Climate Change & Environment
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Trump calls climate change 'con job' as leaders of drowning nations watch at UN

Some countries' leaders are watching rising seas threaten to swallow their homes. Others are watching their citizens die in floods, hurricanes and heat waves, all exacerbated by climate change.

But the world U.S. President Donald Trump described in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday didn't match the one many world leaders in the audience are contending with. Nor did it align with what scientists have long been observing.

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Typhoon batters Hong Kong, south China after killing dozens in Taiwan and Philippines

Typhoon Ragasa, one of the strongest in years, whipped waves taller than lampposts onto Hong Kong promenades and turned seas rough on the southern Chinese coast on Wednesday after leaving deadly destruction in Taiwan and the Philippines.

In Taiwan, 17 people died after floods submerged roads and carried away vehicles in one county, and 10 deaths were reported in the northern Philippines.

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What to know about endangered gorillas and tourist tours tracking them

Sept. 24 is observed as World Gorilla Day. It was launched in 2017 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of a Rwanda-based gorilla study center founded by Dian Fossey, the American primatologist and conservationist who gained global renown for her research.

The gorillas Fossey studied and looked after were mountain gorillas that belong to the species known as the eastern gorilla and live mostly in the Virunga Massif, a mountainous area encompassing parts of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. The second species, known as the western gorilla, inhabits areas of west and central Africa.

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Over 60,000 Europeans died from heat during 2024 summer

More than 60,000 people died from heat in Europe during last year's record-breaking summer, a benchmark study said Monday, in the latest warning of the massive toll climate change is having on the continent.

"Europe experienced an exceptionally deadly summer in 2024 with more than 60,000 heat-related deaths, bringing the total burden over the past three summers to more than 181,000," said the study published in Nature Medicine.

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Gabrielle rapidly intensifies into Category 3 hurricane in Atlantic

Gabrielle strengthened into a major hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday but was forecast to remain away from land.

The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said Gabrielle's maximum sustained winds increased to 120 mph (191 kph), making it a dangerous Category 3 hurricane.

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Super typhoon blows by northern Philippines and Taiwan

Thousands of people were evacuated from northern Philippine villages and schools and offices were closed Monday in the archipelago and neighboring Taiwan as one of this year's strongest typhoons threatened to cause flooding and landslides on its way to southeastern China.

Super Typhoon Ragasa had sustained winds of 215 kph (134 mph) with gusts of up to 295 kph (183 mph) when it slammed into Panuitan island off Cagayan province on mid-afternoon Monday, Philippine forecasters said.

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One of the rarest birds in the world finds a city sanctuary in Hong Kong

Critically endangered yellow-crested cockatoos found an unexpected sanctuary among Hong Kong 's towering skyscrapers, but like their human neighbors they now face trouble finding a place to call home.

Native to Indonesia and East Timor, the snow-white birds, their crests flashing like yellow crowns, squawk through the urban parks of the Asian financial hub. They make up roughly 10% of the species' global wild population, which numbers only up to 2,000 mature birds.

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Australia targets at least 62% emissions cut in next decade

Australia on Thursday set a new target of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by between 62% and 70% below 2005 levels by 2035.

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In Ghana, female oyster farmers try to save old practice threatened by climate change

Beatrice Nutekpor weaves through the mangroves in Tsokomey community, just outside of Ghana's capital of Accra, every day to harvest oysters for sale. It's a family tradition she's been doing since she was 15. Now 45, she is struggling to sustain the practice and pass it to her daughter.

In Ghana's coastal mangroves, oyster farming has been a key source of livelihood dominated for ages by women. Hundreds of women were trained in eco-friendly farming methods for oysters, including mangrove planting and preservation, and selective oyster harvesting, to lessen the impact of climate change.

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Spain sweltered under hottest summer on record in 2025

Spain said that summer 2025 was the hottest on record for the southern European nation, which like the entire Mediterranean region is being hard hit by climate change.

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