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NEWS
World News
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Call for ‘global deal’ after world wildlife falls by 60 per cent GLOBAL wildlife populations have fallen by 60 per cent since 1970 as we overuse natural resources, drive climate change and pollute the planet. The World Wildlife Fund has called for a ‘global deal’ similar to the international Paris Agreement to tackle climate change, as the conservation charity’s Living Planet Report spelled out the damage being done to the natural world. Only a quarter of the world’s land area is free from the impacts of human activity and by 2050 that will have fallen to just a tenth. The percentage of the world’s seabirds with plastic in their stomach is estimated to have increased from 5 per cent in 1960 to 90 per cent today, and the world has already lost around half its shallow water corals in just 30 years. Tropical areas have seen the worst declines, with an 89 per cent fall in populations monitored in Latin America and the Caribbean since 1970. Species in fresh water habitats, such as frogs and river fish, have fallen by 83 per cent. Overall, populations of more than 4,000 species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and amphibians have declined by 60 per cent between 1970 and 2014, the most recent available data.
LIFE SENTENCE Niels Hogel is already convicted of two murders
German nurse admits killing 100 patients – ‘more or less’ A FORMER nurse accused of killing 100 patients at two hospitals in Germany has admitted most of the charges against him. Niels Högel, 41, is already serving a life sentence for murder as his trial began in Oldenburg. When asked by Judge Sebastian Buhrmann if the charges against him were true, he confessed to ‘more or less’ all of them.
Resuscitate
WHAT A WASTE: A loggerhead turtle is trapped in a drifting fishing net in the Mediterranean Sea
Wednesday October 31 | 2018
The murder charges stem from Högel’s time at a hospital in the city between 1999-2002 and at another hospital in nearby Delmenhorst from 2003-05. The alleged victims were aged 34 to 96. Högel was convicted in 2015 of two murders and two attempted murders. He said then he intentionally brought about cardiac crises in some 90
patients in Delmenhorst because he enjoyed the feeling of being able to resuscitate them. He later told investigators that he also killed patients in Oldenburg. Authorities subsequently investigated hundreds of deaths, exhuming bodies of former patients. The Oldenburg state court is conducting the trial in a conference centre to accommodate a large number of co-plaintiffs and public interest. Judge Buhrmann, who called for a minute’s silence at the start to remember the victims, said: “We will make every effort to seek the truth.” Högel told the court that he had a ‘protected’ childhood, free of violence. He said his grandmother and his father, who were both nurses, had been his role models. There are no formal pleas in the German legal system. The trial is scheduled to last until May.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Over 5,000 soldiers sent to tackle migrants in US US DEFENCE chiefs are sending 5,200 troops to the south-west border with Mexico a week before mid-term elections. During campaign rallies, President Donald Trump has placed a sharp focus on Central American migrants moving north in slow-moving caravans which are still hundreds of miles from the US. The number of troops being deployed is more than double the 2,000 who are currently serving in Syria. Mr Trump tweeted: “This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!”
Flying closest to sun NASA has confirmed its Parker Solar Probe is now closer to the sun than any spacecraft has ever been. The probe surpassed the record of 26.6million miles set by Helios-2 in 1976. It will keep getting closer to the sun until it flies through the corona, or outer atmosphere, for the first time next week. Parker will make 24 close approaches to the sun over the next seven years, ultimately coming within just 3.8 million miles.
Ronaldo rules Instagram FOOTBALLER Cristiano Ronaldo has overtaken Selena Gomez to become the most followed user on Instagram. The 33-year-old Juventus player now leads the way on the social media platform with 144.4million, slightly ahead of the American singer and actress. Ronaldo posts images of his gruelling fitness routine as well as pictures of his family and himself on the pitch.