Prashant Bhushan: India finds an unlikely hero in lawyer-activist

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12 hours ago

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image captionPrashant Bhushan refused to apologise to the Supreme Court and got a symbolic one-rupee fine

Indians have been riveted by a courtroom face off between a prominent lawyer-activist and the country's Supreme Court, writes the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi.

Last week, a one-minute clip from Richard Attenborough's Oscar-winning film Gandhi was being shared widely on WhatsApp in India.

It showed the country's independence hero, played by Ben Kingsley, in the dock, standing up to a British judge who gets more and more flustered as the hearing progresses.

After Gandhi refuses to leave the province or pay a bond so he can be released on bail, the judge asks him, "Do you want to go to jail?"

"As you wish," Gandhi responds.

Similar scenes have been playing out in the Indian Supreme Court in recent weeks, with a three-judge bench repeatedly asking the prominent lawyer and activist Prashant Bhushan to apologise for criticising judges - and the lawyer repeatedly refusing.

Mr Bhushan said as his criticism was rooted in his "bonafide belief" that an apology would be "insincere" and "contempt of my conscience".

To the threat of prison, he quoted Mahatma Gandhi: "I do not ask for mercy. I do not appeal for magnanimity. I cheerfully submit to any punishment that court may impose."

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image captionIndia's Supreme Court is one of the most powerful in the world

On 14 August, the court convicted Mr Bhushan of contempt of court and on Monday he was ordered to pay a symbolic fine of one rupee (0.1p) for two tweets criticising judges.

The three-judge bench ruled that if the 63-year-old didn't pay the fine by 15 September, he would have to spend three months in jail and he would be barred from law practice for three years.

Mr Bhushan said he would pay the fine but he retained the right to challenge the order and seek a review.

"I had already said that I would cheerfully submit to any penalty that can be lawfully inflicted upon me," he said in a statement. "I propose to submit myself to this order and would respectfully pay the fine."

Mr Bhushan's critics said his decision meant "acceptance of guilt", but his spirited fight for "freedom of speech" and "judicial accountability" gripped India and won him praise as a "defender of democracy" and "a hero of our times". He has been compared to Gandhi.

• The 'sanity' row among India's top judges
• Indian activist-lawyer fined one rupee for tweets
• The crisis facing India's Supreme Court

Mr Bhushan's face-off with judiciary began in June, when he posted two tweets to his 1.6 million followers.

In one, he commented on a viral photograph of Chief Justice Sharad Bobde sitting on an expensive Harley Davidson motorbike. In the second, he criticised the conduct of the four previous chief justices over the past six years.

The son of a former Indian law minister, Mr Bhushan is one of India's most-respected lawyers and an outspoken human rights activist who has dedicated his life to fighting cases involving public interest. For the past 35 years, he has fought hundreds of cases relating to government corruption, environment, transparency in courts, and a range of human rights issues.

According to one report, 80% of his time is spent on pro bono work, representing the poor and displaced people.

His defence in this case was led by several of India's top lawyers and his conviction led to a storm of protest in India.

Nearly 3,000 retired judges, lawyers and eminent citizens signed a statement saying holding Mr Bhushan guilty of contempt would have a "chilling effect on people expressing critical views on functioning of the top court".

Thousands took to social media to express their support for the lawyer-activist, and hundreds came out on the streets in solidarity.

IMAGE COPYRIGHTGETTY IMAGES

image captionPrashant Bhushan outside the Supreme Court, where he heard his penalty on Monday

About 10 days back, as the Supreme Court held a crucial hearing in the case, dozens of men and women stood outside the top court in the capital, Delhi, under a grey and rainy sky, holding placards in Mr Bhushan's support. The protesters chanted slogans urging Mr Bhushan to "march on" and assuring him of their support in his fight for justice.

Nearly 1,000 miles away in the southern city of Hyderabad, lawyers stood in a silent protest outside the high court, many carrying placards that said "I am with Prashant Bhushan".

Protests were also held in Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), Ranchi, and Jaipur, and the participants included lawyers, students, activists and common citizens.

On Monday, as the Supreme Court order was read out, Mr Bhushan's supporters called it a "moral victory" for the defendant and dismissed the one-rupee fine as tokenism - a face-saving move by the judiciary. Legal experts praised the judgement, saying it had avoided further confrontation.

Mr Bhushan simply tweeted a picture of himself with a one rupee coin, adding that his lawyer had donated the fine and he had "gratefully accepted".

Singing Dogs Re-emerge From Extinction for Another Tune

The animal was believed to have disappeared from the highlands of New Guinea, but was found on the island’s Indonesian side.


Scientists investigating sightings of possible New Guinea Singing Dogs on Papua New Guinea were able to retrieve DNA samples from trapped wild dogs in 2018.Credit...Anang Dianto

By James Gorman
Aug. 31, 2020

The New Guinea Singing Dog, a dingo-like animal with a unique howling style, was considered extinct in the wild. But scientists reported Monday that the dogs live on, based on DNA collected by an intrepid and indefatigable field researcher.

Their analysis, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that the dogs are not simply common village dogs that decided to try their chances in the wild. The findings not only solve a persistent, though obscure puzzle, they may shed light on the complicated and still emerging picture of dog domestication in Asia and Oceania.

Claudio Sillero, a conservation biologist at Oxford University and the chair of the canid specialist group at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, said that the study confirms the close relatedness between Australian and New Guinea dogs, “the most ancient ‘domestic’ dogs on earth.”

James McIntyre, president of the New Guinea Highland Wild Dog Foundation and the researcher whose forays in the field were central to the discovery, first searched for New Guinea Singing Dogs in the forbiddingly rugged highlands of the island, which is split between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, in 1996. He was taking a break from studying intersex pigs in Vanuatu, but that’s another story. Mr. McIntyre has degrees in zoology and education, and has worked at the Bronx Zoo and other zoos, private conservation organizations and as a high school biology teacher.

There are highly inbred populations of the dogs in zoos, and some are kept as exotic pets. But for more than a half-century they remained elusive in the wild until 2012 when an ecotourism guide snapped a photo of a wild dog in the highlands of Indonesia’s Papua province. It was the first seen since the 1950s, and Mr. McIntyre set to work. He received some funding from a mining company, PT Freeport Indonesia. The company, which has a history of conflict with the local population over environmental and safety issues and murky connections to the Indonesian military, operates a gold mine in the highlands near the wild dog sightings. In 2016 he spent about a month searching and captured 149 photos of 15 individual dogs.

“The locals called them the Highland wild dog,” he said. “The New Guinea Singing Dog was the name developed by Caucasians. Because I didn’t know what they were, I just called them the Highland wild dogs.”

But whether they were really the wild singing dogs that had been considered extinct was the big question. Even the singing dogs kept in captivity were a conundrum to scientists who couldn’t decide whether they were a breed, a species or a subspecies. Were these wild dogs the same as the captive population? Or were they village dogs gone feral recently?

In 2018, Mr. McIntyre went back to Papua and managed to get DNA from two trapped wild dogs, quickly released after biological samples were taken, as well as one other dog that was found dead. He brought the DNA to researchers who concluded that the highland dogs Mr. McIntyre found are not village dogs, but appear to belong to the ancestral line from which the singing dogs descended


“For decades we’ve though that the New Guinea singing dog is extinct in the wild,” said Heidi G. Parker of the National Institutes of Health, who worked with Suriani Surbakti and other researchers from Indonesia and other countries on analyzing the DNA samples that Mr. McIntyre returned.

“They are not extinct,” Dr. Parker said. “They actually do still exist in the wild.”

The highland dogs had about 72 percent of their genes in common with their captive singing cousins. The highland dogs had much more genetic variation, which would be expected for a wild population. The captive dogs in conservation centers all descend from seven or eight wild ancestors.

The 28 percent difference between the wild and captive varieties may come from some interbreeding with village dogs or from the common ancestor of all the dogs brought to Oceania. The captive, inbred dogs may simply have lost a lot of the variation that the wild dogs have.

Their genes could help reinvigorate the captive population of a few hundred animals in conservation centers, which are very inbred.

Elaine A. Ostrander of the N.I.H., a co-author of the report, says the finding is also significant for understanding more about dog domestication. The New Guinea Singing Dogs are closely related to Australian dingoes and are also related to the Asian dogs that migrated with humans to Oceania 3,500 years ago or more. It may be that the singing dogs split off around then from a common ancestor that later gave rise to breeds like the Akita and Shiba Inu.

“They provide this missing piece that we didn’t really have before,” Dr. Ostrander said.

Laurent Frantz, an evolutionary geneticist at Queen Mary University of London who studies the domestication and evolution of dogs and was not involved in the research, said the paper makes clear “that these populations have been continuous for a long time.”

But exactly when and where the dogs became feral and “what is wild, what is domestic” are still thorny questions, which the new data will help to address.

Mr. McIntyre did finish his work on the intersex pigs of Vanuatu, by the way, and you can find out more at the website of the Southwest Pacific Research Project. They are bred on purpose because they are highly valued by islanders.

Dogs, Now and Then
Scientists continue to shed light on murky corners of the history and genetics of dogs

Dog Breeding in the Neolithic Age
Fossils and modern DNA show the ancient roots of Arctic sled dogs.


Sled dogs on the southeastern shores of Greenland last summer.
Sled dogs on the southeastern shores of Greenland last summer.Credit...Jonathan Nackstrand/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
James Gorman
By James Gorman
Published June 25, 2020
Updated June 29, 2020

There are two broad stories about dogs and humans. One is of a deep and meaningful partnership between two species that ensures the survival of both. The other is of scavengers and camp followers that live off our garbage and feed on our corpses in the shadow of war.

Both are undeniably true, in different places and different times, but vast mysteries remain about the early roots of dogs and humans, and when the first glimpses of the working partnership appeared.

A 35-person team, including a who’s who of ancient DNA experts, has now uncovered a vivid and genetically detailed picture of the oldest known case of selective breeding, the creation of Arctic sled dogs at least 9,500 years ago.

By that time, the researchers found, sled dogs already had mutations in genes involved in oxygen use and temperature sensitivity that set them apart from other dogs and wolves.

And much of that genetic heritage survives in modern Greenland sled dogs. Other Arctic breeds, like Alaskan malamutes and Alaskan and Siberian huskies, also carry some of that heritage, although not quite as much as the Greenland dogs.

Mikkel-Holger S. Sinding of the University of Copenhagen, one of the lead researchers on the project, said the genome of an ancient Siberian dog, an even older wolf, and some modern dogs provided “the first hard evidence of early dog diversification.” He and his colleagues published their findings Thursday in Science.

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Elaine Ostrander, who studies dog genetics and breed differences at the National Institutes of Health, and was not involved in the research, said it was not a surprise that dogs were being selectively bred by 9,500 years ago. They were first domesticated at least 15,000 years ago. But, she said, the new research is the first “where someone’s put it all together and said, you know, this is what was going on 10,000 years ago.”

Terrie M. Williams at the University of California, Santa Cruz, who studies the exercise physiology of carnivores, said researchers had tried to understand why sled dogs perform better than other breeds at running long distances, by looking at body shape and the mechanics of running. But they didn’t find the major differences they were expecting.

She said she was thrilled to see that the researchers had found specific genetic differences that set sled dogs apart. “That’s what’s so cool here,” she said.

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Sled dogs have well-known roots in human prehistory. A 12,500-year-old tool found at one Arctic site hints at its possible use on sleds. And archaeological investigations at a well-known site on Zhokov Island in the Siberian Sea uncovered dog bones and sled technology indicating that the dogs may have been the first canines bred for a specific task.

Dr. Sinding and colleagues dug deep into the DNA of one of those dogs, using a jawbone from the site dating to 9,500 years ago. They also sequenced the genomes of a Siberian wolf dating to 33,000 years ago and 10 modern Greenland sled dogs. They relied on other canine genomes archived in databases as well.

They found that the Zhokov dog was closest to modern-day sled dogs, particularly to the Greenland sled dogs, which are a “land race,” bred for a task and sharing a look and behavior but not the sort of breed for which studbooks and records are kept.

The Zhokov dog was not a direct ancestor of modern sled dogs, but it shared a common ancestor with modern sled dogs that was probably about 12,000 years old. This evidence suggested that the sled-dog type, bred for hauling loads in brutal winters, was already established 9,500 years ago.

The researchers also found that sled dogs, ancient and modern, did not show interbreeding with wolves, even though other modern dog breeds do, and dog-wolf matings were known in Greenland in historic times. The results suggest hybrids may not have been much use in pulling sleds.

Then the researchers started looking for genes that were different in sled dogs from both wolves and other dog breeds. They found several that made sense. One is involved in a variety of physiological functions including calcium transport and temperature sensitivity. They don’t know what exactly it does in sled dogs, but they do know that several similar genes are different in mammoths, creatures of the cold, and elephants, animals of more temperate climates, suggesting some kind of adaptation to arctic life.

Another gene that distinguished sled dogs from other dogs is involved in coping with low oxygen conditions. It is also found in a group of humans, sea nomads, who have been diving for thousands of years. It could, Dr. Sinding said, contribute to fitness for the extreme demands of long sled-hauling trips.

And finally, one might expect to find the Arctic dogs adapted to a different diet, than say, the dogs of the Fertile Crescent or European farmlands. They do have specific genes to cope with a high fat intake, as do humans and bears who live in the Arctic. And they do not have the same adaptations to digesting starch found in many other dog breeds.

The diet adaptations were not present in the Zhokov dog, indicating that the sled dogs changed over time.

Dr. Sinding cautioned that although the Greenland sled dogs and other Arctic breeds carry a major genetic contribution, particularly in terms of the important genes identified, from ancient sled dogs, they are not the same.

The modern sled dogs and sled technology have their origin in Thule culture, he said, which dates to 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. And the Greenland sled dogs went through what is called a bottleneck, about 850 years ago, when the population shrunk. That was when the Inuit arrived, and they succeeded the Thule people, in Greenland.

Modern Arctic breeds do have a major contribution from the sled dogs of 9,500 years ago, he said, but a gap exists between then and 3,000 years ago.

In other words, if you have a malamute or a husky, do not start parading around with your pet claiming its breed goes back 9,500 years. A good part of its genes may derive from those old sled dogs, but as Dr. Mikkel pointed out, “in principle, all dogs are equally old.”

The Mixed and Mysterious Heritage of Dogs
Untangling the genetics of the oldest domesticated animal can be a bit like unscrambling an egg.

From the Seabed, Figures of an Ancient Cult

A trove of Phoenician artifacts was long ascribed to a single shipwreck. More likely they were tossed overboard, and over centuries, a new study suggests.



Three 2,500-year-old Phoenician figurines recovered from the Mediterranean. The leftmost and center figurines carry a symbol associated with Tanit, a mother goddess of the Phoenician pantheon.Credit...Jonathan J. Gottlieb


By Joshua Rapp Learn
Sept. 1, 2020

In 1972, in one of the early finds of marine archaeology, researchers discovered a trove of clay figurines on the seabed off the coast of Israel. The figurines — hundreds of them, accompanied by ceramic jars — were assumed to be the remains of a Phoenician shipwreck that had rested under the Mediterranean for 2,500 years.

The artifacts were never fully analyzed in a scientific study, and were filed away and mostly forgotten for decades. But a new analysis by Meir Edrey, an archaeologist at the Leon Recanati Institute for Maritime Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel, and his colleagues indicates that the items were not deposited all at once in a wreck. Rather, they accumulated over roughly 400 years, between the 7th and 3rd centuries B.C., in a series of votive offerings, as part of a cult devoted to seafaring and fertility.

“These figurines, the majority of them, display attributes related to fertility, to childbearing and to pregnancy,” Dr. Edrey said.

The ancient Phoenicians were a seafaring merchant culture that stretched across the Mediterranean. Their first city states arose nearly 5,000 years ago, and the culture reached its height during the millennium before Carthage was defeated by Rome in 146 B.C.



In the 1970s, a number of the Phoenician figurines began turning up on the illicit antiquities market. Researchers at the time tracked down the vendor and persuaded him to reveal the source; the details led to the discovery of hundreds of figurines and amphorae, or clay jars, at a site called Shavei Zion, off the coast of western Galilee.

The items were ascribed to a shipwreck dating to the 6th century B.C.

But Dr. Edrey’s team examined thousands of pottery shards and found they were quite different in style. Such variation typically indicates that pots come from different time periods, suggesting the site was not the result of a single event.

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“I’m completely convinced that their understanding of this site is correct,” said Helen Dixon, a historian at the East Carolina University who was not involved in the recent study but did some work on the early findings at Shavei Zion as part of her doctoral research. “They’re being cautious and scientific, but I’m sold.”


Hundreds of figurines and other ceramic artifacts or shards from the shipwreck were examined in the study.Credit...Jonathan J. Gottlieb

She noted that the loose jumble of amphorae at Shavei Zion contrasted with that of shipwrecks found off the Maltese coast, which have similar-looking pots laid out in an orderly fashion.

Dr. Edrey and his team also looked at more than 300 figurines, which fit within several themes. Many of the figurines carried symbols associated with Tanit, a goddess of the Phoenician pantheon — and the main goddess of Carthage by the 5th century B.C. Others bore dolphin symbols, also associated with Tanit, while some of the figures showed a pregnant woman carrying a child.

“Tanit was the mother goddess for the pantheon,” said Aaron Brody, director of the Badè Museum at the Pacific School of Religion; he has published work on Phoenician religion but was not involved with the new study. “She quite literally was the mom of the family of deities.”

Dr. Edrey speculated that practitioners of a fertility cult came to this area periodically to cast offerings into the water. The figurines might represent common people, and casting them into the sea could represent a type of sacrifice that substituted for the real thing, he said.

In some figurines the right hand is upright, and the left sits below the mouth. This could indicate some sort of vow in exchange for a divine favor, such as safe passage on a voyage, Dr. Edrey said, which would have been particularly important for the seafaring Phoenicians.

“The figurines are in some ways kind of a bridge between the earthly world and the divine,” Dr. Brody said.

Knowledge of Tanit and of Phoenician religion is limited, as most of the papyrus from that period has not survived. Still, Dr. Dixon said, the Shavei Zion figurines add to what researchers have learned from similar figurines found in tombs.

“In the same way that figurines might be part of ritual going on into a dangerous part of the sea, they might be part of a burial, preparing for a journey to the afterlife,” she said.

“Every day sailors are leaving a record over time, not because they were told to by the king. It’s sort of just romantic and beautiful in that way — a touchstone from everyday people in the past.”

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How to Stop the Next Pandemic 

It’s not just Covid-19. Pathogens once confined to nature are making their way into humans on a more regular basis. And it’s our fault.



By Jonah M. Kessel
Sept. 1, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ET

The pandemic is your fault.

Yes, yours.

If you are avoiding people, wearing a mask and generally following what public health officials tell you to do (even if that has been a moving target), the notion that you have anything to do with why this pandemic occurred may seem ridiculous.

After all, it’s easy to look for blame in others.

You may be pointing your finger at Chinese officials for not acting fast enough. A recent Pew study suggested 78 percent of Americans place “a great deal of the blame for the global spread of the coronavirus on the Chinese government’s initial handling” of the outbreak.

Maybe you blame politicians who have prioritized their political well being over the health of the people they govern? Or are other people’s diets the problem? A dinner party? A beach party? The police?

There is enough blame to go around.

Finding blame in yourself can be a more difficult task. But experts say you have played a role whether you know it or not.

“What we eat, what we wear, all the other kinds of things that we buy, whether we have a cellphone or not, how many children we have (if we have children), how much we travel — all of those choices put varying degrees of pressure on the rest of the natural world,” the pandemic-focused author David Quammen told me in a Zoom interview.

It’s that simple. We’ve created a world where it’s impossible to make choices that don’t impact the natural world.

“The more we disrupt wild, diverse ecosystems, the greater jeopardy we have of contacting all of the very diverse viruses that wild animals carry,” said Mr. Quammen.

Still not convinced? Do you own a cellphone?

“Owning a cellphone makes you a customer for a mineral called coltan,” Mr. Quammen explained

When coltan is refined it makes tantalum. And there’s a trace amount of it inside that phone or computer you are using to read this story. Problem is, it’s only found in a few remote places.

“One of which is a highly diverse forest area in the eastern Democratic Republic of The Congo,” Mr. Quammen continued.

“So when I buy a cellphone, I’m a customer for tantalum and I’m sending a miner into a forest area in eastern Congo. And that miner is probably going to eat bushmeat. So I own a little of the responsibility for the jeopardy that that miner may come in contact with a new virus and spread it to others.”

An awkward pause took hold as I contemplated Mr. Quammen’s proposal.

“Maybe spread it back to you?” I asked.

“Yes, maybe spread it back to me.”

I was talking to Mr. Quammen while doing research for “How to Stop the Next Pandemic,” a 14-minute Times documentary that ask the questions: Why do pandemics happen? And how do we stop them in the future?

Trends in historical data charting the incidents of new emerging infectious diseases point to a future with more Covid-19-like events, not fewer.

“Yes, they’re increasing over time in direct correlation with human population growth and our ecological footprint,” said Peter Daszak, president of the EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit that aims to protect the public from the emergence of disease.

 In 2008 he co-authored a study titled “Global trends in emerging infectious diseases,” which showed how emerging infectious disease events “have risen significantly over time.”

“These pandemics have been with us throughout history,” Dr. Daszak said. “But what’s happening now is we’ve globalized the planet, we’ve colonized the planet, and we’re now coming across the last remaining viruses that wildlife carry that we’ve never experienced before.”

If you don’t want to see more Covid-19-like events in the future, I urge you to watch our short film to become more aware of their origins, what role you play in them and most importantly what we can do to stop them.

Before finishing my interview with Dr. Daszak, I cautiously joked, “With Covid-19, is nature sending us a message?”

Dr. Daszak stared at me without smiling.

“Nature didn’t send us this message. We sent it to ourselves,” Dr. Daszak said.

Our consumer habits have changed the planet so significantly that “we dominate every ecosystem on earth right now,” he said.

“And our response is: we blame one country, versus another. We blame people who eat one species over people who eat another. And we blame nature. Well, no, we need to point the finger directly at ourselves, understand what’s going on and change it.”

The call ended.

And just like that, the pandemic was my fault.

Yours too.

 

Jonah M. Kessel is a visual journalist. He creates explanatory and investigative short-form documentaries and innovative visual journalism. He has reported on the ground from over 25 countries for The Times. @jonah_kessel • Facebook

Sea level rise matches worst-case scenario

ENVIRONMENT NEWS MONDAY 31 AUGUST 2020

Ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica whose melting rates are rapidly increasing have raised global sea level by 1.8cm since the 1990s, and are matching worst-case climate warming scenarios.

According to a new study led by Dr Tom Slater from the Centre for Polar Observation and Modelling at Leeds and with the Danish Meteorological Institute, if these rates continue the ice sheets are expected to raise sea levels by a further 17cm and expose an additional 16 million people to annual coastal flooding by the end of the century.

The worst-case scenarios are those predicted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Since the ice sheets were first monitored by satellite in the 1990s, melting from Antarctica has pushed global sea levels up by 7.2mm, while Greenland has contributed 10.6mm. And the latest measurements show that the world's oceans are now rising by 4mm each year.

“The melting is overtaking the climate models we use to guide us, and we are in danger of being unprepared for the risks posed by sea level rise.”DR TOM SLATER, UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

"Although we anticipated the ice sheets would lose increasing amounts of ice in response to the warming of the oceans and atmosphere, the rate at which they are melting has accelerated faster than we could have imagined,” said Dr Slater.

“The melting is overtaking the climate models we use to guide us, and we are in danger of being unprepared for the risks posed by sea level rise.”

The results are published today in a study in the journal Nature Climate Change. It compares the latest results from satellite surveys from the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Intercomparison Exercise (IMBIE) with calculations from climate models.

The authors warn that the ice sheets are losing ice at a rate predicted by the worst-case climate warming scenarios in the last large IPCC report.

Dr Anna Hogg, study co-author and climate researcher in the School of Earth & Environment at the Leeds, said: “If ice sheet losses continue to track our worst-case climate warming scenarios we should expect an additional 17cm of sea level rise from the ice sheets alone. That’s enough to double the frequency of storm-surge flooding in many of the world’s largest coastal cities.”

So far, global sea levels have increased in the most part through a mechanism called thermal expansion, which means that volume of seawater expands as it gets warmer. But in the last five years, ice melt from the ice sheets and mountain glaciers has overtaken global warming as the main cause of rising sea levels.

Dr Ruth Mottram, study co-author and climate researcher at the Danish Meteorological Institute, said: “It is not only Antarctica and Greenland that are causing the water to rise. In recent years, thousands of smaller glaciers have begun to melt or disappear altogether, as we saw with the glacier Ok in Iceland, which was declared "dead" in 2014. This means that melting of ice has now taken over as the main contributor of sea level rise."

Further information

This study is an outcome of the Ice Sheet Mass Balance Inter-Comparison Exercise (IMBIE) supported by the ESA Climate Change Initiative and the NASA Cryosphere Program. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41558-020-0893-y

For additional information and interviews, please contact pressoffice@leeds.ac.uk.
Main picture: Dr Anna Hogg, University of Leeds.

Climate change: Power companies 'hindering' move to green energy


By Matt McGrath BBC Environment correspondent

A giant solar farm in China  GETTY IMAGES

New research suggests that power companies are dragging their feet when it comes to embracing green energy sources such as wind and solar.

Only one in 10 energy suppliers globally has prioritised renewables over fossil fuels, the study finds.

Even those that are spending on greener energy are continuing to invest in carbon heavy coal and natural gas.

The lead researcher says the slow uptake undermines global efforts to tackle climate change. 

In countries like the UK and across Europe, renewable energy has taken a significant share of the market, with 40% of Britain's electricity coming from wind and solar last year.

GETTY IMAGES

But while green energy has boomed around the world in recent years, many of the new wind and solar power installations have been built by independent producers.

Large scale utility companies, including many state and city owned enterprises, have been much slower to go green, according to this new study.

The research looked at more than 3,000 electricity companies worldwide and used machine learning techniques to analyse their activities over the past two decades.

The study found that only 10% of the companies had expanded their renewable-based power generation more quickly than their gas or coal fired capacity.

Of this small proportion that spent more on renewables, many continued to invest in fossil fuels, although at a lower rate.

The vast majority of companies, according to the author, have just sat on the fence.

"If you look at all utilities, and what's the dominant behaviour, it is that they're not doing much in fossil fuels and renewables," said Galina Alova, from the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at the University of Oxford.

GETTY IMAGES

"So they might be doing something with other fuels like hydro power or nuclear, but they're not transitioning to renewables nor growing the fossil fuel capacity."

The author says that many of these types of utilities are government-owned and may have invested in their power portfolios many years ago.

The overall conclusion from the analysis, though, is that utility companies are "hindering" the global transition to renewables.

"Companies are still growing their fossil-fuel based capacity," Galina Alova told BBC News.

"So utilities are still dominating the global fossil fuel business. And I'm also finding that quite a significant share of the fossil-fuel based capacity owned by utilities has been added in the last decade, meaning that these are quite new assets.

"But in order for us to achieve the Paris climate agreement goals, they either need to be retired early, or will need carbon capture and storage because otherwise they're still here to stay for decades."

GETTY IMAGES

She says that inertia within the electricity industry is one key cause of the slow transition.

But the news reporting about energy companies doesn't always capture the complexity of their investments.

"Renewables and natural gas often go hand in hand," said Galina Alova.

"Companies often choose both in parallel. So it might be just in media reports we are getting this image of investing in renewables, but less coverage on continued investment in gas.

"So it's not greenwashing. It is just that this parallel investment in gas dilutes the shift to renewables. That's the key issue."

The study has been published in the journal Nature Energy.
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Trump administration finalizes coal plant pollution rollback


by Matthew Brown and Travis Loller

The Trump administration on Monday finalized its weakening of an Obama-era rule aimed at reducing polluted wastewater from coal-burning power plants that has contaminated streams, lakes and underground aquifers

The change will allow utilities to use cheaper technologies and take longer to comply with pollution reduction guidelines that are less stringent than what the agency originally adopted in 2015.

It's the latest in a string of regulatory rollbacks for coal power under Trump—actions that have failed to turn around the industry's decline amid competition from cheap natural gas and renewable energy.

The latest rule change covers requirements for cleaning coal ash and toxic heavy metals such as mercury, arsenic and selenium from plant wastewater before it is dumped into waterways.

Utilities are expected to save $140 million annually under the changes, which Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a statement would protect industry jobs in part by using a phased-in approach to reducing pollution.

But environmentalists and a former EPA officials warned the move will harm public health and result in hundreds of thousands of pounds of pollutants annually contaminating water bodies.

The new rule largely exempts coal plants that will retire or switch to burning natural gas by 2028.

Coal plants are responsible for as much as 30% of all toxic water pollution from all industries in the U.S. In the Southeast, that number is even higher.

"This rule is going to continue to let these coal-fired power plants pour these toxics into the nation's rivers and streams, contaminating drinking water and fisheries for 2.7 million people," said Betsy Southerland, who was the science director in the EPA's water office before retiring in 2017.

The estimate of people impacted is from the analysis that was done for the Obama-era rule, she said.

The revised rule is expected to affect 75 out of 914 coal power plants nationwide, compared to more than 100 plants affected by the 2015 rule. That's in part because coal power usage has dropped dramatically over the past decade and many plants have been shuttered.

The rules also carve out an exception for a plant operated by the nation's largest public utility, the Tennessee Valley Authority. The plant in Cumberland City, Tennessee, near the Kentucky border, accounts for up to one-sixth of the wastewater released in the country from cleaning out coal plant flues, millions of gallons per day more than any other plant.

In 2015, the EPA rejected an exception for the plant after determining the benefits to human health and the environment outweighed the costs of compliance. Under Trump, the agency reversed course and removed limits on the amount of selenium and nitrate the plant can discharge into the Cumberland River.

Tennessee Valley Authority representatives were reviewing the final rule and plan to abide by it, spokesman Scott Brooks said.

Power plants that are not exempted must comply by 2025, or by 2028 if they take some additional, voluntary pollution control measures. The 2015 rule would have required compliance between 2018 and 2023 and was projected to have yielded roughly $500 million in public health and environmental benefits by reducing pollution by 1.4 billion pounds (635,000,000 kilograms) annually.

EPA officials said the revised rule would reduce pollution by an additional 1 million pounds annually. Critics said that projection was based on companies taking the additional, voluntary steps and pointed out those might not come to fruition.

America's Power, a trade organization that advocates on behalf of coal-fueled electricity, said the rule was good news and that the Obama-era rule could have forced the closure of coal plants needed to keep the power grid reliable.

"We support rules that protect the environment and human health, and we are optimistic the revised rule will not adversely affect the electricity grid," the group said in an emailed statement.

An attorney for Earthjustice, Thom Cmar, said the environmental law firm plans to challenge the rule in federal court.

Two streams of wastewater coming from coal plants were addressed in the rule.

One is the water used to clean scrubbers that remove toxic chemicals such as mercury and arsenic from smokestacks before they are released into the air. The other stream is water used to wash coal ash out of the bottom of power plant furnaces.

The 2015 rule barred the discharge of ash waters. Monday's revisions allow utilities to discharge up to 10% of the bottom ash water, with the actual amount to be decided on a case-by-case basis.

"We're using 21st century technology to remove air emissions, but if you don't take the pollution out of the water before returning it the waterways, you are defeating the purpose," said Frank Holleman, senior attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.


Trump administration eases Obama-era rules on coal pollution


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Grain-Free Diets Have Been Linked to Serious Heart Problems in Dogs

The FDA and other researchers are investigating the link between grain-free dog food and a heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy. Large dogs appear to be at greater risk.


By Leslie Nemo August 31, 2020


For the past two years, the FDA has been investigating a strange development in dog health. The agency started hearing reports that more pups than usual were developing a condition called dilated cardiomyopathy, which causes the heart to weaken and grow larger.

Typically, veterinarians see this issue in large dogs. Some breeds, such as Doberman pinschers, great Danes and others, are genetically predisposed to the condition, which slowly saps the heart of its ability to efficiently pump blood. This can lead to fainting, weakness or death. But recently, dogs that aren’t considered at risk of the heart disease, like golden retrievers, started showing up to veterinarian offices with enlarged hearts. Veterinarian providers began talking amongst themselves and observed that some of these dogs were eating “grain-free” food — kibble and soft canned food formulated without corn, wheat and soy. It begs the question: Could these heart troubles stem from a dog’s diet?


That's what prompted the FDA and other research groups to investigate the health effects of grain-free dog food. For the most part, researchers have a lot to learn about this supposed relationship, which is a familiar situation for the profession. “All of us that are in this from an academic standpoint are the first to admit that nutrition of dogs and cats is woefully behind that of other animal species and humans,” says Greg Aldrich, a pet nutritionist at Kansas State University. The more investigators learn, the closer they come to gaining broader understandings about what keeps our pets healthy.
Pet Food Fads


A stroll through the ever-expanding pet care aisle could leave any owner confused about what food to buy. A few decades ago, this might not have been the case. That’s when grain-free varieties first emerged, and the products took up little shelf space. This type of dog food appeared, in part, because some breeders and owners concluded that commodity foods like soy and other grains must somehow be lower quality, Aldrich says. The science doesn’t back up that idea. But that didn't stop the product from taking off. “It emerged from nothing to a prominent part of the marketplace,” Aldrich says.


To replace starches in grain-free kibble, companies introduced substitutions like sweet potatoes, lentils and legumes. But these "new" ingredients could leave dogs with low levels of an essential protein building block called taurine. Legumes might not be an adequate source of two precursor nutrients that dogs' bodies rely on to make taurine. To add to that, it's also possible that these alternative starches can ferment in dogs' intestines and may foster taurine-degrading microbes — creating a one-two punch of nutrient deprivation. Several grain-free formulas also throw in more unusual or exotic protein sources, like lamb, duck and kangaroo — all of which might provide less taurine, or make the precursor nutrients less effective.


These possibilities are just that — possibilities, Aldrich says. Researchers have yet to conclusively prove whether or not these ingredients cause enough taurine deficiency to create heart problems in dogs. In one study, dogs on grain-free diets had some heart measurements that were larger than those of dogs on traditional kibble, but they didn’t show any taurine deficiency. When seven of the dogs that had heart abnormalities switched to traditional diets, the researchers saw their condition improve. Other research looking at beagles found that when the pups ate grain-free diets that supplemented with taurine, their taurine levels were comparable to those of dogs on normal food.


When it comes to golden retrievers, diets that cut out grains but include legumes might be especially troublesome. A 2020 study linked this type of diet with taurine deficiency and heart abnormalities in goldens that were consistent with dilated cardiomyopathy. The researchers also found that goldens with heart problems were more likely to be fed dog food produced by smaller companies.


In fact, of all the dogs with this particular heart issue reported to the FDA recently, golden retrievers are the most represented breed. The agency thinks this is because of a reporting bias, as social media pages dedicated to the breed might have encouraged owners to bring their pets to the vet, but it’s also possible that some breeds are more sensitive to taurine deficiencies.


In fact, it’s likely that a range of other life factors — beyond diet — influence whether or not dogs develop this heart problem. Researchers don’t know if obesity, diabetes or other health conditions make a dog more likely to develop dilated cardiomyopathy, Aldrich says. The influence of household chemicals or pesticides is similarly unclear.
What's In Your Kibble?


If dietary factors are to blame for dilated cardiomyopathy, it's also possible that the problem might be related to overall recipe formulations used by some brands rather than single ingredients. “What seems to be consistent is that it does appear to be more likely to occur in dogs eating boutique, grain-free, or exotic ingredient diets,” writes Lisa Freeman, a veterinarian at Tufts University, in a Cummings Veterinary Medical Center blog post. A quality, nutritious dog food needs a range of considerations, including “rigorous quality control and extensive testing,” she writes. “Not every manufacturer can do this.”


When it comes to selecting dog food, the consumer is often making an educated guess at best. Though there are basic requirements each manufacturer is supposed to meet, “there’s no Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval,” Aldrich says. If you’re unsure, aiming for a middle of the road dog food variety is a safe bet.


Like with humans, the standard dietary recommendations don’t work for every dog, Aldrich points out. It might be the case that nutrition recommendations should be tailored to each breed, as there’s so much variance — from tiny Yorkies to mastiffs the size of adult men. “We want to be there, but we're just not,” he says.

Rosh Hashanah on quarantine: How Uman prepares to receive Hasidic pilgrims

Author : Ksenia Tsyvirko

Source : 112 Ukraine

Will Hasidim be allowed into Uman in the midst of the coronavirus epidemic?

11:27, 27 August 2020

State Border Guard Service of Ukraine

The religious offshoot of Judaism - Hasidism - began its almost three hundred-year history precisely on the territory of Ukraine. Since then, its followers have spread all over the world, and about 20-40 000 Hasidim have a tradition to gather annually around the grave of their tzadik Rabbi Nachman in Uman: it was here, at the site of the deaths of thousands of Jews, that the rebbe bequeathed himself to be buried. A mass pilgrimage to the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashanah (this year it will take place on September 18-20) has become quite common for Uman people for decades, but they have no consensus on this matter.

Some do not like the noise and revelry during the celebration, others are alien to traditions, and still others make good money on this: according to various estimates, the Hasidim spend from 15 to 20 million dollars annually, turning their religious holiday into a source of income for both local entrepreneurs and for ordinary people. However, this year, when the coronavirus epidemic was raging around the world, the question of the arrival of pilgrims became even more controversial - not only for the Uman people themselves, but also for government officials. The Governments of Ukraine and Israel issued a joint appeal to refrain from travel until a more favorable situation. At one of the meetings, the State Commission for Fuel and Energy Sector and Emergency Situations instructed to prepare a plan for organizing the reception of 5-10 000 Hasidim, taking into account sanitary and epidemiological standards; and the mayor of Uman, Olexander Tsebriy, proposed to close the city for entry, setting up checkpoints around it. Wanting to draw attention to this problem, the mayor even came with a tent to spend the night under the President's Office. However, some Uman citizens saw this behavior as an attempt to "earn points" before the local elections, and not a way to protect their rights: according to them, corruption is rampant in the city, and the mayor himself also has a "pretty penny" from the arrival of pilgrims. Representatives of the Hasidic community, in turn, say that a trip to the grave of their spiritual mentor plays a big role in their life, and for this they are ready to comply with all quarantine rules: they even developed their own action plan, transferring it to the regional council and the Ministry of Health.

While there is still no final government decision on the pilgrimage this year, 112.ua figured out what passions are raging around the arrival of pilgrims and what place the coronavirus takes in this.

"Little Israel"

A walk in Uman begins from a small area of ​​the bus station, through which several dozen regular buses run daily. On weekends, it is especially crowded here: not only Ukrainian tourists, but also guests from European countries come to see the sights of the town, numbering just over 80 thousand inhabitants. In a few minutes from here, dense thickets begin - the famous Sofiyivka dendrological park. A wide alley, propped on both sides by the greenery of a wide variety of trees, is replete with walking people: among them you can hear snatches of phrases in German, Polish, English ...

If you ask local residents about the Hasidim, they will immediately point to Pushkin Street, around which a "Hasidic microdistrict" was formed for several decades. You can find it without any prompts: along the way, there are four men with sidelocks and wearing white and black kippahs on their heads, betraying Orthodox Jews as their owners. The city landscape along a kilometer-long street looks quite ordinary: shops, Soviet high-rise buildings, rickety one-story houses, cottages ... Only the inscriptions can confuse: signs, signs, advertising posters and even graffiti on fences - all exclusively in Hebrew. In the back streets of nearby district, there is a synagogue, a free canteen for those in need for 20 thousand seats and a historical and cultural center of the Hasidic movement, where the grave of Rabbi Nachman is located - all these buildings are unmistakably recognizable against the background of the rest of the building, standing out with a lush facade and incomprehensible squiggles on the tablets.

Now it is not crowded here, but from time to time a taxi drops Hasidim with suitcases on the porch of the Sharon Zion hotel. "Usually the influx is much larger, but it's too early to say. This year Rosh Hashanah is celebrated from 18 to 20 September, and the bulk of the pilgrims arrive a few days before the holiday, sometimes a week. In general, you can always meet Hasidim in Uman, because it is not the only Jewish holiday. In August, at this time, there is usually some kind of women's holiday: unmarried girls gather, dance, ask to get married and create a happy family, but now something is not visible. Over 2000 people here either have a residence permit or even Ukrainian citizenship and have settled in absolutely all districts of the city. Last year at this time there were much more pilgrims, but now there are few visible: Apparently, they are hiding somewhere in their homes, "says a local resident Olga.

State Border Guard Service of Ukraine

Usually about 30 thousand pilgrims from more than 20 countries of the world come to Rosh Hashanah - this is comparable to almost a third of the city's population. During this period, the streets in the vicinity of the grave of Tzadik Nachman are almost closely packed with people, and the area around is cordoned off by almost half a thousand security officials from all over Ukraine, as well as a dozen Israeli police officers who are sent specially to help our people during the celebration. Entry and exit through checkpoints is allowed only with a special pass or registration.

The resettlement of such a large number of Hasidim, of course, is causing great excitement. "Those who are richer stay at the Khoshen hotel. At one time, even a large Sharon Zion hotel was built, new ones are being built. The less well-off stay in cheaper and simple hostels, 10-15 people per room. In the Park of Joy some even sleep in tents. In general, the Jewish community helps those who do not have enough money to travel, and organizes the trip, taking into account the meals in their public dining room. Some Hasidim come to Uman without pre-booked accommodation, so locals always stand around the checkpoints and offer to stay with them, for about 200-300 dollars per person for the entire period of the celebration, which is quite cheap, in contrast to the prices for hotels. Someone even settled in garages. In general, this is a very good additional income: some even rent out their homes, and these days they themselves go to spend the night in a tent in the city park ", - says Olga. According to her, most of the houses on the Pushkin street and residential buildings within a radius of 3 kilometers have long been sold to the "chosen people": someone was able to offer a favorable price, and someone was tired of the noisy crowd of Hasidim. The new owners of the houses decided to convert some of them into hotels, and some simply to equip with beds, so the Hasidim often take on the issue of accommodation themselves.

“Previously, we rented our house to the Hasidim every year,” says Alla, the owner of the local hostel. “During this period, I went to live with my parents with my two children. But I don’t know how it will be this year. So far, no one is there, no one is booking. The Hasidim during the holiday, as well as on Shabbat, have no right to work. Neither use the elevator, nor turn off the lights, nor even receive phone calls. Therefore, people stand around the checkpoints and offer such different services. Someone earns an extra penny on cleaning, some are fighting for the opportunity to bring suitcases, and teenagers often come from the city and earn pocket money here on errands and "bring it, give it." The shops after Rosh Hashanah they stand half empty ... In general, I can say without exaggeration that for local residents, pilgrimage is a source of additional income, especially for people over 50 who are no longer interesting for employers"

Ban on celebrations

This time, the coronavirus epidemic made its "adjustments" to the pilgrimage program. According to preliminary estimates, from 5 to 10 000 Hasidim will come to the grave of Rabbi Nachman to celebrate the coming of 5781 according to the Jewish calendar. There is still no final government order on how the transportation of such a large number of people will be organized, who and how will be responsible for the implementation of all sanitary and epidemiological standards: the issues are under discussion. In mid-July, the Foreign Ministry announced the impossibility of the traditional celebration of Rosh Hashanah this year: Israel is in the "red" epidemiological zone, and there will not be enough beds for observation and treatment of covid-infected people; it will be difficult for law enforcement officers to control the self-isolation of the Hasidim, and indeed, mass events in Ukraine are still banned. Similar statements came from Israel, but its concern is caused by several other reasons: they fear that pilgrims will bring the coronavirus with them from Ukraine. They even remember how last year, during the measles epidemic, the Hasidim brought this virus to New York, and the city had to be quarantined ... According to official statistics, the incidence rate in Israel is 5 times higher than ours: every 91 is considered covid-infected. However, such figures can only be relied on taking into account the quality and scope of PCR testing, so the real epidemiological picture may be very different from the documented one. After all, it is not only from Israel that people come to the tzaddik's grave: the Hasidic community is developed in more than 20 countries around the world, including the United States and Europe.

Open source

The Ukrainian authorities have not yet decided to close the international traffic for the Rosh Hashanah period, so Uman is gradually filling up with pilgrims, for whom exactly the same rules apply as for other travelers. So, tourists from "red" countries on arrival must pass a PCR test at the airport or provide a fresh certificate with a negative result for Covid-19, or go for two weeks of self-isolation. However, some fear that during the period of mass pilgrimage, such methods will be ineffective: a certificate can be bought, and law enforcement officers will not have enough opportunities to track the isolation of thousands of Hasidim.

Pointing to this, the mayor of Uman, Olexander Tsebriy, proposed, in turn, to close the city with checkpoints, allowing travel only by registration. According to him, the Commission on Emergencies of the Uman City Council has already resorted to such methods at the beginning of quarantine, so the local authorities have experience. In Facebook video messages, the city mayor informs about the amorphousness of the central government in the issue of Hasidic pilgrimage and reports to the Uman people about all his actions taken: it comes to the point that Tsebriy equips himself with a sleeping bag and goes to spend the night under the President's Office (although the ban on entry and the organization of quarantine restrictions are included in the powers of the government, not Zelensky). Some local residents support the activity of the mayor and approve of even the most radical measures, but others express skepticism. And the president of the International Charitable Fund named after Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav notes in an official letter that the position of the mayor "looks like a deliberate provocation of an interethnic conflict," and the Israeli embassy, ​​at the same time, does not find manifestations of anti-Semitism in it.

At the same time, the authorities are discussing not only the ban on the celebration of Rosh Hashanah, but also the possibility of inviting guests in limited numbers. So, among other things, the State Border Service was instructed to prepare a memo for foreigners in four languages, which should explain the conditions of stay in the country and the current quarantine rules, in case of violation of which pilgrims face a ban on entry to Ukraine for several years. The Cherkasy Regional Council is developing safe routes for the transportation of pilgrims in groups to maintain social distance. The most active proposals are put forward by the Hasidim themselves from the Rabbi Nachman fund: they promise to divide the synagogue into parts, regularly disinfect the premises (it is still being carried out), provide temperature control and wear medical masks.

Related: No official ban of Hasidim arrival in Ukraine, - United Jewish Community

However, in order to celebrate the New Year at the grave of their spiritual mentor, the pilgrims are ready to make any concessions. So, if the entrance to Uman was closed, the Hasidim even suggested celebrating the holiday right on board the aircraft, making a short flight around the cultural and historical center named after Rabbi Nachman. “The Hasidim value their health in the same way as the Ukrainians, so all measures against the coronavirus will be implemented. Upon arrival, the pilgrims will be required to take a test and go to self-isolation until the results are clarified: a separate hotel has been allocated specifically for this in Uman. Each Rosh Hashanah the Hasidic quarter opens its own hospital, which will provide assistance in case of need. This year, 26 doctors from Israel will work there. We have allocated 300 thousand dollars for health care (and last year - about 100 thousand dollars), purchased ventilators. The hospital is fully equipped with beds, equipment and even has its own ambulance. So our medical care is organized at a high level, which cannot be said about hospitals in Uman," said Khaim Khazin, a representative of the Hasidic community in Uman.

Command to rejoice

It should be noted that the protest moods of Uman people about the approaching Rosh Hashanah are often only indirectly related to the fear of contracting coronavirus. "The Hasidim behave so undisciplined and riotous that during the pilgrimage period I am simply afraid to let the children out of my home. All around the streets after their Sabbaths are littered, and those who rent out apartments have to make repairs. Every year I hear Hasidim start fires, local girls are offered all sorts of obscenities for money, they use drugs ... I can't imagine how you can pacify such a crowd and oblige everyone to wear masks. Sometimes it feels like it's not them came to us, but we came to visit them ", notices Olga. The indignation of local residents is largely justified. So, during the Rosh Hashanah celebration last year, the National Police officers opened 12 criminal proceedings against the Hasidim, mainly related to drug trafficking and carrying weapons. And at the beginning of January 2020, an international scandal almost broke out: a group of Hasidim fought with the guards of the cultural and historical center of Rabbi Nachman, to which the locals came to help. According to the version of one of the parties to the conflict, the drunken Hasid asked the guard to take him home and open the doors, since the Sabbath does not allow him to do it on his own, and, having received a refusal in response, began to react aggressively. Some local residents, in their own words, are outraged by the customs of Orthodox Jews. Traces of latent cultural confrontation can be seen throughout the city. Even at a distance from the "Hasidic quarter", neo-Nazis leave their messages on the shutters of kiosks, walls and fences: swastikas, the inscriptions and sometimes there are even portraits of Hitler.

Open source

At the same time, the Hasidim themselves say that they come to Uman to have fun in the company of their spiritual leader Nachman, without having any intention of offending anyone. "People, of course, are different, but deeply religious Jews behave very dignified and respectful. The unrestrained celebration of the coming of the New Year should in fact be accompanied by a feeling of deep trepidation before God: after Rosh Hashanah comes the days of judgment, during which it will be decided, will a person survive until the end of next year.” But Rabbi Nachman urged to rejoice anyway, no matter what, - this is one of the most important commandments for the Hasidim. We strive to celebrate the New Year in Uman, where Rabbi Nachman bequeathed himself to be buried. He died, by today's standards, very young - at 38 years old - and before that he told two of his disciples: "When my days are over and I leave this world, I will intercede for everyone who comes to my grave, read 10 psalms and give alms. No matter how serious his sins or mistakes are, I will do everything in my power to save and cleanse him. I will go through the whole universe. For the sideways I will pull him out of hell. "Therefore, so many pilgrims come to the grave of the spiritual leader, who seek to enlist his support in the upcoming trial to enter the new year cleansed. It is unlikely that the threat of coronavirus can stop the flock on the way to its spiritual leader, but I am sure that all the quarantine rules will be observed. Rabbi Nathan, a disciple of Rabbi Nachman , said: “Even if the road to Uman was studded with knives and swords, I would still crawl along it to visit the grave of Rabbi.” I have come to Ukraine 5 times in different years and saved money for this trip, but, apparently will have to postpone it for another year. I will celebrate Rosh Hashanah with my family here," Israelite Jonathan Melamed shares his story.

And in conclusion, he expresses the hope that Ukrainians will begin to show less hostility and more interest towards other people's religious customs: this is the only effective formula in order to establish fruitful communication with each other.

Related: No restrictions for Hasidim to visit Uman during Rosh Hashanah