RED SCARE 2.0
Opinion: China's New Silk Road is full of potholes

As the harsh realities of China's growing power sink in, the country's appeal is diminishing in the West. To keep it in check, more coordinated efforts are needed and come September the tone from Germany may be decisive.



High-speed railways that are part of China's New Silk Road project


There are cracks appearing in the New Silk Road, otherwise known as the Belt and Road Initiative. Launched in 2015 as Chinese President Xi Jinping's signature foreign policy project, it received a warm welcome from countries keen to benefit from Chinese globalization.

Since then, the attitude to China has hardened, especially in many democratic countries. Revelations about 1 million Uyghurs held in reeducation camps and reports of forced labor in Xinjiang, serious questions about China's handling of the coronavirus and its origins, and Beijing's dismantling of democracy in Hong Kong have cooled international enthusiasm for Xi's pet project.

Western countries have been emboldened by a reset of relations under US President Joe Biden, following the chaos and division of the Donald Trump era. The Biden administration is pointing to growing Chinese aggression and looking to forge an alliance with Europe and its other traditional allies.

DW's Clifford Coonan

Leading the way on pushback is Australia, whose prime minister, Scott Morrison, said he did not think the New Silk Road was "consistent with Australia's national interest."

Relations between Canberra and its largest trading partner have nosedived since Morrison's calls for Beijing to allow independent investigators into Wuhan to probe the origins of the coronavirus. Despite a free trade agreement and a slew of other free trade deals, China piled trade sanctions on Australian goods like coal, wine and barley.

For their part, Australia is reviewing whether to force Chinese firm Landbridge to sell a lease to the strategically important Port of Darwin, which is used by American marines, a move that could further stoke tensions with Beijing.

A similar tone is coming from neighboring New Zealand, where Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern spoke of how systemic issues with China were getting "harder to reconcile."
Keeping China appeased

World leaders and CEOs alike are used to verbal dexterity — or simply being silent — when dealing with the authoritarian Communist Party leadership in Beijing.

Balancing the need to keep China appeased because of its economic might, while also staying true to values and democratic principles, has become a key geopolitical challenge. But rather than constantly bowing to Chinese demands, the European Union needs to realize the enormous strength it possesses in competitiveness and innovation.

Watch video 42:35 China's Gateway to Europe - The New Silk Road, Part 1

China is the EU's biggest trading partner, with a total volume of $686 billion (€570 billion) in 2020. In December, German Chancellor Angela Merkel led the EU to sign the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. For Merkel the CAI seems as important as the Silk Road project is to Xi Jinping.

It was probably the high point of EU-China relations. In the meantime, fresh revelations about Xinjiang and an intensified crackdown in Hong Kong have seen relations deteriorate.

The EU has since imposed coordinated sanctions against four Chinese officials over internment camps for Uyghurs. Beijing responded quickly, targeting 10 individuals including German researcher Adrian Zenz, who played a key role in bringing attention to the Xinjiang camps.
Europe taking steps against takeovers

On top of all that, the COVID-19 pandemic has devastated economies and depressed the equity valuations of European companies, leaving firms vulnerable to takeover bids from China.

EU giants like France, Italy and indeed Germany were finally spurred into action. They beefed up their powers to block acquisitions of prized European assets from outside the bloc.

In 2019, Italy caused consternation when it became the first G7 country to enthusiastically back the Belt and Road Initiative. Since then, Mario Draghi's government has changed tack, blocking planned Chinese acquisitions of Italian firms, most recently the sale of Turin-based Iveco's truck and bus unit to China's FAW.

Despite this pushback, many experts think that efforts need to be better coordinated. The EU especially needs to be more strategic about Chinese projects in its own backyard.

Angela Merkel's approach has been to repeat familiar calls for dialogue on human rights. The accepted wisdom has long been that German industry is operating in a values-free zone, focused exclusively on the bottom line and repeating the mantra: change through trade.

But German firms are aware of the changing political and economic realities in China. Hopes that China would become more liberal and a better global partner have failed to materialize.
What will the Greens do?

The biggest shift could be yet to come, once Merkel steps down. Polls in Germany show the Greens are on course for a significant role in government after September's election. Their chancellor candidate, Annalena Baerbock, has taken a hard line and accused Merkel of taking a passive approach to China.

Human rights have a role to play in the European relationship with China. Bowing to pressure from the Communist Party will have disastrous long-term effects on European companies. Yet how can European companies compete with Chinese ones if they are using forced labor in their cotton factories and building cars with enormous state subsidies, using technology transferred from Western brand leaders?

European companies need to remember how to play by their rules, which are also global norms. Sluggish reforms and a lack of level playing fields pose a serious threat to the ability to do business in China. The country needs to reform and become a better global actor if it truly wants to compete, no matter how vast and alluring the market may be.

Germany: Opinion poll suggests Green party could head next government

The latest Deutschlandtrend survey suggests that voter support has shifted considerably following the nomination of the Green party chancellor candidate. And voters have doubts about Germany's coronavirus policy.

Watch video 01:31 Germany's Greens take lead in new polls

Germany's governing "Grand Coalition" between the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), the Christian Social Union (CSU), and the Social Democrats (SPD) currently does not have the support from a majority of voters according to the latest Deutschlandtrend poll.

Like other surveys over the past two weeks, Deutschlandtrend now sees the Green party in the first position at 26%, as the CDU/CSU continues to lose support and has fallen to a mere 23% and the SPD have come in at only 14%.

Greens and their chancellor candidate riding high

The new situation in the polls can be linked to individual politicians: If German voters could decide directly who should succeed Angela Merkel as chancellor in September, 28% would vote for the Greens' chancellor candidate Annalena Baerbock. 

One third of the people polled do not support any of the three candidates

Conservative CDU/CSU candidateArmin Laschet lags behind on 21%. Even among conservative CDU/CSU voters, only half said they'd vote for Laschet.

SPD candidate, Finance Minister and current Vice-Chancellor Olaf Scholz, scooped up 21% of support from all people surveyed.

Of the three chancellor candidates, Baerbock is seen as the most likable and credible. SPD's Scholz, however, is deemed to be the strongest leader of the three.

In the evaluation of her political work, Baerbock has jumped a massive 41 percentage points in the last month to catch up with Scholz.

Conservative frontman Laschet, on the other hand, cannot seem to gain popularity since being appointed as the CDU/CSU candidate. At 24%, the CDU party leader still has a similar rating to a month ago — which is far less than the 32.9% support they got in the last general election in 2017.

Still, Angela Merkel, who will not be running for a fifth term in office in September's election, remains by far the most popular politician in Germany.

COVID management criticized

Fighting the pandemic is the main topic on voters' minds for now. Germany still finds itself fighting the third wave — even if there have been positive signs of it weakening in recent days.

In 2020, the initial government response to the outbreak saw a jump in voter confidence, but that quickly changed a year on due to growing doubts about crisis management and an initially sluggish vaccine rollout.

The latest Deutschlandtrend survey shows that a good six out of 10 respondents are dissatisfied, while only around a third say they're happy with the government's response. Supporters of the business-friendly Free Democrats (74%) and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD, 91%) are particularly critical.

When asked about whether the measures to curb the pandemic are justified, 40% say the rules are appropriate, while 26% think they don't go far enough. For 30% of people surveyed, the measures already go too far.

Support for vaccination drive

In the coming week, Germany plans to ease coronavirus restrictions for people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or have recovered from the disease in the last six months. This would mean that the night-time curfew and contact restrictions would no longer be applicable to them. Mandatory testing before going to a non-essential shop or to the hairdresser would also be dropped.

According to the Deutschlandtrend poll, however, opinion among people in Germany is divided. Every second person thinks that the restrictions should only be eased once more people have had the chance to be vaccinated. At the moment, around 30% of Germany's population has had their first shot, and approximately 9% have had their second.

In general, 55% of those surveyed think that the targeted easing of restrictions for vaccinated and recovered people is a step in the right direction.

As far as the important question of vaccination is concerned, willingness has grown considerably. In February, 60% of people in Germany said they were ready to be vaccinated. That's now at 75%. The poll also suggests that willingness to be vaccinated increases with age.

The Deutschlandtrend survey was carried out by Infratest-Dimap from May 3-5, 2021, among 1,351 people in Germany.

This article has been translated from German.

Could Rosalia Arteaga become the first woman to lead the UN?

There is little doubt incumbent UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will be reelected for a second term in office. But, the civil society initiative "Forward" is fielding another candidate.

Former Ecuadorian President Rosalia Arteaga

Those who enter the UN headquarters in New York cannot miss the huge, majestic portraits of former secretary-generals on display in the entrance hall. Nine oil paintings show, amongst others, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Kofi Annan, and Ban Ki-moon. The United Nations has been under male leadership since its inception in 1945.

If the civil society initiative Forward has its way, the portrait of a woman would be the next to be hung on the grand walls of the entrance area — namely the portrait of former Ecuadorian president Rosalia Arteaga.

Portraits of former secretary-generals in the lobby of the UN headquarters

Does she have a realistic chance of succeeding?

Probably not, since it is almost certain Antonio Guterres, Portugal's former prime minister, will be confirmed for the top job later this year. Given that Guterres is supposed to represent the interests of 7 billion people and 193 member states, not much is being said with respect to his reelection — which is, however, something of an unwritten law. To date, there has only been one exception to the rule that every Secretary General who ran for a second term was reelected. There is something in the way the UN chief is elected.

A long road to the Secretary General post

"The selection process is obscure, undemocratic and you don't have a say," said Colombe Cahen-Salvador who, together with Andrea Venzon, initiated the campaign to have a woman elected one month ago. Both are experienced when it comes to this kind of mobilization — co-founding the pan-European political movement "Volt."

'Forward' founders Andrea Venzon (left) and Colombe Cahen-Salvador

Since beginning their campaign, the women have managed to mobilize 8,000 supporters in London and found two candidates to run as part of the team — Arteaga and Argentinian diplomat Paula Bertol. Forward followers from 71 countries have pledged their support.

Their primary aim is to direct attention to the fact that elections for the key post are still partially held behind closed doors. "The truth is we are in 2021, and our politics is stuck 50 years [in the past]," Venzon told DW. "We really need to step it up."

The UN charter stipulates that the UN Secretary General is nominated by the Security Council, then elected by the UN General Assembly. Since the five permanent members of the Security Council have veto power, a candidate must have their support if they wish to succeed. Several members, including China and Britain, have already expressed their support for Guterres.

In addition to this, there are a number of unwritten rules.

Imcumbent Secretary General Antonio Guterres will most-likely be reelected

A candidate must, for example, be endorsed by a member state. This has always been the case, although it is not explicitly stated anywhere. And there should be geographical rotation — that is, for example, a Secretary General from Africa is succeeded by a candidate from Asia. When and exactly how a candidate is nominated by the Security Council remains unclear. This year, nominations will take place sometime between May and October.

The degree of transparency during the election of Antonio Guterres as Secretary General five years ago was unprecedented. The General Assembly adopted a resolution which laid down the details of the selection process. For the first time ever, all candidates had to present a vision of their work: there were public hearings and Q & A sessions with members of civil society.

Arteaga elected by civil society

On paper, Rosalia Arteaga meets many of the requirements a UN Secretary General has to fulfill — both officially and unofficially. For a short period, she was president of Ecuador, the country's vice president, has had experience as a cabinet minister and as secretary general of a major organization. In addition, she hails from Latin America, the region which, according to Cohen-Salvador, is "next in line." Along with Argentine diplomat Paula Bertol as her deputy, Forward has put Arteaga in the running.

Rosalia Arteaga has a lot of political experience

During the Forward press conference, Rosalia Arteaga comes across as slightly tense and nervous. She emphasizes how happy she is with all the support, the many messages she has received from across the globe, adding that even the government in her native country had called and pledged their support, but that she was not going to accept assistance from Quito.

Does an outside candidate stand a chance?

Of course — nowhere does it say that outside candidates do not have a chance. Arora Akanksha, a 34-year-old United Nations Development Program (UNDP) employee, for example, launched an unprecedented campaign and nominated herself for the post. Thus far, however, only Antonio Guterres' profile can be found on the UN website.

In order to become an official candidate, Security Council and General Assembly presidents must declare the candidate in a letter. To date, this has only happened when a member state submitted a proposal. Otherwise, the candidacy remains symbolic.

The UN Security Council wields a great deal of power during the selection process

"Those symbolic acts are absolutely necessary and required in order to arouse interest," said Andreas Bummel, who has a lot of experience when it comes to UN reforms. From the age of 16, the now 45-year-old told DW, he has been looking into the United Nations and how it can become more democratically legitimate, more transparent and open to civil society.

Together with 100 other organizations, his group "Democracy without Borders" has recently published three proposals for reforming the UN, including the establishment of a parliamentary assembly.

"The United Nations is, of course, the most important organization for multilateralism available to us now," Bummel said. "It's in the interest of all member states to have a more efficient and more legitimate UN."

The Forward initiative, meanwhile, wants to continue its campaign — by staging protests and devising ways to get the UN apparatus moving from the outside. Colombe Cohen-Salvador sums things up nicely: "We firmly believe that if we make noise now, we can help change the process in the future."

This article was adapted from German by Werner Schmitz.

Archaeologists discover Neanderthal remains in caves near Rome

The remains of nine Neanderthals have been uncovered at a prehistoric site in Italy's Lazio region. The oldest could possibly be between 90,000 and 100,000 years old.

Local director of anthropology Mario Rubini said the discovery will shed "important light on the history of the peopling of Italy"

Archaeologists found the fossil remains of nine Neanderthal men in a cave near Rome, Italy's Culture Ministry said on Saturday.

Eight of them date to between 50,000 and 68,000 years ago, while the oldest could be 90,000 or 100,000 years old, the ministry said in a statement.

Archeologists made the major discovery in Grotta Guattari — prehistoric caves found more than 80 years ago — situated about 100 meters (328 feet) from the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in San Felice Circeo in Italy's Lazio region.

"Together with two others found in the past on the site, they bring the total number of individuals present in the Guattari Cave to 11, confirming it as one of the most significant sites in the world for the history of Neanderthal man," the ministry said.

Culture Minister Dario Franceschini praised the find as "an extraordinary discovery which the whole world will be talking about."
What else was found?

Archaeologists began conducting new research into the Guattari Cave in October 2019. The cave was initially found by accident by a group of workers in 1939.

Paleontologist Albert Carlo Blanc discovered a well-preserved Neanderthal skull shortly afterward. The cave had been closed off by an ancient landslide.

Excavations also uncovered bones, craniums and other body parts at the site, as well animal remains such as the aurochs — an extinct bovine — and elephant, rhinoceros, giant deer, cave bears, wild horses and hyenas.

"Many of the bones found show clear signs of gnawing," the ministry statement said.

VIDEO Neanderthal remains discovered in cave near Rome

Ancient ancestors

Neanderthals are the closest known ancient relatives of humans.

In 2016, scientists found that Neanderthals from Siberia's Altai mountains may have shared 1-7% of their genetics with the ancestors of modern humans.

"Neanderthal man is a fundamental stage in human evolution, representing the apex of a species and the first human society we can talk about," said local director of anthropology Mario Rubini.

Rubini said the discovery of the Neanderthal remains near Rome will shed an "important light on the history of the peopling of Italy."

Neanderthals died out around 40,000 years ago. Scientists have suggested that factors including increased competition from modern humans as well as climate change which killed them off.

Watch video 12:06 COVID-19 Special: Ancient ancestors and our immune response

mvb/jlw (Reuters, AFP)

CORONAVIRUS

EU leaders call on US to present 'concrete' plan for vaccine waivers

European leaders meeting in Portugal have called on the US to put forth an actual plan for vaccine waivers. Most in the bloc appear exasperated with US President Joe Biden's proposal, saying it won't help.



Europeans are calling on the US to follow their example and export vaccines rather than pushing for patent waivers

European Union and EU member state leaders meeting for a social policy summit in Portugal called on the US to present a clear plan for President Joe Biden's proposal of waiving patents for COVID-19 vaccines as a way to boost global inoculations.

European Council President Charles Michel, who represents the bloc's 27 national leaders, said, "We are ready to engage on this topic as soon as a concrete proposal would be put on the table." Still, like other EU leaders, he voiced skepticism over the efficacy of such a waiver, saying it was not a "magic bullet."

Instead, he articulated what opponents to Biden's suggestion have been saying, namely, that patent waivers are not the way to increase vaccinations but rather increased production and distribution. "In Europe we made the decision to make exports possible and we encourage all partners to facilitate the export of doses."

Michel's words echoed those of French President Emmanuel Macron, who said: "It misses the point to say that [a patent waiver] is the emergency. The emergency is to produce more and increase solidarity now."

Reporting from the summit in Portugal, DW's Barbara Wesel said: "The EU's answer is 'we are ready to do everything — we are ready to help, we are ready to transfer knowledge and high-tech materials in order to get production going in those countries but we are not really ready to throw out the patents which might then be just snatched up by China.'" Wesel also noted that there was "some anger underneath the diplomatic formulations that you hear" at the summit.

Aurélia Nguyen, Head of the Office of the Covax Facility, welcomes US support

Critics in the EU have changed their tune

When Biden first brought up the idea of vaccine patent waivers on Wednesday — something that India and South Africa proposed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) last October — EU leaders seem to have been caught off guard, with only Germany openly rejecting the proposal.

DW's Delhi bureau chief Amrita Cheema called Biden's support for patent waivers "a big moral victory for the two countries in a matter of principle," citing the fact that India is the world's biggest producer of generic drugs.

Since then, however, there has been a shift in attitudes. That has become increasingly clear as European politicians have further discussed the issue in Portugal.

Although Greece and Italy have signaled support, most others have pointed instead to what they say is the real problem: distribution. Portugal, Estonia, Belgium and Ireland are among those countries that have now joined the waiver-skeptic bloc.

Now, Europeans have moved from the fear of looking like the bad guys for blocking patent waivers to calling out the US and UK for failing to export any of the vaccines they produce.

Macron, for instance, railed against the US and UK for policies that call for inoculating all of their own citizens before sharing vaccines with others, "you must open up,'' he said. "In the United States, in the United Kingdom, 100% of what has been produced has been used in the domestic market. First of all, the Anglo-Saxons must stop their bans on exports."

Watch video04:03 How significant could a vaccine patent waiver be for India?

Europe: 'Pharmacy of the world' says von der Leyen

The European Union on the other hand, has exported nearly half of the roughly 400 million doses it has produced to some 90 countries around the world. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who said: "an IP [intellectual property] waiver will not solve the problems, will not bring a single dose of the vaccine in the short- and medium-term," later called the EU, "the pharmacy of the world" for its generous export policy.

On Saturday, von der Leyen also announced that leaders had signed off on a contract with Pfizer-BioNTech for up to 1.8 billion new doses of the vaccine.

Though EU officials briefing journalists on the issue said the hoarding of crucial ingredients needed for vaccines was a larger obstacle than the question of intellectual property, one far-off voice advocating for patent waivers, Pope Francis, identified another more fundamental problem, namely, "the virus of individualism."

The pontiff went on to say: "A variant of this virus is closed nationalism, which prevents, for example, an internationalism of vaccines. Another variant is when we put the laws of the market or of intellectual property over the laws of love and the health of humanity."

EU leaders adopt Porto declaration on social rights, employment

Heads of the bloc's 27 member states hope to reduce social and economic inequalities that have widened during the coronavirus pandemic.



EU leaders want to tackle social inequalities that have widened during the pandemic

The European Council on Saturday adopted a non-binding declaration promoting social cohesion and prosperity in the European Union, following the coronavirus pandemic that has seen inequalities widen.

Leaders of the bloc's 27 member states signed the document after holding two days of informal meetings in the Portuguese city of Porto.

"Our commitment to unity and solidarity also means ensuring equal opportunities for all and that no one is left behind," the leaders declared.

Portugal's President Antonio Costa, whose country holds the rotating
presidency of the EU Council, said the agreement was crucial for instigating progress in Europe.
What's in the declaration?

The document highlights the need to fight social exclusion, reduce inequalities and tackle poverty, including child poverty.

It states that "the risks of exclusion for particularly vulnerable social groups such as the long-term unemployed, the elderly, persons with disabilities and the homeless" must be addressed.

Watch video01:59 Equal rights? Equal opportunity? Not by a long shot

The declaration lays out the need to support young people who, it says, have: "been very negatively affected by the COVID-19 crisis," due to disruption to their education and entry to the labor market.

It stresses the need to support job creation as well as the need for new skills and education.

Was 'gender equality' omitted?

The document also says the European Council will "step up efforts to fight discrimination" and work to close gender pay and pensions gaps.

But news agency Reuters reported that lobbying by Poland and Hungary led to the removal of the phrase "gender equality" in the document.

Poland's nationalist ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) and euroskeptic ally Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban promote what they call traditional social values at home. The countries have repeatedly clashed with their more liberal Western peers over the rights of women, LGBT+ people and migrants.

A test subject who spent 40 days in a cave for science breaks down what it was like, from weird sleep patterns to generating power with a bike

mguenot@businessinsider.com (Marianne Guenot) 1 day ago

© Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com/Insider A team of 15 volunteers lived together for 40 days underground in the Lombrives cave in the South of France. 

15 people spent 40 days in a deep cave to study how humans could live without regular timekeeping.

The team leader told Insider about life in the experiment, which ended last month.

On April 24, 15 volunteers came out of a cave in the south of France. They had just spent 40 days underground, deliberately deprived of any means of tracking the passage of time.

This experiment, called Deep Time, provided thousands of measurements to assess the effect of removing measured time on people's bodies, minds, and social interactions.

Insider spoke with Christian Clot, the team leader for this expedition. Here is what he told us about life in the cave.

Natural cycles were often longer than 24 hours

© Darwin Production/adaptation-institute.com A globe illuminates the main room where people lived in the cave Darwin Production/adaptation-institute.com

In the cave, all electronics had their clocks removed. There was, of course, no sunlight. This left people organizing their days by intuition.

They could complete tasks like taking scientific measurements, exploring and cleaning the cave, or cataloging insects during waking hours. The cave was mostly dark, apart from one living area that was kept illuminated.

People were told to sleep and eat whenever they felt like it. The only thing regulating the length of their day was their internal body clock and their interactions with others.

© Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com Teams working together would often eat together. Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com

Under these conditions, the volunteers had widely different cycles governing their activities and sleep.

By the end of 40 days, most volunteers had completed only 30 cycles, Clot told Insider. Precise measurements are still being analyzed, but this suggests that most people ended up with "days" that were more like 30 hours long rather than 24.

One woman's cycle was twice as long as normal, Clot told Insider. She only slept 23 times over the 40 days, which suggests that an average cycle was about 40 hours for her.
It was forbidden to wake people up

 Darwin Production/adaptation-institute.com/Insider Tents in the dark "quiet zone" where people went to sleep. Darwin Production/adaptation-institute.com/Insider

People slept in tents in the "quiet zone." It was "absolutely forbidden to wake up someone else," Clot said. There were no alarms or devices to tell them how long they had slept. They simply woke up when they felt like it.


"During the first week in the cave, it was really hard to accept the idea that when I wake up, I didn't have to check my smartphone or my watch to see if I slept enough. I just have to listen to my body," Clot said.

"It was like a liberation, you know. It was like: Wow, amazing. I just have to listen to me!"

At the beginning of the experiment, that meant that the volunteers were completely out of sync, Clot told Insider.

"People were awake around the clock," he said.

However, by the end of the experiment, people had fallen into a rhythm and naturally started to wake up and go to sleep at times that worked for the group, Clot said.

"In an unconscious way, when people wanted to be together, they woke up at the same time," Clot said.
Volunteers swallowed a capsule which sent back measurements of their temperature

© Insider This pill is a thermometer that can be swallowed and send temperature readings, Christian Clot told Insider on May 4, 2021. Insider

Once swallowed, the pill stays in the body on average for 3 to 4 days, depending on the person's physiology.

As it makes its way through the digestive tract, it sends temperature readings every minute, a spokesperson from the manufacturer, the French firm BodyCap, told Insider.

Because the body's temperature changes during the day according to its internal clock, these measurements are useful to determine the effect of the experiment on the body.

The volunteers - seven women and eight men - also wore sensors to measure sleeping patterns, regularly took blood samples, monitored their brain waves, and tested their brain function by playing games with VR headsets.

Cameras were also constantly recording their interactions for later analysis.

"Thousands" of data points were collected during this experiment, Clot said. These are now being processed by 12 labs around the world, he said.

They had very little water to wash - and the cave was too humid to really bother

Darwin production/adapta The team collected water from an underground lake. Darwin production/adapta

The team used water from an underground lake for drinking, cooking, and hygiene.

Getting the water was "a bit hard," Clot said, so they used as little as they could.

Washing in the cave would not have been very pleasant anyway. The cave was cold - around 10 degrees Celsius (about 50 degrees Fahrenheit) - and humidity was at 100%.

They had bikes to generate electricity and tried to grow plants

© Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com Bikes were used to power a computer used to take measurements during the experiment. Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com

Asked if humans could survive underground for longer periods of time, Clot said, "we had water. The only thing you need is food."

"We tried to grow some vegetables. Some were growing nicely," Clot said, although they didn't have enough time to harvest them in the 40 days.

Standing bikes provided some exercise but were also hooked to a generator to produce electricity for computers while scientific measurements were being collected.
Everyone was shocked when the experiment ended

 Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com The team together in the main living space of the cave Bruno Mazodier/adaptation-institute.com

When it was time to leave, the volunteers were surprised. They thought they had much longer, with most guessing that they were around 30 days in rather than the full 40.

Clot told Insider that they had imagined a lot of possibilities for what would happen in the cave. But "absolutely not" that their perceptions would have been off by as much as ten days.

By the time the team on the surface came to tell them the experiment was over, many of the volunteers were not ready to leave the cave and had to adjust to the idea mentally, Clot told Insider.
Some loved it down there and want to go back.

 

 Darwin Production/adaptation-institute.com The team were emotional on the last day of the experiment Darwin Production/adaptation-institute.com

Returning to normal life was hard in some ways, Clot said.

In his case, it was challenging because he's had to do a lot of interviews since emerging from the cave, he said.

"I sometimes think: Wow! It was so easy in the cave," he told Insider.

At least three of the 15 volunteers would happily go back, he said. As for him, he would like to do it again, if only to repeat the experiment.

But before then, the team plans to test other extreme living conditions and will be going together to the Brazilian rainforest and Siberia, Clot said.

Iraq's heritage battered by desert sun, rain and state apathy 

AND AMERICAN IMPERIALISM 

AFP 

One of the world's oldest churches is crumbling deep in Iraq's desert, another victim of years of conflict, government negligence and climate change in a country with a rich heritage.

© Mohammed SAWAF Al-Aqiser archaeological site in Iraq, home to what is considered one of the world's oldest churches, is a victim of neglect and climate change like many of Iraqi ancient sites

After Pope Francis made a historic visit to Iraq in March, many Iraqis hoped that busloads of tourists would flock to Al Aqiser church southwest of the capital Baghdad.

But in a country that has been battered by consecutive conflicts and economic crises, the church -- like Iraq's numerous Christian, Islamic and Mesopotamian relics -- has been left to weather away.

© Haidar INDHAR Iraq's Diwaniya province has more than 2,000 historic sites and is home to the pyramid-shaped "ziggurat" structures of the ancient Sumerian city of Nippur

All that remains of Al Aqiser, which has stood in Ain Tamr for more than 1,500 years, are crumbling brick and red earthen walls.

Archaeologist Zahd Muhammad blamed this on "climate conditions, the fact that under Saddam Hussein the area was transformed into a military firing range and the lack of regular conservation".

© Shwan NAWZAD The 3,000-year-old citadel and the Ottoman-era "qishla" or garrison in Iraq's northern city of Kirkuk are also in a sad state of disrepair with local authorities saying frequent heavy rains that batter the mountainous region are to blame

Ain Tamr mayor Raed Fadhel said upkeep is a question of budget.

"Such maintenance requires an enormous amount of money, but we only get meagre funds" from the federal government, he said.

Some 60 kilometres (38 miles) further east, Shiite shrines in Karbala attract millions of pilgrims each year.

But these potential visitors fail to stop by Iraq's numerous ancient churches, its Mesopotamian cities and the fabled "ziggurat" pyramid-like structures of Babylon, a UNESCO World Heritage site, residents and officials say.

 Mohammed SAWAF Iraq is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, according to the UN, and that along with government negligence has taken a toll on its Christian, Islamic and Mesopotamian ancient sites

- Missed opportunities -

Abdullah al-Jlihawi, who lives in Diwaniya province bordering Karbala, told AFP he believes that "foreigners care more about our heritage than we do".

"Until the 1980s, an American university led excavations here, there were plenty of job opportunities," he said.

"Our parents and grandparents worked on those sites, but all that stopped in the 1990s" with the international embargo against Saddam's regime.


Diwaniya's governor, Zuhair al-Shaalan, boasts of the province's more than 2,000 historic sites and sees in each a potential economic windfall.


But almost 20 years since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam's dictatorship, promising democracy and prosperity, Iraqis are still waiting to for an economic upturn.

Diwaniya is home to Nippur, the ancient Sumerian city and jewel of Iraq's glorious Mesopotamian past with its temples, libraries and palaces.

Seven thousand years ago Nippur, now in southern Iraq, was one of the main religious centres of the Akkadians and later the Babylonians.

Much of that site was looted after Saddam's fall from power by armed bandits and many others destroyed by jihadists who seized swathes of Iraq in 2014 until their defeat three years later.

"Investing in these sites would create jobs in our province, which is poor and has few investment opportunities," Shaalan said.

But there is another problem beyond renovation and preservation, Jlihawi said. If they came, "where would the tourists go?" he asked.

"There's nothing for them -- the roads haven't been paved since the 1980s, the electricity poles are from the 1970s," in a country with chronic shortages of electricity and water.

Energy-rich Iraq suffered due to a decline in world oil prices and has been struggling with rising prices, high unemployment and poverty, which doubled last year to 40 percent amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

- Returned to dust -

Historical sites in the central province of Kirkuk are also in a sad state of disrepair and "neither authorities nor private organisations are doing anything for heritage", said resident Muhammad Taha.

He pointed to the 3,000-year-old citadel and the "qishla", an Ottoman-era garrison, where chunks of mosaics have crumbled while sections of wall threaten to crash down.

Like Nippur, the citadel's deterioration could mean it might not be promoted from UNESCO's Tentative List of heritage sites to the coveted World Heritage List.

Local authorities said frequent heavy rains that batter the mountainous region are to blame.

Iraq is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, according to the United Nations.

Galloping desertification in a country where desert already covers 50 percent of the territory is threatening human and animal life, and has sounded death knells for Mesopotamian sites as well as recent constructions.

Abdullah al-Jlihawi from Diwaniya recalled that between the 1960s and the 1980s archeological ruins "were protected by the green belt".

But trees that had blocked the wind were burned, blasted apart by shelling during successive Iraqi wars or felled to make way for new towns.

Scorching summer temperates above 50 degrees (122 Fahrenheit), dust storms and heavy winter rains have also dealt blows to Iraqi heritage.

And many fear that sites built with bricks made thousands of years ago by Mesopotamian labourers will one day soon turn back into dust.

bur-sbh/sw/hkb

Even before Covid struck, Modi's $1.8B architectural revamp divided opinions

Oscar Holland, CNN 

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's overhaul of New Delhi's historic center was always going to be controversial -- even before the Covid-19 pandemic struck.

© HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt Ltd The project will see an overhaul of buildings and public space along New Delhi's central boulevard, Rajpath.

Since it was announced in September 2019, the $1.8 billion Central Vista Redevelopment Project has been branded unduly expensive, environmentally irresponsible and a threat to cultural heritage. And with Modi's elaborate new private residence -- which comprises 10 buildings across 15 acres (6 hectares) of land -- among dozens of planned new government structures, many critics have dismissed the scheme as an architectural vanity project that serves India's populist leader, not its people.

© Shutterstock The North Block of the Secretariat Building will be turned into a museum.

This outrage has been brought into sharp focus by the coronavirus crisis. Amid a devastating second wave that has pushed the country's hospitals to breaking point, opposition MP Rahul Gandhi took to Twitter last week to compare the cost of the project to the amount needed to vaccinate 450 million Indians or purchase 10 million oxygen cylinders. "But (Modi's) ego is bigger than people's lives," he concluded.

© HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt Ltd 

A copy of India's constitution will be on display in the new parliament building.

Indignation has only grown in recent days, after it emerged that construction at the site has been deemed an "essential service" -- meaning work continues, even as building projects elsewhere are at a standstill. This urgency is widely thought to reflect a race to complete the new triangular parliament -- the project's centerpiece -- before the end of 2022, when India celebrates 75 years of independence.

Indeed, for nationalists, the building's symbolism lies not only in its design, which alludes to the importance of triangles in the sacred geometries of several religions, but in India's ability to complete large-scale infrastructure projects quickly and on schedule.

But while the speed, cost and timing of the development have attracted ire, the underlying question of whether New Delhi's aging government district needs revamping exposes deeper divides.

Indian MP and writer Shashi Tharoor, a fierce critic of Modi's, has long rallied against the project. Since the earliest days of the pandemic he has called for the government to redirect funds earmarked for the development to help fight Covid-19.

"Why now, at such colossal expense and at a time when the country and economy are reeling from the effects of the lockdown?" he told CNN in a phone interview earlier this year.

Yet even this most vocal of critics accepted that modernizing India's parliament and Central Visa -- a 3-kilometer (1.8-mile) stretch of New Delhi's central boulevard, Rajpath -- could, in theory, have its merits.

"From a purely utilitarian point of view, many would agree there is a need for some significant changes," Tharoor said. "One is that the parliament building would have needed an extensive renovation to be fit for purpose, and clearly the government concluded that they couldn't do that, and that they needed to build a new one."

"And as for the Central Vista, a number of the 1950s and '60s buildings, some of which I've had the dubious pleasure of working in ... there really is an architectural case for getting rid of them and replacing them.

"My concern here is the utter lack of consultation before such a momentous decision was taken," he said, adding: "There's really been no opportunity for comments, criticism, suggestions, ideas. There's a vibrant architectural community and very few of them feel like they've been given a fair hearing."

© HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt Ltd

Fit for purpose?

When work began on the original Central Vista plan in the early 20th century, English architects Edwin Lutyens and Herbert Baker envisaged a long ceremonial boulevard akin to the Champs Elysees in Paris or the Capitol Complex in Washington D.C.

© HCP Design, Planning and Management Pvt Ltd 

A digital impression of the new Lok Sabha, the Indian parliament's lower chamber.

It came to be known as Kingsway, and the grand buildings running along its edges were designed to serve a colonial government, not an Indian one.

When the country gained independence from Britain in 1947, India sought to reappropriate the district for its own burgeoning democracy. A statue of King George VI, the then-reigning British king and last emperor of India, was torn down, but the colonial structures were largely retained and repurposed. The circular council house became India's parliament, the opulent Viceroy's House was transformed into a presidential residence and Kingsway was given a new name: Rajpath.

In the decades that followed, development in the area accelerated to accommodate the growing administration. Police barracks were erected, car parking was introduced, and new ministry buildings spilled out either side of the central boulevard.

© Manish Rajput/SOPA Images/Sipa USA A man walks past the construction site for part of the Central Vista Redevelopment Project.

According to the architect behind the new redevelopment, Bimal Patel, this "haphazard" sprawl has corrupted Lutyens and Baker's original urban plan and left the area unfit for a modern government. Designs by Patel's firm, HCP, were chosen from six proposals in a competition to reimagine the area and modernize the facilities.

Shutterstock Known as Viceroy House by the British, Rashtrapati Bhavan now serves as the presidential residence.

"You have old stables and barracks that have been converted into offices -- they're completely dysfunctional. It's like an old slum -- it's like a little village in there," said Patel in a video interview, referring to some of the buildings flanking Rajpath.

His firm's sweeping vision for the 86-acre (35-hectare) site includes new chambers for MPs, a conference center and landscaped public gardens. The country's National Archives will be refurbished, while the North and South Blocks of the Secretariat Building, which currently house India's cabinet, will be turned into museums.

With the creation of new office space, ministries currently scattered around New Delhi will all be relocated to the site. Patel argues this will make the Central Vista a "synergistic location" that will improve the efficiency and productivity of India's government.

The symbolic heart of the project is the country's new parliament. HCP's triangular design sits directly next to its predecessor, which is also being turned into a museum. Inside, two horseshoe-shaped chambers will house the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha -- the parliament's upper and lower houses respectively -- while a light-filled Constitution Hall features an adjoining gallery displaying India's written constitution.

MPs will be seated in twos rather than crammed onto long benches, and the new, larger parliament features touch screens for each member.

For Patel, this modernization is a matter of necessity. While the current parliament has been updated over the decades, with new floors added, the old building is now simply too small, he argued.

"It's crowded and there's no more possibility for expansion at a time when we need to increase the number of seats," Patel said, alluding to a planned increase in the number of Indian MPs to reflect the country's growing population.

"We need to improve the technology, we need space for dining, we need to create toilets, we need to create storage space, and office and administration space -- it's very clear that it can't be done in the space available, so we've created a new facility next door."

Ongoing concerns

On Wednesday, two Indian citizens lodged a case with the Delhi High Court to try to halt work at the Central Vista, arguing construction could aid the spread of Covid-19. The petitioners then took the matter to the Supreme Court, after city authorities had "failed to appreciate the gravity" of the situation.

This is not the first attempt to formally oppose the revamp. In April last year, eight months before Modi laid the parliament's foundation stone in a high-profile photo-op, a petition was filed to the Supreme Court opposing plans on legal and environmental grounds. The next month, a group of 60 former civil servants wrote a scathing open letter to Modi describing the project as a "thoughtless and irresponsible act" that was motivated by "a superstitious belief that the present Parliament building is 'unlucky.'"

The wide-ranging letter went on to discuss the "severe environmental damage" the redevelopment will cause to "the lungs of the city." The plans are "shrouded in secrecy," it read, and "not substantiated by any public consultation or expert review."

The group also highlighted the architectural value of buildings earmarked for demolition, saying that the scheme would "irrevocably" destroy the area's cultural heritage.

Historian Swapna Liddle, who has written various books on New Delhi's history, echoed some of their concerns. She highlighted the risks of turning symbolic political buildings -- like the North and South Blocks --- into museums.

"When you say North Block you don't just mean a building, you mean a particular institution," Liddle said over the phone. "The fact that buildings are associated with history, with traditions and with institutions is very important.

"Parliament House is the place where constitutional debate (has taken place), so you should think very long and hard before separating the building from the tradition."

In a polarized political landscape, it's perhaps little surprise that a project of this magnitude has invited criticism from many quarters. But regardless of the scheme's virtues or shortcomings, Modi's insistence on pushing ahead amid India's worst public health crisis in a generation may see him lose the support of allies he might once have counted on.

"People are dying of Covid but (Modi's) priority is the Central Vista project," tweeted Yashwant Sinha, a former minister of finance and external affairs, and a member of Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party until 2018. "Should we not be building hospitals instead? How much more (must) the nation ... pay for electing a megalomaniac?"

Last wild macaw in Rio is lonely and looking for love

RIO DE JANEIRO — Some have claimed she’s indulging a forbidden romance. More likely, loneliness compels her to seek company at Rio de Janeiro’s zoo.

© Provided by The Canadian Press

Either way, a blue-and-yellow macaw that zookeepers named Juliet is believed to be the only wild bird of its kind left in the Brazilian city where the birds once flew far and wide.

Almost every morning for the last two decades, Juliet has appeared. She swoops onto the zoo enclosure where macaws are kept and, through its fence, engages in grooming behaviour that looks like conjugal canoodling. Sometimes she just sits, relishing the presence of others. She is quieter — shier? more coy? — than her squawking chums.

Blue-and-yellow macaws live to be about 35 years old and Juliet — no spring chicken — should have found a lifelong mate years ago, according to Neiva Guedes, president of the Hyacinth Macaw Institute, an environmental group. But Juliet hasn’t coupled, built a nest or had chicks, so at most she’s “still just dating.”

“They’re social birds, and that means they don’t like to live alone, whether in nature or captivity. They need company,” said Guedes, who also co-ordinates a project that researches macaws in urban settings. Juliet “very probably feels lonely, and for that reason goes to the enclosure to communicate and interact.”

Aside from Juliet, the last sighting of a blue-and-yellow macaw flying free in Rio was in 1818 by an Austrian naturalist, according to Marcelo Rheingantz, a biologist at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and there are no other types of macaws in the city. The lovebirds featured in the 2011 film “Rio? are Spix’s macaws, which are native to a different region of Brazil and possibly extinct in the wild.

Being boisterous with brilliant plumage helps macaws find each other in dense forest, but also makes them easier targets for hunters and animal traffickers. They're often seen in other Brazilian states and across the Amazon, and it is suspected Juliet escaped from captivity.

Biologists at BioParque aren’t sure if Juliet’s nuzzling is limited to one caged Romeo, or a few of them. They’re not even certain Juliet is female; macaw gender is near impossible to determine by sight, and requires either genetic testing of feathers or blood, or examination of the gonads.

Either would be interference merely to satisfy human curiosity with no scientific end, biologist Angelita Capobianco said inside the enclosure. Nor would they consider confining Juliet, who often soars overhead and appears well-nourished.

“We don’t want to project human feelings. I look at the animal, and see an animal at ease,” Capobianco said, noting Juliet has never exhibited behaviour to indicate disturbance, such as insistently pecking at the fence.

“Who am I to decide it should only stay here? I won’t. It comes and goes, and its feathers are beautiful.”

After more than a year of COVID-19 quarantine and travel bans, the appeal of roaming without restriction is evident to humankind. Macaws are used to flying great distances of more than 30 kilometres (20 miles) a day, Guedes said.

Last year, BioParque g ave its macaws more space: a 1,000-square-meter (10,700-square-foot) aviary where they fly beside green parrots and golden parakeets to compose an aerial, technicolour swirl. It’s a massive upgrade from prior enclosures that were roughly 100 square feet. BioParque reopened to the public in March, after privatization of Rio’s dilapidated zoo and almost 17 months of renovations.

BioParque aims to feature species associated with research programs at universities and institutes. One such initiative is Refauna, which reintroduces species into protected areas with an eye on rebuilding ecosystems, and is participating with BioParque to start breeding blue-and-yellow macaws.

The plan is for parents to raise some 20 chicks that will receive training on forest food sources, the peril of predators and avoidance of power lines. Then the youngsters will be released into Rio’s immense Tijuca Forest National Park, where Juliet has been sighted and is thought to sleep each night.

“Their role could be important in terms of ecosystem and reforestation. It’s a big animal with big beak that can crack the biggest seeds, and not all birds can,” said Rheingantz, the university biologist, who is also Refauna’s technical co-ordinator. “The idea is for it to start dispersing those seeds, complementing forest animals that can’t.”

After some pandemic-induced delays, the project has slowly restarted and Rheingantz expects to release blue-and-yellow macaws into Tijuca park toward the end of 2022.

After two decades of relative solitude, Juliet will then have the chance to fly with friends. Neves said Juliet could teach them how to navigate the forest, or even find a love of her own.

David Biller, The Associated Press