Africa groans under the weight of COVID-19 waste

African countries were already swamped by trash before the pandemic hit. Now COVID-19 related waste is making the situation worse.

An explosion of medical waste across Africa strains waste removal system

Discarded masks can be found pretty well everywhere on the planet — littering streets, fluttering from trees, clogging drains and polluting waterways and oceans.

The baby-blue surgical masks have proved essential in helping curb COVID-19 transmissions during the pandemic. 

But now the masks, along with other COVID-19 medical waste, have become a whole new problem.

Sub-Saharan Africa might have experienced more shortages of coronavirus vaccines and protective equipment than other regions, but this hasn't spared the continent from the effects of this new garbage crisis. 

Some 353 million single-use face masks are thrown away every day in sub-Saharan Africa, according to a Ghanaian study. 

Masks, and other medical waste such as gloves and protective gowns, have also altered the quantity and composition of waste on the continent, the study found.

Disposable masks are polluting the planet

 When waste disposal entrepreneur Catherine Wanjoya walks through Kenya's capital of Nairobi, she can hardly contain her anger at the number of masks lying discarded in the street.

Her business, Genesis Care, previously specialized in the disposal of sanitary products, but at the beginning of the pandemic Wanjoya reworked the company's incinerators to also burn protective equipment like masks and gloves.

Environmental and health risks

As well as posing an environmental threat, the discarded masks are also a potential health threat, said Wanjoya, explaining that she knows of cases where discarded single-use masks have been collected, cleaned and re-sold. 

It's not just masks that are discarded carelessly, Wanjoya said, but all kinds of medical waste. 

"If you go to the open landfills, you'll find that they will get even needles, you can get drugs, you're going to get used bandages. People go to scavenge in those areas to try and get useful products, which they can sell," she said. "So you see such people also get infected by those medical waste, which has been thrown into the open landfills."

Low-income countries, 23 of which are in Africa, toss 90% of their waste in unregulated dumps, on fields or through open burning, according to the latest figures by the World Bank.

Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa lack adequate waste disposal systems

This is because many African cities like Nairobi lack functioning waste management systems, said environmental activist Lillian Mulupi from the Kenyan political party, the United Green Movement.

"In many districts [of Nairobi] there are not enough trucks or even bins, some areas will go for more than three days without the trash having been picked," Mulupi told DW.

COVID-19 related waste

The amount of health care waste related to the COVID-19 pandemic is enormous. 

The United Nations alone distributed some 87,000 tons of protective medical clothing, 2,600 tons of non-infectious waste and 731,000 liters of chemical waste to less-developed countries between March 2020 and November 2021, according to a WHO report.

The billions of COVID-19 vaccinations administered worldwide are responsible for another 144,000 tons of waste, which includes syringes, needles and collection containers. 

But the true scale is likely to be far higher, the WHO report acknowledges. 

60% of health care facilities in least developed countries aren't "equipped to handle existing waste loads, let alone the additional COVID-19 load," the report found. 

Landry Kabego, a WHO specialist for infection prevention and control, told DW that correctly disposing of medical waste is an important part of fighting the coronavirus. 

"When a country is dealing with a pandemic like this, they need to put in place all the measures that will allow them to break the chain of transmission of the disease, and waste management is one of them," Kabego said.

Catherin Wanjoya, founder of Genesis Care

Waste disposal entrepreneur Catherine Wanjoya agrees.

Her organization works with small clinics, who can't afford large medical incinerators "because they are too expensive for them," she said.

Her company is the only one in Kenya making smaller incinerators, she said, adding that one solution to the waste problem would be for the Kenyan government to partner up with companies like hers to ensure clinics can burn medical waste so it doesn't end up in landfill. 

Another way of tackling the issue is to make sure communities understand the environmental and health risks potentially posed by poorly disposed medical waste. 

Failure to separate infectious waste

Kenya's National Environmental Management Authority introduced guidelines about the separation and disposal of health care waste at the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. 

Under the guidelines, masks for example are defined as infectious waste and shouldn't be thrown away with general rubbish. 

For Kabego, separating medical waste into infectious and non-infectious waste is key.

Masks are abundant, cheap, and easily discarded

"Most of our health care facilities do not segregate waste properly. When you are not segregating well, you have a lot of infectious and non-infectious waste together," he said.

For that reason, special rubbish bins in health care facilities as well as in public spaces are vital, he said.

Protecting your community and the environment

The WHO report also recommends developing reusable or biodegradable protective equipment, as well as reducing the amount of packaging. 

"There is a need to really minimize the quantity of the waste that is being produced, especially during a vaccination campaign," said Kabego. 

"You don't need to use the gloves. You just need to perform hand hygiene appropriately when you touch the patient and after you touch the patient," he said. 

As for Kenyan environmental activist Lillian Mulupi, she believes ordinary people also need to get together to clean up streets, rivers and beaches.

"The same way you clean your house, take an extra step and make sure that your village is clean, your county is clean, your country is clean and even the whole of Africa is clean," she said. 

TURNING FACE MASKS INTO A FASHION STATEMENT IN AFRICA
Masks with personality in Algeria
Mounia Lazali, a designer in Algeria, has sewn and donated hundreds of masks – singer Joe Batoury models one of her designs, above. She told DW people "want to assert their culture and their tastes, so I think that the mask will not escape the fashion effect. If that can encourage people to protect themselves more, art will have succeeded in its mission by entering citizens’ everyday lives."
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This article was original published in German.

What does the future hold for Afghan cinema?

Three award-winning female directors appeal to the international film industry to save Afghan cinema. Supporting women filmmakers is more important than ever.

A shot from the documentary 'Sonita' about an Afghan female rapper, directed by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami

At an event held in conjunction with the current Berlinale film festival, titled "Imagine Afghanistan: Women filmmakers and their vision," directors Sharhbanoo Sadat, Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami and Zamarin Wahdat discussed how best to support Afghan cinema. They called for female Afghan filmmakers now living in exile, to be included in existing networks and receive financing for projects.

Director Sharhbanoo Sadat further emphasized the importance of being included in networks. Sadat has gained international attention since her feature film "Wolf and Sheep" won the 2016 Art Cinema award in the Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight selection.

Just a year ago, she was living in Kabul. "I really wanted to believe in Afghanistan, to trust that I had a future there," the 30-year-old filmmaker said during a panel discussion at the International Women's Film Festival — part of the Berlinale. Born in Tehran to Afghan refugees, when she was 11, she and her family returned to Afghanistan, living in a mountain village, before moving to Kabul when she was 18. "I had even bought an apartment there," she said.

Director Sahraa Karimi is one of the most recognized filmmakers from Afghanistan

However, the Taliban's takeover of Kabul in August 2021 put an abrupt end to her dream of having a filmmaking career in Afghanistan. The Taliban ordered the closure of cinemas in the country; thus, the future for the country's filmmakers is uncertain. Sadat fled Afghanistan and was taken in by colleagues from the film industry in Hamburg. This year, she is a member of the Berlinale jury.

Can Afghan cinema come from exile?

While Sadat is hopeful that she will be able to make Afghan films in exile, her Iranian colleague Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami expressed less confidence during the event. In the West, she said, only films that repeatedly spread the same prejudices about Afghanistan and the Middle East are financed. "When I made a film about Iran, I was told not to show any shots of the many modern highways. In Kabul, I was told not to show elevators."

Although her documentary "Sonita," about a young Afghan rapper in exile in Iran, won an award at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival in the US, the film almost broke her heart, the filmmaker said. "We have to show the versions of Kabul or Iran that people in the West want to see, and they're not interested in what it's really like there."

Criticizing Western cliches

Positive stories, in particular, are overlooked added Zamarin Wahdat, a German-Afghan director who grew up in Hamburg. The British documentary "Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (If You're a Girl)," for which she was an assistant director, was rejected by many film festivals. The reason was that it was not considered to be "dramatic" enough, she said. "In Germany, you can tell a father-daughter story where nothing dramatic happens," Wahdat explained. "But as soon as the story is set in Afghanistan, suddenly that's not enough."

The panel discussion received a lot of support on the web. The three directors are now pinning their hopes on films that can be made in exile.

"It will take us four or five years to learn new languages and make contacts," said Sharhbanoo Sadat. "But in 10 years, we may have Afghan cinema that is created in exile."

It is crucial to include the perspective of women, who are now once again excluded everywhere in Afghanistan, the filmmaker continued, "The best revenge is to keep making films."

This article was translated from German.

Three workable solutions to environmental problems

Shifting seasons, burning forests and cities so loud they're making us sick and harming birds. We look at three environmental problems and how they can be solved.

Making cities greener is one way to help reduce noise pollution

The constant din of cities is bad for our health. That's one conclusion of a UN report published Thursday.  

People across the globe from Barcelona and Cario to New York are at risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and heart disease thanks to the constant roar of traffic, construction sites and other sources of noise pollution, according to the UN environment programme. 

Noise pollution: Cities that never sleep  

In Europe alone, loud and constant noise is responsible for 48,0000 cases of heart disease and the premature death of some 12,000 people a year.  

In the animal world, birds are among the worst affected by the problem. Zebra finches, tree sparrows and tits are singing louder or adjusting their frequency so they can communicate with each other over the clamor. But that's resulting in more frequent misunderstandings between birds and can damage the chances of males finding a mating partner. Their new songs are not always well received.  

Planting more trees and shrubbery in cities could help, according to the report's authors. Plants would disperse and soften the noise, while also improving the climate and urban landscape. A line of trees growing behind a noise barrier wall, for instance, can reduce noise levels by around 12 decibels.  

Researchers says giving cyclists more space would help cut down on noise

Traffic noise could also be reduced by expanding cycleways and reducing car lanes. Creating green zones in cities would promote quieter electric vehicles and improve air quality.   

Disrupted natural rhythms  

Migratory birds are no longer flying south in the winter, plants are blooming much earlier, and birds are building nests for their young earlier when there are not enough insects around to feed them.  

Climate change is not just increasing global average temperatures, it's also disrupting life cycles established over thousands of years. These changes are affecting all kinds of habitats from mountain areas and coastal regions to forests and grasslands.  

Animal and plant species cannot adapt at the speed at which the planet is warming, increasing the risk that entire ecosystems on land and in the ocean could collapse with unforeseen consequences for humanity.   

To slow the pace of climate change, we must drastically and quickly cut emissions. But to deal with changes to life cycles, the researchers say it's essential to actively protect species, restore ecosystems and connect habitats by creating wildlife corridors. This is the only way to ensure that species' gene pools remain intact and that they have the chance to adapt to new conditions through natural selection.  

Fighting fire with fire  

Wildfires are a natural part of many environments but longer and more extreme heatwaves and droughts are prolonging fire seasons and increasing the probability of fires breaking out.  

Fires destroyed huge swathes of forest from California and Siberia to Turkey and Australia last year. Those fires also released enormous amounts of pollutants such as soot, particulate matter and greenhouse gases, significantly worsening air quality in nearby cities. Wildfires can also cause water pollution, marine eutrophication and loss of biodiversity. 

Fires related to climate change have become increasingly widespread across the globe

According to the authors of the UN report, some precautionary measures could help ameliorate wildfires and their consequences. Better cooperation between neighboring regions, satellite monitoring, lightning detection, improved early warning systems and firefighting capacity could all help.  

Experts also recommend using traditional methods of fighting fire with fire. Controlled burning of forest or bush creates a barrier to an oncoming forest fire as it will use up all the available fuel. Fires can have benefits in certain ecosystems, as some flowers and plants only grow when their seeds are heated through burning.  

This article was originally published in German

Pakistan: Militant attacks in Balochistan put pressure on China's infrastructure plans

Several attacks in recent weeks in the southern Pakistani province have caused concern that a separatist movement is jeopardizing the completion of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor


Several people were killed, including a Chinese national, in a bombing at Gwadar in 2021

A militant separatist movement in southwest Pakistan's Balochistan province has stepped up attacks in recent weeks, targeting the Pakistani military and complicating infrastructure projects being developed by China as part of Beijing's Belt and Road initiative (BRI).

In 2015, China announced the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a $46 billion (€41 billion) infrastructure network linking a port in Gwadar, a remote city on the Arabian Sea, to China's western Xinjiang region.

Many of the Chinese projects are being built in Balochistan, and Baloch separatists say the Pakistani government is exploiting local resources on behalf of Beijing's ambition to expand its influence.

CPEC also includes plans to create road, rail and oil pipeline links running though Balochistan to improve connectivity between China and the Middle East.

With CPEC, Beijing aims to expand its influence in Pakistan and across Central and South Asia in order to counter US and Indian influence.

However, Baloch separatists have staged violent attacks in the vast province, which creates a precarious security situation for developing large infrastructure projects.

Earlier this month, the so-called Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) waged multiple attacks on security forces in Panjgur and Nushki districts. The assault lasted four days and left 20 militants and nine Pakistani soldiers dead.

The Pakistani military said in a statement it was the biggest separatist attack in recent years.

The assault came as Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was on an official visit to China. Khan paid tribute to the "brave" military forces for repulsing the attacks and acknowledged their "great sacrifices."

Pakistan has accused arch-rival India of covertly supporting the Baloch insurgents in the province, a charge New Delhi denies.

Who are the Balochistan militants?

The BLA is the largest and insurgent group in Balochistan and has been active for decades. It, and other groups, have stepped up its activities targeting Chinese interests in the province after CPEC projects began to expand.

In August 2018, a suicide bomber targeted a bus carrying Chinese engineers in Dalbadin, Balochistan, wounding five people, including three Chinese nationals.

In November 2018, a Baloch insurgent group claimed responsibility for an attack on the Chinese consulate in southern Karachi city, killing four people. In May 2019, separatists attacked the Pearl Continental hotel in Gwadar , killing five people and injuring six persons.

In 2019 a luxury hotel Gwadar was attacked by gunmen from a Baloch separatist group

In June 2020, armed separatists raided the Pakistan Stock Exchange, where three Chinese companies at the time owned 40% of the stakes.

"The target of the Baloch nationalists is the Pakistani state, which they see as an oppressor," Husain Haqqani, the South Asia director at the Hudson Institute, a US think tank, told DW.

"They target China because they think that might get them Western and Indian support, and also because they see China's backing as important for Pakistan’s security establishment," he added.

Rafiullah Kakar, a political analyst from Quetta, said the nationalists are demanding "freedom from the Pakistani state."

"They claim the Pakistani government and China are responsible for the abject poverty and oppression," he told DW.

A truck rolls down a highway funded by CPEC in Balochistan

Is China feeling pressure in Pakistan?

Stable security in Pakistan is necessary for Chinese investments to bear fruit, and increasing militant attacks could complicate projects.

"No investor, including China, wants to deal with constant violence or a long-running insurgency," said Haqqani.

"The Baloch might be weak and outnumbered but they have been consistent in their battle with the Pakistani state for years while getting little international support," he added.

Islamabad accuses Afghanistan and India, as well as Iran, of supporting Baloch insurgents but some experts say the view has attracted little support outside Pakistan.

"The attacks will not expel the Chinese from Balochistan," said analyst Kakar. However, he added that larger commercial investment in southern Balochistan in the presence of an insurgency is "not possible."

"Attracting private sector investment is impossible in presence of a conflict, and the Baloch insurgents could hurt Chinese development ambitions," he added.

Chaudhry insists the situation in Balochistan is "under control" and that Pakistani forces have made big gains against the militants in recent years.

But analysts are of the view that if the situation in Balochistan is to improve, the province will need to be better integrated into Pakistan's political and economic system.

Balochistan is Pakistan's largest province by land area, bordering Iran and Afghanistan, but has the country's lowest population.

"They are not included in the power structures, over the years there has been resentment," said Kakar.

The Pakistani government has pledged to end deprivation in the province. Chaudhry says that not being satisfied with the government is "an excuse to justify terrorism and take up arms against the state."

Edited by: Wesley Rahn

SEE LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for Balochistan 

Pakistan: River Ravi project draws ire from environmental activists

The Pakistani government wants to spend billion of dollars on the Ravi River Urban Development Project. But the plan has left opponents counting the cost to the environment in nearby Lahore.


Farmers protest the Ravi River Urban Development Project at Sheikhupura, Punjab


Pakistan's Ravi River Urban Development Project (RRUDP) is envisioned by the current ruling government, Pakistan Tekreef-i-Insaf, as an innovative and efficient solution to the country's exponentially growing population in one its major urban center's ⁠— Lahore. However, the project has been met with criticism from environmentalists and activists as well as being involved in a legal tussle between the provincial Punjab Judiciary and the country's apex judiciary, the Supreme Court.

The Ravi River is a 720-kilometer transboundary river crossing northwestern India and eastern Pakistan.

The RRUDP is envisioned as a 41,308-hectare (102,074-acre) planned city, which would make it Pakistan's second planned city after the country's capital, Islamabad. The project boasts rehabilitation of the Ravi River into a perennial freshwater body and is expected to be the largest riverfront of the world when finished.
An idea dating back 75 years

The idea of an urban development on the Ravi riverfront was first conceived in 1947 and in 2013, the Government of Punjab began considering the project but it was not inaugurated until August 2020 by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan. While construction began in December 2020, not much progress has been made since as the project has been embroiled in legal cases

Watch video 03:07Pakistan: Child activist goes on a climate education mission

The provincial judiciary and Supreme Court have been at odds when it comes to judgments regarding RRUDP.

On January 25 of this year, the Lahore High Court (LHC) scrapped the ambitious RRUDP, declaring several provisions of the Ravi Urban Development Authority (RUDA) Act 2020 unconstitutional.

In an uncharacteristically quick-fire response, just six days later the Supreme Court suspended the LHC's initial order to halt the RRUDP until RUDA rectified and amended their legal lacunas. The RRUDP has, in-effect, been given the green-light for implementation, which has garnered a range of criticism from environmentalists, human rights activists and the farming community that reside along the Ravi River.
Pakistan's Land Acquisition Act pushes boundaries

In Pakistan the government can purchase and acquire land from residents for public interest projects. However, the Land Acquisition Act of 1894 is seen by many as antiquated and against article 9 of the Constitution (Security of person. No person shall be deprived of life or liberty save in accordance with law).

This point was raised by the LHC in the hearing regarding RRUDP and advised that the government should elaborate further on farming and agricultural land in the Act to protect vulnerable farmers, the country's food security and ecological health.

Speaking to DW, environmental lawyer Rafay Alam, who was one of the petitioners on behalf of the farmers against RRUDP, commented: "This project is ​​an unashamedly green-washed land grab. There needs to be a limit and regulation to the government's acquisition of agricultural land otherwise where does it end?"

A farmer couple sowing and tilling the land for potato crop

In rebuttal, the CEO of RUDA, Imran Amin maintains that the RRUDP project is well within the purview of the constitution as it is the government's duty to provide amenities and housing to its population, and if it was not for the Land Acquisition Act, the government would not be able to proceed with planned urbanization and development.

Is RRUDP going to endanger Ravi's agriculture?

In 2021, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) launched a fact-finding report on RRUDP and one of the primary concerns was the impact the project may have on Punjab's ecology, food security and farmers' livelihoods.

According to the report, almost 77% of the site area is agricultural land while the remainder comprises of a delicate ecosystem of community and flora. The HRCP fears that the agricultural land of over 76,000 acres could be affected under the 30-year project.

The HRCP'S Chairperson, Hina Jilani, told DW: "Such so-called development projects are favoring concrete over agricultural land which is problematic as the land around Ravi is supplying much of Lahore's fruits and vegetables and especially the farmers themselves, who live and feed off this land, this project is impinging on their social and economic rights."

Watch video 03:10 Offsetting polluted air in Karachi

Mazhar Abbas, a spokesperson for the Ravi Farmers' Movement, who have been protesting the RRUDP's actions, told DW that there are several reasons farmers who are skeptical about the project.

"Farming is all these people know, they don't want to give up their lands because it is their livelihood and community," said Abbas. Further, he shared that even if farmers were amenable to giving up their land, under the Land Acquisition Act, farmers receive very little settlement rates per acre (€1,008) which gives them less security.

However, RUDA CEO Imran Amin maintains that the RRUDP is a means to conserve the Ravi river and increase agricultural efficiency. "There is a misconception that we want to remove all farmers and agriculture from the area. In our plan we have given a 40% allotment to forest cover and agriculture. Right now, the Ravi river is acidic and we are not producing crops, fruits and vegetables we could be. As this project helps improve the river and ecology that we are committed to, we will also improve farmer livelihoods and produce."

Conflicting urbanization strategies

At the center of the RRUDP debate between opponents and proponents is conflicting strategies to tackle urban sprawl. According to Alam, the RRUDP represents a "a fixed housing template" that favors the more affluent and adds distances and vehicular use in the city, further exacerbating Lahore's smog crisis.

However, Amin argues that Lahore and many of Pakistan's urban areas are in trouble because cities have not been planned and views the RRUDP as an antidote to Pakistan's rampant "housing society boom" and urbanization problem.

"RRUDP is not a housing society, we are making a planned city that is anticipating the population rise taking into consideration economic factors, pollution air index, forest cover, etc. We are planning for all segments of society and low cost housing is a compulsion in the plan."

Amin shared that in the initial plan, they are making a labor colony of 3000 apartments that will increase on need basis. This housing model, Amin hopes, will lead to a less informal sprawl and bad living conditions for the labor class.
Feasibility studies controversy

Another criticism hurled at the RRUDP is that the feasibility study is not robust, as per the LHC's ruling. In 2014, the Lahore Development Authority hired Singapore based urban development firm Meinhardt Group to run a feasibility study. This study also formed a significant part of the Environmental Protection Authority's Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).

However, eyebrows have been raised regarding the efficacy of the study as Meindhart Group was allegedly blacklisted by the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) in early 2022. The group has publicly denied this and is pursuing arbitration/defamation cases against the LDA.

Also, Amin, now CEO of RUDA, served as Director Operations at Meinhardt Pakistan from 2012-2020 which petitions against RRUDP, and this has been deemed as a "conflict of interest."

Amin shared with DW, that the conflict of interest claims are baseless as he was not involved with RUDA at the time Meinhardt was consulted. "When anyone goes to a job interview, having experience and knowledge with the project is an asset. Since I was already experienced with the Ravi project, I had an added advantage and relevant experience. How is that a conflict of interest?" said Amin.

Edited by: John Silk

ECOCIDE

China govt to help run coal power plants at full capacity


Two-thirds of China's economy is fuelled by coal 

Wed, February 16, 2022, 

China will help its coal-fired power plants run at full capacity, the government has announced, raising further alarm about the fate of Beijing's climate pledges.

Swathes of the world's second-biggest economy were paralysed last year because of power shortages, partly caused by a drop in coal supply as global prices of the fossil fuel soared.

China is the world's biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases responsible for climate change, and has pledged to peak emissions by 2030 and become carbon neutral by 2060.


But coal production has been ramped up since last year's energy shortages, sparking uncertainty and concern about those targets.

The focus on energy security and economic growth was reiterated at a high-level meeting of China's State Council, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang, state news agency Xinhua reported Tuesday.

It was decided in the Monday meeting that "coal supply will be increased and coal-fired power plants will be supported in running at full capacity and generating more electricity" to meet industrial and residential demand, according to Xinhua.

The move comes weeks after President Xi Jinping told top policymakers to ensure that emissions reductions do not hurt economic growth and energy security -- widely seen as a signal to limit restrictions on the coal sector.

Following the energy crunch last year, China reopened dozens of coal mines and scrapped production quotas, unravelling earlier steps to curb emissions.

The country's coal output hit a record of over four billion metric tons last year -- the highest in a decade -- after imports were disrupted by the pandemic.

Two-thirds of China's economy is fuelled by coal, and it generates an estimated 29 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, double the US share and three times that of the European Union.

The Chinese government's measures to curb emissions are considered crucial to keeping global temperature rises to under 1.5 degrees Celsius as agreed in the landmark Paris climate accord.

"We are pivoting back to the model of supporting the economy at all costs," said Li Shuo, a campaigner for Greenpeace China.

"China is losing time for crucial climate action."

prw/qan/axn

JAVACRUCIANS

Italy woos UNESCO with 'magical' espresso coffee rite

'Little Prince' manuscript visits France for first time



The philosophical tale of a prince's intergalactic travels has sold some 200 million copies worldwide 

(AFP/STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN)

Hugues HONORÉ
Wed, February 16, 2022, 5:23 AM·1 min read

The manuscript of "The Little Prince" travels to France for the first time this week as part of an exhibition about its legendary author Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

The pilot-explorer wrote his beloved tale about an alien prince and his interstellar travels while in exile in the United States in 1942, having fled France after the Nazi invasion.

He left the US the following year to fight on the North African front, leaving the manuscript with his mistress, journalist Sylvia Hamilton, who sold it to the Morgan Library and Museum in 1968.

Its first visit to Paris is part of an exhibition, "Meeting the Little Prince" at the Museum of Decorative Arts that runs from Thursday until June.

Among the treasures on display are the original watercolours of the Little Prince's asteroid home and the hero wearing his trademark long coat with red lapels.

Saint-Exupery disappeared during a mission over the Mediterranean in July 1944, never to know of the worldwide success of his book, which had been published only in the US.

But he had found his voice -- after being initially reluctant to illustrate the story himself.

The exhibition shows how long the story was in gestation, with a letter to his future wife in 1930 in which he shares his idea about "a child who discovers a treasure and becomes melancholic".

We also see what was left on the cutting-room floor: characters including a snail, a butterfly collector and an old couple that chase him from his home.

Or a discarded opening in which the narrator admits he doesn't know how to draw an airplane.

"There is always mystery around this work. Any single sheet brings up some enigma," said curator Alban Cerisier.

hh/er/bp

ECOCIDE

Abandoned oil tanker off Yemen: a disaster waiting to happen

A satellite image from Maxar Technologies shows the FSO Safer oil tanker in June 2020 - -
Agence France-Presse
February 16, 2022 — Dubai (AFP)

For years, a rusty oil tanker has been moored off war-torn Yemen -- abandoned and threatening to break up or explode in what would be an ecological and humanitarian catastrophe.

On Tuesday the United Nations said it had reached an "agreement in principle" with Yemeni rebels to pump out the volatile cargo from the FSO Safer vessel and transfer it to another ship.

The 45-year-old ship, long used as a floating oil storage platform, has been moored off Yemen's western port of Hodeida in the Red Sea since 2015, without being serviced.

It is moored about 60 kilometres (40 miles) from the nearest inhabited areas with 1.1 million barrels of crude on board.

Apart from corrosion to the ageing hull, essential work on reducing explosive gases in the storage tanks has been neglected for years.

Greenpeace has warned the vessel could "explode at any moment".

Experts said the latest problem emerged in May 2021 with a leak in a cooling pipe, which was later fixed.

The UN has said an oil spill could destroy ecosystems, shut down the fishing industry and close Yemen's lifeline Hodeida port for six months.

Independent studies show it could expose more than 8.4 million Yemenis to heightened pollution.

Maritime traffic and coastal countries including Djibouti, Eritrea and Saudi Arabia could also be affected.

About 80 percent of Yemen's population depends on some form of aid for survival, with the civil war between the Saudi-backed government and Iran-allied Huthi rebels showing no signs of abating.

- Repeated delays -

Inspection of the deteriorating ship has dragged on for years with UN requests for access repeatedly declined by the Huthis, who control much of Yemen's north including Hodeida port.

The rebels have said they want guarantees that the value of the oil on board the Safer would be used to pay salaries of their employees.

The Yemeni government has said the money should be used for health and humanitarian projects.

In November 2020, the Huthis said they gave the green light for a mission to assess the fuel tanker.

The UN initially planned it in early 2021, but it has been repeatedly delayed.

The UN last year urged the Huthis to "facilitate unconditional and safe access for UN experts to conduct a comprehensive and impartial assessment and initial repair mission without further delay".

The UN said on Tuesday that an "agreement in principle" has been reached to transfer the toxic cargo from the tanker to another ship, without giving further details or a timeline.

"I am pleased to report recent progress in efforts to resolve the Safer tanker issue, including an agreement in principle to a UN-coordinated proposal to shift the oil to another ship," said Martin Griffiths, the UN's deputy chief for humanitarian affairs.

Yemen's civil war broke out in 2014 when the Huthis seized Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led military coalition to intervene the following year to prop up the internationally recognised government.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed directly or indirectly in the conflict, while millions have been displaced in what the UN calls the world's biggest humanitarian crisis.

How world's most precise clock could transform fundamental physics


This handout photo provided by NIST shows a strontium atomic clock, one of the world's most accurate time-keeping pieces in the lab of Professor Jun Ye at the University of Colorado, in Boulder (AFP/Handout) (Handout)

Issam AHMED
Wed, February 16, 2022, 1:22 PM·3 min read

Einstein's theory of general relativity holds that a massive body like Earth curves space-time, causing time to slow as you approach the object -- so a person on top of a mountain ages a tiny bit faster than someone at sea level.

US scientists have now confirmed the theory at the smallest scale ever, demonstrating that clocks tick at different rates when separated by fractions of a millimeter.

Jun Ye, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the University of Colorado Boulder, told AFP their new clock was "by far" the most precise ever built -- and could pave the way for new discoveries in quantum mechanics, the rulebook for the subatomic world.

Ye and colleagues published their findings Wednesday in the prestigious journal Nature, describing the engineering advances that enabled them to build a device 50 times more precise than today's best atomic clocks.

It wasn't until the invention of atomic clocks -- which keep time by detecting the transition between two energy states inside an atom exposed to a particular frequency -- that scientists could prove Albert Einstein's 1915 theory.

Early experiments included the Gravity Probe A of 1976, which involved a spacecraft 6,000 miles (10,000 kilometers) above Earth's surface and showed that an onboard clock was faster than an equivalent on Earth by one second every 73 years.

Since then, clocks have become more and more precise, and thus better able to detect the effects of relativity.

In 2010, NIST scientists observed time moving at different rates when their clock was moved 33 centimeters (just over a foot) higher.

- Theory of everything -

Ye's key breakthrough was working with webs of light, known as optical lattices, to trap atoms in orderly arrangements. This is to stop the atoms from falling due to gravity or otherwise moving, resulting in a loss of accuracy.

Inside Ye's new clock are 100,000 strontium atoms, layered on top of each other like a stack of pancakes, in total about a millimeter high.

The clock is so precise that when the scientists divided the stack into two, they could detect differences in time in the top and bottom halves.

At this level of accuracy, clocks essentially act as sensors.

"Space and time are connected," said Ye. "And with time measurement so precise, you can actually see how space is changing in real time -- Earth is a lively, living body."

Such clocks spread out over a volcanically-active region could tell geologists the difference between solid rock and lava, helping predict eruptions.

Or, for example, study how global warming is causing glaciers to melt and oceans to rise.

What excites Ye most, however, is how future clocks could usher in a completely new realm of physics.

The current clock can detect time differences across 200 microns -- but if that was brought down to 20 microns, it could start to probe the quantum world, helping bridge disparities in theory.

While relativity beautifully explains how large objects like planets and galaxies behave, it is famously incompatible with quantum mechanics, which deals with the very small.

According to quantum theory, every particle is also a wave -- and can occupy multiple places at the same time, something known as superposition. But it's not clear how an object in two places at once would distort space-time, per Einstein's theory.

The intersection of the two fields therefore would bring physics a step closer to a unifying "theory of everything" that explains all physical phenomena of the cosmos.

ia/mlm