The wreck of an ancient Roman cargo ship from more than 2,000 years ago has been found off the coast near Rome, the arts squad of Italy’s Carabinieri police said on Friday.

The ship was located off the port of Civitavecchia, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north-west of the Italian capital, on a sandy seabed at a depth of about 160 metres (525 ft), a statement said.

The vessel, estimated to be more than 20 metres long and dating from the 1st or 2nd century BC, was carrying hundreds of amphorae — a type of ancient Roman jar — that were mostly found intact.

“The exceptional discovery is an important example of the shipwreck of a Roman ship facing the perils of the sea in an attempt to reach the coast, and bears witness to old maritime trading routes,” the Carabinieri said.

The relic was located and filmed using a remotely operated robot, they said. It was not immediately clear whether any attempt would be made to recover it or its cargo from the bottom of the sea.

The House of Representatives has decried that perennial flooding is on the increase geometrically in the nation’s capital, with the recent flooding at Trademore Estate which was as a result of heavy downpour on 23 June 2023, when houses were submerged in water, while some were pulled down and killing a lecturer at the University of Abuja.

This was sequel to the adoption of a motion by a lawmaker representing AMAC/Bwari federal constituency of the Federal Capital Territory Abuja Honourable Joshua Obika, on the “Call for Intervention on the Perennial Flooding in the Federal Capital Territory”, on Wednesday at plenary.

Honourable Obika also said there is the need to call the Federal Government agencies related to tackling Flooding in FCT to avert future occurrences which is inevitable.

According to him, the alarming upsurge of flood in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) over the years due to heavy uncontrollable floods have left tales of woes in the minds of the affected families.

The lawmaker also noted that the periodic flooding in Lokogoma, Galadimawa and particularly Trademore estate and other adjourning Estates on the Airport road has led to loss of lives and properties.

Firefighters have “stabilised” a wildfire that ravaged 400 hectares of woodland in the centre of the Spanish island of Gran Canaria, local emergency services chief Federico Grillo said.

Authorities declared the wildfire stable at 0.42 a.m. local time (2342 GMT) after it had forced the evacuation of hundreds of villagers from their homes as well as dozens of children from a camping site near a mountain top.

Three roads were closed off while emergency services deployed nine aircraft and 250 firefighters to contain the blaze.

“Unfortunately, a house has burned down on Pico de las Nieves,” Grillo said on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter. No injuries were reported.

Since Wednesday, authorities had allowed residents to return to their homes to check for possible damage and care for their pets, accompanied by security officers.

Earlier in July, 4,000 people were evacuated from their homes on the island of La Palma, near Gran Canaria, as a forest fire burned out of control while countries across Europe have struggled to cope with wildfires amidst a heatwave.

Typhoon Doksuri swept into China’s southeastern Fujian province on Friday, unleashing heavy rain and violent gusts of wind that whipped power lines sparking fires, uprooted trees and forced factories and shopping malls to shut.

The second strongest typhoon to land in Fujian after deadly Typhoon Meranti in 2016 forced the closure of schools, businesses and the evacuation of workers from offshore oil and gas fields, said state media.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or fatalities, unlike Meranti when it caused at least 11 deaths after it made landfall near the port city of Xiamen.

Doksuri’s wind speed was clocked at 137 km/h (85.1 miles per hour) as of 1 p.m (0500 GMT), according to the National Meteorological Center.

Hourly rainfall in Xiamen, Quanzhou and Putian exceeded 50 mm (2.165 inches), according to the China Meterological Administration (CMA).

Social media video showed eletrical power lines sparking and bursting into flames as winds thrashed Jinjiang, a city of two million, while in Quanzhou massive trees were uprooted and left in the middle of roads.

Typhoon Doksuri has already left a wake of death and destruction in its path as it moved from the Philippines across southern Taiwan.

The storm toppled trees and cut power to hundreds of thousands of homes in southern Taiwan, prompting authorities to shut business for a second day on Friday and warn of extreme winds, landslides and floods. Doksuri was categorised at the second-strongest typhoon level by Taiwan’s weather bureau.

A “hurricane-force-wind” alert was issued in the Taiwanese islands of Penghu and Kinmen, where residents were warned to brace for gusts of more than 155 kmh (96 mph).

The storm had cut power to more than 278,000 homes across Taiwan and downed hundreds of trees in Kaohsiung. Rainfall of more than 1 metre was recorded in the mountainous eastern and southern parts of the island.

More than 200 domestic and international flights were suspended or delayed on Friday and railway services between southern and eastern Taiwan were halted.

A ferry sank near the Philippine capital of Manila after passengers alarmed by strong winds rushed to one side of the boat, overturning it. As many as 36 people have been killed this week during Doksuri’s transit off the northern Philippines.

Heavy rain has raised water levels on the river Rhine in Germany enabling normal shipping in some areas, but the river is still too shallow in northern areas for cargo vessels to sail fully loaded, commodity traders said on Friday.

Dry weather in June meant the river became too shallow for vessels to sail fully loaded and ship operators imposed surcharges on freight rates to compensate for vessels sailing partly empty, increasing costs for cargo owners.

“Rain has prevented a crisis in shipping so far this year,” one trader said. “River water levels are falling regularly but also rising regularly so cargo is being delivered but with extra costs for industry.”

Water levels at the chokepoint of Kaub have risen sharply after hitting their lowest so far this year earlier this week and have now reached levels allowing full vessel loadings, they said.

The Rhine is still too shallow for normal sailings in northern areas around Cologne and Duisburg. Some vessels, depending on the type, can only sail less than half full in northern regions, the traders said. More rain in the coming days could provide further improvement.

German industry is finding new ways to transport cargoes from coal to chemicals as increasingly frequent low water levels on the Rhine disrupt Europe’s largest economy, major cargo shippers told Reuters.

The Rhine is an important shipping route for commodities such as grains, minerals, coal and oil products, including heating oil. German companies faced supply bottlenecks and production problems in the summer of 2022 after a drought and heat wave led to unusually low water levels on the Rhine.

Wildfires in Greece abated on Friday after burning for nearly two weeks but emergency services worked to prevent new flare-ups in the central part of the country, where people had fled massive explosions at an ammunition depot the day before.

The blazes, fanned by rising temperatures and strong winds, have killed five people, destroyed homes, farms and factories and scorched swathes of forest land since July 17.

In the hard-hit area of Magnesia, wildfires reached an air force ammunition depot close to the coastal town of Nea Aghialos on Thursday.

The blaze at the depot caused powerful explosions and the coast guard said people were forced to escape by land and sea to Volos, the regional capital.

Fighter jets stationed at a nearby military airport were moved as a precaution, a government official said.

The shockwave was felt miles away, causing glass windows of several shops to shatter, locals told Reuters.

“They’ve split open, they peeled off, the panels have fallen, they are split open, only metal is left, the ironwork,” said Dina Angeli, a local resident in Nea Aghialos.

Greek Defence Minister Nikos Dendias said on Friday he had ordered an investigation into the incident.

Firefighters made a “superhuman effort” but failed to tame the rekindling blazes in the wider area of Volos and in Aghialos, fire brigade spokesperson Ioannis Artopoios said.

Dozens of firefighters worked in the area, assisted by five aircraft and a helicopter, as strong winds could cause new flare-ups, the fire brigade said.

The labour ministry urged employers in an industrial zone of Volos to suspend operations for a second day on Friday.

On the island of Rhodes, where more than 20,000 tourists and locals fled seaside hotels and houses over the weekend, wildfires have died down after scorching about 10% of the island’s acreage. But teams operated at several sites for an 11th day in an effort to fully tame all the fronts.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday that Greece needed to take more steps to combat the effects of climate change, stressing the need to improve fire prevention further.

Passenger trains are being fuelled by vegetable oil for the first time in the UK, a train operator has said.

Chiltern Railways began using hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) to power some of its fleet on Thursday.

HVO is made mostly of used cooking oils and can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90%, compared to diesel.

Richard Allan, managing director, said the operator was determined to operate a railway that was “easier, greener and better” for its customers.

The train operator, which runs services between Birmingham and London, is using the biofuel, which is more expensive than diesel, to power its Class 68 locomotives as part of efforts to decarbonise its operations.

Mr Allan said the conversion in fuel would make a “big difference” and would help to minimise the impact of trains on the environment.

Amid blistering heatwaves, July is “virtually certain” to be the world’s warmest month on record, say scientists.

So hot has the month been to date that researchers are confident the 2019 record will be broken, even with several days to go.

Scientists agree the extra heat is mainly linked to fossil fuel use.

Some experts believe that July might well be the warmest month in the past 120,000 years.

Researchers are not surprised that July is set to break the current record for the warmest month as there have been plenty of indications in recent weeks that the world is seeing far greater levels of heating.

The world’s warmest day occurred on July 6, and the hottest 23 days ever recorded were all this month, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The Reclining Liberty is a remarkable sculpture and statue that changes its locations from time to time, and it was located previously Harlem’s Morningside Park, and it is also found in the Liberty State Park of Jersey City, in the northern part of the State of New Jersey, within the northeastern part of the United States of America.

Quite fascinating is that the location is changing and the statue is moving, so from its first point at Le Petit Senegal in the State of New York, it was moved to this important place in New Jersey, and it is yet to be moved again.

As the statue was designed by the Chinese artist Zhan Wang, it depicts the iconic American symbol of freedom, the very famous Statue of Liberty, however, in a way more relaxed, reclined position.

Created in 2018, the Reclining Liberty statue is a recent addition to the small park, which is also home to the famous Statue of Liberty National Monument, but the difference comes in the materials used to construct this artistic sculpture, where the sculpture is made from polished stainless steel, which reflects the surrounding skyline and adds to its impressive appearance.

As it measures 17 m (55 ft) in length, the Reclining Liberty statue is a monumental work of art that can be seen and recognized from a distance as well, and its detailed features, including the crown and torch, are rendered in stunning detail, making it a breathtaking sight to behold.

Since the statue was created as a tribute to the Statue of Liberty and the ideals it represents, such as freedom, democracy, and opportunity, the artist was inspired by the iconic pose of its counterpart and he certainly wanted to create a work of art that would pay homage to this symbol of American identity.

Serving as an important addition to Liberty State Park, not only as a work of art but also as a symbol of the enduring values that the original statue represents, it is thought that the Reclining Liberty also serves as a reminder of the ongoing struggle for freedom and democracy, and it underscores the importance of preserving these values for future generations.

The Reclining Liberty statue is a stunning work of art that captures the spirit of the Statue of Liberty in a unique and captivating way, while its size, materials, and intricate details make it a remarkable addition to the world-famous state park, and its message of freedom and democracy is more important than ever in today’s world.