UNITED NATIONS: At least 34 United Nations and associated personnel — 26 peacekeepers and eight civilians — were killed in malicious attacks in the line of duty in 2018, said a UN spokesperson Thursday.
The 2018 casualty rate was among the lowest of the last five years and was less than half the number recorded in 2017, Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for the UN secretary-general, said at a regular press briefing, citing a report from the UN Staff Union.
In 2018, the peacekeeping mission in Mali suffered the greatest loss of life, with 11 peacekeepers killed. It was followed by the missions in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where 8 peacekeepers were killed. In the Central African Republic, 7 peacekeepers were killed, according to the report.
Since 2012, at least 344 United Nations and associated personnel have died in malicious and deliberate attacks, it said.President of the UN Staff Union Bibi Sherifa Khan said: “United Nations staff work in some of the world’s most dangerous places. Any cut in the budget of peacekeeping operations increases the dangers for staff members and risk jeopardizing the goals and objectives of the organization.”
The union president added: “When the United Nations sends its staff to work in conflict zones, it must ensure, along with member states, that the necessary resources are provided and that those who attack our colleagues are brought to justice.”
(Agencies)
Climate change is bad news for coral reefs around the world, with high ocean temperatures causing widespread bleaching events that weaken and kill corals. However, new research from The University of Texas at Austin has found that corals with a solitary streak — preferring to live alone instead of in reef communities — could fare better than their group-dwelling relatives.
The findings, which could potentially give clues about where modern reef conservation efforts should be focused, are based on a survey of coral species that survived during a period of warming in Earth’s past that resembles the climate change of today. And while the research suggests that corals may cope better with climate change than expected, the isolated lifestyles of the survivors could mean that the coral ecosystems of the future could be bleak.
“Although corals themselves might survive, if they’re not building reefs, that’s going to cause other problems within the ecosystem,” said Anna Weiss, a Ph.D. candidate at the UT Jackson School of Geosciences who led the research. “Reefs support really big, diverse communities.”
The environment isn’t the only thing facing a bleak future. The coral species with the best odds of survival are drab in comparison to colorful reef corals.
The research was published in the journal Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology on Jan. 21. Weiss co-authored the paper with her adviser Rowan Martindale, an assistant professor at the Jackson School.
The study examined coral species that lived about 56 million years ago during the transition of the late Paleocene to the Early Eocene, a time interval that lasted about 200,000 years and that included spikes in temperature and atmospheric carbon dioxide. The spikes created global temperatures that are about 14 degrees Fahrenheit (8 degrees Celsius) warmer than they are today and made oceans more acidic. The researchers tracked coral over this period for insight about how coral living today might respond to contemporary climate change.
They carried out the work using an international fossil database. The database includes information about when hundreds of coral species lived and their physical traits such as how a species ate, the type of environment where it lived, how it reproduced and whether it was able to form colonies. The research revealed that at the global level, solitary coral species increased in diversity during the warm period. They also found that certain traits that probably helped corals cope with the effects of climate change were associated with coral survival.
One of the traits is catching food independently rather than getting nutrients from heat-sensitive algae that live in certain coral tissues but leave, causing coral bleaching, when the water gets too warm. Another trait is preferring to live on stony seafloor bottoms where the water is cooler rather than on carbonate rock in warmer and shallower areas. Researchers said that understanding which traits are connected to coral survival in the past could be a useful lens for predicting how corals today might respond to ongoing warming and could help focus conservation efforts.
“Conservationists want to know what traits might help different species survive global change. If we can find patterns to survival, we may be able to help our reefs do better today and in the coming years,” said Martindale.
Carl Simpson, a paleobiologist and assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who was not involved with the research, said it was interesting to see how different coral traits were linked to different survival outcomes.
“It can be a little bit of a subtle thing, because you would think that they’re all susceptible to environmental change and warming and acidification,” he said. “But it turns out that there’s enough variety in the way that they live that they actually respond differently.”
Finding out the corals on the global level were able to adapt to climate change in the past suggests that they may be able to do it again in the future. However, Weiss notes that perspective is a “best-case scenario.” Warming during the Paleocene happened over thousands of years, whereas the rate of warming today is occurring over decades to centuries. It’s unknown whether corals will be able to cope with the rapid pace of change that is happening in the present. Weiss said that more research that explores how specific communities of corals — rather than corals as a whole — responded to warming in the past could help improve scientists’ understanding of how corals in different environments around the world might respond to climate change today.
(Agencies)
As the 15th century drew to a close, some 60 million people lived across the Americas, sustaining themselves with the bounty of the vast lands they inhabited. But with the arrival of the first European settlers, waves of new diseases, along with warfare, slavery and other brutality would kill off around 56 million people, or around 90 percent of the indigenous population.
Now, scientists from the University College London (United Kingdom) argue in a new study that this “Great Dying” that followed European colonization of the Americas may have actually affected Earth’s climate.
Their version of events, published in Quaternary Science Reviews, goes like this: After so many indigenous people died, no one was left to tend many of their fields, and trees and other vegetation quickly reclaimed huge expanses of land previously used for agriculture. As a result, enough carbon dioxide (CO₂) was removed from the atmosphere to actually cool down the planet, contributing to the coldest part of the mysterious period that historians have called the Little Ice Age.
A map highlighting regions known to have been affected by disease outbreaks by 1600 CE and pre-Columbian land use.
A map highlighting regions known to have been affected by disease outbreaks by 1600 CE and pre-Columbian land use.
During this period, which peaked in the early 17th century, the Thames River in London consistently froze over, and harsh winters and cold summers across the globe were blamed for causing famines, encouraging witch hunts and even sparking wars.
The scientists drew on existing population records to estimate just how many people were living in the Americas around 1492—the year, of course, that Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean. They found that while 60 million (or around 10 percent of the world’s total population) lived across the Americas at the tail end of the 15th century, that number would be reduced to just 5 or 6 million in the decades that followed European colonization. The rest had been wiped out by conflict or disease, including smallpox, measles, influenza and the bubonic plague.
With few people left to manage the fields, the scientists estimated that some 56 million hectares of land previously used for agriculture—an area about the size of modern-day France—would have fallen into disuse. If forest, savannah and other vegetation had quickly covered that land, they found, the additional vegetation would have pulled enough (CO₂) out of the atmosphere to lower the concentration of that gas by 7-10 parts per million (ppm), or 7-10 molecules of CO₂ in every 1 million air molecules.
To put this into perspective, study co-author Mark Maslin told BBC News that today’s burning of fossil fuels produces about 3ppm of CO₂ per year. “So we’re talking a large amount of carbon that’s being sucked out of the atmosphere,” he clarified.
The scientists also point to the ice core record from Antarctica to support their theory, as air bubbles trapped in the ice do show a fall in carbon dioxide around 1610, at the beginning of the Little Ice Age. “Human actions at that time caused a drop in atmospheric CO₂ that cooled the planet long before human civilization was concerned with the idea of climate change,” the authors of the new study wrote in Newsweek. The new study suggests that human impact on the planet stretches back centuries before the Industrial Revolution began, with the collapse of farming in the Americans hundreds of years ago.
(Agencies)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Washington is willing to discuss “many actions” to improve ties and entice Pyongyang to give up nuclear weapons, the U.S. special envoy for North Korea said on Thursday, but set out an extensive list of demands for the North, including a full disclosure of its weapons program.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets with the delegation that had visited the United States, in Pyongyang, North Korea in this photo released by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on January 23, 2019. In a speech at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, envoy Stephen Biegun did not elaborate on what concessions the United States might make, but said the “corresponding measures” demanded by North Korea would be the subject of talks next week.
Biegun will arrive in Seoul on Sunday for meetings with South Korean officials, before holding talks with North Korean negotiators.
“From our side, we are prepared to discuss many actions that could help build trust between our two countries and advance further progress in parallel on the Singapore summit objectives of transforming relations, establishing a permanent peace regime on the peninsula, and complete denuclearization,” he said.
Biegun’s comment referred to the unprecedented meeting last June between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump in the wealthy Asian city-state.
Trump hailed “tremendous progress” in his dealings with the North Korea and told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that the date and location of a second summit with Kim would be announced “early next week” and probably during his State of the Union speech on Tuesday.
North Korea has complained that the United States has done little to reciprocate for its actions so far to dismantle some weapons facilities and freeze its weapons testing. It has repeatedly urged a lifting of punishing U.S.-led sanctions and also a formal end to the war, as well as security guarantees.
In his most detailed public remarks on his approach to North Korea after five months in his role, Biegun said the United States had told the North it was prepared to pursue commitments made in Singapore “simultaneously and in parallel” and had already eased rules on delivery of humanitarian aid to it.
Still, he outlined a long list of demands North Korea would eventually need to meet, such as allowing expert access and monitoring mechanisms of nuclear and missile sites.
It would have to “ultimately ensure removal or destruction of stockpiles of fissile material, weapons, missiles, launchers and other weapons of mass destruction,” he added. Pyongyang has rejected making an itemized declaration of its weapons programs for decades.
“MORE WORK AHEAD”
Biegun said Kim committed, during an October visit by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to the dismantling and destruction of plutonium and uranium enrichment facilities.
The information from Biegun goes further than remarks by Pompeo himself after his trip and beyond any public statement by Pyongyang.
While Biegun conceded there was “more work ahead of us than behind us,” Trump appeared upbeat about the prospects for a second summit with Kim.
“They very much want the meeting,” Trump said in his Oval Office remarks. “And I think they really want to do something, and we’ll see.”
On Wednesday, Pompeo said North Korea had agreed the summit would be held at the end of February and it would be “some place in Asia.”
Last June’s Singapore summit produced a vague commitment by Kim to work toward the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula, where U.S. troops have been stationed in the South since the 1950-53 Korean War.
Still, Pyongyang has yet to take concrete steps in that direction, in Washington’s view, and the director of U.S. national intelligence, Dan Coats, told Congress on Tuesday it was unlikely to give up all its nuclear weapons and has continued activity inconsistent with pledges to denuclearize.
The State Department said Biegun’s trip to South Korea on Feb. 3 will include talks with his North Korean counterpart Kim Hyok Chol “to discuss next steps to advance our objective of the final fully verified denuclearization of North Korea and steps to make further progress on all the commitments the two leaders made in Singapore.”
TRANSFORMING RELATIONS
Responding to questions, Biegun said the United States would not lift sanctions until North Korean denuclearization was complete, but added: “We did not say we will not do anything until you do everything.”
Venezuela’s Guaido says police visited his home
Biegun said both he and Trump were convinced it was time to move past 70 years of war and hostility on the Korean Peninsula, but stopped short of suggesting the summit could yield an end-of-war declaration North Korea has been seeking.
However, he added: “If we are doing the right thing on nuclear weapons, it makes it a lot more conceivable that there would be a permanent peace regime on the Korean Peninsula.”
But he cautioned, “These things are going to move haltingly along different courses.”
Biegun admitted that the United States and North Korea did not have an agreed definition of denuclearization, but was blunt about U.S. expectations and said Trump had made clear he expected “significant and verifiable progress on denuclearization” to emerge from the next summit.
“Before the process of denuclearization can be final, we must have a complete understanding of the full extent of the North Korean WMD and missile programs through a comprehensive declaration,” Biegun said in his speech.
Biegun said the details would have to be tackled in working-level talks to establish conditions “to fundamentally transform the U.S.-North Korean relations and establish peace on the Korean peninsula.”
He pledged that once North Korea was denuclearized the United States was prepared to explore with it, and other countries, the best way to mobilize investment there.
Biegun said the past 25 years of talks showed the possibility of failure was great, and stressed, “We need to have contingencies if the diplomatic process fails – which we do.”
(REUTERS)
ETHIOPIA: The World Economic Forum (WEF) in 2020 will be hosted in Ethiopia, as the Eastern African nation hopes to attract more investment. The announcement was made following a meeting between Ethiopia’s prime minister, Abiy Ahmed and Prof Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of WEF.
The office of the prime minister said the two leaders discussed the importance of a collaborative approach among government, private sector and civil societies in addressing key global challenges. Abiy attended the WEF 2019 meeting held in Davos, Switzerland, where he met several business leaders before heading to Belgium.
Abiy courts investors
Abiy, who has championed reforms since taking office in April last year, called upon investors in Davos to take advantage of the huge business opportunities available in the country. Reiterating Ethiopia’s plans to liberalisze the previously state-controlled sectors of telecommunications, banking and aviation among others, Abiy pledged to do more to make it easier to do business for anyone planning to invest in Ethiopia. “In order to enforce our up word trajectory and achieve even more rapid and sustainable growth, Ethiopia has embarked on a comprehensive reform process since last April,” he said.
SYDNEY: January was Australia’s hottest month on record, with the country’s mean temperature exceeding 30C for the first time since records began in 1910. The Bureau of Meteorology released its climate summary for January on Friday and said the widespread heatwave conditions and daily extremes were “unprecedented”.
“There’s been so many records it’s really hard to count,” said Andrew Watkins, a senior climatologist at the Bom. Adelaide breaks its all-time heat record, hitting 46.6C, in extreme Australia heatwave January was Australia’s warmest month for mean, maximum and minimum temperatures. Large parts of Australia received only 20% of their normal rainfall, particularly throughout the south-east in Victoria and parts of New South Wales and South Australia.
Tasmania, which has been battling bushfires throughout the past month, had its driest ever January. Watkins said Borrona Downs in north-west NSW broke the record for hottest minimum temperature, registering one night at 36.6C.
Port Augusta recorded the country’s highest temperature in January, reaching 49.5C. We’ve also seen records in many states set including places like Victoria where Swan Hill and Kerang got up over 47.5C,” Watkins said.
Menindee in far-west NSW, the site of December and January’s mass fish kills, had four days in a row of temperatures above 47C. In parts of western Queensland and western NSW, there have been long strings of more than 40 days of temperatures above 40C. Cloncurry had 43 days in a row that exceeded 40C.
Birdsville in the state’s west had 16 days in January of temperatures higher than 45C and 10 of those days were in a row. What happened to our electricity system in the heat? Coal and gas plants failed.
Bom said a persistent high-pressure system in the Tasman Sea that blocked cold fronts and cooler air from reaching the country’s south, and a delayed monsoon in the north, contributed to the heatwave. “The warming trend which has seen Australian temperatures increase by more than 1C in the last 100 years also contributed to the unusually warm conditions,” Watkins said. New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and the Northern Territory all had their warmest January on record.
(Agencies)
CAMEROON: Cameroon’s main opposition chief Maurice Kamto has been charged with insurrection after his arrest on Monday. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges his lawyer confirmed to the media. His lawyers confirmed the charge which could lead to imprisonment term ranging from five years to life sentence. Other charges he is facing along with over 200 other detainees include holding illegal gatherings and disturbing public order.
The party Kamto leads, the Cameroon Renaissance Movement, CRM, held rallies last weekend across major cities whiles they were replicated in other European capitals. The anti-government protests for not being sanctioned by the relevant law enforcement authorities led to the arrests earlier this week. The protests are related to October 2018 elections which Kamto came second in.
The vote was won by incumbent Paul Biya who polled over 70% to seal a seventh straight term in office. Kamto had declared himself winner even before the elections body could put out a winner. His team lodged a complaint at the Constitutional Court along with other opposition parties. Even though their petition was admitted for hearing, it was dismissed by the judges as without merit.
Kamto’s lawyer, Christopher Ndong told the press that his client’s arrest was needless because he was only exercising a right to protest. “The government clampdown will not frighten anybody,” he said disclosing that more protests were to follow this weekend.
(Agency)
KUALA LUMPUR : Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad read out the instrument of proclamation on Thursday (Jan 31), officially signifying Sultan Abdullah’s ascension to the throne as the new head of state of Malaysia, in accordance with the laws and the Federal Constitution. The Mufti of Sabah, Datuk Bungsu at Aziz Jaafar, recited the prayers, seeking the blessings of the Almighty for the well-being of Their Majesties, the people and the nation.
(Agencies)
CARACAS, Jan 30: The fight for control of Venezuela intensified on Wednesday as the government pushed a probe that may lead to the arrest of opposition leader and self-declared interim president Juan Guaido who called for new street protests. Venezuela’s Supreme Court imposed a travel ban on Guaido and froze his bank accounts in apparent retaliation for oil sanctions imposed by the United States that are expected to severely hit the OPEC member’s already collapsing economy.
Guaido is recognized as president by the United States and most Western Hemisphere nations, presenting the biggest challenge to President Nicolas Maduro’s six-year rule.
The 35-year-old opposition lawmaker, who is president of the National Assembly, wants new elections, arguing that Maduro fraudulently won a second term last year. Guaido is offering an amnesty to tempt military officials to join him.
Maduro, who accuses Guaido of staging a U.S.-directed coup against him, still has the support of the top military brass, and is unlikely to back down unless that changes.
Russia and China are also key benefactors, giving him backing at the U.N. Security Council.
On Wednesday, Maduro rejected calls for a snap presidential election as blackmail, and reiterated he was ready for talks with the opposition and possible third country mediation, Russia’s RIA news agency reported.
Given the failure of previous rounds of dialogue, including one led by the Vatican, opponents are suspicious, believing Maduro uses them to quell protests and buy time.
“There are several governments, organizations globally, which are demonstrating their sincere concern about what is happening in Venezuela, they have called for a dialogue,” RIA quoted Maduro as saying.
Given the failure of previous rounds of dialogue, including one led by the Vatican, opponents are suspicious, believing Maduro uses them to quell protests and buy time.
With the Venezuela crisis deepening a geopolitical showdown between Washington and Moscow across various global flashpoints, Maduro also expressed “pleasure and gratitude” for Putin’s help.
Russia has loaned and invested billions of dollars in Venezuela, and sources told Reuters private military contractors who do secret missions for Moscow were in Venezuela.
A former union leader who succeeded his charismatic mentor, the late President Hugo Chavez, Maduro, 56, has overseen a shrinking economy and the migration of more than 3 million Venezuelans fleeing food and drug shortages and hyperinflation. (Reuters)
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan. 29: The death toll from Brazil’s collapsed tailings dam climbed to 58, with 305 people still missing in southeast Brazil’s Minas Gerais state, said local authorities.
Of the 58 victims, 19 have been identified. The missing people include residents of the destroyed area and workers from Brazilian mining company Vale, according to the state fire department.
Search and rescue work started early Sunday morning but one and a half hours later, an alarm was activated as there was a risk that another dam of the Corrego do Feijao mine complex, this time a water dam, could rupture as well.
Rescue efforts were immediately suspended and thousands of residents were ordered to move to safe places, as they risked being in the path of destruction.
Rescue work resumed at 3:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) after the dam was being drained and evacuation was called off after the dam was no longer at risk of bursting.
The chances of finding more survivors of Friday’s tailings dam disaster “are really slim,” Eduardo Angelo, chief of the fire department said on Sunday.
However, “we are working with the possibility of finding people alive,” he added.
During a meeting with residents of the nearby community of Corrego do Feijao, which was flooded by the toxic sludge, Angelo said time was running out.
“There is the possibility of finding people alive, yes. However, what has been written about these kinds of events shows that after 48 hours of efforts, the chances of finding survivors are really slim,” said Angelo.
(Xinhua/RSS)