ENVIRONMENT

The extremely high levels of ammonia discharged by a plant in just a span of 40 hours have killed a whopping number of 110 tonnes of fish from a river in China's central Hubei province.

It is more usual to hear or read from various research materials that climate change can make hurricanes wilder and even make it more violent. However, latest study shows that climate change can actually do the exact opposite: it can certainly calm the hurricanes instead.

Unless the world gets it act together to counter the worsening global climate change, it won't be long before it sees the total wipe out of the oceans' coral reefs.

The Marshall Islands, a small island state in the Pacific, cries for help as the islands continued to sink due to rising sea levels. Composed of 29 coral islands and atolls in the middle of Australia and Hawaii, the Marshall Islands are currently just 2 metres above sea level. The islands want help from the New Zealand government as the population will be at risk to increasingly intense droughts and storms.

China has suspended extending environmental approvals to future projects of the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) and China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec Group) due to their non-compliance to set pollution targets.

German researchers at the Max-Planck Institute for Meteorology has studied a new factor in global warming which was not previously included in climate change studies. The researchers have discovered that oceans around the world take in more carbon dioxide. When seas take in CO2, they give off a sulphur compound which can block the sun's radiation. Oceans that become more acidic because of fuel-burning emissions can enhance global warming.

Brazil, the world's fourth largest agricultural producer, has sought the help of Australian firm, AgBiTech Pty Ltd, a biological insect control solution firm to address the crop devastation brought by the corn earworms (Helicoverpa armigera).

From being a cause of pollution and ailments, Australian scientists are studying ways to convert carbon dioxide into other more useful items such as bricks to build edifices.

An outdoor party for a 30-year-old man on Saturday turned into a tragedy when a crocodile attacked and ate one of his guest, a 24-year-old man from Darwin while they swimming across the muddy river.

A massive sinkhole in rural Louisiana has opened up and continued to expand at a rapid rate which caused it to devour a clump of trees and land. The video of the Louisiana sinkhole was captured on video and posted on Youtube by the Assumption Parish Police Jury.

Hong Kong may not be directly affected by severe tropical storm Trami, which is currently battering China, but it surely still made its presence felt in the country. Trami's coverage was so wide that it trapped pollutants in Hong Kong's air to reach "very high" levels, prompting the government to issue health warnings.

The fireplace is considered one of the most romantic places in the house, next to the bedroom. However, in Montreal, a major city in Quebec, Canada, the fireplace as well as wood-burning stoves would be banned by 2021.

Unless the governments of the world find immediate solutions to curb their respective fossil fuel consumptions and carbon emissions, the global populace might as well retire to an impending plausible scenario of rising sea levels by year 2100 to as much as three feet high.

Authorities from both government and private sectors from the Philippines have brought forces together as they race to contain the oil spill damage in Cebu which has already greatly affected the sources of livelihood in the province.

New Zealand's White Island Volcano, off the Bay of Plenty Coast, erupted on Tuesday morning, Aug 20, at 10:23 am. The eruption, which sent steam into the air reaching 4 kilometres above sea level, lasts for about 10 minutes.

Australia affects worldwide sea level rising according to the National Centre for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)

The global populace, most specially those living along the world's coastal cities, either pack up and relocate to high grounds as early as now or accept their fate as the intensity of floods currently lapping the Earth will get more severe and damaging in the coming years.

The Sakurajima volcano in southwestern Japan erupted on Sunday afternoon, spewing ashes 5 kilometres up in the air. As a result, railway operators stopped their service in Kagoshima City temporarily while the ash is being removed.

A Yemeni wedding party on Saturday turned into a disaster after floods inundated southern Yemen, causing the death of 27 people and 41 more lost when the vehicle with the wedding party was swept away. The vehicles were driving across Wadi Nakhla, a valley flooded by the monsoon rains, between Taiz City and Ibb province.

Some Ontario residents, it seems, have a love affair with deadly pythons. Just two weeks after an African rock python killed two boys in New Brunswick, 40 pythons were found in a Brantford motel on Thursday evening.

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. on Thursday slammed an order issued by the government of Canada's Quebec stating it has been included among a list of companies financially accountable for the cleanup of Lac-Megantic town which was severely devastated in a train derailment disaster in July.

There is another lightning strike that hit the Odakyu Electric Railway train on Monday evening. The Telegraph said the train, which was travelling from the Izumi-Tamagaw Station to the Noborito Station, was running on a railway bridge when the lightning hit it.

Unless China radically implements measures and steps to salvage what remains of its environment, it may have to expect and get used to dwindling tourist numbers.

An American family that was driving on Saturday in Utah had a unique experience that its passengers would never forget. They filmed lightning striking their vehicle.

Workers of the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan have alleged its operator Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) have been lying about the true state of meltdown crisis in the facility.

Skinny dipping has its risk, several South American fishermen have discovered after their testicles were attacked by the pacu fish, a relative of the piranha.

Mount Rokatenda in the East NusaTenggara province of Indonesia erupted on Saturday morning, killing 6 sleeping people and causing 3,000 residents to flee Palue Island, the country's National Disaster Mitigation Agency reported.

All around the world, the smoldering heat wave continues to break and set records from end to end of the globe.

As China steps up measures to combat its growing air pollution from out of proportions, imposing excessive rates on automotive license plates to encourage residents from buying additional units, local Chinese auto makers are unfortunately being driven to extinction.