Twitter hinders ‘troll hunters’ battling climate denial

Research shows disinformation about climate change is common online 

- Copyright AFP ISSOUF SANOGO

Roland Lloyd Parry with Anuj Chopra in Washington
By AFP
Published May 31, 2023

For years, a band of science-loving “troll hunters” hounded climate change deniers off Twitter — but Elon Musk’s takeover has upended their efforts, with many ousted accounts back, pushing fresh disinformation.

Despite the threat climate change poses to the planet, disinformation about it has gone largely unsanctioned on Twitter. But a secretive global community of about 25 scientists and activists, calling themselves Team Ninja Trollhunters (TNT), found a roundabout way to tackle it.

Since its founding in 2019, TNT claims to have secured the suspension of some 600 accounts of climate change denialists by reporting them for other infringements, including hate speech, that are officially recognized by the platform as valid grounds for termination.

“If they’re saying something racist or offensive or misogynist, we can get them kicked off,” one Germany-based TNT member, a 45-year-old scientist who asked to be identified as Tom, told AFP in a Zoom interview.

Like other TNT members interviewed by AFP, he requested that his real identity be withheld to avoid online harassment.

TNT members showed AFP archives documenting their campaigns, including a spreadsheet logging thousands of Twitter accounts they reported on grounds ranging from spam and harassment to hate speech and threats. They also shared screenshots confirming numerous suspensions.

“We make sure that we’re as under the radar as possible… to get (climate) deniers and ‘sceptics’ and just generally nasty people reported on Twitter,” a Canada-based member named Peter told AFP.

“We’re more effective if we’re very quiet about it. These deniers are quite often very violent in their responses to climate misinformation being corrected. Intimidation and abuse are very common.”

– ‘Opened the floodgates’ –

That approach appeared to work -– before Musk’s turbulent $44 billion acquisition of Twitter last October. Research by monitoring groups indicates a spike in misinformation on the platform as moderation was gutted and a paid verification system boosted conspiracy theorists.

Adding to the turmoil, self-proclaimed free speech absolutist Musk has restored what researchers estimate are tens of thousands of accounts once suspended for violations, including incitement to violence, harassment and misinformation.

Twitter’s press office and members of its sustainability team who were laid off after the takeover declined to comment.

In one example, TNT reported a Canada-based climate change denier for repeated threatening and offensive behaviour. An online archive of the Twitter account shows it branded climate change a scam and ridiculed activists and scientists to thousands of followers.

“You can call it trolling, I call it having fun with idiot climate alarmists,” he wrote in one exchange.

The account was suspended but the same user appeared to have returned with a different handle, posting “I’m back” in October 2022, and resumed retweeting material denying the causes of climate change.

“We got some fairly big accounts removed” but many came back “when Elon Musk kind of opened the floodgates again,” said Tom.

“We’ve had to change tactics” — less reporting of abusive accounts and more debunking of science claims, he added. “It’s a real struggle to keep up.”

Among other accounts targeted by TNT, a prominent US climate change denier was suspended in 2021 for “spreading misleading and potentially harmful information related to Covid-19”, according to a screenshot posted by one of his followers.

Spreading false information about Covid-19 “is fairly common for science-denial accounts: there’s a lot of overlap due to conspiracy-thinking tendencies for the fact-adverse,” Peter said.

The user returned with a new handle before the takeover and now has a “verified” checkmark, available for sale under Musk. He has posted regularly using the popular denialist hashtag ClimateScam, peddling misleading claims on topics such as arctic ice, temperatures and droughts.

– ‘Hateful conduct’ –

But the TNT’s fight continues.

Despite the reported rise in hate speech on Musk’s Twitter, they scored a rare success this year, successfully booting off a prolific Australia-based tweeter of climate misinformation — on the grounds of “hateful conduct”, according to a screenshot published by a TNT member.

His tweets included claims that the Earth is cooling and that carbon dioxide does not cause warming. The member who reported the account told AFP the tweet for which it was suspended was about “immigration into the UK”.

The group has been prompted to defend its tactics as some TNT members are themselves confrontational, aiming to provoke their targets into stepping over the line.

In one exchange, a TNT member told a prominent climate change denier he sounded like “a lobotomized cackling moron”.

“We’re going after accounts that are doing things that are reportable,” Peter insisted. “We’re not trolling people.”

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

US judge allows potential damages for distress of Boeing MAX victims

BOEING MADE EXPENSIVE SAFETY SOFTWARE 'OPTIONAL'


By AFP
Published May 31, 2023

Family members from the Ethiopian Airlines crash on a Boeing 737 MAX can seek damages for distress suffered in their final moments

- Copyright AFP/File Shelby Tauber

Family members of victims who died in a Boeing 737 MAX crash can seek compensation for the emotional distress their loved ones experienced before the fatal incident, according to a US ruling.

In an order late Tuesday, US District Judge Jorge Alonso rejected Boeing’s arguments to exclude such potential damages in a case involving dozens of family members related to victims on Ethiopian Airlines flight 302.

This was the second of two MAX crashes that together claimed 346 lives.

“A jury could reasonably infer from the evidence that will be presented at trial that the passengers on ET 302 perceived that they were going to crash, horrifically, to their certain death,” said Alonso, a district judge in the Northern District of Illinois.

A trial is set to begin on June 20.

Boeing had argued that victims’ families should not be able to seek compensation because the MAX victims had no time to suffer, as they died immediately.

But Alonso said: “There is sufficient evidence to support a reasonable inference that these passengers experienced pre-impact fright and terror.”

“Therefore, the Court is not inclined to bar evidence of how contemplation of that emotional distress affects the plaintiffs’ grief,” he added.

He ruled that surviving family members can seek damages for their emotional pain, due to the particular distress their loved ones experienced in their final moments.

Robert Clifford, an attorney representing victims’ families, applauded the ruling.

“Boeing’s victims undeniably suffered horrific emotional distress, pain and suffering, and physical impact and injury while they endured extreme G-forces, braced for impact, knew the airplane was malfunctioning, and ultimately plummeted nose-down to the ground,” he said in a statement.

“We look forward to upcoming trials to present this evidence to a jury and ensure Boeing is held fully accountable,” Clifford added.

A Boeing spokesperson said the company is “deeply sorry” to the victims’ families.

“We acknowledged the terrible impact of these tragic accidents and made an upfront commitment to fully and fairly compensate every family who suffered a loss,” the company said.

Boeing added that it has kept its commitment in recent years as it settled “a significant majority of claims” and will continue to work to constructively resolve the remaining cases

Op-Ed: Manchin’s pipeline has no place in the US debt limit deal

By Karen Graham
Published May 31, 2023

 - Copyright AFP OLIVIER DOULIERY

Attaching a controversial pipeline to the debt ceiling deal is a cheap shot to environmentalists and Democratic lawmakers.

On Saturday, right after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) reached a secret agreement with President Biden on the debt ceiling, McCarthy called a little-known congresswoman about a once obscure energy project.

“We got Mountain Valley Pipeline done,” McCarthy told Rep. Carol Miller (R-W.Va.), according to people familiar with the conversation.

Getting the controversial pipeline championed by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) into the debt ceiling deal came as a surprise to me and a hell of a lot of other people, including environmentalists, and lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, spent Tuesday gloating on the radio show, “Talkline,” In an interview, he said, “All of a sudden, [the White House] did their job, they negotiated. And Kevin McCarthy did his job by putting something first and starting this negotiation. So, I applaud both sides.”

The Washington Post says House Republicans and their aides also played a key role in securing language in the debt ceiling deal to expedite the project’s completion, according to people close to the talks, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private deliberations.

The whole deal, in my opinion, is a kick in the face to many groups in Virginia and elsewhere who challenged the pipeline in court and were successful in getting the permits struck down,

CNN News is reporting that as recently as last month, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit had struck down permits for the project on the grounds that they violate the Clean Water Act.

“Literally, they are changing the rules as we are playing the game,” Crystal Cavalier-Keck, co-founder of indigenous environmental justice group 7 Directions of Service, told reporters on a Tuesday call.

“Singling out the Mountain Valley Pipeline for approval in a vote about our nation’s credit limit is an egregious act,” Peter Anderson, Virginia policy director with Appalachian Voices, said in a statement Sunday.

And by the way, Virginia lawmakers were among the most vocal in opposing its inclusion in the bill. The 303-mile pipeline would bring gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said he will offer an amendment to strip the pipeline from the deal, as did several House Democrats representing Virginia: Reps. Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, Abigail Spanberger, Bobby Scott, and Jennifer Wexton.

“Senator Kaine is extremely disappointed by the provision of the bill to greenlight the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia, bypassing the normal judicial and administrative review process every other energy project has to go through,” a Kaine spokesperson told The Hill in an email.

I am pissed at President Joe Biden, too, If this outrageous charade called the Democratic process is allowed to continue, he might as well forget about his climate crisis goals. You cannot suspend the rules for one company while everyone else has to play by those rules.

If that pipeline is allowed to go through, our nation will be locked into more years of fossil-fuel dependency.

____________________________________________________

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Canadian businesses see a rise in LinkedIn related scams

By Dr. Tim Sandle
Published May 31, 2023

Image by Tim Sandle, of a computer being used in a workplace.

According to research by NordLayer, a network security solution for businesses, more than half of businesses in Canada (59 percent) experienced at least one LinkedIn scam this year. The most affected were larger companies (65 percent of those polled). Furthermore, 58 percent of medium and 31 percent of small companies have experienced a scam or other fraudulent activity.

Larger companies tend to be targeted the most often due to their data and value. They also have larger networks and databases, which makes them especially vulnerable to attack if their security measures are not up to par.

Almost half of Canadian companies (43 percent) are also aware of a scam on LinkedIn using their organization’s brand name. This type of falsification scam was the most prevalent among big companies (53 percent).

Of these nefarious practices, phishing attempts were the most popular form of scam (at 47 percent). Consequently the interruption to services (45 percent) was the leading outcome of LinkedIn scams.

Other forms of scam include fake job offers (41 percent), fake technology support as well as requests to connect from an unknown person with a suspicious link in the message (38 percent each).

The role played by scammers was to seek information and money or to ruin reputations. Many of these actions were targeted at employees, who are considered to be the weakest links in the cybersecurity chain.

Here Canadian companies named interruption to services (45 percent) and stolen/damaged client contacts (42 percent) as the major service disruptors. Moreover, they also experienced stolen/damaged data (41 percent) and damaged reputation (38 percent).

Based on the attack mode it is important that firms educate their employees about the types of scams that exist and how to recognize them. Companies may also encourage their employees to use two-factor authentication.

It remains important for firms to monitor all activity on their business’s LinkedIn accounts. This means examining the accounts for suspicious activity, such as unauthorized logins or changes to account information.

To arrive at the data set, NordLayer surveyed 500 companies in three countries: the U.S., the U.K., and Canada between March 15 and 25, 2023. Respondents were asked a set of questions about LinkedIn scams in the business-to-business industry. The Canadian portion of the data was extracted and the core findings supplied to Digital Journal.

Rebuilding a school in Ukraine with 3D printing technology


By Dr. Tim Sandle
Published May 31, 2023

There were days of heavy fighting in Krestchenivka, a village recently recaptured from Russian troops in southern Ukraine - Copyright AFP -

In Ukraine over two thousand schools in Ukraine have been damaged in the war, and 330 were destroyed due to the full-scale invasion. A rapid response to the problem of insufficient educational infrastructure in the country is needed. Advances in digital technology are providing a solution.

Team4UA, a humanitarian organization operating on the ground in Ukraine, is bringing technologies into the humanitarian emergency response in Ukraine. This includes implementing technology solutions for the coordination of humanitarian assistance as well as a programme for rebuilding houses, schools, and infrastructure using 3D printing technology.

One of the big projects involves a school and this is set to be the largest one-story educational facility in the world, built with an on-site 3D construction printer. The construction process will last about five weeks and be completed at the beginning of June 2023. The new additional school building is expected to be opened for 100 students in January 2024.

As well as being the largest structure, Lviv School No23 will also be the first educational institution in Ukraine and Europe to be printed on a construction 3D printer. The educational building will have one floor, which will house classrooms, teachers’ rooms, bathrooms, and a hall with an inclusive space capable of accommodating all categories of students, including children with special needs.

3D printing technology has advantages over conventional construction. In particular, construction using a 3D printer is ten times faster and requires the involvement of only two operators. It also stands that 3D technologies allow more accurate and efficient use of resources, reducing material costs.

The charity behind the effort – Team4UA – was founded by Jean-Christophe Bonis and initiated the project with the support of the international technological, humanitarian fund Humanitarian Innovative Technologies (HIT) in partnership with the Lviv City Council.

Supporting the project is Dominique Piotet, a French American digital transformation expert. Piotet says: “We are built on humanity and compassion. We are driven by edgy technology and its high impact on the future of the people and the world.” He says, “We are here to make a global impact, scale with high growth potential, and seek key investors for this extremely innovative project plus, we aim above the mark to HIT the target.”

Another partner is the Danish 3D construction company COBOD and the Danish construction company 3DCP Group, which will lead the printer’s operations on the ground. CEMARK, a CRH company, provides cement for the 3D printing concrete mix. 90 percent of the materials needed for construction are made in Ukraine.

Going forwards, the help of 3D printers, residential housing, offices, factories, infrastructure, bridges, and other structures can be rebuilt much faster than any other construction method can do.

AI tools threaten to upend ad industry

By AFP
Published May 31, 2023

Will AI torpedo the ad industry?

 - Copyright GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP DAVID MCNEW

Jules BONNARD with Carole GUIRADO

Data-driven algorithms supercharged the advertising industry by enabling precisely targeted campaigns, but new AI tools may be about to shake the sector once again.

Some brands are dipping their toes in the AI waters, like Coca-Cola, which has invited people to create AI works using “iconic creative assets from the Coca-Cola digital archives”.

Others are using it to create a social media buzz — fashion firm Stradivarius recently pushed out AI images based on one of its collections.

But the full force of the AI revolution may be felt most keenly in the engine room of the ad industry — the agencies who conceive and design the campaigns.

“We’re only at the beginning,” said Fernando Pascual, vice-president of design at Spanish company Seedtag.

His firm specialises in “contextual” advertising, which they claim will enable digital ads to blend in with the website where they appear.

So a car ad might show the vehicle driving through a glass and steel cityscape on a business-orientated website, but the same car might be seen cruising past peaceful suburban gardens on a family-friendly website.

“The main element of advertising is still anchored in reality,” he told AFP.

“We’re just helping our clients to be more relevant.”

Seedtag is far from the only ad agency promoting its AI chops.

But photographers and models are among those left wondering about their future livelihoods.

– ‘Uproar’ –

French lingerie firm Undiz recently found itself at the centre of the debate.

Billboards in brilliant blue with eerily beautiful models gliding underwater in the firm’s swimwear have appeared across France in recent weeks.

Only, there were no real people in these posters.

The models were created by an ad agency using image generator Midjourney, with real images of the swimming costumes added later.

“We wanted to achieve a slightly dreamlike, intriguing result,” Undiz director Isolde Andouard told AFP.

Andouard admitted that the campaign had caused “uproar” among models and photographers.

Thomas Serer, a popular French content creator and photographer, wrote on Twitter that he was a fan of AI but in this case “using AI adds zero value” apart from allowing the firm to save money.

Andouard was quick to deny the approach was simply about cutting costs, saying the AI campaign was rolled out alongside traditional photos.

– ‘Non-event’ –

The reaction to the Undiz campaign suggests the path to AI domination will be far from smooth.

And they are not the only company to have received criticism.

Jeans brand Levi’s trumpeted a partnership with Dutch studio Lalaland.ia in March with the promise of using AI models to boost diversity on its online shop.

After an outcry, the firm put out another statement saying its announcement “did not properly represent certain aspects of the programme” and promised to continue working with models and photographers.

There are plenty who doubt that such upfront uses will ever really go industry-wide.

Olivier Bomsel, an economist specialising in intellectual property and advertising, said the arrival of AI-manipulated images was a “non-event” and amounted to just a new kind of digital editing.

And as AI tools get more widespread, he said, the people whose images provide the training data will be able to claim fees that will eventually “cost as much as using a model”.

And the arrival of AI behemoths Meta and Google into the space is sending heads spinning.

Both firms announced in May a series of simplified AI tools that promise to allow anyone to design ad campaigns just using simple phrases as prompts.

It remains to be seen whether this will give ad agencies a shiny new plaything — or torpedo their business models entirely.

Op-Ed: El Cheapo AI extinction hype — Media psych-out be damned

By Paul Wallis
Published May 30, 2023

A flurry of Chinese companies are rushing to develop AI services following the launch of US-based OpenAI's ChatGPT - Copyright AFP/File HECTOR RETAMAL

According to the “people” running AI, it’s a risk of extinction to humanity. These slapped-together. clapped-out language databases with search functions are the big threat.

Never mind a pole-to-pole sewer of a planet. Never mind corrupt, servile, talentless politicians for hire. Never mind boring billionaires buying headlines for their trivial pursuits at the expense of everything else. Never mind high school-level basic thermodynamics in the atmosphere. Never mind a possible nuclear war.

It’s AI that’s the problem, really and truly it is, they say.

Sure, it is.

Like hell.

The problem is that you don’t do your jobs.

If this load of third-rate chatbot babble is a threat of extinction, it can just get in line with all the others.

The most likely cause and outcome of all this doom about AI is basic media marketing. There’s a cliffhanger. Maintain interest in something that doesn’t deliver anything but talk about itself. What will happen? Will our selfless heroes ride to the rescue on their fiery press releases?

Guess.

Of course not.

Real people working with these clockwork cretins will find workarounds. In case you haven’t noticed, real tech people are anything but impressed. Most of this utter crud is old tech repackaged. Bot culture will stagnate when they finally realize nobody listens to bots. Pitiful algorithmic online ads will bleat on to a non-existent audience. It’ll take them about a decade to figure it out.

The real danger comes from people who tolerate this abject drivel. In terms of real working artificial intelligence, this ain’t it. All of this stuff is basically cranked out using decades-old software ideas. The only difference is that this is multi-level software.

Consider:

If this tech is so dangerous, what’s being done about it by those controlling it? Apparently, nothing. Why not? If there are problems, why aren’t you fixing them?

Let’s try another, slightly less tolerant, perspective.

Nobody has to put up with it:If this load of putrid fetal-stage primitive AI garbage causes any problems at all for anyone at all, you’re liable. Try telling a court you’re not.
If AI goes down, you’re going with it first. The markets don’t like risk for no returns.
Failure to deliver advertised services by AI means you’re in breach of any type of business contract.
Nobody gives a damn how rich and godlike you think you are.
The world will be only too happy to bury you and your hype at the slightest excuse. One US civil case can kill you.

Capiche?

Get it right. That’s all you need to do. Get this wrong and you’re gonna need a new god.

_______________________________________________________

Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.

EU, US ready common code of conduct on artificial intelligence

Blinken said Western partners felt the "fierce urgency" to act following the emergence of AI - Copyright AFP Ludovic MARIN

Marc Preel with Shaun Tandon in Oslo

AFP
Published May 31, 2023

The European Union and the United States said Wednesday that they would soon release a voluntary code of conduct on artificial intelligence, hoping to develop common standards among democracies as China makes rapid gains.

Both political and technology industry leaders have been warning of the growing risks as AI takes off, with potentially wide-ranging effects on privacy and other civil liberties.

After talks with EU officials in Sweden, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that Western partners felt the “fierce urgency” to act and would ask “like-minded countries” to join the voluntary code of conduct.

“There’s almost always a gap when new technologies emerge,” Blinken said, with “the time it takes for governments and institutions to figure out how to legislate or regulate”.

European Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager added that a draft would be put forward “within weeks”.

“We think it’s really important that citizens can see that democracies can deliver,” she said.

She voiced hope “to do that in the broadest possible circle — with our friends in Canada, in the UK, in Japan, in India, bringing as many onboard as possible”.

Sam Altman, whose firm OpenAI created the popular ChatGPT bot, took part in the talks of the Trade and Technology Council between the EU and the United States, hosted this year in the northern Swedish city of Lulea.

The forum was set up in 2021 to try to ease trade frictions after the turbulent US presidency of Donald Trump but has since set its sights largely on artificial intelligence.

In a joint statement released by the White House and the European Commission, the two sides called AI a “transformative technology with great promise for our people, offering opportunities to increase prosperity and equity”.

“But in order to seize the opportunities it presents, we must mitigate its risks,” it said.

It added that experts from the two sides would work on “cooperation on AI standards and tools for trustworthy AI and risk management”.

They also discussed how to work together on sixth-generation mobile technology, an area in which Europeans have taken an early lead.

– China concerns –

The EU has been moving forward on the world’s first regulations on AI, which would ban biometric surveillance and ensure human control of the technologies, though the rules would not enter into force before 2025 at the earliest.

China has also discussed regulations but Western powers fear that Beijing, with its growing prowess in the field and willingness to export to fellow authoritarian countries, could effectively set global standards.

While concerns have risen about China in the European Union, the bloc as a whole has yet to take as assertive a stance as the US has, with French President Emmanuel Macron recently leading a major business delegation to the world’s second-largest economy.

But Blinken played down differences between the US and European positions on China, saying that “None of us are looking for a Cold War”.

“On the contrary, we all benefit from trade and investment with China, but as opposed to de-coupling, we are focused on de-risking,” he said.

– Rising wonder of AI –

The United States has made no serious effort to rein in AI despite rising calls for regulation, including by some in the tech industry.

Technology leaders, including Altman, warned in a joint statement Tuesday that AI could put the world at risk without regulation.

“Mitigating the risk of extinction from AI should be a global priority alongside other societal-scale risks such as pandemics and nuclear war,” they wrote.

ChatGPT burst into the spotlight late last year as it demonstrated an ability to generate essays, poems and conversations through minimal input.

Hoping to demonstrate both the strengths and risks of AI, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on Wednesday delivered a speech to parliament partly written by ChatGPT.

“Even if it didn’t always hit the nail on the head, both in terms of the details of the government’s work programme and punctuation… it is both fascinating and terrifying what it is capable of,” she said.

The Computer and Communications Industry Association, which represents major technology firms, in a statement welcomed the “heightened, pointed transatlantic engagement” on AI at the meeting in Sweden.

But it reiterated its opposition to any EU fees or actions against foreign tech companies.

Countries tussle at ‘rocky’ global plastic talks

By AFP
Published May 31, 2023

Plastic waste has become an environmental challenge across the world - 

Copyright AFP/File TIMUR MATAHARI

Kelly MACNAMARA

Negotiators charged with hammering out a global treaty to end plastic pollution were warned there was “no time to lose” on Wednesday, after progress was slowed by two days of procedural debates that campaigners blamed on large producer countries.

Representatives of 175 nations have gathered in Paris for the second in five rounds of negotiations aimed at reaching a historic legally-binding agreement covering the entire plastics life cycle by next year.

But halfway through the five-day meeting, countries have struggled to dig into a range of substantial issues as they race to greenlight the creation of a tentative first draft this week, so it can be ready for the next round of talks in November.

Frustrations bubbled up on Wednesday after two days of delays as nations tussled over procedural rules, as large producer nations, including fossil fuel supplier Saudi Arabia, as well as China and India, resisted the idea the deal could be decided by a vote.

“We are suffering the effects of pollution due to unsustainable production and consumption of plastics, insufficient waste management and insufficient recycling capabilities,” the representative for Samoa, on behalf of small island nations, told the meeting.

“We have no time to lose. Now we have less time to lose.”

A document outlining policy actions up for debate lists bans on single use plastic items, restrictions on certain chemicals, cuts in production and consumption, as well as ideas around extending the responsibility of producers over the waste of their products.

Annual plastics production has more than doubled in 20 years to 460 million tonnes, and is on track to triple within four decades.

With less than 10 percent recycled and more than a fifth dumped or burned illegally, environmental groups are pushing for the treaty to both deal with the pollution and curb the scale of production.

“The world needs urgently an international plastic treaty, one that regulates production, one that addresses pollution from its very source,” said Li Shuo of Greenpeace.

Dynamics between countries echoes those in international climate negotiations, where “big producer countries are on the defence”, he told AFP, adding that producers want to focus on pollution and not cuts in how much plastic is made.

– ‘Chasm’ –

Delays this week have caused concern because there are only 15 more days of negotiations in three rounds of talks left before the treaty is due to be agreed.

Negotiations went late into the night Tuesday, with observers from the Earth Negotiations Bulletin describing the stalemate in the talks on Tuesday as a “chasm widened” between those in support of consensus decision making — which can be more protracted — and those who want to allow voting to break any deadlock.

With the Paris meeting set to wrap up on Friday, countries eventually agreed to take note of the differences of opinion and move on.

Li Shuo said that while the talks had got off to a “very rocky start”, some concerns over voting were understandable for this kind of global treaty, adding ultimately nations were determined to come to an agreement by consensus and on time.

Concern over plastics has surged as fragmented microplastics have been found on some of the world’s highest mountains, in the depths of the oceans, in the stomachs of sea birds and in human blood, breast milk and placentas.

Plastic also contributes to global warming, accounting for 3.4 percent of global emissions in 2019, according to the OECD.

Saudi astronaut shares Makkah, Grand Mosque from outer space

Published: 27 May 2023 - 


The Peninsula Online

Doha, Qatar: Rayyanah Barnawi, Saudi’s first female astronaut and one of the two Saudi astronauts recently sent to space, shared footage of Makkah as seen from outer space.

On her official social media account, the Saudi astronaut posted a video showing them passing over Makkah from space.

“This is the Grand Mosque,” noted Barnawi as she zoomed into a tiny glowing dot in the distance before exclaiming “look at how bright Makkah is!”

Barnawi was filming footage while onboard the International Space Station, which had welcomed her and other Saudi astronaut Ali al-Qarni last Monday.

On Monday, Barnawi and al-Qarni took off from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket aboard a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft as part of the Axiom 2 space mission (Ax-2) to the ISS from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Saudi astronauts help to inspire a new generation of scientists


By Dr. Tim Sandle
Published May 30, 2023

Space experts say Russia's departure from the International Space Station will seriously affect the country's space sector - Copyright AFP Ludovic MARIN

Recently two astronauts – Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali AlQarni – conducted three educational awareness experiments live from the International Space Station with 12,000 Saudi students across 42 different locations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

These real time experiments with the Saudi crew aboard the ISS occurred were run in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the King Fahd Abdelaziz foundation. The idea came from the Saudi Space Commission, which is a relatively new organisation, having been established as recently as December of 2018.

The aim of these sessions was to enhance the students’ knowledge of space science and how developments in space contribute to improving the quality of life on Earth. This was demonstrated by juxtaposing terrestrial based experiments, conducted by the students, to the ones being conducted in real-time by the Saudi crew aboard ISS.

Students were able to see how the experiment environment can have a real effect on the results. The areas of focus were: Liquid Fireworks, Space Kite, and Heat transfer. These three subject areas connected with fluid mechanics, aerodynamics and heat transfer.

In many cases the students were able to perform their experiments simultaneously with the ISS crew, enabling them to compare and contrast the outcomes.

The students were divided in three groups relative to their age groups. The first group, 9-12 years, experimented with liquid fireworks, focussing on fluid mechanics. Here the students could compare the effects of microgravity on the speed and shapes of the fluids in space, and witness the impact of gravity on fluids live.

The second group, 13-15 years, built space kites to experiment aerodynamics’ alteration in microgravity compared to Earth. The third group, 15-18 years, experimented with heat transfer to see the changes of colour and time in heat transfer under the impact of microgravity in space in the aim of educating the students that radiation is the only way to transfer heat in space and that heat is transferred differently in space.

The three educational experiments are part of the 14 scientific experiments taken by the two Saudi astronauts during their mission, which included a range of tests from human research and cell science to artificial rain in microgravity.

By engaging Saudi scientists and thousands of students across Saudi, the SSC is keen on growing its space sector and interacting with civil society. Through this it also hopes to inspire Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects with the student body. This forms part of the Vision 2030 programme.

Huge hammerhead shark ‘comes up right to the land’ at Texas beach

By 

Angela Barbuti  

May 27, 2023 

A Texas man spotted a massive hammerhead shark in the waters of a Texas beach.

Jason Schilling was soaking up the sun at San Luis Pass Beach, on Galveston Island’s West End, when he saw the creature swimming in a shallow area close to the shoreline. 

He posted a video of the sighting on TikTok on Wednesday, where the shark’s dorsal fin is seen protruding in the currents of the Gulf Stream, alarmingly close to where he was standing.

In the clip, which garnered 3.1 million views, he said, “Dude, look at that frickin’ thing. What the hell? This thing came up right to the land. That’s crazy. I didn’t know they go that shallow.”

He captioned the post with “This was unexpected lol Will you still go swimming here?”

A Texas man filmed a hammerhead shark swimming at a beach and posted it on TikTok.

Getty Images/iStockphoto

The post garnered 3.1 million views and over 2,000 comments.

TikTok/@fishingngigging

“Dude, look at that frickin’ thing. What the hell? This thing came up right to the land. That’s crazy. I didn’t know they go that shallow,” the man said in the video.

TikTok/@fishingngigging

Over 2,000 TikTok users commented, with some explaining the sighting was common.

“It’s literally the San Luis Pass… what do you think is passing???” said @aidenweaver55.

@fishingngigging This was unexpected lol Will you still go swimming here? 😅 #fyp #foryou #foryoupage #fishtok #shark #hammerhead #fishing #galveston #sanluispass ♬ original sound - Jason Schilling

Killer whales attacking boats to avenge injured matriarch: scientists

By 

Peter Aitken, Fox News

May 27, 2023 

The first orca may have suffered a "critical moment of agony" 

that caused the aggression.Shutterstock

Orcas have reportedly attacked and sunk three boats off the coast of Spain in apparent acts of revenge that experts worry other whales in their pod might copy.

“The little ones shook the rudder at the back while the big one repeatedly backed up and rammed the ship with full force from the side,” Werner Schafelberger told German publication Yacht. “The two little orcas observed the bigger one’s technique and, with a slight run-up, they too slammed into the boat.”

Hundreds of incidents between orcas and boats off the Iberian coast have occurred since May 2020, with all but a handful resulting in only minor injuries or damage. However, the attacks have grown more frequent and a few have led to the boats sinking – the latest such attack happening just this month. 

Marine biologist Alfredo Lopez Fernandez told Live Science that the lead whale, a female orca scientists have called White Gladis, suffered a “critical moment of agony,” likely a collision with a boat or entanglement with a fishing line, that turned her more aggressive. 

The whales approach the boats from behind, striking the rudder or hull of the boat, sailors and other eyewitnesses have said. 

“That traumatized orca is the one that started this behavior of physical contact with the boat,” Fernandez said. 

The whales approach the boats from behind, striking the rudder or hull of the boat.

Shutterstock

“We do not interpret that the orcas are teaching the young, although the behavior has spread to the young vertically, simply by imitation, and later horizontally among them, because they consider it something important in their lives,” he added.

Fernandez speculated that the orcas might perceive the behavior as “advantageous” despite the risks associated with such brazen attacks. He said that four orcas from the same subpopulation have died since May 2020. 

The behavior may have spread even beyond that population, with a British couple recently sharing their own experience of an orca attack near the coast of Morocco. 

Janet Morris and Stephen Bidwell of Cambridge, in eastern England, were enjoying a sailing course off the coast of Morocco recently when they spotted a pod of orcas, they said.

Hundreds of incidents between orcas and boats off the Iberian coast have occurred since May 2020.

Shutterstock

The attack lasted for an hour as the whales repeatedly bumped the boat, but the crew managed to navigate to calmer waters and safety. Morris said that he was worried they were “sitting ducks.” 

“We were amazingly calm but underneath we were thinking, ‘Oh my God,’” Morris told British news service SWNS. 

Scientists have documented orcas exhibiting violent behaviors and appearing to teach them to others, according to Marine Mammal Science: One incident saw a group of orcas attack, kill and eat blue whales.