Environment : Tracing Darwin's footsteps through modern ecological discovery
23/07/2025
Failing to protect the planet from climate change could violate international law
Environment
15/07/2025
'Whole range of factors: environmental, human and societal, contributing to worsening of disasters'
Environment
10/07/2025
As Marseille reels from early summer wildfire, France rolls back environmental protections
Europe
09/07/2025
Recent European heatwave caused 2,300 deaths, scientists estimate
Environment
07/07/2025
Texas deadly floods: A state 'can't deal with this scale of disaster' without federal resources
Americas
30/06/2025
Stocamine in Alsace: 'Toxicity of chemical waste won't disappear, nobody knows how to deal with it'
France
20/06/2025
'Collective problem needs collective solution: Global warming projected to increase well beyond 2°'
Environment
12/06/2025
Climate change disrupting species' habitats and altering both productivity and seasonality
Environment
11/06/2025
'Protecting our oceans: Behavioural change comes from laws and changing of the system'
Environment
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France 24
4 days ago
- France 24
Notre-Dame gets back St Thomas statue adorning spire base
The statue, three metres (10 feet) tall and weighing 100 kilograms (220 pounds), was unaffected by the blaze, having been removed from the cathedral just days before for routine restoration, along with the other 15. "It's almost a miracle," said Marie-Helene Didier, in charge of historic buildings in the Paris region. "It's a very powerful symbol to see all the statues up there," she told AFP. After receiving a blessing from the archbishop of Paris, Laurent Ulrich, it was heaved on the spire's base by crane. The statue, currently hidden behind by scaffolding around the spire, will be fully visible by the end of August. Notre-Dame nearly burned down in 2019, but was fully renovated inside and fitted with a new roof and spire during a frenzied five-year refit. It held its first mass since the blaze in December, and reopened to the public shortly after. The 16 statues, representing the 12 apostles as well the four evangelists in the Catholic tradition, were designed in 1857 by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc, the architect of the spire, and sculpted by Adolphe-Victor Geoffroy-Dechaume. Geoffroy-Dechaume gave the statue of Saint Thomas, patron saint of architects, the features of Viollet-le-Duc. The exact cause of the 2019 blaze has never been identified despite a forensic investigation, which pointed to a likely accident such as an electrical fault.
France 24
4 days ago
- France 24
Environment : Tracing Darwin's footsteps through modern ecological discovery
01:54 23/07/2025 Failing to protect the planet from climate change could violate international law Environment 15/07/2025 'Whole range of factors: environmental, human and societal, contributing to worsening of disasters' Environment 10/07/2025 As Marseille reels from early summer wildfire, France rolls back environmental protections Europe 09/07/2025 Recent European heatwave caused 2,300 deaths, scientists estimate Environment 07/07/2025 Texas deadly floods: A state 'can't deal with this scale of disaster' without federal resources Americas 30/06/2025 Stocamine in Alsace: 'Toxicity of chemical waste won't disappear, nobody knows how to deal with it' France 20/06/2025 'Collective problem needs collective solution: Global warming projected to increase well beyond 2°' Environment 12/06/2025 Climate change disrupting species' habitats and altering both productivity and seasonality Environment 11/06/2025 'Protecting our oceans: Behavioural change comes from laws and changing of the system' Environment
France 24
6 days ago
- France 24
Extreme weather misinformation 'putting lives at risk,' study warns
The report from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) -- which analyzed 100 viral posts on each of three leading platforms during recent natural disasters including deadly Texas floods -- highlights how their algorithms amplify conspiracy theorists while sidelining life-saving information. "The influence of high-profile conspiracy theorists during climate disasters is drowning out emergency response efforts," the report said, adding that the trend was "putting lives at risk." Nearly all of the analyzed posts on Meta-owned Facebook and Instagram lacked fact-checks or Community Notes, a crowd-sourced verification system increasingly being adopted as an alternative to professional fact-checkers, the report said. Elon Musk-owned X lacked fact-checks or Community Notes on 99 percent of the posts, while Google-owned YouTube "failed entirely," with zero fact-checks or Community Notes, CCDH said. The report noted that well-known conspiracy theorist Alex Jones's false claims during the LA wildfires amassed more views on X throughout January than the combined reach of major emergency response agencies and news outlets, including the Los Angeles Times. "The rapid spread of climate conspiracies online isn't accidental. It's baked into a business model that profits from outrage and division," said Imran Ahmed, CCDH's chief executive. During the wildfires, online scammers placed social media advertisements impersonating federal emergency aid agencies to steal victims' personal information, Ahmed said, citing local officials. "When distraught people can't distinguish real help from online deception, platforms become complicit in the suffering of innocent people," he said. The tech platforms did not immediately respond to requests for comment. 'Dangerous' falsehoods Following natural disasters, misinformation tends to surge across social media -- fueled by accounts from across the political spectrum –- as many platforms scale back content moderation and reduce reliance on human fact-checkers, often accused by conservative advocates of a liberal bias. During Hurricane Milton, which struck Florida last year, social media was flooded with baseless claims that the storm had been engineered by politicians using weather manipulation. Similarly, the LA wildfires were falsely blamed on so-called "government lasers," a conspiracy theory amplified by viral posts. Augustus Doricko, chief executive of cloud seeding company Rainmaker, said he received death threats online after conspiracy theorists blamed him for the devastating floods in Texas. "I can confirm that we have received multiple threats since the flooding event," Doricko told AFP, highlighting the real-life consequences of such falsehoods. The CCDH study found that the worst offenders spreading extreme weather misinformation were verified users with large followings, many of whom were attempting to monetize their posts. Eighty eight percent of misleading extreme weather posts on X came from verified accounts, CCDH said. On YouTube, 73 percent of such posts originated from verified users, while on Meta, the figure was 64 percent. "Climate disinformation costs lives," said Sam Bright of DeSmog, which reports on climate misinformation campaigns. © 2025 AFP
