Ukraine presidential adviser denies Ukraine's involvement in Nord Stream explosions

Aug 15, 2024

KYIV - Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak denied his country's involvement in explosions which damaged the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline and instead pointed the finger at Russia in comments to Reuters on Thursday.

"Such an act can only be carried out with extensive technical and financial resources ... and who possessed all this at the time of the bombing? Only Russia," Podolyak said as part of his written comments.

The multi-billion dollar Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines transporting gas under the Baltic Sea were ruptured by a series of explosions in September 2022, seven months after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Polish prosecutors said on Wednesday that Poland had received a European arrest warrant issued by Berlin in connection with the attack, but the suspect, a Ukrainian man named as Volodymyr Z, has already left Poland.

On Friday, the Wall Street Journal reported that top Ukrainian officials were involved in what happened.

"Ukraine has nothing to do with the Nord Stream explosions," Podolyak said, adding that Ukraine did not gain any strategic or tactical advantage from the blasts.

Russia has already blamed the United States, Britain and Ukraine for the blasts, which largely cut Russian gas off from the lucrative European market. Those countries have denied involvement.

Germany, Denmark, and Sweden all opened investigations into the incident, and the Swedes found traces of explosives on several objects recovered from the explosion site, confirming the blasts were deliberate acts. REUTERS

 

Columbia University president resigns in wake of campus protests over Gaza war

Ms Shafik said she made the announcement now so new leadership could be in place before the new term begins on September 3, when student protesters have vowed to resume protests

Shafik, who cited the toll the campus turmoil took on her family, becomes the third president of an Ivy League university to step down in the  wake of campus protests over Gaza.

Thu, 15 Aug, 2024 - 08:16

Jonathan Allen and Kanishka Singh, Reuters

Columbia University President Minouche Shafik resigned on Wednesday, nearly four months after the university's handling of campus protests over Israel's war in Gaza drew criticism from pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian sides alike.

Shafik, who cited the toll the campus turmoil took on her family, becomes the third president of an Ivy League university to step down in the wake of campus protests over Gaza.

She said she made the announcement now so new leadership could be in place before the new term begins on September 3, when student protesters have vowed to resume protests.

"It has... been a period of turmoil where it has been difficult to overcome divergent views across our community. This period has taken a considerable toll on my family, as it has for others in our community," Shafik said in a statement.

The university announced Katrina Armstrong, dean of Columbia's medical school, would serve as interim president. Armstrong said in a statement she was "acutely aware of the trials the University has faced over the past year."

Columbia was rocked in April and May as protesters occupied parts of the New York City campus in opposition to Palestinian civilian deaths in Gaza, resulting in hundreds of arrests. The demonstrators denounced Shafik for calling police onto campus to halt the demonstrations, while pro-Israel supporters castigated her for failing to crack down sufficiently.

Students and pro-Palestinian activists face police as they gather outside of Columbia University to protest the university's stance on Israel on April 18, 2024 in New York City

Students with Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a group behind the protests, welcomed the resignation but said it should not become a distraction from their efforts to have Columbia divest from companies that support Israel's military and its occupation of Palestinian territories.

"We hope that Columbia will finally appoint a president that will hear the students and faculty rather than appease Congress and donors," said Mahmoud Khalil, one of the group's lead negotiators with the school's administration.Learn more

Republican US Representative Elise Stefanik, a critic of university leaders in congressional hearings over Gaza protests nationwide, called Shafik's resignation "overdue" on X because of what she called failure to protect Jewish students.

Two other Ivy League presidents have resigned after facing congressional critics. Liz Magill of the University of Pennsylvania stepped down in December 2023 and Claudine Gay of Harvard quit a month later.

Shafik, an Egyptian-born economist who holds British and U.S. nationality, was previously deputy governor of the Bank of England, president of the London School of Economics and deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund.

After leading Columbia for little more than a year, Shafik said she would return to the British House of Lords and chair a review of the government's approach to international development.

Her position at Columbia was undermined when pro-Palestinian protesters set up dozens of tents on the main lawn.

Pro-Palestinian protestors chant near an entrance to Columbia University on April 30, 2024 

On April 18 she took the unusual step of asking New York police to enter campus, angering rights groups, students and faculty, after encampments were not cleared voluntarily.

More than 100 people were arrested and the tents removed, but within days the encampment was back in place. The university called police back in on April 30, when they arrested 300 people at and near Columbia and the City College of New York. Some protesters were injured in the arrests.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7 when Palestinian fighters from Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Mpox vaccine maker ready to produce 10 million doses

Copenhagen (AFP) – Danish drugmaker Bavarian Nordic said Thursday it was ready to produce up to 10 million doses of its vaccine targeting mpox by 2025 after the World Health Organization declared a surge in the virus in Africa a global public health emergency.

Issued on: 15/08/2024 - 

The African Union's health agency Africa said200,000 doses of the drugmaker's vaccine were to be deployed in Africa

 © MARIO TAMA / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

Alarmed by a rise in cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the spread of mpox to nearby countries, WHO experts said Wednesday that the "situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern".

"We have additional manufacturing capacity of two million doses for 2024 and (a total of) 10 million doses by 2025," Rolf Sass Sorensen, vice-president of Bavarian Nordic, told AFP.

The company is awaiting orders from the countries concerned before starting manufacturing. "We need to see the contracts," Sorensen said.

The Danish laboratory says it has some 500,000 doses in stock.

Shares in Bavarian Nordic, whose vaccine against mpox has been licensed since 2019, rose nearly eight percent on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange on Thursday, following the WHO announcement. This followed a 12 percent climb on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the African Union's health agency, announced that over 200,000 doses of the vaccine were to be deployed in Africa, following an agreement with the European Union (EU) and Bavarian Nordic.

Mpox cases in Africa © Nicholas SHEARMAN / AFP

A total of 38,465 cases of the disease, formerly known as monkeypox, have been reported in 16 African countries since January 2022, with 1,456 deaths.

There has been a 160 percent increase in cases this year compared to the previous year, according to data published last week by the health agency.

Bavarian Nordic mainly supplies it's mpox vaccine -- called Jynneos in the United States and Imvanex in the European Union -- to governments and international organisations, but began marketing it on the US market in April.

© 2024 AFP

Sweden reports first case of new monkeypox strain outside Africa

The World Health Organization on Thursday said a first case of mpox linked to an outbreak in Africa has been identified outside the continent after an infection was confirmed in Sweden. The news comes a day after the WHO declared mpox, also known as monkeypox, a global public health emergency.


Issued on: 15/08/2024 - 

State epidemiologist Magnus Gisslen speaks during a press conference on August 15, 2024. © Fredrik Sandberg, AFP

Sweden on Thursday announced the first case outside Africa of the more dangerous variant of mpox, which the WHO has declared a global public health emergency.

The country's public health agency confirmed to AFP that it was the same strain of the virus that has surged in the Democratic Republic of Congo since September 2023, known as the Clade 1b subclade.

"A person who sought care" in Stockholm "has been diagnosed with mpox caused by the clade I variant. It is the first case caused by clade I to be diagnosed outside the African continent," the agency said in a statement.

The person was infected during a visit to "the part of Africa where there is a major outbreak of mpox clade I," state epidemiologist Magnus Gisslen said in the statement.

The patient "has received care," Gisslen said. The agency added that Sweden "has a preparedness to diagnose, isolate and treat people with mpox safely."

"The fact that a patient with mpox is treated in the country does not affect the risk to the general population, a risk that the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) currently considers very low," it said.

The outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has killed 548 people since the start of the year.

WHO declared the outbreak in the DRC and neighbouring countries a public health emergency of international concern on Wednesday.

Formerly called monkeypox, the virus was first discovered in humans in 1970 in what is now the DRC.

It is an infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals but can also be passed from human to human through close physical contact.

The disease causes fever, muscular aches and large boil-like skin lesions.

(AFP)

Mpox risk low but UK medics on alert

Getty Images
Mpox was formerly known as monkeypox

BBC 

UK health chiefs say they are making plans in case a new type of mpox virus is detected in the country - but they emphasise the risk is low.

It comes as the World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Wednesday that outbreaks in west and central Africa constitute a global health emergency.

Mpox, previously known as monkey pox, is a contagious virus that can cause painful skin lesions.

Plans are under way to ensure UK healthcare workers are aware of the key signs to look out for and have rapid tests available.

What is mpox and how is it spread?

WHO declares mpox global health emergency

A case of mpox has also been detected in Sweden after a person became infected during a stay in an area of Africa where the disease is spreading.

One of the main reasons the WHO called for global action against mpox is the emergence of a new type of the virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), known as Clade 1b.

This type of mpox has been detected in a growing number of African countries in the past year and there are concerns that it can sometimes cause severe disease and death.

Mpox has killed at least 450 people in the DRC.

Currently, there are no cases of Clade 1b mpox confirmed in the UK but experts say cases can spread if international action is not taken.

Dr Meera Chand, deputy director at the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), said: “The risk to the UK population is currently considered low.

"However, planning is under way to prepare for any cases that we might see in the UK.

"This includes ensuring that clinicians are aware and able to recognise cases promptly, that rapid testing is available and that protocols are developed for the safe clinical care of people who have the infection, and the prevention of onward transmission.''

Weakened immune systems

The disease - formally known as monkeypox - can be passed on by close contact with anyone with the infection or with infected bedding and surfaces, for example.

Common symptoms often include a skin rash or pus-filled lesions which can last two to four weeks, fever, headache and muscle aches.

Symptoms often clear up in two weeks but it can be fatal, particularly for people with weakened immune systems.

Children and pregnant women may also be at greater risk.

In 2022, the WHO declared a separate outbreak of Clade 2 mpox to be a public health emergency of international concern.

This was lifted in May 2023 after cases declined.

It spread to nearly 100 countries which do not normally see the virus, including some in Europe and Asia.

There was a large outbreak in the UK in May 2022, mostly affecting men who have sex with men.

A vaccination campaign helped to cut its spread.

UKHSA figures suggest there were 3,732 confirmed and highly probable cases reported in the UK up to the end of 2022.

Some 239 cases have been reported up to July this year.

Of these, 225 were in England, with 98 patients presumed to have caught the virus in the UK and 74 outside the country. Testing is ongoing.

WHO declares mpox a global public health emergency for second time in two years

15 August 2024 - 

By Bhanvi Satija and Jennifer Rigby

Christian Musema, a laboratory nurse, takes a sample from a child declared a suspected case mpox at the the treatment centre in Munigi, following cases in Nyiragongo territory near Goma, North Kivu province, DRC, on July 19 2024.
Image: REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi

The World Health Organisation on Wednesday declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years, following an outbreak of the viral infection in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that has spread to neighbouring countries.

An emergency committee met earlier on Wednesday to advise WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on whether the disease outbreak constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern,” or PHEIC.


PHEIC status is WHO's highest level of alert and aims to accelerate research, funding and international public health measures and co-operation to contain a disease.

“It's clear that a co-ordinated international response is essential to stop these outbreaks and save lives,” said Tedros.

Mpox can spread through close contact. Usually mild, it is fatal in rare cases. It causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body.

The outbreak in DRC began with the spread of an endemic strain, known as clade I. But a new variant, clade Ib, appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, including sexual contact. It has spread from DRC to neighbouring countries, including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, triggering the action from the WHO.

Bavarian Nordic to donate mpox vaccine doses following African emergency declaration

Danish biotech firm Bavarian Nordic said on Tuesday it will donate 40,000 doses of its mpox vaccine to Africa's top public health body, after the ...

“The detection and rapid spread of a new clade of mpox in eastern DRC, its detection in neighbouring countries that had not previously reported mpox, and the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,” Tedros added.

Tedros said on Wednesday that WHO had released $1.5m (R27m) in contingency funds and plans to release more in the coming days. WHO's response plan would require an initial $15m (R270.4m), and the agency plans to appeal to donors for funding.

Earlier this week, Africa's top public health body declared an mpox emergency for the continent after warning that the viral infection was spreading at an alarming rate, with more than 17,000 suspected cases and more than 500 deaths this year, mainly among children in DRC.

Prof Dimie Ogoina, chair of WHO's mpox emergency committee, said all members unanimously agreed that the current upsurge of cases is an “extraordinary event,” with a record number of cases in DRC.

Vaccines and behaviour change helped stop the spread when a different strain of mpox spread globally, primarily among men who have sex with men, and WHO declared an emergency in 2022.

In DRC, the transmission routes need further study, WHO said. No vaccines are yet available, though efforts are under way to change that and work out who best to target. The agency also appealed to countries with stockpiles to donate shots.

South Africa is ‘Reaping the Digital Harvest’ by embracing new farming technology but challenges remain

Gift Mwonzora
August 15th, 2024
LSE

The use of new farming technology is on the rise in South Africa and has the potential to enhance productivity and efficiency, which is good news for farm owners. But, as Gift Mwonzora writes, it may be bad news for farm workers whose job security may be under threat.


Across South Africa, farms are ramping up their use of technology. Adopting and using new techniques such as digital surveillance for monitoring and harvesting will increase yields and put some, but not all, jobs under threat.

In some cases, the ramifications of new farm technology on labour have yet to be felt. However, this does not mean that the South African agricultural sector will be sheltered from the negative impact of technology on labour.

Pixels in the orchards


As elsewhere in Africa, South African farmers have been slow adopters of technology. One reason for this is the cost-benefit analysis of acquiring and maintaining new technology versus sustaining manual labour.

In South Africa, labour is relatively cheap. It is, therefore, cost-effective for farms to employ vast labour forces to work the land. In contrast, the financial investment required for digitalisation, gadgets, and mechanisation can involve high upfront costs, which many farmers do not have.

Despite the financial barriers, some farmers in South Africa are already automating and replacing manual production processes with digital gadgets and machinery. These include packing/sorting machines and heat-sealing machines for packaging fruits. Huge strides have also been made in digitalisation through the deployment of Artificial Intelligence (AI), IoT sensors (to enhance yield and crop quality), automated irrigation systems (which adjust watering amounts and schedules) based on soil moisture, plant needs and environmental conditions. Scanners, bar code readers, mobile phones, and smart tablets are used in the packing and delivery of products. Drone-based remote sensing and satellite imagery for pest detection have also helped optimise the outputs from some farms. But these technologies do not come cheap.

Adoption of such technologies is a gradual process. It is a farming marathon, not a sprint. It involves significant financial investment to acquire and maintain the technology and machinery and many farms exist on thin profit margins. Upfront costs matter and the financial implications of a wrong or poorly timed decision can be huge.

Farm labour vs technology


While adopting new technology is a welcome development for farm owners, trade unions and workers are concerned about the impact of such on employability and job security. These concerns feed into growing fears about how technology reshapes the quality and quantity of jobs in different sectors.

Some view the negative impact as a distant prospect, while others are already seeing and experiencing the effect. This is witnessed in the precarity of farm labour owing to the introduction of new farm technology coupled with macroeconomic challenges undergirding low farm productivity in South Africa. The country suffers from irregular electricity supply and extreme weather due to climate change, which is characterised by droughts and ongoing uncertainty regarding land expropriation.

South African farm workers have always been poorly remunerated. The sector was already reeling under the increasing seasonality and casualisation of labour. Employers do not want to hire full-time labour force which is then entitled to full benefits as enshrined in the South African Labour Relations Act. Instead, they opt to employ workers during peak seasons on a contract basis.

No doomsday scenario, yet


Considering how capital works, it is a truism that every farmer will opt for labour-cutting costs if the machines can perform tasks more efficiently and cheaper than their human counterparts. But there is a reason to be upbeat.

Despite the push for technology, more machines aren’t always the answer. In the South African citrus farming sector the human labour force is vital. Players in the sector term it a ‘delicate sector’ due to the sensitivity of the produce. It also still requires human hands and discerning eyes to identify blemishes. The human component is still essential in this regard.

As things stand in the South African agricultural sector, predicting the end of human farm labour would be too much of a stretch. Despite some movement on some farms, many farmers still use second-hand agriculture machinery, and cannot afford the latest model, let alone the latest tech. The cost of acquisition and the need for expert maintenance of such technology is also holding back its adoption in much of South Africa. Until the country can manufacture its own technology, rather than rely on expensive imports, a large-scale investment in tech and the displacement of human labour is unlikely.

If history is any guide, the agricultural revolution and the introduction of tractors, while impacting the agricultural sector, did not lead to the total displacement of human farm labour. The overall numbers of employees were dramatically reduced, but new tasks, jobs and activities were created. The same could also be said in this digital revolution and mechanisation era in the context of South Africa.

About the author

Gift Mwonzor

Dr Gift Mwonzora is a Research Fellow in the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy at the University of Erfurt, Germany. He researches on digitalisation, politics and the future of work in Middle-Income Countries. His areas of Research include development policy, digitalisation, governance, democracy, human rights, social justice.
Posted In: Development | Technology

 

Vietnamese activist found guilty of anti-state propaganda

YouTuber Nguyen Chi Tuyen was sentenced to 5 years in prison.

By RFA Vietnamese
2024.08.15

Vietnamese blogger and activist Nguyen Chi Tuyen, also known as Anh Chi, searches the internet in Hanoi, Vietnam, on August 25, 2017.

Updated Aug. 15, 2024

A court in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi found activist Nguyen Chi Tuyen guilty of “propaganda against the state” on Thursday and jailed him for five years, with no probation, on charges that carry a maximum sentence of 12 years. The judge took just over five hours to hand down the verdict.

Hanoi police arrested the 50-year-old on Feb. 29 this year. 

Tuyen is a prominent member of the No-U movement, which protests against China’s so-called nine-dash line, which it uses on its maps to demarcate the territory it claims in the South China Sea. Vietnam also claims some of the territory.

He was prosecuted under Article 117 of the criminal code, which prohibits "making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents and items with fabricated content, causing confusion among the people" and "making, storing, disseminating or propagating information, documents and items causing psychological warfare."

“Although my client was given the lowest sentence in the penalty range, I, as well as the two other lawyers, have concluded and presented evidence proving that Nguyen Chi Tuyen is completely innocent, and the sentence imposed on him is inappropriate,” said a member of Tuyen’s defense team, who didn’t want to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue.

The lawyer said that his client will consider appealing the verdict in the next two weeks.

Just before the trial international pressure group Human Rights Watch had called for his immediate release.

“Vietnam’s authorities have targeted Nguyen Chi Tuyen for expressing views they don’t like,” said HRW associate Asia director Patricia Gossman. “The government should stop jailing peaceful critics, repeal its draconian penal laws, and end the systematic violation of basic rights.”

The New York-based group pointed out that the trial came shortly after former police chief To Lam was elected general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the country’s top job.

While Lam was minister of public security, police arrested at least 269 people for exercising their basic civil and political rights, the group said.

“The Vietnamese government will remain mired in oppression so long as it continues to lock up dissidents like Nguyen Chi Tuyen who dare to speak their minds,” Gossman said. “Vietnam’s international donors and trade partners shouldn’t have any illusions when dealing with this rights-abusing government.”

Phil Robertson, director of Asia Human Rights and Labor Advocates, said Vietnam’s courts hand down stiff sentences to people who dare to speak the truth because leaders see them as a threat to their power.

“In a politically motivated case like this, there will be no justice, but rather only tears and anger as yet another principled citizen is imprisoned for exercising his rights,” he told RFA Vietnamese.

“An Chi is widely respected among the people of Vietnam, and nothing that the government and the party does to him will diminish that. 

“The Vietnamese people recognize persons with moral principles and an ethical backbone who act for the interests of all the people. That's why the ruling Communist Party is attacking him with these bogus charges because they know they cannot compete with him in terms of virtue.”

After quitting his publishing job in August 2018, Tuyen created a YouTube channel to share his views on Vietnamese economics, politics and society.

He was prosecuted for two videos posted in 2021. In the first he talked about a US$200 million donation by VietJet Air chairwoman Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao to the U.K.’s Oxford University.

In the second, he commented on the government’s “blazing furnace” crackdown on corruption, saying that having multiple political parties in Vietnam would limit graft.

One of Tuyen’s lawyers told RFA his client did not plead guilty, instead asserting that he was only exercising the right to freedom of expression as stated in the Vietnamese Constitution as well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Vietnam is a member state.

The legal team asked the court to summon experts from the Hanoi Department of Information and Communications to question them about their interpretation of the two videos. However, the lawyer said the unnamed experts obtained written permission to be absent.

Translated by RFA Vietnamese. Edited by Mike Firn and Taejun Kang.

Updated to add comment from one of Tuyen's lawyers.

IRAN

Protest Rapper Toomaj Salehi Acquitted of Charges

Posted onAugust 15, 2024
IRNA


After a retrial of Toomaj Salehi’s case, Branch 5 of the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan acquitted him of the charges brought against him.

Amir Raisian, Mr. Salehi’s lawyer, stated: “Branch 5 of the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan, in the 2022 case against Toomaj Salehi, has issued an acquittal on the charge of ‘ spreading corruption on earth,’ which previously carried a death sentence. For the other charges, the court issued a temporary stay of prosecution. Additionally, the court referred the charges of ‘spreading falsehoods online’ and ‘disturbing public order’ to Criminal Court 2 due to lack of jurisdiction.”

In April of this year, Salehi had been sentenced to death by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan on the charge of ‘spreading corruption on earth,’ but this sentence was overturned in early July by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court, and the case was sent to Branch 5 of the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan.

He was arrested in late October 2022 in connection with the nationwide protests by security forces. Official news agencies claimed that he was attempting to illegally leave the country through the western borders, a claim denied by his associates. In July last year, he was sentenced by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court in Isfahan to six years and three months in prison, a travel ban, a ban on producing music and singing, and two years of mandatory behavior management and skills training. After this sentence was overturned by Branch 39 of the Supreme Court, he was released on bail on November 18, 2023.

Nevertheless, Salehi’s freedom was short-lived as he was re-arrested in Babol on November 30, just twelve days after being bailed out from Dastgerd Prison in Isfahan. The Judiciary spokesperson cited Salehi’s post-release statement as grounds for this subsequent arrest.

In January of 2024, in another part of his case, the Revolutionary Court of Isfahan sentenced him to one year in prison, two years of passport invalidation, and participation in behavior management courses on the charge of ‘propaganda against the regime.’ This sentence was upheld by the Isfahan Provincial Court of Appeals in late February. Late last year, Branch 117 of Criminal Court 2 in Isfahan acquitted him of the charges of ‘spreading falsehoods’ and ‘inciting violence.’

Toomaj Salehi, a protest rapper from Shahin Shahr, Isfahan, had previously been sentenced to six months in prison and a fine in 2021 for ‘insulting the Supreme Leader’ and ‘propaganda against the regime.’

Kola wildfire smoke drift into Nordic neighbours

Authorities in border regions of Norway and Finland are monitoring the situation but do currently not fear that Russia's northern wildfires will spread.

The wildfires at Russia's Fishermen Peninsula started this weekend. 

Photo: Murmansk Telegram

By
Thomas Nilsen
BARENTS OBSERVER
August 12, 2024

Fires on dry peat bogs at several locations west of Murmansk on Russia’s Barents Sea coast continue to send smoke into east Finnmark region in Norway and Finland’s Lapland region for the second day in a row.

There are several weeks since the area last saw rainfall, and with temperatures in July and August peaking beyond 25°C the risk of wildfires are high.

NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management Systems (FIRMS) could Tuesday evening detect wildfires at eight locations on the Kola Peninsula. The largest fire covers several square kilometers in the area between Ura Guba and the Northern Fleet’s submarine bases in Vidyayevo and Zapadnaya Litsa.

This fire has been burning since at least Thursday last week, a study of recent satellite images provided by Sentinel show.

A clear satellite images from August 9th shows how the smoke from the fire near Vidyayevo drift north over the Barents Sea. During the weekend, several fires have started closer to the border with Norway. Photo: Sentinel satellite



In Kirkenes, the Norwegian border town, smell and smoke have caused people to close doors and windows despite temperatures of up to 27°C Sunday and Monday.

Police and fire services say they are monitoring the situation, but underlines that there are currently no danger that any of the wildfires north on the Kola Peninsula will spread into Norway.

During the weekend, a new fire started on the Sredny Peninsula, north of Russia’s tourist tracks from Titovka towards the Fishermen Peninsula. There are few trees so far north, but burning dry peat bogs combined with wind along the coast makes it difficult to put out the fire, local Telegram channels in Murmansk can tell.

The smoke is also drifting into northernmost Lapland, Finnish broadcaster YLE informs.

Rescue services in Lapland have received several reports about the smell of smoke in the region over the past several days, according to the agency’s on-duty chief, Mika Hyvärinen.

The Russian edition of Barents Observer has posted this video report about the wildfires on the Kola Peninsula.

Sister ships of wanted runaway carrier NewNew Polar Bear are heading toward European waters

Authorities in Beijing admit that the container carrier in 2023 damaged the Balticconnector pipeline in the Gulf of Finland. At the same time, Chinese shipper Hainan Yangpu NewNew Shipping Co is sending three of its other vessels into north Russian waters.

Container carrier Xin Xin Hai-1 on its way to Arkhangelsk from China. The ship is managed by the Hainan Yangpu NewNew Shipping Co. Ltd. Photo: screenshot of video by Government of Arkhangelsk

By Atle Staalesen
BARENTS OBSERVER
August 13, 2024


The Finnish National Bureau of Investigation shortly after the burst of the pipeline in October 2023 concluded that the Newnew Polar Bear was to blame for the damage to the underwater infrastructure.

The 169 meter long Hong Kong-registered container carrier had sailed over the pipeline on the 8th of October, day of the damage, and the ship was later spotted with one of its anchors missing. The investigators also found the same type of paint on the anchor and the damaged pipeline.

Container ship Newnew Polar Bear is suspected of sabotage. Photo: inttms.com

Finnish police said it would have arrested the ship had it not been in international waters.

The NewNew Polar Bear had crisscrossed between Russian ports in St.Petersburg and Kaliningrad, and Finnish and Estonian authorities suspected it of sabotage. The suspicions were strengthened by the quick escape of the ship.

By late October, the Chinese ship had made it to the north Russian port of Arkhangelsk, and it soon later sailed across the Kara Sea and all along the Russian Arctic coast towards the Pacific.

As it was waiting for icebreaker escort, the ship operator changed name and obtained a special permission for sailing on the Northern Sea Route. It was escorted by a Russian state-owned icebreaker as it sailed eastwards along the North Siberian coast towards the Bering Strait and into Pacific waters.

Chinese authorities now admit that the Newnew Polar Bear is to blame for the damage in the Gulf of Finland, but argue that it all was an accident. According to the South China Morning Post, the Chinese government have passed on relevant findings to both Finland and Estonia.

Communications director for Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) Anna Zareff told Estonian newspaper ERR that the investigation is still ongoing.

She underlines that final conclusions are still to be made. “This will take some time,” she explained.

According to ship registry information from the Russian Northern Sea Route Administration, the NewNew Polar Bear was in 2023 operated by the Chinese company Hainan Xin Xin Yang Shipping Co, Ltd. Later that same year, the name was changed to Torgmoll, a Chinese transport and logistics company with strong connections to Russian business interests.

In 2024, the apparent owner of the NewNew Polar Bear is a company named Hainan Xin Xin Yang Shipping Co, Ltd.

The company is now sending several vessels into Russian Arctic waters. Among them are the Xin Xin Hai-1, the Xin Xin Hai-2 and Xin Xin Shan.

The Xin Xin Shan is operated by the same company as the NewNew Polar Bear. It is sailing the Northern Sea Route from China to Arkhangelsk. Photo: Vesselfinder

The latter two are currently on their way from China to Arkhangelsk, the northwest Russian port.

Like with the NewNew Polar Bear, the three sister vessels also appear closely connected with Torgmoll. In the registry of the Northern Sea Route Administration, the Xin Xin Shan is registered under both Torgmoll and the Hainan Xin Xin Yang Shipping Co, Ltd.

According to Torgmoll’s website, the company is specialising on logistics between China and Europe, and is keenly interested in developing Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.

As reported by the Barents Observer in late 2023, the company is represented with a member in the Russian-Chinese Business Forum, and is headed by Yelena V. Maksimova.

Judging from a Russian business registry, Maksimova is connected with Ke Jin, a representative of the NewNew Shipping Line in Russia.

Head of Torgmoll Yelena Maksimovna and Head of Yangpu Newnew Shipping Co Ke Jin in May 2024 signed a cooperation agreement with the region of Arkhangelsk and its governor Aleksandr Tsybulsky. Photo: government of Arkhangelsk on VK

The Chinese company continues its cooperation with state nuclear power company Rosatom. During the St.Petersburg Economic Forum in July this year, a cooperation agreement was signed between Rosatom and the Hainan Yangpu NewNew Shipping Co. Ltd.

According to the agreement, the Chinese company will conduct 12 shipments on the Northern Sea Route in the course of August 2024.

ARCTIC

As oceans warm, new fish species appear in the north

More fish species typical of southern waters have been discovered along the Norwegian coast over the past 30 years, according to a new study.

The number of pink salmon is also increasing in Norway due to warming waters.

 Photo: Elizaveta Vereykina

Text:  Elizaveta Vereykina
THE BARENTS OBSERVER
August 15, 2024

“In the past, a normal trawl catch from Northern Norway offered approximately 6-7 different types of fish. Today, it is entirely possible to catch up to 15 different fish in the trawl”, says the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) researcher Ulf Lindstrøm.

His team from the Institute of Marine Research (IMR) in cooperation with the Arctic University of Norway (UiT) have analyzed data for the last 30 years and detected significant changes to the local water ecosystems in the North due to climate change.

“Among the fish species that have arrived in the north, we find sprat and silver cod”, Lindstrøm is quoted as saying on the Institute of Marine Research website.


Ninety percent of global warming is occurring in the ocean, causing the water’s internal heat to increase since modern recordkeeping began in 1955, NASA reported earlier.

When warming waters prompt the migration of fish, it changes the interaction between the species in the area, the IMR report underlines. This can cause problems for the local stocks of fish that have already been established.

Kent Jensen, who has been fishing in the Barents Sea waters near Kirkenes for 15 years, confirmed the changes to The Barents Observer:

“I see cod, mackerel, yellowfin tuna, herring, and haddock coming up north from south. For example, 10 years ago there was not that much mackerel in the north in the Barents Sea,” he said.

Fisherman Kent Jensen on his boat. Photo: Personal archive

Some of the fish, as Kent understands, migrate because of the warming waters:

“Today, for example, water around Kirkenes harbor is 17 degrees. It’s the highest I have seen. Five years ago it was about 2-3 degrees lower”, Kent told The Barents Observer.

According to Kent, at this moment Norwegian waters see a huge migration of cod from the Norwegian Sea near the Lofoten archipelago up to the Barents waters near Svalbard:

“In Lofoten, it’s less cod than 20 years ago. Cod won’t make caviar if the water temperature is not correct”, Kent said and added:

“In the future, it could be a problem. I’m 51 now - not in my lifetime. But for generations after - they will have to find new ways to fish.”

ARCTIC

Warming climate changing CO2 balance in northern ecosystems

A recent study has found that climate change is significantly altering how northern ecosystems manage carbon dioxide (CO2) in permafrost and non-permafrost areas, something the researchers say could have major implications for the global carbon balance.

Arctic tundra on the shores of Kongsfjorden near Ny-Ålesund at Norway's Svalbard archipelago. A recent study describes how despite similar summer CO2 uptake, permafrost areas lose more CO2 the rest of the year, contributing to greenhouse gases and accelerating global warming. 

Photo: Thomas Nilsen

 Eye on the Arctic
August 12, 2024
By Eilís Quinn

“Recent non-growing-season CO2 losses have substantially impacted the CO2 balance of permafrost ecosystems,” the researchers said in their paper published on July 26 in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Data analyzed for study
302 annual estimates of carbon dioxide levels
70 permafrost and non-permafrost ecosystems
672 estimates of summer carbon dioxide levels in 181 ecosystems

To do the study, the paper’s authors, which include Canadian and international researchers, analyzed decades of CO2 data from tundra and boreal regions.

The researchers found that non-permafrost areas are becoming better at absorbing CO2.

Meanwhile, permafrost areas, even though they experience summer CO2 uptake similar to non-permafrost regions, are actually losing more in the rest of the year, a significant finding because the released carbon adds to greenhouse gases and accelerates global warming, the authors’ said.

“Permafrost ecosystems are currently warming three to four times faster than the global mean, making this critical soil [carbon] pool increasingly vulnerable to decomposition,” the paper said.

“Although increased plant [carbon] uptake may offset some portion of soil [carbon] losses, the climate impact of CO2 and methane (CH4), [carbon] emissions from the permafrost region over the next century will likely be comparable to a high-emissions nation.”

The researchers also found that increasingly warming summers are increasing the carbon cycle accelerating plant growth and the ground’s release of CO2.

“These findings suggest that water and nutrient availability will be important predictors of the carbon cycle response of these ecosystems to future warming,” the study said.

The researchers say the findings highlight how sensitive northern ecosystems are to climate change and their ability to manage carbon, information which can help inform climate policy.

“These permafrost [carbon] losses are not accounted for in the emissions targets set forth in the Paris accord,” the paper said.

Purple mountain saxifraga (Saxifraga oppositifolia) at the Bear Island in the Barents Sea. A recent study points out that warmer summers accelerate plant growth and CO2 release, with water and nutrient availability key to future carbon cycle changes. Photo: Thomas Nilsen



This story is posted on the Barents Observer as part of Eye on the Arctic, a collaborative partnership between public and private circumpolar media organizations.