The plant, loaded with nuclear fuel, will replace a coal-fired power plant and an ageing nuclear power plant supplying more than 50,000 people with electricity. Rosatom says the plant is safe, but environmentalists voice concerns.
Against the global chorus of condemnation, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been mobilising the army to help combat the blazes, while his administration launched a diplomatic charm offensive to try to mend bridges.
Over 70,000 fires have taken place in just Brazil this year, the consequences of which will affect humanity for generations.
Russian state nuclear company Rosatom says the plant is safe and can serve as a new power source for the planet's most isolated communities, but environmentalists have voiced concerns over the risk of nuclear accidents.
Paris and the UN called for the protection of the fire-plagued Amazon rainforest as Brazil's right-wing president accused his French counterpart of having a "colonialist mentality" over the issue.
Authorities say rescue operation continues after a series of mudslides in the county's autonomous south-western Sichuan province buried people alive and levelled homes.
"The headline message is to reassure drinking water consumers around the world, that based on this assessment, our assessment of the risk is that it is low," Bruce Gordon of the World Health Organization says.
Norway and Germany, among others, have discontinued financial aid for the Amazon Fund, leading some Brazilian federal governors to appeal directly to Europe to change their minds.
With an average of more than 120 illegally trafficked tigers seized each year since 2000 –– which amounts to over two each week –– conservation group Traffic warned there was little sign of respite for the species.
As heatwaves and drought become more drawn out, the damage they cause to health, ecosystems, agriculture and the economy grows "significantly", scientists warn.
The world’s largest island has long been on the mind of successive American leaders who have been interested in its strategic and economic value.
A large majority of countries voted in Geneva to prohibit the transfer of elephants caught in the wild to so-called captive facilities – a practice animal protection groups have long described as "cruel".
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