Environment

17 June 2019; DW: French Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume said a natural emergency would be declared following a severe storm that devastated harvests in the nation's southeast at the weekend.

Nine departments were put on alert over the weekend and while the storms were brief, lasting only a few minutes, they were also very destructive, coming at the start of the fruit season.  The Auvergne-Rhone-Alps region is known as the "orchard of France."

LONDON (AP) — The environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion has postponed a plan to shut down London’s Heathrow Airport with drones after it was criticized by politicians and police.

The group that demands faster action against climate change said Sunday it would “not be carrying out any actions at Heathrow Airport in June or July this year.”

Details of the group’s plan were leaked last month. British Aviation Minister Charlotte Vere warned that “using drones to deliberately put people’s safety at risk carries a maximum life sentence.”

BERLIN (AP) — Authorities say a tourist has drowned in Switzerland’s Lake Geneva after her boat capsized in a driving storm, and another was killed in nearby France after high winds brought down a tree on her campsite.

The Swiss news site 20 Minuten reported Sunday the previous day’s storm brought heavy rain, hail and wind gusts as high as 122 kph (75 mph).

Police say a tourist couple’s boat capsized in Lake Geneva around 5 p.m. Local media reported the man swam to another boat and fired off two flares, but by the time rescuers arrived they were unable to find the woman.

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — A magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck an arc of islands off New Zealand on Sunday, and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said it may cause only minor sea level changes in some coastal areas.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake hit a spot about 873 kilometers (541 miles) northeast of Ngunguru, New Zealand, a town of about 1,400 people. It occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers (6 miles).

The area the quake struck is called the Kermadec Islands, about 800 kilometers (497 miles) northeast of New Zealand’s North Island.

NEW DELHI, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The very severe cyclonic storm, Vayu, which was likely to make a landfall in India's western state of Gujarat on Thursday but changed its trajectory could again recurve in the next two days, meteorological department officials said Saturday.

ISLAMABAD, June 13 (Xinhua) -- Floods triggered by continuous torrential rains hit different areas of Gilgit-Baltistan region in the north of Pakistan in the past days, leaving at least three people dead and injuring several others, local media and officials said Thursday.

Disaster Management Authority officials said in a statement that torrential rains and the floods caused widespread devastation by destroying several houses and washing away crops, livestock and vehicles in different areas, including Nagar, Skardu and Shigar district of the region.

MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/: An earthquake of 6.5 magnitude has been registered off Chile's coast, US Geological Survey said on Friday.

The earthquake's epicenter lay in 79 km to the west of the city of Coquimbo with the population of around 160,000 people. The epicenter lay at the depth of 10 km.

No injuries or damages were reported, and no tsunami alert was issued.

14 June 2019; DW: A number of Indian cities can do more to prevent deaths and illnesses experts said on Friday.

Until now, there have been at least 36 deaths as a result of this year's heat wave, where temperatures have exceeded 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).

Indeed, a scarcity of water has led to fighting on the streets, with a number of stabbings, injuries and even deaths as a result of the hostilities.

Ahmedabad, Jun 13 (PTI) Sparing Gujarat after changing course, Cyclone Vayu Thursday began moving away from the state coast towards Oman, even as the danger of heavy winds and rain in coastal areas continued, officials said here.

Though the "eye of the storm" is away from land, the cyclone's outer periphery would leave its impact on the coast, officials said.

State authorities have already evacuated three lakh people from low-lying areas near the coast to safer places.

New Delhi, Jun 13 (PTI) The railways has cancelled 77 trains and short terminated 33 others due to Cyclone Vayu, the Western Railways said Thursday.

The cancellations were made as a precaution even though the cyclone changed its course and is unlikely to make landfall in Gujarat. However, it will cause heavy rain in several coastal districts of the state.