‘I wish they’d kill me’ – British POW reveals torture by Russians, and a flight home with Roman Abramovich

Ukrainian POWs pose for a picture with a national flag after a swap

Verity Bowman

September 25 2022 02:30 AM

One of the British prisoners of war released by Russia has described his brutal ordeal at the hands of Russian forces, where soldiers jumped on his body and broke most of his ribs, leaving him so injured that there was blood in his urine.

After returning to the UK on Thursday following a prisoner swap, John Harding said he wished he had been killed rather than tortured by Russian-backed militants.

“If I’d known how we’d be treated before we surrendered, I would’ve stayed and set up a sniper’s nest and just tried to take a few of them out before I got killed,” he told The Sun.

Harding was captured in May when his unit was forced to surrender after defending the besieged city of Mariupol.

He ended up being held in three different jails across the self-proclaimed separatist Donetsk People’s Republic, including one known as ‘The Dark Side’..

Harding was also put on trial and threatened with the death penalty.

He was eventually set free late on Wednesday alongside fellow Britons Shaun Pinner, Aiden Aslin, Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill in a deal reportedly negotiated in part by Roman Abramovich, the former owner of Chelsea Football Club.

Harding, Pinner and Aslin are all thought to have served in the Georgian Legion, a pro-Ukrainian volunteer unit, under Mamuka Mamulashvili in Mariupol.

Harding said the worst of his ordeal in captivity saw Russian soldiers put a bag over his head and cuff his hands behind his back. They then jumped on him, punched him and kicked him for over half an hour, breaking most of his ribs and leaving him passing blood when urinating.

“I thought, ‘I just wish they’d f**king kill me now,” Harding said. “That was the worst moment — the way they treated us was appalling.”

To get through it, he pretended to himself that he had been through worse. “In my head I just told myself: ‘I’ve been hit harder by my sister,’” he said.

He had been fighting in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region since 2018 after making Ukraine his home.

In the lead-up to his release, a bag was tied over his head and tape wrapped around his hands before he was packed into the back of a truck.

The group of prisoners then drove for around eight hours as they collected around 30 others, later loaded into another truck for a further 12 hours without a toilet break.

After arriving at a Russian airport they were then met by Saudi officials as part of the biggest prisoner transfer in the war to date.

A total of ten foreigners were released in the deal brokered by Saudi Arabia, including the five Britons, two US military veterans and a Moroccan, Swede and Croat.

A further 200 prisoners from Mariupol and the Azovstal Steel Plant were exchanged directly, while Vladimir Putin ally and oligarch Victor Medvedchuk and 55 Russian prisoners were returned.

Former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich


Harding said that Roman Abramovich welcomed them onto their flight out of Russia.

According to Harding, Abramovich identified himself to Pinner, while Harding spoke to Abramovich’s assistant who said the Russian had played a “key part” in their release.

Abramovich announced he would sell Chelsea on March 2, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The 55-year-old was then sanctioned by the UK government on March 10, with Downing Street claiming to have proven his links to Vladimir Putin.

“Shaun was chatting away to him about football for a long time and I was speaking to his assistant,” Harding said.

“She said Roman had played a key part in getting us back. It’s quite extraordinary to think he was involved - and I wouldn’t have even been able to tell you who he was by looking at him.

“He’s well respected by Ukrainians and massively by us now, too — he’s done a hell of a lot for us and we couldn’t thank him enough.”

 PLATONIC RELATIONSHIP

Study: Asexual relationships need same ingredients as any other relationship

Peer-Reviewed Publication

MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Many asexual individuals, those with little to no sexual attraction, are in long-term satisfying romantic relationships, but there has been little study on how and why they last and thrive. New research from Michigan State University found that, despite asexuals’ lack of or dislike for sexual attraction, the ingredients that make for a successful relationship among asexual individuals are virtually the same as those in any other relationship.

“Although asexuals don’t have the desire for sexual relationships, they nevertheless form romantic relationships and those connections look at least somewhat similar to non-asexuals’ romantic relationships,” said William Chopik, associate professor in MSU’s psychology department and coauthor of the study.

The study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, is among the largest studies of asexual individuals’ relationships ever conducted and the only one to examine what predicts commitment and longevity in their relationships. The study looked at a sample of 485 people who self-identified as on the asexual spectrum and are currently in a romantic relationship. This is one of the only published studies that allowed people to self-identify with any asexual spectrum label, in addition to allowing them to use any other sexual or romantic labels that fit.

“I sincerely hope that this study will more widely show the diversity of the asexual community, shed light on their experiences and show that being on the asexual spectrum does not preclude one from successful romantic relationships or love,” said coauthor and research associate Alexandra Brozowski.

The long-standing theory about what predicts who breaks up and who stays in relationships, called the Investment Model, says that people stay in relationships if they are happy and satisfied, if they have invested time and energy into the relationship and if they don’t have any other options. Many theories say that sex is a central part of romantic relationships, which doesn’t leave room for asexual relationships. 

“We found that the same ingredients predict success in these relationships, so they’re not weird, bizarre, worse than or much different at all from non-asexual people’s relationships.” Chopik said. “The hope is that this destigmatizes asexual people’s relationships as just as satisfied and common as non-asexual people’s relationships.”

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DOI

10.3389/fpsyg.2022.912978 

Deepest scientific ocean drilling sheds light on Japan’s next great earthquake

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN

 

IMAGE: THE DEEP SEA SCIENTIFIC DRILLING VESSEL CHIKYU, WHICH IN 2018 PERFORMED THE DEEPEST DRILLING OF A SUBDUCTION ZONE EARTHQUAKE FAULT. view more 

CREDIT: SATOSHI KAYA/FLICKR

Scientists who drilled deeper into an undersea earthquake fault than ever before have found that the tectonic stress in Japan’s Nankai subduction zone is less than expected, according to a study from researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and University of Washington.

The findings, published in the journal Geology, are a puzzle because the fault produces a great earthquake almost every century and was thought to be building for another big one. 

“This is the heart of the subduction zone, right above where the fault is locked, where the expectation was that the system should be storing energy between earthquakes,” said Demian Saffer, director of the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) who co-led the research and scientific mission that drilled the fault. “It changes the way we’re thinking about stress in these systems.”

Although the Nankai fault has been stuck for decades, the study shows that it is not yet showing major signs of pent-up tectonic stress. According to Saffer, that doesn’t alter the long-term outlook for the fault, which last ruptured in 1946 – when it caused a tsunami that killed thousands – and is expected to do so again during the next 50 years. 

Instead, the findings will help scientists home in on the link between tectonic forces and the earthquake cycle and potentially lead to better earthquake forecasts, both at Nankai and other megathrust faults such as Cascadia in the Pacific Northwest.

“Right now, we have no way of knowing if the big one for Cascadia – a magnitude 9 scale earthquake and tsunami – will happen this afternoon or 200 years from now,” said Harold Tobin, a researcher at the University of Washington who is the first author of the paper. “But I have some optimism that with more and more direct observations like this, we can start to recognize when something anomalous is occurring and that the risk of an earthquake is heightened in a way that could help people prepare.” 

Megathrust faults such as Nankai, and the tsunamis they generate, are among the most powerful and damaging on the globe, but scientists say they currently have no reliable way of knowing when and where the next big one will hit.

The hope is that by directly measuring the force felt between tectonic plates pushing on each other – tectonic stress – scientists can learn when a great earthquake is ready to happen. 

However, the nature of tectonics means that the great earthquake faults are found in deep ocean, miles under the seafloor, making them incredibly challenging to measure directly. Saffer and Tobin’s drilling expedition is the closest scientists have come.

Their record-breaking attempt took place in 2018 aboard a Japanese scientific drilling ship, the Chikyu, which drilled 2 miles into the tectonic plate before the borehole got too unstable to continue, a mile short of the fault. 

Nevertheless, the researchers gathered invaluable data about subsurface conditions near the fault, including stress. To do that, they measured how much the borehole changed shape as the Earth squeezed it from the sides, then pumped water to see what it took to force its walls back out. That told them the direction and strength of horizontal stress felt by the plate pushing on the fault.

Contrary to predictions, the horizontal stress expected to have built since the most recent great earthquake was close to zero, as if it had already released its pent-up energy.

The researchers suggested several explanations: It could be that the fault simply needs less pent-up energy than thought to slip in a big earthquake, or that the stresses are lurking nearer to the fault than the drilling reached. Or it could be that the tectonic push will come suddenly in the coming years. Either way, the researchers said the drilling showed the need for further investigation and long-term monitoring of the fault.

The research was funded by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program and the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology. UTIG is a research unit of UT Austin’s Jackson School of Geosciences.

Harold Tobin of the University Washington inspects drilling risers. Researchers used similar equipment during a record-breaking attempt to drill Japan’s Nankai fault in 2018 that was co-led by the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics.

CREDIT

Harold Tobin/University of Washington

A drilling riser aboard the scientific drilling vessel Chikyu. Dozens of risers were linked together to reach deeper into an earthquake fault than ever before. Led by researchers at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics and University of Washington, the scientific mission revealed that tectonic stress in Japan’s Nankai subduction zone was lower than expected.

CREDIT

Demian Saffer/University of Texas Institute for Geophysics

CAPTION

Demian Saffer, director of the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics (UTIG), during scientific ocean drilling at Japan’s Nankai earthquake fault.

CREDIT

Demian Saffer/University of Texas Institute for Geophysics

JOURNAL

Geology

DOI

10.1130/G49639.1 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Direct constraints on in situ stress state from deep drilling into the Nankai subduction zone, Japan

Tonga volcano blast was unusual, could even warm the Earth

By MADDIE BURAKOFF

September 22, 2022

In this photo provided by New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupts near Tonga in the South Pacific Ocean on Jan. 14, 2015. The volcano shot millions of tons of water vapor high up into the atmosphere according to a study published Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022, in the journal Science. Researchers estimate the event raised the amount of water in the stratosphere - the second layer of the atmosphere, above the range where humans live and breathe - by around 5%. 

(AP Photo/New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade)


NEW YORK (AP) — When an undersea volcano erupted in Tonga in January, its watery blast was huge and unusual — and scientists are still trying to understand its impacts.

The volcano, known as Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai, shot millions of tons of water vapor high up into the atmosphere, according to a study published Thursday in the journal Science.

The researchers estimate the eruption raised the amount of water in the stratosphere — the second layer of the atmosphere, above the range where humans live and breathe — by around 5%.

Now, scientists are trying to figure out how all that water could affect the atmosphere, and whether it might warm Earth’s surface over the next few years.

“This was a once-in-a-lifetime event,” said lead author Holger Voemel, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado.

Big eruptions usually cool the planet. Most volcanoes send up large amounts of sulfur, which blocks the sun’s rays, explained Matthew Toohey, a climate researcher at the University of Saskatchewan who was not involved in the study.

The Tongan blast was much soggier: The eruption started under the ocean, so it shot up a plume with much more water than usual. And since water vapor acts as a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, the eruption will probably raise temperatures instead of lowering them, Toohey said.

It’s unclear just how much warming could be in store.

Karen Rosenlof, a climate scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration who was not involved with the study, said she expects the effects to be minimal and temporary.

“This amount of increase might warm the surface a small amount for a short amount of time,” Rosenlof said in an email.

The water vapor will stick around the upper atmosphere for a few years before making its way into the lower atmosphere, Toohey said. In the meantime, the extra water might also speed up ozone loss in the atmosphere, Rosenlof added.

But it’s hard for scientists to say for sure, because they’ve never seen an eruption like this one.

The stratosphere stretches from around 7.5 miles to 31 miles (12 km to 50 km) above Earth and is usually very dry, Voemel explained.

Voemel’s team estimated the volcano’s plume using a network of instruments suspended from weather balloons. Usually, these tools can’t even measure water levels in the stratosphere because the amounts are so low, Voemel said.

Another research group monitored the blast using an instrument on a NASA satellite. In their study, published earlier this summer, they estimated the eruption to be even bigger, adding around 150 million metric tons of water vapor to the stratosphere — three times as much as Voemel’s study found.

Voemel acknowledged that the satellite imaging might have observed parts of the plume that the balloon instruments couldn’t catch, making its estimate higher.

Either way, he said, the Tongan blast was unlike anything seen in recent history, and studying its aftermath may hold new insights into our atmosphere.

___

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Hurricane Fiona: Canada hit by 'historic, extreme event'

Publish

Watch: Storm Fiona hits Canada's Atlantic coastline

Hundreds of thousands of people have been left without power, after Storm Fiona hit Canada's coastline.

Fiona was downgraded from a hurricane to a tropical storm on Friday.

But parts of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick still experienced torrential rain and winds of up to 160km/h (99mph), with trees and powerlines knocked down.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the situation was critical, and promised to provide support through the army.

Officials have yet to share reports of fatalities or serious injuries, but authorities are dealing with extensive flooding.

In a briefing Mr Trudeau described Fiona as "a very powerful and dangerous storm" and said the army will be deployed to help with assessment and clean-up efforts. His government has already responded positively to a request by Nova Scotia authorities for assistance.

"If there is anything the federal government can do to help, we will be there," he said, adding that he would no longer travel to Japan to attend the funeral of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Tropical storm warnings were issued for the Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and New Brunswick, as well as in parts of Quebec.

The country's eastern region could receive up to 10in (25cm) of rain, increasing the risk of flash flooding.

IMAGE SOURCE,REUTERS

Image caption,

A man attempts to protect the Nova Scotia power building in Halifax, Nova Scotia

In Nova Scotia, shelters were prepared in Halifax and Cape Breton for people to take cover ahead of the storm.

"We have been through these types of events before, but my fear is, not to this extent," said Amanda McDougall, mayor of Cape Breton Regional Municipality. "The impacts are going to be large, real and immediate."

In Port aux Basques, with a population of 4,067 on the southwest tip of Newfoundland, intense flooding saw some homes and office buildings washed out to sea, local journalist Rene Roy, told CBC. The area is under a state of emergency.

"This is hands down the most terrifying thing I've ever seen in my life," Mr Roy said.

He added that many homes were left as "a pile of rubble in the ocean right now", adding: "There is an apartment building that's literally gone. There are entire streets that are gone."

Officials later confirmed that at least 20 homes had been lost.

And the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said a woman was rescued after being "tossed into the water as her home collapsed" in the area. They said another report of a women being swept out from her basement had been received, but conditions remained too dangerous to conduct a search.

Power companies have warned that it could take days to restore electricity, as wind speeds remain too high to start work on downed power lines.

Severe hurricanes in Canada are rare, as storms lose their energy once they hit colder waters in the north and become post-tropical instead. But pressure in the region is predicted to be historically low as Storm Fiona hits, making way for a heavier storm.

Nova Scotia was last battered by a tropical cyclone in 2003 with Hurricane Juan, a category two storm that killed two people and heavily damaged structures and vegetation.

Meteorologist Bob Robichaud warned on Friday afternoon that Fiona will be bigger than Juan, and stronger than 2019's Hurricane Dorian, which also reached the shores of Nova Scotia.

Fiona had already wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic earlier this week, with many still left without power or running water.

Florida also faces a hurricane threat as tropical storm Ian strengthened as it moved over the Caribbean on Saturday. It could approach Florida early next week as a major hurricane.

Ian's projected path takes it just south of Jamaica, over western Cuba and into Florida, the hurricane centre said.

Florida Keys and South Florida could be hit by heavy rains on Monday, according to forecasters.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Friday, freeing up funding and emergency services in advance of the storm.

Storm Fiona hits eastern Canada, leaving 'total devastation'

Powerful storm Fiona lashed into eastern Canada on Saturday, cutting power to thousands and washing houses into the sea as it pummeled the area with fierce winds and rains "like nothing we've ever seen," police said.


Storm Fiona hits eastern Canada, leaving 'total devastation'

© Vaughan Merchant, The Canadian Press, AP

Two women were swept into the ocean in Newfoundland, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police reported. One was rescued, but the other is still missing.

Mayor Brian Button of Channel-Port aux Basques, at the southwestern tip of Newfoundland, told CBC News that the scene there was one of "total devastation," adding, "this has become bigger, and worse, than we had imagined."

Rene Roy, a newspaper editor in Channel-Port aux Basques, said, "These are the strongest winds anyone in the community has ever seen. Several houses have been washed into the sea."

As of midday, some 500,000 homes were left without power across the region as the storm pummeled a wide area, felling countless trees and ripping roofs from buildings.

"The power lines are down everywhere," Erica Fleck, assistant chief of Halifax Regional Fire and Emergency, told CBC. "It's not safe to be on the roads."

Although downgraded to a post-tropical cyclone, Fiona still packed hurricane-force winds of 80 miles (130 kilometers) per hour as it barreled into Canada after earlier battering the Caribbean, according to meteorologists.

Nova Scotia hard hit

The storm first made landfall in Nova Scotia province around 3:00 am (0600 GMT), according to the Canadian Hurricane Center (CHC).

In Nova Scotia, 384,000 households were without electricity by midday Saturday, Nova Scotia Power reported, while New Brunswick reported 32,000 and Prince Edward Island some 82,000.


"Trees have come down on homes, trees have come down on cars, there's buildings that have collapsed," Fire Chief Lloyd MacIntosh in the Nova Scotia town of North Sydney told CBC.

Police in Charlottetown, the capital of Prince Edward Island, posted images of tangles of downed power lines and roofs punctured by felled trees.

"It's incredible," said Charlottetown mayor Philip Brown on Radio-Canada TV. "It's stronger than Hurricane Juan in 2003."

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said in a statement that "it will take time for Nova Scotia to recover. I just ask everyone for their patience."

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted: "I want you to know that we're here for you... Our government stands ready to support the provinces with additional resources."

Canada had issued severe weather warnings for swaths of its eastern coast, advising people to lay in supplies for at least 72 hours.

Rainfall of up to 4.9 inches (125 millimeters) was recorded in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, the CHC said, with waves of up to 40 feet (12 meters) hitting Nova Scotia and western Newfoundland.

The CHC said conditions would improve in western Nova Scotia and eastern New Brunswick later Saturday and over southwestern Newfoundland and Iles-de-la-Madeleine late Saturday night.

Puerto Rico struggling

Fiona had skirted Bermuda a day earlier, with residents battening down and authorities calling for people to remain inside as strong winds raked over the British territory. No fatalities or major damage were reported as the storm passed roughly 100 miles to the west of the island.

Bermuda, whose economy is fueled by international finance and tourism, is wealthy compared with most Caribbean countries, and structures must be built to strict planning codes to withstand storms. Some have done so for centuries.

Fiona killed at least four people in Puerto Rico earlier this week, according to US media, while two deaths were reported in the Dominican Republic and one in the French overseas department of Guadeloupe.

President Joe Biden declared a state of emergency in Puerto Rico, a US territory that is still struggling to recover from Hurricane Maria five years ago.

In the Dominican Republic, President Luis Abinader declared three eastern provinces to be disaster zones.

As the Caribbean licked its wounds from Fiona, Cuba, Jamaica and Florida were bracing Saturday for the arrival of tropical storm Ian, which is expected to gain power in coming days to reach "at or near major hurricane strength," the NHC said.

In anticipation of the storm, NASA called off the scheduled Tuesday launch of its historic uncrewed mission to the Moon.

(AFP)

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