Death of diesel looms as carmakers accelerate to electric future

By Gilles Guillaume

© Reuters/Vincent Kessler FILE PHOTO: Employees of French carmaker PSA Peugeot Citroen work on the new engine "EB" assembly line at the company engines factory in Tremery near Metz

PARIS (Reuters) - The world's biggest diesel engine factory in Tremery, eastern France, is undergoing a radical overhaul - it's switching to make electric motors.

From less than 10% of output in 2020, electric motor production at Tremery will double to around 180,000 in 2021, and is planned to reach 900,000 a year - or more than half the plant's peak pre-pandemic output - by 2025.

The shift is testament to a car industry in flux. Demand for diesel cars has slumped since a 2015 pollution scandal, while tough new EU regulations, which fine carmakers for exceeding emissions limits, are pushing them to make more electric models.

So, in the midst of a pandemic and with the level of consumer demand for battery-driven cars still uncertain, automakers from Volkswagen to Nissan are ditching diesel models and ramping up output of electric drives.

"2021 is going to be a pivotal year, the first real transition towards the world of electric models," said Laetitia Uzan, a representative for the CFTC union at Tremery.

But for Tremery's 3,000 workers, and the wider car industry, there's an added complication.

Electric motors only have a fifth of the parts of a traditional diesel engine, putting a question mark over jobs.

Uzan acknowledged a risk that fewer staff may be needed, but was optimistic that could happen "quite naturally" as workers retire without being replaced.

Tremery's owner Stellantis - newly created from the merger of Peugeot maker PSA and Fiat Chrysler to help tackle the industry changes - has said it won't close factories and will seek to protect jobs.

But some industry researchers warn Europe's car manufacturers, already suffering from overcapacity, will have to make big cuts in order to deliver the investments needed to catch up with U.S. electric car pioneer Tesla.

French car lobby group PFA estimates 15,000 jobs linked to diesel are at risk in France, out of 400,000 employed by the industry as a whole.

IAB, a German labour research institute, calculates the arrival of electric vehicles could threaten 100,000 jobs in Germany, or about one in eight German auto industry jobs.

'UNPRECEDENTED YEAR'

The transition from diesel is particularly marked in Europe, where sales of diesel vehicles made up at least 50% of the total as recently as 2015, according to data from research group JATO Dynamics, far higher than in both North America and Asia.

At least 20 car models will no longer offer diesel versions in 2021, from Volkswagen's Polo and Renault's Scenic to Nissan's Micra and Honda's Civic, according to researchers IHS Markit, which says 2021 will be "an unprecedented year" in the shift away from diesel.

Meanwhile, a slew of new electric models will hit showrooms.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, Britain's car lobby group, expects 29 new fully-electric and seven plug-in hybrid models will be launched in the country this year, compared with 26 internal combustion engine models - only 14 of which will have diesel variants.

There are encouraging signs that consumer interest in electric vehicles is picking up.

In September, EU registrations of electrified vehicles - fully electric, plug-in hybrid or hybrid - overtook diesel registrations for the first time, according to JATO data.

EU sales of fully-electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles surged 122% in the first nine months of 2020, at a time when overall vehicle sales fell 29% due to the pandemic.

But they still only accounted for around 8% of total sales, with some drivers put off by the limited availability of charging points and higher cost of many electrified models.

At Renault's Cleon plant near the northern French coast, the switch from diesel is well under way, with only half a building housing the assembly lines for diesel motors while hybrid and electric motors are spread over two whole buildings.

"If an employee came back after several years away, they wouldn’t recognise the place," said Lionel Anglais, a union representative with oversight of manufacturing at Renault.

(Writing by Nick Carey. Editing by Mark Potter.)

COVID: Demand for dogs and cats surges in Germany

Prices for puppies and kittens are exploding on the internet, and animal shelters and breeders have been inundated with inquiries. But the boom has its downsides for the animals.

The COVID pandemic is boosting the trade in puppies in Germany

When Bernadette Dierks-Meyer announced the imminent arrival of a new litter on the homepage of the Labrador Club of Germany, the dog breeder had no idea what she was in for.

"Probably about ten inquiries - as usual," thought the woman who confesses to remember her dogs' birthdays better than those of her children. But within a few days, Dierks-Meyer was bombarded with requests for the little dogs, who are not even born yet.

"I already have over 60 inquiries. I haven't published my phone number, luckily, otherwise, people might even call me at night. And I know of breeders who have many more inquiries," Dierks-Meyer told DW.

As the coronavirus pandemic rages, Germans are discovering their love of animals. Cats and dogs, the traditional favorite animals in this country, are in particular in demand. Even before the pandemic began, one in four German households had a cat, and one in five had a dog. Now, in times of contact restrictions and lockdowns, people are lonely and many who are in furlough or home office have the time to look after a pet. So the requests are shooting up massively. According to the German Kennel Club (VDH), about 20% more dogs were purchased in 2020 than in previous years

Watch video 01:33 Germany: A puppy to cope with the pandemic?

A cuddle in lonely COVID times

"Maybe it's the need for a partner," is Dierks-Meyer's explanation. The Labrador lover, whose basement is filled with trophies from national and international sporting dog competitions, is currently getting heaps of mail from people who are spilling all their family history and raving about their deceased four-legged friend. "These are very, very nice emails," she says. "But I can't give them all a dog, I don't have that many."

The trained veterinarian charges €1,500 ($1,800) for each of her puppies - comparatively little for a pedigree dog. For people who, unlike Dierks-Meyer, do not adhere to the breeders' strict guidelines (two litters in two years) and who see only a lucrative business in the animals, the pandemic has brought golden times.

For some animals, however, these times are anything but golden. 

Last stop shelter

Julia Zerwas knows a lot of animal stories without happy endings. And this is what drives her. She quit her studies in veterinary medicine in Munich to return to where she belongs, and where she started working ten years ago: The Albert Schweitzer animal shelter in Bonn.

"We had a case the other day where a person brought their animal back here because it hadn't settled in after three days," Zerwas says. The shelters are worried that many animals will end up with them once the pandemic is over and people are tired of their newfound hobby.

Already, some 48 dogs, 52 cats and 175 small animals are romping around the area next to a highway in Bonn; even snakes, lizards and pigeons have found a home here. Zerwas and her 20 colleagues are, if you will, intensive care workers for pets: They are there when no one else will help.

Watch video12:01 The loneliness pandemic meets the COVID-19 pandemic

Dog? Cat? Snake?

Whether it's the emergency call from the Eifel region when 125 dogs are discovered in a single house or 100 hamsters who suddenly need a new home in one swoop or a dog that ends up stranded at the shelter after 13 owners gave up on it in despair. Julia Zerwas is used to making the impossible possible, but the coronavirus crisis has presented her with huge new challenges.

"We've had to massively limit public traffic and now only allow visits by appointment. Of course, that means we only find new homes for far fewer animals than before. At the same time, inquiries have increased sharply during the coronavirus crisis," says Zerwas.

The financial situation of the shelter is also a headache for her. "People who visited always used to leave a donation, and we're missing this money now. We just had to start a new appeal because of that."

And what advice does Zerwas have for people who are thinking about getting a pet? "To think really hard about what happens after the coronavirus. Will I still have the time then? And the desire? So does a pet fit into my normal life, or just right now?"
Illegal puppy trade flourishing

"People have been asking shelters if they could have a dog for three months now, just for when they're working from home," confirms Hester Pommerening from the German Animal Welfare League. "And there have been shelters that have gotten 500 requests in a single weekend."

Pommerening says she wants to act as a voice for the animals, which is a full-time job in Germany. Just recently she was in front of a camera demanding an end to the killing of male chicks, she is strongly opposed to animal testing, and has a list of reform demands for agriculture. But now there is a problem that is more topical than ever for her: The illegal puppy trade.

Watch video01:45 Pets getting more time with owners amid pandemic

One click away

The trade in pets is now considered the third-largest source of illegal income in the European Union after organized drug and arms trafficking. The German Animal Welfare Federation said between January and October 2020 75 illegal pet trades were reported, involving more than 800 animals (mainly dogs.) The number of unreported cases is probably much higher.

"The cute pet is just a mouse click away. But we're talking about a living being here that you can't take back to the store as easily as a sweater or a toy," says Pommerening. And yet the prospect is so tempting: If inquiries at breeders or animal shelters are unsuccessful, one look at eBay Classifieds is enough for a huge selection of thousands of faithful pairs of eyes.

"But behind these ads there are often sick animals that have been separated from their mothers too early, are behaviorally disturbed, and are produced under cruel conditions in Eastern Europe," says Pommerening, "Many animals then also die because they have not received any vaccinations at all."

The organized criminal operations in Romania, Hungary, Serbia and Turkey are often very professional: The advertisements can hardly be distinguished from respectable businesses, the prices are normal, and written inquiries get friendly replies.

But on delivery, prospective customers should become a little suspicious: "They often make excuses, so the delivery will have to take place on a parking lot."

And illegal animal traders often even get orders for more than just dogs and cats: Some people want exotic animals such as snakes and even kangaroos.

Pommerening has one main demand for animal lovers during the coronavirus crisis, but also the time after: "Animals should not be sold on the internet. Hands off!"

This article has been translated from German. DW

ASIA
Why the pro-Trump QAnon movement is finding followers in Japan

After emerging among conspiracy theorists in the US, the far-right QAnon movement is expanding to include a small but dedicated band of adherents in Japan. Julian Ryall reports from Tokyo.



Experts point out that social media has made the message of conspiracy theorists far easier to disseminate

Undeterred by the mayhem at the Capitol in Washington and the near-universal condemnation of Donald Trump's failures in the dying days of his presidency, the small but committed Japanese chapter of the far-right QAnon movement is standing by its man.

It is also advancing some absurd, albeit uniquely Japanese theories: The imperial family was replaced by "fakes" during the mid-1800s; Emperor Hirohito was British, an agent for the CIA, and owned the patent for the atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the closing days of World War II.

The group clearly has an ax to grind with its monarchy, as members are also convinced that the nearly 20,000 people who died in the tsunami triggered by an earthquake off northeast Japan in March 2011 were victims of the "artificial tsunami terrorism" overseen by Hirohito's son Emperor Akihito, who abdicated in April 2019.

A past tainted by cultish beliefs

A member of the group who goes by the name Eri claims there are at least 500 QAnon followers across Japan and a further 100 people are part of the QArmy Japan Flynn — an allied group that idolizes Michael Flynn. The former national security advisor to Trump had to step down after just 24 days for lying over his links to Russia before the 2016 presidential election.

Watch video 26:06 QAnon: How dangerous are conspiracy theories?

As well as being convinced that Trump legitimately won the 2020 election and has been cheated out of a second term as president, QAnon Japan adherents believe that Japanese politics is "dominated by foreigners" who have sold off the nation's wealth to "global capitalists" through privatization. They also believe that ethnic Koreans are running the government.

Similarly, they believe that "deep state" is implementing a "global human population reduction plan" that has previously relied on war, illness and infertility to control population numbers.

Jun Okumura, an analyst at the Meiji Institute for Global Affairs, says there are some clear parallels with the emergence of QAnon and another cult that briefly shook Japan.

"I look at these people and while they are present and visible in every society, I see this group as being quite similar to the Aum Shinrikyo cult back in the early 1990s," he told DW, referring to the violent quasi-religious organization that released sarin gas on the Tokyo subway system in March 1995, killing 12 people.

"It appears that a small minority of people have their minds wired to accept these outlandish theories in spite of all the evidence and knowledge that is put directly in front of them," Okumura said. "There is even the argument that it is human nature to want to believe that a person is privy to secret information or knowledge that no-one else has."
Conspiracy theories – coronavirus, global warming, monarchs

QAnon Japan followers are convinced that global warming is a lie and that the planet's climate is being artificially manipulated, while the coronavirus pandemic that started in the Chinese city of Wuhan is linked to the introduction of 5G mobile networks "and may function as a controllable electromagnetic weapon," Eri told DW.

Stephen Nagy, an associate professor of international relations at Tokyo's International Christian University, points out that social media has made the message of conspiracy theorists far easier to disseminate.

Watch video 12:06 Spreading conspiracy theories, spreading coronavirus?

"Anti-vaxxers, anti-maskers, those that think the coronavirus was a biological weapon deliberately manufactured in a Chinese laboratory and brought into Japan by North Korean agents – where does it all come from and why do some people fall for these tales?" he asked.

"I remember similar stories in years gone by, but they never gained any real traction then. But now we live in an era where social media amplifies and expands every thought and idea," Nagy told DW.

"And with people now locked down because of the coronavirus, many are going online and falling down the rabbit hole offered by QAnon and others with similar agendas," he added.

In a country that broadly reveres its monarchy, QAnon's opinions on the imperial family are perhaps most surprising.

Eri insists that the members of the real imperial family were "replaced by fakes" during the Meiji era and "Emperor Hirohito had British nationality and is not a pure Japanese," adding that Emperor Hirohito, who was Japan's emperor from 1926 until his death in 1989, was a CIA agent.

QAnon also claims that Hirohito's son and heir, Emperor Akihito, was behind the March 2011 earthquake tragedy.

Not all Trump supporters back QAnon

But many Japanese supporters of Trump's politics are scathing in their assessment of QAnon's conspiracy theories.

"I've noticed their tweets, but none of us is taking them seriously because they are clearly a cult," Yoko Ishii, a conservative activist and journalist who has backed Trump, told DW. "They are not politically influential or a threat as they won't grow, at least among the conservative political community. They are nerds and conspiracy theorists."

But Eri disagrees, insisting that QAnon Japan is "a wonderful grassroots movement that makes everyone happy."

As of January 21, Eri's Twitter account has been suspended.

Climate change hit poorest countries hardest in 2019

Heavy rain and storms exacerbated by climate change particularly affected East Africa, Asia and South America in 2019, according to the latest Climate Risk Index.

Rains have flooded cities that were still being rebuilt a year after Cyclone Idai devastated Mozambique


Violent storms caused more damage than any other type of extreme weather in 2019, with poorest nations bearing the brunt, according to a study published Monday by environmental organization Germanwatch.

Made stronger by climate change, they wreaked havoc across the world.

"On the one hand, there was Cyclone Idai on the southeast coast of Africa, which caused damage in Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Malawi; and, on the other hand, a hurricane in the Caribbean that hit the Bahamas," said David Eckstein, a policy advisor at Germanwatch and co-author of the report, which has been published each year since 2006.

More than 1,000 people lost their lives Idai in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi in March 2019, causing "catastrophic damage and a humanitarian crisis," the authors wrote.

The global index is based on data from the German reinsurance company Munich Re. It compares the number of deaths and property damage caused by extreme weather to the number of inhabitants and the gross domestic product of the country in which it strikes.

Cyclone Idai was more devastating than similar-strength storms that year because of a lack of early-warning systems

Hurricane Dorian devastated the Bahamas in 2019 and unleashed flooding that reached up to 8 meters in some areas

Major damage from storms and heavy rainfall

Japan was also hit hard by Typhoon Hagibis, which killed 290 people. Prolonged rainfall caused more than 2,200 deaths in India. Several hundred people also died in Afghanistan, South Sudan and Niger as heavy rains triggered landslides and destroyed homes.

In Bolivia, heavy rains led to flooding; 34 people died and 23,000 families were left homeless. Fires also destroyed 2 million hectares of forest, grassland and protected areas.

While storms have always claimed lives and damaged homes, they are "increasing in intensity, and that can be attributed to climate change," said Eckstein. "We did interviews with people from Mozambique who said that there have always been cyclones on the southeast coast of Africa, but never with the ferocity as in 2019 with Idai."

Bolivia's Pantanal was ravaged by wildfires in 2019 and again in 2020

More severe cyclones with every tenth of a degree

In 2019, all 10 of the countries most severely affected by extreme weather suffered from heavy floods, according to the report. Last year, large amounts of rain hit eight of the 10 most-affected countries, while two others, Germany and Canada, were exposed to extreme heat.

"The rain actually causes the most damage in a cyclone due to the extreme amounts of water," said Eckstein. "Climate change plays a special role in this on several levels."

One reason for the increase in rain is that the sea and the air are getting warmer as the planet heats. Warm air holds more moisture, which means more rain.

Climate scientists say storms are not becoming more common, but, rather, stronger. The report projects that the number of tropical cyclones that are classed as severe will increase with every tenth of a degree rise in average global temperature.

WORLD HERITAGE UNDER THREAT FROM GLOBAL WARMING

Dresden

In 2002, a so-called 100-year flood put large parts of Dresden under water — and threatened numerous cultural treasures. The baroque Zwinger palace was also flooded. The city founded a task force to be prepared for future extreme weather events. Today there are global efforts underway to use climate modelling to better plan for the protection of cultural monuments in the future. PHOTOS 12345678

Poor hit hardest

Since 2000, more than 475,000 people have died in more than 11,000 extreme weather events, according to the report. Eight of the 10 countries hardest-hit between 2000 and 2019 are poorer nations. "They are the hardest-hit because they are more vulnerable to the damaging effects of a hazard and have a lower coping capacity," said report co-author Vera Kuenzel.

These countries have less money to build back than industrial countries. "Countries like Haiti, the Philippines and Pakistan are repeatedly affected by extreme weather events and do not have time to fully recover before the next event occurs," says Kuenzel. "Strengthening their resilience must therefore not only address adaptation, but also provide the necessary support to deal with loss and damage."

Historic polluter Germany built another power plant last year to burn coal

INSTEAD OF KEEPING NUKES ON LINE

Polluters do not yet pay for damage

Most developing countries have contributed little to the rise of CO2 in the atmosphere and bear less responsibility for the damages of global warming than historic emitters like the US and Germany. "Now, however, they urgently need financial and technical support to adapt to the consequences as far as possible," said Eckstein.

The rise in CO2 in the atmosphere has mostly been caused by industrialized countries burning coal, oil and gas.

But so far, the energy companies that profited from this have not paid anything for the damage that has followed. Leaders of industrialized countries have promised poorer countries $100 billion (€82.3 billion) in climate finance each year from 2020 to cope with the crises.

But "recent studies show that the $100 billion per year pledged by industrialized nations is not being met and only a small part of it has been allocated to climate adaptation," said Eckstein.

Watch video 05:22 Extreme weather in Vietnam

Hoping for more responsibility

That might soon change.

Former US President Donald Trump, who stopped all US payments to the International Climate Fund, took the country out of the Paris Agreement on climate change.

But within hours of taking office last week, President Biden signed an executive order for the US to rejoin. "We hope that there will be a positive change in position and that the US will significantly revise the climate protection goals formulated under Obama upward," said Eckstein. "We also hope that a dynamic is sparked between the US, China and the EU."

The pandemic shows how important financial aid is for many countries, said Laura Schaefer of Germanwatch. Risks in different areas, such as health and the economy, are closely linked. In the future, "it will be important to improve the crisis resilience of these countries — especially climate resilience."

This article was adapted from German.

Russian police officer apologizes to protester

Russian police used brutal force in their crackdown on Saturday's pro-Navalny rallies. Now, one officer has apologized for a particularly egregious incident in St Petersburg.



Hundreds were detained by police in St Petersburg on Saturday

On Sunday, Russian broadcaster Ren-TV shared highly unusual footage, shot on a smartphone: the video shows a St Petersburg police officer apologizing to 54-year-old Margarita J., whom he kicked in the stomach the previous day at a rally in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

The uniform-clad, mask-wearing man is seen handing flowers to the hospitalized woman. He says he was attacked with tear gas and was struggling with a foggy visor before he set upon the woman.

Nevertheless, the officer is heard saying the incident is "a personal tragedy" for him. In a weak voice, Margarita J. is heard replying: "Don't worry, everyone is alive." The commanding police captain also visited the woman to apologize for the incident, according to Russian media reports.

What exactly happened?

Margarita J. hails from a provincial town within the St Petersburg municipality. That fateful Saturday, Margarita was on the city's Nevsky Prospect boulevard, when thousands of Russians had gathered to demand the release of jailed opposition leader Navalny, in defiance of a protest ban. The woman witnessed a man's arrest and confronted the officers to find out what he had done. Without forewarning, one of the officers then kicked her in the abdomen

More than a thousand were arrested by police at a demonstration in the Russian capital

Footage of the attack appears to show the man acting unprovoked and in cold blood as if kicking aside an object. The officer's kick threw Margarita to the ground, where she injured her head. She was subsequently hospitalized.

There have been contradictory reports concerning the woman's health. Initial reports claimed she had lost consciousness. Now, however, she has apparently been transferred to a hospital in her hometown.

Online video sparks outrage

Footage of the attack, filmed by a passer-by, quickly spread on social media, sparking outrage. Russian opposition musician Wassya Oblomov even wrote a satirical song, mocking the police officer's apology. After all, the man claimed his visor was fogged up — when footage from the scene clearly shows his visor was raised.

Some are now calling for the officer in question to be held accountable. Boris Vishnevsky, a lawmaker in St Petersburg's Legislative Assembly and member of the opposition socially liberal Jabloko party, has urged Russian authorities to launch an investigation. "This was a brutal abuse of authority," Vishnevsky told DW. "I hope this case will be brought before court."

Letting off steam?

The odds of this happening, meanwhile, are slim. Police violence against opposition protesters is the norm in Russia. Truncheon-wielding police officers cracked down on pro-Navalny rallies all over the country last weekend. Thousands were arrested. It is not yet clear how many people were injured.

Russian police break up nationwide pro-Navalny protests

Last Saturday, Elena Shachova, who heads St Petersburg's Grazhdanskiy Kontro human rights organization, together with her colleagues visited numerous police stations to document the treatment of arrested opposition protesters. One man reportedly told her he had experienced disproportionate police force leading to his hospitalization.

Shachova says the case of Margarita J. is nothing short of "astonishing" and "impossible to justify." She wants to see the officer in question and his commander fired. "Hospital visits with flowers change nothing."

Boris Vishnevsky says a court case would be "very important." He says until this day, police brutality in Russia has existed because officers do not face legal consequences for their actions. The opposition figure argues that this behavior would end if the state ceased condoning it.

Vishnevsky is somewhat surprised the police officer in question visited the injured woman in his hometown St Petersburg. He says this may result from a tangible "change in the societal atmosphere: citizens are angry and less loyal towards the leadership."

He says "the government understands that the pressure is mounting and is finding ways for society to blow off steam." The fact that Russian federal lawmaker Alexander Khinshtein of the governing United Russia party is calling for an investigation into the case, says Vishnevsky, is certainly telling.

VIDEO Russian police officer apologizes to protester | Europe| News and current affairs from around the continent | DW | 26.01.2021

India farmer protests: Police fire tear gas in Republic Day clashes

Tens of thousands of Indian farmers protesting agricultural reforms have driven a convoy of tractors into New Delhi as the capital celebrates Republic Day with a military parade.

India's farmers stage mass protest on national holiday

Police in New Delhi fired tear gas at protesting farmers after they broke through barricades on Tuesday.

The on-going protests upped the ante during the country's national Republic Day military parade in the capital.

The scaled-down parade, which celebrates the adoption of the Indian constitution in 1950, was overshadowed by the vast tractor rally.

DW Indian Correspondent Nimisha Jaiswal shared a video on Twitter of jubilant farmers after they broke through police lines, saying: "After tear gas and baton charges, farmers are exuberant as tractors, horses and crowds overrun the roads, and security forces leave the scene."

The protesters used cranes and ropes to pull down road blocks far from their approved marching route, forcing riot police to fall back, witnesses told Reuters.

A statement from the group of farmers unions explained that only one of the several protest parades had deviated from its pre-arranged route.

"Except for one group...our news is that all parades are happening on the pre-decided routes along with police," they said.

Why are farmers in India protesting?

Farmers have been protesting a new law which they say benefits large, private land grabbers over small local producers. Tens of thousands of angry protesters entered the outskirts of the city in a convoy of tractors earlier in the day.

"We want to show Modi our strength,'' Satpal Singh, a farmer who marched into the capital on a tractor along with his family of five, told AP.

"We will not surrender," he said.

Around half of India's 1.3 billion population works in agriculture and the on-going protests being carried out by some 150 landowning farmers represent one the biggest challenges to President Narendra Modi's government to date.

Onwards to New Delhi - A farmer's protest

"Modi will hear us now, he will have to hear us now," said Sukhdev Singh, a farmer from the agriculturally important northern state of Punjab, as he marched past the barricades.
Indian farmers in dire straits

More than half of India's farmers are in debt and more than 20,000 committed suicide in 2018 and 2019, according to official statistics.

Despite their weakening economic position — agriculture now makes up only 15% of the national economy — they represent a large voting bloc.

A series of talks have fallen flat as the farmers have consistently rejected any offer other than a complete repeal of the new law.

Devinder Sharma, an agriculture expert who campaigns for income equality for Indian farmers, said the protests were not just aimed at reforming the new law, but at "challenging the entire economic design of the country.''

"The anger that you see is compounded anger,'' Sharma said. "Inequality is growing in India and farmers are becoming poorer. Policy planners have failed to realize this and have sucked the income from the bottom to the top. The farmers are only demanding what is their right."

Delhi clashes as farmers tractor protest overshadows military parade

Issued on: 26/01/2021 

Farmers have been camped on key roads into the capital for two months, protesting against new laws which deregulate produce markets Money SHARMA AFP

New Delhi (AFP)

Thousands of farmers in tractor convoys burst through police barricades Tuesday to take their protest against agriculture reform to the heart of India's capital, just as the nation marked Republic Day with a giant military parade.

Police had earlier sealed most entrances to the city with containers and trucks, but had to use tear gas and batons as the farmers broke through.

Some protesters reached a major intersection three kilometres (1.8 miles) from where Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other government leaders watched tanks and troops parade past and fighter jets fly overhead.

Modi waved to crowds and was driven back to his residence before any personal confrontation with the farmers, the biggest challenge his Hindu nationalist government has faced in its six years in power.

Tens of thousands of farmers have camped on the outskirts of the capital since November, protesting against new laws which deregulate produce markets.

Union leaders say the laws will allow private Indian conglomerates to take over the agriculture industry -- the rockbed of the economy -- and replace a system of purchases by the government at guaranteed prices.

- Popular support -

Authorities had agreed to let the farmers stage a tractor rally as long as they waited for the official Republic Day parade to finish.

But flag-waving protesters on at least four major arteries climbed over or just pushed aside the barricades and concrete blocks and pressed on into the city.

"We are going to show the government that we mean business," said protester Nareesh Singh as he revved up his tractor and drove into a cloud of tear gas.

Satnam Singh Pannu, head of one of the main farmer committees, said the protesters have enough supplies to keep their Delhi camps going for a year if necessary, and that there was "massive popular support" for the campaign.

On one road, people on rooftops and threw petals on the tractor convoys.

Elsewhere people cheered and applauded as the farmers went past waving Indian flags and blowing horns.

The Republic Day ceremonies went ahead despite security concerns.

Police manned barricades at intersections around the centre of the city while soldiers with machine guns patrolled on many metro trains.

The parade -- which featured Rafale jets newly bought from France -- was cut back this year because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the number of spectators on the Rajpath boulevard reduced from 125,000 to 25,000.

Modi sent out Twitter greetings for the national holiday without mentioning the farmers.

- Mass rally -

The government says the reforms will boost rural incomes and say the farmers have been manipulated by opposition parties.

Ten rounds of talks between farm unions and ministers have failed to break the deadlock.

The farmers have demanded the government repeal the laws, but the administration has only offered to delay implementation for 18 months.

Smaller farmer demonstrations were held in Mumbai and Bangalore.

The occasion marks the day the constitution of India came into effect in 1950.

© 2021 AFP

Venus figurines offered a model for surviving climate change, new theory says


A new theory suggests the earliest Venus figurines were meant to be instructive to women for survival of harsh winters, rather than just artistic odes to female beauty. Photo by Aiwok/Wikimedia

Dec. 1 (UPI) -- According to a new theory, Venus figurines, one of the world's earliest examples of art, weren't symbols of beauty or fertility, as has been previously suggested.

Instead, researchers claim the large-bodied figurines, carved some 30,000 years ago, were models for surviving Europe's increasingly frigid winters.

Researchers detailed their new theory in a new paper, published Tuesday in the journal Obesity.

"Some of the earliest art in the world are these mysterious figurines of overweight women from the time of hunter gatherers in Ice Age Europe where you would not expect to see obesity at all," lead study author Richard Johnson said in a news release.

RELATED Cave remains offer new insights into Paleolithic mortuary rituals

"We show that these figurines correlate to times of extreme nutritional stress," said Johnson, a professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

Previous studies suggest the first groups of modern humans entered Europe around 48,000 years ago, during a period of warming.

These early hunter-gatherers, known as Aurignacians, subsisted on berries, fish, nuts and plants during the summers. The Aurignacians also used bone-tipped spears to hunt reindeer, horses and mammoths.

RELATED 13,500-year-old bird figurine is oldest evidence of East Asian 3D art

When the dawn of a new ice age brought harsher winters and advancing glaciers, these early hunter-gatherers moved south, sought refuge in forests or died out. As the glaciers advanced, fossil evidence suggests megafauna were over-hunted.

The latest research showed the Venus figurines appeared around the time winters in Northern Europe became unforgiving.

When Johnson and his colleagues plotted the location and size of the Venus figures so far unearthed by archaeologists, they found those with the greatest waist-to-hip and waist-to-shoulder ratios -- the most obese figures, in other words -- were located closest to the region's advancing glaciers.

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"We propose they conveyed ideals of body size for young women, and especially those who lived in proximity to glaciers," said Johnson, who holds an undergraduate degree in anthropology. "We found that body size proportions were highest when the glaciers were advancing, whereas obesity decreased when the climate warmed and glaciers retreated."

The Venus figures show signs of heavy wear, suggesting they were passed down for generations, perhaps from mothers to daughters.

Researchers suggest the figurines may have served as a model for would-be-mothers. In times of scarcity, women with a surplus of stored fat would have been better able to carry a pregnancy to term and nurse newborns.

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"The figurines emerged as an ideological tool to help improve fertility and survival of the mother and newborns," Johnson said. "The aesthetics of art thus had a significant function in emphasizing health and survival to accommodate increasingly austere climatic conditions."

Skeletal trauma reveals inequalities of Cambridge's medieval residents


The remains of a man buried in the graveyard of an Augustinian friary located in Cambridge, England, are among several that researchers say reveals the possibly rough life the city's residents had. Photo by Nick Saffell

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The inequities of medieval society are preserved in the bones of Cambridge's early residents, according to a new survey of skeletal trauma.

For the study, researchers at the University of Cambridge analyzed the remains of 314 people dating to between the 10th and 14th centuries, cataloging the levels of "skeletal trauma" exhibited in their bones.

Scientists used skeletal trauma as a proxy for socioeconomic status -- the more wear and tear present on a person's bones, the more likely he or she experienced a life of hardship and poverty.

To ensure their survey captured the full spectrum of medieval society, researchers sourced remains from several burial sites. These included a parish graveyard used by working class residents and a burial site next to a charitable hospital for inmates and the infirm, as well as a graveyard where clergy and aristocrats were buried side by side.

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Researchers found 44 percent of the remains from the working class graveyard featured fractures, while just 32 percent of those from the friary were marred by bone breaks.

The survey -- published Monday in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology -- also turned up evidence of various forms of violence, including a friar that appeared to have been the victim of an ancient hit-and-run accident.

"By comparing the skeletal trauma of remains buried in various locations within a town like Cambridge, we can gauge the hazards of daily life experienced by different spheres of medieval society," lead study author Jenna Dittmar said in a news release.

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"We can see that ordinary working folk had a higher risk of injury compared to the friars and their benefactors or the more sheltered hospital inmates," said Dittmar, an archaeologist at Cambridge.

The origins of the University of Cambridge can be traced to the year 1205, but the academic institution remained in its infancy during the Middle Ages.

Cambridge was mostly a town of artisans, merchants and farmhands, and while working class residents were more likely to experience skeletal trauma, the results of the latest survey suggest life was hard for almost everyone.

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In fact, the most traumatic injury uncovered by the researchers was suffered by a friar -- the man's position revealed by his burial place and belt buckle.

"The friar had complete fractures halfway up both his femurs," said Dittmar. "Whatever caused both bones to break in this way must have been traumatic, and was possibly the cause of death."

The femur, or thigh bone, is the largest in the body. Dittmar said today's emergency room doctors would be familiar with the kind of fracture suffered by the friar. Pedestrians hit by cars often suffer a double femur break.

"Our best guess is a cart accident," Dittmar said. "Perhaps a horse got spooked and he was struck by the wagon."

Researchers also found evidence of domestic abuse. The bones of elderly woman buried beside the parish showed signs of a lifetime of injuries.

"She had a lot of fractures, all of them healed well before her death. Several of her ribs had been broken as well as multiple vertebrae, her jaw and her foot," said Dittmar. "It would be very uncommon for all these injuries to occur as the result of a fall, for example. Today, the vast majority of broken jaws seen in women are caused by intimate partner violence."

Work in the field was the more common source of injury for those buried in the parish of All Saints by the Castle.

Though the remains of the church itself has never been found, the graveyard was discovered and first excavated in the 1970s. The parish graveyard housed the remains of Cambridge's poorest citizens.

Men would have earned a meager living hauling heavy stones and lumber or guiding heavy ploughs across the fields of the hinterland, the uncharted land beyond the town center.

"Many of the women in All Saints probably undertook hard physical labors such as tending livestock and helping with harvest alongside their domestic duties," Dittmar said. "We can see this inequality recorded on the bones of medieval Cambridge residents. However, severe trauma was prevalent across the social spectrum. Life was toughest at the bottom -- but life was tough all over."

U.S. military uses 3D printing to make N95 respirators

Air Force Maj. Daniel Williams demonstrates the fit of an N95 elastomeric half-mask respirator, which is among the designs that the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity has been testing after 3D printing them. Photo by Jeffrey Soares/U.S. Army

Jan. 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army is using 3D printing technology to produce N95 respirators, the chief of the Defense Department's medical technology office said on Monday.

Air Force Maj. Gen. Daniel Williams, of the U.S. Army Medical Materiel Development Activity's Warfighter Expeditionary Medicine and Treatment Project Management Office, said his primary task involves assisting Defense Department commercial partners in producing respirators that comply with military needs.

While the companies have experience in 3D modeling of products, many have "never manufactured medical devices," Williams said in a press release.

The N95 masks fit more closely to the face, and are more effective, than standard surgical masks, or face masks known as filtering facepiece respirators, in wide use to prevent COVID-19 infection.

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"Our group has been working on what is called an elastomeric half-mask respirator, which is a reusable frame produced by a 3D printer, with a disposable media or cartridge that filters at the 95% level," Williams said of efforts to quickly produce N95 respirators,

Eighteen variants of the N95 have been developed and tested by the team, he said.

"The primary purpose of the N95 working group is to develop N95 respirators to supplement existing supplies of respirators, as well as to develop new manufacturing capabilities within the DOD's organic industrial base, which consists of military arsenals, maintenance depots and ammunition factories," Williams added.

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"Ensuring the DOD has the capability to independently manufacture protective respiratory devices will help to protect frontline workers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and it will also help to maintain our military readiness in the face of future pandemics or biothreats," he said.

N95 respirators are among the most effective facemasks, filtering out at least 95% of small particles, and are largely used by doctors, nurses and other medical professionals.

Williams cited large-scale manufacturers, as well as the U.S. Navy Underwater Warfare Center-Keyport, U.S. Forces Korea, Defense Logistics Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy as organizations with expertise to design and produce the N95 respirator.

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In part because of involvement of the Defense Department's COVID-19 Joint Acquisition Task Force, director Stacy Cummings told the House Armed Services Committee in June 2020 that N95 production would be ramped up to production levels of 800 million masks per year by January 2021.

"Starting in 2021, we anticipate our total domestic production to be in excess of a billion per year," Cummings said.

One DoD partner, manufacturer 3M, predicted in November it would manufacture 95 million respirators by the end of 2020, citing an increase in production capacity prompted by a 20-fold increase in demand.