Conservation: A first-of-its-kind intensive count of western Africa gorillas found far more of the apes than conservationists previously thought. Maybe not for long: The same study found a 19 per cent plunge in that gorilla population in just eight years. Researchers spent a decade looking for lowland gorillas, chimpanzees and nests in what scientists said is the most accurate count for the apes in this primary region where they live, according to a study in Science Advances. They put the 2013 population at 362,000 gorillas. That's considerably more than the 150,000-to-250,000 estimate from the organisation that determines how endangered species are, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. But it's also significantly less than the 2005 assessment of almost 450,000 gorillas from the same research team.
Australia: An Australian mother and daughter were among the 71 people who lost their lives in London's Grenfell Tower tragedy. Victoria King, 71, and her daughter Alexandra Atala, 40, were the last two victims to be identified in November, after their remains were found in their 20th floor flat, the Australian reports today. However, this was only confirmed by the Department of Foreign Affairs this week after repeated requests since October about the June 14 tragedy. "The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade can confirm that two Australian citizens died in the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017," a spokesman told the paper. The mother and daughter were long-term residents of the 24-storey tower in which King had celebrated her 71st birthday just two days before the fire.
Italy: Work at ancient thermal baths in Pompeii's ruins has revealed the skeleton of a crouching child who perished in Mount Vesuvius' eruption in AD 79. Pompeii's director Massimo Osanna said that the skeleton, believed to be of a 7- or 8-year-old child, was found during work in February to shore up the main ancient baths in the sprawling archaeological site. The skeleton was removed yesterday from the baths' area for study, including DNA testing to determine the sex. Experts think deadly volcanic gases killed the child.
Iran: The United States is not seeking to reopen or renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal but hopes to stay in it to fix its flaws with a supplementary agreement, US non-proliferation envoy Christopher Ford says. US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron pledged yesterday to seek stronger measures to contain Iran, but Trump refrained from committing to staying in the 2015 nuclear deal and threatened Tehran with retaliation if it restarted its nuclear programme. "We are not aiming to renegotiate the JCPOA (nuclear deal) or reopen it or change its terms," Ford told reporters in Geneva. "We are seeking a supplemental agreement that would in some fashion layer upon it a series of additional rules — restrictions, terms, parameters, whatever you want to call it — that help answer these challenges more effectively.
