SPACE

NI teens create life-sized replica of Star Wars droid R2D2


Logan Hamilton, Sean Boyle (ScreenWorks), James O’Neill, Nathan Loughlin, David McConnell (Northern Ireland Screen), Beth Nihell and Jodie Bingham with the R2D2 droid outside Belfast City Hall

Christopher Leebody

Today   

Twelve Northern Irish teenagers have successfully built a life-size version of the Star Wars droid R2D2 in just five days.
                                                                                  
Creating the fully-functioning version of the droid in time for Star Wars Day on Saturday — May the Fourth — the teenagers used more than 1,000 parts which were either created on a 3D printer, made of plywood or sourced from suppliers around the world.

Like the droid which made his debut in the 1977 blockbuster, the teenagers’ creation makes sounds and lights up just like the original.

The project was created through Into Film’s ScreenWorks supported by Northern Ireland Screen, with the new R2D2 making his debut at Belfast City Hall on Tuesday.

The droid will be visiting schools and careers fairs to promote ScreenWorks, a work experience scheme that gives young people unparalleled access to industry professionals across all five screen sectors — film, television, animation, gaming and visual effects.

Many of the young people behind the creation of the Northern Irish R2D2 plan to go on to careers in the film industry.

Beth Nihell (17) from Bangor plans to study film at Ulster University next year and said: “It was a real team effort to create something like this together in just five days. I’m hoping for a career in props or the art department so this was really helpful to give me real-life experience in the industry.”

And 15-year-old Nathan Loughlin from Belfast, who is studying GCSE Moving Image Arts at St Mary’s Christian Brothers, added that he liked the hands-on approach of the workshop.

“It was amazing to see everything come together in the end. All these parts that we had created, primed, painted were put together to build this amazing R2D2,” he said.

ScreenWorks lead Sean Boyle added: “In the words of Yoda: ‘Do. Or do not. There is no try’. We had this idea to do something amazing that would capture the imagination of the young people for this prop workshop and show them what was possible right here at home.”

“With the screen industries growing in NI, you don’t have to go to Hollywood to create something amazing.”

The prop workshop was held at Temple Props in Templepatrick under the guidance of industry experts Denis Rush and Victoria Arundell who have more than 20 years’ experience in the industry.

“These young people were totally amazing. They had such enthusiasm, creativity and talent. It was an honour for us to work with this next generation” said Victoria Arundell from Temple Props.

In addition to the support of the master prop builders, Into Film also had advice from leading Star Wars droid builder Lee Towersey from England who started his career as a hobbyist and went on to work for Lucas Films.

Into Film’s ScreenWorks programme, which is free to all participants, has been supported by NI Screen since the project started in 2018.

David McConnell, head of education at Northern Ireland Screen, said: “The ScreenWorks programme is a real success story and has grown exponentially, offering young people varied and exciting work experiences with leading industry experts in all facets of the screen industry.

“Its aim is to create a pathway where children can learn from a very young age about potential careers in this growing industry.”

 Scientists are getting closer to understanding the sun’s ‘campfire’ flares

Magnetic cancellation is thought to underpin the diminutive solar phenomenon

This false-color ultraviolet image of the sun is one of many from the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter probe that is helping researchers unravel the mystery of tiny “campfire” flares, diminutive outbursts on the solar surface.
EUI TEAM/SOLAR ORBITER/ESA AND NASA, CSL, IAS, MPS, WRC/PMOD, ROB, MSSL/UCL

By Adam Mann

DALLAS — Scientists are starting to figure out what causes tiny eruptions on the sun called campfire flares.

Campfires were discovered in 2020, when the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter probe snapped closeup photos of our parent star and spotted diminutive flickers of ultraviolet light (SN: 7/16/20). The flashes resemble more massive explosions such as solar flares and coronal mass ejections but are only a millionth or a billionth the size.

Using observations of 52 campfires, solar physicist Navdeep Panesar and her colleagues tracked these bursts from their beginnings. The team noticed that nearly 80 percent of the campfires were preceded by a dark structure made from cool plasma, Panesar reported April 9 at the Triennial Earth-Sun Summit.

“When this cool plasma rises, a brightening appears underneath it. That brightening turns into a campfire,” says Panesar, of Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif.

A tiny campfire flare (white arrow) appeared in this false-color ultraviolet image of a portion of the sun taken by the European Space Agency’s Solar Orbiter probe on May 30, 2020. A scale outline of Earth is shown for comparison.

EUI TEAM/SOLAR ORBITER/ESA AND NASA, CSL, IAS, MPS, WRC/PMOD, ROB, MSSL/UCL

Such cool plasma structures also precede coronal jets, another of the sun’s recurring explosions. The findings suggest these plasma structures are more common than previously believed, Panesar says, and that many solar eruptions — campfires, jets, flares and mass ejections — arise in a similar fashion.

Flares and mass ejections occur when magnetic fields of opposite polarities get tangled and cancel one another out, leading to a powerful release of energy. Campfires are believed to be produced via similar mechanisms, though a full understanding has so far eluded researchers.

Since campfires tend to be between half a million and 2.5 million degrees Celsius, they are thought to help heat the sun’s million-degree atmosphere, the corona. Understanding why the corona is so much hotter than the sun’s surface, which is a mere 5500° C, has been a longstanding problem for solar physicists (SN: 2/27/20).

CITATIONS

N.K. Panesar et al. The magnetic origin of solar campfires: observations by Solar Orbiter and SDO. Triennial Earth-Sun Summit, Dallas, April 9, 2024.

About Adam Mann

UK Space Command and Jon Egging Trust sign collaboration pledge

Midlands-PRMay 1, 2024

The branch of the MOD which represents the UK’s interests in space, UK Space Command, and STEM-inspired youth charity the Jon Egging Trust (JET), have today signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at broadening access to space for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. 
 
The MOU was signed at UK Space Command’s headquarters at RAF High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, by JET CEO, Dr Emma Egging, and Commander of UK Space Command, Air Vice-Marshal Paul Godfrey. The MOU signifies the start of a collaboration between the two organisations and pledges: “to work towards the betterment of the community through providing inspiring engagement opportunities for young people across the UK.” 

JET and UK Space Command are currently co-designing a series of space-related sessions which will be delivered within JET’s existing three-year Blue Skies programme from September 2024. Blue Skies develops teamwork, leadership and employability skills in under-confident students living in areas of high deprivation, and uses STEM and space environments as a springboard for inspiration. Students alternate between in-school sessions which boost confidence and resilience, and workplace visits which broaden horizons and aspirations and introduce students to careers which they may never have considered or have considered out of reach. The co-designed space sessions will be plugged into the existing Blue Skies framework and are aimed at inspiring students to think more deeply about what space means to them, and how it impacts their day-to-day lives.
 
JET CEO, Dr Emma Egging, says that the partnership with UK Space Command builds on twelve years of support from the RAF, and will help to deliver the charity’s vision that every JET student should have access to space opportunities as part of their Blue Skies journey. 
 
“Space touches every aspect of modern life, and yet so often people see it as an abstract concept which doesn’t relate to them,” says Emma. “By working with UK Space Command to build inspiring space-related content and workplace opportunities into our programmes, our students are able to gain an understanding of what space means for them, grow their confidence and aspirations, develop vital competencies including teamwork and communication skills, and get a real sense of the breadth of career opportunities available within the sector.”  
 
AVM Godfrey says: “Space technology enables and underpins our daily lives, while the UK space sector employs nearly 50,000 people of all skillsets, backgrounds, and experience. Through this joint venture, UK Space Command and the Jon Egging Trust will demonstrate to thousands of young people that space really does matter, and everyone can be involved.”

SES Reaches Agreement to Buy Intelsat

Rendering courtesy NASA

PUBLISHED APR 30, 2024 7:15 PM BY THE MARITIME EXECUTIVE

 

]

The EU-based satellite corporation SES has reached a deal to acquire American competitor Intelsat - the market leader in maritime VSAT - for $3.1 billion. The agreement is the latest in a growing wave of M&A activity in satcom, as incumbent providers reach for scale to counter new entrants in the sector. 

In the near term, SES and Intelsat expect to save $2.6 billion from "readily creatable" synergies from the merger. In the longer term, the combined firm will be well-placed to compete in high-growth segments of the market, Intelsat said. 

"In a fast-moving and competitive satellite communication industry, this transaction expands our multi-orbit space network, spectrum portfolio, ground infrastructure around the world, go-to-market capabilities, managed service solutions, and financial profile," said SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh. 

For Intelsat, the acquisition is a vindication of a long-term turnaround strategy, including its passage through bankruptcy in 2021-22. The bankruptcy process cut the company's debt by more than half, from about $16 billion to $7 billion, and injected $7 billion in new financing. The firm emerged with new owners and new top executives, who have reversed its fortunes over the past two years. 

About three-quarters of Intelsat's shareholders have already approved the deal, as well as the boards of both companies. The merger will require regulatory approval, which is expected in the second half of next year. 

Price and service-speed pressures from SpaceX's Starlink system have forced most satcom players to adjust to a new reality, and consolidation through M&A is one adaptation. Other recent deals include Eutelsat's purchase of OneWeb, SES' purchase of O3b, and Viasat's acquisition of Inmarsat. 

Starlink is a first mover in the low earth orbit (LEO) broadband service category, with a constellation of 5,000 satellites and growing. Its constellation's proximity to Earth reduces latency, the delay time for transmission, which matters for interactive tasks like videoconferencing or remote control. Its cost structure is comparatively low and service speeds are high, and it is gaining acceptance for crewmember and passenger connectivity applications.  

Multiple new competitors will likely enter the LEO field in short order, including China's GuoWang and Amazon's Project Kuiper. Both plan to launch new constellations numbering in the thousands of satellites. 

Scientists Found Evidence of the Magnetic Field in 3.7 Billion-Year-Old Rocks

It’s so much older than we thought.

BY DARREN ORF

PUBLISHED: APR 30, 2024

Naeblys//Getty Images

Magnetic fields make life possible on Earth by protecting the planet from the Sun's harmful cosmic rays.

A new study found the oldest evidence yet of this field’s existence in iron-rich rocks in Greenland.

With the sun’s solar winds stronger and Earth's magnetic field weaker during the Eoarchean, this could have implications for how magnetic fields figure into our search for life on other planets.

Life on Earth would be impossible without the magnetic field, a magnetic region powered by the planet’s iron core that protects all life from cosmic rays spewed from coronal mass ejections. This magnetic field also protects the liquid water on Earth’s surface, making the existence of such a field a convincing prerequisite for finding life on distant exoplanets.

TL;DR: Earth’s magnetic field makes all life possible.

However, scientists aren’t exactly sure when Earth’s magnetic field first formed, but a new study from the University of Oxford and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) details the earliest known evidence of the field’s existence embedded in well-preserved 3.7 billion-year-old iron rocks in Isua, Greenland.

RELATED STORY

Earth Is a Giant Magnet: It’s the Reason We Exist

The iron composition of these rocks is key as the element can essentially lock in magnetic field direction and strength when it crystallizes. The study, published this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research, details an Eoarchean (4 billion to 3.6 billion years ago) magnetic field strength of 15 microteslas—roughly half as strong as the magnetic field of today.

“The magnetic field is, in theory, one of the reasons we think Earth is really unique as a habitable planet,” Oxford University’s Claire Nichols, a co-author of the study, said in a press statement. “It’s thought our magnetic field protects us from harmful radiation from space, and also helps us to have oceans and atmospheres that can be stable for long periods of time.”

To glean the magnetic information from these rocks, the samples were demagnetized in a lab and then remagnetized with a known field strength. This allows the researchers to compare the “gradient of demagnetization to the gradient of lab magnetization,” which has the fortune side effect of revealing how strong Earth’s magnetic field was 3.7 billion years ago.

This timeframe is also some 200 million years earlier than previous magnetic field evidence. This is an important distinction because microbial mats, the earliest known lifeforms on Earth, likely appeared on the scene around 3.7 billion years ago, strengthening the case that some form of magnetic field is necessary for life to take hold.

However, the Sun’s solar winds were stronger in these early days and the planet’s magnetic field weaker, meaning life was still possible even though these conditions were harsher. It’s likely that an increase in the strength of this magnetic shield allowed for complex life to leave the oceans and thrive on land.

“That’s important because that’s the time when we think life is emerging,” MIT’s Benjamin Weiss, a co-author on the study, said in a press statement. “If the Earth’s magnetic field was around a few hundred million years earlier, it could have played a critical role in making the planet habitable.”

While this helps fill in some scientific gaps in our understanding of Earth’s early history, this new piece of information is particularly helpful in the search for life on other planets. It’s true that a strong magnetic field helps give rise to complex life and eventually intelligent life. So even if a future exoplanet’s weak field is struggling mightily with its host star, it’s still possible for some lifeforms to take hold on the planet’s surface.

And it’s all thanks to the invisible field generated in a planet's liquid iron heart.


DARREN ORF
Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough.

A ruinous hailstorm in Spain may have been supercharged by warming seas

Giant hail couldn't have formed without climate change, computer simulations suggest

In August 2022, a storm of giant hail — fueled by a marine heat wave — pelted northeast Spain. One of those hailstones is shown here next to a 1 Euro coin for comparison.
@MORGANA_50/FORALLAC/CATALONIA




By Javier Barbuzano

A torrent of giant hailstones in northeast Spain may have been fueled by climate change.

On August 31, 2022, a brutal hailstorm struck the small Spanish city of La Bisbal d’Empordà. The storm unleashed balls of ice up to 12 centimeters wide, causing widespread damage to property and crops, injuring dozens of people and killing a 20-month-old toddler. Computer simulations now suggest that in a preindustrial climate, the storm could not have generated hailstones this big, researchers report in the March 28 Geophysical Research Letters.  

The study is the first to establish a link between climate change and a specific hailstorm. “In the past, it was thought that climate change could only be associated with large-scale or global phenomena,” says Juan Jesús González-Alemán, an atmospheric scientist at the Spanish State Meteorological Agency in Madrid.

He and his colleagues had suspected that a record-breaking marine heat wave in the western Mediterranean Sea had created the perfect conditions for extreme hailstorms. The heat wave lasted six weeks and pushed seawater temperatures to about 30° Celsius in some areas, or more than 3 degrees above normal, González-Alemán says. This in turn could have supercharged the atmosphere with energy and moisture.

It might be “counterintuitive” to link hail, which in principle requires cold, to a marine heat wave, González-Alemán says. But the extra energy the storm could draw from the hot sea allowed it to produce massive hailstones by staying longer at higher altitudes, where temperatures drop below freezing, he says. “Strong updrafts, fueled by warm sea temperatures and high humidity, can suspend larger hailstones, allowing them to grow for a longer time within the cloud.”

To see how the storm might have behaved in a world with a different climate, the researchers used computer simulations to re-create the storm under different circumstances. In one simulation, for example, the team lowered the sea temperature to the average for that time of the year. In another, they also changed atmospheric parameters to preindustrial levels, tweaking things such as air temperature, relative humidity and wind.

The simulations showed that while the storm would have occurred with or without climate change, it wouldn’t have been able to generate hailstones of the size witnessed in La Bisbal d’Empordà in a preindustrial climate.

The finding suggests a connection between climate change — which is leading to more frequent and more intense marine heat waves — and the formation of larger, more destructive hailstones (SN: 2/1/22). And, the researchers note, historical data on how often giant hail — defined in their study as wider than 5 centimeters — fell in Spain each year bear that out. While storms with giant hail were once rare, occurring on average three days a year in the early 2010s, the past decade or so has seen a small but worrying uptick in their frequency.

Climate scientist Olivia Romppainen-Martius, however, is wary of attributing hail events to climate change based on these kinds of simulations and past meteorological records. “You need multiple lines of evidence that are all robust to really support attribution statements,” says Romppainen-Martius, of the University of Bern in Germany.

One problem, she says, is that the computer simulations used in this study can´t directly compute the hail size produced by a storm. Instead, scientists must estimate a storm’s hail-forming potential based on parameters such as wind speed, atmospheric stability and air temperature. As a result, what researchers can really evaluate is the likelihood of forming a certain hail size under a particular set of conditions.

On top of that, Romppainen-Martius says, the historical databases used to estimate the hail-forming potential of storms could be incomplete, making any long-term trends less reliable. “I would say the jury is still out on whether or not we can attribute individual hail events to climate change.”

González-Alemán argues, however, that the team’s study shows the strong connection between sea temperature and creating the atmospheric conditions that can produce giant hail. The 2022 storm had “the perfect conditions to reach the maximum possible energy, and that is where the climate change comes in, because it makes [these] heat waves increasingly frequent.”

In the future, as extreme marine heat waves become more intense, people should expect more powerful hailstorms with larger hail sizes, he says. Simulations of the same storm in a context of more advanced climate change showed that hailstones could reach up to 20 centimeters across — nearly twice as wide the largest hail that fell on La Bisbal d’Empordà.

“As we learn more about these extreme events it becomes clear that we need to adapt,” González-Alemán says. “At this point, this is more about adaptation thananything else.”

CITATIONS

M.L. Martín et al. Major role of marine heatwave and anthropogenic climate change on a giant hail event in Spain. Geophysical Research Letters. Vol. 51, March 28, 2024, e2023GL107632. doi: 10.1029/2023GL107632.

CLIMATE CRISIS TOO
Kenya floods: Survivors seek loved ones as evacuation ordered

15 hours ago
By Barbara Plett Usher & Ian Wafula ,

BBC News, 

Mai Mahiu

BBCNancy Wanjiku sits on what is left of her parents' home

Kenyans living in areas at risk of flooding or landslides will be asked to evacuate on Wednesday, the country's president has said.

William Ruto was speaking in Mai Mahiu, north of Nairobi, where an overflowing reservoir has wiped out a swathe of houses and swept dozens of people to their death.

This is "not a time for guesswork" he said, noting the forecast for more heavy rain.

"The likelihood of flooding and people losing [their] lives is real", he added.

Although no definitive number was given, an evacuation order of this scale will likely target many thousands of people.


The rainy season has been extra punishing this year, and weeks of flooding have killed at least 170 people.

But the disaster at Mai Mahiu has been the most catastrophic so far.

The reality is still sinking in for those who had hoped their missing loved ones had survived.

"My brother was in his 70s when he died after being washed away," 62-year-old Nancy Wanjiku told the BBC.

She spoke to us sitting on the wreckage of what was once her parents' home.


"My mum and dad are safe but we have lost everything," she added.

Elsewhere, we saw a woman on the side of the road bent over double crying, losing herself in the news that the body of her child had been found.

Rescue workers continued the search for more of the dead.

We followed them down along the blasted banks of the Ngeya River - mostly members of the National Youth Services in bright yellow vests carrying shovels, rakes and sticks to poke through the branches of uprooted trees.

Some stopped at an enormous heap of broken branches that covered a crushed house. A family of six had lived there and the workers suspected they might be buried under the mound.

They called in a bulldozer to clear out the debris, but it did not find evidence of a watery death.

Not far from here we met Stephen Kamau, 31, helping a neighbour to sift through what is left of their home.

Stephen Kamau (R) has been trying to help his neighbour

"I'm trying to salvage things that were carried away by water and look for missing people as well," he explained.

"I woke up in a different world. Everything had been swept by water.... We are in fear. My heart is heavy."


Further downstream, a rescue team found the body of a woman tucked away in logs at the top of a bridge. Onlookers recognised her as someone who had worked at a local 24-hour car wash.

Another woman, who did not identify herself, trekked to the site to see if her three missing sisters had washed up there.

Her brother had searched for them in a nearby hospital, but came back empty-handed, she said.

She had stayed awake all night, worried that another tide of water would crash down on her while she was sleeping.

The terror of that flash-flood on Sunday night - triggered when water built up in a gully because a tunnel was blocked - is still vivid.


David Karanja has just returned from the morgue to view the body of his 9-year-old son Paul.

He stands with his eyes downcast and his arm in a sling, next to corrugated-iron roof panels lurching over the shell of his still-standing home, while he and his 17-year-old daughter Veronica told their story.

Veronica Karanja, 17, and her father David told the BBC of their loss

Like others that lived in the river valley, they were awakened by the roar of water at 03:00 local time (00:00 GMT) on Monday.

They rushed to switch off the power to avoid electric shock, but when David opened the door, Veronica was swept away. She says she clung to a tree branch until the water subsided.

When she made it back to the house, she couldn't find her father right away - until she heard people calling her name.

"He was hit by a stone," she told the BBC. "When he was trying to rescue my brother, a stone from the upper side of the wall hit his hand, and he let [Paul] go, and that's why [Paul] drowned."

The family lived off their livestock - all gone now. Their 900 hens perished. And of 21 pigs, only five are left. "We have totally nothing right now," Veronica said.

They are appealing for help, and President Ruto promised government support when he stopped at a local school sheltering survivors.

Those gathered were told they would get help rebuilding their houses, but not next to the river if experts deemed it possible they could once again be in the pathway of such destruction.

Mr Ruto said the authorities had mapped all fragile places in the country prone to floods and landslides, and that the army had been mobilised to help the evacuations.

He did not say where they would go, nor exactly from where the resources would come, although he mentioned working with development partners.

But the plan reflects his view that Kenya - and the region of East Africa - is vulnerable to extreme weather caused by climate change, and suggests he that sees this disastrous rainy season as part of a long-term problem.

CLIMATE CRISIS

Oppressive heat scorches Asia, prompts grim warning from scientists

AFP 

Published May 1, 2024 

BANGKOK: Large swaths of Asia are sweltering through a heatwave that has topped temperature records from Myanmar to the Philippines and forced millions of children to stay home from school.

ADVERTISEMENT

Here are some questions and answers about the extreme heat, which scientists warn will become more frequent and intense because of human-induced climate change.

Where is affected?

The heat has hit much of South and Southeast Asia, with record temperatures in Myan­mar’s Chauk and the Philippine capital Manila in recent days. Thai authorities have issued warnings about “severe conditions”, while authorities in Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, India and Bangladesh all forecast temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).


The Philippines and Bangladesh both suspended in-person classes, while India is reviewing whether heat has affected turnout in national elections. Even northern Japan has been affected: temperatures in Japan’s Sapporo this month passed 25C (77F) at the earliest point of any year on record.

What is causing the heat?

The months preceding the region’s monsoon, or rainy season, are usually hot but temperatures this year are well above average in many countries. Experts say climate change is causing more frequent heatwaves that are more intense and last longer.

Asia is also warming faster than the global average, accor­ding to the World Meteoro­logical Organisation, a UN agency. And the El Nino weather phenomenon is playing a role this year, said Milton Speer, a meteorologist and visiting research fellow at the University of Technology Sydney.

“The lack of cloud in El Ninos means that temperatures are likely to be higher on average,” he said. Sea surface temperatures in the region are currently several degrees Celsius above normal, “which helps keep the temperatures higher than average inland overnight”.

“So daytime temperatures start climbing from a higher base.” There are other factors at play too, including deforestation that reduces shade and increases dry surface area, and the urban heat island effect, where concrete, glass and steel structures absorb rather than reflect heat.

Who is affected?

Extreme heat disproportionately affects children, the elderly and those living in poverty. Children, older people and those with pre-existing conditions or disabilities can overheat more quickly.

Those living in poverty also often lack cooling solutions at home or are forced to work in conditions without adequate heat protection. The UN children’s agency Unicef warned this month that 243 million children across the Pacific and East Asia are at risk from heatwaves.

“Child exposure to heatwaves leads to heat stress,” said Salwa Aleryani, health specialist for Unicef’s regional East Asia and Pacific office. “Severe issues can develop, such as cardiovascular diseases, organ failure, muscle and nerve dysfunction,” she said.

How have countries reacted?

Authorities in several countries asked citizens to stay at home. Hospitals in Nepal were put on standby, while Cambodian officials asked public schools to keep doors and windows open for ventilation. Measures went further in Bangladesh and the Philippines, with schools closed for days.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2024

The Asian heatwave is shattering meteorological records

The continent has become increasingly susceptible to climate change, with millions enduring sweltering conditions and heat-related disruptions.

ARTICLE BY
Staff Reporter
PUBLISHED
30 Apr 2024


Photo by Sudarshan Jha

Unprecedented levels of heat are continuing to affect millions of people in South and Southeast Asia, with heat indices exceeding 50ºC in parts of the Philippines, and new temperature records set in three dozen districts across Thailand.

Heat indices reflect so-called “apparent temperature” – what hot weather feels like to the human body when humid conditions prevent the cooling effects of evaporating perspiration.

On Monday, conditions in the Philippines forced authorities to cancel in-person schooling for over 1.3 million students from nearly 4,000 schools. “The pupils can’t cope with this kind of weather,” the principal of one primary school told the Associated Press.

The extreme heat has seen a surge in demand for electricity to power air-conditioners and fans, with the national grid operator warning of insufficient power.

Thailand has meanwhile seen temperatures top 40ºC in 26 of its 77 provinces this month, with the northern province of Lampang wilting under the country’s highest reading of 44.2ºC.

[See more: The number of hot days could more than double by mid-century, SMG says]

Thai authorities have warned of even hotter weather in the coming days and told people to avoid prolonged outdoor activity, while energy use soared to a record 36,699MW yesterday.

State media in Vietnam has meanwhile reported large numbers of people seeking relief from the heat in air-conditioned shopping malls in Ho Chi Minh City, with authorities warning of a higher risk of forest fires. In Malaysia, 16 regions have seen temperatures between 35ºC and 40ºC for three days running.

Temperatures rose to 43ºC in Bangladesh yesterday, with authorities ordering schools to close. In India, the heat was even more severe, reaching 45.6ºC in parts of the country and exceeding climatological norms by as much as 8ºC.

Even in northerly Japan, the heat has been unprecedented for this time of year, with many places across the country registering temperatures in excess of 30ºC last weekend.

The World Meteorological Organisation warned last month of “severe heat conditions” in Asia, which scientists are attributing to climate change exacerbated by the El Niño weather phenomenon – a warming of the ocean surface in parts of the tropical Pacific that creates hotter conditions.

PAKISTAN

Scores held in Punjab for protesting govt’s ‘unfair’ wheat policy

Amjad Mahmood 

DAWN

Published April 30, 2024 

• Farmers claim hundreds detained across Punjab, police say 46 people in custody

• Kissan Ittehad leader announces plans to block highways across province; PTI lends support

• Punjab likely to unveil wheat policy in assembly today

LAHORE: As farmers from across the province thronged The Mall to record their protest against what they believe to be an unfair wheat procurement policy, a heavy contingent of Punjab police in anti-riot gear rounded up scores of their number, on Monday.

The farmers had taken to the streets against an inordinate delay in the purchase of grain and the decision to reduce the provincial procurement quota from over 4 million tonnes to 2.3m tonnes.

Lahore: A protesting farmer is bundled into a prison van by police, on Monday night. —Murtaza Ali / White Star

The protesters, led by Kissan Ittehad Pakistan, managed to assemble at the GPO Chowk on The Mall and attempted to march towards the Punjab Assembly, where a heavy contingent of police intercepted them. Police not only blocked the road by placing containers, but also arrested several protesters.

Kissan Ittehad Pakistan General Secretary Mian Umair Masood, who led the demonstration, told Dawn that more than 250 farmers were arrested by police in Lahore. He, however, managed to evade arrest himself.

There were reports that arrests were also made in Rahim Yar Khan, Khanewal, Vehari, Kasur, Multan, Sadiqabad, Pakpattan, Muzaffargarh, and Sahiwal districts. Police sources, however, claimed 46 protesters were taken into custody: 30 from The Mall and 16 from Manga Mandi.

‘Province-wide protests’

Mian Umair said they were planning to block highways across the province with the help of their families and livestock, which would be brought to roads. The protesting farmers have also found their allies in the opposition, particularly the PTI and the Jammat-i-Islami, as well as in lawmakers from the treasury benches who are apprehensive about the procurement policy.

The farming community has found allies in the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Jamaat-i-Islami, whose farmer wing Kisan Board is scheduled to hold protests on Tuesday (today), while those ruling PML-N MPAs belonging to the countryside have also expressed their concerns at the present procurement policy.

The government, however, continued to play down the issue, with its spokesperson Azma Bukhari claiming that the police had not taken any protest leader into custody from anywhere. She said that the government was in contact with “real representative bodies” of the farmers and accused the workers of a political party of launching the protest for “political purposes”.

Procurement policy faults

Punjab — the bread basket of the country — procured over 4 million tonnes of wheat every season to meet its yearly requirements. But, this year the authorities decided to slash the procurement target by half, claiming that there was a carryover stock of 2.3m tonnes already available.

The caretaker government — tasked with the day-to-day affairs and overseeing the elections — imported around 3m tonnes of wheat, which was more than the province’s needs and led to a huge carryover stock leaving little storage capacity.

Likewise, the government had also changed the procedure for applying to sell wheat to the food department. Unlike in the past when the growers were required to submit written applications to procure gunny bags used to pack and transport wheat to procurement centres, the government launched a mobile application for the purpose, conveniently ignoring the fact that a majority of the rural population is not well-versed in technology.

Even then, over 400,000 growers applied for gunny bags; but the government said it would issue six bags per acre and only to those who owned up to six acres of land.

Mian Umair said the government’s decision was mala fide. “Owners of up to six acres of land rarely sell their wheat to the government because they retain almost half of the produce for domestic use and the rest is meant for the aarti (middlemen), fertiliser, and pesticides dealers from whom they had made purchases for their fields on credit.

Similarly, the procurement campaign has also been unusually delayed this year, crashing the local wheat market with middlemen exploiting the situation by buying wheat from the growers at much less than the officially fixed minimum support price of Rs3,900 per 40kg.

These steps raised many an eyebrow even among the ruling party’s elected representatives. The issue also resonated multiple times in the Punjab Assembly and a general discussion was also held.

‘Above normal moisture’

Without clearly committing when to start the procurement drive, Food Minister Bilal Yasin defended the delay saying due to rains the grain carried above normal moisture up to 18 percent. “After drying up this produce will lose weight causing financial loss to the provincial kitty,” he claimed.

Meanwhile, the government is trying to appease the farming community by feeding information that it is considering a Rs130 billion package and also planning to give a subsidy between Rs400 and Rs600 per 40kg instead of increasing the procurement target.

But Kissan Ittehad leader Khalid Batth voiced his suspicion, saying the government would use this policy “as a ploy to relieve pressure” from the farming community for the time being.

Such dilly-dallying measures are disturbing even for the ruling party members, who are under pressure from their rural electorate. Punjab Assembly speaker Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan refused to prorogue the ongoing assembly session, which was to be put off sine die on Monday, when the finance and food ministers said the government would give a wheat policy on Tuesday (today). The speaker suspended the proceedings till Tuesday morning, as some MPAs suggested that the government should pay for wheat in phases if funds were unavailable.

Asif Chaudhry in Lahore also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2024

Wheat protests

Editorial 

DAWN

Published May 1, 2024 

THE crackdown on farmers protesting in Lahore and several other cities against the government’s ‘flawed’ wheat procurement policy and delays in the commencement of the grain’s official purchases in Punjab is deplorable.

Scores of farmers were manhandled and detained by police across the province on Monday, particularly in Lahore and south Punjab. The protesters appeared to have taken to the streets as a last resort after the authorities ignored their calls for help. Wheat rates have plummeted in the market, and are much below the support price of Rs3,900 per 40kg. The recent rains have added to the farmers’ woes.

And yet, the government continues to play down the problem, with its spokesperson dismissing the protests as politically motivated. This is not how governments treat those who grow food for the entire country, and the ruling PML-N may, sooner or later, have to pay a big political price for neglecting the plight of farmers, especially smallholders, who have already announced plans to block highways with the opposition’s support.

Indeed, the provincial administration has valid reasons for streamlining its wheat purchases through digitising the process, slashing the procurement target for the current harvest, and delaying official purchases far beyond the date announced earlier.

There are also no two opinions that the existing policy of excessive government intervention in the wheat market by fixing a minimum support price and procuring a larger portion of tradable surplus brought to the market by farmers each year has run its course and become a burden on the government budget. These interventions are ostensibly to support growers, and ensure price stability and food security.

In fact, they benefit only the middlemen, and flour millers, especially those who operate only for a few months, and that too on subsidised wheat quotas from official stocks. This policy must end.

However, a sudden curtailment of the government’s role will prove harmful for farmers amid collapsing wheat prices resulting from record production and unseasonal rains that are threatening the crop. The government should withdraw from the wheat trade gradually, replacing the existing market support mechanism with an effective new one over the next several years.

Many believe that the previous caretaker set-up’s reckless decision to import over 3.2Mt of grain when the harvest was approaching is responsible for the restricted official purchase target. This is largely true.

If the Punjab government did not have stocks of over 2Mt, it might have raised its procurement target for the ongoing harvest without much fuss to avoid protests. Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal also blames unnecessary wheat imports for the present market volatility. The authorities, therefore, must investigate the motives behind this reckless decision and fix responsibility.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2024

Australia tiptoes around Indian spy scandal

AFP 

Published May 1, 2024 

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks during a National Cabinet meeting at the Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices in Sydney on May 1. — AFP

A string of senior Australian ministers on Wednesday refused to confirm reports that a “nest” of Indian spies had been uncovered in the country and expelled — allegations that threaten to damage a burgeoning alliance.

Australia’s prime minister and foreign, defence and treasury ministers all dodged questions about allegations that Indian spooks tried to steal defence secrets and monitor expatriate communities in 2020.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he would not comment on intelligence matters, after public broadcaster ABC broke the news citing unnamed “national security and government figures”.

Intelligence bosses revealed in 2021 that they had rumbled a “nest of spies” sent to Australia to steal defence secrets and monitor their country’s expats. Although the foreign spies were expelled from the country at the time, Australian officials have long refused to say who they were working for.

Local media now claim to have solved the mystery, with ABC alleging they were intelligence operatives dispatched from India.

The revelations are politically awkward for Canberra, given the growing security relationship between India and Australia. Alongside the United States and Japan, they are members of the Quad security partnership.

Albanese wooed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a visit to Australia last year, referring to him as the “boss” during a massive rally of Indian-Australians.

Like many Western capitals, Canberra has chosen to play down concerns about the sectarian policies and democratic backsliding of Modi’s Hindu-nationalist government, in favour of developing trade and defence ties.

Relations between India and Canada cratered after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly linked Indian intelligence to the killing of a Canadian citizen, a Sikh separatist, on Canadian soil. New Delhi called the allegations “absurd”.

Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong refused to comment on “intelligence matters”, although she said it was crucial to “assert the importance of our democratic principles”.

Wong said Australia would “maintain the resilience of our democracy, including in the face of any suggestion of foreign interference”. “And we have laws to deal with that,” she added.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said it was “not something I’m prepared to go into” — but stressed Australia had a “good relationship with India”.

Top spymaster Mike Burgess has previously accused the spies of trying to cultivate politicians, police and embassy staff.

“They tried to obtain classified information about Australia’s trade relationships,” he said in 2021, without naming their nationality.

“They asked a public servant to provide information on security protocols at a major airport.” The Indian High Commission did not respond to a request for comment.

US ‘expects accountability’ from India, says State Dept

Anwar Iqbal 

Published May 1, 2024


WASHINGTON: The US State Department stated on Tuesday that it expects India to address the alleged involvement of senior Indian officials in assassination attempts within the United States.

“We continue to expect accountability from the government of India based on the results of the Indian inquiry committee’s work, and we are regularly working with them and inquiring for additional updates,” said the department’s principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel during a news briefing in Washington.

Patel also emphasised that the United States continues to “raise our concerns directly with the Indian government at senior levels”. However, he declined to “parse into this further” from a public podium and deferred further inquiries to the Department of Justice.

A Washington Post report on Monday presented the clearest link yet between India’s government and a thwarted assassination attempt targeting a Sikh activist in the US last year. The report also outlined the involvement of Indian intelligence officials in other assassinations in Canada and Pakistan.

Responding to another question about defence cooperation between the United States and Pakistan, Patel stated that the two allies shared a common interest in addressing threats to regional security.

“We support Pakistan’s efforts to combat terrorism and ensure the safety and security of its citizens in a manner that promotes the rule of law and protection of human rights,” he added.

The US official underscored that Washington’s partnership with Islamabad on security matters involves a high-level counter-terrorism dialogue, robust funding for counter-terrorism capacity-building programmes, and support for a series of US-Pakistan military engagements.

Published in Dawn, May 1st, 2024

Toronto’s Khalsa Day festivities marked by Khalistan slogans during Trudeau speech

Dawn.com 

Published April 29, 2024 

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau addresses a Khalsa Day celebration in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on Sunday. — CPAC

Khalsa Day festivities in Canada’s Toronto were marked by slogans raised in favour of the Khalistan movement during a speech by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Indian media outlets reported on Monday.

The festival of Vaisakhi — also known as Baisakhi — honours the founding of the Sikh community known as the Khalsa in 1699. It also marks the beginning of a new solar year and the harvesting season.

India’s New Delhi Television Ltd reported that “loud chants” were raised in Sunday’s celebrations attended by “thousands” amid the presence of the Canadian premier, opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and prominent Canadian Sikh leader Jagmeet Singh, chief of the New Democratic Party.

“Trudeau, in a staunch assurance to the Sikh Community in the country, has said that the government is always there to protect their rights and freedoms at all costs,” the report said.

“To the nearly, 800,000 Canadians of Sikh heritage across this country, … we will always defend your community against hatred and discrimination,” he was quoted as saying in the report.

“The Canadian prime minister mentioned that they’re improving security and infrastructure by adding more security to community centres and places of worship, like gurdwaras,” reported IndiaToday.

Meanwhile, India summoned the Canadian deputy high commissioner and expressed “deep concern and strong protest” after the separatist slogans were raised.

Bilateral diplomatic relations soured last year after Trudeau said Canada was “actively pursuing credible allegations” that Indian agents were potentially linked to the June 2023 murder of a Canadian citizen.

India’s foreign affairs ministry said it had conveyed “deep concern and strong protest” at such actions “being allowed to continue unchecked at the event”.

The Canadian foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

What is the Khalistan movement and why is it fuelling India-Canada rift?

What is the Khalistan Movement?

The movement wants an independent Sikh state carved out of India and dates back to India and Pakistan’s independence in 1947 when the idea was pushed forward in negotiations preceding the partition of the Punjab region between the two new countries.

The Sikh religion was founded in Punjab in the late 15th century and currently has about 25 million followers worldwide. Sikhs form a majority of Punjab’s population but are a minority in India, comprising two per cent of its population of 1.4 billion.

Sikh separatists demand that their homeland “Khalistan”, meaning “the land of the pure”, be created out of Punjab.

The demand has resurfaced many times, most prominently during an insurgency in the 1970s and 1980s which paralysed the Indian Punjab for over a decade.

The Khalistan movement is considered a security threat by the Indian government. The bloodiest episode in the conflict between the government and Sikh separatists occurred in 1984.

Then-prime minister Indira Gandhi sent the military into the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, to evict separatist leader Sant Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his supporters, which infuriated Sikhs around the world.

A few months later, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards at her home in New Delhi. The army launched operations in 1986 and 1988 to flush out Sikh militants from Punjab.

Sikh militants were also blamed for the 1985 bombing of an Air India Boeing 747 flying from Canada to India in which all 329 people on board were killed off the Irish coast.

The insurgency killed tens of thousands of people and Punjab still bears the scars of that violence.

Although the Khalistan movement has little support now in India, it has small pockets of backing among sections of the Sikh diaspora in Canada, which has the largest population of Sikhs outside Punjab, and in Britain, Australia and the US.

CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M

Razer ordered to pay $1.1 million in refunds over its Zephyr RGB mask N95 claims

Not as advertised, according to the FTC

(Image credit: Razer)

The FTC has ordered Razer to pay over $1.1 million in refunds to those who purchased the Razer Zephyr RGB mask which was supposedly "N95-grade". It wasn't.

First reported by IGN, The Federal Trade Commission has said that the $1.1 million total must be returned to users due to its misrepresentation of the Razer Zephyr mask. The company claimed its face masks were N95-grade (which are commonly found in surgical applications) but no such official certification was ever passed, and the company changed the fine print on its website to reflect that back in 2022.

FTC Director of Bureau of Consumer Protection Sam Levine said: "These businesses falsely claimed, in the midst of a global pandemic, that their face mask was the equivalent of an N95 certified respirator" and that Razer only "stopped the false advertising following negative press coverage and consumer outrage at the deceptive claims". Scathing words indeed.

The Razer Zephyr was available for $100, which means that roughly 11,000 consumers are owed their money back for the purchase of the ill-fated COVID-era face mask. It was available in the US online and through its three physical stores as well as the country's native Singapore while supposedly selling out almost instantly.

While the filters were not the grade promised, you did get a fair amount of them in the box. The starter pack included 30 filters which would last you around three days apiece, so you would be covered for 90 days before needing to invest in filter packs for $10 a pop, but by that point, the product was quietly pulled from stores. Any mention of the Razer Zephyr has been scrubbed on its website.

When contacted by TechRadar for comment, Razer told us: "We disagree with the FTC’s allegations and did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement. It was never our intention to mislead anyone, and we chose to settle this matter to avoid the distraction and disruption of litigation and continue our focus on creating great products for gamers. Razer cares deeply about our community and is always looking to deliver technology in new and relevant ways."

"The Razer Zephyr was conceived to offer a different and innovative face-covering option for the community," the Razer spokesperson continued. "The FTC’s claims against Razer concerned limited portions of some of the statements relating to the Zephyr. More than two years ago, Razer proactively notified customers that the Zephyr was not an N95 mask, stopped sales, and refunded customers."

The mask was originally announced at CES 2021 as a proof of concept known as Project Hazel before it was made official to the world to purchase later that year. While it didn't feature an N95 respiration system, it did have RGB lighting and swappable filters. A Zephyr Pro, complete with voice modulation, was announced a year later but never materialized.

Aleksha McLoughlin  is an experienced hardware writer. She was previously the Hardware Editor for TechRadar Gaming until September 2023. During this time, she looked after buying guides and wrote hardware reviews, news, and features. She has also contributed hardware content to the likes of PC Gamer, Trusted Reviews, Dexerto, Expert Reviews, and Android Central. When she isn't working, you'll often find her in mosh pits at metal gigs and festivals or listening to whatever new black and death metal has debuted that week.