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Highest-level Rainstorm Warning Issued in South China's Guangdong

Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated due to flooding in southern China, including in Qingyuan (pictured). STR, STR / CNS/AFP
Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated due to flooding in southern China, including in Qingyuan (pictured). STR, STR / CNS/AFP
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Highest-level Rainstorm Warning Issued in South China's Guangdong

Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated due to flooding in southern China, including in Qingyuan (pictured). STR, STR / CNS/AFP
Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated due to flooding in southern China, including in Qingyuan (pictured). STR, STR / CNS/AFP

More than 100,000 people have been evacuated due to heavy rain and fatal floods in southern China, with the government issuing its highest-level rainstorm warning for the affected area on Tuesday.
Torrential rains have lashed Guangdong in recent days, swelling rivers and raising fears of severe flooding that state media said could be of the sort only "seen around once a century".
On Tuesday, the megacity of Shenzhen was among the areas listed as experiencing "heavy to very heavy downpours", the city's meteorological observatory said, adding the risk of flash floods was "very high".
Images from Qingyuan -- a city in northern Guangdong that is part of the low-lying Pearl River Delta -- showed a building almost completely submerged in a flooded park next to a river, AFP said.
Official media reported Sunday that more than 45,000 people had been evacuated from Qingyuan, which straddles the Bei River tributary.
State news agency Xinhua said 110,000 residents across Guangdong had been relocated since the downpours started over the weekend.
Four people have so far died and 10 are missing, according to state media.
Climate change driven by human-emitted greenhouse gases makes extreme weather events more frequent and intense, and China is the world's biggest emitter.
Aerial shots from the province showed brown gashes in the side of a hill -- the aftermath of landslides that had occurred behind a town on the banks of a swollen river.
Soldiers could be seen operating excavators in an attempt to clear away the muddy debris produced by the downpour.
'Take precautions'
Guangdong is China's manufacturing heartland, home to around 127 million people.
"Please quickly take precautions and stay away from dangerous areas such as low-lying areas prone to flooding," authorities in Shenzhen said in issuing Tuesday's red alert.
"Pay attention to heavy rains and resulting disasters such as waterlogging, flash floods, landslides, mudslides, and ground caving in."
Heavy rain is expected to continue in Shenzhen for the next two to three hours, authorities said.
In recent years China has been hit by severe floods, grinding droughts and record heat.
That has meant that authorities are typically very quick to deploy, making casualties much lower than in previous decades.
Last September Shenzhen experienced the heaviest rains since records began in 1952, while the nearby semi-autonomous city of Hong Kong saw its heaviest rainfall in nearly 140 years.
Asia was the world's most disaster-hit region from climate and weather hazards in 2023, the United Nations has said, with floods and storms the chief cause of casualties and economic losses.

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Varieties

Face of Neanderthal Woman Buried in Iraq Cave Revealed

The recreated head of Neanderthal woman ‘Shanidar Z’ (Jamie Simonds)
The recreated head of Neanderthal woman ‘Shanidar Z’ (Jamie Simonds)
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Face of Neanderthal Woman Buried in Iraq Cave Revealed

The recreated head of Neanderthal woman ‘Shanidar Z’ (Jamie Simonds)
The recreated head of Neanderthal woman ‘Shanidar Z’ (Jamie Simonds)

Archaeologists have reconstructed the human-like face of a Neanderthal woman who lived 75,000 years ago in a cave in northern Iraq where the extinct species may have conducted unique funerary rituals, Britain’s The Independent reported.

Bone fragments of the Neanderthal woman, named Shanidar Z, were first unearthed in 2018 from a cave in Iraqi Kurdistan where her people may have repeatedly returned to lay their dead to rest, said the report.

Although Neanderthal people, who are thought to have died out 40,000 years ago, had skulls quite different from those of humans, the rebuilt face of this Neanderthal woman – thought to have been in her forties when she died – shows that their appearance was human-like.

The findings are revealed in a new documentary, Secrets of the Neanderthals, produced by the BBC and released on Netflix worldwide.

“Neanderthal skulls have huge brow ridges and lack chins, with a projecting midface that results in more prominent noses,” said Dr. Emma Pomeroy, from Cambridge University’s archaeology department. “But the recreated face suggests those differences were not so stark in life.”

She continued: “It’s perhaps easier to see how interbreeding occurred between our species, to the extent that almost everyone alive today still has Neanderthal DNA.”

The woman’s remains, including a skull flattened to around 2cm thick, are some of the best-preserved Neanderthal fossils found this century, The Independent quoted researchers as saying.

Her head is thought to have been crushed, possibly by rockfall, soon after her death, likely after her brain decomposed but before her skull filled with dirt.

After carefully exposing the remains, including her skeleton almost to the waist, Cambridge researchers used a glue-like consolidant to strengthen the bones and surrounding sediment.

They removed Shanidar Z in small foil-wrapped blocks from under 7.5 meters of soil and rock within the heart of the “flower funeral” cave.

They then pieced together more than 200 pieces of her skull to return it to its original shape, including her upper and lower jaws.

“It’s like a high-stakes 3D jigsaw puzzle. A single block can take over a fortnight to process,” said Pomeroy, who features in the new documentary.

The researchers surface-scanned the reconstructed skull and 3D-printed it, further adding layers of fabricated muscle and skin to reveal her face.

Varieties

China Launches First Probe to Collect Samples from Far Side of Moon

A Long March 5 rocket, carrying the Chang'e-6 mission lunar probe, lifts off as it rains at the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in southern China's Hainan Province on May 3, 2024. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
A Long March 5 rocket, carrying the Chang'e-6 mission lunar probe, lifts off as it rains at the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in southern China's Hainan Province on May 3, 2024. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
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China Launches First Probe to Collect Samples from Far Side of Moon

A Long March 5 rocket, carrying the Chang'e-6 mission lunar probe, lifts off as it rains at the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in southern China's Hainan Province on May 3, 2024. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
A Long March 5 rocket, carrying the Chang'e-6 mission lunar probe, lifts off as it rains at the Wenchang Space Launch Centre in southern China's Hainan Province on May 3, 2024. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)

China launched a probe on Friday to collect samples from the far side of the Moon, a world first as Beijing pushes ahead with an ambitious program that aims to send a crewed lunar mission by 2030.

A rocket carrying the Chang'e-6 lunar probe blasted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China's Hainan province just before 5:30 pm (0930 GMT), AFP journalists near the site said.

Heavy rain engulfed the site just minutes before the launch began, they said, with hundreds of onlookers gathered nearby to witness the latest leap for China's decades-long space program.

Washington has warned that the program is being used to mask military objectives and an effort to establish dominance in space.

The Chang'e-6 aims to collect around two kilograms of lunar samples from the far side of the Moon and bring them back to Earth for analysis.

State news agency Xinhua hailed it as "the first endeavor of its kind in the history of human lunar exploration".

It is a technically complex 53-day mission that will also see it attempt an unprecedented launch from the side of the Moon that always faces away from Earth.

"The whole mission is fraught with numerous challenges, with each step interconnected and nerve-wracking," Wang Qiong, deputy chief designer of the Chang'e-6 mission, told Xinhua.

The probe is set to land in the immense South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system.

Once there, it will scoop up lunar soil and rocks, and carry out other experiments in the landing zone.

It must then lift off from the Moon's surface and retrace its steps back home.

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Nepal Court Orders Limit on Everest Climbing Permits

(FILES) Tents of mountaineers are pictured at the Everest base camp in the Mount Everest region of Solukhumbu district on May 3, 2021. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
(FILES) Tents of mountaineers are pictured at the Everest base camp in the Mount Everest region of Solukhumbu district on May 3, 2021. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
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Nepal Court Orders Limit on Everest Climbing Permits

(FILES) Tents of mountaineers are pictured at the Everest base camp in the Mount Everest region of Solukhumbu district on May 3, 2021. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)
(FILES) Tents of mountaineers are pictured at the Everest base camp in the Mount Everest region of Solukhumbu district on May 3, 2021. (Photo by Prakash MATHEMA / AFP)

Nepal's Supreme Court has ordered the government to limit the number of mountaineering permits issued for Everest and other peaks, a lawyer confirmed Friday, just as expeditions prepare for the spring climbing season.

The Himalayan republic is home to eight of the world's 10 highest peaks and welcomes hundreds of adventurers each spring, when temperatures are warm and winds are typically calm.

The verdict was issued in late April but a summary was only published this week, Agence France Presse reported.

Lawyer Deepak Bikram Mishra, who had filed a petition urging permits to be curtailed, told AFP that the court had responded to public concerns about Nepal's mountains and its environment.

"It has ordered a limit to the number of climbers... and also given measures for waste management and preservation of the mountain's environment," Mishra said.

The verdict's summary said that the mountains' capacity "must be respected" and an appropriate maximum number of permits should be determined.

The full text of the verdict has not been published and the summary does not mention any specific limit to the number of permits issued.

Nepal currently grants permits to all who apply and are willing to pay $11,000 to scale Everest, the world's highest peak at 8,850 meters (29,035 feet) above sea level.

Last year, the country issued 478 permits for Everest, a record high.

A massive human traffic jam on Everest in 2019 forced teams to wait hours at the summit in freezing temperatures, risking depleted oxygen levels that can lead to sickness and exhaustion.

At least four of the 11 deaths on the peak that year were blamed on overcrowding.

Varieties

Heatwave Swells Asia's Appetite for Air-conditioning

A record-breaking heatwave is broiling parts of Asia, helping drive surging demand for cooling options, including air-conditioning. Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP
A record-breaking heatwave is broiling parts of Asia, helping drive surging demand for cooling options, including air-conditioning. Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP
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Heatwave Swells Asia's Appetite for Air-conditioning

A record-breaking heatwave is broiling parts of Asia, helping drive surging demand for cooling options, including air-conditioning. Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP
A record-breaking heatwave is broiling parts of Asia, helping drive surging demand for cooling options, including air-conditioning. Yuichi YAMAZAKI / AFP

A record-breaking heatwave is broiling parts of Asia, helping drive surging demand for cooling options, including air-conditioning.
AC exhaust units are a common feature of urban landscapes in many parts of Asia, clinging like limpets to towering apartment blocks in Hong Kong or tucked in a cross formation between the windows of a building in Cambodia.
They offer relief from temperatures that have toppled records in recent weeks, with many countries in the region hitting 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) or higher.
Scientists have long warned that human-induced climate change will produce more frequent, longer and more intense heatwaves.
Only 15 percent of homes in Southeast Asia have air-conditioning, according to a 2019 report by the International Energy Agency (IEA).
But that figure obscures vast variations: ranging from around 80 percent installation in Singapore and Malaysia, to less than 10 percent in Indonesia and Vietnam, the IEA said.
Forecasts suggest that higher temperatures and better wages could see the number of air-conditioning units in Southeast Asia jump from 40 million in 2017 to 300 million by 2040.
That would stretch local electricity capacity, which is already struggling under current conditions.
Myanmar is producing only about half the electricity it needs each day, with the junta blaming weak hydropower because of scant rains, low natural gas yields and attacks by its opponents on infrastructure.
Thailand has seen record power demand in recent weeks, as people retreat indoors to cooled homes or businesses.
Air-conditioning is already responsible for the emission of approximately one billion metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, according to the IEA, out of a total of 37 billion emitted worldwide.
Still, cooling options like air-conditioning are a key way to protect human health, especially for those who are most vulnerable to the effects of extreme heat: children, the elderly and those with certain disabilities.
With demand surging, dozens of countries last year signed up to the United Nations' Global Cooling Pledge, a commitment to improve the efficiency of air conditioners and reduce emissions from all forms of cooling.
Some countries have been trying to reduce the impact of cooling for years.
Since 2005, Japan has encouraged office workers to ditch ties and jackets so air conditioners can be kept at 28 degrees Celsius.
The annual "Cool Biz" programme took on new significance during power shortages in 2011 following the shutdown of nuclear plants after the Fukushima disaster.

Varieties

Orangutan’s Use of Medicinal Plant to Treat Wound Intrigues Scientists

This photo provided by the Suaq foundation shows Rakus, a wild male Sumatran orangutan in Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia, on Aug. 25, 2022, after his facial wound was barely visible. (Safruddin/Suaq foundation via AP)
This photo provided by the Suaq foundation shows Rakus, a wild male Sumatran orangutan in Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia, on Aug. 25, 2022, after his facial wound was barely visible. (Safruddin/Suaq foundation via AP)
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Orangutan’s Use of Medicinal Plant to Treat Wound Intrigues Scientists

This photo provided by the Suaq foundation shows Rakus, a wild male Sumatran orangutan in Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia, on Aug. 25, 2022, after his facial wound was barely visible. (Safruddin/Suaq foundation via AP)
This photo provided by the Suaq foundation shows Rakus, a wild male Sumatran orangutan in Gunung Leuser National Park, Indonesia, on Aug. 25, 2022, after his facial wound was barely visible. (Safruddin/Suaq foundation via AP)

In June 2022, a male Sumatran orangutan named Rakus sustained a facial wound below the right eye, apparently during a fight with another male orangutan at the Suaq Balimbing research site, a protected rainforest area in Indonesia. What Rakus did three days later really caught the attention of scientists.

Researchers on Thursday described observing how Rakus appeared to treat the wound using a plant known for its pain-relieving properties and for supporting wound healing due to its antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal and antioxidant qualities.

The orangutan chewed the plant's leaves to produce a liquid that Rakus repeatedly smeared on the wound and then applied the chewed-up plant material directly to the injury, much like a wound plaster administered by doctors, according to primatologist and cognitive biologist Isabelle Laumer of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany.

Rakus also ate the plant, an evergreen vine commonly called Akar Kuning - scientific name Fibraurea tinctoria, added Laumer, lead author of the study published in the journal Scientific Reports. This plant is rarely eaten by orangutans in this peat swamp forest area, home to about 150 critically endangered Sumatran orangutans.

"To our knowledge, this is the first documented case of active wound treatment with a plant species with medical properties by a wild animal," said study senior author Caroline Schuppli, an evolutionary biologist at the institute.

Rakus, believed to have been born in 1989, is a flanged male, with large cheek pads on both sides of the face - secondary male sexual characteristics. Rakus was one of the area's dominant males.

The researchers said the orangutan's wound self-treatment did not appear to be happenstance.

"His behavior appeared to be intentional. He selectively treated his facial wound on his right flange with the plant juice, and no other body parts. The behavior was repeated several times, not only plant juice but later also more-solid plant material was applied until the wound was fully covered. The entire process took a considerable amount of time," Laumer said.

The wound never showed signs of infection and closed within five days, the researchers said.

"The observation suggests that the cognitive capacities that are needed for the behavior - active wound treatment with plants - may be as old as the last common ancestor of orangutans and humans," Schuppli said. "However, what these cognitive capacities exactly are remains to be investigated. Whereas this observation shows that orangutans are capable of treating their wounds with plants, we don't know to what extent they understand the process."

Orangutans are one of the world's great apes alongside chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas.

"It is possible that wound treatment with Fibraurea tinctoria emerges through accidental individual innovation. Individuals may accidentally touch their wounds while feeding on Fibraurea tinctoria and thus unintentionally apply the plant's juice to their wounds," Laumer said.

"But it may also be," Laumer added, "that Rakus has learned this behavior from other orangutans in his birth area."

This plant, widely distributed across China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia, is used in traditional medicine to treat conditions such as malaria.

Orangutan means "person of the forest" in the Indonesian and Malay languages, and these apes are the world's biggest arboreal mammal. Orangutans, adapted to living in trees, live more solitary lives than other great apes, sleeping and eating fruit in the forest canopy and swinging from branch to branch.

"Orangutans have high cognitive abilities, in particular in the area of physical cognition," Schuppli said. "They are known to be excellent problem-solvers. Wild orangutans acquire their skill sets via observational social learning, and skills get passed on from generation to generation. The population where this observation was made is known for its rich cultural repertoire, including tool use in different contexts."

Varieties

Greek Summer Wildfire Threat Nears, Outpacing Plans to Contain it 

A firefighter sprays water on smoke grenades during a disaster risk training exercise to effectively deal with wildfires, in Athens, Greece, April 4, 2024. (Reuters)
A firefighter sprays water on smoke grenades during a disaster risk training exercise to effectively deal with wildfires, in Athens, Greece, April 4, 2024. (Reuters)
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Greek Summer Wildfire Threat Nears, Outpacing Plans to Contain it 

A firefighter sprays water on smoke grenades during a disaster risk training exercise to effectively deal with wildfires, in Athens, Greece, April 4, 2024. (Reuters)
A firefighter sprays water on smoke grenades during a disaster risk training exercise to effectively deal with wildfires, in Athens, Greece, April 4, 2024. (Reuters)

When firefighters arrived at a blaze in a pine forest on the Greek island of Rhodes last July, flames were already leaping above the trees into the night sky. The volunteers needed to act fast, but dense vegetation on the forest floor blocked access.

With crews unable to get close, the fire spread and within days had engulfed the Mediterranean island, forcing 19,000 people to flee - one of the biggest disaster evacuations in Greece's history.

"Have you ever tried walking through a forest that has not been cleared for more than 10 years? It's so difficult," said firefighter Nikos Karpathakis, who was at the scene.

As another summer approaches, and as climate change makes wildfires ever more deadly across southern Europe, Greece has developed a new doctrine to contain the damage, including deploying an extra fire truck to each new blaze, speeding up air support and clearing forests.

But five firefighters and three experts said the initiative doesn't address shortfalls in planning and prevention and more devastation awaits.

"We are clinging to a doctrine which insists on fire suppression instead of adopting an integrated fire management strategy," said Theodore Giannaros, a fire meteorologist at the National Observatory of Athens.

Heat waves triggered wildfires across swathes of Portugal, France, Spain and Italy last year and caused dozens of deaths.

The situation is especially dire in Greece, which has just recorded its warmest winter on record, creating ideal conditions for fires that threaten crops, homes and the booming tourism industry.

Last August, a fire in the northern Evros region destroyed an area larger than New York City and killed at least 20 people - the deadliest European blaze of 2023. Fires this year have begun earlier than expected, including one in March in a mountainous area normally blanketed by snow.

"It will be a very tough wildfire season. Climate change is here," Vassilis Kikilias, Minister for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, told Reuters.

MORE NEEDED

Greece has made strides to combat fires, including building firebreaks around power poles in forested areas and stepping up training.

Some 700 additional forest rangers were hired this year. Crews have cleared 12,000 hectares of forest since 2022 and another 7,000 hectares will be completed by the end of May, the environment ministry said.

"For the first time in 50 years, we're stepping into forests and building firebreak zones," Kikilias said. "Certainly, it won't be done at once throughout Greece but it's a good start."

Under a 2.1 billion euro ($2.25 billion) plan, Greece has concluded tenders for more than 1,000 fire engines and seven DHC-515 aircraft, and plans to install sensors to detect smoke.

Experts worry it won't be enough.

The cleared forests make up only a tiny fraction of the nearly 7.5 million hectares of Greek woodland. Some of the tendered trucks and aircraft will not be delivered for years.

They said more money should be spent creating a corps of wildfire specialists who can draft risk maps and analyze how fires are likely to spread. They recommended embracing firefighting methods used in other parts of the world, such as "backfiring", where firefighters light new fires in the path of existing ones to starve them of fuel.

Volunteer firefighter Karpathakis is haunted by last summer. He said crews laid down 2 km of hoses to get closer to the Rhodes fire. It was too late. Gale force winds blew the blaze beyond their reach.

"I worked non-stop for so many days but the situation didn't get any better."

Varieties

Unique Venues Heat Up Sauna Scene in Sweden and Finland

In Sweden and Finland, some unusual saunas have been built in recent years. Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP
In Sweden and Finland, some unusual saunas have been built in recent years. Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP
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Unique Venues Heat Up Sauna Scene in Sweden and Finland

In Sweden and Finland, some unusual saunas have been built in recent years. Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP
In Sweden and Finland, some unusual saunas have been built in recent years. Jonathan NACKSTRAND / AFP

Deep underground in a disused iron mine and under the bluish glow of a flashlight, a small crowd emerges from a sauna, steam rising off their bodies as they plunge into a crystal clear turquoise lake.
In Sweden and Finland, some unusual saunas have been built in recent years, offering truly singular experiences.
Nestled in the snowy forests of Bergslagen in central Sweden, hidden 90 meters (almost 300 feet) below ground in this region known for its mines, lies this very special sauna, AFP reported.
The old iron mine in the town of Borlange closed in 1968 before reopening in 2022, redesigned to welcome visitors looking for a unique -- and sweaty -- experience, Daniel Karlsson, the head of Adventure Mine, told AFP.
"If you look at saunas today, it's more like a luxury experience," he said.
But "down here it's not just a sauna. It's also the experience that you get with nature," he said, clad in a thick red parka to protect from the cold and a helmet with a headlamp.
The space offers visitors a moment of respite from the busy, connected world above.
"Because the sauna is down in the mine, there is nothing that disturbs you from enjoying the sauna."
"You don't have mobile phones, you don't have the sun, you don't have the wind," he said.
Heat on a high
Saunas are enjoyed around the world as a method of relaxation, claimed by some to provide health benefits.
They originated in Finland and Estonia, typically built as small wooden cabins where dry heat up to 100 degrees Celsius (212 F) with very low humidity is produced from a stove or hot rocks.
Having a sauna has been a social and hygiene tradition for more than 2,000 years.
Now, sauna enthusiasts who want to expand their horizons can reach new heights in Helsinki.
In the Finnish capital, a giant ferris wheel overlooking the city offers a sauna in one of its specially-built pods.
The sweat session could easily burn a hole in your wallet though, costing between 240 and 350 euros ($255 to $375).
"You can get a pretty good steam and heat here if you really want to," said shift manager Viivi Makelainen.
"Although it's pretty small, you can fit quite a few people in here, four or five. Also the views are more fun when you're in the sauna."
Saunas are an integral part of daily life for most Finns.
The country of 5.5 million inhabitants is home to 3.3 million saunas.
Traditionally considered a sacred space in Finland, 'a church of nature', the Finnish sauna culture was named a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2020.
'Intimacy with the surroundings'
Saunas in the Nordic countries are typically small wooden cabins located near the shore (for a quick dip), deep in the forest (for a quick roll in the snow) or in a home (with a quick shower to refresh).
But one special sauna in the Stockholm archipelago is making waves -- sailing on the waters of the capital city.
The "Big Branzino", a luxury floating sauna measuring 30 square meters (322 square feet), was designed and built in 2022 at the request of a private person.
The structure resembles a square wooden cabin, featuring floor-to-ceiling glass windows and an open-air wheelhouse on the deck.
Inside, a custom-made wood stove with hot rocks is surrounded by wooden benches and chairs, while outside, a rooftop terrace features a large table and seating area to take in the view.
"A client came to the firm and he wanted a truly extraordinary sauna that he hadn't seen before," architect Johan Strandlund told AFP.
"So we came up with this shape in order to really maximize the intimacy with its surroundings, and we also wanted a truly breathtaking presence on the horizon," he said.
Strandlund said the floating sauna appealed to nature- and sauna-loving Swedes.
"I think it's the way that we really like to enjoy the beautiful nature that we have around here in Stockholm."
And "even when you're not using the sauna, the fire is a great source of heat, for example for cold summer nights."

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Over 500 Baby Sea Turtles Washed Ashore in a Big Storm off South Africa

A 102-pound, female loggerhead sea turtle that was caught off the Galveston Fishing Pier earlier in the summer makes her way into the Gulf of Mexico after being rehabilitated at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's sea turtle facility in Galveston, Texas, Sept. 16, 2015. (AP)
A 102-pound, female loggerhead sea turtle that was caught off the Galveston Fishing Pier earlier in the summer makes her way into the Gulf of Mexico after being rehabilitated at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's sea turtle facility in Galveston, Texas, Sept. 16, 2015. (AP)
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Over 500 Baby Sea Turtles Washed Ashore in a Big Storm off South Africa

A 102-pound, female loggerhead sea turtle that was caught off the Galveston Fishing Pier earlier in the summer makes her way into the Gulf of Mexico after being rehabilitated at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's sea turtle facility in Galveston, Texas, Sept. 16, 2015. (AP)
A 102-pound, female loggerhead sea turtle that was caught off the Galveston Fishing Pier earlier in the summer makes her way into the Gulf of Mexico after being rehabilitated at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's sea turtle facility in Galveston, Texas, Sept. 16, 2015. (AP)

An aquarium in South Africa is stretched beyond capacity after more than 500 baby sea turtles were washed up on beaches by a rare and powerful storm and rescued by members of the public.

The little turtles are mostly endangered loggerheads and should be cruising the ocean. Most of them instead will spend the first few months of their lives in newly built plastic tanks at the Turtle Conservation Center at the Two Oceans Aquarium in Cape Town. The aquarium is rehabilitating around 400 of the roughly 530 sick and injured turtles that were brought in, while sending the rest to two other aquariums to spread the load.

Baby turtles have to fend for themselves from the moment they hatch on beaches and make their way to the ocean.

In South Africa, loggerheads hatch on the northeast coast on the far side of the country from Cape Town. These turtles were likely sucked in by the warm Indian Ocean Agulhas Current, carried around the tip of South Africa and spat out in the cold waters of the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Town.

That's fairly common, said Talitha Noble-Trull, the head of the Turtle Conservation Center. She's in charge of treating the new arrivals.

What isn't normal is the powerful storm that recently hit the Cape Town area, leaving hundreds of baby turtles needing help.

The conservation center usually receives a few to maybe 100 stranded young turtles in the three to four months after hatching season. It has a normal capacity of 150 turtles.

"What we haven’t seen before is over 500 turtles in two weeks, which is what the last little bit of time has brought us," Noble-Trull said. "My budgeting plans for the year have really gone out the window."

She estimated that each turtle will cost $500 to get back to full strength before being released into the warmer Indian Ocean in a few months. The Turtle Conservation Center has brought in a small army of volunteers to help the aquarium's full-time staff care for them.

The turtles are ranked according to how sick they are, with some needing intensive care due to injuries, malnutrition or infection. A number is written on each shell to identify them.

While the storm was a major shock to the turtles, who are vulnerable to extreme weather and climate change, it has given Noble-Trull and other conservationists a valuable insight into another increasingly common danger.

Many of the turtles had ingested small pieces of plastic, which exited their systems after they arrived at the aquarium. Noble-Trull has a tray of plastic pieces collected in just one day, some as big as a fingernail.

The conservation team normally wouldn't see that amount of evidence of plastic pollution in the ocean.

Turtles spend almost all their lives in the ocean, apart from when they're born and when females return to shore to lay eggs. Because of that, they're "ocean indicators," Noble-Trull said.

"Little bits of soft plastic, little bits of hard plastic are floating all along the oceans and turtles are eating them. So, for us it’s very important to be collecting and capturing this data. Because these turtles are coming at us with a message. They’re not telling us. They’re shouting it at us. That our oceans are not a safe place for turtles."

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Utah Cat with a Fondness for Cardboard Takes Surprise Trip to California in an Amazon Box

In this photo provided by Carrie Clark of Lehi, Utah, is Galena, a 6-year-old house cat. Clark says Galena went missing after jumping into a box being returned to Amazon without its owners noticing. (Carrie Clark via AP Photo)
In this photo provided by Carrie Clark of Lehi, Utah, is Galena, a 6-year-old house cat. Clark says Galena went missing after jumping into a box being returned to Amazon without its owners noticing. (Carrie Clark via AP Photo)
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Utah Cat with a Fondness for Cardboard Takes Surprise Trip to California in an Amazon Box

In this photo provided by Carrie Clark of Lehi, Utah, is Galena, a 6-year-old house cat. Clark says Galena went missing after jumping into a box being returned to Amazon without its owners noticing. (Carrie Clark via AP Photo)
In this photo provided by Carrie Clark of Lehi, Utah, is Galena, a 6-year-old house cat. Clark says Galena went missing after jumping into a box being returned to Amazon without its owners noticing. (Carrie Clark via AP Photo)

Galena, a 6-year-old house cat from Utah, likes hiding and playing with cardboard.

Earlier this month, the combination of the two made for a stressful trip in an Amazon package, a feverish search, a California rescue and a tearful reunion.

Her family is still waiting to "reintroduce cardboard to her again," owner Carrie Clark said Tuesday, because they don't want to stress her out.

Clark got Galena as a kitten after her aunt rescued a pregnant feral cat. The American short hair with calico and Siamese coloring has been a constant companion and source of emotional support.

"I’ve been through a bunch of health things and she and I have gone through all of that together. And she’s she just has this extra great part about her personality that’s very loving. And she can tell when you don’t feel well," Clark said. "And she's just really, really special to me."

So when Galena disappeared on April 10, Clark was beside herself.

They searched the neighborhood, put up flyers and posted notices on Facebook lost pet pages in Lehi, Utah.

"Not knowing what had happened to her was pretty excruciating," Clark said, "I cried my eyes out for seven days trying to figure out what had happened." Clark also ran through all the worst-case scenarios, wondering if the cat could have gotten out of the house and been nabbed by a predator or run over by a vehicle.

Clark said she received a "text that changed my life" on April 17, saying that Galena's microchip had been scanned, so Clark knew she had been found somewhere. Soon after, she got a call saying her cat was near Riverside, California, after being found in a box along with steel-toed boots that had been returned to an Amazon warehouse.

Clark's husband had ordered several pairs of boots, kept one and returned the rest in a large box on April 10.

"We realized that that our sweet kitty must have jumped into that box without us knowing," she said.

Amazon employees knew just who to call when they found the feline — co-worker Brandy Hunter, who rescues cats, Clark said.

Hunter took the cat home and to the vet the next day, where the microchip was scanned.

Clark spoke with Hunter who "calmed me down and told me that my kitty was OK," despite having spent six days in a cardboard box without food or water.

"I wanted desperately to be with her," Clark said. She and her husband flew to California the next day, reunited with Galena at the veterinarian's office and rented a car to drive home.

"We did what we needed to do because I just adore her," Clark said.

It was an intensely emotional week.

"I went from hysterically laughing that she was stuck like that — we mailed our cat — you know ... just the humor part of that, to hysterically crying all within like five seconds," Clark said.

The family was lucky to get Galena back, Clark said, in part because the weather was not harsh during the time the cat was missing, the box was torn at a seam, allowing her to get more air, and because Hunter who took her to a vet and had her scanned for a microchip.

Since word got out, Clark has been sharing her cat's story, with advice to microchip your pets and to double-check your Amazon boxes before returning them.

Galena is a quiet cat, Clark said.

"She didn’t meow," Clark said. "We would have loved for her to meow so we knew that she was," in the box.

Varieties

April Temperatures in Bangladesh Hottest on Record

A vehicle of the Dhaka North City Corporation sprays water along a busy road to lower the temperature amidst a heatwave. MUNIR UZ ZAMAN / AFP
A vehicle of the Dhaka North City Corporation sprays water along a busy road to lower the temperature amidst a heatwave. MUNIR UZ ZAMAN / AFP
TT
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April Temperatures in Bangladesh Hottest on Record

A vehicle of the Dhaka North City Corporation sprays water along a busy road to lower the temperature amidst a heatwave. MUNIR UZ ZAMAN / AFP
A vehicle of the Dhaka North City Corporation sprays water along a busy road to lower the temperature amidst a heatwave. MUNIR UZ ZAMAN / AFP

Bangladesh's weather bureau said Wednesday that last month was the hottest April on record, with the South Asian nation and much of the region still enduring a suffocating heatwave.
Extensive scientific research has found climate change is causing heatwaves to become longer, more frequent and more intense.
Punishing heat last month prompted Bangladesh's government to close schools across the country, keeping an estimated 32 million students at home.
"This year the heatwave covered around 80 percent of the country. We've not seen such unbroken and expansive heatwaves before," Bangladesh Meteorological Department senior forecaster Muhammad Abul Kalam Mallik told AFP.
He said last month was the hottest April in Bangladesh since records began in 1948 "in terms of hot days and area coverage in the country".
Weather stations around Bangladesh had recorded temperatures between two and eight degrees higher than the 33.2 degrees Celsius (91.8 degrees Fahrenheit) average daily temperature for April between 1981 and 2010, he added.
Health department spokesman Selim Raihan told AFP the government had confirmed at least 11 heat stroke-related deaths in the past 10 days.
Rains are expected to bring some relief to Bangladesh from Thursday after a week of sweltering temperatures, with the capital Dhaka recording several days over 40C (104F).
Mallik said the severity of the heat had been worsened by the absence of the usual pre-monsoon April thunderstorms which normally cool the South Asian nation ahead of summer.
"Bangladesh gets an average of 130.2 millimeters of rain in April. But this April we got an average of one millimeter of rain," he said.
Mallik said the bureau was checking data to confirm whether this year marked record low rainfalls for April.
Schools in Bangladesh will remain closed until Sunday.
The government ordered classrooms reopened last weekend, but a top Bangladeshi court directed them to be shut them again on Monday after taking into consideration reports that several teachers had died in the heatwave.
'Life has become unbearable'
Thousands gathered at mosques and in open fields around the Muslim-majority nation last week to pray for rain.
"Life has become unbearable due to lack of rains," Muhammad Abu Yusuf, an Islamic cleric who led one such service, told AFP last week.
"Poor people are suffering immensely."
Large swaths of South and Southeast Asia are sweltering through a heatwave that has topped temperature records from Myanmar to the Philippines, with the El Nino phenomenon also driving this year's exceptionally warm weather.
Weather bureaus in Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam and India have also all forecast temperatures above 40C (104F).
The months preceding the region's monsoon, or rainy season, are usually hot but temperatures this year are well above average in many countries.
Asia is also warming faster than the global average, according to the World Meteorological Organization, a UN agency.