WAR IS ECO DISASTER

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim missile attack against Saudi Aramco oil site

A production facility of Saudi Aramco's Shaybah oilfield in the

 Empty Quarter, Saudi Arabia, May 22, 2018. 

© Ahmed Jadallah, Reuters (illustration)

Text by:NEWS WIRES
Issued on: 04/03/2021 - 

Yemen's Houthi forces fired a cross-border missile at a Saudi Aramco facility in Saudi Arabia's Red Sea city of Jeddah, a Houthi military spokesman said on Thursday, but there was no immediate confirmation from Saudi authorities.

Saudi Aramco, whose oil production and export facilities are mostly in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, more than 1,000 km (620 miles) across the country from Jeddah, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition that has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthi movement for six years did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a Twitter post that the attack took place at dawn using a winged Quds-2 missile and had struck its target, without elaborating.

He posted an image with coordinates of what appeared to be a petroleum products distribution plant in Jeddah used for domestic supplies that the Houthis struck with a Quds-2 missile in November 2020. Military experts estimated then that the missile was fired from about 700 km (430 miles) away in Houthi-controlled territory.

Aramco said then that the attack on the North Jeddah Bulk Plant hit a storage tank but did not affect supplies.

The movement, which controls northern Yemen, has struck Saudi energy assets in the past. Last November, the Saudi energy ministry said a limited fire broke out near a floating platform belonging to the Jazan oil products terminal after a foiled attack using explosive-laden boats in the southern Red Sea.

The Houthis have recently stepped up cross-border drone and missile attacks on Saudi cities, mostly targeting southern Saudi Arabia. The coalition says it intercepts most attacks.

On Thursday, the coalition destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile launched towards Jazan and an armed drone launched towards Khamis Mushait, both cities in the south of the kingdom, state media reported.

The Houthi's Sarea said in a separate Twitter post that the Khamis Mushait attack targeted a military site.

The coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from power in the capital, Sanaa.

The United States and United Nations have renewed peace efforts as fighting also intensified in Yemen's gas-rich Marib region. The U.S. Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Tuesday on two Houthi military leaders.

The conflict is widely seen in the region as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis deny being puppets of Tehran and say they are fighting a corrupt system.

Myanmar journalist arrested after overnight attack: employer

Myanmar's junta has escalated force as it attempts to quell 

an uprising against its rule 

Sai Aung Main AFP/File

Yangon (AFP)

A Myanmar reporter was attacked in his home and detained by the military, his employer said Tuesday, after days of crackdowns by the junta on anti-coup protesters.

Myanmar's military has escalated force as it attempts to quell an uprising against its rule, deploying tear gas, rubber bullets and, increasingly, live rounds.

Journalists have found themselves targeted by police and soldiers as they try to capture the unrest on the streets. In recent days, several have been arrested, including an Associated Press photographer in Yangon.

A Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) reporter live-streamed the Monday night attack on his apartment building in the southern city of Myeik as he pleaded for help.

Hours later, DVB said on Twitter that reporter Kaung Myat Hlaing had been taken from his home by security forces.

"DVB has no knowledge of where he was taken away, and which military authority took him," said the statement.

It added that Kaung Myat Hlaing's latest reports were on a weekend military crackdown in Myeik, as well as on Monday's demonstrations.

Loud bangs could be heard during Kaung Myat Hlaing's live stream, which was hosted on DVB's official Facebook page.

"If you are shooting like this, how will I come down?" he shouted at the security forces outside.

DVB, a well-known news organisation within Myanmar, started as an exile media outlet during the previous junta, broadcasting uncensored reports on TV and radio.

After a 49-year hold on power, the military dictatorship loosened its grip in 2011, and DVB moved into Myanmar the following year.

The outlet demanded Tuesday that the military release Kaung Myat Hlaing, as well as other journalists detained since the February 1 putsch.

"They are all doing their professional jobs as journalists," it said.

© 2021 AFP

CO2 pollution bounces back, climate goals at risk: IEA

Energy-related emissions were two percent higher in 

December 2020 than in the same month a year earlier 

Odd ANDERSEN AFP/File

Issued on: 02/03/2021 -

Paris (AFP)

Global CO2 emissions have returned to pre-pandemic levels and then some, threatening to put climate treaty targets for capping global warming out of reach, the International Energy Agency said Tuesday.

Energy-related emissions were two percent higher in December 2020 than in the same month a year earlier, driven by economic recovery and a lack of clean energy policies, the IEA said in a report.

"The rebound in global carbon emissions toward the end of last year is a stark warning that not enough is being done to accelerate clean energy transitions worldwide," IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in a statement.

"If governments don’t move quickly with the right energy policies, this could put at risk the world’s historic opportunity to make 2019 the definitive peak in global emissions."

A year ago, the intergovernmental agency called on governments to put clean energy at the heart of economic stimulus plans, but the appeal appears to have fallen on deaf ears for the most part.

"Our numbers show we are returning to carbon-intensive business-as-usual," Birol said.

In China, carbon pollution last year exceeded 2019 levels by more than half a percent despite a draconian, though brief, lockdown to halt the virus' spread.

China -- which accounts for more than a quarter of global CO2 output -- was the only major economy to grow in 2020.

Other countries are also now seeing emissions climb above pre-Covid crisis levels, the report found.

In India, they rose above 2019 levels from September as economic activity increased and Covid restrictions relaxed.

The rebound of road transport in Brazil from May drove a recovery in oil demand, while increases in gas demand toward the end of 2020 pushed emissions above 2019 levels in the final quarter.

US emissions fell by 10 percent in 2020, but by December were approaching levels from the year before.

- Decoupling growth and emissions -

"If current expectations for a global economic rebound this year are confirmed -– and in the absence of major policy changes in the world’s largest economies –- global emissions are likely to increase in 2021," Birol said.

A sharp surge in economic activity -- and the pollution that comes with it -- is more the norm than the exception after an economic downturn.

Annual GDP growth and CO2 emissions, for example, both spiked after the Great Recession of 2008.

But as pressure builds to tackle the climate crisis, there are encouraging signs that major emitters are taking steps to decouple economic growth from planet-warming carbon emissions, Birol noted.

China's surprise committment to become carbon neutral by 2060, the Biden administration's ambitious climate agenda along with the US reentry into the Paris Agreement, and the European Union's Green New Deal all point in the right direction, he said.

"India's stunning success with renewables could transform its energy future," he added.

Global emissions plunged by almost two billion tonnes in 2020, the largest absolute decline in history.

More than half of that decline was due to lower use of fuel for road transport and aviation.

The 2015 Paris Agreement enjoins nations to cap the rise in global temperatures "well below" two degrees Celsius compared with preindustrial levels, and to strive for a cieling of 1.5C if possible.

Earth's surface is already 1.1C warmer on average, enough to increase the frequency and intensity of deadly heatwaves, droughts and superstorms made more destructive by rising seas.

In May, the IEA is to publish its first global road map on how the energy sector can reach net-zero by 2050.

© 2021 AFP

Indonesia's erupting Sinabung volcano belches column of ash

Indonesia's Mount Sinabung erupted on Tuesday

morning, spewing out a massive column of smoke and ash 

BAHARI TARIGAN AFP

Medan (Indonesia) (AFP)

Indonesia's Mount Sinabung erupted on Tuesday morning, spewing a massive column of smoke and ash up to 5,000 metres (16,400 feet) into the sky.

The volcano on Sumatra island started blasting debris early in the morning, according to a local geological agency, which recorded 13 bursts.

Authorities have instructed residents to avoid a five-kilometre radius around the crater, a zone that has been left unoccupied for years as volcanic activity increased.

No evacuation orders have been issued, and there has been no reported flight disruption.

"There is no indication of increasing potential danger," the agency said in a statement.

Sinabung, a 2,460-metre (8,070-foot) volcano, was dormant for centuries before roaring back to life in 2010 when an eruption killed two people.

After another period of inactivity, it erupted again in 2013 and has remained highly active since.

In 2014, an eruption killed at least 16 people, while seven died in a 2016 blast.

Indonesia -- an archipelago of more than 17,000 islands and islets -- has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

It sits on the "Ring of Fire", a belt of tectonic plate boundaries circling the Pacific Ocean where frequent seismic activity occurs.

Mount Merapi on Java island, one of the world's most active volcanoes, also erupted this week, emitting lava on Monday.


© 2021 AFP

CAPITALI$M WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS
China's billionaires club swells as market rally offsets virus pain

Issued on: 02/03/2021 - 

Beijing is top of the list with the world's most billionaires for the sixth year in a row 

WANG ZHAO AFP


Beijing (AFP)

More than 200 billionaires were created in China last year as booming stock markets and a flood of new listings offset the ravages of the virus pandemic, according to a global tally released Tuesday.

The size of China's exclusive billionaire's club has almost doubled in the past five years as the world's number two economy continued to outpace most others, and its ability to mostly avoid the worst of the coronavirus meant it was one of the few to expand in 2020.

And the Hurun Global Rich List showed 259 people breaking into the billion-dollar bracket -- more than the rest of the world combined -- taking China total to 1,058, the first country to break the 1,000 mark.

In comparison, second best performer the United States saw 70 new billionaires created, taking its total to 696.

Leading the Chinese pack was Zhong Shanshan of bottled water giant Nongfu, who entered the list for the first time with an $85 billion fortune, putting him number one in Asia and into Hurun's global top 10. Zhong, a former construction worker, made his cash following a $1.1 billion initial public offering in Hong Kong last year.

However, a clampdown on ecommerce giant Alibaba saw tycoon Jack Ma fall down the pecking order. The one-time darling of China's entrepreneurs has come under pressure from regulators, who have reigned in Alibaba and fintech arm Ant Group on anti-trust issues.

Three individuals globally added more than $50 billion in a single year, the survey found: Tesla's Elon Musk, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Colin Huang of Pinduoduo, one of China's fastest-growing ecommerce players.

Overall, China continues to lead the world's wealth creation, Hurun's report said, adding 490 new billionaires in the past five years compared with the 160 added in the US.

Hurun Report chairman Rupert Hoogewerf said that even with the pandemic chaos, the past year saw the biggest wealth increase of the past decade due to new listings and booming stock markets.

"Asia has, for the first time in perhaps hundreds of years, more billionaires than the rest of the world combined," he added.

The report also flagged a shift in Hong Kong, pointing out that the city's entrepreneurs are now being "dwarfed" by their counterparts in the mainland -- only three Hong Kong tycoons make it into the China top 50.

Six of the world's top 10 cities with the highest concentration of billionaires are now in China, with Beijing top of the heap for the sixth year running.

© 2021 AFP

AT LONG LAST

Dozens of refugees released after years detained by Australia


Issued on: 02/03/2021 - 

Protesters attend a pro-refugee rights march in Sydney in June 

Peter PARKS AFP


Brisbane (Australia) (AFP)

Australia has freed dozens of refugees after holding them in detention for years under a policy designed to deter people from seeking asylum in the country, advocates said Tuesday.

More than 60 refugees were released over the past two days from hotels and detention centres in Brisbane, Sydney and Darwin, according to the Refugee Action Coalition and legal representatives.

They were granted temporary visas after spending up to eight years in Australian detention on Pacific islands before being transferred to the country for medical treatment.

Canberra has sent anyone attempting to arrive in Australia by boat to Papua New Guinea's Manus island and Nauru, under a hardline approach it says is designed to prevent people-smuggling.

The group's release comes after more than 60 refugees were freed in similar circumstances in December and January.

Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton told local radio in January that it was "cheaper" for the refugees to be released into the community than to be held in detention.

Noeline Balasanthiran Harendran of Sydney West Legal and Migration said the releases came after several refugees took court action against the Australian government challenging the validity of their detention.

"From our point of view, it's because we've been able to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they're being held with no purpose... to hold people in detention you need to have a purpose," she told AFP.

Ian Rintoul, from the Refugee Action Coalition, urged the government to release about 75 other refugees still being held in Australia.

More than 250 also remain in limbo in Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

"They've got no idea why they've been left behind and no idea what the future holds," he told AFP.

The Department of Home Affairs said government policy remained "steadfast" that the refugees "will not settle permanently in Australia".

"Transitory persons have third country migration options and are encouraged to finalise their medical treatment so they can continue on their resettlement pathway to the United States, return to Nauru or PNG, or return to their home country," a spokesperson said.

However, Dutton has admitted it would now be "very hard" for the government to make that happen.

The United Nations, human rights groups and doctors have condemned Canberra for its treatment of detainees, as stories of dire living conditions, self-harm and violence emerged from the offshore camps over the years.

© 2021 AFP

Reconstructing historical typhoons from a 142-year record

HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY

Research News

 

IMAGE: PHOTO OF A WEATHER MAP WHEN A TYPHOON HIT JAPAN ON 30 AUGUST 1896. NOW ARCHIVED IN THE TAIWAN CENTRAL WEATHER BUREAU (PHOTO: HISAYUKI KUBOTA). view more 

CREDIT: HISAYUKI KUBOTA

A team of scientists has, for the first time, identified landfalls of tropical cyclones (TCs) in Japan for the period from 1877 to 2019; this knowledge will help prepare for future TC disasters.

In recent years strong TCs have been making landfalls in Japan, such as Typhoon Jebi in 2018, which severely hit the Kinki region, and Typhoon Hagibis in 2019, which severely hit eastern Japan. While Japan has suffered from a number of TC impacts throughout its history, meteorological data for these events has been sparse.

The team, including Specially Appointed Associate Professor Hisayuki Kubota of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, investigated TC activity over the western North Pacific and TC landfalls in Japan by analyzing a combination of TC tracking and meteorological data observed at weather stations and lighthouses, including rescued and recovered historical observations.

The team has collected and recovered TC track and landfall data and meteorological observations in the mid-19th century and later through an approach that rescues, collects and digitizes weather data across the world that has been stored away and often forgotten. To give the data useful consistency, the team developed a new, unified definition for TCs, based on minimum pressure.

According to their analysis, TC landfall locations tend to shift to the northeast and then southwest regions of Japan at roughly 100-year intervals. The analysis also shows that annual TC landfall numbers and their intensities have been increasing in recent years, while noting that these increases may be part of an oscillated fluctuation operating on interdecadal time scales.

The landfall numbers were relatively small in the late 20th century, and larger at other times. The Tohoku and Hokkaido regions, which experienced small numbers of TC landfalls in the late 20th century, may experience more landfalls in the future.

Japan's first official meteorological observation was conducted in Hakodate, Hokkaido, in 1872. There is very little earlier meteorological data obtained by meteorological instruments at terrestrial stations, which makes it difficult to perform long-term meteorological variability analyses. In a new approach, the team focused on foreign ship log weather records from the mid-19th century made with meteorological instruments on vessels sailing through East- and Southeast Asian waters.

The team used records from the US Navy expedition fleet to Japan led by Commodore Matthew C. Perry and from British Navy ships that also sailed to Japan to accurately identify the track of a TC moving over the ocean around the Okinawa Islands from 21 to 25 July 1853, and the track of a TC moving north over the East China Sea from 15 to 16 August 1863.

The results of the study show for the first time the usefulness of such marine data in identifying weather patterns after the mid-19th century in Asia, where there is much less meteorological data for that time period compared with Western countries. "It is projected that stronger TCs will hit Japan in the future due to global warming. The long-term data from our research is indispensable for knowing the variabilities of TC activities in the past and to prepare for future TCs," says Hisayuki Kubota.

###

Learning about health from trusted sources may help teens battle depression

PENN STATE

Research News

 

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Depression can be a common problem for teens and adolescents, and while many treatments exist, they don't always work for everyone. A new study found that feeling more informed about their health may help teens take better care of themselves, leading to less depressive symptoms.

The researchers also found that trust played a factor in whether receiving health information improved depression. The more that adolescents trusted their parents or teacher as a credible source of health information, the more likely they were to experience less depression.

Additionally, even though adolescents reported that they trusted traditional media -- like TV, radio and newspapers -- more than online content, only content from social media or websites resulted in actual changes in behavior.

Bu Zhong, associate professor of communications at Penn State, said the findings -- recently published in the journal Child: Care, Health and Development -- suggest that while adolescents are probably taught to be skeptical of online content, websites and social media have the potential to powerfully affect adolescent health.

"The kids weren't purposefully being misleading when they said they didn't trust information online, even though that information was ultimately linked with lower depression," Zhang said. "They were probably told by their parents and teachers to be wary of information found online or on social media. But our research found that online content has a strong impact on their health behavior and depression mitigation strategies, which are not found in the traditional media content."

According to the researchers, depression is one of the most common mental disorders among adolescents in China. In the United States, the National Institute of Mental Health reported that 13.3% of the U.S. population aged 12 to 17 in 2017 had at least one major depressive episode.

Additionally, previous work has shown that depression increases the risk of adolescents experiencing poorer school performance and social withdrawal, along with an increased risk of self-harm and suicide ideation.

"This study was actually inspired by my students, after several of them came to me really stressed out," Zhong said. "I know firsthand how widespread depression can be among students, so I was interested in what kind of health information people shared with the young people and if it can help them cope with depression."

The researchers recruited 310 adolescents from elementary, middle and high schools in North China for the study. Participants answered information about health information -- such as seminars, classes, pamphlets and other media -- they recently consumed, including its quality and whether the source and information were credible.

They also answered questions about their health, including their symptoms of depression and whether consuming health information led to changes in their behavior, such as whether they felt it helped them prevent disease and if it increased their likelihood to discuss and share health information with friends.

The researchers found that the older participants were, the more likely they were to be depressed. Additionally, participants with higher GPAs were also more likely to be depressed. Zhang said this could be because the longer students were in school, and the better their grades were, the more likely they were more likely to feel more pressure to succeed.

However, the more frequently participants used social media, the more likely they were to change their health behaviors, which led to less depression.

Lastly, adolescents felt more depressed when their mothers had a higher level of education, but less depressed when their fathers had a higher level of education. Zhong described this finding as the "tiger mom effect."

"These findings don't mean that a mom's education causes their kids' depression, but one interpretation could be that it may not be a good idea for moms to dominate their children's school life and push them too hard," Zhong said. "Kids may do much better at school and more importantly are less likely to experience stress or other depressive symptoms. Parents may learn from each other in educating their teen children."

Overall, the researchers said the results suggest that health information has the potential to be strategically used to help mitigate depression in teens and adolescents.

"Our research is interested in providing long-term health outcomes, not just temporary relief," Zhong said. "So we're looking for anything in addition to drugs, in addition to therapy, that can help people with their depression, and this offers another possibility. It may not be able to remove all the stressors causing teen depression, but it's possible we could equip adolescents with better health information gathering skills to help battle depression."

###

Juan Chen, South China University of Technology, collaborated with Zhong on this research.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

Bioinspired materials from dandelions

The air trapping capacity of dandelion clocks submerged in water has been measured in the lab for the first time at the University of Trento

UNIVERSITÀ DI TRENTO

CAPTION

Air-encapsulating elastic mechanism of submerged Taraxacum blowballs

CREDIT

University of Trento

 Fields are covered with dandelions in spring, a very common plant with yellow gold flowers and toothed leaves. When they wither, the flowers turn into fluffy white seed heads that, like tiny parachutes, are scattered around by the wind. Taraxacum officinale, that is its scientific name, inspired legends and poems and has been used for centuries as a natural remedy for many ailments.

Now, thanks to a study conducted at the University of Trento, dandelions will inspire new engineered materials. The air trapping capacity of dandelion clocks submerged in water has been measured in the lab for the first time. The discovery paves the way for the development of new and advanced devices and technologies that could be used in a broad range of applications, for example, to create devices or materials that retain air bubbles under water.

The study was coordinated by Nicola Pugno, professor of the University of Trento and coordinator of the Laboratory of Bio-inspired, Bionic, Nano, Meta Materials & Mechanics at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering.

The discovery was given international prominence by "Materials Today Bio", a multidisciplinary journal focused on the interface between biology and materials science, chemistry, physics, engineering, and medicine.

Nicola Pugno outlined how the research unfolded: "Diego Misseroni and I started to work on a discovery that my daughter made, in her first year in high school. She noticed that dandelion clocks, when submerged by water, turn silvery because they trap air. We have quantified this discovery. For the first time, we have measured the air trapping capacity of dandelion clocks in a laboratory setting. This paper demonstrated that kids and young adults can make significant discoveries by observing nature".

When submerged in water, the research team observed, the soft seed heads turn silver in color, become thinner and take on a rhombus-like shape. The team then developed an analytical model to measure the mechanical properties of the flower, in order to mimic them and create re-engineered dandelion-like materials.

Bioinspired engineering can explore different opportunities thanks to this discovery, such as miniaturized parachute-like elements to develop innovative devices and advanced, light and low-cost technological solutions to trap and transport air bubbles underwater. These materials could be used, for example, in underwater operations.

Air-encapsulating elastic mechanism of submerged Taraxacum blowballs (VIDEO)

The article "Air-encapsulating elastic mechanism of submerged Taraxacum blowballs", inspired by a discovery made by student Maria Consolata Pugno, was written with her for the scientific journal "Materials Today Bio" by Nicola Pugno and Diego Misseroni (Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering of the University of Trento).

The battle against hard-to-treat fungal infections

AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY

Systemic fungal infections are much rarer than other illnesses, but they are potentially deadly, with limited options for treatment. In fact, fungi are becoming increasingly resistant to the few drugs that are available, and infections are growing more common. A cover story in Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, details how scientists are working to improve our antifungal arsenal.

At present, there are only four types of antifungal drugs approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and some infections are resistant to those drugs, making surgery the only option for treatment, writes Senior Correspondent Bethany Halford. Fungi can be found almost everywhere, but only a few hundred species are able to infect humans, and most people's immune systems can fight them off. However, people with compromised immune systems (for instance, cancer patients being treated with certain chemotherapies) are at a higher risk for developing fungal infections. The FDA has not approved a drug from a new antifungal class in 20 years, and the ones available all have downsides, including drug resistance and kidney toxicity. This dearth of treatments has doctors concerned that the problem will only get worse as time goes on.

Creating a new antifungal drug is challenging because of the biological similarities between humans and fungi. Many molecules that are harmful to fungi are also harmful to people. Experts say that exploiting the differences between humans and fungi is key to developing new treatments; for example, fungal cells have walls, but human cells do not. In addition to developing new treatments, pharmaceutical researchers are working to improve established antifungal drugs to make them more potent and have fewer side effects. Although scientists and doctors are hopeful that new antifungals will be approved, establishing clinical trials has proven challenging because most of the people who get fungal infections are already very sick. However, the COVID-19 pandemic could change how pharmaceutical companies think about therapies for infectious diseases, prioritizing them in the future.

###

The article, "The Fight Against Fungi," is freely available here.

For more of the latest research news, register for our upcoming meeting, ACS Spring 2021. Journalists and public information officers are encouraged to apply for complimentary press registration by emailing us at newsroom@acs.org.

The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS' mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people. The Society is a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a specialist in scientific information solutions (including SciFinder® and STN®), its CAS division powers global research, discovery and innovation. ACS' main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.  

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org.  

Follow us: Twitter | Facebook