Clues from last ice age 'show how oceans may respond to global warming'

Rob Waugh
·Contributor
Mon, January 22, 2024 

Could the oceans make climate change even worse? (Getty Images)


Ancient deposits on the ocean floor could offer a clue as to how the seas will respond to global warming, scientists believe.

The deposits could also show whether oceans will release greenhouse gases from carbon stored within deep waters.

Researchers in the US analysed ocean oxygen level and its connections with carbon dioxide (CO2) in the Earth's atmosphere during the last ice age, which ended more than 11,000 years ago. They said their findings could offer an insight into how the oceans will respond as the world warms.


Oceans adjust atmospheric CO2 as ice ages transition to warmer climates by releasing carbon – and the researchers warned that carbon release from the deep sea may rise as the climate warms.

"The research reveals the important role of the Southern Ocean in controlling the global ocean oxygen reservoir and carbon storage," said Yi Wang, lead researcher and an assistant professor of earth and environmental sciences at Tulane University School of Science and Engineering in New Orleans. "This will have implications for understanding how the ocean, especially the Southern Ocean, will dynamically affect the atmospheric CO2 in the future."
How did they do it?

The team analysed sea floor sediments collected from the Arabian Sea to reconstruct average global ocean oxygen levels thousands of years ago. They precisely measured isotopes of the metal thallium trapped in the sediments, which indicate how much oxygen was dissolved in the global ocean at the time the sediments formed.

"Study of these metal isotopes on glacial-interglacial transitions has never been looked at before, and these measurements allowed us to essentially recreate the past," said Wang, who specialises in marine biogeochemistry and paleoceanography.

The thallium isotope ratios showed the global ocean lost oxygen overall during the last ice age compared to the current warmer interglacial period.

The study revealed a thousand-year global ocean deoxygenation during abrupt warming in the Northern Hemisphere. The ocean gained more oxygen when abrupt cooling occurred during the transition from the last ice age to today.
What could this mean for climate change?

The oceans release carbon during warmer periods, the researchers said, and it could mean that the Southern Ocean releases more carbon as the world warms.

The researchers attributed the observed ocean oxygen changes to Southern Ocean processes.

The Antarctic or Southern Ocean plays a large role, according to researchers. (Getty Images)

Sune Nielsen, associate scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Massachusetts and co-author of the research, said: "This study is the first to present an average picture of how the oxygen content of the global oceans evolved as Earth transitioned from the last glacial period into the warmer climate of the last 10,000 years.

"These new data are a really big deal because they show that the Southern Ocean plays a critical role in modulating atmospheric CO2. Given that high latitude regions are those most affected by anthropogenic climate change, it is troubling that these also have an outsize impact on atmospheric CO2 in the first place."
Recommended reading

MIT researchers have discovered a remarkable new way to clean up air pollution — by starting with our oceans

Brett Aresco
Mon, January 22, 2024


Carbon capture — commonly thought of as the use of technology to remove carbon dioxide from the air — is a hotly debated topic.

Though the U.S. Department of Energy committed $131 million to various carbon capture projects, opponents claim that focus on carbon capture distracts from other, more effective strategies for combating our warming planet.

Now, an MIT research team may have found a way to make everybody happy: by removing carbon dioxide from the world’s oceans.

In a paper published in the journal Energy & Environmental Science, six MIT engineers have detailed a comprehensive plan for cleansing seawater of carbon dioxide.

The process utilizes two asymmetrical electrochemical cells consisting of silver and bismuth electrodes. The first cell releases protons into the water that converts to carbon dioxide that is then collected by a vacuum. The second cell then returns the seawater to a more basic state before releasing it back into the ocean, free from carbon dioxide.

The researchers say the process has “a relatively low energy consumption” and “high electron efficiency.” It’s also expected to cost less than comparable air-based carbon capture technologies. After capture, the isolated carbon dioxide could be stored under the seafloor or used on land to make fuels, chemicals, or even products.

Removing carbon dioxide from the world’s oceans is more important than ever, as they absorb 50 times more carbon than the atmosphere and 20 times more than all the world’s plants and soil combined.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, 26% of the carbon dioxide produced by human activity is absorbed by the ocean, and high carbon dioxide concentration has caused widespread ocean acidification. The more acidic oceans become, the harder it is for coral and other species to build their shells and exoskeletons, leading to disrupted ecosystems and less marine life.

The researchers behind the new carbon capture technology note that carbon dioxide in seawater is more than 100 times more concentrated than it is in the air but that a focus on water-based carbon capture has been lacking.

“The total amount of CO2 emissions partitioning into the oceans rivals that retained by the atmosphere,” the researchers write, “and thus effective means for its removal could augment the other negative emissions technologies to reduce the environmental burden imposed by this greenhouse gas.”

The technology proposed by the new research, which is expected to be demonstration-ready in 2025, has the potential to change the face of carbon capture.

Currently, the nonprofit Food & Water Watch says the idea of carbon capture amounts to “pie-in-the-sky greenwashing technologies” that will “only prolong the fossil fuel industry.”

But the deployment of large-scale, energy-efficient, ocean-based carbon capture could turn be a powerful tool for creating a healthier planet.

The trial of a Honolulu businessman is providing a possible glimpse of Hawaii's underworld
BY JENNIFER SINCO KELLEHER
Mon, January 22, 2024 

A sign for the Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Federal Building and Courthouse is displayed outside the courthouse on Monday, Jan. 22, 2024, in Honolulu. A trial underway at the U.S. courthouse is providing a possible glimpse into Hawaii's underworld. (AP Photo/Jennifer Kelleher)


HONOLULU (AP) — A U.S. prosecutor revealed a possible glimpse into Hawaii's underworld on Monday as he outlined the crimes a Honolulu businessman is accused of orchestrating: the kidnapping of a 72-year-old accountant who owed a debt, the release of a toxic chemical into a rival's nightclubs and the killing of his late son's best friend, among them.

Michael Miske Jr. was arrested in 2020, along with seven people whom prosecutors described as associates. But following a series of guilty pleas by the others — including a plea deal signed by his half-brother on Saturday — the trial opened with Miske as the lone defendant.

“The defendant used fear, violence and intimidation to get what he wanted," Assistant U.S. Attorney William Akina said in his opening statement. “What he wanted was money, control and revenge.”

Miske's attorney, Michael Kennedy, painted a completely different picture of his client.

Miske, 49, wasn't a crime lord, but rather a “self-made man" who, despite growing up "on the wrong side of the tracks,” successfully built a family business called Kamaʻaina Termite and Pest Control, Kennedy said in his opening statement.

The company saved iconic Hawaii structures and “cultural treasures," including outdoor theater Waikiki Shell, ʻIolani Palace and the Polynesian Cultural Center, Kennedy said. Miske even fumigated a Honolulu concert hall for free after the city couldn't afford the $200,000 estimate, Kennedy said.

Akina alleged that Miske also owned several nightclubs where disputes over bar tabs would be met with physical assault from his “thugs.” In addition, he made millions selling illegal commercial-grade aerial fireworks on the black market, Akina said.

The businessman also groomed people from his Waimanalo neighborhood to violently rob drug dealers and carry out other orders, the prosecutor said.

Akina said Miske ordered hits on people, and though many were never carried out, at least one was: the 2016 killing of Johnathan Fraser, best friend to Miske's only son, Caleb. Miske had long thought Fraser was a bad influence on Caleb, and blamed Fraser when the friends got into a car crash in 2015 that led to Caleb's death, Akina said.

“There could be only one price to pay for the death of the defendant’s son," Akina said. "A life for a life.”

An indictment alleges that Miske purchased a boat to dump Fraser’s body into the ocean, though the body has never been found.

Kennedy told jurors on Monday that Miske didn't blame Fraser for the crash and had nothing to do with his disappearance.

The people who will be testifying against Miske have something to gain from authorities, Kennedy said, referring to plea deals made by his alleged associates.

“Lies are going to rain down into this courtroom from that stand," he said.

Testimony is scheduled to begin Tuesday.

Opening statements proceeded despite a motion filed Sunday night by Miske's defense team. His attorneys argued that a new jury should be selected because Miske's half-brother John Stancil pleaded guilty after a jury had been assembled and sworn and Miske’s daughter-in-law Delia Fabro Miske pleaded guilty after four days of jury selection.

Defense attorney Lynn Panagakos noted that Stancil pleaded guilty early Monday before the courthouse was even open to the public.

U.S. District Chief Judge Derrick Watson denied the motion.

Japan is rich, but many of its children are poor; a film documents the plight of single mothers

YURI KAGEYAMA
Tue, January 23, 2024 








Japan Film Poor Mothers
Australian filmmaker Rionne McAvoy speaks about his film "The Ones Left Behind: The Plight of Single Mothers in Japan" on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2024, in Tokyo. The award-winning independent documentary film released in 2023 tells the story of single mothers in Japan, weaving together interviews with the women and experts, and showing the other side of a culture whose ideal is for women to get married and become stay-at-home housewives and mothers. (AP Photo/Yuri Kageyama)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOKYO (AP) — The women work hard, sleeping only a few hours a night, as they juggle the demands of caring for their children and doing housework — all while suffering from poverty.

The award-winning independent documentary film “The Ones Left Behind,” released last year, tells the story of such single mothers in Japan, weaving together interviews with the women and experts, and showing the other side of a culture whose ideal is for women to get married and become stay-at-home housewives and mothers.

"This is a topic that no one wants to really touch. In Japan, it’s very taboo,” Australian filmmaker Rionne McAvoy said Tuesday. “I think it’s a very apt title because I feel that single mothers and their children have really been left behind in society.”

One woman in the film says she works from 8:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m., while earning less than 200,000 yen ($1,350) a month.

Tomiko Nakayama, another woman in the film, says: “I have to do everything on my own."

Despite being one of the world’s richest nations, Japan has one of the highest rates of child poverty among OECD countries, with one in every seven children living in poverty. About half of single-parent households live below the poverty line.

Japanese society also tends to favor full-time male workers, and women often receive lower wages and fewer benefits, even when they are working full-time and overtime.

Another woman in the film is near tears as she describes how her child stopped asking her about take-your-parent-to-school days. She knew her mom was too busy and couldn’t attend.

McAvoy’s wife, Ayuri, who produced the film, was formerly a single mother. But both deny that's why Rionne McAvoy made the film. Initially, she wasn’t interested in getting involved in his filmmaking.

What makes the story so “Japanese,” according to Rionne McAvoy, is how the country's conformist culture makes many women accept their hardships, too ashamed to ask for help, “keeping their public face and private face separate,” he told The Associated Press.

“The Ones Left Behind” was the Best Documentary Winner at the Miyakojima Charity International Film Festival last year and an official selection at the Yokohama International Film Festival.

Despite repeated promises by the Japanese government to provide monetary assistance to people with children, action has been slow, said Akihiko Kato, a professor at Meiji University who appears in the film.

That’s partly why the birth rate is crashing in Japan from 1.2 million births in the year 2000 to below 700,000 today. Japan also lacks a system that can force fathers to pay child support, according to Kato.

In the past, grandparents, neighbors and other members of the extended family helped look after children. In the modern age of the nuclear family, the single-parent household is often on its own.

What this means for the children is sobering, said Yanfei Zhou, a social science professor at Japan Women’s University who appears in the film. The gap between the haves and have-nots is growing, and the children are destined to inherit the cycle of poverty, she said.

The story of the underclass, including those who are forgotten and don’t have a voice, has long fascinated McAvoy. His next film will be about young people driven to suicide in Japan. He said that being an outsider allows him to tell stories with a fresh perspective and without bias.

“It’s one thing we can do more of in society: to try recognize people’s cries for help,” McAvoy said.

___

Yuri Kageyama is on X https://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Scientists discover near-Earth asteroid hours before it exploded over Berlin

Kiley Price
Mon, January 22, 2024 

An asteroid flying past earth.


In the wee morning hours on Sunday (Jan. 21), a tiny asteroid came hurtling through the sky and smashed into Earth's atmosphere near Berlin, producing a bright but harmless fireball visible for miles around. Such sightings typically occur a few times a year — but this one was unique because it was first detected by scientists roughly three hours before impact — only the eighth time that researchers have spotted one of these space rocks before it hit.

The asteroid, dubbed 2024 BXI, was first discovered by self-proclaimed asteroid hunter Krisztián Sárneczky, an astronomer at the Piszkéstető Mountain Station, part of Konkoly Observatory in Hungary. He identified the cosmic rock using the 60-cm Schmidt telescope at the observatory. Shortly after the space rock's discovery, NASA gave a detailed prediction of where and when the meteor would strike.

"Heads Up: A tiny asteroid will disintegrate as a harmless fireball west of Berlin near Nennhausen shortly at 1:32am CET. Overseers will see it if it's clear!" NASA tweeted on the night of Jan. 20.


A live camera in the city of Leipzig in northern Germany caught footage of the exceptionally bright meteor, watching it appear and disappear in the span of a few seconds. The asteroid, which measured an estimated 3.3 feet (1 meter) wide before impact, likely started to disintegrate around 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Berlin and "probably dropped some meteorites on the ground" along the way, Denis Vida, a postdoctoral associate in meteor physics at Western University in Canada, told CBS News.

Sárneczky has discovered hundreds of asteroids in recent years, and was the first to detect asteroid 2022 EB5 around two hours before it slammed into Earth's atmosphere. He used Konkoly Observatory data to spot that incoming rock, too.

His sighting is incredibly unusual. According to the European Space Agency, 99% of near-Earth asteroids smaller than 98 feet (30 meters) across have not yet been discovered. The smaller an asteroid is, the closer it must be to Earth before scientists can detect it, which can make it difficult to forecast impacts in advance, experts say.

In some cases, near-Earth asteroids can hide in the glare of the sun, such as the meteor that shot out from the direction of the rising sun over the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia, in 2013. That surprise space rock shattered windows, temporarily blinded pedestrians, inflicted instantaneous ultraviolet burns and injured more than 1,600 people.

Government space agencies are currently developing new technologies to scan the skies for asteroids before they make contact with Earth, including NASA's NEO Surveyor satellite, currently planned to launch in 2027, and ESA's NEOMIR, which isn't expected to launch until after 2030. Starting in 2025, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile — funded by the National Science Foundation — will catalog the solar system from the ground, and is expected to greatly help asteroid-hunting efforts.

"It took us 200 years to discover all the asteroids we know to date, about 1.2 million asteroids," Mario Jurić, the Rubin Observatory's solar system discovery team lead and the director of the University of Washington's DiRAC Institute, told Astronomy. "In the first three to six months of Rubin, we will double that."


Video shows asteroid burning up as it zooms through skies over Germany

Emily Mae Czachor
Sun, January 21, 2024 

A small asteroid entered Earth's atmosphere and burned up early Sunday morning as it hurled through the skies above eastern Germany.

Videos shared on social media throughout the day showed the glowing object's descent over Europe, shortly after the Hungarian researcher and self-described "asteroid hunter" Krisztián Sárneczky spotted it from an observatory in Hungary. Sárneczky is well-known for discovering minor planets and other space objects headed toward our planet, including two asteroids that respectively fell over France in 2023 and the Arctic Ocean in 2022, according to EarthSky, an astronomy website run by scientists and experts in the field.

A small asteroid fell through the skies over eastern Germany early Sunday morning on Jan. 21, 2024. / Credit: Augustusplatz Live Cam via Denis Vida on X

The asteroid seen early Sunday measured about 1 meter end-to-end, according to Denis Vida, a Ph.D. associate in meteor physics at Western University in Canada and the founder of the Global Meteor Project, which aims to better observe meteors using a worldwide cooperative of cameras pointing upward to space.

Vida shared one of the clearest video clips of the falling asteroid, which was originally captured by a livestream camera set up in the German city of Leipzig, in a post on X, formerly Twitter. The asteroid "probably dropped some meteorites on the ground" as it zoomed through the atmosphere and broke apart, Vida wrote alongside the video. He clarified in an email to CBS News that the asteroid began to disintegrate about 50 kilometers, or about 30 miles, west of Berlin.

The asteroid was initially dubbed Sar2736 before the International Astronomical Union's minor planet center went on to officially name it 2024 BX1, EarthSky reported. Funded by a grant through NASA's near-earth object observation program, the minor planet center collects data on comets and "outer irregular natural satellites of major planets," including their sizes and various locations, from observatories everywhere, according to its website.


The center's data log on 2024 BX1 shows input from numerous observatories in various European countries, such as Spain, Croatia and Romania, in addition to Hungary and Germany.

NASA Asteroid Watch first flagged the asteroid's imminent arrival in a social media post shared on Saturday evening.

"Heads Up: A tiny asteroid will disintegrate as a harmless fireball west of Berlin near Nennhausen shortly at 1:32am CET. Overseers will see it if it's clear!" the post read.

The space agency's prediction was correct, and the asteroid rained down after midnight in central Europe as a "fireball," the astronomical term for a shooting star, which the agency defines as "exceptionally bright meteors that are spectacular enough to be seen over a very wide area.


Watch: Fireball lights up Berlin sky

Hillary Andrews
Mon, January 22, 2024

BERLIN, Germany – One scientist caught an amazing display early Sunday morning, an asteroid lighting up Berlin as it burned up, falling through the Earth's atmosphere.

The photographer, Michael Aye, a researcher at the Planetary Research Institute, acted on a tip from a colleague at the SETI Institute.

DEEP IMPACT: WHAT TO KNOW ABOUT ASTEROIDS AND WHEN WE SHOULD BE WORRIED ABOUT THEM

A webcam over Leipzing caught the asteroid.

"A 1-meter (3.2 feet) asteroid called Sar2736 is going to impact Earth, West of Berlin (city of Rathenow) at 00:32 UT, so in 30 min," SETI scientist Franck Marchis posted on X, formerly Twitter. "HARMLESS but several fragments will probably fell on the ground. Look up if you live in the area. It will be a beautiful show."

A Hungarian astronomer detected the Earth-bound rock about 3 hours before impact. He detailed the time and place, Aye told Reuters. He said this is only the eighth time impact, by the minute, was forecast.

Even NASA joined the asteroid watch on social media.

One astrophysicist told German media that it is possible that the asteroid burned completely. But, there is also a possibility that stones, as big as a thumb or fist, survived.

No word yet if any pieces of the asteroid have been found.

Original article source: Watch: Fireball lights up Berlin sky

Australia imposes sanctions on Russian hacker over Medibank breach

Issued on: 23/01/2024 - 

01:41

Video by: Charlotte HUGHES

Australia on Tuesday imposed cyber sanctions on a Russian man for his role in the breach at insurer Medibank, one of the country's biggest data thefts which impacted about 10 million customers.

 Senegal hopes new fleet of electric buses ‘can solve tomorrow’s problems’

23/01/2024 - 

Video by: Sam BRADPIECE

01:48

Public transport in Senegal has been given an upgrade with a fleet of new all-electric buses - the first of its kind in sub-Saharan Africa. It is hoped that the buses will help the capital Dakar cope with a rapidly expanding population over the coming years.

Red Sea attacks latest threat to Yemen's decaying oil tanker

Riyadh (AFP) – Mounting maritime security threats off Yemen's coast have stalled work on scrapping a decrepit oil tanker, officials have told AFP, jeopardising a rare success story in the war-torn country.

Issued on: 23/01/2024 - 

The FSO Safer was holding more than a million barrels of oil as it lay decaying off Yemen's coast © MOHAMMED HUWAIS / AFP

The FSO Safer, a 48-year-old vessel with a corroding hull, was for years described as a "ticking time bomb", going unserviced as fighting raged in Yemen and fears grew that a leak or on-board explosion could release its 1.14 million barrels of crude into the Red Sea.

But last August, the United Nations announced the completion of a complex transfer of the oil to a new vessel, a crucial step in staving off an environmental and economic calamity.

The UN said at the time that completing the project would involve towing and scrapping the Safer, which still posed "a residual environmental threat, holding viscous oil residue and remaining at risk of breaking apart".

However, after delays over a $22 million funding shortfall and other challenges, security in the Red Sea has deteriorated dramatically, a knock-on effect of the conflict between Israel and Hamas triggered by the militant group's unprecedented attacks on southern Israel on October 7.

Iran-backed Huthi forces, which control the capital Sanaa and the waters where the Safer is located, began attacking Red Sea shipping in November, and the United States has carried out several rounds of strikes on Huthi targets this month along with two joint operations with Britain.

The situation has "resulted in unforeseen operational and financial challenges" for the Safer project, making it difficult to move forward, a spokesperson for the UN Development Programme told AFP.

"After much consideration, the UN had no option but to pause the project at this time and has informed the authorities accordingly," the spokesperson said.

"We continue to follow developments on the ground very carefully and closely."

Edrees al-Shami, the Sanaa-appointed executive general manager of SEPOC, the Yemeni oil and gas company, said there was a "big risk" of the ships being struck by a stray missile as Huthi-controlled areas come under attack.
Peace talks in peril

Completing the Safer project was always expected to be complicated because of Yemen's war, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, either directly in the fighting or indirectly as a result of war-induced shortages.

It pits the Huthis, who took control of Sanaa in 2014, against a Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognised government based in the southern city of Aden.

Though a six-month truce that took effect in April 2022 has largely held, analysts say the recent regional turmoil threatens efforts to secure a durable ceasefire.

The Huthis say their activities in the Red Sea are aimed at Israeli-linked vessels in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel's withering retaliatory campaign against Hamas has killed more than 25,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the Gaza health ministry.

The October 7 attacks resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

The Huthis have also declared American and British interests to be legitimate targets.

The group "will use all cards at their disposal to tarnish this US-led coalition", said Bader al-Saif of Kuwait University.

A delay for the Safer project "fits into the anti-US propaganda (the Huthis) are good at assembling".

Who owns the oil?

Yemen's rival authorities in Sanaa and Aden are at odds over who owns the oil that was on the Safer as well as the new tanker that now holds it, the MT-Yemen.

The Huthis have previously said they want to sell the oil and use the revenue to cover their employees' salaries.

They have also called for the completion of onshore storage facilities that could potentially hold the crude.

Under the terms of the handover deal announced last summer, the MT-Yemen was to be managed by a UN-contracted firm for at least six months.

The UN says the crew is due to leave under the terms of its contract but that the MT-Yemen remains under the firm's management.

Shami raised the possibility that SEPOC "will have to take over management" of the vessel, a development sure to rile the government in Aden, which does not acknowledge Shami's authority and has named its own executive general manager of SEPOC.

Other steps yet to be completed include tethering an anchored buoy to the MT-Yemen, for stability and to aid the eventual offloading, and inspecting the underwater pipeline that stretched from Yemeni soil to the Safer and will later be connected to the MT-Yemen, Shami said.

All of these are "integral" to the project, he said.

"If the UN fails to support operating the vessel properly, MT-Yemen will be FSO Safer the sequel," he said.

© 2024 AFP

France fines Amazon €32 million over employee surveillance

France's data protection agency said Tuesday that it had fined Amazon's French warehouses unit 32 million euros ($34.9 million) for an "excessively intrusive" surveillance system to keep track of staff performance.


Issued on: 23/01/2024 - 


Amazon France Logistique monitored the work of employees in particular through data from scanners used by the staff to process packages, according to the agency, known by its initials CNIL.

Scanners alerted management of inactivity exceeding 10 minutes or the handling of packages and parcels "right up to the second", the CNIL said in a statement.

One surveillance method targeted by CNIL was the use of so-called "stow machine guns" to note if an article was scanned "too fast", or in less than 1.25 seconds.

It said workers were under constant pressure and had to regularly justify absences. Even the time between the employees' entry into the warehouse and the start of work was monitored.

The agency added that they were not adequately informed about the surveillance, with the data kept for 31 days.

The surveillance was deemed in contravention with the EU's general data protection regulation (GDPR), which imposes strict rules on companies for obtaining consent on how personal information is used.

The fine was equivalent to about three percent of the annual revenue at Amazon France Logistique, which reached 1.1 billion euros in 2021, for a net profit of 58.9 million euros.

Several thousand employees were affected by the systems, said the CNIL, which had opened its inquiry in 2019 following media articles and complaints by workers.

The watchdog said the fine was "nearly unprecedented" and not far from the CNIL's maximum four percent of revenue.
'Quality and efficiency'

An Amazon spokesman said the company rejected the findings as "factually incorrect and we reserve the right to appeal", adding that such systems were needed "to guarantee security, quality and efficiency".

The company employs around 20,000 people overall on permanent contracts in France, with the warehouse workers spread over eight massive distribution centres.

David Lewkowitz, president of Amazon France Logistique, told AFP during a visit at its warehouse near Douai in northern France this month that the management tools were necessary for the precise handling of the tens of thousands of packages that move through the centres each day.

The "stow machine guns", for example, aim to ensure that employees are properly checking items for damage or other problems before they are scanned for shipping "in a manner that conforms with safety rules, in particular by ensuring proper postures", Amazon said in its statement.

Measuring "idle time", meanwhile, was not to control a worker's every movement but to ensure that any supply chain anomaly is quickly investigated and rectified.

But Amazon said that in response to the CNIL's findings it would deactivate the ability of the "stow machine guns" to signal handling speeds, and extend the "idle time" warnings to 30 minutes from 10.

(AFP)

EU under pressure to defuse farmers' anger

Issued on: 23/01/2024 -

01:37
Video by: Liza KAMINOV

EU agriculture ministers will discuss on Tuesday how to resolve European farmers' growing discontent as Brussels scrambles to address the issue ahead of elections this year. Europe's farmers are in revolt. The fury has led to road blockages and tractor parades in the past few weeks, with farmers taking their protests to the street in France, Germany, Poland and Romania, after the Netherlands earlier.

India PM Modi marks 'end of constitutional democratic republic & start of Hindu majoritarian state'


Issued on: 23/01/2024 -

06:00

Tens of thousands of Hindus braved biting cold on Tuesday to pray at a new temple to Lord Ram in India's northern city of Ayodhya, a day after its inauguration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a site believed to be the god-king's birthplace. Hindu groups, Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliates have portrayed the opening as part of a Hindu renaissance after past centuries of subjugation by Muslim invaders and colonial powers. He was among more than 50,000 devotees who lined up before dawn on Tuesday to enter the temple, among some 200,000 who arrived in the city after the consecration, said a government official, Murli Dhar Singh. The site was bitterly contested for decades by Hindus and minority Muslims, sparking nationwide riots in 1992 that killed 2,000 people, mainly Muslims, police say, after a Hindu mob destroyed the 16th-century mosque there. As Hindu Ram temple precipitously opens to the public amid pomp and circumstance, FRANCE 24's Delano D'Souza is joined by Dr Subir Sinha, Author, Director of the SOAS South Asia Institute and Senior Lecturer in the Department of Development Studies at SOAS London.

 

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Hinduism Is Fascism