Russia, planning to go it alone, unveils model of new space station


International military and technical forum Army 2022

Mon, August 15, 2022 

(Reuters) - Russia's space agency on Monday unveiled for the first time a physical model of what a planned new Russian-built space station will look like, suggesting Moscow is serious about abandoning the International Space Station (ISS) and going it alone.

Russia, in the throes of what some Kremlin hardliners believe is an historic rupture with the West sparked by sanctions imposed over what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, is rushing to reduce its dependency on Western nations and forge ahead on its own or cooperate with countries like China and Iran.

The West, which has accused Russia of prosecuting an unprovoked imperial-style war of aggression against Ukraine, has hit the Russian economy with sanctions designed to starve Moscow of technology, know-how and funds.

Russia's national space agency Roskosmos presented a model of the planned space station, dubbed "ROSS" by Russian state media, on Monday at "Army-2022", a military-industrial exhibition outside Moscow.

Yuri Borisov, whom President Vladimir Putin appointed last month to head Roskosmos, has said Russia will quit the ISS after 2024 and is working to develop its own orbital station.

Launched in 1998, the ISS has been continuously occupied since November 2000 under a U.S.-Russian-led partnership that also includes Canada, Japan and 11 European countries.

NASA, which is keen to keep the ISS operating until 2030, says it has not yet received official confirmation of Russia's planned withdrawal and had previously understood that Moscow would continue to participate until 2028.

Roskosmos said in a statement that the new space station would be launched in two phases, without giving dates.

The first phase would see a four-module space station start operating. That would later be followed by a further two modules and a service platform, it said. That would be enough, when completed, to accommodate up to four cosmonauts as well as scientific equipment.

Roskosmos has said the new station would afford Russian cosmonauts a much wider view of the Earth for monitoring purposes than they enjoy in their current segment.

Although designs for some of the new station already exist, design work is still underway on other segments.

Russian state media have suggested that the launch of the first stage is planned for 2025-26 and no later than 2030. Launch of the second and final stage is planned for 2030-35, they have reported.

The space station, as currently conceived, would not have a permanent human presence but would be staffed twice a year for extended periods.

Dmitry Rogozin, the previous head of Roskosmos and a hardliner known for his tough statements against the West, has suggested that the new space station could fulfil a military purpose if necessary.

(Writing by Andrew Osborn; Editing by Susan Fenton)

ICYMI

Full-Scale Nuclear War Could Kill 5 Billion People, Study Shows

BAN WMD


Alex Millson
Mon, August 15, 2022 

(Bloomberg) -- Five billion people would die in a modern nuclear war with the impact of a global famine -- triggered by sunlight-blocking soot in the atmosphere -- likely to far exceed the casualties caused by lethal blasts.

Scientists at Rutgers University mapped out the effects of six possible nuclear conflict scenarios. A full-scale war between the US and Russia, the worst possible case, would wipe out more than half of humanity, they said in the study published in the journal Nature Food.

The estimates were based on calculations of how much soot would enter the atmosphere from firestorms ignited by the detonation of nuclear weapons. Researchers used a climate forecasting tool supported by the National Center for Atmospheric Research, which allowed them to estimate productivity of major crops on a country-by-country basis.

Even a relatively small-scale conflict would have devastating consequences for global food production. A localized battle between India and Pakistan would see crop yields decline by an estimated 7% within five years, the study suggested, while a US-Russia war would see production fall by 90% within three to four years.

Researchers also considered whether utilizing crops currently used as animal feed or reducing food waste could offset losses in the immediate aftermath of the conflict, but concluded that savings would be minimal in larger-scale battles.

The study comes after the specter of conflict between the US and Russia was raised following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned in April that there was a “serious” risk of nuclear war breaking out.

“The data tell us one thing,” said Alan Robock, the study’s co-auther and a professor of climate science in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University. “We must prevent a nuclear war from ever happening.”

YEAR ONE OF THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY

China's Yangtze river shrinks as heatwave, drought threaten crops


China's Yangtze river shrinks as heatwave, droughts threaten crops

Mon, August 15, 2022

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Regions that rely on the Yangtze, China's longest river, are having to deploy pumps and cloud-seeding rockets as a long drought depletes water levels and threatens crops, and a heatwave is set to last another two weeks.

The Yangtze's middle and lower reaches have faced temperatures in excess of 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) over the past month, with experts blaming climate change-induced variations in the western Pacific subtropical high, a major determinant of summer weather throughout east Asia.

With the autumn harvest under threat, the agriculture ministry has deployed 25 teams to key regions to take action to protect crops, the Shanghai government's Guangming Daily newspaper reported.

The heatwave is likely to last for another two weeks, making it the longest sustained period of extreme temperatures since records began in 1961, experts with China's National Climate Center told the official Science and Technology Daily on Monday.

Rainfall in the Yangtze river drainage area fell about 30% in July and is 60% lower than normal in August, with the river's tributaries "significantly lower" than historical levels, according to the Yangtze River Water Resources Commission.

The Poyang lake in central China's Jiangxi province, which plays a major role in regulating Yangtze water flows in the summer, has shrunk to levels normally seen during the winter dry season after a 50% decline in rain in July.

Villages relying on water from the lake have been forced to deploy pumps to irrigate rice fields, media reported.

In the sprawling southwestern municipality of Chongqing, facing its second hottest summer since records began in 1961, 900 missiles have been made available to try to "seed" clouds and induce rain, media reported.

Other regions have launched their own weather modification operations.

China normally releases water from the Three Gorges reservoir to relieve drought on the Yangtze but downstream outflows are half the level of a year earlier, official data showed.

AP PHOTOS: Nagas mark 75 years since declaring independence

1 / 18

India Naga Independence Photo GalleryA Naga Army soldier stands in prayer during celebrations marking the Nagas' Declaration of Independence in Chedema, in the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland, Sunday, Aug. 14, 2022. In this small mountain village, blue flags fluttered in the clear blue sky. While Indians across the country prepared to celebrate 75 years of independence on Monday, the Naga community marked the occasion by hoisting their very own blue flag. 

(AP Photo/Yirmiyan Arthur)

YIRMIYAN ARTHUR
Sun, August 14, 2022 

CHEDEMA, India (AP) — In a small mountain village in India’s northeast, blue flags fluttered high in the clear sky. While Indians across the country prepared to celebrate 75 years of independence from British rule on Monday, the Naga community in Chedema marked the occasion by hoisting their very own blue flag.

The Nagas — an Indigenous people inhabiting several northeastern Indian states and areas across the border in Myanmar — marked the 75th anniversary of their declaration of independence Sunday. Seeking self-rule, Nagas had announced independence a day ahead of India in 1947 and commemorate this moment every year.

The Naga insurgency is the longest running in South Asia. But the largest Naga armed faction, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), has been in a cease-fire with the Indian government for 25 years as peace talks have come to a deadlock over the issue of using the Naga flag and constitution.

Thousands gathered Sunday at the event organized by the Naga National Council, the community’s parent political organization. Infants slept on the backs of their mothers while young boys and girls helped prepare the feast that followed the hoisting of the blue Naga flag. About a hundred veteran fighters, who laid down their arms after the first cease-fire in 1964, attended the event in their uniforms.

Riivosielie Chakriinuo, the oldest surviving general in the Naga Army, wore a medal for his service and smiled as he recalled the 1964 cease-fire, saying it brought peace to the land.

“I used to serve the gun. Now I serve God,” he said.

Vilazoü Suokhrie, 87, said she was overjoyed to see so many people gathered to mark the Naga community’s declaration of independence.

While the declaration has never been contested by India, Nagaland and other northeastern states remain part of the country despite years of insurgency efforts seeking self-rule. The Nagas preserve their identity and history through the annual event.

“When the British were leaving, we expressed our desire to be a free people,” said Adinno Phizo, 90, who is president of the NNC.

Over 90% of Nagaland state’s more than 1.9 million people are Christian — a striking contrast in a Hindu-majority country. For decades, Nagas have fought a battle for independence from India, and there are few families that have not suffered from the violence.

In recent years, the violence has ebbed but the demands for political rights have grown even as the federal government has pushed for talks with separatists.

Turkey is openly boasting that vehicle trade with Russia has surged as its exports to Russia hit an 8-year high

Huileng Tan

Tue, August 16, 2022 

Russian President Vladimir Putin met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met twice in under a month recently.Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images

• From May to July, Turkey and Russia traded 8,213 vehicles between them via cargo ships each month.

• That's up from the monthly average of 5,208 vehicles from January to April.

• Turkish exports to Russia hit an eight-year-high of $2.91 billion in the first half of 2022.

In the aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many countries have hit Russia with sweeping sanctions and downplayed their relationship with the Kremlin. Turkey, on the other hand, is playing that relationship up — and has even boasted about a surge in trade with Russia.

On Friday, Turkish transport Minister Adil Karaismailoglu took to Twitter to tout the trade surge. He retweeted the country's Maritime General Directorate announcement about a 58% jump in the monthly average number of vehicles traded with Russia.

 

From May to July, Turkey and Russia traded 8,213 vehicles between them via cargo ships each month — up from the monthly average of 5,208 from January to April. The Turkish authority attributed the surge to new shipping lines between the two countries.

Overall, trade between the two countries has boomed, with Turkish exports to Russia hitting $2.91 billion in the first half of 2022, according to the official Turkish Statistical Institute, or TurkStat. That's an eight-year high, according to a Bloomberg analysis of TurkStat's data.

Ankara has condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine but has not sanctioned Russia or closed its airspace to the country. Ties between the two countries seem to be deepening, as five of Turkey's banks have started using Russia's Mir payments system, raising concerns that it could be used to skirt sanctions.

Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met Russian President Vladimir Putin in the resort city of Sochi, marking their second get-together just three weeks after they met in Iran.

As Turkey is a NATO member, its relationship with Russia is worrying Western officials, some of whom are thinking about punitive actions for the country, such as asking companies to reduce financing to Turkish firms, the Financial Times reported on August 7. There had been no official talks about such actions for Turkey so far, the media outlet added.

Turkey's fragile economy means Ankara has much at stake when it comes to its economic relations with Russia, which is one of its top trading partners. Turkey is also the top destination for Russian tourists, with 7 million of them visiting in 2019, per Nikkei.

UK sees biggest rise in foreign workers since COVID pandemic

By David Milliken

A worker collects orders at Amazon's fulfilment centre in Rugeley, 

central England December 11, 2012. 

REUTERS/Phil Noble

LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Britain recorded its biggest rise in foreign workers since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in the year to June, driven overwhelmingly by workers from outside the European Union, official figures showed on Tuesday.

Since January 2021, most EU citizens not already working in Britain must be sponsored by an employer and be paid a salary that does not significantly undercut existing wages, after losing their previous almost-unrestricted right to work.

The post-Brexit change puts EU migrants on the same footing as those from the rest of the world, but has drawn complaints from employers who find the process bureaucratic, and a non-starter for most jobs that pay less than 25,600 pounds ($30,760) a year. read more

Tuesday's Office for National Statistics data showed the number of foreign-born workers in Britain rose by 223,000 in the year to the end of June, up from an increase of 184,000 in the year to March and the biggest rise since early 2020.

"Migration - a key source of worker shortages through the pandemic - is showing some signs of bouncing back," said James Smith, an economist at ING.

The data may be welcomed by the Bank of England which is worried that a shortage of candidates to fill jobs could push up wages too quickly and aggravate the recent jump in inflation.

Samuel Tombs, at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said migration was likely to rise further as the salary thresholds for sponsoring work visas had not been raised in line with average wages, which are 5.1% higher than a year ago.

The latest figures confirm a big shift in migration patterns compared with before Brexit.

Non-EU workers increased by 189,000 while the number of EU workers rose by 34,000 over the past year.

Previous government data showed India, Nigeria and the Philippines were the countries whose nationals received the most skilled work visas in the year to March.

By contrast, more than a million EU workers moved to Britain between the 2008-09 financial crisis and June 2016's Brexit referendum, since when the number of EU-born workers in employment has broadly stabilised at slightly under 2.4 million.

The number of non-EU workers employed in Britain has risen to 3.9 million from 3.1 million in the six years since June 2016.

($1 = 0.8323 pounds)

Reporting by David Milliken; Editing by Nick Macfie

Factbox: UK workers' industrial action as cost of living crisis bites
Reuters


A view of trains on the platform at Waterloo Station as a station worker stands nearby, on the first day of national rail strike in London, Britain, June 21, 2022. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls


Aug 16 (Reuters) - Britain faces months of disruption as workers across the economy struggling with the rising cost of living resort to strike action in disputes over pay and conditions. read more

Below are some of the industries in which trade unions have undertaken or threatened strike action:

RAILWAYS

Large sections of Britain's rail network have been repeatedly brought to a standstill over recent weeks.

Members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) and The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) have announced strike action on Aug. 18 and 20, following previous walkouts that have failed to resolve disagreements over pay and conditions.

Unite union said its members at Network Rail - which owns and maintains train infrastructure - would join other rail unions in striking on Aug. 18 and 20.

Train drivers at several British rail companies represented by the ASLEF union also walked out on July 30 and Aug. 13.

London Underground workers represented by the RMT are due to strike on Aug. 19, their fifth 24-hour walkout this year.

COURTS

British lawyers involved in criminal trials have staged several walkouts in a dispute over government funding, refusing to take on new cases or cover cases for colleagues that have overrun. They plan to hold further strike days over the coming weeks.

SCHOOLS

The NASUWT Teachers' Union had previously said it would ballot members for industrial action in November if their pay award falls short of their 12% increase demand.

After the government announced pay rises of between 5% and 8.9% for teachers, the union called on ministers to commit to negotiations.

HOSPITALS

The Royal College of Nursing has said hundreds of thousands of nurses in England and Wales will vote in September on whether to strike after the government announced below-inflation pay rises.

The British Medical Association (BMA), which represents doctors, has said it will ballot junior doctors for possible industrial action because those in England are ineligible for a 4.5% pay increase for some doctors announced by the government.

It has also said other groups of doctors it represents will consider their next steps, warning it is "on a collision course with the government".

AIRPORTS

British Airways' check-in and ground staff at London's Heathrow airport suspended a planned strike that had threatened disruption at one of Europe's busiest aviation hubs after the airline agreed to improve pay.

The Unite union said a strike by refuellers at Britain's busiest airport Heathrow, which was set to begin on July 21, was suspended after the employees received a revised offer.

TELECOMS

More than 40,000 workers for telecoms company BT Group (BT.L) held a national strike over pay on July 29 and Aug. 1, their first such action in 35 years.

The Communication Workers Union has served notice on BT and Openreach that its members will hold a further two-day strike on Aug. 30 and 31.

POSTAL SERVICES

Workers at the Post Office will carry out a fourth round of industrial action on Aug. 26, which coincides with a walkout by some staff at Royal Mail (RMG.L).

More than 115,000 postal workers at Royal Mail have voted to strike on four dates in August and September over pay.

A separate planned strike by 2,400 Royal Mail managers represented by the Unite union, due to take place July 20-22, was suspended after workers voted in favour of returning to negotiations.

PORTS

More than 1,900 workers at Britain's biggest container port, Felixstowe, plan eight days of strikes on Aug 21-29 in a dispute over pay, threatening severe disruption to international maritime trade.

Hundreds of dockworkers at the Port of Liverpool, one of the largest container ports in the country, have also voted in favour of strike action over pay and conditions.

PUBLISHING

Staff working at publisher Reach, whose titles include the Daily Mirror and Daily Express, have voted to stage a four day strike on Aug. 26, Aug. 31, Sep. 15 and Sept. 16, over pay, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) said.

Journalists at Reach and a second newspaper group in Scotland have also agreed to strike following separate disputes over redundancies and pay.

BUSES

More than 1,600 London bus drivers are due to walkout on Aug. 19 and Aug. 20 in a dispute over pay that will coincide with a strike on the London Underground and an overground train strike.

Arriva bus workers in various cities around the country have been taking part in strikes in a row over pay, with further staff in other areas also being balloted for industrial action.

EMERGENCY SERVICES

The Fire Brigades Union has rejected a proposed 2% pay increase and said it is preparing for strike action.

BINS

Bin workers in various areas around the country have either already undertaken or threatened strike action, disrupting waste collections.

Compiled by Kylie MacLellan and Farouq Suleiman; editing by David Evans, Nick Macfie and Barbara Lewis

U.S. forgives $3.9 bln in federal loans for ITT Tech students


U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona meets leaders from U.S. colleges and universities to discuss challenges students are facing after the Supreme Court decision to end the nationwide constitutional right to abortion, in the Vice President's ceremonial office at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, U.S., August 8, 2022. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

WASHINGTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Former students of ITT Technical Institute will not have to pay $3.9 billion they still owe in federal student loans to the now-defunct for-profit college, the U.S. Department of Education said on Tuesday.

ITT Educational Services Inc, which ran ITT Technical Institute, closed its roughly 130 campuses and filed for bankruptcy in Sept. 2016, amid growing regulatory scrutiny of for-profit colleges' recruiting and financing practices.

The loan forgiveness will cancel student debt for 208,000 borrowers, the department said in a statement. "It is time for student borrowers to stop shouldering the burden from ITT's years of lies," Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona said.

The department also said it had formally notified DeVry University that the for-profit school is required to pay $24 million in approved borrower defense claims. The department said DeVry had misled prospective students about graduates' employment prospects, a charge the school has denied.

Student debt cancellation has become a priority for many liberals and one that could shore up popularity with younger and more highly educated voters, who lean Democratic, before November's midterm congressional elections. read more

Last month, President Joe Biden said the government would cancel $6 billion in student loans for 200,000 borrowers who claimed they were defrauded by their colleges. read more

Portuguese wildfire envelops Madrid skyscrapers in smoke 400 km away
Reuters

August 16, 2022


People watch the smoke surrounding Madrid, Spain, due to strong winds coming from a wildfire 300km away in Portugal on August 16, 2022. REUTERS/Isabel Infantes

MADRID, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Smoke from a huge wildfire in central Portugal enveloped skyscrapers known as the "Four Towers" in Madrid 400 km (250 miles) away on Tuesday, and residents of the Spanish capital complained of a strong burning smell.

The fire, which has ravaged Portugal's Serra da Estrela national park, started on Aug. 6 and had been largely put out as of Sunday, but reignited again on Monday, leading to the evacuation of several villages.

More than 1,100 firefighters backed by 13 waterbombing aircraft were tackling the blaze, which has already torched more than 17,000 hectares.

Civil Protection Commander Andre Fernandes said the fire had several fronts, making it difficult to fight amid windy, dry weather.

NASA Worldview satellite images showed the plume of smoke extending from the west of the Iberian peninsula to its eastern half and beyond Madrid, where emergency services had to explain to worried residents that there was no fire nearby.

In eastern Spain, however, hundreds of firefighters were working around the clock to control two wildfires in the Valencia region.

In the Vall d'Ebo area south of Valencia, roads have been closed and about 2,000 people evacuated since Sunday after lightning ignited the wildfire, which has since burned more than 9,500 hectares.

Climate change has left parts of the peninsula at their driest in 1,200 years, according a study published last month in the Nature Geoscience journal.

July was the hottest month recorded in Spain since at least 1961 when Spain's meteorological service began its register.

Wildfires have burned more than 270,000 hectares in Spain so far in 2022, way above the 15-year annual average of 70,000, according to the European Forest Fire Information System.

In Portugal, forest fires have ravaged around 85,000 hectares, or nearly 1% of the country's territory, the highest percentage in the European Union.

Analysis: Ben & Jerry's Unilever fight shows risks of ceding control

By Richa Naidu and Ross Kerber
August 16, 2022

Ben & Jerry's, a brand of Unilever, is seen on display in a store in

 Manhattan, New York City, U.S., March 24, 2022. 

REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo


LONDON/BOSTON, Aug 16 (Reuters) - Ben & Jerry's legal battle with Unilever (ULVR.L) sheds light on an issue affecting a growing number of purpose-led brands: how to maintain their identity after being bought by a major consumer company.

Multinational consumer groups have raced to snap up socially conscious brands in recent years, seeking to tap into a surge in demand among customers for ethical products, usually sold at a premium.

Under Chief Executive Alan Jope, Unilever has added to a portfolio of "purposeful" brands - from Paula's Choice skincare products that shun animal testing to sustainably-made supplements from SmartyPants and Nutrafol.

In 2000, the company scooped up Ben & Jerry's for $326 million with an unusual caveat: the Vermont-based ice cream maker would retain its independent board of directors, responsible for guiding its social and political identity.

Ben & Jerry's now believes that commitment to have been breached, following a furore over its plan to stop selling ice creams in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that eventually led Unilever to strike a deal to sell the brand's Israeli business.

The maker of Chunky Monkey and Cherry Garcia ice creams sued its parent company on July 5 to try to stop the sale. A ruling is expected in the coming weeks.

"It's a wake-up call for the folks who do deals to be more vigilant and ensure not only do the financials support a deal, but the underlying potential future conflicts are free and clear," said Mark Cohen, a professor at Columbia University Business School.

Unilever declined to comment for this story. Ben & Jerry's had no immediate comment.

Ben & Jerry's, now worth over 1 billion euros ($1 billion), says the Israeli sale is against its values by allowing its products to remain available in the West Bank.

The ice cream brand should have been aware that "Unilever might see fit to put the Ben and Jerry's brand anywhere and everywhere in the world," Cohen said.

On the other hand, Unilever should have understood Ben & Jerry's founders "have taken a political stance on a variety of issues, not the least of which being their objection to the actions of the State of Israel," he added.

Unilever may have already learned the lesson. Home products brand Seventh Generation, which it bought in 2016, created a "social mission" board meant to keep the business focused on causes such as diversity and generating less packaging waste.

But the messaging on the brand's website and Twitter feed covers a narrower range of issues than that of Ben & Jerry's.

"Seventh Generation has a broad mission for environmental, racial and social justice. Ben & Jerry's mission may be broader," said Mindy Lubber, CEO of climate advocacy group Ceres and a member of the Seventh Generation board until this year.

'CONSIDER WHAT YOU'RE GIVING UP'

Organic food company investor Gary Hirshberg, who co-founded yogurt brand Stonyfield, now part of French dairy group Lactalis, said entrepreneurs cannot rely on a publicly-traded buyer to continue a social mission because the new owner's executives will come and go. He called the Ben & Jerry's dispute with Unilever "a classic difference in the cultures."

But he added a good way to protect a brand's mission was to build it around a legal standard like having organic ingredients, hard for a buyer to change.

Oregon Treasurer Tobias Read, who oversees state pension fund investments worth about $100 billion including Unilever shares, said the Ben & Jerry's dispute shows how socially-minded businesses can have contrasting obligations once they become part of a publicly-listed company.

"If you're a founder and you're considering being acquired, you might want to consider what you're giving up," Read said.

Family-owned outdoor apparel and gear maker Patagonia values having oversight over decision making.

"Many of our boldest moves have been enabled by our independence," said Matthijs Visch, its general manager for Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

"Today, the argument 'We can't do that because we have shareholders' simply doesn't hold water."

Concerns that ethical principles could be compromised after a buyout have held some companies back from agreeing deals.

British beauty brand Lush markets its bath 'bombs' and soaps as vegetarian, cruelty free and handmade. The firm's staff hold 10% of its shares and have a say in how the business is run.

That independence will not be given up, no matter how attractive an offer might be, said ethics director Hilary Jones.

"External capital would not find us an attractive partner, and we would not relish having financial returns being the main goal and restricting our choices, so we have deliberately resisted taking outside investment," she said. "We love what we do and we love to do it our way."

($1 = 0.9823 euros)