Wildfires in the Amazon rainforest in northern Brazil have ignited a firestorm on social media, with President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday suggesting green groups started the blazes.
Images of fires purportedly devouring sections of the world's largest rainforest have gone viral on Twitter. #PrayforAmazonas is the top trending hashtag in the world on Wednesday, with more than 249,000 tweets.
"No matter how successful we are, if our Earth dies, we all die," posted one Twitter user.
Another wrote: "Send your prayers to the Amazon and to the planet, we will need it."
Official figures show nearly 73,000 forest fires were recorded in Brazil in the first eight months of the year -- the highest number for any year since 2013. Most were in the Amazon.
That compares with 39,759 in all of 2018, according to the embattled National Institute for Space Research (INPE), which has been in Bolsonaro's cross-hairs since it released data showing a surge in deforestation in recent months.
The head of ...

Brazil's Bolsonaro blames Amazon fires on NGOs as Twitter erupts

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The remains of a prehistoric primate that lived high in the Andes 20 million years ago and was so small it could fit in your hand is helping scientists learn more about how human brains evolved.
In a study published Wednesday in the journal Science Advances, researchers in China and the US used high resolution imaging to examine the only known fossilized skull of the extinct Chilecebus, a New World monkey that scampered around ancient mountain forests, feeding on leaves and fruit.
One key finding: the brain size of primates, long assumed to have increased progressively over time, now appears to have followed a more roundabout path.
Primates are broadly split into two groups: Old World, from which our own species descended, and New World species of the Americas and Oceania.
"We see multiple episodes of expansion of the brain in each of these major groups, and we see several episodes of actual reduction of relative brain size in certain groups," co-author John Flynn of the American ...

Ancient monkey skull reveals secrets of primate brain evolution

Fourteen people were lightly injured when a flight operated by Spanish charter airline Evelop from Mauritius to Madrid hit severe turbulence, the company said Wednesday.
The Airbus 330 aircraft landed safely at Madrid airport on Tuesday night after suffering a 15-second episode of clear air turbulence which caused the plane to drop 100 metres, Evelop said in a statement.
Fourteen people suffered light bruises and were taken to local hospitals for treatment, it added. They were all discharged on the same day. Three flight attendants were among the injured, an Evelop spokesman said.
One passenger, who gave only her first name, Mar, told news radio Cadena Ser that the plane "plunged like when you are at a fairground attraction."
"We saw many passengers fly literally over the seats, some hit the ceiling, others the seats beside them," she added.
The airline said the seat belt warning activated before the plane flew into the turbulence zone.
Clear air turbulence is turbulence that occurs ..

14 injured as turbulence hits Spanish flight from Mauritius

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip fired a rocket at southern Israel late Wednesday, the fifth in the past six days, the Israeli army said in a statement.
It did not report any casualities or damage or say where the rocket hit, but Israeli media said it had been tracked as heading for open ground and alarms were therefore not sounded in built-up areas.
The army said three rockets were launched from Hamas-ruled Gaza on Saturday night and one was fired late Friday.
There were no casualties in any of the attacks or in the retaliatory Israeli air strikes on Gaza which followed.
They were among a series of incidents along the Gaza border since the start of the month.
On Sunday the Palestinian health ministry said three Palestinians were killed by Israeli soldiers overnight in the northern Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army had said earlier that an attack helicopter and tank fired at "a number of armed suspects adjacent to the (border) fence in the northern Gaza Strip." A week ago, a Palestinian shot 

Gaza Palestinians fire rocket at Israel: army

The International Monetary Fund's board on Wednesday recommended a rule change that would scrap the age limit for its leader, clearing the path to the top job for Bulgaria's Kristalina Georgieva.
The IMF steering committee representing the 189 member countries will have to vote on the recommendation, but it is expected to pass.
Georgieva, the European Union's candidate to serve as IMF managing director, turned 66 on August 13 -- which makes her too old for the job by just a few days, under the rules in place since 1951 stipulating that candidates be 65 or younger.
If appointed, Georgieva would become the IMF's second female managing director after Christine Lagarde, who is stepping down to head the European Central Bank.
IMF rules also prohibit anyone in the top post from serving past their 70th birthday.
"The Executive Board has today recommended that the IMF Board of Governors vote to remove the age limit that currently applies to the position of IMF Managing Director," according to 

IMF board recommends rule change that would clear way for Georgieva

French President Emmanuel Macron said that Western countries including Germany should discuss ways to stimulate their economies at a G7 meeting this weekend amid fresh fears of recession.
"We need to ask ourselves the question in countries that have the capacity about the need for budgetary stimulus. It's an issue for Europe, for France... for Germany and other countries," he told reporters in Paris.
France is eager for Germany to increase its public spending to combat its economic downturn, but Berlin is highly resistant to the idea of raising its borrowing and public debt.
The G7 meeting will come at a tricky time for Macron's relations with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is due to leave office in 2021 but who the French president wanted to cultivate as an ally in reforming Europe.
Tensions have flared over Brexit, where Berlin has generally preferred a softer line than Paris, as well as budget policy where Merkel was unhappy over France's decision to increase its budget ...

Macron says G7 should discuss budget stimulus, including in Germany

A Kenyan man was stopped at Bangkok's airport for allegedly trying to smuggle more than 60 packets of cocaine in his stomach, Thai authorities announced Wednesday.
Authorities said Glenn Chibasellow Ooko, 43, had flown on Monday from Ethiopia to the Thai capital's Suvarnabhumi airport, where he was detained.
An x-ray showed dozens of oblong items in his stomach, which were filled with cocaine, according to photos provided by the Office of the Narcotics Control Board.
"He swallowed cocaine weighing 1.2 kilograms, which were in 68 packets," the ONCB announced in a statement Wednesday.
Ooko was arrested along with Nigerian national Osita Joseph Ukpa, who police said had hired the Kenyan to smuggle the drugs.
"This is part of a drug network in Thailand," the statement said.
Thailand has long been a major drug smuggling hub, with its porous borders and lax law enforcement making it easier for transnational crime networks to transport their goods.
The country also serves as a transit point .

Kenyan who swallowed 68 cocaine packets arrested in Thailand

Rohingya refugees living in camps in Bangladesh said Wednesday they did not want to return to their homes in Myanmar, raising doubts about a fresh attempt to repatriate the stateless, mainly Muslim minority.
On Thursday, Bangladesh and Myanmar were hoping to begin repatriating a few of the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees who fled a military crackdown two years ago, after a previous attempt in November failed.
Officials from the United Nations and Bangladesh's refugee commission have been interviewing more than 200 shortlisted families in the settlements in southeast Bangladesh to find out if they would return to Rakhine state.
Bangladesh refugee commissioner Mohammad Abul Kalam told AFP five buses and two trucks had been hired to take the refugees to a land port.
But several Rohingya interviewed by the United Nations told AFP they did not want to go home until their safety was guaranteed and they were recognised as citizens in the Buddhist-majority country.
"It is not safe .

Doubts over fresh Rohingya repatriation attempt to Myanmar

German Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced hope Wednesday for a negotiated agreement within "30 days" for Britain to leave the EU while avoiding the Irish border backstop rejected by London.
The mechanism is meant for the period in which the other 27 EU members and London define their future relationship.
"But maybe we can do it in the next 30 days, why not?" said Merkel at a Berlin joint press conference with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, urging all sides to "make efforts to do so".

Merkel voices hope of EU agreement with UK in '30 days'

The presidents of Rwanda and Uganda on Wednesday signed an agreement in Angola to ease months of tensions after the two leaders exchanged accusations of spying, political assassinations and meddling.
Rwanda's President Paul Kagame and Uganda's Yoweri Museveni were once close allies but their relations have turned deeply hostile in a dispute that damaged trade between the east African neighbours.
Trade has been severely disrupted since late February when Rwanda abruptly closed the border with its northern neighbour, severing a major economic land route.
In May, Ugandan police accused Rwandan soldiers of entering the country and killing two men, drawing an angry denial from Kigali.
On Wednesday, the two leaders agreed to respect each other's sovereignty and that "of the neighbouring countries", according to a statement issued after the signing.
They undertook to "refrain from actions conducive to destabilisation or subversion in the territory of the other party (and) acts such as the ...

Uganda, Rwanda leaders sign pact to end months-long standoff

A man has been arrested in Florida for castrating a companion who submitted to the procedure voluntarily after they met on an internet fetish site specialising in eunuchs.
"This one is a little... let's just say sensitive. You could even say it's kinda nuts," the Highland County Sheriff's Office said in a statement posted on Facebook after the arrest.
Gary Van Ryswyk, 74, came to the door when sheriff's deputies knocked on Sunday and told them he had just castrated a man, who was bleeding heavily on a bed with a towel over his groin.
A pink container nearby held "two body parts that had recently been much closer to the victim," the sheriff's office said.
The victim, who was not identified, was taken to hospital and later flown to a regional medical center where he was in stable condition.
According to the sheriff's office, Van Ryswyk had outfitted the bedroom as an operating theater with medical equipment and a video camera to record the procedure.
He told deputies he met the victim ..

US man arrested for castrating man met on eunuch website

Five troops were killed in central Mali on Wednesday when their convoy was ambushed by jihadists, the armed forces said.
The army on its Twitter feed said that the attack occurred on a road between the villages of Boni and Hombori.
"FAMA (the Malian armed forces) suffered five dead. Equipment was also destroyed," it said.
A local official said gunfire was heard and another said "the jihadists... burned at least two military vehicles. At least two soldiers were also wounded."
Northern Mali fell into the hands of jihadists in 2012 before the rebels were forced out by a French-led military intervention.
However, much of the region remains chronically unstable and since 2015 violence has spread to the centre of the country.

Five Malian troops killed in jihadist ambush

The US Treasury took action Wednesday to crack down on Chinese traffickers of deadly fentanyl, sanctioning producer-exporters and warning banks on financial schemes used to distribute the synthetic opioid behind thousands of US overdose deaths.
The Treasury identified Zheng Fujing, 36, and a company he controls, Qinsheng Pharmaceutical Technology, and a partner, Zheng Guanghua, as a major, Shanghai-based production fentanyl production and trafficking organization.
The Zheng drug trafficking organisation, the Treasury said, produced and shipped hundreds of controlled substances, including fentanyl analogues such as carfentanil, which is 100 times more potent than fentanyl.
"Zheng created and maintained numerous websites to advertise and sell illegal drugs in more than 35 languages," it said.
Moreover, it said, Zheng was producing counterfeit cancer pills that replace the active cancer-fighting ingredient with "dangerous synthetic drugs."
Yan, meanwhile, produces and trafficks in ...

US takes aim at deadly Chinese fentanyl networks

US President Donald Trump snapped back Wednesday at Denmark's premier in a row over his desire to buy Greenland, saying her blunt refusal to consider any negotiation was "nasty."
Speaking after he scrapped plans to visit Copenhagen next month, Trump told reporters he had taken offence at Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen's description of any such deal as "absurd."
"It was not a nice way of doing it. She could have just said no, we'd rather not do it," Trump said.
"She's not talking to me, she's talking to the United States of America.

Trump slams Danish PM's 'nasty' rejection of Greenland deal

Twitter have reacted to calls for more to be done in preventing racist abuse of footballers on social media platforms by agreeing to meet with representatives of Manchester United they announced on Wednesday.
United executives were keen for a meeting with Twitter after their French World Cup winning midfielder Paul Pogba was the victim of abuse following his penalty miss in Monday's 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers.
His team-mate Harry Maguire demanded that Twitter and Instagram be more proactive in stopping "pathetic trolls".
England women's football manager Phil Neville said football players should boycott social media.
Pogba was the third footballer to suffer racial abuse in a week for missing a penalty -- the others being Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham and second tier side Reading's Yakou Meite.
"Over the next few weeks, Twitter representatives will meet with Manchester United, Kick It Out (anti-discrimination organisation within football) and any other civil society ...

Twitter agree to meet with Manchester United over Pogba abuse

Australia captain Tim Paine is expecting the "same old Steve Smith" when the star batsman eventually returns to Ashes action.
"Steve Smith's the best player in the world, he will come back in the next Test, if it's the next Test, or the tour game and we're expecting him to be the same old Steve Smith," said Paine.
"He's a high-quality player and he'll adapt as he always has."
Smith has been ruled out of Thursday's third Ashes Test at Headingley after being concussed by a Jofra Archer 92 mph bouncer in the drawn second Test at Lord's.
Marnus Labuschagne, cricket's first concussion substitute, made a fine fifty in the second innings after being hit flush on his helmet grille second ball by Archer.
Labuschagne is set to take Smith's place at Headingley as Australia look to fill the void left by being without arguably the world's best batsman.
Smith, whose Test average of 63.24 is exceeded only by all-time great Donald Bradman, marked his return to Test duty after a 12-month ...

Australia captain Paine expecting 'same old Smith'

Spanish police said Wednesday they have arrested a man suspected of secretly recording videos of the underwear of over 500 women, some of them minors, on public transit and supermarkets.
The man allegedly used a mobile phone concealed inside a backpack which he placed on the ground to take pictures up women's skirts in Madrid without their consent, a practice known as "upskirting", police said in a statement.
He then uploaded at least 283 of these videos to a pornographic site where they were viewed over a million times.
Police arrested the 53-year-old Colombian national while he was in the act of recording up the dress of a woman on the Madrid metro using a "strategically placed mobile phone" in his backpack, the statement said.
He "acted in a compulsive way, daily, recording all the women that he could," it added.
During one five-day period he recorded 29 different women, police said.
The man operated in the metro and commuter trains and "in some cases followed some of the women ...

Man arrested in Spain for 'upskirting' over 500 women

Hundreds of masked protesters staged a sit-in late Wednesday to mark one month since a mob attack by suspected triad gang members pushed the city deeper into political violence.
On July 21, a gang wearing white T-shirts and armed with poles and sticks set upon anti-government protesters -- unarmed and dressed in black -- at a metro station in Yuen Long, close to the Chinese border.
The attack left nearly 50 people in hospital -- including passers-by -- some with horrific wounds.
Hong Kong's police were heavily criticised for being slow to respond, fuelling rumours of collusion.
Police denied any links to the attack, but trust in the force -- which was already facing an unprecedented challenge on the streets -- has since sunk to a nadir.
As commuters returned home on Wednesday, protesters sat along the concourse at Yuen Long station, some holding placards saying "Free Hong Kong" and calling for the attackers to be brought to justice.
"People are here to tell the government that we are .

Hong Kong protesters hold station sit-in to mark 'triad' attack

Kenyan middle-distance champion Hellen Obiri said Wednesday she will compete in both the 5k and 10k races at the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha next month.
Obiri, 29, the current world 5,000m champion, aims to become one of the rare athletes to win over both distances at the same event.
"Since I have a wild card for the 5,000m in Doha, I feel it is the right time to run both the 5k and 10k. The humid weather has been favourable to me the three times I have ran in the Qatari capital," Obiri told AFP.
"I know that this is a big task but I am going to intensify my training in these remaining five weeks before we travel to Doha."
Obiri qualified for the 10k race by coming second behind world bronze medallist Agnes Tirop in the Kenyan trials on Wednesday. Rosemary Wanjiru finished third in the qualifying race.
The Kenyan men's team will be led by 2015 World 10,000m bronze medallist and three-time World half marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor, who won the men's race, ahead of ..

Kenya's Obiri to compete in both 5k and 10k in Doha

China on Wednesday blasted a huge planned US arms shipment to self-ruled Taiwan and threatened to sanction firms involved in the sale of F-16 fighter jets.
The US State Department on Tuesday approved the transfer of 66 Lockheed Martin-built F-16 fighter jets to Taiwan in a US$8 billion deal, following another huge military hardware sale agreed just last month.
The deals come as ties between Washington and Beijing are already strained by a punitive multi-billion dollar trade war.
"China will take all necessary measures to safeguard our interests including imposing sanctions on the US companies participating in this arms sale to Taiwan," foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a news briefing.
The sale "is a serious interference in our internal affairs and undermines our sovereignty and security interests", he said. China views Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.
It bristles at any countries that might lend Taiwan diplomatic ...

China threatens sanctions on US firms linked to Taiwan warplanes sale

New Zealand will be hoping to add to Sri Lanka's poor record at their own Oval ground and level the series in the second and final Test starting Thursday.
Unlike the spinner's paradise at Galle and the batting haven that is the SSC, the Oval -- the only ground in Asia where Don Bradman played -- favours seam bowlers.
Sri Lanka have been often exposed here by quality seam bowlers and one up in the two-match series, they will have New Zealand's Trent Boult and Tim Southee -- and possibly Neil Wagner -- to contend with.
In the last 10 years, Sri Lanka have played seven games at The Oval and lost five, including once to New Zealand. In that game seven years ago, Southee claimed eight wickets while Boult finished with seven.
"We have some fond memories from last time, and we managed to win that," New Zealand wicketkeeper B.J. Watling said at a pre-match media briefing on Wednesday.
"The boys like to talk about their wickets and there's a few stunning catches from memory as well. Having ...

AFP

AFP

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