- Australian tennis star Purcell provisionally suspended for doping
- Luxury Western goods line Russian stores, three years into sanctions
- Wallace and Gromit return with comic warning about AI dystopia
- Philippine military says will acquire US Typhon missile system
- Afghan bread, the humble centrepiece of every meal
- Honda and Nissan expected to begin merger talks
- 'Draconian' Vietnam internet law heightens free speech fears
- Israeli women mobilise against ultra-Orthodox military exemptions
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate worries
- Tens of thousands protest in Serbian capital over fatal train station accident
- Trump vows to 'stop transgender lunacy' as a top priority
- 'Who's next?': Misinformation and online threats after US CEO slaying
- Only 12 trucks delivered food, water in North Gaza Governorate since October: Oxfam
- Langers edge Tiger and son Charlie in PNC Championship playoff
- Explosive batsman Jacobs gets New Zealand call-up for Sri Lanka series
- Holders PSG edge through on penalties in French Cup
- Daniels throw five TDs as Commanders down Eagles
- Atalanta fight back to take top spot in Serie A, Roma hit five
- Mancini admits regrets over leaving Italy for Saudi Arabia
- Run machine Ayub shines as Pakistan sweep South Africa
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin
- 'Incredible' Liverpool must stay focused: Slot
- Maresca 'absolutely happy' as title-chasing Chelsea drop points in Everton draw
- Salah happy wherever career ends after inspiring Liverpool rout
- Three and easy as Dortmund move into Bundesliga top six
- Liverpool hit Spurs for six, Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth
- Netanyahu vows to act with 'force, determination' against Yemen's Huthis
- Ali hat-trick helps champions Ahly crush Belouizdad
- Salah stars as rampant Liverpool hit Spurs for six
- Syria's new leader says all weapons to come under 'state control'
- 'Sonic 3' zips to top of N.America box office
- Rome's Trevi Fountain reopens to limited crowds
- Mbappe strikes as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- Pope again condemns 'cruelty' of Israeli strikes on Gaza
- Lonely this Christmas: Vendee skippers in low-key celebrations on high seas
- Troubled Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
- 2 US pilots shot down over Red Sea in 'friendly fire' incident: military
- Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth, Chelsea held at Everton
- France awaits fourth government of the year
- Death toll in Brazil bus crash rises to 41
- Odermatt stays hot to break Swiss World Cup wins record
- Neville says Rashford's career at Man Utd nearing 'inevitable ending'
- Syria's new leader vows not to negatively interfere in Lebanon
- Germany pledges security inquest after Christmas market attack
- Putin vows 'destruction' on Ukraine after Kazan drone attack
- Understated Usyk seeks recognition among boxing legends
- France awaits appointment of new government
- Cyclone Chido death toll rises to 94 in Mozambique
- Stokes out of England's Champions Trophy squad
- Gaza rescuers say Israeli strikes kill 28
UN's Guterres issues 'global SOS' over fast-rising Pacific ocean
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres voiced a global climate "SOS" at a Pacific islands summit on Tuesday, unveiling research that shows the region's seas rising much more swiftly than global averages.
"I am in Tonga to issue a global SOS -- Save Our Seas -- on rising sea levels. A worldwide catastrophe is putting this Pacific paradise in peril" he said.
Sparsely populated and with few heavy industries, the Pacific islands collectively pump out less than 0.02 percent of global emissions every year.
But this vast arc of volcanic islands and low-lying coral atolls also inhabits a tropical corridor that is rapidly threatened by encroaching oceans.
The World Meterological Organisation has been monitoring tide gauges installed on the Pacific's famed beaches since the early 1990s.
A new report released by the top UN climate monitoring body showed seas had risen by around 15 centimetres in some parts of the Pacific in the last 30 years.
The global average was 9.4 centimetres, according to the report.
"It is increasingly evident that we are fast running out of time to turn the tide," said the forecasting agency's top official Celeste Saulo.
Some sites, particularly in Kiribati and Cook Islands, measured a rise that matched or was just under the global average.
But other sites, such as the capital cities of Samoa and Fiji, were rising almost three times higher.
In low-lying Pacific nation Tuvalu, land is already so scarce that throngs of children use the tarmac at the international airport as their own makeshift playground.
Scientists have warned that, even under some moderate scenarios, Tuvalu could be almost entirely wiped off the map within the next 30 years.
"It's disaster after disaster, and we are losing the capacity to rebuild, to withstand another cyclone or another flood," Tuvalu Climate Minister Maina Talia told AFP on the summit's sidelines.
"For low-lying island states, it's a matter of survival for us."
The plight of Pacific islands has been easily overlooked in the past, given their relative isolation and lack of economic might.
But the region is increasingly seen by scientists as a climate canary in the coal mine, hinting at the troubles possibly facing other parts of the planet.
"This new report confirms what Pacific leaders have been saying for years," Australian climate researcher Wes Morgan told AFP.
"Climate change is their top security threat. Pacific nations are in a fight for survival, and cutting climate pollution is key to their future."
Surrounded by millions of square miles of tropical ocean, the South Pacific is uniquely threatened by sea-level rise.
The vast majority of people live within five kilometres of the coast, according to the United Nations.
Rising seas are swallowing up scarce land and tainting vital food and water sources.
Warmer waters are also fuelling more intense natural disasters, while ocean acidification slowly kills the reefs that nourish key marine food chains.
O.Salvador--PC