2024-09-01 11:04
LIBREVILLE, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Gabon's junta has relaxed rules covering the rare kevazingo tree, allowing logging under certain conditions of a hardwood species that can take 500 years to grow to its full height of 40 metres (130 feet). There is high demand in Asia for kevazingo wood, which is used to make chic tables and speciality guitars, among other things. Gabon's previous government outlawed kevazingo cutting in 2018 due to trafficking. But a loophole permitted sales and exports of fallen trees left on the ground for at least six months, or seized from illegal loggers. Exactly a year after the military seized power, the council of ministers on Saturday approved a decree allowing kevazingo to be logged in "sustainably managed concessions" tracked with a geo-referencing system. A CITES permit regulating international trade in wild animals and plants will be required to export finished products. "By promoting local processing, the decree stimulates the economic development of forest regions and creates new employment opportunities," the ministers said in a statement. Forestry is a major industry in Gabon, where there are around 27 million hectares of forest cover, according to the United Nations, making it one of the world's most forested countries. The last elected president, Ali Bongo, cast himself as an environmental crusader, banning raw wood exports and expanding protected zones after he succeeded his father in 2009 - continuing a family dynasty that exceeded five decades. But Gabon remained a hub for poachers, illegal logging and illicit wildlife trade despite the efforts. In 2019, Bongo fired his vice president and his forests minister after hundreds of containers of illegally logged kevazingo wood that had been seized went missing. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/gabon-junta-allows-regulated-logging-rare-kevazingo-tree-2024-09-01/
2024-09-01 11:01
UN begins polio vaccination campaign in Gaza Israel, Hamas agree to brief pauses in 11-month war First case of polio in Gaza in 25 years confirmed last month Fighting will be paused for about eight hours daily in specified areas CAIRO/GAZA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The United Nations, in collaboration with Palestinian health authorities, began to vaccinate 640,000 children in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, with Israel and Hamas agreeing to brief pauses in their 11-month-old war to allow the campaign to go ahead. The World Health Organisation (WHO) confirmed last month that a baby was partially paralysed by the type 2 polio virus, the first such case in the territory in 25 years. The campaign began on Sunday in areas of central Gaza, and will move to other areas in coming days. Fighting will pause for at least eight hours on three consecutive days. The WHO said the pauses will likely need to extend to a fourth day and the first round of vaccinations will take just under two weeks. At the end of the first day, the territory's health ministry said at least 72,611 children had taken the vaccine. Children, escorted by members of their families, crowded a UN-run clinic in the central Gaza city of Deir Al-Balah, where around one million people were sheltering, according to Palestinian officials. Medical staffers marked children who got the drops with a pen on their fingers. "I came to the UNRWA clinic today to vaccinate my daughters against polio and God willing we won't see any more diseases other than the diseases we are already experiencing. I hope we will go back to our homes safe and sound," said Gaza mother Afnan Al-Muqayyad. Polio was just one of many of Al-Muqayyad's concerns. "Skin diseases are widespread, there are no detergents, detergents are very expensive and we can’t afford them. Also, the food is very expensive, everything is expensive, and the children's weight is dropping, they were fine before but now they're becoming very thin. I hope God will set things straight," she said. 'COMPLEX' CAMPAIGN Juliette Touma, communications director of UNRWA, the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency, said the vaccination campaign was massive and "one of the most complex in the world." "Today is test time for parties to the conflict to respect these area pauses to allow the UNRWA teams and other medical workers to reach children with these very precious two drops. It's a race against time," Touma told Reuters. Israel and Hamas, who have so far failed to conclude a deal that would end the war, said they would cooperate to allow the campaign to succeed. WHO officials say at least 90% of the children need to be vaccinated twice with four weeks between doses for the campaign to succeed, but it faces huge challenges in Gaza, which has been largely destroyed by the war. "Children continue to be exposed, it knows no borders, checkpoints or lines of fighting. Every child must be vaccinated in Gaza and Israel to curb the risks of this vicious disease spreading," said Touma. Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued to battle Hamas-led militants in several areas across the Palestinian enclave. Residents said Israeli army troops blew up several houses in Rafah, near the border with Egypt, while tanks continued to operate in the northern Gaza City suburb of Zeitoun. On Sunday, Israel recovered the bodies of six hostages from a tunnel in southern Gaza, saying they were killed not long before Israeli troops reached them. The war was triggered after Hamas militants on Oct. 7 stormed into southern Israel killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages by Israeli tallies. Since then, at least 40,691 Palestinians have been killed and 94,060 injured in Gaza, the enclave's health ministry says. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/un-begins-polio-vaccination-gaza-fighting-rages-2024-09-01/
2024-09-01 10:26
DOHA, Sept 1 (Reuters) - State-owned QatarEnergy will boost its production of urea to more than 12.4 million tons annually from 6 million tons currently, its CEO said in a press conference on Sunday, without giving a timeframe. Saad Al-Kaabi, also Qatar's minister of state for energy affairs, said the construction of four new production lines for urea, a key ingredient in fertilisers, would boost output by 106%. He said the first production line would begin before 2030. "When we looked at the market for urea in the future, with the growth of humanity today, with 1.5 to 2 billion people that will be joining us in the next 20-30 years, the urea requirement for food production will be exponentially increasing," Kaabi said. He also said construction on a project to expand gas production from the North Field was on schedule. The massive expansion is set to boost QatarEnergy's overall liquefied natural gas (LNG) production by 85% over current levels. North Field is part of the world's largest natural gas field that Qatar shares with Iran, which calls it South Pars. Kaabi also announced construction of a third new solar power station in Qatar's eastern Dukhan region to more than double Qatar's overall solar energy production to 4,000 megawatts by 2030. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/qatarenergy-double-annual-urea-production-2024-09-01/
2024-09-01 09:42
TOKYO, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Tropical cyclone Shanshan, downgraded from a typhoon, left seven people dead and widespread damage as it churned off the Pacific coast of central Japan on Sunday. The Japan Meteorological Agency continued to warn of landslides, floods and rising water levels in rivers in western and eastern Japan, citing increased risks due to ground loosening from record-breaking rainfall since the storm hit the southern coast on Thursday. On the Pacific side of eastern Japan, unstable atmospheric conditions caused by rain clouds around the tropical cyclone and the inflow of warm, moist air from a Pacific high-pressure system were causing heavy rain and thunderstorms, the agency said. Some Shinkansen "bullet train" services remained disrupted, but Tokyo-Osaka service, suspended in some sections, will resume on Sunday evening, Central Japan Railway (9022.T) , opens new tab said. The seventh death from Shanshan was reported in Fukuoka in southwestern Japan on Sunday, Kyodo news agency said. Before that, the typhoon had crept eastward, drenching large areas with torrential rain, triggering landslide and flood warnings hundreds of kilometres from the storm's centre. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/japan/shanshan-downgraded-typhoon-leaves-7-dead-damage-japan-2024-09-01/
2024-09-01 07:54
MOSCOW, Sept 1 (Reuters) - A fire caused by an overnight drone attack at the Moscow Oil Refinery has been contained, the TASS state news agency reported on Sunday, citing emergency services. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said debris from several Ukrainian-launched drones targeted the Moscow refinery, sparking a fire at a "separate technical room" at the plant. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/fire-moscow-refinery-contained-tass-reports-2024-09-01/
2024-09-01 06:00
Fire at Moscow refinery plant Nine drones downed over Moscow, 158 in total over Russia Konakovo Power Plant reportedly targeted Ukraine presses US to OK using Western arms deep inside Russia MOSCOW, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Ukraine launched waves of drone attacks targeting power plants and a refinery near Moscow, sparking fires, while more than 150 drones were destroyed across other parts of the country, Russian officials said on Sunday. Drone debris caused fires at the Moscow Oil Refinery and at the Konakovo Power Station in the neighbouring Tver region, one of the largest energy producers in central Russia, officials and media said. Russia's defence ministry said on the Telegram messaging app that its air defence units had destroyed 158 drones launched by Ukraine overnight, including nine over Moscow and its surrounding region. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said several drones targeted the Moscow refinery and caused a fire at a "separate technical room" at the plant. State news agency TASS later quoted emergency services as saying the blaze had been contained. Reuters could not independently verify the reports. There was no immediate comment from Ukraine. Temporary restrictions imposed on Moscow's Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky airports overnight were lifted on Sunday morning, aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said. The two-and-a-half-year-old war is at a critical juncture, with Russia pressing an offensive in eastern Ukraine while trying to expel Ukrainian forces that broke through its western border in a surprise incursion on Aug. 6. Russia last week pounded Ukraine with its heaviest air strikes of the war, hitting energy facilities nationwide. Ukraine, with its domestic drone industry growing rapidly, has been stepping up its own attacks on Russian energy, military and transport infrastructure. But it is pressing the United States for permission to use more powerful Western-supplied weapons to inflict greater damage inside Russia and impair Moscow's abilities to continue its attacks on Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's senior officials were in Washington last week, appealing to the United States for what Zelenskiy called "capabilities to truly and fully" protect the country. LOUD BLASTS The refinery that was hit in the southeast of the Russian capital is owned by Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) , opens new tab. Gazprom Neft declined to comment. The Baza Telegram news channel, which is close to Russia's security services, said loud blasts were heard near the Konakovo power plant in Tver region. Tver Governor Igor Rudenya said there was a fire in the town of Konakovo but that electricity and gas supplies were uninterrupted. He did not say what was burning. Ukraine also attempted to strike the Kashira Power Plant in the Moscow region with three drones, Mikhail Shuvalov, head of the Kashira city district said on Telegram. There was no fire, damage or casualties as a result of the attack, he said. "Electricity is being supplied without problems," Shuvalov posted. The defence ministry said 46 drones were destroyed over the border region of Kursk, 34 over Bryansk, 28 over Voronezh and 14 over the Belgorod regions. Several more were downed over Kaluga, Lipetsk, Ryazan and a score of other Russian regions, the ministry said. There were no injuries as a result of any of the attacks, according to preliminary information. Russia rarely discloses the full extent of damage inflicted by Ukraine's air attacks. Sign up here. https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-launches-drones-moscow-other-regions-russian-officials-say-2024-08-31/
