Labour crunch forces Croatia to open doors to Asian workforce


By AFP
March 26, 2024

A church in Zagreb holds mass in English for the country's rising migrant community - Copyright AFP DAMIR SENCAR

Lajla VESELICA

Durga Phuyal had hoped to start anew when she landed in Croatia, but the Nepali migrant faced an uphill battle to adjust to life in the Balkan country.

Phuyal is among the tens of thousands of migrants who have flocked to Croatia from as far afield as Asia, as the small EU country desperately tries to overcome a chronic labour shortage.

Traditionally reliant on seasonal workers from Balkan neighbours, Croatia is increasingly counting on labourers from Nepal, India, the Philippines and elsewhere to bridge the gap.

Mass emigration and a shrinking population has created tens of thousands of vacant positions in construction and the service industry in the tourism-dependent country, famous for its picturesque beaches along the Adriatic sea.

But not everyone has put out the welcome mat, with migrants facing cramped and expensive housing, and occasional anti-immigrant rhetoric that has spiked ahead of elections.

In Nepal, Phuyal paid 7,000 euros in total for the various fees, documents and travel expenses before landing Croatia.

But after barely a month after arriving, she had lost her job and was offered no assistance by the agency that helped hire her.

“It was very difficult,” the 27-year-old said of the two-month ordeal.

“I had no job, no accommodation, no food.”

The country provided nearly 120,000 non-EU nationals with work permits in 2023, a 40 percent jump over the figure from the previous year.

But in the run-up to general elections in April, right-wing parties have accused migrants of threatening the country’s security and stealing jobs from Croatians.

Migrants have also been regularly pilloried online, with social media users mocking them for gathering during New Year’s festivities in Zagreb, calling the celebrations “Advent in Kathmandu” and “Nepali New Year”.

Ethnic Croats comprise more than 90 percent of Croatia’s population — nearly 80 percent of whom are Roman Catholics — making it one of the more homogeneous societies in Europe.

Language barriers along with conservative attitudes toward outsiders have presented myriad obstacles to welcoming in the new labour force.

“Unlike countries that throughout their history had contacts with diverse cultures — like France or Britain — Croatia is facing for the first time a situation where it is encountering very different groups,” said Dragan Bagic, a sociologist at the University of Zagreb.

– Not ‘mentally’ ready –

According to forecasts by the Croatian Employers’ Association, the country of just 3.8 million could need as many as 500,000 foreign workers by the end of the decade.

Newly arrived migrants have been most vulnerable during their search for housing, according to experts.

An investigation in a local newspaper in the capital Zagreb said 32 foreign workers were found living in a cramped 83-square-metre (893-square-foot) apartment in the city.

Classified advertisements aimed at foreign workers typically offer tiny apartments with nearly a dozen beds, priced at 200 euros ($216) per person.

A Nepali workers representative said their wages in Croatia range between 560 and 1,000 euros per month.

To meet the challenge, the Croatian government is preparing to amend the law on foreigners to better regulate accommodation, provide language classes and oversee the growing number of temporary employment agencies.

Arcely Bhing, a 48-year-old Filipina who works at a printing company, said Croatia was not “physically or mentally” ready for this wave of immigration.

Attending mass in English every Sunday in Zagreb, where she is joined by dozens of other Filipinos, has helped fight homesickness.

“It’s a big thing for us Filipinos because we are also a Catholic country, most of us go to church,” she said.

Andjelko Katanec, a priest at the Saint-Blaise church that has been holding mass in English since 2019, said integrating into Croatian society was a “big challenge” for migrants.

“They risk being isolated outside work,” he said.

“The history of mankind is the history of migrations,” Katanec said.

“We have to organise better … to welcome the immigrants better, offer them more opportunities and better conditions.”

– ‘Good workers’ –

Many migrants came to financially support their families back home and often use Croatia as a starting point in Europe with an eye toward settling elsewhere.

Denson D’Cruz, who migrated from Kerala, India, said he chose Croatia because it is part of Europe’s Schengen passport-free travel area.

The 30-year-old arrived last year to work as a mechanic but now runs his own import-export company.

He said he hopes to stay in Croatia for the foreseeable future because of its “climate and people who are friendly and speak English”.

While some have sought to exploit the new arrivals, others have worked to help them find their footing.

After falling on hard times, Phuyal eventually found work at a temp agency and hopes to begin work in a beauty salon soon.

“Nepalis are very good workers, adjustable, and want to learn quickly,” said the agency’s owner, Ruzica Kerepcic.

Thai parliament passes same-sex marriage bill


By AFP

March 27, 2024

While Thailand has a reputation for tolerance, much of the Buddhist-majority country remains conservative and the LGBTQ community still faces barriers and discrimination - Copyright AFP/File Lillian SUWANRUMPHA

Montira RUNGJIRAJITTRANON

Thailand’s parliament passed a same-sex marriage bill Wednesday, paving the way for the kingdom to become the first Southeast Asian nation to recognise LGBTQ marriage equality.

The bill sailed through on 399 to 10 votes in the lower house, although it must still be approved by the Senate before it is endorsed by the king, and then published in the Royal Gazette.

After the result, one representative brought a rainbow flag into the chamber.

“Today society has proved to us that they care about LGBT rights,” Tunyawaj Kamolwongwat, an MP with the progressive Move Forward Party which has pushed for LGBTQ+ rights, told AFP.

“Now we finally we will have the same rights as others.”

Across Asia only Taiwan and Nepal recognise same-sex marriage, with India’s highest court deferring the decision to parliament in October.

And while the kingdom enjoys a welcoming reputation for the international LGBTQ+ community, Thai activists have struggled for decades against conservative attitudes and values.

The proposal will change references to “men”, “women”, “husbands” and “wives” in the marriage law to gender-neutral terms.

It also means LGBTQ+ couples will be able to enjoy inheritance and adoption rights in the kingdom for the first time.


– ‘A huge step’ –


“It’s a huge step for our country — it is the first in Southeast Asia,” Mookdapa Yangyuenpradorn, a spokesperson with activist group Fortify Rights, told AFP.

Mookdapa expressed hope that the later stages of the bill would progress smoothly, so that her country “will be on par with the international level in terms of LGBT rights”.

The vote follows a decision by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s cabinet last year that gave the go-ahead for the parliament debate.

The prime minister has been vocal in his support for the LGBTQ+ community, making the policy a signature issue and telling reporters last year that the change would strengthen family structures.

While Thailand has a reputation for tolerance, much of the Buddhist-majority country remains conservative and the LGBTQ community, while highly visible, still faces barriers and discrimination.

Activists have been pushing for same-sex marriage rights for more than a decade, but in a kingdom where politics is regularly upended by coups and mass street protests, the advocacy did not get far.

In 2022 Thai lawmakers gave initial approval to two bills that would allow same-sex marriages and two others that would permit civil partnerships.

But the legislation was dropped when parliament was dissolved to pave the way for a general election held last year.

Under siege, Sudanese risk their lives to feed each other

AFP
March 24, 2024 

Volunteers prepare food for displaced Sudanese in Gedaref during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan © - / AFP

Sameh Makki's soup kitchen is barely 100 metres from the market, but it can take two hours to make the journey through Sudan's war-torn streets, often through hails of bullets.

The 43-year-old, his family and local volunteers have risked everything to get supplies to feed around 150 families caught in the crossfire between the army and paramilitaries.

"The only thing that matters is that people eat. If I had died while making that happen, so be it," said Makki.

Since the war began last April between the army of General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, tens of thousands have died and millions more have been forced to flee their homes.

Initiatives like Makki's are some of the only ways that people survive as the impoverished country hangs on the verge of famine.

Makki fled to Egypt to get medical care for his daughter and left the soup kitchen in the care of his mother and young volunteers from the neighbourhood.

Like many of his compatriots, he now coordinates donations from the Sudanese diaspora to send back to those trying to survive the fighting.

- Frontline for aid -

Shortly after the conflict's first shots rang out, young people began volunteering to cook in their homes, volunteer coordinator Abdel Ghaffar Omar told AFP in Cairo.


The idea quickly spread and hundreds of self-funded "community kitchens" popped up across the country.

They were able to use grassroots neighbourhood youth groups called "resistance committees" that had previously organised pro-democracy protests and helped coordinate the Covid-19 response.

When war erupted, the committees created Emergency Response Rooms (ERRs) to provide civilians in the line of fire with healthcare, evacuation help and food aid.

Most ERRs run their own kitchens, others help with coordination and funding.

International aid groups call them the frontline of Sudan's humanitarian response and the United Nations has said ERRs have helped over four million civilians across Sudan.

Several volunteers told AFP the kitchens serve anywhere from a few dozen to 200 families each day.

In the capital alone, tens of thousands rely on ERRs for daily meals, consisting mainly of rice, beans, lentils and the occasional animal protein.

- 'We have to smuggle' -

Volunteers like Makki were occasionally able to broadcast mealtimes from the local mosque in Omdurman, Khartoum's twin city.


The situation is starkly different just across the River Nile in Khartoum North, also known as Bahri, which has been under siege for nearly a year.

"The army thinks of Bahri as an RSF stronghold, and treats anything going in like RSF supplies," one activist told AFP, requesting anonymity in order not to compromise his work.

"We basically have to smuggle our stuff in."

Volunteers go door-to-door delivering every ration, but the streets of Bahri are filled with paramilitary fighters known for looting life-saving aid.

"Carrying large quantities of food draws attention," ERR Bahri volunteer Mahmoud Mokhtar told AFP in Cairo.

"If the army catches you, they say you're smuggling for the RSF, if the RSF catches you they call you an army spy."

When asked if he has lost comrades in the line of duty, Mokhtar's eyes quickly filled with tears.

"People have been killed and raped and assaulted and detained and beaten and taken away for months at a time, we're used to it," he said.

There is no official count for how many activists and volunteers both sides have targeted, but ERRs and the doctors' union regularly post obituaries for civilians killed while providing life-saving assistance.

"The kitchens themselves have been repeatedly shelled by both sides," according to Mokhtar.

- 'If we stop, we starve' -

According to several volunteers, kitchens usually only have about two weeks of supplies at best.

"They're always terrified their stocks could run out," said Omar, the volunteer coordinator.

In February, a communications blackout crippled the online banking app that Sudanese rely on, forcing every community kitchen in Bahri shut down.

Although around half have since come back to life, according to Omar, communications are not yet fully restored in the greater Khartoum area.

Volunteers are instead travelling hours to get an internet connection so they can access their money.

"One guy had nine phones of his neighbours, who trusted him with their mobile banking apps to get their own money back to them," said Makki.

Despite all the hardships, though, the volunteers are determined to carry on.

"We have no choice but to continue," said Mokhtar.

"If we stop, we starve to death."

German far-right AfD leader defends party's stance toward Russia

dpa
2024/03/24

Co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel speaks during an interview in her office in the German Bundestag. The co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) defended her party's stance toward Russia in a weekend interview with dpa, denying allegations that AfD politicians are too cozy with the Kremlin. 

Michael Kappeler/dpa

The co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) defended her party's stance toward Russia in a weekend interview with dpa, denying allegations that AfD politicians are too cozy with the Kremlin.

"It is simply important to me that a very balanced view of things is not confused with an alleged closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin," Alice Weidel told dpa.

Weidel, however, argued that the German government must strike more "balance" in its relationship with Russia and Ukraine.

Russia launched a bloody full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and the German government has been supplying the Ukrainian side with weapons and other aid.

"The glorification of one warring party and the demonization of the other side will not lead us to a solution," Weidel said.

An AfD politician in the state parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, Hans-Thomas Tillschneider, drew criticism several days ago after congratulating Putin on his re-election. Tillschneider praised Putin for having "ensured stability and prosperity in Russia" in recent years.

Weidel's co-chair of the AfD, Tino Chrupalla, attended a reception at the Russian embassy last May despite the Russian war against Ukraine.

When asked whether she was happy that the opposition in Germany was not treated in the same way as in Russia, Weidel replied: "I don't want to judge that because it's a domestic issue."

But she complained about how her party is treated in Germany, including that AfD lawmakers have been excluded from sensitive oversight committees that monitor Germany's intelligence services.

Germany's BfV domestic intelligence service is currently investigating the AfD as a suspected far-right extremist group.

Many Russian opposition politicians and Kremlin critics have been jailed, driven into exile or threatened with harsh punishments for speaking against the regime. Putin faced no genuine opponents in his re-election campaign.

Co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party Alice Weidel speaks during an interview in her office in the German Bundestag. The co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) defended her party's stance toward Russia in a weekend interview with dpa, denying allegations that AfD politicians are too cozy with the Kremlin.

 Michael Kappeler/dpa

ICYMI

'Good boy!' Dogs do understand us, says new study

Agence France-Presse
March 22, 2024 

Cute Dog (Shutterstock)

Whether dogs truly understand the words we say -- as opposed to things like tone and context clues -- is a question that has long perplexed owners, and so far science hasn't been able to deliver clear answers.

But a new brain wave study published Friday in Current Biology suggests that hearing the names of their favorite toys actually activates dogs' memories of the objects they are associated with.

"It is not so self-evident that dogs would know what a 'ball' is," co-author Lilla Magyari of the Eotvos Lorand University in Hungary, told AFP, using an easy example to explain the motivation behind the research.

With a couple of famous exceptions, dogs have fared poorly on lab tests requiring them to fetch objects after hearing their names, and many experts have argued it isn't so much what we say but rather how and when we say things that pique our pooches' interest.

Yelling "Go get the stick!" and having a dog successfully bring the object back doesn't conclusively prove they know what the word "stick" means.

Even scientists who concede that dogs do pay attention to our speech have said that, rather than really understanding what words actually stand for -- a uniquely human trait -- they are reacting to particular sounds with a learned behavior.

- Brain waves -

In the new paper, Magyari and colleagues applied a non-invasive brain imaging technique to 18 dogs brought to their lab in Budapest.

The test involved taping electrodes to the dogs' heads to monitor their brain activity. Their owners said words for toys they were most familiar with -- for example "Kun-kun, look, the ball!" -- and then showed them either the matching object or a mismatched object.


After analyzing the recordings, the team found different brain patterns when dogs were shown matching versus mismatched objects.

This experimental setup has been used for decades in humans, including babies, and is accepted as evidence of "semantic processing," or understanding meaning.

The test also had the benefit of not requiring the dogs to fetch something in order to prove their knowledge.

"We found the effect in 14 dogs, which shows the effect that we see on a group level is not only driven by a few exceptional dogs," co-author Marianna Boros told AFP.

- Case closed? -

Holly Root-Gutteridge, a dog behavior scientist at the University of Lincoln in England, who wasn't involved in the research, told AFP the ability to fetch specific toys by name had previously been deemed a "genius" quality.

She noted the famous border collies Chaser, who had the largest tested memory of any non-human animal, and Rico, who was the first dog found in tests to retrieve toys by their names.

But Root-Gutteridge said the new study "shows that a whole range of dogs are learning the names of the objects in terms of brain response even if they don't demonstrate it behaviorally," adding it was, "another knock for humanity's special and distinct qualities."

The paper "provides further evidence that dogs might understand human vocalizations much better than we usually give them credit for," added Federico Rossano, a cognitive scientist at UC San Diego.

But not all experts were equally enthusiastic.

Clive Wynne, a canine behaviorist at Arizona State University, told AFP he was "split" on the findings.

"I think the paper falls down when it wants to make the big picture claim that they have demonstrated what they call 'semantic understanding,'" he said, though he praised the "ingenious" experimental setup as a new way to test the full extent of dogs "functional vocabulary."

For example, Wynne said, he needs to spell out the word "w-a-l-k" when he's in front of his dog -- lest his pet get excited for an outing there and then -- but he doesn't need to take the same precautions in front of his wife, whose understanding of the word goes beyond simple association.

"Would Pavlov be surprised by these results?" asked Wynne, referencing the famous Russian scientist who showed dogs could be conditioned to salivate when they heard a bell signaling meal time. "I do not think he would be."

Your dog understands that some words “stand for” objects

New Zealand's Maori King calls for whales to be given personhood

Agence France-Presse
March 28, 2024 

Sperm whale © VALERY HACHE / AFP/File

The King of New Zealand's Indigenous Maori people made an impassioned call Thursday for whales to be granted the same legal rights as people in a bid to protect the hallowed yet vulnerable species.

Kiingi Tuheitia Potatau te Wherowhero VII said that majestic marine mammals should be given inherent human rights, such as having a healthy environment, to allow the restoration of their populations.

"The sound of our ancestor's song has grown weaker, and her habitat is under threat, which is why we must act now," King Tuheitia said in a rare public statement.

New Zealand has previously passed laws granting legal status to natural features such as rivers and mountains that are important to the Maori people.

The Mount Taranaki volcano and Whanganui River, both in New Zealand's North Island, are seen by the Maori as both ancestors and of spiritual importance. They were both granted personhood in 2017.

The status has since been invoked to slow or overturn development projects and to force consultation with local groups.

King Tuheitia said granting whales the same status would act as "a cloak of protection for our taonga (treasure), our ancestor -- the whales".

The statement was jointly issued with the high chief of the neighboring Cook Islands, Travel Tou Ariki.

The leaders are advocating for Indigenous knowledge to be combined with science for a "more holistic approach" to whale conservation.

Establishing protected marine areas would be a "crucial" step, they added.

- 'Vital role' -

The leaders want Polynesian nations who share "a love for the vast Pacific Ocean" to help.

"We can no longer turn a blind eye," high chief Travel Tou Ariki said. "Whales play a vital role in the health of our entire ocean ecosystem. Their decline disrupts the delicate balance that sustains all life in Te Moana (the sea)."

"We must act with urgency to protect these magnificent creatures before it's too late."

Whales are some of the largest mammals on earth, with blue whales measuring up to 100 feet (30.5 meters) and weighing up to 200 tonnes, the same as roughly 33 elephants.

Yet their size doesn't protect them.

Six of the 13 great whale species are classified as endangered or vulnerable, according to conservation group the World Wildlife Fund.

The Maori, like other Polynesian groups, are believed to have originated from islands around modern-day Tahiti, but currently make up about 17 percent of New Zealand's population, or about 900,000 people.

The arrival of Europeans to New Zealand in 1642 brought colonization, anti-Maori discrimination and pitched warfare that was eventually stopped through the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.

The treaty, signed between the British and hundreds of Maori chiefs, is seen as the founding document of New Zealand and established British control over the country.

But it also granted the Maori the same rights as British subjects and authority over "taonga" or treasures that can be intangible.

 

China ships Tibetan glacier water to climate-threatened Maldives

Agence France-Presse
March 28, 2024 

Rising sea levels threaten to swamp the Maldives and the Indian Ocean archipelago is already out of drinking water 

© Shubham KOUL / AFP

China has sent more than a million bottles of water from melting Tibetan glaciers to the Maldives, officials said Thursday, a gift from the world's highest mountains to a low-lying archipelago threatened by rising seas.

The Indian Ocean nation of 1,192 tiny coral islands is on the frontlines of the climate crisis, with salt levels seeping into the land and corrupting potable water, leaving it dependent on desalination plants.

Scientists say glaciers in the Himalayas are melting faster than ever due to climate change.

The Maldives foreign ministry said the water was a gift from Yan Jinhai, the chairman of the Xizang Autonomous Region, or Tibet, lying more than 3,385 kilometers (2,100 miles) away on the far side of the world's highest mountain range.

The consignment of mineral water packed into 90 sea containers arrived last week and had been unloaded in the capital Male, a port authority official said.

"The Chairman of Xizang Autonomous Region announced his wish to donate 1,500 tonnes of drinking water... during his official visit to the country in November," the Maldives foreign ministry said in a statement.

- 'Water shortage' -

The ministry rejected allegations on social media that the imported water was for the consumption of pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu, who came to power last year on an anti-Indian platform.

"The government of Maldives has decided to utilize the water to provide assistance to islands in case of water shortage," it said.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warned in 2007 that rises of 18 to 59 centimeters (7.2 to 23.2 inches) would make the Maldives virtually uninhabitable by the end of the century.

Muizzu promises his country -- 80 percent of which is less than a meter (three feet) above sea level -- will beat back the waves through ambitious land reclamation and building islands higher.

The congested capital island of Male has already run out of groundwater for drinking and depends on expensive desalination plants to supply the local population.

A fire at the water purification plant in Male in December 2014 disrupted supplies for almost a week, causing panic.

Both India and regional rival China rushed ships to produce drinking water until the desalination plant was fixed.

Better known for its white sand beaches and luxury tourism, the Maldives also straddles strategic east-west international shipping routes.

New Delhi considers the Indian Ocean archipelago to be within its sphere of influence but the Maldives has shifted into the orbit of China -- its largest external creditor.

Muizzu visited Beijing in January, when he signed a raft of infrastructure, energy, marine and agricultural deals, while India began withdrawing military personnel operating surveillance aircraft this month after they were ordered to leave.

Israel's war budget leaves top scientists in limbo

Agence France-Presse
March 27, 2024 

Saving chocolate: Israel scientist Ellen Graber

 (GIL COHEN-MAGEN/AFP)

Israeli scientist Ellen Graber has spent years researching ways to save chocolate crops from climate change. But with the government slashing spending to fund the war in Gaza, her project is one of hundreds now hanging in the balance.

Graber's research had already been hit by the war -- she had to abandon her cacao plants when the area where they were grown was evacuated after the October 7 Hamas attack.

They survived weeks of drought-like conditions in a greenhouse.

But the state-funded Volcani Institute where she works is now facing huge budget cuts.

The institute specializes in arid and desert environments, increasingly vital areas of study for a planet wracked by extreme weather caused by climate change.

Now the government's war budget means hundreds of the institute's projects are under threat.

- 'Functionally stagnant' -

Israeli politicians approved sweeping cuts to ministry budgets earlier this month to pay for an 82 percent rise in defence spending and some key demands of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition allies.

They included controversial measures to boost financing of ultra-Orthodox education programs and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank.


The ministry of agriculture was one of the hardest hit, facing a 12 percent cut.

The Volcani Institute is set to lose a fifth of its state money, which it says will effectively bring its research to a halt.

The warning comes days after Israel's state auditor criticized the government's "functionally stagnant" handling of the climate crisis.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the budget "the most sectarian, disconnected and reckless" in the country's history.

And economist Itai Ater, a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute think tank, said the budget "will certainly harm... education, health, welfare and infrastructure".

- 'Whole thing will dry up' -

Volcani's acting director Shmuel Assouline warned lawmakers its revised budget would only cover basic running costs.

He said halting its research could mean a loss of around 100 million shekels ($27 million) in its partnerships with other institutions and corporate partners.

"If we lose our good name, private companies won't come to invest," he added.

Graber, a soil scientist, started growing tropical cacao plants four years ago to devise ways "to increase yields, to increase quality, to deal with pests and pathogens and diseases" plaguing the cacao industry globally.

"I can't buy important chemicals, the equipment that I need, the materials I need to work and to continue this study," Graber said.

"Within one year, this whole thing will dry up."

Volcani's sprawling campus in central Israel has the atmosphere of a kibbutz crossed with a top-secret research facility.

Cows low in barns meters from laboratories where researchers are trying to isolate fungus-killing bacterial strains they hope will replace chemical pesticides.

Its researchers are at the forefront of climate change solutions for agriculture.

They collaborate with universities, governments and private companies around the globe on subjects as diverse as meteorology and water-use to gene-editing and environmental microbiology.

Eddie Cytryn, director of Volcani's Institute of Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences, said the cuts would have "tremendous impacts" on field research and international collaboration -- and the grants that fund them.

- Cell growth research stunted -

Scientists Hinanit Koltai and Guy Mechrez head a team studying a novel method to accelerate and control cell growth in cows.

Their research, carried out in partnership with an Israeli firm called Nanomeat, aims to overcome a major hurdle for the lab-grown meat industry.

But Koltai echoed Graber and Assouline in saying her team was no longer able to buy materials for their research and warning they could lose their corporate partners.

"Nanomeat will go to somebody else no doubt," she said.

Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter told Kan public radio that he had "a serious disagreement with the finance ministry" over funds for the Volcani Institute.

He said Netanyahu "promised to intervene" but for the time being the scientists are left in limbo.

Australia battles to save last 11 wild 'earless dragons'

Agence France-Presse
March 27, 2024 

This year scientists counted just 11 grassland earless dragons in the wild, a marked decline (DAVID GRAY/AFP)

Australia's grassland earless dragon is no bigger than a pinkie when it emerges from its shell, but the little lizard faces an enormous challenge in the years ahead: avoiding extinction.

As recently as 2019, scientists in Canberra counted hundreds of grassland earless dragons in the wild. This year, they found 11.

In other areas of the country, the lizard has not been seen for three decades.

The earless dragon -- which is light brown and has long white stripes down its body -- measures about 15 centimeters (the size of a US$1 bill) when fully grown.

It lacks an external ear opening and functional eardrum, hence the name.

Australia has four species of earless dragons. Three are critically endangered, the highest level of risk, while the fourth is endangered.

The critically endangered dragons will likely be extinct in the next 20 years without conservation efforts.

"If we properly manage their conservation, we can bring them back," said University of Canberra Professor Bernd Gruber, who is working to do just that.

- Breeding programs -

Australia is home to thousands of unique animals, including 1,130 species of reptiles that are found nowhere else in the world.

Climate change, invasive plants and animals, and habitat destruction -- such as the 2019 bushfires, which burned more than 19 million hectares (46 million acres) -- have pushed Australia's native species to the brink.

In the past 300 years, about 100 of Australia's unique flora and fauna species have been wiped off the planet.


To save the earless dragons there are several breeding programs under way across Australia, including a bio-secure facility in Canberra's bushlands, which Gruber is overseeing.

On shelves are dozens of tanks that house the lizards –- one to each container –- with a burrow, grass and heat lamps to keep them warm.

The biggest problem is matchmaking, with the territorial female lizards preferring to choose their mates.

This means that scientists must introduce different male lizards to the female until she approves.

If that was not hard enough, scientists must also use genetic analysis to determine which lizards are compatible together and ensure genetic diversity in their offspring.

At any one time, the breeding programs around Australia can have up to 90 earless dragons, which will eventually be released back into the wild.


At the moment, Gruber is looking after more than 20 small lizards that have just hatched. Scientists almost missed the tiny eggs until three weeks ago.

"There is a sense of hope looking over them," he told AFP.

- Habitat destruction -

Despite the efforts of scientists, the lizards are contending with a shrinking habitat and a changing climate.

Australian Conservation Foundation campaigner Peta Bulling said the lizards only live in temperate grasslands, most of which have been destroyed by urban development.

Only 0.5 percent of grasslands present at the time of European colonization still exist.

Without the lizards, Australia's alpine grasslands could look vastly different.

"We don't understand everything the grassland earless dragons do in the ecosystem, but we can make guesses they play an important role in managing invertebrate populations. They live in burrows in the soil, so they are probably aerating the soil in different ways too," she told AFP.

Bulling said that while it was important to bring the lizard back, it was also vital to protect their habitats, without which the newly saved lizards would have nowhere to live.


"They are highly specialized to live in their habitat but they will not adapt quickly to change," she said.

Last year, scientists rediscovered a small number of another kind of earless dragons after 50 years in an area that is being kept secret for conservation reasons.

Resources are being poured into understanding just how big that population is and what can be done to protect it.

Quantum computing just got hotter: 

1 degree above absolute zero

The Conversation
March 28, 2024 

Quantum computing (Amin Van/Shutterstock.com)

For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or –273.15°C). That’s because the quantum phenomena that grant quantum computers their unique computational abilities can only be harnessed by isolating them from the warmth of the familiar classical world we inhabit.

A single quantum bit or “qubit”, the equivalent of the binary “zero or one” bit at the heart of classical computing, requires a large refrigeration apparatus to function. However, in many areas where we expect quantum computers to deliver breakthroughs – such as in designing new materials or medicines – we will need large numbers of qubits or even whole quantum computers working in parallel.

Quantum computers that can manage errors and self-correct, essential for reliable computations, are anticipated to be gargantuan in scale. Companies like Google, IBM and PsiQuantum are preparing for a future of entire warehouses filled with cooling systems and consuming vast amounts of power to run a single quantum computer.

But if quantum computers could function at even slightly higher temperatures, they could be much easier to operate – and much more widely available. In new research published in Nature, our team has shown a certain kind of qubit – the spins of individual electrons – can operate at temperatures around 1K, far hotter than earlier examples.

The cold, hard facts

Cooling systems become less efficient at lower temperatures. To make it worse, the systems we use today to control the qubits are intertwining messes of wires reminiscent of ENIAC and other huge computers of the 1940s. These systems increase heating and create physical bottlenecks to making qubits work together.

The more qubits we try to cram in, the more difficult the problem becomes. At a certain point the wiring problem becomes insurmountable.

After that, the control systems need to be built into the same chips as the qubits. However, these integrated electronics use even more power – and dissipate more heat – than the big mess of wires.

A warm turn

Our new research may offer a way forward. We have demonstrated that a particular kind of qubit – one made with a quantum dot printed with metal electrodes on silicon, using technology much like that used in existing microchip production – can operate at temperatures around 1K.

This is only one degree above absolute zero, so it’s still extremely cold. However, it’s significantly warmer than previously thought possible. This breakthrough could condense the sprawling refrigeration infrastructure into a more manageable, single system. It would drastically reduce operational costs and power consumption.

The necessity for such technological advancements isn’t merely academic. The stakes are high in fields like drug design, where quantum computing promises to revolutionize how we understand and interact with molecular structures.

The research and development expenses in these industries, running into billions of dollars, underscore the potential cost savings and efficiency gains from more accessible quantum computing technologies.

A slow burn

“Hotter” qubits offer new possibilities, but they will also introduce new challenges in error correction and control. Higher temperatures may well mean an increase in the rate of measurement errors, which will create further difficulties in keeping the computer functional.

It is still early days in the development of quantum computers. Quantum computers may one day be as ubiquitous as today’s silicon chips, but the path to that future will be filled with technical hurdles.

Our recent progress in operating qubits at higher temperatures is as a key step towards making the requirements of the system simpler.

It offers hope that quantum computing may break free from the confines of specialized labs into the broader scientific community, industry and commercial data centres.


Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney and Andre Luiz Saraiva De Oliveira, Solid State Physicist, UNSW Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.