Oslo, Norway - Winter is here and with it the freezing cold. And now public transport is also paralyzed. Oslo's brand new fleet of electric buses is not designed for these temperatures - their batteries are failing miserably in the icy cold.
Too cold for the batteries - Brand new electric buses paralyzed in Oslo
The transport operator confirms that the electric buses are simply not reliable enough in winter: "The range of the electric buses decreases drastically in the cold. The batteries run out more quickly." In total, around 140 departures were affected.
Ryan Woo and Liz Lee Reuters Wed, 13 Dec 2023 19:10 UTC
People play with snow amid snowfall in Beijing, China December 13, 2023.
Snow, blizzards and plunging temperatures swept northern China in what could be one of its most severe cold snaps in December, spurring authorities in the capital to halt train services, shut schools and tell people to stay home.
A mass of cold air drifted into Beijing from the west, the second cold wave this week. City officials have issued the second-highest alert for blizzards through Thursday, the only such warning yet in the country.
To avert chaos threatened by what was expected to be a "long-lasting" round of snowfall, the city of nearly 22 million shut all schools from Wednesday and moved classes online. Businesses were told to offer employees flexible working conditions and staggered commutes.
"We'll try not to travel," said a 36-year-old Beijing resident surnamed Liu, whose child's school had closed as snow fell for the second time since Monday.
The Meteonews service reported on Tuesday that up to 100 litres of rain per square metre had accumulated in affected regions. The heavy precipitation on already humid soil and melting snow have raised the levels of many watercourses. Maximum levels are expected in many places on Thursday.
The situation is particularly critical in canton Valais, especially on roads, where many incidents have been reported across the southern region.
"The situation is dangerous all over," Frédéric Favre, the head of the Department of Security, Institutions and Sport, told reporters on Tuesday.
Rachael Bunyan Daily Mail Tue, 12 Dec 2023 12:05 UTC
Caio Henrique de Lima Goncalves, 21, (pictured) was playing for his Uniao Jaiirense team in a cup fixture in the southern state of Parana when he was jolted by the lightning strike on Sunday
A footballer has been killed and six others injured after a lightning bolt struck a pitch in Brazil during a cup match.
Caio Henrique de Lima Goncalves, 21, was playing for his Uniao Jaiirense team in a cup fixture in the southern state of Parana when he was jolted by the lightning strike on Sunday.
He was rushed to hospital after collapsing on the pitch on Sunday but he later died of his injuries, police in Santo Antonio da Platina said.
Chilling footage recorded moments after the lightening strike shows the pitch littered with stricken players and officials desperately racing to get them to safety and medical treatment.
The stormy weather continued as the officials carried the collapsed players off the pitch, with the threat of a second lightening strike seeming possible at any moment.
The dead bodies of two people who were trapped under the collapse of a two-story detached house due to landslide in the northwestern province of Zonguldak have been reached.
The search for 82-year-old Perihan Çakar and her son 51-year-old Sait Çakar, who were trapped under the cave-in after a landslide caused by heavy rains in Zonguldak on Dec. 9, restarted at dawn.
After the teams determined that the cave-in area was safe, Zonguldak Municipality, gendarmerie and Turkish Coal Corporation rescue teams entered the area under the coordination of the country's Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD).
In the area where police teams took extensive security measures, efforts were made to find the mother and son.
"On Dec. 9, a two-story house collapsed due to a landslide in the central district of Zonguldak province and two citizens were trapped under the cave-in. As a result of search and rescue operations, the dead bodies of two of our citizens were reached," AFAD said.
As many as 103 people died last year due to tiger attacks and 605 others died due to elephant attacks, the Union environment ministry said in parliament on Thursday (December 7).
Maharashtra reported the highest number of human deaths due to tiger attacks in 2022 at 85. Uttar Pradesh reported the second-highest number of deaths at 11.
As for deaths due to elephant attacks, Odisha reported the highest number in 2022-2023 at 148. West Bengal, Jharkhand and Assam were next with 97, 96 and 80 deaths respectively.
In the last five years,293 people died due to tiger attacks and 2,657 people died to elephant attacks.
"This is absolutely scary!" declared Mary Jones when she beheld thousands of dead fish lining the Harbour Head shoreline in Harbour View, St Andrew, yesterday morning.
She was among several persons who made the usual Saturday morning trek to the area for recreational fishing and was shocked by what greeted them.
Fisherfolk in the area who rely on the bay for their livelihood were even more dismayed, questioning what could have caused it as they foretell of a dim Christmas season.
The dead fish, mostly sprat, started floating and washing ashore about 10 o'clock and as the morning progressed, the entire shoreline - "as far as the eyes could see" - was covered by the massive fish kill. The residents claim this was the second occurrence in the last month, but the other was not of this magnitude.
Branches and trees are breaking under heavy snow even in the Slovak Paradise national park in northeast Slovakia.
The village of Hrabušice should start removing fallen trees in the most visited gorge of Slovak Paradise, Suchá Belá, on Monday.
It has been closed since Thursday last week.
At the beginning of last week, there was a plan to replace the ladders in the gorge, but the weather complicated the situation and it is now uncertain.
Comment: Report from 2 days earlier: Schools, train service and roads closed as heavy snow blankets northern China