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Angry local communities have warned India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi to stay away from the inauguration on Wednesday of the world's biggest statue, a 182 metre (600 feet) high tribute to an independence hero. The Statue of Unity, which is twice the size of the Statue of Liberty, has been built in a remote corner of Gujarat state as a flagship project of conservative leader Modi who is to open it on Wednesday. Posters of Modi with Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani in a town near the statue were torn down or had the faces blackened at the weekend.
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A Jewish doctor who heads the hospital where the suspected Pittsburgh shooter is being treated and is a member of the synagogue he allegedly attacked, said Robert Bowers “hears noise…telling him to rise up and do something”. Mr Bowers, who wrote frequent racist online screeds denouncing Jewish people, is to appear in federal court on Monday, to face several dozen charges. US Attorney Scott Brady said federal prosecutors are seeking approval to pursue the death penalty against Mr Bowers.
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Conservationists have issued a demand for urgent international action after a major report uncovered an unprecedented crisis in nature that threatens to devastate the world economy and imperil humanity itself. Only a global pact on the scale of the Paris Agreement on climate change will save the natural world from irreversible collapse, the World Wide Fund for Nature said after publishing a report showing a cataclysmic decline in global wildlife populations. Global vertebrate populations have fallen by 60 per cent since 1970 as human activity destroys their natural habitats in grasslands, forests, waterways and oceans, the organisation said. Until the turn of the 20th century, humanity’s consumption of the world’s natural resources was smaller than Earth’s ability to replenish itself. But over the past 50 years expanding agricultural activity and the over-exploitation of natural resources to feed a growing world population, particularly its booming middle class, has pushed many ecosystems to the brink of collapse. The Cerrado, a vast tropical savanna ecoregion of Brazil, is being cleared for soy monoculture Credit: Adriano Gambarni/ PA “Humans are living beyond the planet’s means and wiping out life on earth in the process,” the report warns. From the savannahs of Africa to the rain forests of South America and oceans across the world, few wildlife populations have been spared. While great attention has been given to the impact of poaching on elephants and rhinos in Africa, the story has been more dismal in Latin America and the Caribbean, where 89 percent of indigenous mammals like the jaguar and anteater have been wiped out. Statistics are just as grim in the world’s rivers, lakes and seas. More than 80 per cent of freshwater populations has vanished, with freshwater fish accounting for a higher rate of extinction than any other vertebrate. Since 1950 nearly 6bn tonnes of fish and other seafood have been removed from the world’s oceans. Employees move freshly caught fish at a factory in the Angolan coastal city of Benguela Credit: AFP For surviving populations the impact of human activity is also stark: some 90 per cent of the world’s seabirds have plastic in their stomach, compared to just 5 per cent in 1960. Plastic pollution now stretches across the seas of the earth, even reaching the bottom of the Marianas Trench in the western Pacific, the deepest natural point in the world. With just a quarter of the planet’s land now free from human impact, the space bird, reptile and mammal populations' need to recover is growing ever more limited. “We are the first generation to know we are destroying our planet and the last that can do anything about it,” said Tanya Steele, chief executive of the WWF. “The collapse of global wildlife populations is a warning sign that nature is dying." As tragic as the collapse of wildlife populations is, the impact of habitat loss will have a profound impact on human wellbeing, conservationists say. Man’s encroachment on nature threatens agriculture itself, because crops pollinated by animals account for 35 per cent of global food production, while habitat loss means that the soil for crops to grow is not being replenished with nutrients. Under threat | The 19 species on the World Wildlife Fund's critically endangered list The loss of South American rainforests has reduced rainfall thousands of miles away, also imperilling crop production. As many as 70,000 species of plants are used commercially or in medicine, posing a danger to efforts to fight disease and protect industry. Yet the issue, conservationists say, is not being taken as seriously as climate change — even though protecting nature can help mitigate the impact of global warming — which is why it is essential for big business and government to come together to find a solution to the crisis. “The statistics are scary, but all hope is not lost,” said Ken Norris, director of science at the Zoological Society of London, which collaborated on the report. “We have an opportunity to design a new way forward that allows us to coexist sustainably with the wildlife we depend on.”
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Khashoggi's death at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul nearly four weeks ago has escalated into a crisis for the world's top oil exporter, which initially denied any knowledge of or role in his death. Saudi public prosecutor Saud Al Mojeb arrived in Istanbul overnight, days after he contradicted weeks of Saudi statements by saying that Khashoggi's killing was premeditated. On Monday he met Istanbul's chief prosecutor.
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The suspect in the Saturday massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue that left eleven dead appeared in court Monday and is being held without bond by the U.S. Marshals Service. Robert Bowers, 46, appeared in federal court in Pittsburgh in a wheelchair and was mostly silent as the 29 charges against him — including eleven counts of obstruction of religious exercise ending in death and eleven counts of use of a firearm to murder — were read. Because he is unable to afford a private attorney, he will be represented by a public defender as the case proceeds.
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BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — The Diocese of Buffalo declined to address details of a television report where diocesan insiders called for the bishop's resignation Monday, saying he hadn't done enough when confronted with reports of clergy sexual misconduct.
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A 6.1 magnitude earthquake rattled parts of central New Zealand Tuesday, where British royals Meghan and Harry are on tour, but officials said it caused no major damage. The quake was felt in Wellington during a session of parliament, prompting lawmakers to stop deliberations and seek refuge as a precaution. Reporters travelling with the couple said they did not feel any tremors during the quake, which the US Geological Survey (USGS) gave a magnitude of 6.1.
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Israel has carried out attacks in Syria since the accidental shooting down of a Russian surveillance plane last month, a senior Israeli official said on Monday. The Sept. 17 downing by Syrian anti-aircraft fire, after Israeli jets attacked a suspected Iranian arms shipment to Syria, caused a diplomatic rift between Israel and Russia, and Moscow blamed Israel for the incident.
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