Results from an extensive seagrass distribution assessment undertaken within Seychelles' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) by researchers indicate that these seagrass ecosystems are storing carbon dioxide (CO2) at a rate of 510,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year. According to a joint press release from the Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Environment and Climate Change, this is nearly the same as the annual emissions from the local energy sector and almost three times the emissions from t ..read more

Seychelles’ Desroches Island has recorded its first sighting of a red-billed tropicbird or “payanke labek rouz” in Creole by two assistant conservation officers of the Island Conservation Society (ICS). In a press release on Thursday, ICS said the rare sighting, which is the 19th ever recorded in Seychelles, occurred recently when James Wareing was out bird-watching during the early morning hours. “I had promised Lisa, the conservation officer of ICS here on Desroches, that I would not spot a new species without her, but nature had other plans,” said joked Wareing. He ..read more

"It's going to be a beautiful success," says Claudine Vacelet confidently of the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, before pausing. "Well, with the security issues, I suppose we'll only see whether it's a success at the end." After years of planning, the Olympic spotlight is set to finally fall on the French capital on Friday evening at 7:30 pm (1730 GMT), when a wildly ambitious opening parade on the river Seine begins. Vacelet, 77, a retired orthodontist from southwest Paris, is like many residents who are confident about the artistic flair and ability of France to put on a memorable show, but ..read more

Sri Lanka's first presidential elections since an unprecedented economic crisis spurred widespread unrest will be held in September, the election commission said Friday. The election will be the first test of the public mood since the height of the 2022 downturn, which caused months of food, fuel and medicine shortages across the island nation. President Ranil Wickremesinghe, 75, who took office after street protests forced his predecessor to flee the country, has strongly hinted he plans to run. He will face at least two rivals campaigning against austerity measures his government imposed to ..read more

The Seychelles' Cabinet of Ministers has approved the implementation of the National Addressing System (NAS) to provide a standardised, accurate, and efficient addressing framework to improve service delivery. In a cabinet decisions press briefing on Thursday, Vice President Ahmed Afif said that Seychelles, unlike other countries, does not have a postal code, which is a combination of numbers and letters that helps postal departments and courier services determine the exact place and region where postal mail must be delivered. "Today many people do e-commerce transactions and things are ordere ..read more

Humanitarian agencies were scrambling Tuesday to send desperately needed aid to a remote area of southern Ethiopia where a landslide has killed more than 200 people in the deadliest such disaster recorded in the Horn of Africa nation. Crowds gathered at the site of the tragedy in an isolated and mountainous area of South Ethiopia regional state as residents used shovels or their bare hands to dig through mounds of red dirt in the hunt for victims and survivors, according to images posted by the local authority. So far, 148 men and 81 women are confirmed to have died after the disaster struck o ..read more

Typhoon Gaemi made landfall on Taiwan's eastern coast in the early hours of Thursday, after unleashing torrential rainfall and whipping winds across the island that left two people dead. On its path to Taiwan, Gaemi had also exacerbated seasonal rains in nearby Philippines, triggering flooding and landslides that killed six. The superstorm hit Taiwan's eastern Yilan County at around 12:00 am local time Thursday (1600 GMT Wednesday), said the Central Weather Administration. "Wind and rain continue to intensify, posing a threat to various parts of Taiwan, (and its outlying islands of) Penghu, Ki ..read more

The Red Cross Society of Seychelles (RCSS) has launched an appeal for assistance following the CCCL quarry company explosion on December 7, 2023, in which its headquarters was damaged.  The secretary general of RCSS, Marie-May Esparon, told reporters that over the past seven months, they have not been able to do a comprehensive renovation on the building. She explained that this was mainly due to a lack of resources and the fact that they needed to allocate what they had to people in more urgent need. "Our building is in the same state it was seven months ago, we have remov ..read more

The first-ever Seychellois female Commissioner of Prison in Seychelles, Janet Georges, who took office on Tuesday, said she is ready to help society by reintegrating inmates after they have served their time in prison. Georges met with President Wavel Ramkalawan who appointed her to replace Raymond St Ange, who occupied the position, as of July 23. The Seychelles Prison Services include the main prison facility at Montagne Posee and the Bois De Rose Detention Remand Facility, both located on the main island of Mahe. Georges told reporters that her appointment is an honour and "she is not ..read more

A top WHO official said Tuesday he was "extremely worried" over possible outbreaks in war-torn Gaza after poliovirus was detected in the sewage, warning that communicable diseases could cause more deaths than injuries. United Nations agencies said last week that the Global Polio Laboratory Network found vaccine-derived type-2 poliovirus in six environmental samples collected from the sewage in the Gaza Strip on June 23. Ayadil Saparbekov, the World Health Organization's head of health emergencies in the occupied Palestinian territories, stressed that "we have not yet collected human samples" s ..read more