has nearly halved since early 2016, but has remained stubbornly high at around 620 million litres per day -- 120 million litres above the city's target. "Day Zero" has crept forward by a week since the beginning of the year.

Mayor De Lille said the city would unveil 200 water collection points across the city next week "so that communities can begin preparing for that eventuality".

Strong summer rains saw much of southern Africa recover from a drought brought on by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

But Mediterranean-like Cape Town receives most of its rain in the southern hemisphere's winter -- and scientists warn there is no guarantee of a good rainy season.

A critically endangered Sumatran elephant has given birth to a new calf in Indonesia, the country's conservation agency said Wednesday.

Sumatran elephants are a protected species, but rampant deforestation for plantations has reduced their natural habitat and brought them into conflict with humans.

The newborn was found with its 40-year old mother Seruni, who was being closely monitored by the agency in anticipation of the birth inside a conservation forest in Riau on the island of Sumatra.

Officials expressed jubilation at the arrival of the baby who is believed to be a week old. Its gender has not yet been determined.

"The birth of the elephant is a conservation gift," the agency said in a statement.

"The calf is constantly being guarded by its mother and two other adult elephants."

Dozens of elephants were found dead in Sumatra last year, including an adult without tusks in Aceh, along with its abandoned 11-month-old calf.

Most were killed by humans, according to conservationists.

Last month, a pregnant elephant was found dead in a palm oil plantation in Sumatra, in what authorities suspected was a deliberate poisoning.

There are believed to be around 2,000 Sumatran elephants left in the wild.

Source: AFP

A giant panda loaned to Malaysia from China has given birth to a second cub during its stay in the Southeast Asian country, zoo officials said Wednesday.

The baby was born Sunday to Liang Liang, who has been on loan to Malaysia since 2014 along with a male panda, said Mat Naim Ramli, director of the national zoo's panda centre outside Kuala Lumpur.

He said officials were not yet sure of the cub's gender as the mother was keeping the youngster so tightly in her grasp zookeepers could not get near.

"The mother is very attentive and protective. She doesn't allow us to (take the cub)," he told AFP.

The first cub, a female called Nuan Nuan, was born in August 2015 and sent to China in November last year as part of Beijing's agreement with Malaysia that cubs born in captivity must go back at the age of two.

Mat Naim said the new cub appeared to be healthy and slightly larger than its elder sister when she was born.

He added that officials were trying to get a closer look at the cub, and that the government would likely hold a competition to name the animal soon.

Liang Liang and the male, Xing Xing, came to Malaysia in 2014 on a 10-year loan.

Their arrival was held up by a month after the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 -- carrying mostly Chinese passengers -- caused tensions between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing.

There are an estimated 1,864 giant pandas left in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and they can only be found in certain parts of south central China.

The IUCN classifies them as "vulnerable".

Source: AFP

All of Norway's short-haul airliners should be entirely electric by 2040, the country's airport operator said on Wednesday, cementing the Nordic nation's role as a pioneer in the field of electric transport.

Avinor, the public operator of Norwegian airports, "aims to be the first in the world" to make the switch to electric air transport, chief executive Dag Falk-Petersen told AFP.

"We think that all flights lasting up to 1.5 hours can be flown by aircraft that are entirely electric," he said, noting that would cover all domestic flights and those to neighbouring Scandinavian capitals.

In the near future, Avinor plans to launch a tender offer to test a commercial route flown with a small electric plane with 19 seats, starting in 2025.

Norway, the largest oil and gas producer in Western Europe, is paradoxically a leader in the field of electric transport.

It has more electric cars on the road in terms of market share than any other country in the world -- electric and hybrid vehicles represented more than half of new car registrations in 2017 -- and also has several projects underway for electric vessels.

"When we will have reached our goal, air travel will no longer be a problem for the climate, it will be a solution," Falk-Petersen said.

According to official statistics, air transport accounts for 2.4 percent of Norwegian greenhouse gas emissions for domestic traffic, and more than double that when international routes are included.

Electric air travel will also at least halve noise levels and the operating cost of aircraft, Falk-Petersen said.

But before reaching that point, Avinor said it would need to use intermediary technologies, such as biofuels and hybrid fuel-electric solutions.

Boeing and Airbus are currently exploring the viability of electric aircraft.

After abandoning a project for 100-percent electric planes last year, Airbus decided to refocus its efforts on developing a hybrid model, inking a partnership with British engine maker Rolls Royce and German industrial group Siemens. The first flight is planned for 2020.

Zunum Aero, a start-up partly financed by US aeronautics group Boeing, meanwhile plans to bring a hybrid plane to the market by 2022.

Source: AFP

 The wreck of an Iranian oil tanker that collided with a cargo ship off China this month has been located, Beijing said Wednesday, but gave no new details about the environmental impact of the disaster.

The Sanchi, which was carrying 136,000 tonnes of light crude oil from Iran, ran into Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter the CF Crystal on January 6, sparking a fire that Chinese rescue ships struggled to extinguish.

It sank on Sunday after a new and massive fire erupted, sending a cloud of black smoke as high as a kilometre above the East China Sea. The bodies of only three of the 32 crew members -- 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis -- have been found.

On Monday Chinese ships scrambled to clean-up a massive oil spill amid fears of devastating damage to marine life.

"The location of the wreck has been confirmed," China's transport ministry said on its official social media platform, adding that the ship lay at a depth of around 115 metres.

Thirteen vessels were sent to continue emergency operations at the scene on Tuesday.

Next, "underwater robots will be deployed to explore the wreck waters," the transport ministry added.

Three separate slicks were easily visible from surveillance planes, up to 18.2 kilometres (11.3 miles) in length, China's State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said in a statement Monday, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The type of condensate oil carried by the Sanchi does not form a traditional surface slick when spilt, but is nonetheless highly toxic to marine life and much harder to separate from water.

The area where the ship went down is an important spawning ground for species like the swordtip squid and wintering ground for species like the yellow croaker and blue crab, among many others, according to Greenpeace.

It is also on the migratory pathway of numerous marine mammals, such as humpback and gray whales.

In addition to the light crude oil, the Sanchi also carried a fuel tank able to accommodate some 1,000 tonnes of heavy diesel.

Takuya Matsumoto, a spokesman for Japan’s coastguard said it was not yet clear how much fuel remained in the ship.

"It is difficult to give an immediate assessment of what kind of environmental impact the oil leak may leave at this point. It depends on how much fuel the ship still had inside," he told AFP on Tuesday.

"We believe the situation is reasonably under control for now."

Alaska-based oil spill consultant Richard Steiner has slammed governments for failing to gather environmental data more quickly.

"As no one has been conducting a scientific assessment of (the environmental impact), the governments and ship owners are likely to claim, erroneously, there was limited damage," he said.

Source: AFP

Floating on the murky waters of the River Thames in London, activist paddle-boarders are trying to rid the waterway of a plague of plastic waste and draw attention to the problem.

As the sun rises on the Thames behind historic Kew Bridge in the west of the British capital, quacking ducks and gliding swans conjured a serene landscape.

But on closer inspection all manner of plastic objects have washed up ashore, including plastic bags hanging from trees.

It is this kind of regularly sullied scene that inspired several members of paddle-board association Active360 to launch cleaning sessions of the river and canals that run through London.

The founders -- Paul Hyman, Louise Nolan and James Roorda -- took to the water this week to inspect an island for detritus.

Within half an hour, they had discovered enough discarded waste to fill a large bucket.

The haul includes plastic bottles, ropes, sheeting, cups "and the most unpleasant plastic bags: dog poop bags which seem to get everywhere now," Nolan said.

Many of these products would take hundreds of years to downgrade.

- '1,000 Royal Albert Halls' -

Nolan noted their haul was relatively modest and -- depending on the tides -- it can be three or four times larger.

For her, this small gesture for the environment is "really gratifying", but Hyman, the founder of the association, struggles with its limitations.

"Cleaning it up, the danger is that we're just hiding the problem," he said.

"It's upstream measures that need to happen. There's no point just cleaning up after people, you need to stop it happening in the first place."

The association tries to raise awareness about its efforts on social networks and at a festival held in spring.

Their latest battle: attempting to convince coffee shops in the capital to abandon disposable cups, many of which fall into the river.

Their anti-plastics campaign is slowly starting to gather momentum, aided in part by the government of Prime Minister Theresa May, who last week announced a plan to fight "one of the great environmental scourges of our time."

"In the UK alone, the amount of single-use plastic wasted every year would fill 1,000 Royal Albert Halls," she said, referring to the famous London concert hall with more than 5,000 seats.

- 'Change in the air' -

May's environmental action plan includes extending a small charge for plastic carrier bags -- currently enforced at supermarkets -- to all retailers in England, as well as urging them to introduce plastic-free aisles.

The government will also call for evidence on changes to the tax system or charges on single-use plastic items, such as takeaway containers.

However environmental advocates have criticised the proposals as too modest, in particular the pledge to eliminate all avoidable plastic waste only by the end of 2042.

The European Union wants to phase out single-use plastics, aiming to make all packaging reusable or recyclable by 2030.

Corporations also appear to be responding to the growing climate of concern around plastics.

On Tuesday, budget supermarket chain Iceland, which specialises in frozen food, announced it would remove all plastic packaging from its own branded product lines within five years.

Coffee and convenience goods chains like Starbucks, Pret a Manger and Costa Coffee also increasingly compete in "green" proposals, offering discounts to customers who bring their own mugs and charging more for their disposable cups.

"This year there is definitely a change in the air," said Hyman, though he remains unconvinced by May's plans.

"What the government announced last week was interesting but it wasn't very tangible," he said.

As he plays his part in the evolving anti-plastics revolution, Hyman urged others "to think about their own lives and the plastic they use, and to think about what they don't really need to use.

"Just carrying a reusable coffee cup around with you is a really good example."

Source: AFP

A Chinese boom in solar panel installation last year helped drive global investment in renewable clean energy technology to record levels, a new study showed Tuesday.

After a dip in 2016, overall global investment in the sector rose 3.0 percent to a total $333.5 billion, offsetting falls in Japan, Germany and Britain, according to the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) study.

That was the second best annual showing to date after $360.3 billion in 2015.

"The 2017 total is all the more remarkable when you consider that capital costs for the leading technology -– solar -– continue to fall sharply," said BNEF chief executive Jon Moore.

Solar investment came in at $160.8 billion in 2017, a rise of 18 percent despite per megawatt capital costs falling by around a quarter, with China accounting for around half the overall total at $86.5 billion -- up 24 percent, the study said.

"China installed about 20 GW more solar capacity in 2017 than we forecast," said Justin Wu, BNEF head of the Asia-Pacific region, as the Chinese notably showed off the world's first photovoltaic expressway.

Investment in wind power slipped back 12 percent last year, however, to $107.2 billion after a strong rise in 2016.

Solar and wind power remain far out in front in terms of renewable energy forms ahead of the likes of biomass, geothermal and small scale hydroelectricity which each attracted less than $5 billion last year.

Well behind China, the United States landed investments of $56.9 billion -- a rise even so of 1.0 percent despite an unfavourable political climate with President Donald Trump sceptical of climate change and withdrawing his country from the Paris climate agreement.

The study highlighted what it termed Washington's "less friendly tone towards renewables."

A handful of countries saw investments more than double, including Sweden to $4 billion and Australia to $9 billion.

Egypt saw a 495 percent increase to $2.6 billion while investment in the United Arab Emirates enjoyed a dizzying 23-fold rise to $2.2 billion.

Europe saw a notable decline in renewables investment to $57.4 billion, the fall-off hitting 26 percent in Germany and 56 percent for the United Kingdom on energy policy changes

Japan saw a 16 percent drop, while India was down 20 percent to $11 billion.

BNEF estimated last year saw a record 160 gigawatts of renewable power installed, not counting hydroelectricity, comprising 98 GW of solar and 56 GW of wind power.

Energy-smart technology, such as smart meters and energy storage, is also making headway, BNEF noted.

Source: AFP

The European Union unveiled plans Tuesday for all plastic packaging in Europe to be recyclable by 2030 and phase out single-use plastic like coffee cups to fight pollution.

The strategy announced by the European Commission, the EU-executive, follows China's decision to ban imports of foreign products to be recycled, including huge quantities from Europe.

"The commission aims to increase plastic recycling and for all plastic packaging to be reusable or recyclable by 2030," the executive body said.

The Commission said its proposals also aim to create business opportunities by transforming the way plastic products are designed, produced and recycled in Europe.

Commission First Vice President Frans Timmermans said: "We must stop plastics getting into our water, our food, and even our bodies. The only long-term solution is to reduce plastic waste by recycling and reusing more."

"The Chinese decision is undoubtedly a big challenge but let's turn that challenge into an opportunity," he added.

The proposals did not contain plans for a tax on plastic packaging, which budget commissioner Guenther Oettinger proposed last week to fight pollution and to help plug a hole of around 13 billion euros in the bloc's budget caused by Brexit.

"We have not found a way to introduce a European-wide plastic tax yet," Vice President Jyrki Katainen, who is responsible for jobs and investment, told reporters. "It is too early to promise anything."

Britain's Prince Charles and others held an EU-backed conference last year for drastic action to stop eight million tonnes of plastic waste polluting the world's oceans annually.

The commission said Europeans generate 25 million tonnes of plastic waste annually, but less than 30 percent is collected for recycling.

Timmermans called for promoting awareness, urging parents to tell their children that a plastic straw takes only a second to produce but 500 years to degrade.

He said the commission has launched a process to ultimately ban microplastics, which are found in cosmetics and other products but slip into the body through food.

Katainen said the strategy is "a great opportunity for European industry to develop global leadership in new technology and materials."

He added Europe does not yet have a functioning single recycling market for plastic as there are no set standards.

According to Plastics Europe, the Brussels-based association of European plastics manufacturers, the industry is worth 340 billion euros (2015 figures) in the EU, and employs more than 1.5 million people.

Source: AFP

British energy giant BP said Tuesday it will take an additional charge of $1.7 billion (1.4 billion euros) in the fourth quarter of 2017 linked to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster in 2010.

And BP said in a statement it also expects to be hit by an additional $3.0 billion of Gulf-related costs this year, up from a previous estimate of $2.0 billion.

This brings BP's total cost linked to the disaster -- including fines and compensation to businesses -- to around $65 billion at the end of 2017.

"With the claims... work very nearly done, we now have better visibility into the remaining liability," BP chief financial officer Brian Gilvary said in a statement.

"The charge we are taking as a result is fully manageable within our existing financial framework, especially now that we have the company back into balance" on higher oil prices, he added.

Following the announcement, BP's share price traded down 1.7 percent at 523.6 pence on London's FTSE 100 index, which was flat overall in morning deals.

BP saw its fortunes and reputation ravaged by the devastating oil spill disaster eight years ago caused by an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig that the company leased.

The blast killed 11 men off the coast of Louisiana and caused 134 million gallons (507 million litres) of oil to spew into Gulf waters, sparking the worst environmental catastrophe in US history.

Source: AFP

Australia is calling on the world's top scientific minds to help save the Great Barrier Reef, offering hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund research into protecting the world's largest living structure.

The UNESCO World Heritage-listed reef is reeling from significant coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change.

The 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) site is also under pressure from farming runoff, development and predatory crown-of-thorns starfish, with experts warning it could be suffering irreparable damage.

On Tuesday, the Australian government announced a Aus$2.0 million (US$1.6 million) funding pot available to people with bright ideas on how to save the reef.

"The scale of the problem is big and big thinking is needed, but it's important to remember that solutions can come from anywhere," said Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg.

He said the money would be available to the world's "greatest scientific minds, industry and business leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs".

"Solutions could focus on anything from reducing the exposure of corals to physical stressors, to boosting coral regeneration rates by cultivating reef-building coral larvae that attract other important marine species," Frydenberg added.

Up to Aus$250,000 is available for an initial feasibility stage, where researchers can test the technical and commercial viability of their proposals for up to six months.

More than one proposal is expected to be accepted at this stage, the government said.

A further Aus$1 million will then be made available to the best solutions at the proof of concept stage, where applicants develop and test their prototypes for up to 12 months.

Those that are successful will retain intellectual property rights and will be able to try to commercialise their innovation.

UNESCO's World Heritage Committee last year decided not to place the Barrier Reef on its list of sites "in danger" despite concern over the mass coral bleaching.

The 2017 bleaching marked the second-straight year that corals have been damaged by warming sea temperatures, an unprecedented occurrence that scientists said would give the invertebrate marine creatures insufficient time to fully recover.

Coral reefs make up less than one percent of Earth's marine environment, but are home to an estimated 25 percent of ocean life, acting as nurseries for many species of fish.

Source: AFP

One of the most important strategic sites in Europe for the US military has come under threat from a rather unexpected enemy: a flock of sheep.

It is their random meanderings near the Deveselu base in southern Romania that has triggered an unusual power struggle between US commanders and a stubborn local sheep farmer.

Dumitru Bleja's 250 or so sheep "grazed without problem" in the area for years before the Americans arrived at the end of 2013, says Alexandru Damian, mayor of Stoenesti, a community on the vast Danubian plain 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of the border with Bulgaria.

"Sheep are not like people. They don't respect the rules, they go into areas where security sensors are active, touching the fence and setting off alarm systems," he says.

But this is unthinkable for the US military, which chose the site as one of its two anti-missile defence systems to help defend NATO members against the threat of short and medium-range ballistic missiles, particularly from the Middle East.

- A security threat? -

In 2014, the top US official at Deveselu informed Romania's defence ministry that having a shelter for sheep some 10 metres (yards) from the fence "undermines the minimum security requirements and is incompatible" with the running of the base.

The complaint has spiralled into a more than three-year legal saga between the Romanian defence ministry and the farmer that has now reached the country's highest court, which on Wednesday will rule on one of the aspects of the case.

According to the mayor, Bleja had in 2007 bought nearly a hectare (2.5 acres) of land adjacent to the area later taken over by the base, and a year later, he built a shelter for his sheep -- well before work began on the military site.

But, the farmer never applied for planning permission to build, he says.

With the ministry pursuing him for building without a permit, the shepherd has responded with his own claims -- for damages of up to 18,000 euros ($22,000) in the event of the demolition of his 132-square-metre (1,420-square-foot) sheep pen.

For the mayor, the situation is "embarrassing".

"We have signed a treaty with the Americans and we should respect it," he says.

Contacted by AFP, the US military declined to comment "on a dispute between the Romanian government and a private citizen".

"We sincerely appreciate the strong and continued partnership between the United States and our Romanian allies that allows for continued operations at Naval Support Facility Deveselu," said Lieutenant Tim Pietrack, spokesman for the US Navy's Europe, Africa and Southwest Asia region.

The base at Deveselu, which is part of the NATO missile shield and was built at an estimated cost of $800 million, was inaugurated in May 2016, infuriating Russia which views it as a security threat right on its doorstep.

- 'Exaggerated' demands -

In Stoenesti, residents are largely reluctant to talk "to avoid getting into trouble" with Bleja, but some believe that he is the one at fault.

"Even if we're talking about building a road, people should just accept the conditions laid out" by the authorities responsible for expropriations, said one bar owner.

"You can't just dig in your heels and do things of your own accord. The landowner must reach an agreement with the military and with the local authorities," said a 69-year-old retiree, Nicoleta Nacu.

"And the damages he is asking for are exaggerated because after all, the sheep pen is not all that big."

One local councillor even accused the farmer of buying the land and building the shelter there "on purpose, to be able to demand significant compensation from the Americans."

But the idea is dismissed out of hand by Bleja's lawyer Serban Dinu.

"Out of the question," he says.

"Back in 2007, nobody knew that Deveselu would be chosen" as the site for a US base, he told AFP.

Ahead of Wednesday's verdict, the farmer -- who declined to be interviewed -- has gone with his sheep to his hometown of Caracal, which lies 15 km west of Stoenesti.

Source: AFP

Glowing red lava rolled down the slopes of a Philippine volcano Tuesday morning as authorities maintained a warning of a possible hazardous eruption.

The lava was quietly flowing in some places but at times Mount Mayon was erupting like a fountain, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said. Lava had advanced up to 2 kilometers (1.24 miles) from the crater, and ash reached up to 2 kilometers and fell on nearby communities.

 
Nearly 15,000 people have fled the danger zone within 6 to 7 kilometers of Mayon, and the institute strongly advised people not to re-enter the area.

Several small pyroclastic flows were generated by fragments in the lava streams and not by an explosion from the crater vent, like occurred with Mount Pinatubo, said Renato Solidum, who heads the volcano institute. Pyroclastic flows are superheated gas and volcanic debris that can race down slopes and incinerate everything in their path, and are feared in a major eruption.

 
"The pyroclastic flows, there were several, were not generated by an explosion from the crater with lava, molten rocks and steam, shooting up the volcano then rolling down," Solidum said. "These were generated by lava fragments breaking off from the lava flow in the upper slopes

He also said Mayon has not seen enough volcanic earthquakes of the type that would prompt scientists to raise the alert level to four, which would indicate an explosive eruption may be imminent. Emergency response officials previously said they may have to undertake forced evacuations if the alert is raised to four.

 
After steam explosions Saturday and lava rising in the crater on Sunday, the alert was raised to three on a scale of five, indicating a hazardous eruption is possible "within weeks or even days."

Mayon lies in coconut-growing Albay province about 340 kilometers (210 miles) southeast of Manila. With its near-perfect cone, Mayon is popular with climbers and tourists but has erupted about 50 times in the last 500 years, sometimes violently

In 2013, an ash eruption killed five climbers who had ventured near the summit despite warnings. Mayon's first recorded eruption was in 1616 and the most destructive in 1814 killed 1,200 people and buried the town of Cagsawa in volcanic mud.

The Philippines lies in the so-called "Ring of Fire," a line of seismic faults surrounding the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common.

In 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the northern Philippines exploded in one of the biggest volcanic eruptions of the 20th century, killing about 800 people

Chinese ships scrambled Monday to clean up a massive oil spill after an Iranian tanker sank off China, raising fears of devastating damage to marine life.

The Sanchi, carrying 136,000 tons of light crude oil from Iran, went under on Sunday after a new and massive fire erupted, sending a cloud of black smoke as high as one kilometer (3,280 feet) above the East China Sea.

The bodies of only three of the 32 crew members have been found since the vessel collided with the CF Crystal, a Hong Kong-registered bulk freighter, on January 6, sparking a fire that Chinese rescue ships struggled to extinguish.

Iranian officials said there was no hope of finding survivors among the crew of 30 Iranians and two Bangladeshis, prompting grief and anger among families of the sailors in Tehran.

The search and rescue effort was canceled and a clean-up began after a fire on the sea surface was finally extinguished on Monday, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Two ships sprayed chemical agents aimed at dissolving the oil, CCTV said. The spill was 11.5 miles long and up to 4.6 miles wide and located east of the submerged ship, it added. This would amount to an area of some 50 square miles (129 square kilometers).

“This (clean-up) work is one of our focuses. It is also a priority area of our efforts. No one wants to see a large-scale secondary disaster,” said foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang, adding that the cause of the accident was under investigation.

Alaska-based oil spill consultant Richard Steiner called the accident “the single largest environmental release of petroleum condensate in history.”

“Given the poor condition of the hull of the ship after a week of explosions and fire, it is my assumption that none of the cargo holds or fuel compartments remain intact, and thus all of the condensate and fuel has been released,” Steiner told AFP.

Even if only 20% of the vessel’s cargo was released into the sea, it would still be an amount about equivalent to Alaska’s disastrous 1989 Exxon Valdez crude oil spill, he said.

“I don’t know of any condensate spill into a marine environment larger than 1,000 tons, and most that we know of have been less than one ton,” he said.

The Sanchi’s own fuel tank was able to accommodate some 1,000 tons of heavy diesel, according to Chinese media.

‘WORST SITUATION’
On Sunday state broadcaster CCTV cited Zhang Yong, a senior engineer with China’s State Oceanic Administration, as playing down environmental concerns.

The Sanchi’s light crude would have “less impact on the ocean” than other kinds of oil, and minimal impact on humans given how far offshore the incident occurred, he said.

The accident happened 160 nautical miles east of Shanghai.

But the sinking of the ship before more oil had a chance to burn off was “the worst situation” possible, Ma Jun, director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, told the Global Times newspaper.

“The condensate oil, a kind of ultra-light oil on Sanchi, is different than other types of crude oil and is poisonous to marine life,” he warned.

Unlike crude, condensate does not form a traditional surface slick when spilt. Instead, it generates a toxic underwater plume of hydrocarbons invisible from the sea surface.

Whales, porpoises, seabirds, fish, and plankton in contact with these hydrocarbons in the East China Sea will either die quickly or develop “sub-lethal injuries” such as physiological impairment, reproductive failure and chronic diseases, said Steiner.

The region is also a crucial spawning site for many large fish species, whose eggs and larvae have “undoubtedly been exposed” to the toxic compounds, he said.

“Just because there is no traditional surface slick does not mean there is minimal impact. While the toxic phase of the spill may only last a few months, the injury to populations could persist much longer,” he said.

He slammed governments for failing to gather environmental data more quickly.

“As no one has been conducting a scientific assessment of (the environmental impact), the governments and ship owners are likely to claim, erroneously, there was limited damage