KAMCHATKA

Volcano erupts after powerful earthquake in Russia's Far East and scientists warn of a stronger one

PETROPAVOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia (AP) — One of Russia’s most active volcanoes has erupted, spewing plumes of ash 5 kilometers (3 miles) into the sky over the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula and briefly triggering a “code red” warning for aircraft.

In this photo taken from AP video, provided by by the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences on Sunday, Aug. 18, 2024, the eruption of the Shiveluch volcano is seen in Kamchatka Peninsula, about 500 km (310 miles) north to Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia. (Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences video via AP)

PETROPAVOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia (AP) — One of Russia’s most active volcanoes has erupted, spewing plumes of ash 5 kilometers (3 miles) into the sky over the far eastern Kamchatka Peninsula and briefly triggering a “code red” warning for aircraft.

The Shiveluch volcano began sputtering shortly after a powerful 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck off Kamchatka’s east coast early Sunday, according to volcanologists from the Russian Academy of Sciences. They warned that another, even more potent earthquake may be on the way.

The academy’s Institute of Volcanology and Seismology released a video showing the ash cloud over Shiveluch. It stretched over 490 kilometers (304 miles) east and southeast of the volcano.

The Ebeko volcano located on the Kuril Islands also spewed ash 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) high, the institute said. It did not explicitly say whether the earthquake touched off the eruptions.

A “code red” ash cloud warning briefly put all aircraft in the area on alert, the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team reported. A separate report on Sunday carried by the official Tass news agency said that no commercial flights had been disrupted and there was no damage to aviation infrastructure.

The tremors in the area may be a prelude to an even stronger earthquake in southeastern Kamchatka, Russian scientists warned. The Institute of Volcanology said a potential second quake could come “within 24 hours” with a magnitude approaching 9.0.

There were no immediate reports of injuries from Sunday’s earthquake, which struck at a depth of 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) under the sea bed with the epicenter 108 kilometers (67 miles) southeast of the nearest city, according to Russian emergency officials.

Russian news outlets cited residents of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a port city of more than 181,000 people that sits across a bay from an important Russian submarine base, reporting some of the strongest shaking “in a long time.”

On Nov. 4, 1952, a magnitude 9.0 quake in Kamchatka caused damage but no reported deaths despite setting off 9.1-meter (30-foot) waves in Hawaii.

The Associated Press

Russia's Shiveluch volcano erupts after 7.2 magnitude earthquake jolts Kamchatka region

Story by India Today

Russia's Shiveluch volcano erupts after 7.2 magnitude earthquake jolts Kamchatka region

After a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit Russia's eastern Kamchatka region, the Shiveluch volcano erupted sending an ash column up to 8 kilometres high with a gush of lava, CNN reported, citing state-run media agency TASS.

According to media reports, no casualties or injuries were reported.

The 7.2-magnitude earthquake jolted the country's east coast at a depth of 51 km (32 miles), according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).

The US National Tsunami Warning Centre had reported a tsunami threat after the quake, however the emergency ministry of Russia's Kamchatka branch reported no tsunami threat.

Meanwhile, officials informed that the recorded aftershocks from the quake ranged in magnitude from 3.9 to 5.0.

According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake struck 29 kilometres below the surface with its epicentre approximately 102 kilometres east of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, which is surrounded by volcanoes and located across a bay from a key Russian submarine base.

The Shiveluch volcano is a colossal, perpetually active volcano and is renowned as one of the world's largest and most volatile volcanoes.

Russian news agency reported that there was no “major damage” in the quake and “buildings are now being examined for potential damage, with special attention paid to social facilities”.

Powerful earthquake hits off far east coast of Russia as nearby volcano erupts | Watch (msn.com)

Unesco.org

whc.unesco.org/en/list/765/

Volcanoes of Kamchatka - UNESCO World Heritage Centre

The Committee inscribed the Volcanoes of Kamchatka as one of the most outstanding examples of the volcanic regions in the world on the basis of natural criteria ...

Quake of magnitude 7.2 hits off coast of 

Russia's Kamchatka region

By Reuters

August 17, 2024


Aug 17 (Reuters) - A magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck off the east coast of Russia's Kamchatka region at a depth of 51 km (32 miles), the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said on Saturday.
The U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center said there was a tsunami threat from the quake.

But the Kamchatka branch of Russia's emergency ministry reported that there was no threat of tsunami and that the recorded aftershocks from the quake ranged in their magnitude from 3.9 to 5.0.

"Most of the aftershocks are imperceptible," the regional emergency authority said on Telegram.

Reporting by Maria Ponnezhath in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Cynthia Osterman

Netanyahu wants to 'sabotage mediators' efforts and prolong war': Hamas

Hamas says it is calling on the mediators "to fulfill their responsibilities and compel the occupation (Israel) to implement what has been agreed upon".


Following the recent round of negotiations in Doha, Hamas confirmed "once again that Netanyahu is still putting obstacles in the way of reaching an agreement". / Photo: AA

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has prevented the completion of the Gaza ceasefire and prisoner-hostage swap proposal by setting new conditions during the negotiations on Thursday and Friday in Doha, the Palestinian resistance group Hamas said.

"The new proposal meets Netanyahu's conditions and aligns with them, particularly his refusal of a permanent ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, and his insistence on continuing the occupation of the Netzarim Junction (which separates the north and south of the Gaza Strip), the Rafah crossing, and the Philadelphi Corridor (in the south)," Hamas said in a statement.


"He also set new conditions in the hostage swap file and retracted from other terms, which obstructs the completion of the deal."


Following the recent round of negotiations in Doha, Hamas confirmed "once again that Netanyahu is still putting obstacles in the way of reaching an agreement, setting new conditions and demands to sabotage the mediators' efforts and prolong the war."


The movement emphasised its commitment to what it agreed upon on July 2, based on the proposal backed by US President Joe Biden and the UN Security Council resolution.


It called on the mediators "to fulfill their responsibilities and compel the occupation (Israeli) to implement what has been agreed upon".

Ceasefire talks in Doha concluded on Friday after presenting "a proposal that narrows the gaps" between Israel and Hamas that is consistent with the principles set out by Biden on May 31.

Biden said in May that Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave. The plan includes a ceasefire, a prisoner-hostage exchange and the reconstruction of Gaza.


But the plan was thrown into disarray last month when Israel assassinated Hamas politburo leader Ismail Haniyeh while he was in Tehran for the Iranian president's inauguration.

Biden said the apparent assassination had "not helped" ceasefire efforts, and the talks were driven into a deep freeze. That killing came just hours after Israel assassinated a top Hezbollah commander in a strike in Beirut.

Israeli PM Netanyahu has also been scuttling any efforts towards a ceasefire. Netanyahu's critics say he is dragging out the war for his own political survival.

His far-right coalition partners have time and again pledged to topple the government if he agrees to a ceasefire, which could trigger elections that might oust him from power.

Israeli forces kill 25 more Palestinians in Gaza

40,099 Palestinians killed, 92,609 injured in Israeli onslaught since Oct. 7, 2023, Health Ministry says

Ikram Kouachi |18.08.2024 - 

Israeli attacks on Gaza continue

ANKARA

The Israeli army killed 25 more Palestinians in attacks in the Gaza Strip, taking the overall death toll to 40,099 since last Oct. 7, the Health Ministry in the enclave said on Sunday.

A ministry statement added that some 92,609 other people have been injured in the assault.

“Israeli forces killed 25 people and injured 72 others in two ‘massacres’ against families in the last 24 hours,” the ministry said.

“Many people are still trapped under rubble and on the roads as rescuers are unable to reach them,” it added.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

More than 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

Besieged Gazans share shoes, wear same clothes for months

Finding shoes and clothing is increasingly difficult for the 2.4million people living in the Palestinian territory

| AFP |

With two-thirds of Gaza's population living in poverty even before the war, many people were forced to sell their clothes once the conflict broke out... but there are no more shoes or clothes to sell. Photo: AFP

For months, Safaa Yassin has dressed her child in the same white bodysuit, an all-too-familiar tale in the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by 10 months of war.

"When I was pregnant, I dreamed of dressing my daughter in beautiful clothes. Today, I have nothing to put on her," says Yassin, one of thousands of Palestinians displaced from Gaza City.


"I never thought that one day I wouldn't be able to dress my children," says the 38-year-old, now living in Al-Mawasi, a coastal area designated as a humanitarian zone by Israeli forces.

"But the few clothes I found before evacuating to the south were either the wrong size or not suitable for the season," she adds, as Gaza bakes in summertime temperatures of 30-plus degrees Celsius every day.

Finding clothing - any clothing - has become increasingly difficult for the 2.4 million people living in the territory besieged by Israel.

Gaza once had a thriving textiles industry but since the war began on October 7 with Palestinian militant group Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel, it has received just a trickle of goods.

Faten Juda also struggles to dress her 15-month-old son, Adam, who is squeezed into ill-fitting pyjamas, his bare arms and legs sticking out from the tight fabric.

"He's growing every day and his clothes don't fit him anymore, but I can't find any others," the 30-year-old tells AFP.

Displaced Palestinian Nazek Abu Shmala washes clothes inside a flat in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip where she's temporarily sheltering with her family. Photo: AFP


Same headscarf

Children are not the only ones suffering from the lack of clothing in the Gaza Strip, which counted 900 textile factories in the industry's heyday in the early 1990s.

The sector employed 35,000 people and sent four million items to Israel every month. But those numbers have plummeted since 2007, when Hamas took power and Israel blockaded Gaza.

In recent years, Gaza's workshops had dwindled to about 100, employing about 4,000 people and shipping about 30,000-40,000 items a month to Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

By January, three months into the war, the World Bank estimated that 79 per cent of Gaza's private sector establishments had been partially or totally destroyed.

Even the factories that are still standing have ground to a halt, after months without electricity in Gaza. Any fuel that arrives for generators is mainly used for hospitals and United Nations facilities such as warehouses and aid-supply points.

In these conditions, finding new clothes is a rare event.

"Some women have been wearing the same headscarf for the past 10 months," Philippe Lazzarini, head of UNRWA, the UN agency in charge of Palestinian refugees, posted on X.

Wearing the same clothes all the time is not just unpleasant, it is a health hazard. With limited water to wash them, disease-spreading lice abound.

Ahmed al-Masri, 29, left his home in the north of Gaza at the start of the war.

Today in Khan Yunis, in the south, he says he does not have any spare shoes or clothes.

"My shoes are extremely damaged. I've had them repaired at least 30 times, each time paying 10 times more than before the war," he says, his gaunt face burnt by the sun.

Rami weighs the clothes for a customer at a laundromat he opened to help displaced Palestinian launder their clothes for a nominal fee in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees. Photo: AFP


Walking barefoot

With two-thirds of Gaza's population living in poverty even before the war, many people were forced to sell their clothes once the conflict broke out and tanked the economy further.

But "there are no more shoes or clothes to sell", says Omar Abu Hashem, 25, who was displaced from Rafah, on the Egyptian border, to Khan Yunis further north.

Abu Hashem left his home in such a rush that he was unable to take anything with him. He has been wearing the same pair of shoes for five months, but only every other day.

"I share my pair of shoes with my brother-in-law," he explains.

On the days when he goes barefoot, he fears the worst, tiptoeing around the waste and rubble that carry diseases and contamination of all kinds.

Ahmed al-Masri, meanwhile, just wants some soap to wash his only T-shirt and pair of trousers.

"I have been wearing the same clothes for nine months. I have nothing else. I quickly wash my T-shirt and then I wait for it to dry," he says.

"And all this, without soap or detergent."

Darwin legacy voyage passes halfway mark

Jack Silver
BBC News, South West

DARWIN200
The tall ship is recreating Darwin's famous voyage aboard the Beagle

A tall ship recreating Charles Darwin's famous journey aboard the HMS Beagle has reached the halfway point of its voyage.

The 107-year-old Oosterschelde left Plymouth, in Devon, in August last year on a two-year journey around the globe.

The voyage is being used to train 200 young conservationists from around the world onboard the ship, which has been dubbed the "world's most exciting classroom".

Stewart McPherson, founder and project leader of Darwin200, said: "We're training the world's most amazing young conservationists to create leaders to change the world of tomorrow."

He said the "really intense" programme covered "a rainbow of subjects" from "marine iguanas in the Galapagos to parrots in south America".

The team also live stream lessons to schools around the world each week, Mr McPherson said.

DARWIN200
The journey is being used to train 200 young conservationists from around the world

The voyage recreates Darwin's trip onboard the Beagle as the ship's naturalist and captain's companion, which inspired him to develop the theory of natural selection.

In May this year it reached the Galapagos Islands, which played a pivotal role in Darwin's thinking about evolution.

Darwin, who was 22 when the ship set off on its five-year journey in 1831, had originally planned to be a clergyman.

However, observing differences between species across the individual islands of Galapagos, as well as his discovery of several extinct species of giant mammals in South America, caused him to question the biblical account of creation and eventually publish On the Origin of Species, his masterwork.

The team on the ship have been working with young conservationists to make scientific discoveries of their own.

Mr McPherson said one team had "rediscovered a lost species of gecko, that was thought to be extinct, another documented completely new behaviour in a species of octopus off the coast of Brazil".

He said a "bug survey" across several locations including Easter Island had also discovered "10 new species of invertebrates" and that "kids across the world" would be asked to help name the species.

The ship is currently sailing around the islands of the South Pacific before heading on to New Zealand and Australia later this year.

UK

Labour to ditch ‘blame culture’ over benefits bill, work and pensions minister says


Big reforms will be needed to get more people back to work, minister Liz Kendall says

Holly Bancroft
Social Affairs Correspondent
08/18/24

THE INDEPENDENT

Labour will end “divise rhetoric” and blame culture towards people on benefits, the new work and pensions secretary has said.

Liz Kendall has said that an overhaul is needed to get people back to work, warning that the increasing number of people needing financial support from the state is unsustainable.

Britain’s welfare bill is set to increase by £60bn over the next four years, according to analysis from think tank the Resolution Foundation. This has been driven by the growing number of people claiming disability or incapacity benefits and by guarantees for pensioners.

In an interview with The Observer, Ms Kendall said: “I do not think it’s sustainable when you’re seeing those levels of increases, but we can do something about it.”

She criticised the Tory government for “divisive rhetoric that blames people and doesn’t support them”.

In May, ministers opened a consultation on the disability support system PIP with ideas including replacing cash benefits with a voucher scheme and one-off grants.

Liz Kendall will also chair a child poverty taskforce with education secretary Bridget Phillipson (PA)

Ms Kendall added: “We’ve never seen more people written off. The last parliament was the worst for economic inactivity on record. It is for us to put this right. But we will need big reforms and big changes.

“I know people worry about this, but I want to say, we are on your side. We are not going to write you off and blame you. We take our responsibilities seriously. We’re going to bust a gut to give you the support you need to build a better life.”

Ms Kendall added: “All of the talk about strivers versus scroungers or shirkers - I think the people who really shirk their responsibility were the people who last sat in this office because they wrote off millions of people who actually want to work”.

She suggested that the current system that aims to help people back to work “is broken”. Ms Kendall said that her department would look at serious reforms to jobcentres, and connecting them to the NHS.

She said that work coaches need to get back to helping people back into employment rather than focusing on policing benefits.

According to calculations by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, there are now 4.2 million working-age individuals who are claiming a health-related benefit.

They predict that that number could rise to 5.4 million by 2028-29.

Ms Kendall has committed to a review of universal credit, new local-led plans to tackle economic inactivity and more support for 18-21-year-olds to find training or work.

SPACE

China’s commercial space sector takes off amid tech innovation push

August 19, 2024


XINHUA – As China forges ahead with its high-quality development, new quality productive forces are taking the centre stage.

One of the key players, the commercial space sector, is experiencing rapid growth and making a mark on the global stage.

In December 2023, Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology, better known as iSPACE, conducted another successful test of its own reusable launcher, marking a step toward a fully functional, domestically manufactured reusable rocket for China’s commercial spaceflight industry.

This private Chinese aerospace company is looking to catch up with the world’s most advanced rocket technologies.

“There is still a long way ahead. But we’re catching up fast,” vice manager of iSPACE Anna Choi told Xinhua.

In 2019, the Chinese startup successfully launched its SQX-1 Y1 rocket, sending two satellites into a 300-km circular orbit. It was the first time a private Chinese company managed to put a satellite into orbit. Its test on December 10 last year verified the Hyperbola-2Y as a reusable liquid oxygen and methane carrier rocket – the first of its kind in the country. It is part of an iSPACE plan to launch a reusable medium-lift rocket into orbit in late 2025.

Since its inception in 2016, the company’s staff has expanded from less than 10 to more than 400 people.

Choi said both the company and the industry are growing at a fast pace, propelled by technological innovation and catalysed by the government’s supportive policies.

Chinese commercial reusable rocket SQX-2Y at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China. PHOTO: Xinhua

iSPACE is one of several Chinese enterprises active in the commercial aerospace industry in recent years. The country has experienced an explosion of commercial space companies since 2014, driven by the government’s opening up of the sector to private capital.

According to media reports, in 2023 alone, the country’s private commercial spaceflight companies managed more than 10 successful launches.

Like iSPACE, most of these enterprises are headquartered in Beijing, attracted by the capital’s rich talent pool and supportive policies.

Beijing in February 2024 announced plans to establish a dedicated ‘Rocket Street’ as a research and production hub for advancement of the commercial aerospace sector.

Construction started last month at the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area (BDA), located in a southeastern suburb of Beijing.

“Through the ‘Rocket Street’ programme, we hope to leverage the cluster advantage to facilitate the development of the sector,” said a BDA official. The capital city’s endeavour to foster the commercial aerospace sector comes amid the country’s efforts to develop new quality productive forces to help advance the world’s second-largest economy up the global value chain.

Developing commercial spaceflight was listed among the key areas for development in China’s government work report this year. These priorities, which also include bio-manufacturing, the low-attitude economy, quantum technology and life sciences, form part of the country’s agenda to pursue sustainable growth through developing strategically important and future-oriented industries.

Reflecting the rising level of government support, Choi said the municipal government provided subsidies for the commercial aerospace industry to set up innovation centres focusing on developing reusable rockets.

The government is also striving to encourage more private capital investment in this sector.

 

Historic milestone for Polish Space science as they successfully launch Eagleeye satellite

Copyright EBU.

By Euronews with AP

Published on 18/08/2024 - 20:39 GMT

Poland's space industry marks historical day.

Polish space science and technology reached a historical moment with the successful launch of the EagleEye satellite into Earth's orbit. Facilitated by SpaceX, the mission took place from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

The EagleEye project, which began in April 2020, represents a collaborative effort between a consortium of industrial and scientific organisations.

Creotech Instruments S.A. leads the consortium, with contributions from Scanway Sp. z o.o. and the Space Research Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences, which serves as the scientific partner.

The satellite is set to deliver high-resolution images of the Earth, providing data for research and monitoring purposes.

The mission is expected to last at least one year, whist its control center for EagleEye is situated at Creotech Instruments' headquarters in Warsaw. The satellite is to orbit the Earth at a low altitude, gradually descending from an initial height of approximately 500 kilometers to around 350 kilometers.

Barciński emphasised that this success was not guaranteed and marked an important milestone in the mission's progress.

EagleEye was designed entirely in Poland from the ground up. While acknowledging that not all components could be made locally, for example Poland does not yet manufacture microprocessors, Dr. Barciński stressed that the satellite is equipped with high range technology.

Senegal marks milestone with launch of first satellite


Copyright © africanewsJohn Raoux/Copyright 2024

 The AP. All rights reserved
By Rédaction Africanews

08/18/24

Senegal has marked an historic milestone with the successful launch of its first satellite from California on Friday evening.

It has become one of just 12 African nations with their own surveillance and telecommunications satellites in space.

The country’s President Bassirou Diomaye Faye said the move marks a major step towards Senegal’s “technological sovereignty”.

"I would like to express my pride and gratitude to all those who made this project possible," he said in a post on X.

Maram Kaïré, director of Senegal's space agency, described the launch as “an important step and a historic day in our country's progress and determination to become a space-faring nation”.

GAINDESAT-1A was built by Senegalese engineers in collaboration with France’s Montpellier University Space Centre.

The nanosatellite was launched into orbit, together with 115 others, from the Vandenberg base in California using SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket.

It will be used to collect data for various state agencies including those dealing with water resources, civil aviation, and meteorology.

Right on schedule: Physicists use modeling to forecast a black hole's feeding patterns with precision

The dramatic dimming of a light source ~ 860 million light-years away from Earth confirms the accuracy of a detailed model developed by a team of astrophysicists from Syracuse University, MIT and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Syracuse University

 

image: 

Digital illustration of a star shedding stellar debris as it orbits a supermassive black hole. This artist’s impression represents the center of a galaxy about 860 million light-years from Earth.

view more 

Credit: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss

Powerful telescopes like NASA’s Hubble, James Webb, and Chandra X-ray Observatory provide scientists a window into deep space to probe the physics of black holes. While one might wonder how you can “see” a black hole, which famously absorbs all light, this is made possible by tidal disruption events (TDEs) - where a star is destroyed by a supermassive black hole and can fuel a “luminous accretion flare.” With luminosities thousands of billions of times brighter than the Sun, accretion events enable astrophysicists to study supermassive black holes (SMBHs) at cosmological distances.

TDEs occur when a star is violently ripped apart by a black hole’s immense gravitational field. As the star is shredded, its remnants are transformed into a stream of debris that rains back down onto the black hole to form a very hot, very bright disk of material swirling around the black hole, called an accretion disc. Scientists can study these to make direct observations of TDEs, and compare those to theoretical models to relate observations to physical properties of disrupted stars and their disrupting black holes.

A team of physicists from Syracuse University, MIT and the Space Telescope Science Institute used detailed modeling to predict the brightening and dimming of AT2018fyk, which is a repeating partial TDE, meaning the high-density core of the star survived the gravitational interaction with the SMBH, allowing it to orbit the black hole and be shredded more than once. The model predicted that AT2018fyk would “dim” in August 2023, a forecast which was confirmed when the source went dark last summer, providing evidence that their model delivers a new way to probe the physics of black holes. Their results were published in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.  

A High Energy Source

Thanks to incredibly detailed extragalactic surveys, scientists are monitoring more coming and going light sources than ever before. Surveys pan entire hemispheres in search of sudden brightening or dimming of sources, which tells researchers that something has changed. Unlike the telescope in your living room that can only focus visible light, telescopes such as Chandra can detect light sources in what’s referred to as the X-ray spectrum emitted from material that is millions of degrees in temperature.

Visible light and X-rays are both forms of electromagnetic radiation, but X-rays have shorter wavelengths and more energy. Similar to the way in which your stove becomes “red hot” after you turn it on, the gas comprising a disc “glows” at different temperatures, with the hottest material closest to the black hole. However, instead of radiating its energy at optical wavelengths visible to the eye, the hottest gas in an accretion disc emits in the X-ray spectrum. These are the same X-rays used by doctors to image your bones and that can pass through soft tissue, and because of this relative transparency, the detectors used by NASA X-ray telescopes are specifically designed to detect this high-energy radiation.'

A Repeat Performance

In January 2023, a team of physicists, including Eric Coughlin, a professor at Syracuse University’s Department of Physics, Dheeraj R. “DJ” Pasham, a research scientist at MIT, and Thomas Wevers, a Fellow at the Space Telescope Science Institute, published a paper in The Astrophysical Journal Letters that proposed a detailed model for a repeating partial TDE. Their results were the first to map a star’s surprising return orbit about a supermassive black hole – revealing new information about one of the cosmos’ most extreme environments.

The team based their study on a TDE known as AT2018fyk (AT stands for “Astrophysical Transient”), where a star was proposed to be captured by a SMBH through an exchange process known as “Hills capture.” Originally part of a binary system (two stars that orbit one another under their mutual gravitational attraction), one of the stars was hypothesized to have been captured by the gravitational field of the black hole and the other (non-captured) star was ejected from the center of the galaxy at speeds comparable to ~ 1000 km/s.

Once bound to the SMBH, the star powering the emission from AT2018fyk has been repeatedly stripped of its outer envelope each time it passes through its point of closest approach with the black hole. The stripped outer layers of the star form the bright accretion disk, which researchers can study using X-Ray and Ultraviolet /Optical telescopes that observe light from distant galaxies.

While TDEs are usually “once-and-done” because the extreme gravitational field of the SMBH destroys the star, meaning that the SMBH fades back into darkness following the accretion flare, AT2018fyk offered the unique opportunity to probe a repeating partial TDE.

The research team has used a trio of telescopes to make the initial and follow-up detections: Swift and Chandra, both operated by NASA, and XMM-Newton, which is a European mission. First observed in 2018, AT2018fyk is ~ 870 million light years away, meaning that because of the time it takes light to travel, it happened in “real time” ~ 870 million years ago.

The team used detailed modeling to forecast that the light source would abruptly disappear around August 2023 and brighten again when the freshly stripped material accretes onto the black hole in 2025.

Model Validation

Confirming the accuracy of their model, the team reported an X-ray drop in flux over a span of two months, starting on August 14, 2023. This sudden change can be interpreted as the second emission shutoff.

“The observed emission shutoff shows that our model and assumptions are viable, and suggests that we are really seeing a star being slowly devoured by a distant and very massive black hole,” says Coughlin. “In our paper last year, we used constraints from the initial outburst, dimming and rebrightening to predict that AT2018fyk should display a sudden and rapid dimming in August of 2023, if the star survived the second encounter that fueled the second brightening.”

The fact that the system displayed this predicted shutoff therefore implies several distinctions about the star and the black hole:

• the star survived its second encounter with the black hole;
• the rate of return of stripped debris to the black hole is tightly coupled to the brightness of AT2018fyk;
• and the orbital period of the star about the black hole is ~ 1300 days, or about 3.5 years.

The second cutoff implies that another rebrightening should happen between May and August of 2025, and if the star survived the second encounter, a third shutoff is predicted to occur between January and July of 2027.

As for whether we can count on seeing a rebrightening in 2025, Coughlin says the detection of a second cutoff implies that the star has had more mass freshly stripped, which should return to the black hole to produce a third brightening.

“The only uncertainty is in the peak of the emission,” he says. “The second re-brightened peak was considerably dimmer than the first, and it is, unfortunately, possible that the third outburst will be dimmer still. This is the only thing that would limit the detectability of this third outburst.”

Coughlin notes that this model signifies an exciting new way to study the incredibly rare occurrences of repeating partial TDEs, which are believed to take place once every million years in a given galaxy. To date, he says scientists have encountered only four to five systems that display this behavior.

“With the advent of improved detection technology uncovering more repeating partial TDEs, we anticipate that this model will be an essential tool for scientists in identifying these discoveries,” he says.

X-ray and optical image of AT2018fyk (IMAGE)

Syracuse University

X-ray and optical image of AT2018fyk.

Credit

X-ray: NASA/SAO/Kavli Inst. at MIT/D.R. Pasham; Optical: NSF/Legacy Survey/SDSS

---

Journal

The Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI

10.3847/2041-8213/ad57b3 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

A Potential Second Shutoff from AT2018fyk: An Updated Orbital Ephemeris of the Surviving Star under the Repeating Partial Tidal Disruption Event Paradigm

Article Publication Date

14-Aug-2024

Backyard stargazers find object moving 1 million mph

The Event Horizon Project on May 12, 2022, released the first image of at the Milky Way black hole Sagittarius A*. 

Photo by EHT Collaboration/Twitter

Aug. 15 (UPI) -- Backyard stargazers have discovered an object moving at more than a million mph through space, an interstellar phenomenon that typically takes the resources of high-tech observatories, the smartest scientists and high-dollar research to see, NASA announced Thursday.

Interstellar enthusiasts working on NASA's Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 project helped discover an object moving so quickly that it will defy the Milky Way's gravity and jettison into intergalactic space.

"This hypervelocity object is the first such object found with the mass similar to or less than that of a small star," NASA said in a release about the discovery.

"I can't describe the level of excitement," said Kabatnik, a citizen scientist from Nuremberg, Germany. "When I first saw how fast it was moving, I was convinced it must have been reported already."

Kabatnik was part of the Backyard Worlds team, which uses images from NASA's WISE, or Wide Field Infrared Explorer, mission, which mapped the sky in infrared light from 2009 to 2011.

It was in analyzing this data that Kabatnik and other enthusiasts, Thomas P. Bickle, and Dan Caselden, located the object, known cryptically as CWISE J124909.08+362116.0, streaking faintly across the sky.

CWISE also stands out for its low mass, NASA said, making it difficult to classify as a celestial body and may best be described as a brown dwarf. Backyard Worlds teams have discovered as many as 4,000 of those, but none traveling so fast that it will slip the bonds of gravity and shoot into intergalactic space.

There are a few hypotheses as to why CWISE J1249 is traveling so fast. One is that it is the remnant of a white dwarf that exploded, and another is that it came from a group of stars called a globular cluster, and a chance meeting with a pair of black holes sent it soaring away.

"When a star encounters a black hole binary, the complex dynamics of this three-body interaction can toss that star right out of the globular cluster," Kyle Kremer, incoming assistant professor in UC San Diego's Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics said in the NASA release.

NASA and astronomers continue to seek backyard stargazers all over the world who want to volunteer to help in efforts to discover similar wonders in the future.

Scientists have also relied on backyard researchers to help battle the effects of climate change.

Europe’s seeds are being privatised by patents - and it could threaten food security

Copyright Raluca Besliu/Katharina Wecker
By Raluca Besliu, Katharina Wecker
Published on 18/08/2024 - 

A silent battle is brewing over the control of our food supply's very foundation: seeds.

Europe has one of the most diverse seed industries in the world. In Germany, the Netherlands and France alone, hundreds of small breeders are creating new varieties of cereals, vegetables and legumes.

Relying on decades of careful selection to improve desired traits like yield, disease resistance and flavour, they adapt seeds to local environments through methods like cross-breeding.

This legion of plant breeders help maintain Europe’s biodiversity and ensure that our food supplies stay plentiful. But their work is under growing threat from the patent industry.

Although it’s illegal to patent plants in the EU, those created through technological means are classified as a technical innovation and so can be patented.

This means that small-scale breeders can no longer freely plant these seeds or use them for research purposes without paying licensing fees.

Around 1,200 seed varieties that can be naturally bred are affected by patents across Europe, as agrochemical companies claim to create them through technical innovations.

The little-known European Patent Office (EPO) grants those patents - an entity fully independent from Brussels and funded by corporate patent fees, whose decisions EU member states abide by.

European plant breeders are having to ‘fight against patents’

Frans Carree, an organic breeder at Dutch company De Bolster, is trying to develop a tomato resistant to the brown rugose fruit virus, which can destroy entire harvests. But his efforts are being hindered by more than a dozen patent applications on this resistance from multinationals like BASF, Bayer and Syngenta.

Although the patents have not been granted yet, they create legal uncertainty and a real risk that his investment would not pay off.

In order to develop his own virus-resistant tomato, Carree would need to read all patent applications to understand which traits the companies have filed a patent application for. The patent applications are written in such complicated language, however, that he sometimes struggles to understand them.

It takes so much work to fight against patents, I do that besides my job. I’m a breeder, I like to be with my plants.

He would then need to ask a laboratory to sequence all of his plants to make sure that the patented trait is not included in his varieties - a time and cost intensive task.

“It takes so much work to fight against patents, I do that besides my job. I’m a breeder, I like to be with my plants,” says Carree.
What are New Genomic Techniques and can NGT seeds be patented?

In recent years, the development of new editing techniques known as New Genomic Techniques (NGTs) have enabled scientists to get even more surgical with editing seeds’ genetics.

NGTs allow specialists to improve specific genes’ existing functions or add new ones without affecting other parts of the genome. Advocates of NGTs see great potential in it: fewer pesticides and fertilisers, disease and drought resistant plants, even cereal fields irrigated by the sea are conceivable.

Currently, all plants derived from NGTs are as strictly regulated as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) - which are created by inserting genes from one organism to another.

But given their potential, agrochemical companies and scientists have been pushing the EU to deregulate NGTs. In February this year, the European Parliament voted to deregulate NGTs on the market, even allowing some of them to be considered the equivalent of conventionally-bred plants.

The number of patents on seeds could increase with the potential deregulation of NGTs at the EU level, a study by the European Commission suggests.

Michael Kock, former Head of Intellectual Property at Syngenta, predicts a future where “the majority of new varieties entering the market will be affected by patents”. To address concerns over increased costs and new dependencies for farmers and breeders, the Parliament has also proposed a ban patents on NGTs.

A final decision on NGTs is not expected any time soon. The Parliament is now in negotiations with member states, many of whom, including Austria, France and Hungary, oppose genetic engineering in agriculture in general.

However, even if EU heads of member states eventually agree on a patent ban, it might prove ineffective. Martin Häusling, the German Green MEP co-responsible for the NGT rules, warns that such a ban would be “worth nothing”.

That's because the EPO has the actual say on what can and cannot be patented across Europe - and it doesn't follow EU law.
English oak, beech and holly: The UK trees at risk as climate warms and rainfall declines
What is the European Patent Office and why does it matter?

The EPO's reach extends beyond the 27 EU member states, encompassing 39 member countries, including the United Kingdom, Türkiye and Switzerland.

Instead of each EU member country individually examining patent applications, the EPO - a self-described ‘public service organisation’ - manages the approval of European patents through a centralised process.

The implications of this patent regime are far-reaching. With concentrated corporate control over seeds comes reduced genetic diversity, as small- and medium-sized breeders have less genetic material to work with. This could lead to less resistance during climate disasters and food supply disruptions.

As Europe weighs market-focused growth against environmental and food security, the increasing number of seed patents poses an existential threat to the continent's fields.

Key loopholes in seed patenting

Seedlings grow at the Plant Genetic Resource Bank in Buzau, Romania.Raluca Besliu/Katharina Wecker

This story could have ended in 2017. For years, small breeders, farmers’ groups and environmental organisations sounded the alarm that more and more biological material is being privatised through patents.

As a response, in 2017 the European Commission issued an interpretative notice on its 1998 Biotech Directive, stating that “products obtained by essentially biological processes” cannot be patented.

The EPO followed the Commission’s interpretation and banned patents on conventionally-bred plants, a decision welcomed by breeders and farmers.

But they soon realised that critical loopholes remained. The EPO's Administrative Council did not clearly distinguish between naturally occurring gene variants and random mutations on one side, and technical interventions generated by genetic engineering on the other side.

This allows companies to use NGT tools to apply for patents on conventionally-bred plants, warns the coalition No Patents on Seeds.

“If granted, the patent holders can control access to plants, regardless of whether genetic engineering is used or not,” warns Christoph Then, the spokesperson for No Patents on Seeds.

There is already a troubling precedent. In 2022, the EPO granted a patent to German company KWS for maize with improved digestibility (which enables consumers to absorb more nutrients). According to the patent description, the gene variants were originally found in maize plants from conventional breeding.

This decision allows KWS to control the productionof plants with these genes, whether they result from random mutations or genetic engineering, potentially preventing other breeders from using them. It was the first patent granted for an application filed after 2017.

Examiners at the EPO evaluate each patent application and check whether an invention is truly technical, new and inventive and thus patentable.

The EPO declined to comment on how they ensure that technical methods aren't used to re-invent traits found in nature. A spokesperson of KWS said that “for legal reasons” they cannot comment on individual patents and that they “are in dialogue with No Patents on Seeds”.

Renewables records and free public transport: Positive environmental stories from 2024

A prohibitive environment for Europe’s plant breeders

Since the 2017 changes to the patent law, each claim needs to explicitly state that the patent doesn't cover plants produced by biological means. On the flip side, this seemingly protective measure has also created a significant burden for breeders.

If a breeder develops a plant with similar resistance to a patented variety, the onus falls on them to prove they didn't infringe the patent.

Sjoerd Hoekstra, a former director of a biotech department at the European Patent Office (EPO) with 33 years of experience, explains: “The breeder needs to show that a certain trait was naturally selected. Then his plant is not affected by the patent. One problem is that legal action could be taken anytime. This can be difficult for small breeders.”

Unlike multinationals, small and mid-sized breeders cannot afford to pay patent lawyers. A lawsuit could mean financial ruin.
Ukraine’s national seed bank is still standing, but could be ‘lost forever’ warn scientists
Is the European Patent Office granting too many patents?

The EPO has come under fire from small breeders, environmental organisations, politicians and even from the industry.

Critics say that the EPO is incentivised to grant patents, as its staggering €2.5 billion budget is derived entirely from user fees from filing to examination. This raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest.

“From the beginning, this was a problematic institution, which was running, so to say, its own business with its own clients,” says Then, “despite the fact that primarily patent law was meant to benefit society as a whole, not only specific groups.”

Even agrochemical companies criticise the EPO for handing out patents like candy - in less candid words.

Syngenta’s Head of IP Crop Protection, Filip De Corte, said in aninterview with the EPO that “patent quality” was an issue. “We do not ask the Patent Office to grant us patents, we ask the Patent Office to examine and actually refuse the patents that are not meeting the patentability requirements,” he said.

The reason for that? “If we spend so much money - we invest about $1.5 billion (€1.4 bn) each year in discovering and developing new products - we want to be able to rely on that when the European Patent Office tells us, yes you have a valid patent,” he said, adding that Syngenta needs “enforceable patents”.

De Corte even had a message to the EPO examiners: “Be sceptical and be critical.”

This investigation was developed with the support of:

Journalismfund EuropeJournalismfund Europe

Some India doctors stay off job after strike over colleague's rape and murder

Junior doctors at Indian hospitals have continued to stay off work following the rape and killing of a colleague, where calls for justice have intensified.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
18 August, 2024


Students of Patna Women's College making human chain during demonstration in protest against the sexual assault and murder of a postgraduate trainee doctor, at Bailey road on August 17, 2024 in Patna, India. (Photo by Santosh Kumar/Hindustan Times)

Some Indian junior doctors remained off the job on Sunday, demanding swift justice for a colleague who was raped and murdered, despite the end of a 24-hour strike called by the country's biggest association of doctors.

Doctors across the country have held protests, candlelight marches and have refused to see non-emergency patients in the past week after the killing of the 31-year old postgraduate student of chest medicine around the early hours of August 9 in the eastern city of Kolkata.

Women activists say the incident at the British-era R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital has highlighted how women in India continue to suffer despite tougher laws following the gang-rape and murder of a 23-year-old student on a moving bus in Delhi in 2012.

"My daughter is gone but millions of sons and daughters are now with me," the father of the victim, who cannot be identified under Indian law, told reporters late on Saturday, referring to the protesting doctors. "This has given me a lot of strength and I feel we will gain something out of it."

India introduced sweeping changes to the criminal justice system, including tougher sentences, after the 2012 attack, but campaigners say little has changed and not enough has been done to deter violence against women.

The Indian Medical Association, whose strike ended at 6 a.m. (0030 GMT) on Sunday, told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that as 60% of India's doctors are women, he needed to intervene to ensure hospital staff were protected by security protocols akin to those at airports.

"All healthcare professionals deserve peaceful ambience, safety and security at workplace," it wrote in a letter to Modi.

But in Modi's home state of Gujarat, more than 6,000 trainee doctors in government hospitals continued to stay away from non-emergency medical services on Sunday for a third day although private institutes resumed regular operations.

"We have unanimously decided to continue our protest to press for our demands," said Dr. Dhaval Gameti, president of Junior Doctors' Association at B.J. Medical College in Ahmedabad.

"In the interest of patients, we are providing emergency medical services but not taking part in out-patient department or routine ward work."

'Could stop emergency services'

The government has urged doctors to return to duty to treat rising cases of dengue and malaria while it sets up a committee to suggest measures to improve protection for healthcare professionals.

Most doctors resumed their usual activities, IMA officials said, although Sunday is generally a holiday for non-emergency cases.

"The doctors are back to their routine," said Dr. Madan Mohan Paliwal, the IMA head in the most populous state, Uttar Pradesh. "The next course of action will be decided if the government does not take any strict steps to protect doctors... and this time we could stop emergency services too."

But the All India Residents and Junior Doctors’ Joint Action Forum said on Saturday it would continue a "nationwide cease-work" with a 72-hour deadline for authorities to conduct a thorough inquiry and make arrests.

Dr. Prabhas Ranjan Tripathy, additional medical superintendent of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in the eastern city of Bhubaneswar, said junior doctors and interns had not resumed duty.

"The demonstrations are there today too," he told news agency Reuters. "There is a lot of pressure on others because manpower is reduced."

R.G. Kar hospital has been rocked by agitation and rallies for more than a week. Police banned the assembly of five or more people around the hospital for a week from Sunday and deployed police in riot gear.

Blocking meetings, demonstrations and processions was justified to prevent "breach of peace, disturbances of the public tranquillity", Kolkata Police Commissioner Vineet Goyal said in an order.

Media outlets report that there were no doctors at their usual protest site around the gates of the hospital on Sunday, as it rained in the area.

In Pictures

Indian medics stage nationwide strike over doctor’s rape and murder

Doctors in India remained off the job on Sunday, calling for justice for a colleague who was raped and murdered.

Medical professionals light candles and hold posters in Jalandhar in the northern state of Punjab during a nationwide strike by doctors to condemn the rape and murder of a young medic from Kolkata. [Shammi Mehra/AFP]

AL JAZEERA
Published On 18 Aug 2024


Indian doctors observed a nationwide strike, escalating protests after the “barbaric” rape and murder of their colleague that has channelled outrage at the chronic issue of violence against women.

The discovery of the 31-year-old doctor’s bloodied body at a state-run hospital in Kolkata, the capital of the eastern state of West Bengal, on August 9 led to furious protests in several cities across the country.

Many of those protests have been led by doctors and other healthcare workers but also joined by tens of thousands of common Indians from all walks of life demanding action.

In Kolkata, thousands held a candlelight vigil. “Hands that heal shouldn’t bleed,” read one sign, held by a protester in the eastern city.

“Enough is enough,” read another at a rally by doctors in the capital, New Delhi.

“Hang the rapist,” another said.

The murdered doctor was found in the medical college’s seminar hall, suggesting she had gone there for a rest during a 36-hour shift.

An autopsy confirmed sexual assault and, in a petition to the court, the victim’s parents said they suspected their daughter was gang-raped.

One man, who worked at the hospital helping people navigate busy queues, has been detained.

However, the city police were accused by an angry public of mishandling the case and the Calcutta High Court transferred the investigation to India’s top investigating agency Central Bureau of Investigation to “inspire public confidence”.

Sexual violence against women is a widespread problem in India – an average of nearly 90 rapes a day were reported in 2022 in the country of 1.4 billion people.

Doctors and medical students hold placards as they take part in a protest march in Amritsar in India's northern state of Punjab. [Narinder Nanu/AFP]

Medical professionals hold posters at a hospital in Bengaluru in the southern state of Karnataka. [Idrees Mohammed/AFP]

All India Dental Students march in Jammu. [Channi Anand/AP Photo]

Allahabad Medical Association (AMA) and resident doctors of SRN Hospital hold candles during a protest in Prayagraj in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. [Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo]

Police officers gather outside RG Kar Medical College in Kolkata during the nationwide strike. [Avijit Ghosh/Reuters]

Medical staff protest at a hospital in Mumbai in the western state of Maharashtra. [Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters]

Doctors hold placards during a protest rally in New Delhi. [Priyanshu Singh/Reuters]

Doctors and medical students hold placards and candles during a protest in Ahmedabad in the western state of Gujarat. [Ajit Solanki/AP Photo]