At least one person is dead in a fast-moving wildfire razing 4,700 acres north of Los Angeles, California, forcing thousands of others to flee. The Saddleridge fire has led to a mandatory evacuation for 25,000 homes, some of which have been destroyed.

A lorry with burning rubbish sparked another fire on Thursday east of LA. The state’s largest utility this week pulled the plug on at least 700,000 customers to prevent wildfires sparked by windblown power lines. The victim, a man in his late 50s, died overnight from cardiac arrest connected to the blaze, Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas told local media. The Saddleridge fire was fuelled by gusty winds, warm temperatures and low humidity.(BBC)…[+]

The portents for a global food crisis may already be looming large as climate change unleashes a multi-faceted onslaught on the food production system according to a report from the Inter- governmental Panel on Climate Change, (IPCC) a United Nations body dedicated to providing an objective, scientific perspective on climate change, its natural political and economic impacts and risks and possible response options. And while the study does not undertake a specific examination of the prospects for the Caribbean its findings bespeak a randomness in the pattern of climate change which suggests the Caribbean enjoys no immunity from climate-related food security challenges.

The report, released in August this year but seemingly only sparingly publicized in the region, explores the impacts of climate breakdown on the global food system, making a case for climate change presenting the most formidable challenge to the world feeding itself in the years ahead.(Stabroek News)…[+]

OSLO- Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the 2019 Nobel Peace Prize today for his peacemaking efforts which ended two decades of hostility with longtime enemy Eritrea.

Though Africa’s youngest leader still faces big challenges, he has in under two years in power begun political and economic reforms that promise a better life for many in impoverished Ethiopia and restored ties with Eritrea that had been frozen since a 1998-2000 border war. “We are proud as a nation,” the prime minister’s office said in a statement, hailing a “collective win for all Ethiopians, and a call to strengthen our resolve in making Ethiopia – the new horizon of hope – a prosperous nation for all.”

The Nobel Committee said Abiy had won the prestigious prize for “efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighbouring Eritrea.” It said the prize was meant to recognise “all the stakeholders working for peace and reconciliation in Ethiopia and in the East and Northeast African regions.” (Reuters)…[+]