Environment

KAYUNGA, Uganda, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni on Thursday inaugurated the Chinese-built Isimba Hydropower Plant on the Victoria Nile in the central part of the African country.

Addressing the inauguration, Museveni thanked the Chinese government for financing his country's transport and energy infrastructure projects, which are expected to put the country onto a fast track of development.

NAIROBI, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Chinese companies and government have taken the lead in promoting the use of cleaner vehicle technologies around the world through partnerships with national and city authorities, a UN Environment Programme (UNEP) official said.

Jane Akumu, program officer in charge of Air Quality and Mobility Unit at the Economic Division of UNEP, said through its work with Chinese authorities, progress is being made locally and regionally to introduce cleaner city transport technologies in Africa.

GENEVA, March 19 (Xinhua) -- A International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) official Tuesday described damage caused for 1.7 million people in the path of Tropical Cyclone Idai as the worst humanitarian crisis in Mozambique's history.

IFRC spokesperson Matthew Cochrane said at a UN press briefing here that rescuers are scrambling to pull people trapped on rooftops and in trees to safety in the port city of Beira with a population of more than half a million.

MAPUTO, March 19 (Xinhua) -- Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi said on Monday that the death toll from Tropical Cyclone Idai could exceed 1,000.

The National Institute for Disaster Management said Monday more than 84 deaths have officially been recorded since the landfall of Idai on Thursday night, bringing torrential rains and devastating winds.

However, Nyusi said the situation could be much more serious in his speech addressed to the nation, after flying over the disaster-hit areas to conduct inspection on Sunday.

18 Mar 2019; AFP: More than 120 people have died and many more are missing in Mozambique and neighbouring Zimbabwe on Sunday after tropical cyclone Idai barrelled across the southern African nations with flash floods and ferocious winds.

Authorities in Mozambique said the toll there had risen to 62 in the centre of the country, while Zimbabwe said 65 people were killed in affected eastern areas, after the cyclone tore across the region on Friday and Saturday.

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) The National Green Tribunal has directed six states to submit by April 30 action plans for bringing air quality standards within the prescribed norms, failing which they would be liable to pay environment compensation of Rs 1 crore each.

A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel ordered the chief secretaries of Assam, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Nagaland governments to submit their plan within the stipulated time.

16 Mar 2019; DW: Tropical Cyclone Idai has left at least 31 people dead in eastern Zimbabwe, the government said on Saturday, continuing a trail of destruction across southeast Africa.

Since the start of the week, heavy rains and the powerful storm already killed 87 people in neighboring Mozambique and Malawi.

17 Mar 2019; DW: Flash floods and mudslides in Indonesia's Papua province have killed at least 58 people and injured more than 70 others, local officials said Sunday. Thousands of people have been left homeless.

The flooding was due to torrential rain, which hit the provincial capital of Jayapura beginning Saturday.

Nine villages flooded

XI'AN, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Xi'an, a historical city in Shaanxi Province, will place traffic restrictions on the use of vehicle on weekdays.

The popular tourist city said the restriction would be imposed on weekdays from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. starting March 18. Vehicles are restricted in one out of five weekdays based upon the last numbers of their license plates in certain areas in the city, where the number of motor vehicles hit 3 million as of May 2018.

15 Mar 2019; AFP: Tens of thousands of young people skipped school across the globe on Friday and marched through the streets on a global day of student protests aiming to push world leaders into action on climate change.

Classrooms in capitals from Bangkok to Berlin, Lagos to London were expected to be empty, as the ambitious organisers of the student strike hoped to stage 1,000 demos in more than 100 countries.