This Far-Right Leader Seems Poised To Abandon Climate Denial — In Order To Push His Extreme Agenda
Alexander C. Kaufman
Sun, January 28, 2024
Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right party PVV, or Party for Freedom, talks to the media after a meeting with speaker of the House Vera Bergkamp, two days after Wilders won the most votes in a general election, in The Hague, Netherlands, on Nov. 24, 2023.
Geert Wilders, leader of the far-right party PVV, or Party for Freedom, talks to the media after a meeting with speaker of the House Vera Bergkamp, two days after Wilders won the most votes in a general election, in The Hague, Netherlands, on Nov. 24, 2023.
Geert Wilders, the anti-Islam populist who won the Dutch election in November, is best known for attacking the Muslims who comprise just over 5% of the Netherlands’ population as human “scum” whose “backward religion” amounts to a “retarded culture” based on the teachings of a “pedophile” prophet. Voters rewarded his pledges to outlaw mosques and end immigration to Europe’s sixth-largest economy by electing his party to the largest bloc in Parliament.
In its 46-page election manifesto, his far-right Freedom Party promised to stop “wasting billions on useless climate hobbies” and send “all” the “climate measures” to curb planet-heating emissions in the flood-prone nation “straight into the shredder.”
But as Wilders scrambles to moderate his stances in hopes of forming a coalition with enough center-right parties to net the votes needed to actually govern, the likely next prime minister of the Netherlands will need to quit denying the reality of climate change. If he can pull it off, he would become the first far-right leader to take power there since the end of World War II.
Tom Middendorp, the Netherlands’ former defense chief, thinks he’s the right man to persuade Wilders to begin taking planet-heating emissions seriously. And he may just start with what he saw last week on a trip to Iraq.
The retired Royal Netherlands Army general traveled across the Middle Eastern nation, where the Dutch military recently deployed more troops to help the NATO mission fighting terrorist groups like the so-called Islamic State, and saw a powder keg forming. Drought and war had driven thousands of farmers from their land and into cities like Mosul, where water was growing scarce and unrest was worsening.
“Desperate people who don’t know how to sustain their families don’t have many choices,” Middendorp told HuffPost in a wide-ranging interview by phone Tuesday morning, just days after he returned home and a month after he published the English version of his new book on the security threats global warming poses, “The Climate General.”
“One choice is you turn to criminality, which is now flourishing. Another choice is you join an extremist party, for which these fragile areas where droughts are becoming more severe are breeding grounds,” he said. “The other choice is you migrate to better areas.”
Retired General Tom Middendorp speaks during a press conference in the Hague, the Netherlands, on March 17, 2014.
Retired General Tom Middendorp speaks during a press conference in the Hague, the Netherlands, on March 17, 2014.
The United Nations counts nearly 110 million people worldwide displaced from their homes due to conflict or disaster, including 30 million refugees and more than 5 million asylum-seekers. Of the nearly 4 million immigrants to the European Union last year, 264,000 qualified as “irregular entries” who arrived at the 27-nation bloc’s borders by land or boat. While that number represents less than 7% of total migrant flows to the continent, it’s a nearly 40% spike from 2022.
By 2050, the World Bank estimates at least 216 million people will be forced to flee their homes as climate change renders once-fertile lands in Africa, Asia and Latin America inhospitable.
“Those are enormous numbers,” Middendorp said. “They won’t all come to Europe or the Netherlands. But whatever it will be, it’ll be much more than we’re facing now.”
It’s a sign, he said, of how global warming “aggravates the problems we’re already facing.”
“That should be a reason Wilders should take climate change more seriously,” Middendorp said.
Far-right leaders on both sides of the Atlantic have long railed against climate change as ploy by left-wing treehuggers to force unpopular restrictions on consumers in the rich capital countries as a sort of collective punishment for the centuries of burning fossil fuels that added most of the greenhouse gas to the cumulative carbon mess in the atmosphere.
Like former U.S. President Donald Trump, the hardliners leading right-wing parties in Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom have for years downplayed or rejected the need to transition to energy systems that don’t generate large volumes of heat-trapping pollution as a byproduct.
But French far-right leader Marine Le Pen responded to a wave of Green Party victories in the 2019 European parliament elections by promising to remake Europe into “the world’s first ecological civilization,” insisting in an allusion to Nazi blood-and-soil rhetoric that “nomadic” people “do not care about the environment” as “they have no homeland.”
The Tata Steel steel mill close to the North Sea coast and port of IJmuiden on Oct. 5, 2023, in Velsen. Tata steel is one of the major polluters in the Netherlands in terms of CO2, nitrogen and heavy metals such as lead and mercury.
The Tata Steel steel mill close to the North Sea coast and port of IJmuiden on Oct. 5, 2023, in Velsen. Tata steel is one of the major polluters in the Netherlands in terms of CO2, nitrogen and heavy metals such as lead and mercury.
A month later, the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany’s Berlin youth wing called on the far-right party’s leaders to quit denying climate change.
The following year, in a sign of thawing between the traditionally left-leaning environmentalists and the far right, Austria’s Greens joined a coalition government with an anti-immigrant party.
While Republicans in the U.S. are campaigning on repealing the clean-energy subsidies President Joe Biden enacted, the Trump-aligned former attorney general of Arizona sued the Biden administration in 2021 on the grounds that failing to enact draconian border security harmed the environment by bringing in immigrants prone to polluting. The influential right-wing broadcaster Tucker Carlson has aired segments accusing immigrants of “dirtying” the U.S. with litter.
If Trump wins the White House again this November, Middendorp said, keeping the incoming Dutch government’s climate goals on track may not be the biggest problem for Europe’s emissions.
“If there’s a big player like the U.S. saying, ‘We don’t want any agreement on climate change anymore,’ it’ll be very hard to come to global solutions,” he said. “It will really slow down the whole process.”
But the Netherlands forged much of its country by engineering waterways and dykes to remake previously underwater areas into farmland.
“We’ve been struggling with the sea and the climate for centuries. It’s the story of our life. We know how to adapt to sea-level rise, to storms, to flooding. We know how to survive in that. And we also know the importance of doing it,” Middendorp said. “Wilders also knows that. Wilders knows he needs to protect the country against the effects of climate change. If he doesn’t, he will lose voters.”
The Freedom Party platform acknowledges as much, noting that “when conditions change, we adapt” through “sensible water management, by raising dykes when necessary and by making room for the river.” But the manifesto called demands to cut planet-heating emissions in a country as small as the Netherlands “hysterical.”
But Middendorp said the far-right leader will take the concerns of the military seriously.
“I’m not an environmentalist. I’m not an activist. I’m a professional looking at projections and the signs,” he said. “I look at this from a security perspective. And a security perspective is a perspective Wilders respects.”
CANADAAnti-Islamophobia envoy warns of chill on speaking out about Gaza, hate crimes
The Canadian Press
Sat, January 27, 2024
OTTAWA — A chill on freedom of speech is deepening the pain Muslims in Canada are already feeling over the ongoing tragedy in the Gaza Strip, says Canada's special representative on combating Islamophobia.
"There is a lot of silencing," Amira Elghawaby said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
"Many members of Canada's Muslim, Arab and Palestinian communities right now do not feel fully safe to share their views on what's happening in Gaza."
Annual data are still being compiled, but police across Canada have been reporting marked increases in the number of crimes targeting Muslims and Jews alike since the conflict erupted in October.
That, Elghawaby said, has added an additional layer of trauma to the ongoing horrors in the Middle East that have killed the relatives of many Canadians.
Appointed a year ago, Elghawaby monitors the issues and policies that impact the lives of Muslims in Canada and counsels governments on how best to prevent anti-Muslim hate.
The tenor of her work changed dramatically after Oct. 7.
That's when Hamas militants staged a vicious and brazen attack on civilians in Israel, which retaliated with a fearsome bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip. Heated protests across Canada ensued.
In Ottawa, a mosque was smeared with feces. Near Vancouver, a rabbi's house was egged and vandalized with a swastika. Students clashed in Montreal. Protests in Toronto were marred by death threats.
Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly said she’d never seen an international issue cause so much strife in Canada.
"The tensions and the violence and the antisemitism in Montreal, in Toronto, that you’re seeing is heart-wrenching," Joly said earlier this week.
"We need to be able to trust one another, because we have to be able to live in a country where we don’t fear our neighbour."
The federal Liberal government has offered more money for things like security cameras and guards at places of worship. Their Conservative rivals call it too little, too late.
Better government co-ordination would allow more precise measures, Elghawaby argues, weeding out criminal acts of hate targeting any community while preserving their right to speak out.
She's been partnering with Deborah Lyons — formerly Canada's ambassador to Israel, now a special envoy for battling antisemitism — on developing a multi-sector approach.
"People have a right to speak about their views on issues without fear of retribution," Elghawaby said.
"At the same time, people have a right to feel safe, and that if speech crosses into hateful rhetoric, that there are consequences."
Officials in Lyons' office declined a request to speak to her about her work.
Of the many protests to date backing a ceasefire in Gaza, only a few have broken the peace, and yet those taking part are often accused of supporting terrorism, Elghawaby said.
"On any topic, there will always be a potential that a line will be crossed. And if that happens, individuals will have to face those consequences," she said.
"But it's wholly unfair to describe protests all as, for example, hate-fests, or assume support for a particular ideology."
As a result, Muslims and others with Palestinian roots face hostility when they raise concerns about Israel's campaign in Gaza, which has killed thousands.
The University of Ottawa suspended a resident physician over pro-Palestinian social media posts that a colleague argued were antisemitic; the physician was ultimately reinstated. A similar case occurred for a nephrologist at a hospital in Richmond Hill, Ont.
Hundreds of law students, lawyers and professors from across Canada have signed a petition decrying a "pervasive repression of speech" where those expressing solidarity with Palestinians or criticizing Israel are being reported to their bosses for alleged antisemitism.
The United Nations human rights office warned last November of a "worldwide wave of attacks, reprisals, criminalization and sanctions" against victims of the conflict. Artists, academics and athletes have been blacklisted for showing solidarity with Palestinians, it noted.
"There is this real trauma in our communities about the horrific loss of lives that we've been seeing," Elghawaby said.
"A very distressing layer to that trauma is the fact that we are seeing increasing Islamophobia and antisemitism that is affecting people's sense of belonging, people's sense of safety."
Not to mention their ability to speak out publicly.
And the widening cultural divide is only making matters worse, especially where social media is concerned, said Carmen Celestini, a religion and social theory lecturer at the University of Waterloo.
“You already feel concerned about what you're going to say," said Celestini, who studies how religion, extremism, conspiracy theories and politics intersect.
"But it can also push this narrative of, 'Well, we can't talk about X because we'll get cancelled,' or, 'Someone will see us as a racist or an antisemite.' And people are being silent in some ways because of that."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2024.
Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press
'Keen connection': Franklin expedition divers say 2023 season highly productive
The Canadian Press
Sun, January 28, 2024
If it's possible to look through the eyes of the past, Jonathan Moore has done it.
The manager of a team of Parks Canada underwater archeologists excavating the rediscovered ships of the doomed Franklin expedition once held in his hands the lens from a pair of eyeglasses fetched from the deep. Then he held it up to his own eye.
"I wear glasses," Moore said. "I know that would have been an incredibly important personal possession.
"It certainly struck me as a connection with that individual. Some of these specific artifacts are incredibly evocative."
Moore was summing up what he called a highly productive season of excavation on the Erebus, one of Sir John Franklin's two ships that set out from England in 1845. Neither it nor the Terror — nor the 129 men they carried — ever returned.
More than 30 expeditions sought them, to find only a few artifacts, graves and ghastly tales of cannibalism.
Through Inuit oral history and high-tech surveys, Erebus was found in 2014, just off the northwest coast of King William Island in Nunavut. The Terror was found two years later. The discoveries made global headlines.
Since then, Parks Canada's underwater archeology team has been excavating both ships. Last summer was a good season.
"We had excellent weather, excellent underwater visibility," said Moore.
That allowed the team to make 68 dives. Heated diving suits with air pumped from the surfaced allowed some of those dives to last for hours.
Climate change, however, is shifting the terms of the work. Less sea ice means the wrecks are more vulnerable to waves and currents generated by winter storms, Moore said.
"There's noticeable change to the wreck.
"In 2018, part of the upper deck flipped over. We're getting evidence of artifacts moving around and timbers shifting."
To track the changes, the team documented the site with thousands of high-resolution digital photos and produced precise three-dimensional models. It's working with Edmonton-based engineering firm Stantec to model the currents and other disturbances influencing the site.
The Erebus, in much shallower water than the Terror, is most at risk. That's why last summer's dives focused on it. The disturbance had revealed a tantalizing new target.
"We were able to get access to a seaman's chest," Moore said. "We've had our eye on it for years."
The team has now been into the cabins of two officers, the ship's steward and, with the new discovery, the storage trunk of an ordinary sailor.
"It kind of gives us a cross-section of the crew, from lower ranks to upper ranks," Moore said.
Artifacts keep coming to the surface. Divers found map-making tools, coins, a pistol and medicine bottles. Some items are clearly personal — a leather shoe, shoulder epaulets, a fishing rod with a brass reel that looks ready for use, a group of fossils someone saved for souvenirs.
The team is now working with the Geological Survey of Canada to find out where the fossils came from and perhaps learn more about where the ships travelled before sinking below the ice.
Both the Terror and the Erebus sites are co-managed by Parks Canada and the Nattilik Heritage Society in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, which also administers the Wrecks Guardian Program and the Nattilik Heritage Centre. Recovered artifacts are co-owned by Parks Canada and the Inuit Heritage Trust.
Much has been done since the first of the wrecks was discovered, with dozens of artifacts undergoing the painstaking process of conservation in Ottawa labs. Years of excavation remain, but Moore never loses sight of the fact that the story unfolding in front of his diver's mask is one of the great tragedies and mysteries of the North.
"You can imagine someone walking along a beach and picking up those fossils," Moore said. "(The artifacts) give us this keen insightful connection to people in the past."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2024.
Bob Weber, The Canadian Press
Skeletons with buckets on their feet and rings around their necks discovered in a Dark Ages graveyard, say reports
Rebecca Rommen
Updated Sun, January 28, 2024
Skeletons with buckets on their feet and rings around their necks discovered in a Dark Ages graveyard, say reports
A 1,000-year-old cemetery discovered near Kyiv, Ukraine, is presumed to have a pagan history.
Researchers found some skeletons with buckets on their feet and elaborate rings around their necks.
The mysterious burial site provided a glimpse into the Dark Ages.
Archaeologists discovered human remains ceremonially adorned with buckets on their feet and rings around their necks in a 1,000-year-old cemetery, reports say.
Archaeologists discovered the mass grave holding over 107 skeletons in what is believed to have been a pagan-era cemetery near Kyiv, Ukraine.
The mysterious burial site provided a glimpse into the Dark Ages, the 1,000 years of European history between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of the Italian Renaissance.
Researchers unearthed axes, swords, spears, jewelry, bracelets, and food remains such as eggshells and chicken bones alongside the bones of the long-forgotten people.
Vsevolod Ivakin and Vyacheslav Baranov, two researchers who led the excavation, described the weapons as typical for Kyivan Rus — a medieval political federation in modern-day Belarus — and northeastern Europe.
The excavation process of the Ostriv graveyard.Vyacheslav Baranov | National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
A stone altar found at the site could have been used for pagan or early Christian rituals.
Ivakin and Baranov presented their findings at the Archaeological Institute of America's annual meeting in Chicago in early January, Live Science reported.
The researchers said the graveyard contained male and female skeletons, but only females were adorned with elaborate neck rings, which "were apparently a kind of social marker," Ivakin and Baranov said, Live Science reported.
A skeleton adorned with rings and the site of the cemetery.Vyacheslav Baranov | National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
The wooden buckets on the feet found in some of the male graves — which may have been part of funerary rituals — are reminiscent of 11th-century Prussian cremation and Pomeranian and Masovian inhumation cemeteries of military elites, the Independent reported.
Some artifacts are similar to those uncovered in the Baltics, Live Science reported. Volodymyr the Great — who converted to Christianity around 987 — ruled territories that extended to the Baltics.
The findings speak to a religious shift in Ukrainian history and to the arrival of Christianity in Eastern Europe.
Baranov told Business Insider that the findings date back to the late Viking Age, a period during which the territory of Ukraine was involved in common North European processes.
He said the findings "correspond well with the pan-European historical processes in Europe, and once again show the importance of studying the pan-European history as a whole and European peoples in the general context."
He added that the nature of such a small and closed group was rare for its time.
At the time of the cemetery's use, the people of the Ukraine region were undergoing a conversion to Christianity, most notably documented by the baptism of Volodymyr the Great, when he converted from his pagan beliefs to Christianity.
The archaeological project in Ukraine began in 2017. Research continued in 2022 and 2023 despite the challenges the war posed. Baranov told BI that several regular members of the expedition had already died in battle and that others were on the frontlines after being mobilized. The dwindling numbers have hindered the excavation process.
The ongoing research is a collaboration between several research centers, with the German Research Foundation and other organizations providing funding.
Biden administration raises 'concerns' about aspects of Quebec language law
The Canadian Press
Sat, January 27, 2024
MONTREAL — A proposed regulation around the language of commercial signage in Quebec is attracting skepticism from U.S. President Joe Biden's administration, which has "concerns" about the potential impact on American businesses.
The issue came up during a wide-ranging meeting between high-level trade officials from both countries in Toronto on Wednesday.
A summary of the meeting said an advisor for the United States Trade Representative used the gathering to share "concerns about trademark provisions of Quebec’s Bill 96 and their potential implications for U.S. businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises."
Passed in 2022, Quebec's Law 14 — better known as Bill 96 — was a sweeping set of reforms to provincial language laws that the government says will further protect and advance the position of French in the province.
A draft regulation published on Jan. 10 clarifies aspects of the law, including a proposed rule for retailers that dictates French must occupy a space "at least twice as large" as other languages on signage that is visible from the outside.
Signs that display a trademark or company name would also have to include at least some French terms, such as "a description of the products or services concerned, or a slogan," the draft regulation states.
It proposes a June 2025 deadline for businesses to comply with the signage rules. The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative has not detailed its concerns and did not respond to questions from The Canadian Press on Friday.
But Michel Rochette, president of the Quebec branch of the Retail Council of Canada, sees the Biden administration's message as a "signal" couched in diplomatic language.
"We have to understand that there is concern on the American side, and we have to address this fear," he said in an interview.
Eliane Ellbogen, a Montreal intellectual property lawyer with Fasken, said the rules on commercial signage have been a source of concern in the business community.
"For the past year and a half, we've been contacted almost every day with questions, especially from small and medium-sized businesses," she said. "We're faced with a lot of incomprehension, honestly, and surprise, in relation to criteria that to them seem ultra-demanding."
Ellbogen said the proposed regulation could entail major expenses and administrative steps for businesses that will have to modify their signs or trademarks.
The Quebec government asserted earlier this month that the majority of businesses in the province were already compliant with the new commercial signage criteria.
In a notice accompanying the draft regulation, Quebec estimates the total combined cost for all businesses to comply with the regulation will be between $7 million and $15 million.
Some businesses have questioned that estimate, however.
"What we're told is that it could be around $50,000 to $100,000 per sign," Ellbogen said. "For a retailer with around ten branches, it could represent a cost of a million dollars."
Fasken is exploring the possibility of challenging commercial signage provisions in court, Ellbogen said. The firm is specifically analyzing whether those aspects of Quebec law would conflict with federal trademark law, and whether federal law would prevail in this case.
Retailers consider the June 2025 deadline "very tight," Rochette said.
"Two years ago, (officials) were saying they'd have three years to adapt, which isn't quite true," he said. "The countdown has already begun, but we don't yet know the rules of the game."
In the meantime, merchants can't take any costly preparatory steps until they have confirmation that the regulation will be adopted as proposed. It's undergoing consultations until the end of February.
"Merchants have to wait for the final draft to be sure they're ... respecting the rules," Rochette said.
In a written statement, the provincial minister of the French language, Jean-François Roberge, stressed that French "will always be vulnerable in Quebec" and that government intervention was necessary.
He said the province's language watchdog, the Office québécois de la langue française, will "offer quality support to companies that have questions about Quebec language laws."
"Our government is constantly proving that in Quebec, we can defend French and offer a welcoming environment for businesses," he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2024.
Stéphane Rolland, The Canadian Press
Japan's SLIM probe regains power more than a week after moon landing
Sun, January 28, 2024
By Kantaro Komiya
TOKYO, Jan 29 (Reuters) - Japan's SLIM spacecraft has regained power, its space agency said on Monday, more than a week after it achieved an unconventionally precise lunar landing but ran out of electricity because its solar panels were at the wrong angle.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) re-established communication with its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) late on Sunday, a JAXA spokesperson said, nearly nine days after the probe's touchdown made Japan the fifth country to put a spacecraft on the moon.
The probe was likely able to generate power thanks to a change in the sunlight's direction, JAXA said.
SLIM resumed its operations to analyse the composition of olivine rocks on the lunar surface with its multi-band spectral camera, in search of clues about the origin of the moon, the agency added.
SLIM touched down on the moon within 55 m (180 ft) of its target in a crater near the lunar equator on Jan. 20. JAXA said it proved an advancement in what it called vision-based "pinpoint" landing - a technology that could be a powerful tool for future exploration of hilly moon poles seen as a possible source of fuel, water and oxygen.
SLIM lost the thrust of one of its two main engines shortly before the touchdown for unknown reasons and ended up drifting a few dozen metres away from the target. The lander safely stopped on a gentle slope but appeared toppled with an engine facing upward in a picture taken by a baseball-sized wheeled rover it deployed.
The probe's solar panels faced westward due to the displacement and could not immediately generate power. JAXA manually unplugged SLIM's dying battery 2 hours and 37 minutes after the touchdown as it completed the transmission of the lander's data to the earth.
JAXA does not have a clear date when SLIM will end its operation on the moon, but the agency has previously said the lander was not designed to survive a lunar night. The next lunar night begins on Thursday. (Reporting by Kantaro Komiya; Editing by Jamie Freed)
Japan: Moon lander Slim comes back to life and resumes mission
Kelly Ng - BBC News
Mon, January 29, 2024
Artwork: Jaxa has become the fifth national space agency to land on the Moon
Japan's Moon lander has resumed operations after being shut for a week due to a power supply issue.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency said it re-established contact with the lander Sunday night, indicating that the glitch had been fixed.
Its solar cells are working again after a shift in lighting conditions allowed it to catch sunlight, the agency said.
It could not generate power when it landed on 20 January as the solar cells pointed away from the Sun.
With the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) spacecraft, Japan became only the fifth country to achieve a soft touchdown on the Moon after the US, the former Soviet Union, China and India.
The last of the Moon men
The race to unravel the mysteries of Moon's south pole
How important are India's Moon mission findings?
The spacecraft ran on battery power for several hours before authorities decided to turn it off to allow for a possible recovery of electricity when the angle of sunlight changed.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Jaxa shared a photograph taken by Slim of a nearby rock that it nicknamed a "toy poodle".
The lander will analyse the composition of rocks in its search for clues about the origin of the moon, Jaxa said.
Slim landed at the edge of an equatorial crater known as Shioli, within 55m (180 ft) of its target in a crater. Jaxa described it as an "unprecedented pinpoint landing".
The landing technology could allow future exploration of hilly Moon poles seen as a potential sources of fuel, water and oxygen, the agency said.
The Slim mission came after several earlier attempts by Japan failed, including one by the start-up iSpace, which saw its lunar lander crash when its onboard computer became confused about its altitude above the Moon.
Jaxa could not immediately say until when Slim will operate on the Moon. It has previously said the lander was not designed to survive a lunar night. A lunar night, which is when the surface of the Moon is not exposed to the Sun, lasts about 14 days.
Statistically, it has proven very hard to land on the Moon. Only about half of all attempts have succeeded.
Prior to Japan, India was the most recent nation to join the elite club of countries that have achieved this. Its Chandrayaan-3's rover touched down near the lunar south pole in August 2023 - an area on the Moon's surface that no human had reached before.
Earlier this month, a US spacecraft launched by a private operator ended its lunar mission in flames over the Pacific. In August last year, Russia's first lunar spacecraft in decades crashed into the Moon after spinning out of control.
Japan's SLIM spacecraft regains power nine days after historic lunar landing
Sky News
Updated Mon, January 29, 2024
Japan's SLIM spacecraft has regained power more than a week after it ran out of electricity after landing on the moon.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said it re-established communication with its lander late on Sunday, nine days after Japan became the fifth country to put a spacecraft on the moon.
The Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down on the moon within 55m (180ft) of its target on 20 January, but a likely failure with one of the probe's two main thrusters meant it landed on its head rather than its feet.
As battery power rapidly drained, mission managers were forced to put the lander into hibernation after just three hours.
But thanks to a change in the sunlight's direction, the probe's solar panels have been able to generate power.
JAXA said the lander has resumed its operations to analyse the composition of olivine rocks on the lunar surface, in search of clues about the origin of the moon.
The agency said it does not have a clear date when SLIM will end its operation, but previously said the lander was not designed to survive a lunar night - the next is on Thursday.
The mission has already been hailed a success, having achieved the primary objective of landing within a 100m diameter target zone - a technology that could prove to be a powerful tool for future exploration of possible sources of fuel, water and oxygen.
Japan: Moon lander Slim comes back to life and resumes mission
Kelly Ng - BBC News
Mon, January 29, 2024
Jaxa produced this render of Slim to show the awkward landing orientation that pointed the solar cells away from the Sun
Japan's Moon lander has resumed operations after being shut down for a week due to a power supply issue.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Jaxa) said it re-established contact with the lander on Sunday, indicating that the glitch had been fixed.
Its solar cells are working again after a shift in lighting conditions allowed it to catch sunlight, the agency said.
It could not generate power when it landed on 20 January as the solar cells pointed away from the Sun.
With the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (Slim) spacecraft, Japan became only the fifth country to achieve a soft touchdown on the Moon after the US, the former Soviet Union, China and India.
Stricken Japanese Moon mission landed on its nose
The race to unravel the mysteries of Moon's south pole
How important are India's Moon mission findings?
The spacecraft ran on battery power for several hours before authorities decided to turn it off to allow for a possible recovery of electricity when the angle of sunlight changed.
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Jaxa shared a photograph taken by Slim of a nearby rock that it nicknamed a "toy poodle".
The lander will analyse the composition of rocks in its search for clues about the origin of the moon, Jaxa said.
Slim will use an infrared camera to study the composition of a rock called "toy poodle" (circled)
Slim landed at the edge of an equatorial crater known as Shioli, within 55m (180 ft) of its targeted touchdown location. Jaxa described it as an "unprecedented pinpoint landing".
The landing technology could allow future exploration of hilly Moon poles seen as a potential source of fuel, water and oxygen, the agency said.
The Slim mission came after earlier attempts by Japan failed, including one by the start-up iSpace, which saw its lunar lander crash when its onboard computer became confused about its altitude above the Moon.
Jaxa could not immediately say until when Slim will operate on the Moon. It has previously said the lander was not designed to survive a lunar night. A lunar night, which is when the surface of the Moon is not exposed to the Sun, lasts about 14 days.
Statistically, it has proven very hard to land on the Moon. Only about half of all attempts have succeeded.
Prior to Japan, India was the most recent nation to join the elite club of countries that have achieved this. Its Chandrayaan-3's rover touched down near the lunar south pole in August 2023 - an area on the Moon's surface that no human had reached before.
Earlier this month, a US spacecraft launched by a private operator ended its lunar mission in flames over the Pacific. In August last year, Russia's first lunar spacecraft in decades crashed into the Moon after spinning out of control.
It's unclear how long Slim can work but lunar night will return to Shioli in the next few days
Lloyds Bank to cut 1,600 jobs across branches in shift to online banking
Anna Wise, PA Business Reporter
Mon, 29 January 2024
Lloyds Banking Group has said it is cutting about 1,600 jobs across its branch network, as part of an ongoing shift towards online banking.
The role reductions follow a tranche of branch closures announced last year as the group said the way customers are choosing to do their banking has changed “rapidly” in recent years.
The overhaul will also see the banking giant create 830 roles in an expanded “relationship growth” team, where more staff will be available to talk to customers in branches, through video meetings or over the phone.
The new team is expected to improve Lloyds’ service and lead to more customers reaching the bank without having to wait for appointments as often, it said.
The redundancies are not expected to affect the most junior employees, and in some situations staff will be offered voluntary redundancy.
Some affected staff may also have the opportunity to move to a newly created role or to a different part of the business.
The group, which owns Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland, said just 8% of its customers choose to visit high street branches as the sole way to manage their money.
More than 21 million customers use online or mobile banking.
A spokeswoman for Lloyds said: “As more customers choose to manage their day-to-day banking online, it’s important our people are available when it matters most.
“We’re introducing a number of new roles and making changes to our branch teams so our customers can see us how and when they want to.”
Lloyds Banking Group also owns Halifax (Mike Egerton/PA)
The bank did not specify which branches would be affected by the changes.
In November, Lloyds said it was shutting another 45 branches across its network, meaning that at least 275 branches will be cut across Lloyds, Halifax, and Bank of Scotland over 2023 and 2024.
There were hundreds of branch closures across the sector last year as the exodus from the high street picked up pace.
Employee union Accord, which says it represents about 22,000 staff at Lloyds and TSB, said the changes are expected to significantly affect the branch network and its members.
UK construction sector faces ‘difficult period’ after 4,370 firms collapsed
Jamel Smith, PA
Mon, 29 January 2024
The UK construction sector is facing an “immensely difficult period” after 4,370 construction companies went bust over the past year, according to new data.
The sector has experienced the highest number of bankruptcies of any industry in the UK for the past three years, according to auditing firm Mazars.
In the year to the end of November, 4,370 companies went insolvent compared to 4,086 in 2021/22 and 2,481 in 2020/21.
This reflected a 7% increase in insolvencies from 2021/22 and 76% in 2020/21 due to high material and labour costs.
The auditing company said that the increasing costs of borrowing have affected the profit margins of ongoing and upcoming development projects.
Moreover, the surge in mortgage rates, which have reached a 15-year high, has resulted in a decline in consumer confidence. This has led to a decrease in prices after dramatic rises for residential housing over recent years.
Mark Boughey, a partner at Mazars, said: “There are now on average a dozen building companies going under every single day in the UK. This is an immensely difficult period for the construction sector.
“One problem is that the commercial viability of a lot of today’s projects were assessed three or four years ago, with fixed price contracts often being negotiated – since then, costs have spiralled, while buyers’ appetite has taken a dive.
“Construction contractors operate on very tight margins at the best of times – the sector is really being squeezed at both ends right now.”
Over the last 12 months, bankruptcies in the construction sector were mainly caused by specialised activities such as demolition, electrical and plumbing – which accounted for 58% of all bankruptcies.
A “well-regarded” construction firm, Kenham Building, recently went into administration due to financial losses on a residential refurbishment project that faced technical groundworks, leaving all staff jobless.
On January 9, ReSolve, a business advisory firm, was appointed as joint administrator of the construction company that specialised in high-end residential buildings.
Chris Farrington, a partner at ReSolve, said: “It is unfortunate to see a business with a strong trading history, and a portfolio of superb construction projects completed over the course of many years, encounter the difficulties experienced by Kenham Building.
“It is also particularly regrettable that staff were not able to be retained through this process, a reflection of the extremely challenging conditions being experienced not only by Kenham but the wider construction and homebuilding sector.”
Mazars now predicts that difficulties in the sector will persist through 2024/25.
Mr Boughey said: “We saw a number of bigger contractors filing for insolvency 12 to 18 months ago and now those failures are being felt downstream in the supply chain.
“Sub-contractors aren’t getting paid on time or to the agreed levels and, as a result, are now starting to experience their own financial problems.
“The impact of failures in the sector cuts both ways though – when smaller companies fold, it can cause major delays for the main developers in completing projects.
“Whilst some of the headwinds around increasing borrowing costs and material prices have eased, we’re unfortunately likely to see these difficulties persist through 2024 and into 2025.”
Mark Allen, chief executive officer of the UK’s largest property development company Landsec, told the PA news agency: “Inevitably, when you go through cycles – such as the one we are in the moment – and you see very rapid inflation in costs that squeezes margins all the way through the supply chain, that can catch some people out.
He emphasised the importance of Landsec planning ahead for tough periods and said that it is “normal” for firms to enter insolvency.
“I think it does make it even more important for us and people like us to make sure we understand the expertise, the financial capacity of the supply chain that we’re working with,” he added.
Millions knocked off value of disposable vaping firms ahead of ban
Henry Saker-Clark,PA Deputy Business Editor
Mon, 29 January 2024
Shares in vaping firms tumbled on Monday morning as disposable vapes are set to be banned in Britain.
Later on Monday, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to announce the plan to implement the ban, which is aimed at tackling the rise in young people vaping and protecting children’s health, during a visit to a school.
Chill Brands saw shares slide by as much as 35% in early trading as a result, while rival business Supreme saw shares drop around 12%.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to announce the plan to implement the ban during a visit to a school later on Monday (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
Chill’s market value had fallen by over £3 million, with over £10 million knocked off Supreme’s valuation during the morning trading session.
The announcement forms part of the Government’s response to its consultation on smoking and vaping, which was launched in October last year.
The ban is expected to come into force at the end of 2024 or the start of 2025.
On Monday, Chill Brands, which makes nicotine-free vapes as well as CBD products, stressed that it is “committed to strict compliance with all relevant laws”.
Callum Sommerton, chief executive officer of Chill, said it will continue to sell its products across UK and US retailers but they are prepared to adjust to rule changes.
He said: “The vaping landscape is constantly evolving, creating opportunities for businesses that are able to navigate the regulatory environment.
The announcement forms part of the Government’s response to its consultation on smoking and vaping (Nicholas Ansell/PA)
“The Chill brand has gained rapid traction with the support of major retailers, and I am confident that it will continue to do so as we move forward with our plans to launch reusable pod system vapes.
“Chill Brands Group is an agile company, and we are prepared to adjust to any legislation that may be enacted.”
Rival Supreme, which has brands including 88Vape, also saw its shares knocked by the announcement.
The company, which has yet to comment on the latest announcement, said in October that it was “fully supportive of any further legislation in the sector”.
Vaping retailer VPZ, which runs more than 160 stores across the UK, indicated it was supportive of the ban.
VPZ director Doug Mutter said: “For the past two years we have called on the UK Government to introduce licencing and controls for selling vaping products.
“We believe that this would provide a strong and robust solution to tackling access and the impact of disposables on youth uptake and the environment.
“From this perspective we welcome and fully support news that the UK Government plans to introduce a ban on disposable vaping products.
“However it’s hugely important that it operates alongside a licencing scheme where there are proper punishments and policing in place to enforce the ban, tackle the existing black market and ensure that it doesn’t continue to grow.”
More than £1 billion to be wiped from vaping industry after disposables ban
Simon Hunt
Mon, 29 January 2024
The consultation on single-use vapes is due to open next year (John Stilwell/PA) (PA Archive)
More than £1 billion is set to be wiped from the UK e-cigarette industry after the Prime Minister announced an outright ban on disposable vapes.
The ban, which is aimed at slashing the uptake of vaping among teenagers, is expected to be enacted later this year with retailers given a six-month implementation period.
The disposable vape category is worth as much as £1.2 billion in the UK annually, according to figures by ECigIntelligence, with disposables representing more than 4 in 5 vapes sold.
The ban poses a major threat to the UK’s vape retailers, which have occupied a growing share of the British high street. There are now more than 3,500 specialist vape shops in the UK, according to figures from the Local Data Company – which exclude other e-cigarette stockists such as supermarkets and newsagents.
The announcement came as a blow to vape supplier Chill Brands, with its shares tumbling as much as 40% after markets opened today as it vowed to “adjust” its operations to accommodate for the change.
Nearly 70% of parents, teachers, healthcare professionals and the general public are supportive of the measure, according to a government consultation, with studies suggesting as much as 9% of 11 to 15-year-olds are now using vapes and the proportion of 11 to 17-year-old vapers using disposables increasing almost ninefold in the last two years. A huge rise in the amount of e-wage resulting from vape disposal is also cited as a concern.
PM Rishi Sunak said: “As any parent or teacher knows, one of the most worrying trends at the moment is the rise in vaping among children, and so we must act before it becomes endemic.
“The long-term impacts of vaping are unknown and the nicotine within them can be highly addictive, so while vaping can be a useful tool to help smokers quit, marketing vapes to children is not acceptable.”
The move is the latest sign in a wider global crackdown on e-cigarettes, with China and several US states having banned the sale of flavoured vapes domestically – amid evidence fruit flavours are most popular with children and teenagers.
But some in the industry have warned of unintended consequences of a disposables ban.
Muntazir Dipoti, the National President of the Federation of the Independent Retailers, said: “While we agree that action is needed to prevent children and young people being attracted to vaping, we do not believe that banning disposable vapes is the way to go about it.
“An outright ban will simply send youngsters towards unorthodox and illicit sources where there is no compliance to tobacco and vaping laws, while the products they peddle are likely to contain dangerous and illegal levels of toxic chemicals.
“Disposable vapes are usually more affordable and, as such, are a bigger incentive for adult smokers to change to vapes.”
US nuclear weapons could be stationed in UK for first time in 15 years amid Russia threat
Kate Devlin
Sat, 27 January 2024
The US is preparing to station nuclear weapons in the UK for the first time in more than a decade amid a growing threat from Russia.
Under the proposals, warheads three times as strong as the bomb which devastated Hiroshima would be based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, according to Pentagon documents seen by The Daily Telegraph.
They set out plans for a “nuclear mission” to take place “imminently” at the base.
It comes amid increasing warnings about the prospect of a war with Russia, itself a nuclear power, from British and American military officials.
US nuclear missiles have been kept at RAF Lakenheath in the past but were removed in 2008 at a time when it was considered that the Cold War threat from Moscow had faded.
A Ministry of Defence spokesperson said: “It remains a long-standing UK and Nato policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at a given location.”
The documents also reveal procurement contracts for a new facility at the airbase.
The move is thought to be part of a programme across Nato countries to develop and upgrade nuclear sites in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago.
It comes as senior figures on both sides of the Atlantic warn of a potential war between Nato forces and Russia.
Earlier this week, General Sir Patrick Sanders, the outgoing head of the British army, floated the idea of a “citizen army” to combat the threat. He warned the 74,000 army personnel the UK currently has would need to be bolstered by at least 45,000 reservists and citizens to prepare for possible conflict.
RAF Lakenheath, home of the US Air Force’s 48th Fighter Wing, near Cambridge (AFP via Getty Images)
In response, the government ruled out any move towards conscription, saying that the armed forces would remain voluntary.
Carlos Del Toro, the US navy secretary, has also urged the UK to “reassess” the size of its armed forces given “the threats that exist today”.
Downing Street defended the government’s spending on defence as it pointed out that Britain has been Washington’s “partner of choice” in its strikes against Houthi rebels in the Red Sea due to its "military strength".
